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I’m a nurse in a suboxone treatment program. For anyone reading this that will be facing the same situation, please have your suboxone provider advocate for you with your surgical team! We do anytime one of our folks is having surgery. We call directly to the surgeon and assist with formulating a post op pain plan. There are meds that can help along with suboxone to manage pain! Great job on both your recovery and your surgery, Joshua. And thank you for sharing, you will save someone the same agony you experienced!

I couldn't even take any vitamins or supplements until the 4th month post op. They all made me feel very nauseous. I tried taking them on an empty stomach and then after I ate, and it did not make a difference. Maybe wait a few weeks and try it again. I just tried every month, and finally I was able to take them without feeling sick.

I was just idly wondering if anyone else had an extreme amount of pain after their sleeve (or any weight loss) surgery? I don't mean to scare anyone away from having their surgery because my situation is pretty unique in this regard. I am a recovering heroin addict so at the time of my surgery (August 2016) I was taking a medicine called Suboxone. Suboxone blocks pretty much all other opioid painkillers from working. I told my surgeon and anesthesiologist that I was on this medication and I was concerned that it would make the post-surgery painkillers not work so I brought my prescription to the hospital with me so I could give it to them so they could administer it to me after the surgery. Well fast forward to me waking up after my surgery in agonizing pain. They had literally just made 6 cuts into my abdomen and cut out the majority of my stomach and I had nothing working to dull that pain at all. They wouldn't let me leave the recovery room (I think that's what it's called) until my pain was under control. I was literally screaming in pain which I had never done in my entire life before that and I have not done since then. The nurse actually kept telling me that I needed to be quiet! If I was capable of that I would have been! The nurse kept giving me Dilaudid (an opioid painkiller) injections on someone's orders -who? I don't know. I kept telling the nurse that it wasn't going to work because I was on Suboxone, which by the way takes a very long time to work out of your system - like at least a few days until other painkillers will work. The nurse must have given me at least 4 injections of Dilaudid with no effect whatsoever before she finally believed that it wasn't going to work. Hours had passed since I woke up after my surgery before they finally listened to me when I told them that my mother was in the waiting room with my Suboxone prescription and that would actually work. 15 minutes later they brought it to me and I put it under my tongue to dissolve. Within 10-15 minutes my pain felt like it disappeared completely. Now it hadn't actually completely gone away but compared to the agony that I was experiencing before, this might as well have been nothing. What relief! To anyone that actually read all of that story thank you for making it this far! I don't have a real reason for sharing this, I just like this forum and have recently gotten back to reading and posting here and wanted to share some of my surgery experience. Feel free to comment about my story, ask any questions you want, or share any similar experiences you had. -Joshua

Omg interesting - empty stomach! And separate from your other vitamins etc?

I bet I didn’t chew it well enough - ugh!

I had my surgery after menopause and had great success with it. I was VERY committed, though - I followed my program to a "T". be aware that as a "light weight", your weight loss will likely be pretty slow. Many of us start off quite a bit heavier than you are, and generally, the heavier you are, the faster the weight will come off - at least at first. Just saying this because a lot of people expect to drop like 30 or 40 lbs the first month after surgery, which I think comes from watching shows like "My 600 lb Life". For most "normal" WLS patients, that's not a realistic expectation - and that goes doubly for you since you're much lighter than most of us are starting out. Not trying to discourage you - if you're committed, you'll lose the weight - but just don't get discouraged if you're not having the huge drops that you may see in other people. good luck with it - I'm really glad I did it and would do it again in a heart beat!

One of the reviews for it was from a WLS patient who said this shampoo and conditioner was the only thing that worked. I haven't gotten to the hair loss phase yet, but I started using it and my hair has never been so thick or grown so fast. The biotin supplement helps support your hair, the saw palmetto blocks the process that makes your hair shed. btw- I only use the shampoo/ conditioner ~2x per week. Take the supplements every day.

This recipe will change your life in terms of getting your pizza fix in, while going low-carb and protein packed. I made this many time while I was pre-op and wanting pizza. https://fitmencook.com/low-carb-pizza/ I haven't made it since surgery, but I also stuck to a very slow return to normal food. It will happen soon, though. I also highly recommend the Protein Pizza Crusts that @Uomograsso posted. Those have been a godsend!

Great job! What ever weight you can lose now will make your surgery and recovery easier imho.

My stall lasted 2 or 3 weeks. Very disheartening, but it broke eventually!