Rootman

Yep, 2 months out and a hard boiled egg is a BIG Breakfast, to get it, my Vitamins & pills and a small glass of Water with miralax and I am stuffed. It takes me about 1/2 hour to down them all. We are lucky, a FEW sleevers have reported that they feel hungry all the time. Glad I am not in that group.

Tijuana is a HUGE city and the parts that are bad are not anywhere near the hospital. YES, there is a risk, not anymore than and other large city though, unless you go looking for it.

Wow nasty bruise Sue. I hardly EVER bruise, it takes a bad bad hit or poke for me to bruise. The last one I had was during the IV insertion for a stress test I had last fall. Now I've donated blood and have had dozens of blood draws over the years but this was the worst stick I have EVER had. When she jabbed me I literally jumped out of the chair. The phlebotomist got snarky and said that "You are going to HAVE to sit still", she then poked me again, this time not as bad and fortunately she got a vein this time. I swear it felt like she was using a rusty nail instead of a needle. The whole test was a shambles. I will never use that hospital again. To get back OT: No bruises. Does anyone know if they use a thinner for surgery in Jerusalem hospital in Tijuana MX?

What people don't realize is that the PRODUCTION of Ghrelin happens mostly in the stomach but the RECEPTORS are in the BRAIN ( http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/gi/ghrelin.html ). Another confusing fact is that obese people have LESS Ghrelin in the blood than thin people. So does this possibly mean it is it taken up faster and therefor causing the obesity? You would think that obese people should have MORE ghrelin This really bears more study. I think that if we could solve this riddle it has more chance of saving lives that heart disease and cancer cures combined. Obesity is easily the number one epidemic in the USA and probably most of the first world countries.

This is a quandary that only you can answer. I know of one other person that was in the same boat as you, he started to lose weight during the 6 month supervised diet. His dietitian told him on the sly that if he continued to lose weight he would be DISQUALIFIED from having surgery. He then started shoveling it in as fast as he could and actually GAINED weight He had to LIE about it and insist that he was actually TRYING to lose weight. He had to be careful when he went for his psych eval to make sure he appeared to not be sabotaging his diet He passed and about 9 months after applying had his surgery. As long as this type of policy is being held in place you can be sure that people who really need it will be denied and some will play the system to get what they want and a few will eventually qualify. I elected to NOT play the game and had self pay surgery in Tijuana MX. It IS risky and there is NO follow up other than phone consultation on your dime.

I did not attend a seminar but booked over the internet for surgery in Tijuana MX. I submitted a questionnaire and received the "approval" the next day or so, I was asked to select a surgery date which could of been almost anytime within the next couple of weeks, I choose a date about a month distant. Self pay in MX is not for everyone but it worked for me. Had surgery 12/6/10 and have lost nearly 75 lbs.

I too am a systems analyst, unfortunately I was down to a few days vacation, so I was sleeved in Mexico on Monday and flew home Thursday and was back to work on Friday. Much too soon! Fortunately I was able to take off between Christmas and New Years - boy I was having a tough time.

Welcome Johhny, we are almost "twins". I'm going to be 50 in a few weeks and was about 375 lbs when I was sleeved 12/6/10. I'm down almost 75 pounds in less than 2 months. It has its difficult times but anything is better than being an obese invalid with high blood pressure , pre-diabetes feeling crappy all the time. I wish you good luck!

@Sheila Some food, like yogurt and pudding - things that are soft and you don't have to chew - can "slide" right through the stomach and not fill you up. If you keep eating these foods your sleeve will never fill up and you will not get full and maybe not be satisfied and therefore eat more and more. Like anyone, if you keep eating (consuming calories) you will HOLD or even GAIN weight. You should therefore choose a precise portion and not eat any more. Drinking during a meal will carry some of the food that you ate through the stomach and therefore leave more room to eat and consume more calories. If you still get hungry you may eat more to get full. Most NUTs recommend NOT drinking during a meal. Personally I cannot do that and I need a few sips as I get dry. If you are like me and no longer get hungry you need to select a meal of precise portions and then STOP afterwards and not eat any more till the next meal. If you still feel hunger you definitely need to control your portions to get and feel full and satisfied. Snacking or keep adding "slider" foods will subvert your calorie intake and not allow you to loose weight.

A few guys I chatted with after my surgery in MX said they too did NOT do the pre-op diet and actually pigged out on nachos, chicken wings and tequila shots the NIGHT before. They both said that they were violently ill and got badly constipated after surgery. So pigging out the last week - especially the night before - would not be a wise thing to do. I personally would do a liquid diet at least a week before the operation, it helps reduce the size of your liver - which makes it smaller and less prone to be nicked in surgery and helps clear the colon so you will have less chance to get constipated and possibly impacted. Your choice but you may regret pigging out!

Great news Mr Mason - we all wish you continued success!

Best wishes!

Well, the liquid diet does not produce much in the way of stool material, especially if it was followed by a liquid pre-op diet and possible use of a laxative just before operating. You SHOULD have a movement soon as even the liquid diet produces SOME material for a stool. If you still feel stopped up Miralax is the best stool softener / laxative that I have found. You can safely take it daily indefinitely. 1/2 to 1 cupful in Water will get you going again.

Yes, you can find them in any pharmacy and most grocery stores. The most common ones are 29 grams of protein, I've seen some with 50 grams. The "shot" is actually 2.5 OZs or more so it is not something that a sleever can probably "slam" in one gulp. And WARNING, these too are very nasty tasting.

Well despite Klus's comment below most of us are scared sh**less right up to the op and usually have an episode afterwards too. It is completely NORMAL. It's a BIG decision and a BIG change. Just stick with it, it will work for you.

We all wish you the best!

The wife and I order ONE full size entrée, I take a bit of it and she eats what she wants, we take home the rest. At a few restaurants we eat at there is enough for use to EACH have one more meal or at least one of us a meal Most places will serve you just what you want. Ask if you can have JUST what you want. We go to a burger place and I get JUST a burger on a plate with cheese on it, I eat a few of the wifes fries. Same with a chicken breast.

One of the biggest troubles I had pre-op was that I was never full. I could completely override the subtle fullness feeling and stuff myself till eventually I was really hurting with bloat and over did it. Not just at Thanksgiving, this was like a daily thing for me. I now cannot eat very much and I get an indistinct full feeling, If Iam talking or absorbed in TV I can sometimes miss it. I just get the feeling, "Hey I'm full I don't want any more". If I ignore it and take maybe 2 more bites the pain starts, intense stomach pain that radiates up my esophagus. It lasts maybe 10-15 minutes. FULL always very subtle, it is MORE distinct now and the consequences are much more severe.

Plenty of water and Miralax do the trick. Miralax is one of the few laxatives - stool softeners that you can safely use daily.

I have been using a CPAP for almost 10 years now. I STILL often wake up and have to adjust the mask. I really look forward to being able to eliminate it. As I loose weight I've had to tighten the mask a few times, trouble is I can't think to do this during the night when it starts leaking, I just can't seem to figure it out in the stupor of awaking with the leak blowing air in my eyes and making noise. I figure it out in the morning but it costs me a good nights sleep. I would say the recovery is the DAYS in the hospital following the surgery. A lot of people barf when coming out of anesthesia and you would run the risk of aspirating it if they put it on immediately after surgery. Just a guess though. Not sure here, never experienced this. Mine is set to 12 as well and always has been. I think 12 is perhaps the most popular setting. I would say it could be but each change would require another sleep study - which are VERY expensive. My brother had a RNY bypass and lost a lot of weight, when he contacted his doctor that prescribed it he would not do another study as the insurance would not pay for it. He suggested that he just try without it and have his wife observe him sleeping or if he awoke choking to go back to it. Not a very smart way to go in my opinion. He eventually DID stop using it and seemed to be fine.

I'm close to 2 months out and EVERYTHING tastes off to me yet. I am really turned off of food and can barely finish nearly all my meals. Things I THINK will taste good just don't. Hormel's Turkey chili is the only thing that really tastes good to me. I hope that it does clear up but in a way I hope that it won't. In the past I really had a problem with food and really porked out. I am willing to put up with this if it aids me in reducing and keeping my weight off.

Yep, me too. I've been overweight for 30 years and morbidly obese for the last 7 or so. I've lost 70+ pounds so far and am SHOCKED at what I see in the mirror! I expect to see my old punkin' faced Charlie Brown head but see this slim faced man looking back at me. I'm beginning to look like my dad more and more! My eye glasses are no longer putting a rut on the side of my face either and I DON'T look goofy in sunglasses - like they are too small for me. It's great.

No, stretching out a meal with properly sized controlled portions is NOT grazing. Eating the meal then snacking all day is. A cracker here, a piece of cheese there, a handful of nuts - it all adds up. While a few snacks are good just watch the TOTAL caloric intake to make sure you are not pushing it was up.

If you are drastically cutting your food intake as most of us are doing then yes, you are eating less therefore pooping less. If it becomes an issue of not going for more than 3 or 4 days like it did for me then I would recommend Miralax. This is basically a super hygroscopic powder that adsorbs water as it passes through the gut and adds bulk and moisture to the stool.

Good luck - yep it's a tough road but you sure will be better off after you reach the end!