LowCho

Best advice I ever received was to stop worrying and just let it happen.

It's really individualized. My doc told me to take six weeks but I thought I would be fine in one to two. Turns out, I was off work for nine weeks and needed every minute of it. When I went back to work, I almost went back home because I was so exhausted. I'm in week thirteen and am just now starting to feel like I can make it through a 10-12 hour work day without passing out.

The gaviscon is still working for me most of the time. Sometimes, my hunger pangs go away altogether but most of the time it just takes the edge off and takes it down to a tolerable level. It's my opinion that carbs have to be controlled during the weight loss phase. My surgeon recommends 40 carbs or less during weight loss. After weight loss, then carbs can increase for maintenance. I also believe that fluids are important ... you really need 64oz daily. Best of luck!

Miralax does work but I can taste it, so I just don't prefer it. Now that I finally got my fluids and exercise going, colace is all the extra "umph" that I need to help keep things soft :-)

Colace (docusate sodium) is an effective, gentle stool softener that can help keep things moving.

The VSG book is Successful Weight Loss With the Gastric Sleeve by Guillermo Alvarez, MD. It is available at http://www.thegastricsleeve.com ... BTW, I cannot say enough positive things about this guy. I am not his patient, just a complete stranger and he answered my email with very specific questions in a matter of minutes. I bought the Gaviscon and it is working, so far. Within a few minutes of my first dose, it took the edge off my hunger pangs. The rest of the day has been heaven as my sleeve has finally settled down and is giving me some peace.

I hope this information will be helpful for you. I tried one Gaviscon and it took the edge off my hunger for about 1/2 hour. The bottle says you can take 2-4 tablets up to 4 times per day so I've got some testing to do. I see some real potential here :-)

I may have some information that might be helpful to those like me with hunger pangs that won't resolve. I bought a book about the gastric sleeve, recently, so I decided to send the author an email. I was stunned to see him respond to me in only a matter of minutes. I asked him if I could share the information and he heartily agreed ... Here is the reply that he sent to me regarding my specific situation ... ... I've see this situation multiple times so don't think this is only you. They way to deal with is to do 5 or 6 small meals a day and add Gaviscon chewable tablets to your Protonix as you are taking it right now. What seems to happen is that there is a "rebound" of acid production once the sleeve is done. This will get normal but after some months so be patient. I hope this helps and let me know how this goes. I wish you the best on this 2011. Congratulations on your Sleeve. Have patience. On my way to the drugstore with my fingers crossed

WOW ~ I really hope that some veteran sleever has been through this and can chime in. This past weekend, my hubby and I went to Yosemite to relax. Did a little bit of walking, but I was ravenous all weekend. Ate something small every hour or two but was still hungry all day. When I got back to the hotel, I typed it all in and I had 1250 calories <SHOCK>. Before surgery, I was on a ketogenic diet that was pretty high fat so I'm not afraid of fat. My stats on the 1250 calorie day was 73g fat, 46g carbs, and 93g Protein ... I guess adding fats or carbs wouldn't really help <GRIN>. My surgeon has not done sleeves for more than a few years so I'm not getting any answers at my Center of Excellence. I look forward to hearing suggestions from anyone that's been through this. If I learn any new information, I will come back to post for the benefit of the group :-) Happy Holidays!

I am glad that other people are struggling like me. I am 7 weeks postop and am eating solid food. I started getting hunger pangs about week 3. My doc told me that solid food would help. We moved my diet from puree to soft and for a limited time frame, it did help. Then my hunger pangs started becoming constant and severe. Even when full or even nauseous, I was constantly stomach-gnawing hungry. We changed my PPI to twice daily and I did get some relief. With solid food and the extra PPI, I'm no longer constantly facing severe hunger pangs; however, they are moderate and irritating. I do get relief after eating but only for about an hour. I spoke with my doc again this week and we're going from three meals daily to six small meals to see if we can get this under control. I gotta say that I'm getting a little down because I'm not seeing much progress. liquids, milk, and Protein shakes do nothing to ease the hunger, I have to physically eat something. I'm supposed to go back to work soon and I don't know how I'm going to find time to eat something every two hours <sigh>. While I really like the restriction my sleeve provides, I'm hungry an hour later. After solid food and twice daily PPI's, what's left? Anyone found anything else to help? My hunger pangs are worse now than I ever was pre-op.

I take protonix and have no co-pay. My doc's office told me that some insurance doesn't cover PPI's and Prevacid OTC was a good option.

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These are great ... Thanks for sharing!