ahoy

SKCUNNINGHAM, I may do just that. It can't hurt, right? Thanks for the idea!

I haven't! I wished I had been doing it since the beginning. Why not? Welllll… this is a little embarrassing, but I don't know where to buy a tape measure in Vienna and neither does my Viennese husband. Shopping in Europe is nothing like in the US. Ha. I've lived here 3 years and still don't know where to buy basic stuff (and neither do most Viennese). That right there is a big part of the reason I decided to move back to the US. Where I will promptly buy a tape measure, hehe.

Just an update to my previous reply: 2 months out now and I went thru a period of "WHY DID I GO THRU ALL THIS?" … because I had a 6-week stall, and my sinus stuff came back (sigh - thought the surgery had made it go away), which doesn't sound like much but it makes me really sick. I didn't regret it exactly, but I seriously wondered if all the effort and suffering was worth it. Today, I'm still sick with the sinus stuff BUT I woke up to a sudden 5lb drop. The first time I've been in the 270s since 2 years ago, when I caught mono and gained 30lbs. So that's 35lbs in 2 mos, which is not great, but I'm hoping it'll move along again now. I am not one for regret, generally. I'm big on making the best choice possible and simply acknowledging that I am human and fallible, if it turns out to be wrong. And then moving on. I was terrified of the surgery because it's so permanent. So little in life is. Feud with your family? You can change that. Move to a foreign country? You can change that too. Marry the wrong person? That is something you can fix. Maybe fixing those things aren't easy, but it's possible. Not so with the sleeve. However, I am glad I did it. As long as I lose weight - however slowly - it's worth it. I don't have to obsess about food any more, either what I plan to eat or what I need to try not to eat. It has definitely helped my CFS/fibro, and that's a big deal. I think sleeve-regret is even lower if you don't have emotional issues with food -- using it for comfort. I never mourned my ability to eat a lot of food (for which I am VERY grateful), because that's never been a thing for me. I've occasionally wished I could eat a couple more bites, but I also wish I could win the lottery so that's okay.

Bitties, make sure you're eating ENOUGH calories and drinking enough Water. Other than that, sounds like you're doing everything right. I know how it feels, trust me, cuz my 3rd-week stall just ended -- 6 weeks later. My refrain was, "Why did I go thru all this if I'm not even going to lose weight!? Maybe I'm broken! What's WRONG with me?" But now it's over. And it'll be over for you too, just as long as you keep doing the right stuff.

Guess I'm in the minority here, but I don't think my tastes have changed at all! The only thing I can think of is that I get "overexposed" on food faster. Example: I don't like to eat eggs often, because several years ago I ate a ton of them on a long low-carb diet. I ate wayyy too many, and now just the thought of eggs can turn my stomach. (That, and tilapia and orange ruffy. GROSS!) Post-op, I got "overexposed" on tuna and cheese (mmm tuna melt!) for Breakfast in just a few weeks. It took me months to feel that way about eggs. Weird, huh?

Ashley, your body's just in shock post-op. It sucks, I know, but relax, you're fine. 3 weeks is no time at all for the body to heal and de-swell. You're getting in enough liquid, so that's great. I know how you feel since I started a stall at the 3rd week that just ended yesterday, 6 weeks later, with a sudden 5 lb drop. Just checking: Are you supposed to be eating solid food like chicken already?

At 6 weeks out, I can drink a tea cup or 1.5 teacups of water all at once… it feels great when I'm thirsty! Any more and it hurts a little but I expect that it'll keep getting better over time.

I do! I did, of course, I've read every post on this forum I knew, logically, that I should expect to stall for a week or two. But I didn't expect to get stuck for nearly 4 weeks, doing all the right things. (I am very heavy, young and now, fairly active so I expected to lose fast at first.) My period had made my whole stomach area swell to the point where I couldn't keep anything down, then I had 2 infection outbreaks in a row -- sinuses got worse and a NASTY gum infection. For me, the weight loss is ALL about my health so I just felt screwed on all counts for the last 3 weeks. Down another 2lbs as of today, and my gum infection has been beaten back so I can chew. I'm finally feeling better.

Thanks for this. It's exactly what I needed to read today... 6 weeks out and only just today did my scale move again, below 285, where I was stuck for almost a whole month. (Or plus 4lbs of Water.) I'm going to print this out and hang it by my desk. No joke. Thanks again.

Karelia, just for the record, I have long had… uh, very "powerful"… digestive problems if I ate low carb, and also have fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue. 6 weeks post-op, I no longer have the digestive issues AND my CFS/FM is much improved. (Not gone. But I don't get exhausted for days after exercising, and I rarely have to take pain killers.) I've only lost 28lbs, which is not quite even where I was before I got sick, but it made a remarkable difference already. I think the chances are good that it will make you BETTER.

Hi, sarsar! Had the same exact experience with my "drain hole" -- scratched, scab came off, little bits of yellow pus, etc. My surgeon took a look, cleaned it out, swabbed it, and bandaged it back up and it healed JUST fine. In other words, just what you did. Only worry if it gets worse :

Hey, ladies!! I've lost 27lbs at 1 mo out. Today I fit COMFORTABLY into sz 24 jeans which I haven't been able to wear since I got sick (& got put on steroids) 2 years ago this month! I have been able to pull them on and button them for almost 2 weeks (my weight didn't shift much), but they were tooooo tight to wear. Yay!! I wish I'd lost more so far, but that's life. I had no pre-op diet and no extended stay on liquids. And then I had my period and spent another week after that going up & down 2lbs, which I recently learned was due to the nose spray I was taking for my horrible sinusitis. My next goal is *30lbs*, and then 270, which is 15lbs away and the weight I had on my wedding day 3 years ago before all this mono/cfs crap happened to me, so that'll be nice! (And then I can toss AAALLL my size 26 stuff!) Actually, today is my first day back from a 4-day vacation in the Austrian countryside. I had a great time! Did way more walking than I've done since surgery, and climbed a giant flight of stairs up to an ossuary built into the mountain. While I had to stop a few times on the way up, I didn't feel dead exhausted after I reached the top, which is a HUGE improvement over how I felt before surgery! I didn't count calories (had no idea HOW to for most of the food), but I let the sleeve work for me, despite fancy four-course dinners standard at our hotel. I'm pretty sure they all thought I hated the food, lol, they kept asking me if everything was to my satisfaction and giving me aluminum foil to wrap up Snacks. scale says I'm up 4lbs (!!) since before vacation, and the body fat % didn't drop like it usually does when I retain Water. At first I freaked, but then I tried on these jeans. These jeans did NOT fit like this before we left so I'm not gonna worry about it. A week or so ago, I was having bad side effects -- shooting acid after eating, sore throat, hoarse voice, etc., and it turns out those were ALL caused/aggravated by the nose spray that works on my swollen sinuses. I stopped it, and the acid went away. (I was already taking a PPI 2x a day.) So that's good

It's my one month surgiversary tomorrow and UGH, I just gotta rant. I felt fine -- just tired! -- and was losing steadily until a few days before my first post-op period. Then my sinuses swelled up again -- they had gotten SO MUCH BETTER after surgery. Then the headaches. Then I couldn't eat even half of the amount of soft food (like tuna) I was able to eat the day before. Then just a bite of stuff (yogurt) came up and I had to switch to liquids. That improved, after I saw my surgeon and he told me to drink cold liquids and to come get an x-ray if that didn't help. But it took days to be back to normal. And… most irritating of all… now I have reflux. I didn't pre-TOM, unless I had something acidic like tomatoes. I was having no real side effects at all! But now, a week after it's all over, and the reflux is still here -- despite taking a PPI twice a day -- and my little sleeve is more temperamental, and my sinuses are swollen so I have to take a nose spray to breathe at night, my throat hurts, my voice is hoarse and tight, and my ears are throbbing, and my weight is fluctuating 2 pounds a day in Water and NOT dropping. *fumes* I don't blame the surgery… don't regret it at all. But I DEFINITELY blame my cursed ladyparts for screwing it all up. @!!#@!!$##$@ Owwwww!

See your doctor. From a bassy voice to mickey mouse, weeks later? Something is going on. It is obviously not what other people are talking about. Doesn't sound like something we can solve on the forum!

I'd be real wary of tomato soup because tomatoes are something that can really trigger acid, and you do NOT want that right now You just have to be careful and see how it feels.

Heyy, I woke up this morning and the 3lbs I gained over 3 days (!!) of Aunt Flo were gone. Still not losing, but I see a light at the end of the irritating, poorly timed, cramp-y tunnel. You all are right, of course! If anyone else is experiencing bloating, weight gain, stalls due to your period, just know that everybody's right: it feels TERRIBLE, but it does just go away afterwards.

Anyone else had nerve issues since their sleeve? A few times I've woken up (or felt, while sitting) with a weird "scrape-y" hot pain in my right leg, which then led to numbness and tingling. It goes away... the first time I thought it was cuz I slept on it funny, but the second time, I woke up and had been sleeping on my back. I have also woken up with both arms numb, which hasn't happened to me in forever -- not since we got the tempurpedic mattress. (Which honestly should prevent this stuff!) And the past 2 days, my wrist symptoms flared up... I rarely have carpal tunnel symptoms but my wrist is mega unhappy right now and my right pinky just went numb. I have never had the leg symptoms before in my life. When it was just that, I figured it might be a side effect of losing a bunch of weight on my backside (yay) and maybe from lying in the hardish hospital bed. But then it's moving to my arms, and I'm a little freaked. I am quite positive that it wouldn't be considered "serious" by my doctor so I'm asking your opinion. What do you think... Nutritional deficiency? Just general weirdness from losing weight? Otherwise, except for an incoming sinus infection, I feel pretty fine. Thanks in advance!

Hi exoticheart, good point! I am not diabetic & have awesome blood sugar levels. But if it happens again, I will definitely get it looked at. Tiffykins, huh. I stopped taking a Vitamin that had b12 and b6 in it because my levels were TOO high. The amount I was taking was fairly high but nowhere near the upper suggested safety limit, and I was getting some symptoms from the b6. But I think you're right. Not only am I sleeved now, but apparently 1 of my medicines prevents the absorption of B Vitamins (the PPI). Will get my labs checked just to be safe cuz I don't wanna OD on B6 and get neuropathy from THAT -- again.

sleeve newbie, I'm in the same place you are right now... the scale's going up cuz of my period. I dunno what will happen afterwards, cuz it's still going on and I'm only 3 weeks post-op so this is the first time. I am frustrated and sad. Not to mention just generally feeling ill cuz I think my period is causing all sorts of other health issues to flare up It's definitely Water weight tho... don't worry. I can tell because the body fat % on my scale dropped by several points, haha. Also because my husband squeezed my arm like a ripe fruit (you know, the fleshy bat wing) and said "Don't worry, it's water." (Apparently I'm squishier when it's water than actual fat. My husband ALWAYS knows just what to say.)

I was prescribed them too. Was wondering if it was a euro thing since nobody else mentioned it

Purdy in Pink, a new type of backache? Could be your kidneys. Are you drinking enough Water? Periods are such hell on our bodies, I bet if you are dehydrated and were going to have symptoms, that's when you'd feel it the worst. Mine was pretty much the same in the "ladyparts" area (I get terrible cramps in my lower stomach), but it also made the pain MUCH worse in new and different ways in my stomach muscles around the incision, AND the skin area of the incision. And I think my sleeve itself got swollen in response, because I was unable to eat normally for a couple days, but now pretty much back to normal. Damn physiology

Day Dreamer, so sorry to hear you're having a rough time! They kept me a week in the hospital (that's normal here). The first 3 days, I couldn't sit up on my own at all, much less stand, and they didn't even try to make me drink anything. You're not alone there with the ongoing muscle problems. But I have fibromyalgia and that is probably why my muscle pain was so severe (and wide spread). Once I got adequate pain medicine, it helped SO MUCH. If you're still in that much pain, you should ask the doctor for more pain meds. I'm no doctor but I believe that tightness and pain in those muscles could be causing probs with your drinking. With fibromyalgia or other muscle disorders, pain and tightness in one place can spread instantly to lots of other muscles. It also sounds like your drinking issues aren't with your tummy itself, but your muscles. You said "spasms" -- that makes me think there is something else going on at work than just a normal tiny, angry little post-op sleeve. It also sounds like you should be getting lots of IV fluids still In the mean time, you probably don't need to worry about your Vitamins. Of course if your surgeon told you to do them right away, he knows better, but most people on the board (me included) leave the vitamins aside until we can drink normally. You don't need the extra struggle right now and you're not going to become deficient in 1 week or 2. My suggestions would be: 1. Make your doctor to adequately control your pain. You are in way more pain than you need to be at this stage. 2. Ask about the spasms, again (forcefully), rather than just not being able to fit Water in. Maybe they can give you something to RELAX the muscles. If you are tight with tension, it is NOT YOUR FAULT. Just telling you to "relax" is clearly not helping. Drinking is VERY important. 3. Try warm tea. That's what they gave me in the hospital -- peach tea, no sugar. If it was cold water, I think it would have felt too "harsh" and I would have had a really hard time drinking it. 4. Stop worrying about vitamins unless the doc told you you need to right now. I hope you feel better soon!

candace, aha!! Sorry to hear that but... you're not alone. And I bet it really is the TOM at work. I'm 2.5 wks out and last Friday, I actually went to see my surgeon because suddenly I felt so much worse. The pain around my incisions got worse -- inside, not just on the skin -- AND I was suddenly unable to eat the food I normally ate w/o upchucking. Normally I eat about 2oz of tuna for breakfast; the day I felt so bad, I ate 1.3 oz and couldn't keep more than half down. I ate two tiny tiny coffee spoons of yogurt and BLARP, up it came. With the bitter after taste of my medicine, too. So, I figured that it was doctor time before it got worse. Dr. prescribed cold Water and cold liquid food for probable swelling... and if I didn't feel any better the next day, an x-ray... and probably days in the hospital, urgh, cuz that's what they do here. Then of course I realized Aunt Flo was paying me a visit. The timing was too perfect to be coincidental... I really believe that's what caused it. I get bad cramps and, shall we say, "digestion effects" from the cramping so I guess it's not farfetched to imagine the cramping and pain affecting things higher up on the "food chain," like my new baby sleeve. The cold water & cold liquid food for 2 days really helped me. So did ibuprofen. While my "ladytime" (hee) is not over, I can eat normally again and no barfing. So I didn't have to go get the x-ray or go to the hospital (yes!). Maybe you could try the cold water and cold liquid foods (like cold potato Soup, or gazpacho, or sf pudding). I hope you feel better! *drinking cold water right now*

sleeve 4 me, you look great! And your skin looks great too Nothin wrong with your neck at all. Have you ever tried a relaxing shoulders & neck massage? Maybe you're holding tension in your neck and that's part of why you feel like your neck muscles are standing out. If you are, and you do try a massage, I bet you'll FEEL much better cuz neck tension is the worst.

Wonderful!! Congrats! Especially on your vacation... sounds like the sleeve is doing its job for you. Sorry to hear about the benadryl & steroids. I know ALL TOO WELL how that is.