popsicle_20721

Greedy seems to be my middle name. Once I was able to eat, it was like I was getting back into my old eating habits - but couldn't. I'm still not able to judge precisely what I can and can't eat, but I'm getting pretty good knowing when I should stop and when I don't I pay the price. It is going to come up or sometimes I'm so uncomfortable that I make it come up. (sorry for the gross visual). I still seem to crave the foods that I shouldn't eat and some foods I've learned by experience to stay away from. Sometimes it's hard to know what is going to work or not. I'm still in the experimental stage of eating. In the last two weeks it's been really difficult. I have been thirsty a lot and have been trying to try different beverages to quench the thirst (I also hate water and I get tired of drinking water or related products). I would die for a soda, but for someone reason sodas are one of the things that I've been afraid to try since sleeved. Good thing I think. However, there have been a lot of foods that I have been able to eat - but I pay the price later. Not really a good way to go about this thing.

I too sometimes look at folks and want to suggest they look into WLS; however I know that would be crossing the line and certainly offensive. As many folks as I see opting for WLS, I figure it won't be long before the surgery will be so commonplace that it won't have the stigma it may have now, the cost will be much less and the insurance requirements will become a little less stringent. I also look at many people now who I know lost a lot of weight and wonder if they had the surgery. In fact, I found out recently that a very good friend of mine was recently sleeved. She was shocked when I told her that I too had been sleeved in Dec. We then started talking about our respective experiences and challenges. It was good.

I'm in HR and I concur with everyone who suggested that you apply for FMLA if you meet the eligibility criteria e.g. 1 year, 1250 hours worked in the preceding year, serious medical condition (which WLS is) The good thing about FMLA is that you can take time off intermittently, which will be a help to you in terms of attending medical appointments etc. Then when you have the surgery you may need about a week more (hopefully with no complications). The point is you probably will not run out of FMLA before the end of the 12 week benefit. The down side about FML is that it is unpaid; however, most employers allow you to use your own accrued leave to run concurrently with FMLA. I don't know exactly what you do in the school system, but if you don't have to be in a classroom everyday and your job is more administrative in nature, you may want to talk to your boss or HR regarding some sort of alternative work schedule or flex time. 4 10 hr days, which gives 1 day off to do your appointments etc. You also may want to check to see if your job can be protected via ADA (American's with Disability Act). ADA requires your employer to engage in a discussion with you about work schedule alternatives. Employers are encouraged through the regulation to work with employees to find a reasonable solution. Use of this regulation is a stretch and it can be a little tricky; however ADA regulations have changed such that you may be able to pull it off. Obesity is considered a permanent condition (if not treated) which then makes it a covered disability under the ADA. The fact that you require periodic treatment to treat this disability may in fact be covered under the ADA. Again use of this regulation is tricky, but it can be done. I wouldn't necessarily disclose the particular nature of your medical condition, they may figure it out anyway depending on the forms the physician will need to complete. However, I would strongly encourage you to explain to HR and your boss that you want to do anything possible to minimize the disruption; and, that at some point you expect your condition to stablize such that the current amount of time off you need now will be greatly reduced in the very near future. Good luck.

Well I see some folks finally posted in this particular forum. An update, I was sleeved on Dec 26 and posted regarding being ready to ride from MD to Alabama by March. Well I did it, with no problems. Back in the saddle again and losing weight on a regular pace. Eventually, I hope to look pretty darn good going down the road. One of the things I did was to take a couple of store bought protein shakes with me on the road. When I seem to get hungry, which wasn't a lot, I would drink one of the shakes which held me for a couple more hours. In fact it took that long for the shake to really go through the sleeve. I also ate a couple of peanut butter cookies while on the road. I'm still struggling with the whole eating thing cause when your on the road, your meals are from restaurants. These days one meal from a restaurant will last me a couple of days. My friends are always laughing at me, cause as soon as they bring the meal out the first thing I say is bring me a to go carton. I waste so much food. Anyway to the riders, good luck to you all.

Where do I begin... first, I have been eating way more than I should. I finally have my appetite back. I never did feel the lack of hunger that most talk about on this site. It seems I get hungry maybe 1hr to 2hrs after eating. I went to my doc appointment last week and according to him I lost 3lbs since my last visit a month ago. I was really disappointed and also confused because my home scale said I lost much more e.g. 7lbs. I have fallen off the exercise track, just can't seem to get myself motivated. Slipping back into bad habits eating junk or foods that are not good for me e.g bread, cookies. Yesterday I went to a pig-roast, there was way too much food there and everything was delicious; not that I ate everything - my eyes are much bigger than my stomach literally, but I did overat as quite a bit came up. In fact I seem to do that a lot - throw up food. I have a refrigerator ful of left-overs and things to drink. The problem is that I can't eat most of what's in the fridge (waste of money) or the beverages that I once enjoyed e.g. juice, etc. It seems I'm always thirsty. I hate water so it's a challenge to drink it. I drink Vita-Water or Gatorade or rather they are the only beverages that I can actually drink without feeling discomfort. I miss drinking sodas so badly, but haven't had one since surgery. I'm actually still scared to drink those, whis probably a good thing. I try to drink Protein drinks a little more than I once did, but even they will often just sit on my stomach until they work their way through. In fact, I'm sitting here now trying to keep some food down. I primarily eat meat, because vegetables still don't go down very easy plus I still struggle to get my protein in. I try very hard to stay away from starchy foods not because I exercise any willpower to do so, but I know they will come back up to. I would feel like a loser, but I AM losing! At least every other day while getting dressed, I find myself putting away another pair of pants that no longer fit. People have commented favorably on my looks (many simply say "have you done something with you hair??) In short I like how I look, but I don't like the fact that I don't seem to be sticking to any sort of diet. Finally, I feel a little sad today and I am an emotional eater; so I find myself constantly looking for something to eat but what I can eat, I don't want. What I shouldn't eat, I want; but quite often what I do eat - comes back up. I just can't seem to pull myself out of this funk or slump in terms of my program. Thanks for listening to me. I encourage responses of support or something...

I had a band to sleeve revision in December. I have lost more weight with the sleeve in about 3 months than I did with the band which I had for almost 5 years. The sleeve wasn't being offered as an WLS alternative at the time I was banded; if it had or I had known better - I probably would have opted for the sleeve first. I didn't have any problems with slippage but I either ate around it or I threw up a lot (especially after periodic adjustments). The worse part was that I wasn't impressed with the weight loss. Yes, I didn't follow all the suggestions with the band - but like I said I've had more success with the sleeve in the 3 mos than I did with the band after 5 years. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was when my DIL had WLS and opted for the sleeve. 6 Months post her sleeve surgery she had lost most of the weight she wanted to loose and she looked good. I knew then I had made the wrong choice. I had a hard time initially with the sleeve, but things keep getting increasingly better and I think I'm coming along well in terms of my weight loss. Oh yeah another thing that happened to me with the band, I lost weight in my lower region e.g. below the band line, but my upper body weight didn't really improve - in fact if I gained weight I gained it in my upper body. Don't know if anyone else had this experience, but this was my experience. At this point, I would never recommend band surgery to anyone. I was lucky that my insurance company paid for my 2nd surgery e.g. revision, if not I would be trying to figure out how I could self-pay - that's how disappointed I was with my progress.

I can definitely appreciate your dilemma and wish I had an answer for you. I too hate Protein shakes - and believe me I tried several brands and hated them all. I even tried to make my own and hated those too. I worried about being dehydrated as well, but luckily I didn't have to go to hospital to get Fluid. I am somewhat surprised that if you are drinking the Water that you still suffered from dehydration. I'm also not a water drinker (before or after surgery). However, I knew I had to get some type of fluid in me so I tried different alternatives e.g. juice, gatorade, vitawater etc. The products loaded in sugar e.g. >15 grams I couldn't do, upset my stomach. If you can drink the water, drink as much as you can. I was able to tolerate hot tea, so I that too was another alternative. I never did develop a taste for Protein drinks or water and eventually when I was able to eat pureed food, I tried to eat things that were high in protein e.g. eggs. I guess in short I just kept trying to experiment with different things, keeping focus on low sugar, high protein. I won't say I did a lot of sugar free drinks or ones with sugar substitutes - didn't like these either. I had to do what I could with the thought of not allowing myself to become dehydrated. Eventually I was able to eat/drink enough to accomplish that goal. Now I get most it not all my protein in from eating foods high in protein, mostly meat and particularly seafood. Recently I have even tried to some of the smaller Protein Shakes e.g. EAS and Ensure. I still don't like them, but my sleeve does so I try to tolerate them as best I can. If I can get little doses in that to me is better than nothing. Keep trying you will eventually find your niche.

I had a situation a week or so ago where I had extremely sharp pains in my stomach. It was so bad I had to leave work. I drove home with my fist clenched because it hurt so bad. When I got home I tried to lay down but the pain wouldn't stop. I eventually took two pills of the pain meds prescribed following surgery. They eventually put me to sleep and when I woke, the pain was beginning to subside. The next day the pain was gone. I never figured out what caused the pain, I just assumed I ate something I shouldn't have e.g. rice. If the pain had not gone away I would have gone to the hospital.

same here. lapband removed at same time I was sleeved. Had some complications, but not sure if it was associated with the ban removal or just my reaction to the surgery. Things are much better now.

Actually I didn't cope very well at all. I ended up having to take medication. However, I was diagnosed with depression years before surgery for which medication was prescribed. More than a year before surgery I had stopped taking medication, so it was very difficult for me to accept that I had to start taking medication again post surgery. I just didn't have a choice. The emotions were just too overwhelming for me. I think I had used food to deal with my emotions, but once I didn't have the ability to use the food anymore I didn't know what to do. I think you have to find a different outlet - for me, I hope it will be exercise. I'm just now getting in the right frame of mind where I feel like I can really start making some progress. I'm not saying everyone needs medication like I did, I'm just sharing my story - we all have one or one is currently in the making. Good luck.

I'm still relatively new e.g. 2 mos post op, however I don't think it will always be the way you describe. I felt like you do at 1 month post op. I had to devote my entire focus to eating when it was time to eat. Nothing but focus on chewing at least 30X, no reading, no TV, no talking. Even then I couldn't eat that much and what I did eat I remember feeling it make the journey from entry until it reached and moved down the sleeve. Now 2 mos post op, eating is starting to be less of a chore. I still have to chew my food WELL and I know if I eat to fast it is going to come back up. I don't feel each bite of food I eat entering my sleeve, though I do know when my sleeve is empty. Today I went the entire day without eating, not intentionally - but it happened. By the end of the day I was hungry. Lot's of folks say they don't feel hunger, but I do when I don't eat at least 3X per day. Oh well, just know that it won't always be the way you feel now.

I'm glad you are feeling a bit more relieved after seeing your doc. I was always worried something was seriously wrong in my first few weeks following surgery. My progress just didn't seem to be where others were, though I've learned that everyone's progress is different. I had a similiar problem with not being able to eat anything. It turned out that I had to have the opening of my sleeve enlarged 1/2 cm i.e. stricture from scarring. That helped a little. I was able to get a little more down e.g. creamy Soups, oatmeal but still very little e.g. 1/4 cup at the most. Even that was a struggle. I do remember I had to really concentrate when I ate. I had to count how many times I chewed my food i.e. 30X at minimum. In fact, I couldn't watch TV, talk or even ready while I ate. I had to devote my full attention to eating. If someone called me on the phone while I was eating, I would tell them I had to focus on my eating - I'll call them back. All this was new for me (so many bad habits I had developed over the years). Actually for at least the first 6-7 weeks, I was seriously doubting my decision to be sleeved. I was losing weight but I was miserable too. I felt weak all the time, like my body just wasn't mine anymore. Everyone kept saying it would get better... but when was all I could think of at the time. Well - it HAS gotten so much BETTER! In fact sometimes I worry that I can eat more than I should - of course I get full pretty quickly. I'm in the "trial and error" phase now i.e. I'm trying different foods to see what my sleeve will accept and what it won't. I still have some bad days, but not like in the beginning. I still struggle with getting my Water in and can't drink it like I use to (sometimes it still makes me nauseous). I never did develop a taste for Protein drinks, they all tasted horrible. I eventually had to try getting my protein in by eating real food enriched with protein e.g. lots of fish, eggs and other easy to eat meats. I guess all I'm trying to say is that it does get better, just have to go through it.

I know it doesn't feel like it, but it does get better. I had a pretty rough time in the beginning but things are beginning to get much better. Just do the best you can. I know that's not much but don't stress yourself comparing your progress to others. Just try to keep yourself hydrated. If popsicles are the best you can do then do popsicles.

What I recall at 6 days out other than wondering WTH did I do to myself was that drinking hot tea helped or broth. Cream soups (which I eventually got tired of) also helped. I didn't eat a lot, actually I hardly could eat anything for a few weeks. I didn't have much pain, but my doc had prescribed pain meds so I took them for a couple of weeks just to give me some relief. I was feeling pretty awful - very light headed, no energy, just horrible. I hated all types of protein drinks I tried, but never could get into them. I also had a hard time getting water in, even an ounce or two. Water actually made me nauseous. So I drank Gatorade and VitaWater just to prevent dehydration - which I believe was the reason for the lightheadedness and dizziness.