Beckyyb93

If your dr thinks you may have an autoimmune disease, you should start with a Rheumatologist. Your internist should be able to refer you to one. I am not sure about waiting or not waiting until after the surgery to do this. If you are started on some type of biologic you will have to stop it prior to the surgery and then after the surgery at your surgeons discretion. I will definitely do that but I think it's best to do it after surgery and after everything is calmed down a little bit with me. I couldn't get my surgery scheduled in time to take classes as a full-time nursing student this semester so I have to take a whole semester off as a break. I'm halfway through and it's not the end of the world but also not ideal. The good part is, I'll have this whole semester to get my health back in shape and will be completely free for doctor's appointments galore! I am also glad I get to have some down time while I adjust to another surgery and let me esophagus heal from the erosion caused by the first surgery. Maybe they will find something, that would be awesome..until then I'm crossing my fingers for a successful bypass!

There was a thread about this back in 2012 but I wanted to bring it up again. My surgeon uses an On Q pain ball and it looks similar to a jellyfish with a ball as the body. The "tendrils" are placed on the inside of stomach while you are still in surgery and the ball goes in a little fanny pouch at your waist. The tendrils have little holes in them and the ball releases lidocaine/novocaine and the effect is basically a numbing through your belly and at your incision sites. I've heard great things about it, most people who have used a pain ball with surgery needed less pain medicine at the hospital and very little medicine at home. I hear patients say they felt great when they woke up as far as their belly and the incisions. I'm super excited to use this so I can come back and tell you guys all about it. My surgery is August 1st. It's something I'd definitely ask your surgeon about if you are very worried about pain..I'll report back soon! In the meantime, has anyone else used this post-op?

I order my bariatric vitamins from their website. They are cheaper than in the docs office. I use the 500 mg also. I only haven to take 2 a day now. I have used some of the celebrate products and they are cheaper. Their caramel chews dont taste as good as BA tho. And i cant stand the taste of their chewable multivitamins. BA's aren,t delicous, but much better than celebrates. I only use their sublingual presently. They are ok. You can also get some BA from Amazon. Their chewables are more exspensive than BA's website. Everyone is so different! I love Celebrate's Multivitamin and hate BA's. I think it will just take trial and error..

Both of my surgeons (in the same practice w/ different specialties) let me bring the GasX strips to the hospital for use on the first night and I've never actually heard anyone say they weren't allowed those..they help so much! Good luck

I'll check that one out too, thank you!

Thanks! I have a friend who had GB about 9.5 years ago so she's been a great resource. I'm already about half way through the book. I'm a knowledge junkie. Ha! I have a list of questions, the info from my insurance company regarding requirements (I asked them specifically about my policy), a list of goals (fitness related), and I've started making a few changes. I plan on hitting the ground running after my appt on Tuesday (hopefully). I am very very impressed! If you run out of reading material and want another good book I'd check out "Life After Gastric Bypass: 6 Steps to Ensure Your Weight Loss Success" I bought it on Google Play for $3 as an eBook. I haven't gotten to read it yet but I have heard rave reviews...half of the book is written from a patient's perspective and takes you from beginning to end with all those details that you can only experience first hand. I'm going to start it soon here I'm wishing you tons of luck and hopefully you get things together quickly!

You have a long road ahead of you but use this time to immerse yourself in research! It makes the time go much faster, you will surprise your doc with all your new knowledge and you will know what to expect so can be prepared. It's way worth the wait, just try to relax and start making the right choices and before you know it your surgery date will arrive! Good luck with your upcoming appointments, I'd suggest making a list of questions to ask. Alex is the founder of BariatricPal and he has an amazing book out specifically for us and it has suggestions for every step of the way. The ebook is only $9.99 and it covers everything from picking your surgeon, what questions to ask when, what to pack for your hospital stay, what foods to eat pre-op, post-op, and years after your bypass. It's an amazing source and will be a great tool when you have questions in addition to this place where everyone is so helpful

(I ditched the quotes because they were getting long lol) No, they didn't mention that. The other symptoms could be from something else, my surgeon didn't think much of it but my primary is the one who mentioned some type of auto immune based on those symptoms. I also had guallstones when I was three and a half years old and had my guallbladder removed at age 5 which is close to a record I believe, I was case of the month at a major pediatric hospital..we have always wondered if that somehow tied into anything because it's so very rare. I also have chronic kidney infections and was born with an anatomical issue which was fixed with two surgeries but I still take profolactive antibiotics and get breakthrough infections. I'm not sure if I should see an immunologist or a geneticist? I also had major complications with the sleeve which is why I'm revising to a bypass. Probably way too much info, it's just really weird having all these rare symptoms.

ITA. I do not plan to go into this unprepared. Frankly I am astonished at some questions being asked by some after surgery or questions that could have been answered with just a few minutes reading through this message board. I can't imagine not reading/researching in depth. I am halfway through the Big Book on Gastric Bypass and I have 5 months to go. I make notes to ask the doctor, nutritionist or further research. Me too! That book is awesome..I'm only a week and a half away from surgery but it keeps my mind busy during this LONG waiting time. It's super helpful, I also have a book called "Life After Gastric Bypass: 6 Steps to Ensure Your Weight Loss Success" and I've heard rave reviews about it. That book has a big section (more like half of the book) that is one person's whole journey from start to finish with intimate details no one else could give you. It helps me to feel prepared as well and people scare me that have a surgery date set and don't know they have to take Vitamins or drink Protein powder..yikes! I'm just so so thankful to Alex for this amazing forum and his great books!

I'm so sorry, I hope you can get some relief soon! My pain wasn't too bad after the sleeve so I'm praying I'll have similar results with the bypass. Keep us updated! Mine seems to be worse than what I have been reading of many others. I think it may have something to do with my Rheumatoid Arthritis, unfortunately. I guess I will have to just take it one day at a time. My doc is concerned I have RA but wants to wait until after surgery to test me. I have a constant 99.8 ish fever and have had it every single time it's been taken at many different offices over the last year and I have bad psoriasis. I guess we will see after surgery when we do the blood work. I have lots of muscle pain but not much joint pain..do you have any of these symptoms? Maybe I should push to get the test first..

I'm so sorry, I hope you can get some relief soon! My pain wasn't too bad after the sleeve so I'm praying I'll have similar results with the bypass. Keep us updated!

I wouldn't stress too much about this pre-op because it gets a LOT easier after you have surgery. Your new tummy will help you dictate how slow you go and will punish you if you go too fast lol. It's not possible to be perfect before surgery or after surgery for that matter but I promise you will feel restriction and then you'll be fretting about getting in all your fluids and Protein. You will get the hang of it and get into a routine relatively quickly because you will figure out what your tummy can handle, how much it can handle and how fast it can handle it. Use this time to practice but no negative self talk missey, you will do great!

I think she is only 10-11 days out so most likely she won't be able to tolerate bars yet but eventually they are good if you can get them down. They were a bit dry for me post-sleeve so I had trouble with them. You can go to walmart and buy atkins shakes or even slimfast light..they taste a little better to some folks and are pre-made so great on the go.

YES! Lol definitely, I think everyone feels like this. Our stats are somewhat similar although I don't know how tall you are. I'm 5'2 and am at about 270 now which is the highest I've ever been..yikes! I am a revision from a sleeve to a bypass so have a little bit of prior knowledge pre-op on what to expect. I had major complications with the sleeve in 2012 and haven't been able to tolerate solid food since the surgery so have been on liquids/super mushy wet food for almost 2 years. So, I'm REALLY extra excited because I'm hoping my pain will stop after this surgery! I'm on August 1st so we are right next to each other and should try to keep up post-op to compare experience. I know we will both make it through these next two weeks but it'll be tough to concentrate on anything until the surgery, I'm especially having trouble sleeping because I'm so anxious/nervous mine is mostly due to the fear of this not working and making my current condition worse. I take Lortab which is the liquid Vicodin they give you post-op every day just to be able to swallow enough liquids to stay out of the hospital even though I'm vitamin and protein deficient and I can't stay hydrated enough to keep from getting kidney infections so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll have some relief after this surgery. Knock on wood, but I think I'm due for some good luck!

My team said no alcohol for the first year. There were three reasons for this: 1) Liver failure. Your body burns fat very quickly during the first year releasing toxins stored in the fat into your system. Your liver is working very hard during this time to filter these out. Adding alcohol during this time period can overwork your liver, causing liver failure (resulting in at least one recent death for my program). 2) Cross addiction or transfer addiction. Many of us are addicted to various foods and need to practice and learn new coping skills while we are losing weight so we can keep the weight off for life. The statistics are pretty high for alcoholism, drug addiction, and other less common addictions (gambling, shopping, sex) for weight loss surgery patients. These statistics are equally as high for people who never indulged in these things pre op as they are for those who did. We need to learn and practice coping skills to avoid falling into the trap of new addictions. 3) Quick and easy intoxication. We get tipsy faster on less. There are plenty of reasons why this could be bad. Driving would be dangerous. You could end up in dangerous situations when quickly intoxicated. Or you could have poor judgment about what you put in your mouth while intoxicated. I tend to want to eat when tipsy. If I did that in the early stages I'd probably have had a lot more of those painful stuck food or vomiting episodes from eating too much, too fast, wrong foods, and not chewing. I have wine now at 14 months out. 4oz hits me hard and can make me slur my words and be unsteady on my feet. I only drink alcohol at home now, never in public (I like my Saturday night glass of wine - my indulgence after a long week). Mainly because I'd be embarrassed to seem so drunk in public and driving home would be very unwise. These three reasons were stressed and drilled into me over and over and over pre op and post op during support group meetings. I second all of these reasons 100% especially the addiction and quick to get tipsy, you can add it in but you just need to make sure you are monitoring it very closely to avoid these common problems.

I edited the wording on the statement that WLS isn't always sunshine and roses because I think it could have been taken offensively and that isn't the way I meant it.

Good point...I didn't even think about dumping from the wine. I was more concerned with the stronger effect alcohol will have..really good thing to think about though.

Hm, you'd have to compare labels. My surgeon recommends that I only purchase Vitamins (especially multivitamins) from companies who specialize in bariatrics because the levels would be different. I take two bariatric chewables a day versus the 4 chewables not meant for us super Vitamin deficient folks. I'd just find exact specs from either celebrate or Bariatric Advantage, print them and take them to GNC to compare. If they are the same then awesome, if not you have to decide what will work for you and most likely just take them more often.

My suggestion is to find a way to spruce up your Protein options. Be it buying samples and having a small tasting party (super fun way to find out what you like and actually get excited about protein..I know AMAZING!) Vitalady does samples of like 40 different protein powders for $2.99 each with $5 shipping. Other ways to spruce them up is to add PB2 which you can get at any health food store and a lot of grocery stores, they have chocolate Peanut Butter and peanut butter flavors. Get sugar free syrups either from walmart of from torani's webiste or something similar. If your surgeon ok's bananas or other fruits, grind them up in the blender until they are total mush and add them in shakes. I also have a trick for protein and Fluid intake when you are struggling..I have a timer that buzzes at me every 30 minutes and I have a thermos of a Protein shake I made and a thermos of Water, tea, crystal light, etc. and every time I buzz I take a sip of one then the next buzz the other. One sip for me is roughly an ounce and if you stick to it you'll get your requirements in without even thinking about it. That was way easier for me than looking at a huge protein shake and trying to make myself drink it all..daunting! You'll find ways that work for you, those are just some of my tricks. Good luck!

I second the above poster but I wouldn't shop for bariatric Vitamins at GNC. You need to get chewable vitamins specifically for bariatric patients and if you are going to purchase ahead of time you should start getting used to them. They will be harder to tolerate after surgery. I get all of mine from www.celebratevitamins.com and they are the best tasting of what I have tried, they have many options for each essential Vitamin. I'd suggest: Multivitamins in grape and orange 2x a day Chewable Iron grape 30mg Chewable Calcet Creamy Bites 2x a day (my favorite is lemon) sublingual D3 orange I prefer Nasobal for B12 but you have to get a script for it..it's a nasal spray you take once a week. The sublingual B12 on Celebrate is pretty good too though if you can't get a script yet. Good luck..also I don't work for or get anything out of suggesting celebrate, it's just my preference as far as taste goes which is super important post-op.

I was told alcohol needs to wait until at least 6 months for any type of alcohol but to play it VERY safe because you will get drunk/tipsy SOOOO much easier than you did before. When you drink the first time drink a few sips and wait a bit, do it at home and do it while someone is there with you in case you react poorly to it. Just be really really careful, I'm a revision from a sleeve and I didn't think it would affect me THAT much more than before but I was very very wrong. You should be fine to start adding wine into your diet now though..

Drink! Just drink and drink and drink until you are too full (but not in pain) to eat anything. That sounds awful I know but I did that after my sleeve and once I drank and got full food didn't sound as good to me. It's tough but give it time, it should get easier.

Also, I'm on a 3 day liquid diet...my surgeon tailors the length to your BMI. As long as you find protein you can tolerate it isn't too bad..I'm a revision from a sleeve so have been there done that (I had major complications and have been on liquids since 2012 so it's my normal) and if you guys need any suggestions or ideas on making it taste better let me know oh and I'm on August 1st so I'm right behind you!!

This is fine pre-op but after surgery you can't use straws because it will cause pain by making you take in more air and can stretch your pouch. EDIT: That sounded kind of crabby sorry...when I had the sleeve I used straws a few times and it hurt really bad, I just don't want you guys to be any more ouchy than you will already be!!

You have been dealt quite the deck of cards, no wonder you are having trouble. I think most would have crumbled by now but you are still here and you still have lots to live for. Obviously you know that already otherwise you wouldn't be here talking to us trying to get better. Thank you for being so honest with all of us, people need to realize that WLS isn't all sunshine and roses there are real complications and real side effects that stick with you. I wish you luck in your healing journey, if you ever need someone to listen I'm here along with everyone else on BariatricPal so just reach out if you need to EDIT: I re-read that part about WLS not being sunshine and roses and didn't like the way it was worded. I'm not trying to belittle the amount of hard work losing weight after WLS is, I meant that there are a lot of success stories and it's good for people deciding whether or not they want to have surgery to see that some people have a very bad experience with it and wish they could go back and undo it. The side effects and complications are just as important to talk/read about as the success stories so it's refreshing to hear someone say honestly that this surgery ruined their life. I have a similar thread in the complications of the VSG telling how I wish I could go back and undo it because it has turned my life upside down and not in a good way. So again, kudos to you for being so open, honest, and selfless by sharing your story with others...hopefully it will help new people see that there are consequences along with the benefits.