colorado

It took quite a while for the swelling to subside. I too gained 20 lbs post-op - it was frightening - I assume you had laparoscopic surgery? If so - even though you only have a few small outside wounds - you have many stitches inside that are dissolving and healing. Your body heals by sending fluid into the area - thats why it is swollen. You should only be concerned if it is red, hot, or "weeping" otherwise time will heal it. Best of healing to you (and your stomach!)

I wanted to clarify again about the two kinds of nausea - I had the horrible nausea from the bowel obstruction AND after I recovered from that I had some nausea every day - most often in the morning - right when I was waking up - even before I ate anything. With our insides being rearranged - it takes a while to get our insides to settle down - months in fact:)

I had a lot of nausea post-op. The prescription called zofran - a meltable tablet you put on your tongue was a lifesaver. Ask your Doc for a prescription. This being said - I had some extreme nausea and vomiting - it was horrendous - I called Doc and spoke to a resident on call and he told me to "tough it out" with the zofran - I think because I had just been discharged from the hospital 2 hours earlier - well - it didn't get better so went back to ER and turned out I had a bowel obstruction - thus the vomiting and horrendous nausea - soooooo I echo the previous post - call your dr to be safe and if you feel horrible just go back to ER. Best of luck.

Hello: I tried to reply to a question about Vitamins in the Dec post-op group but it wouldn't send so I decided to start a new thread. I wanted to recommend getting and "old lady" pill sorter and putting the daily vitamins in that - leave it where you brush your teeth so that it is starting you in the face every morning as a reminder to take them! Not taking vitamins has long term consequences for roux-en-y patients. It may not show up immediately in your blood work but your body is "stealing" vitamins from your bones and other places to try to make up for what we are missing. Be vigilant about this - its for life! A tip if you have Cigna as an insurance company. Cigna has a medication list of drugs that are covered with a "0" copay - you would need to check your particular plan BUT pre-natal vitamins are covered for other "conditions" if it is deemed a medical necessity. Which roux-en-y makes vitamins a medical necessity. I take Zatean Plus Softgels. It is a rather large green soft gel so it may be difficult for some to swallow - AND - you need to be several months out and have approval from your Dr to take tablets, but this is quite a money saver. You might want to look into it with your insurance. Anyone else there with tips for vitamins?

Thanks for this thread. I have been delaying and delaying cleaning out my closet. In fact, I have been mad at times that none of my clothes fit. I have been telling people this and of course they think I am just crazy:) I have tried to explain to a couple that it is very very psychological. In many of these clothes I felt like I looked very nice in them, but really never got many compliments - NOW that I am a thinner size - it seems at every turn or with every encounter of someone I haven't seen in a while I generate a compliment. I'm the same person - who has always dressed nicely - but when you are 100+ lbs overweight you are something of a shadow - people don't see you - they see a weight - and the public perception of a "perfect" person is one who is not fat. I think the clothes are a tangible symbol of what we have been - and I was a happy person at that weight - just had a lot of health issues - and I am a happy person now - but I am recognized and treated differently at a smaller body size. I think that is why the clothes not fitting makes me kind of mad - I'm going to try to get over it and get all the pants that fall off out of the closet to make room for the new ones - I tried on something like 140 pair of pants and jeans to find what size fit me and that I liked!

This is a great plan for increasing the walking - but remember its just a plan. Every person is different. I really wasn't able to move much for almost two weeks - I did have two complications that required two more hospital stays - so I had really low energy. Encourage yourself - don't use recovery as an excuse - but remember to take things at your own pace. You will really know when you are ready to get moving - give yourself time to heal - its a HUGE surgery - even though then send you home in 2 or 3 days you have weeks of your body trying to heal itself from the inside out. Gentle short periods of movement will get you on the right track. This 1st ones may just be the trips the bathroom and back, then the mailbox, then around the block. Best of healing to you

I forgot to add another favorite home remedy for gas - if you are approved for the bathtub - submerge yourself in the bathtub - something about the pressure of the water on the outside of your body seems to relieve the pressure on the inside - just my own personal feelings - nothing scientific to back this one up!

Unfortunately, there is really nothing that will get rid of trapped gas once it is in your lower intestines. Moving your body to move the gas down and out of the digestrive tract, is really the only way to get rid of it. Gas-x/simethicone works ONLY in the stomach. It does not work once food has entered the digestive tract. When I was in the early stages I would eat (or drink) the meal and use the Gas-x strips the dissolve on your tongue. DONT wait until later - they are most effective when the food is in the stomach. Think of bubbles on the surface of liquid that come to the top and pop. This is what Gas-x does. When I was farther out - about at 3 weeks I found the chewable pills to work better immediately after a meal to allieviate that gas feeling. Be proactive and treat after eating - taking Gas-x more that an hour after a meal is almost a waste of money. Nothing stops gas after it is already in your bowels - except moving it out. Sorry if TMI:) Bean-o is also very effective at preventing gas from forming from beans, vegetables and whole grains. Consider adding a probiotic once you are cleared for pills capsules - I recommend Florastor - one of the few probiotics backed by double blind/placebo scientific studies. Worth the expense. Good luck - remember - prevention

I take any tablets I want - one of my major annoyances after surgery was the not so pleasant liquids:( I was happy to start taking tablets - about 3 weeks after surgery - first I had to take them one at a time, now (7 months post-op) can swallow the whole handfull (about 8, including tylenol and multivitamin) at one time - my method prior to surgery. I was told as long as pills go down and stay down you can swallow them. As I mentioned in a previous post - the Dr's and researchers are really not sure how our body is absorbing the medicines - this is why frequent blood tests (every 3 months) are necessary to make sure everything in your body is working as it should.

I am 7 months out. I have been taking zyrtec for almost 4 months - life is intolerable without. The Dr has said there is really no way to know how timed-release medicines work in our bodies. They don't know if it works, if it is more effective, or less effective. It is unknown. The best best would be to ask the Dr. if you can take a medicine and see how your body reacts to it. Does it last as long as before surgery? Does it wear off sooner? Does it last about the same? Because the medicine is traveling through the stomach and digestive track at a different rate and path than with most people, you may have to do some "self-experiments" I also take tylenol arthritis strength which is a stronger dose in a time-released 8 hour form and find it to be more effective than regular or extra-strength tylenol. Oh - how I miss Celebrex - now a big no-no because of fear of a ulcer:(

There will be plateaus, 3 weeks out is a common time - you cant do a whole lot bout it except wait - unless you are somehow ingesting bags of M & M's (there was a story about a lady who did this) the scale will move again. Remember - we don't LOOSE weight - we lose it - our clothes and skin are loose but we lose weight:)

My sense of taste and smell were terrifically sensitive for about 3 months after surgery. Especially the sense of smell. It was extreme for me because I am a super taster and super smeller in the 1st place so it was sensory overload. Just endure and try to avoid what bothers you - also make sure you have a prescription for anti-nausea medication - Zofran - is your best friend.

A brand my nutritionist recommened and I used successfully was Bluebonnet - no horrible smell - had to order it online.

I had a very difficult time eating for the 1st six week, zofran (anti-nausea) was my best friend. I would wake up nauseated before I ate anything too. Concentrate on what you can eat and keep down and eat those items - don't go for too much variety. If you are worried, call your Dr and ask, but with the massive rearrangment of our insides it is normal to have a difficult time, some are able to bounce back quickly, some take a little more time. When I had the full - kind of sick feeling a hot bath (even in the middle of the summer when it was 100 degrees) was very soothing. Best of luck.

So, the teacher in me wants to remind my fellow weight loss friends that you LOSE weight - you don't LOOSE it. We are losing weight - we are not loosing weight! Now - our skin is loose and our clothes are loose as we LOSE this weight - but we are NOT loosing the weight! Hope this little english lesson helps! Keep up the losing weight so that our clothes are loose (and unfortunately our skin is loose too).

Greetings fellow roux en Y friends. I have been a long time lurker and have finally decided to post. I am 7 months post surgery - July 24, 2012 and am doing well. I have not lost at the rate of some I read about here but am happy with what is going on. I have experienced major stalls over and over again and am currently in the midst of yet another one that I hope will break soon. My philosophy and mantra "It is what it is" and I just have to keep moving forward each day with the hope for continued weight loss. Pre-surgery weight was 255, current 195. I can eat most anything but in much smaller amounts than before. This being said I try to make the most diet advantageous choices each day. I feel frustration that I am eating about 1/8 of what I used to eat but the weight loss is slow - then - I remind myself of my mantra "It is what it is" and go on from there! I have chosen to tell NO one but my immediate family that I had this procedure. This is a very personal choice, but I have never been encouraged or helped by others "watching" what I eat. When people ask me what I have done to lose weight I say eat less - a LOT less- and exercise more. Which are both true. I feel the most angst about keeping silent about this when I encounter others who I know, have had a lifelong struggle with weight and they ask me how I am achieving success - I give my standard answer but know that this really will not help them, It has only been the tool of gastric bypass that has allowed me this success. Although I have the desire to give them information about this has helped me achieve weight loss - it is a slippery slope - once I tell one person - it gets around. Choosing not to make this choice public has protected me from the stigma of taking the "easy" way out from those that view the inability to lose weight as a social or self-discipline problem, not a medical condition. "It is what is it" and these are my thoughts.

Please be patient and know that the Dr has your health foremost in his mind. Re-routing intestines is a major procedure and bowel movements and the 1st and foremost sign that everything is working correctly. It is not an obsession by the nurse and Dr but a medical necessity. Please don't be embarassed by a normal bodily function. This being said, I hear that you really really just want to go home - don't rush the healing - this is just a temporary part of your journey and you will be in your house soon. It was 9 days post-op before I had a BM whooooo.....

I am 7 months post op and do find myself wanting bread - and have had some at about the 5 month mark. I am happy with a bite or two and really find it fills up my new stomach too much to get in the protein. The bite or two satisfies my brain and mouth and has worked thus far. I think saying NEVER eat something just sets yourself up for failure. Making the decision to eat less of everything is much more realistic. But your Dr may have a specific reason they have told you this and I would ask them why they say NEVER and what rationale they have for this direction.

Best of luck with your surgery. As you know, each person's journey is a little different. I did not have an easy recovery, took six weeks off work and needed every day of it! I had two return trips to hospital for complications - the 1st 4 hour after release which turned out to be a bowel obstruction, which resolved itself in a couple of days, and the 2nd trip for pneumonia. ONCE I was home for real, I was able to take care of myself; however, it was really nice to have someone to make me some broth and bring me drinks, etc. It was also nice to have someone help pull me into a sitting position as your stomach is very sore (think about 250 situps sore) for several weeks. There is not much you are eating so you don't really need anyone to cook for you:) although homemade broth is very nice and someone to whip up the protein smoothies is nice too - but not necessary. Hopefully your jouney will be one of the smooth ones mentioned here but give yourself a chance to heal and don't push things. Oh, the last thing I really needed help with was I didn't drive for about 10 days - but you really don't want to go anywhere anyway. Good luck.

My Dr has had me on a proton pump inhibitor since surgery, it helps protect the new stomach (pouch) and keeps the heartburn at bay. Food causes heartburn so eating different food will probably not help. I also used zofran - an anti-nausea medication - for the 6 weeks to help with nausea - which was unrelentling in the beginning. I also took Tums after every meal not only for calcium but it helps make the food stay down. I'm sure your Dr will be able to help