acspringhill

I was discharged from the hospital Friday after having gastric sleeve surgery. The first afternoon after having the surgery, I had a strange observation. I had my phone with me in the hospital and noticed that tones I was used to hearing were lower in pitch than normal. I have no idea what caused this and it hasn't happened before. Luckily, this is the first major surgery or procedure I've had requiring an overnight hospital stay. I was wondering if this could be a side effect of the narcotics? I was on a Dilaudid PCA while in the hospital then given a Loritab Elixir Rx for pain, taken every 4 hours. It's been two days since I was discharged from the hospital and I still hear everything in this frequency lower than I normally hear it. When my phone rings or chimes (I have a work phone and personal phone)I am hearing the sounds off key, or perceive them that way, in a lower pitch than normal. Has anyone at all ever experienced this? I am not worried about it yet, but it is something I am not used to because it makes listening to music intolerable. Voice frequencies sound the same to me, but music and tones I hear from the phones and tv are off. This might be one of the most unique side effects anyone has ever had, but I have never had any hearing or tonal problems like this, not since I ruptured my eardrum when I was 14 from a bad bout of the flu. That only affected one ear, and it was madness as I would hear two different pitches in the good and bad ear, but it went away when the eardrum healed. 25 years later, I am in a similar situation. I had no pain in my ears before and after the surgery, and wasn't sure if this was something that is a known side effect from medicines, IVs, etc. Can anyone shed a little light on this, I'd be relieved to know this is not just happening to me--and will go away! Thanks

I can wear 38" jeans now! Just had to goto the store and see if they'd fit. Little snug at the gut but they fit, and this makes me feel so much better.

Wow... This must be what I have... I was sleeved 11-21-13 and have lost 80 pounds since then. But the past few months I've been stuck at 242. At work and at home at night I'm craving carbs, such as crackers or pretzels. I try to eat as much protein as possible to fight the cravings at work. I'm surrounded by chocolate at work as a huge bowl of mini candy bars sits not too far from my spiteful eye. I've been good at staying away from that and my biggest vice- ice cream, but just can't stop wanting the crackers or pretzels after dinner. I do try to drink lots of water during this time to help the brain realize I'm full, but I'm just wondering if I'll ever resume losing weight to get down to 200. Haven't gained any back, as it fluctuates between 242-245. For exercise I do a pretty intense 30 min stationary bike ride every other night. Still trying to find how to get in more protein. But in getting tired of cheese and beef jerky, and chicken is just too dense sometimes. Canned chicken breast I can handle, but I'm on this thread trying to reach out to those with the same issues. I'll have my 1 year checkup in November, and the NUT will probably not be too pleased :-( The push to lose another 40 and keep it off forever is a goal I can't give up on. Darn you head hunger!!!

So glad this thread is here. I am about at the 8 month post op mark and have not lost any weight for about a month. 75 pounds lost so far, but I seem to be stuck at 248-250. I have been good at avoiding bread, pasta, carbonated drinks, anything sweet etc. I was just wondering if anyone else hit a stall that long around 7 months after surgery? Despite abstaining from the items above, I am still trying to reduce snacking and push away from carbs. I tend to crave nuts, trail mix, and crackers when I want to snack, as I finally got sick of eating string cheese for every snack. I still exercise on my stationary bike every other day, and walk as much as possible at home or at work. I'm curious to see what my cholesterol/triglyceride levels are now as I can't tolerate red meat, just a small portion and I'm full. Trying not to sweat the 'stall' stuff but sometimes feel like I'm alone with this challenge.

I had my sleeve done in November and have lost 75 pounds since. Unfortunately, I seem to have hit a big stall the past month, weight stuck at 247. I'm 6'1 and am trying to get down to 190. Anyone else hit a huge stall around month 6 or 7? I bought a stationary bike to exercise more, but the scale hasn't gone down. I have been bad at snacking while at work, usually crackers or nuts, and have stayed away from bread, pasta, carbonated drinks, anything sweet. Lost lots of hair despite taking the biotin. I haven't gained any weight back but can't seem to drop below 247 and it's been over a month. I eat as much protein as my body will tolerate, so I'm trying to see why the stall is persisting. Just checking to see how others in month 7 are doing.

I went from 46 to 40 in 5 months. Would love to get down to 34" as in high school days. My weight loss is not as rapid as the first few months but hopefully another 50 pounds will come off and get me close to 34".

Dr. Williams is awesome. He did my sleeve in late November. The support group at Vanderbilt meets every Wednesday I believe. I'd go if it didn't conflict with my work schedule. They are very supportive and lots of my questions are answered there. I live in Spring Hill south of you.

How often do any of you get short lasting dizzy spells after standing up post op? I have to take beta blockers because I have A-Fib, and something really bad happened today. I was on my way to work, stopped to get a cup of coffee, and got out of my car, got the dizzy spell, and completely blacked out on the sidewalk outside the store. I came too and noticed my hands and forehead and chin were cut up pretty bad. I had no idea what had happened as three people were helping me up. I called the surgery clinic and they asked if I had eaten and drank that morning, which I had. Then they said it must be your heart meds and to call the cardiologist and tell them what happened. The cardiologist said it sounded like low BP/heart rate, so they are going to see if they need to reduce my meds since I've lost 65 pounds since first being diagnosed with a-fib. The dizziness was much more common a few months ago- as my heart meds were at full dosage. People at work asked if it was low blood sugar, who knows. Was the strangest thing to happen and hopefully will be the strangest thing I have to go through during this change.

Thanks for the replies, I feel much better today and going to purchase a bp monitor. Forgive the off topic question, but my face looks like someone beat me up is there any kind of makeup or concealer I could get like at Target to cover the scrapes and scratches on my face? Much appreciated!

Im three months out and still terrified to try rice, pasta, or bread. Add popcorn to that too...

I don't know why, but I've felt queasy all day and have been afraid to eat. How on earth can I feel totally full all day? I felt fine yesterday, didn't eat too fast or too much. Trying to eat a small portion of chef salad now, still feel the queasiness. I have the worst time with this at dinner time. I'm about 6 weeks out too. Some days my stomach just has odd times and makes it hard to eat anything.

Wish mine were excercising... Least more than I do.

I am still taking my capsule... Now that I'm past having to crush pills. Agreed. Effexor is very bitter, I had to pour it over yogurt to offset the taste.

I'm a month out and the NUT says so many bad things bread will do, well, make you feel bad I'm scared to eat it. I tried a triscuit the other day and had no ill effects. But rice, pasta, sliced bread, boy do I miss those.

Funny thing regarding the tuna... I was able to have tuna salad with no problems as it is less dense, but 3 bites from the chicken of the sea ready to eat tuna pack felt like it got stuck and I couldn't eat anymore and just had to sweat that one out. The minute I eat or drink anything my stomach starts gurgling so I'm definitely listening to it. Have a group outing at work today hopefully they will serve something that won't cause the instant fullness. What are sliders in this forum referring to? When I think of sliders I think White Castle or Krystal lol.

This is my first day back to work post surgery. Tried to eat 3 bites of tuna and immediately got the pain in the throat.... Awful. Gagging reflex type feeling... No way I ate too fast or was full. Hope this isn't a often repeated occurrence.

I'm almost at the one month mark and get that same stuck in throat feeling, especially at dinnertime. I usually feel like I didn't even eat very much to get full so fast. (Not that I'm still hungry, but worried I am not getting all the calories in). The past few nights I've been trying salad with shredded cheese and deli ham, and a small bowl filled me up almost immediately. Getting all the Protein down seems to be hard because it makes me full so quickly, except for yogurt, which is never a problem because it doesn't require chewing :-)

I'm three weeks post op, and the only nagging pain that comes and goes is about six inches from the stomach removal incision. It's similar to the kind of pain you get in your side when you've been running and is called stitch in your side? I feel it at random times near my right rib cage during the day, and when I'm sleeping in bed if I turn to my right side. Is this common to still get this pain, and does it eventually go away? Bending over or twisting to the side can aggravate the area too. Thanks!

Well it's been over two weeks since the surgery, and I didn't want to be jumping the gun on this topic. I was moved to regular (non pureed) foods this past Monday as I have been able to get my protein amount to the NUT satisfaction and keep liquids and food down. I am now feeling like any kind of food I try to eat that isn't protein, does not settle well. For example, the past few nights I have tried different things for dinner, several slices of turkey. I got heartburn almost immediately after eating it and of course my stomach starts to go into instant symphonic mode of noises. Last night, I thought I would try a little of the Special K Protein cereal with some skim milk. By bite two I felt my stomach gurgling again as if to say stop eating that, and then the heartburn. I start to feel a little queasy from the instant fullness, and it's becoming annoying because it is keeping me from being able to eat a sufficient amount of non dairy protein (meat). I was able to successfully eat some condensed Lentil soup Friday, very slowly as to not cause heartburn, yet days before I had vegetable beef and I was sick the entire night. I know it's only been two weeks, but why would my stomach go from being able to handle this stuff earlier in the week to me being afraid to try anything of the sort later on just a few days later? I was able to eat cut up boiled chicken fine Monday night, but the next day tried to make a small amount of grits to eat with sliced turkey, and I just couldn't handle it. Anything you might recommend that will help me get through the dinner meal without having to go back and rely on cottage cheese and cheese sticks???

Thanks for the advice all!

My name is Alex and I'm a 39 year old male living in Tennessee. I am divorced with three children. My highest weight was 323 and I became more and more concerned with my overall health condition. In 2007 I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, and just two years ago, atrial fibrillation. When it was suggested that all of these problems could be related to my obesity, I started looking for more extreme ways to try to lose weight. I have struggled with weight gain my entire life, trying all kinds of diets, losing 60 pounds when I was 16 but gaining it back by the time I was 22. My ex-wife had Roux en Y surgery in 2007, and had a dramatic weight loss. Unfortunately, she did not heed the advice of the doctors and dieticians and never took her supplements, so the weight came right back within two years. This has turned me away from having the surgery until a mutual friend of hers, a lap bander, had me speak to another friend who had recently had the gastric sleeve surgery, which I had not heard of until earlier this summer. I got very excited after researching the surgery and called my insurance company for physicians in network who perform it. I signed up for a consultation with the Vanderbilt Center for Surgical Weight Loss in Nashville in July and that is when I was sure this was the right time and the right thing to do. When the surgeon, Dr. Brandon Williams came in during the presentation I realized I went to high school with him and felt another sense of ease since we already knew one another. I had complete encouragement from my parents, my fiancée, and my personal physician, who wrote the letter of recommendation for me to have the surgery. And my insurance company was very easy to deal with, and only required a few standard prerequisites prior to having the surgery. (Psych eval, attendance of support group, evidence of trying other diets, etc). Four months later my surgery took place 11/21/2013. My only complication during the surgery was during post op; my heart went into atrial fibrillation while I was in the recovery room. I was moved to the cardiology floor at Vanderbilt for monitoring. The first night in the hospital was spent seeing many cardiologist trying to figure out how to get my heart rate below 130 where it stayed for hours. By morning, it was down to the 80s, since I was able to take my beta blockers crushed (yuck!). I was discharged the next day since my heart rate was back in the 60s. It has almost been 2 weeks since I had the surgery, and the only pain I feel is in my right side around the ribs, which is close to where they removed most of my stomach. I am now past the soft foods stage and can drink and eat ok, long as I resist the temptation to eat too big of a bite of food. I still crave the old foods I am no longer allowed to eat, but am putting in the toughest battle to stay with this diet by the book. I am 27 pounds down and hope to lose more and when I return to work I hope I can keep in control of my daily diet. That's enough about me... Good luck to everyone out there. I feel good about what I have done, no regrets.