Sreeves

Beautiful! You look amazing. Great job!

45 pounds is great! You are headed in the right direction. I also experience slower weight loss than I expected, but at 14 months I am down 90 pounds from my highest and 75 since surgery. When I stall, it lasts for months! I actually thought I was done losing weight when I hit a major stall at 6 months, but since then I have had spurts of weight loss and now I am 20 pounds from goal. Try not to get discouraged. If you keep eating healthy and stay within the parameters of the diet your doctor laid out for you, you will continue to lose. Slow weight loss is better than weight gain any day, right? You got this, Pinkgirl. Congratulations on your success so far!

I am a band-to-bypass revision patient, too! I have been using rogaine for a couple of years due to thin, fine hair and I was really worried about hair loss after surgery. I actually had a 2-part surgery because my band was removed a year ago last December and my bypass wasn't until April 2015. I had expected hair loss right around the time of my revision because it was 16 weeks post-op, which is when I lose my hair, but I didn't have much. After revision, however, at exactly 16 weeks I lost a lot of hair. I had been taking Biotin and using rogaine up to that point, and I do believe that it helped my hair come back much faster than it has in the past. Not only that, but it's now wavy! That was an unexpected perk! Honestly, that short period where I had "bad hair" was completely worth it, though. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Congratulations on taking back control of your health. You won't be disappointed.

I had the same experience early on. Once I started eating a more balanced diet that taste went away, but my taste buds definitely did change. I can't tolerate super sweet stuff anymore, which is just fine with me! For me I think it had a lot to do with the change to very high Protein content and the fact that I was getting most of my protein from shakes and yogurt. Once I was able to tolerate animal protein and solid veggies things got a whole lot better. The breath thing could be from the very low carbohydrate count. It's called "ketone breath." I had a co-worker who used to do low-carb diets fairly regularly and I always knew it because of her breath! I started paying attention to my own breath and I definitely did notice a change. I felt bad for anyone I may have inadvertently offended. Mine goes away with the addition of just a few grams of carbs, though, which I get through my veggies, so I don't even think about it anymore.

I have only had 2 true dumping episodes. The first one was after a can of potted meat very early on, I think about 6 weeks after surgery. I got dizzy, nauseous, and sweaty. My heart was racing and my ears were ringing. It felt like the worst flu EVER! I actually had to take a zofran because I felt so bad. It lasted about an hour or so and made me so tired I just went to bed, but I felt 100% better the next day. I looked at the can and found that this particular potted meat (Spam spread) had a TON of fat in it. I had been eating a deviled ham that was great, but I never did try that Spam one again, lol. My second episode was a sugar overdose at Christmas. I just don't do sugar anymore, so my body totally rejected it. I had to stay near the bathroom for a good 24 hours and I think I doubled my Fluid intake during that time because I was losing fluids so rapidly. I felt icky but not quite as bad as the first time. I'm actually glad I dump from too much sugar. I wasn't sure if I did or not because I have had nuts with a lightly sweet coating on them and those don't bother me, but they also contain nowhere near the amount of sugar I consumed during that episode at Christmas. Lesson learned the hard way!

It sounds like your surgeon was comfortable doing everything at once, though, so that's good! It really is rough at first, though. I had a JP drain in for 2 weeks, too, and that thing drove me crazy!! I had to laugh at myself, though. With the scars from the band and the partially-healed scars from band removal, plus the 7 new scars from revision AND the bruises everywhere from the heparin injections I looked like I had been jumped in a dark alley, lol!

Wow, a week is really early! I got lucky and our department was outsourced 8 days before surgery, lol. Lost my job of 10 years but it was great to actually have time to adjust to everything. The main problem for me early on was fatigue. I was soooo tired. I thought that I was feeling hunger right around that time and I started asking questions. Turns out it was actually thirst! As long as I could stay hydrated I did not experience hunger. I do think that since this was not my first weight loss surgery, I was prepared to go through all of the phases of the post-op diet, and I was able to stay on track with that. I found that some of the allowed foods did not sit well with me (eggs were hard at first) so I just put that food aside for a couple of months until I felt more healed. It was definitely a process of trial and error, but I really have changed my eating habits for the better and I don't even care for the sweets and carbs I used to crave. I live by the "Protein first" rule, and even if I am having a salad for a meal it is topped with protein. I did start taking B12 when my doctor suggested it, and that helped greatly with fatigue. I still take it daily. I am, however, off of my blood pressure meds and the early diabetic regimen I used to be on! The one thing I struggle with is exercise. I know I need to get a good routine but I just haven't been able to make myself do it. I am about 20 pounds from goal now, though, and I know these last 20 pounds are not going to just lose themselves, lol. I am so glad I decided to do the revision. It really has changed my life for the better. I am excited to see your progress, too! Remember that you will likely experience a stall in a couple of weeks that can last quite a while. Mine was two looooong weeks (almost 3!) but I knew it was just my body adjusting to all of the changes. Once that stall ended I started dropping weight very quickly. That's when things really get exciting!! I agree....I am going to go in for a few hours and that's it....damn finances. Outsourcing...ugh...different blog.... I think you have lost a great deal of weight..,doing really well.Exercise is ok now because you can now slowly move into it without all that extra weight.I will incorporate gradually walking...,not the marathon type. That's my plan, too! I have a bad back and was actually receiving steroid injections prior to surgery, so I still have a fear that I am going to throw my back out. At this point it is more of an excuse than an actual fear, though. I have not had a single episode since surgery! What I need to do is walk. I do walk more than I used to, and I am up and moving a LOT more than I used to be, but the next step for me is to add an actual routine into my daily regimen. I am really hoping that I can muster up the motivation I need to get that started. Swimsuit season is right around the corner. Woot! Yep, I was a medical transcriptionist for my local hospital for 10 years. We got a new manager who had zero experience with transcription, so she got rid of us. Now I am back in school and working on my Bachelor's in Business so I will have some skills that will not be outdated anytime soon.

Hello, Moo! Congratulations on your upcoming surgery! My surgeon told me that all of us revisions have scar tissue that needs to be dealt with. Apparently they expect it! Sometimes it necessitates doing the surgery in 2 phases, but that will depend on your surgeon and the level of scarring. I was pretty bummed when I woke up from band removal to find out that I had not had bypass and would have to wait 4 months for that part, but my I completely trusted my surgeon. He said my innards were so beat up he just couldn't do the bypass at that time because there was an extremely high chance I would have complications if he did. I am very glad we waited. I felt much more comfortable knowing that my surgeon had my best interest in mind.

The great thing is that surgeons who do revisions are very used to dealing with scar tissue! It's good that you have some time before your surgery because you will learn a lot in that time. Believe it or not, it will go by very fast! There is a lot to be done to be totally ready and you will be busy learning about the surgery and aftercare. This is an exciting time!

Wow, a week is really early! I got lucky and our department was outsourced 8 days before surgery, lol. Lost my job of 10 years but it was great to actually have time to adjust to everything. The main problem for me early on was fatigue. I was soooo tired. I thought that I was feeling hunger right around that time and I started asking questions. Turns out it was actually thirst! As long as I could stay hydrated I did not experience hunger. I do think that since this was not my first weight loss surgery, I was prepared to go through all of the phases of the post-op diet, and I was able to stay on track with that. I found that some of the allowed foods did not sit well with me (eggs were hard at first) so I just put that food aside for a couple of months until I felt more healed. It was definitely a process of trial and error, but I really have changed my eating habits for the better and I don't even care for the sweets and carbs I used to crave. I live by the "Protein first" rule, and even if I am having a salad for a meal it is topped with protein. I did start taking B12 when my doctor suggested it, and that helped greatly with fatigue. I still take it daily. I am, however, off of my blood pressure meds and the early diabetic regimen I used to be on! The one thing I struggle with is exercise. I know I need to get a good routine but I just haven't been able to make myself do it. I am about 20 pounds from goal now, though, and I know these last 20 pounds are not going to just lose themselves, lol. I am so glad I decided to do the revision. It really has changed my life for the better. I am excited to see your progress, too! Remember that you will likely experience a stall in a couple of weeks that can last quite a while. Mine was two looooong weeks (almost 3!) but I knew it was just my body adjusting to all of the changes. Once that stall ended I started dropping weight very quickly. That's when things really get exciting!!

Hello, UserName (I LOVE your handle!!!), my name is Sheri and I have also had revision surgery and I had a hard course. I got my band in 2007 as well, and I got mine in Mexico, basically shutting me out of aftercare everywhere. The closest band doctor to me was 50 miles away and he had a real problem seeing patients who had their surgery elsewhere, so he charged us $350 a visit, even if there was no fill performed, and that was after a $950 initial visit fee. My insurance didn't cover a single thing related to bariatrics, so that was not an option for me for years. I found a fill nurse who charged $75 a fill but they were just done in any ol' location that would allow them and they traveled, so if I got a fill that was too tight I had to wait until they were back in the vicinity to get an unfill. Nothing was ever done under fluoro. Needless to say, things did not go well for me post-op. The only reason I lost weight during the first year was because I couldn't keep anything down. Everything hurt when I ate except for tortilla chips with salsa and sour cream (no idea why!) and cream of chicken soup. After the first year I learned what soft carbs I could eat to make the hunger pangs stop but I dealt with my issues for 7 years before I finally got some insurance that would cover a revision surgery. By that time my radiographs were showing a tortuous esophagus and a slipped band. What my surgeon actually found, however, was that not only was my band out of place, it was actually slammed right up against my diaphragm and all of my dilated pouch was in my throat, not below my diaphragm. Things were so bunched up I apparently had nothing more than a pinhole for my "food" to go through, which is why everything hurt to eat. I had to have my surgery done in 2 phases; band removal last December and bypass in April. Although my course was rough, I do not regret it for a single second. I am not ravenously hungry any more, ever. I do get hungry if I don't eat, but it is not that out-of-control hunger I was having with the band. I was told that my weight loss would be slower due to being a revision patient, but so far I have lost 87 pounds since I started the pre-op diet 13 months ago and I feel amazing. I so wish I had just done bypass in 2007. If I had had any idea what a nightmare my life would become with the band I definitely would have gone that route, but no one knew back then just how high the failure rate would become. If you do decide to go through with revision surgery, you will be amazed at just how different bypass is. For me it has been as different as night and day from the band, and I really do feel like I can live this new lifestyle for the rest of my life! Good luck to you in your journey. This community is the best resource I have found for information and support!

Mine was complicated like that as well. I had a heads up because my surgeon did my removal and bypass as 2 separate procedures so he already knew there were lots of adhesions but apparently it was even worse than he expected. Remember to stay on top of the pain. It's no fun for the first few days but very soon you will be feeling better and getting healthier! I felt the same way you do; the pain is temporary and very well worth it.

Congratulations on your new beginning, pinkgirl!! I had a ton of issues with my band and also gained all my weight back plus 10 extra pounds. I got the band removed a year ago and converted to bypass in April and for me there is absolutely no comparison. I wish I had done bypass first! Remember that the first few weeks are for healing and you will likely hit a stall very early on in the process. It's disconcerting but completely normal and after you get past it the weight really will start falling off! Concentrate on getting those fluids in. It will help you feel better sooner if you don't get dehydrated. Welcome to the wonderful world of bypass!

Good grief! It has been a very busy year. It has now been 1 year 4 days since I had my band removed and I haven't done an update since June! I am now down 84 pounds since I started this journey. I still can't believe just how different bypass is from my band experience. My relationship with food has changed so much I don't even recognize it! At 200 pounds I feel like I have a new lease on life. Progress has slowed considerably these past few months, but hey! It's still progress!! At this point in my band journey I was missing so many nutrients in my diet I always felt like I was in panic mode. I was already having issues with restriction and I could not eat meats very often at all. With bypass, I can eat anything I want to, and what I want is protein and veggies. Oh, and nuts. I loves me some nuts!! I eat breakfast now. That's definitely new for me. I start my day with a high-protein 100-calorie Greek yogurt and I swear it helps keep me in check for the rest of the day. Atkins frozen dinners are a staple in my diet due to the high protein and low carb count. I am full and very satisfied with the portion I get from them, and they are delicious! My husband is still gone with work most of the time, but when he is home and my eating plan is disrupted a little bit I have zero problem getting back on plan. That has never, ever happened before with the band or any other "diet" plan I have been on. I really do feel as though my eating habits have changed for the better and for good! I avoid simple carbs, but I do have potatos every so often with a meal and they don't trigger me. I found that good bread tastes delicious, and that scared me so I stay away from it. It has been incredibly easy to do so. Again, I'm amazed at just how fine I am with avoiding the things that got me to 284 pounds. Exercise is still not my friend. I have a feeling I would have reached goal months ago if I was able to stick to a regular exercise routine, but I just don't. I am getting ready to re-enter the workforce and this time I will probably be working outside the home so that should help get me up and moving. My back pain is under control now, but my knees are still hitchy so I am anxious about that. No more surgery for a very, very long time, thank you very much! A year ago I was depressed and just felt awful all the time. I was sleeping 8 hours a night and was exhausted all day long. I took naps every time I had a break from work (worked at home) and I felt like I was getting sicker and sicker every day. Now I sleep 6 hours a night on a good night and I have energy throughout the day. Who knew 6 hours was enough sleep for anyone?! I move quicker and I think better. My mood is good, even though this year has been a "rebuilding year" for my family, with a ton of crazy changes, most of them scary. Today I feel like I can tackle whatever life throws at me, and I look pretty darn good doing it! Oh and that ladie's Seahawks shirt I wanted so badly last year? I know own TWO. One is a pink ladies jersey and the other is a cute hoodie my daughter, who works at Pink, got me-in a size large. It doesn't get much better than that! I am between 15 and 25 pounds from goal and I am confident I will reach it by my 1-year surgiversary in April. I am in no huge hurry to reach goal because I feel I have made significant life changes already and I can definitely live this way for the rest of my life. If I keep doing what I am doing I will get there. Next, stop, onederland!!!

I started using rogaine a couple of years before surgery and it helped a LOT with my thinning hair. Unfortunately, it does zilch for the surgical hair loss, however. I am almost 6 months post op and right at 16 weeks postop I started losing clumps of hair. I had been taking Vitamins and extra Biotin, but apparently the surgical hair loss has nothing to do with nutrition. I have continued my regimen all the way through, though, and it is starting to come back in. I can't speak for others, but for me rogaine and biotin really do help with thinning hair other than from surgery.

I am also a band-to-bypass revision patient and my first month was very slow. I stalled early on and the stall lasted a couple of weeks, but once I was able to eat actual food I started losing weight. I am now 4 months out and have lost about 55 pounds since surgery. Weight loss for me has definitely been slower than it was early on with the band, but I feel soooo much better with bypass than I did with the band and I am down 71 pounds from my highest weight (in December at band removal), so bypass is definitely working for me. Hang in there. The first month is not an indicator of how things will go for you moving forward. Your body is still adjusting to the major shock from this surgery and you are pretty much just trying to meet Protein requirements and getting your Fluid in at this point. Once you are on a good eating and exercise regimen you will lose. It's very disheartening to not see the scale move when you are expecting it to, but it WILL move, believe me. Congratulations on taking this step toward your future health. There are a lot of us who have converted and I am seeing many, many success stories with revision on this forum. I expect you are going to be another one!

For me, surgical hair loss (or after childbirth) has always been at 16 weeks post op, but I don't know if everyone is different or if this is typical. I don't have a whole lot of hair to begin with, and I had been preparing for this by taking extra Biotin. I have been using rogaine for a couple of years and I meet my Protein requirements, but none of that has helped with the surgical hair loss. It's frustrating, isn't it? I am just continuing to meet or exceed daily protein requirements, taking my Vitamins, and drinking lots of Water in hopes that when my hair finally stops falling out the new growth will come in quickly. I hope you don't have too rough a time with yours! Oh and congratulations on your success at 8 weeks post op. It looks like you are losing a lot more than just hair!

I have had terrible constipation since surgery. I now take a dose of Miralax daily and eat 4 prunes. If I don't I definitely regret it! This seems to work fairly well for me and I am very grateful to have found a workable solution. I hope you can find something that works for you, too.

Can anyone recommend a good Vitamin that does not contain Iron? I have been taking 2 Flintstones Chewables a day and I am so constipated I can't function. I take Miralax daily and even drink Smooth Move tea every few days but I just can't get un-constipated. I stopped the Vitamins 2 days ago and have been on the hunt for one without iron in it but I can't seem to find one for those of us who have had gastric bypass. I am fine with gummies, chewables, or anything I can take (3.5 weeks post op). I know there has to be something out there!

Thanks, ladies! I posted this in May and I am STILL severely constipated! I am on the Bariatric Advantage Vitamins now (no iron) but I like those Vita4Life ones so I might give the a try. My blood work all came back perfectly normal at my 3-month checkup, so I don't have to take Iron at this point, and I have added Miralax and prunes to my diet every day which is keeping me from getting totally bound up. I really hope that eventually my body adjusts and I won't have to worry about this all day, every day, but for now I just keep doing things by trial and error.

It;s my favorite way to get my Protein in! I am about 3-1/2 months post op and I have been eating at least 1 salad a day (usually 2) for the past few weeks (3 maybe?). I have not had a single problem with lettuce, yellow cherry tomatoes, or green onions, and my protein goes down so easily with the added moisture of the lettuce.

I also had mine in for 2 weeks. I was still getting quite a bit of drainage at 1 week. I called my doctor after a week to ask if I could have it removed and they told me that if I did I would just be draining out of the hole and not into the tube and bulb but they didn't say I COULDN'T get it out, just that it would be very messy. It sounds like you are safe since you don't have any signs of infection. How handy to be working in a medical facility post op!

The first week was rough for me. It is very normal to be miserable 2 days post op, but by this time next week you should be feeling pretty okay. I was told not to worry about any of the goals (except for fluids) until after my first postop visit. All I had to worry about was sipping, sipping, sipping. You need to make very sure you don't get dehydrated. You will feel even worse than you do now if you do! Hang in there. Believe me, it really does get better!

This was a question I planned to ask tomorrow at my 3-month follow up. Thank you for posting!!

Not a dumb question! I have been getting in 80+ ounces of liquid in per day lately (almost 3 months post op). I have had no pain from this at all and I am definitely NOT sipping like I was in the beginning. It feels good to get a good gulp of Water, especially when it's hot out. I was also worried that I might be doing damage to my tummy, but I don't feel like I can eat more than I should be (about 3/4 of a cup of food at a time) or like I am stretching my pouch, which it what I obsess over. I am inclined to think that if I was stretching my pouch I would feel it. Am I wrong?