georgiare

@@laneydasilva lol this may seem obvious, but if you want to stop drinking soda, the best step might be to stop buying it. When you find yourself going to the fridge in the store to pick one up at the register, make yourself grab a water or a tea instead. If you don't dwell on it, it becomes easier to avoid. I used to drink a 24 pack a day, and now I can't even steal a sip from someone at the dinner table because it hurts al the way down.

My newest victory is also my newest annoyance. My size 11/13 pants won't stay up, I need a belt!

The hair cycle is about 12 weeks, the surgery confuses the hormones that regulate this cycle, and many follicles are sent into shed mode. So, yes, it can take 3-4 months for it to start, and it can last several months too. I have actually found the hair loss to be shocking. I had very little hair loss with the lap band, but after my revision to the sleeve, I started losing hair by the handful every day at month 3, and it just keeps going. My pony tail is about half as thick as I'm used to. For awhile there my hair would clog the shower drain every day. But, the good news is that it does grow back. I just cut my hair short right after surgery, and started taking biotin to make regrowth go fast. Don't worry about the short term, there are ways to deal with anything for the now. The important thing is to focus on long term health goals.

I was told no caffeine ever because it's so hard on your tummy. I usually buy decaf tea for iced tea and herbal or white teas for hot tea. I drink decaf at Starbucks if I go. I love the taste of teas and coffee, but the caffeine makes me very nauseous. But I haven't had caffeine in several years now, so it might be due to my low tolerance as well.

My surgeon recommended once per year after the first year forever, but said that most people don't come in much after 5 years unless there's issues.

Yes, my revision was done all in one surgery. My surgeon said it was the most common surgery she does. @@giugiu37 my insurance paid for the revision because when my band slipped I regained most of the weight I had lost, so I had to get it out either way and the weight gain showed that I would not be successful without restriction.

I have had vthe same issue, 3 months out and no weight loss after revision. My doc said it's not enough protein and need more exercise for me, which is hard to do with my chaotic life. I would definitely try is cutting out sugars and carbs to a bare minimum, and change up what exercise you are doing. I tried changing my focus area on weight training to 2 days on arms & back and 2 days on legs, with cardio before bed. It's helped me break the stall.

Sleep, heat pad, or just rest. I remember the band being a lot more painful than the sleeve, oddly. I made a huge pile of pillows to lay up against, and stayed in bed for the better part of 10 days post op, just walking around the house to get a drink or use the restroom. But, really, the most of the pain passes within the first 3 days, so you shouldn't feel bad about using the meds for the first few days because you won't likely need them in a few short days.

I would do 2 days before at least. You want to make sure your skin is as clean as possible the night before and day of surgery in order to prevent infections, not only in the skin but inside as well because everything that goes in passes the skin. I wasn't allowed to use soap the day of surgery, so if this is the same for you, you won't be able to wash the salts or the microbes from the stagnant water from your skin. So, my opinion, I would go for a nice pedicure over a salt bath. But, if you do, just make sure you tell the surgeon in case they need to do extra microbe scrubs.

Im a single parent, and my daughter is only 8, not old enough to really cook much for herself. I cooked for her everyday, and for me it wasn't much of an issue. I cooked normal for her and made myself soup or whatever else I was tolerating that day. The first few weeks while you're healing seems to drag on forever waiting for the freedom to eat a more diverse diet, but once it's past it seems like it flew by. Just take it one day at a time and do what you can. Remember, outside of infants, other family members are usually capable of making themselves a sandwich or heating up leftovers for themselves. If you can't handle it to cook for them, ask for help.

I use an implant, never have periods normally with it, and I was spotting for about the first 3-4 weeks after surgery. It's definitely a result of the surgery, but also the drastic dietary change and hormonal changes that go along with both I believe.

@@winter1023 if you do a blog search for the week 3 stall, you'll find that it is actually very common.

I am excited every time I get my labs back and my blood sugar is completely normal! My other favorite nsvs include cinching the belt, passing by the bakery section at the store without even thinking about it, taking the stairs at work without losing my breath, and being able to run! Love it all.

That's like a chicken or the egg question. If you eat too fast you could eat too much. You have to give the food time to get to your belly in order for the signal to be sent to your brain that you're done.

Not at all hard or difficult. I'm a picky eater as is my daughter. I eat what I eat and if she doesn't like it she can cook for herself (so she usually eats what I eat). I prepared the full thanksgiving dinner at 7 weeks post-sleeve. I just find that I change what I cook, I don't bake lasagna or pizza anymore, I make chicken or faijtas. For comparison though, I had to make way more dietary changes with the lap band than I have with the sleeve. When I had the band everything got stuck, and there were so many foods I couldn't way because they wouldn't go down. With the sleeve there are only a couple foods that make me nauseous, and I just physically can't eat as much anymore. So, I can make all kinds of food for others, but when I sit down to eat I get like 5 bites in then I'm stuffed.

You are also used to eating for energy at the time of surgery, and your body is trying to burn fat and muscle right after surgery to get that energy. Your head is definitely telling you to eat more. I remember eating cream of chicken soup and having more than I thought I would be able to, and even now I can chug (reasonably) water and other fluids. But when they ok'd cream of wheat and oatmeal, I noticed that I could only finish about 1/3 of a packet. 3 months out, I still can't finish a whole packet of oatmeal. You will feel the limitations more when you get into fuller foods. The important thing during the full liquid phase is to eat slow because you don't want to put pressure on the staples and cause a leak. I also tried sugar free sucky candy during that time, to keep my mouth busy so I wasn't always thinking about food, but even the sugar alcohols they use in those can give some sleevers tummy aches so be careful.

So, I take vitamins specifically based on my blood labs, so I take 5000iu d3, which I take the liquigel caps, b12 500mg, vitamelts, multivitamin, also vitamelts, and slowfe iron(because the meltaway multivitamin doesn't have iron in it). I had the band for a year and the sleeve 3 months, get blood tests about every 3-6 months to have my levels checked, and these are my problem areas. One thing that I do try to focus on is ensuring I am getting both thiamine and b12, so either a b complex vitamin or b12 separately and make sure thiamine is in the multivitamin. I also take calcium in one of 2 ways, I will either chew a tums or mix an upcal into a milk in the morning (it's powdered calcium citrate).

I didn't even have the energy to step on a scale when I got home lol. Good on ya! But, yes the iv fluid can make you weigh more, plus the inflammation. You will likely see a big change after the first week.

Yes, sounds like sliming. You can try slowing down and eating smaller bites to reduce it.

I had a lot of pudding, hot cocoa, milk, tomato soup, and sugar free ice cream/fudgsicles/popsicles during that phase.

My tastes changed on some things but not others. I used to eat hotdogs (the good organic ones not the cheap ones) daily with the lap band, but now I can't stand them. I also used to prefer sweet more, ketchup or sweet bbq that kind of thing, but now I prefer sour, vinegar and mustard and such. I noticed the first about month after surgery many smells and tastes were super strong and I couldn't stand stuff like jello or crystal lite, but that passed and I can have those normally now. There are some things that you will get a belly ache from, so you will lose your taste for, or you might just deal with the crap feeling and just plan for time to lay in bed until it passes, depending on the kind of person you are. I get this from peanut butter and cocoa, I can live without peanut butter but I need some form of chocolate in my life so I just plan to have hot cocoa when I have an hour to lay in bed lol. It'll be a learning process for you, but once you get past the initial recovery diet then you can figure out what your body likes now and what you don't. The initial changes though, can subside and others move in. The initial changes can be due to the change in diet, or the effects from the anesthesia, or ketosis putting a bad taste in your mouth. All of which will pass with time.

I lost a lot in band but nothing in the cup. Went from 44DD to 38G presently, although I could get into a 36 now, I just think it would be difficult to find the correct cup size. Although, my little sister lost a lot of weight (no wls) and went from a 38DD to a 36c.

I think in this forum there are a lot of diverse opinions on this. And really, what I've found, is that whomever you tell, you are going to have several conversations with that person about your surgery in the future. They get curious, or want to compliment you, or get judgmental, or just want to see how your doing, or whatever. But the topic of weightloss will enter the conversation, more commonly in my opinion, than prior to surgery. Now, for me personally, I told my whole family because I needed the support with my daughter during recovery. Most of my family is super understanding and would support me through anything. My younger sister is not a very nice person and although she struggled with being overweight herself she is very rude to me about my having surgery, but that's really 1 out of many and she's rude in general so to me it's to be expected and I can avoid her easily enough. Work on the other hand is more complex than family. I told just a couple people at the job I was working when I initially got the band, and they were all counselors so very supportive and inquisitive but no issues. I told my closest coworkers at the job I was at when I modified to the sleeve, and many of them had also had surgery so they understood and those who hadn't had surgery were inquisitive and constantly brought up the surgery. And finally, I started a new position where I don't feel I know everyone well enough for it to concern them. My previous jobs and coworkers had to deal with me being out for the surgeries, so I felt no need to avoid the topic, but that's not the case currently. I've told my closest coworker only in my current position, and she responded with "I just don't know why you would do that to yourself, you're tiny". To which I laughed off the backhanded comment and replied "well then I guess it worked!". She is not a small woman but apparently has issues about it. I only told her because she likes to express affection with food and I wanted her to know why I was always declining her offers for lunch or baked sweets. So, my biggest recommendation would be to consider how you anticipate the conversation working out for you. With each person, do you feel they would be supportive, or not? Could they keep your surgery private if you asked them to? And do you want a lot of conversations to be about your weight loss in the future with that person? Hope this was helpful

I was covered by insurance, comorbidity was pcos symptoms.

@@dad77 I never found that taking something first was the best answer for me personally. I tried ginger tea and walking around, or laying at an incline with 4 or 5 pillows behind me are what usually helped. I was not on omeprazole after surgery, just the nausea meds (which I never took) and the lortab pain killer. You can try the gas x strips, doubt it could hurt anything and if it helps than great! Or, as most will say, you can call the doc and see if they recommend any other options.