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dsdesigna

Duodenal Switch Patients
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Everything posted by dsdesigna

  1. dsdesigna

    Loose bowel movements?

    Duodenal Switcher's malabsorb Fat by 80%! Fat Free will kill us. It's the ONLY weight loss surgery that has this issue. This is a hard fact to swallow for even those that have had the surgery. It's tough to walk into a store and pick up real butter and whole milk. I can't even tell you the last time I even considered buying either prior to surgery. There are many alternatives for Protein. unjury is one they make a flavorless powder that you can add to any liquids, so like broth or Soups or whatever. At 17 days post op carbs should not be on the menu, or very limited and slathered in Fat. IMO Celiac is unlikely to be the culprit as a new symptom.
  2. dsdesigna

    Using fat burner

    I'd talk to your surgeon or your primary care.
  3. Be careful that the weight loss isn't an indication of dehydration. Keep track of your Water intake just to be on the safe side. Dehydration is the number one reason for ER visits for post opers
  4. dsdesigna

    Any extra protine?

    CVS has Body Fortress on sale right now Buy 1 get 1 50% off.
  5. dsdesigna

    Loose bowel movements?

    If you can find whole milk Lactaid that is ideal... if your nutritionist told you to use Skim Milk, please remind her that you only absorb 20% of the Fat that you eat, and whole fats are essential to Vitamin absorption as well as skin condition and healing. Butter, cheese, Bacon, Whole Milk.... FAT is a DSers best friend. High Protein, High Fat, Low Carb.
  6. dsdesigna

    Loose bowel movements?

    That is totally possible, although for DSers whole milk is better. Try at least 2% Lactaid Milk, it will help if intolerance is your issue. Also you can get Fiber capsules, open them up and sprinkle it in with your shake, you won't taste it but it will help to solidify stuff. Do not switch to Almond or Soy milk, neither have the fat content that your body so desperately needs and have way too many carbs that will stall your weight loss.
  7. dsdesigna

    Smell and taste

    There are many senses that will go through changes as you lose weight. Your body is going through huge hormonal changes and those can cause issues with smell. Similar to a pregnant woman. It should subside as your nose gets back on track with things. Tastes will change too in case you haven't noticed that.
  8. dsdesigna

    Protein

    You are eating bread?? I was told to avoid it until I get to my ideal weight. The carbs will stall weight loss. And it's tough on your new tummy to handle.
  9. Today I am 17 days post op, physically feeling great but recently had a situation that honestly I still am baffled about. I am a friendly, helpful person. Typically I like the people I meet and show a genuine interest in their lives because I truly am interested. I love meeting people from all over the world, but I hold a special affection for people who know about my home town. This affection seems to have backfired. 4 days post op I came on this site and as usual chatted with a number of people, but one in particular seemed to think, at least for a while, that I might be the one. I knew this wasn't going to be the case for many reasons, but tried to be amicable and helpful in his process to have WLS. Everything was on the up and up until for whatever reason now he won't talk to me. It's irritating for me to put in my time and energy into being concerned about someone only to find out that they are immature and can't deal with whatever conflict that percolated through his skull. This is a WLS support website not a dating site. I don't understand men. This seems to be a typical scenario for online interactions with men for me. I'm very easy to like, I'm intelligent, I show genuine interest but there is no way in hell that I would fall in love with someone that I have never met face to face. I'm not insane. Besides that at the moment I am going through the toughest, most emotional transformation in my 40 years and building a romantic relationship is way down on the list of priorities. My top priority is Hydration... with a side of increasing Protein levels. I hate fake people. I don't think it's fair to have unreasonable expectations from anyone on this site, especially new post ops. I'm more upset at the fact that its made me hesitant to come back on to chat. I love the friendships I have built here and seeing him come online now is just disturbing. To go from being extremely friendly and jovial to making snide comments for no apparent reason is pure insanity. I'm not gonna let it deter me though. If you are going through something similar or perhaps in your personal life you have people pressuring you into a relationship when you aren't interested I hope that you can find comfort in the fact that you are the normal one in that situation. I have a very particular taste in men, none of which have anything to do with his waist size. I make no apologies for it. I'm hoping to find that perfect one and feel like this transformation is a tribute to what my devotion will be to him. Just thought I'd vent for a moment. Please share your thoughts and stories.
  10. Three aunts, an uncle and two cousins all had RnY. And they struggle. Also a good friend had the Lap Band. Btw DS is the most bashed and misunderstood WLS out there. We are all allowed to have there opinion. I doubt you'd be recommending the DS. I'm allowed to feel the same about other WLS.
  11. I am 5'10" 371 when I started this journey and the DS was the only logical choice for me. I love the weight control I'll have once I get down to my ideal weight. It is a serious choice, but the rewards are overwhelming. If you are a fan of meat, or of bacon, the DS is the tool that will allow you to eat those things. Butter and whole milk are my friends. It all seems counter intuitive but I'm 15 days post op and the weight is melting off and I feel terrific... oh and I have very, very little chance of ever having anything related to dumping syndrome. Don't let people scare you away from it. I personally wouldn't recommend RnY to anyone nor the Lap Band due to complications. The DS only has complications related to non compliant patients and inexperienced surgeons. Research all four options. I LOVE MY DS! edit: People get scared about the Vitamin requirements. I take two multi vitamins/day, Calcium 3/day, and Vitamin D supplement 2/day. I'm new in the process so I may have to add more, but that's it for now. I also take a Dexilant at night and still on Lovenox to prevent blood clots. It's easy stuff.
  12. It is vitally important that you get as much Protein in as you can. It's a daunting task but without enough in your body you will have a hard time staying hydrated, will be at risk for blood clots, and you won't heal as fast. If you don't like the Protein drinks there are other things out there. Protein needs to be your focus at this point. If you are on solid or even soft foods, cheese and yogurt are your friends. Chew well of course whatever you decide to eat. Fruit should not be on the menu. Sugar is not your friend and fruit is jam packed with it. It may taste good but you will be undermining your fast weight loss you'll experience at the beginning of this process. Also if you have a sweet tooth, it may encourage you to try to eat other sugary substances. Protein, walk, protein, walk. Hydration is important as well.
  13. dsdesigna

    Belly button leaking after DS?

    Incision seeping is a normal process for them to heal. As long as there is no puss, no odor, and you have no fever you should be fine. But contacting your surgeon is important just incase it does become something that needs attention.
  14. Colonoscopy's are nothing. You won't know what's happening, and it could save your life. I've had two of them one when I was just a teen, and one to rule out some stomach issues I was having. If you are having blood in your stool then a colonoscopy is important to what could be a risk to your health. The drugs they give you to put you to sleep are very nice. I'd love to have some each night, seriously. I felt so well rested, along with annoyed that they awoke me from my blissful slumber.
  15. dsdesigna

    Post surgery finally

    Curious how each surgeon does things differently. I didn't have to do any of that, not even once, even though I was told that I would. Perhaps they did it when I was still drugged with anesthesia and I just don't remember it. There is a huge chunk of time that I was apparently communicating with people but I just don't remember. Glad you are doing ok. I am 12 days post op and although it does get better, it's still an uphill climb.
  16. dsdesigna

    Baby Steps

    I am 12 days post op, but it feels like it was a month ago or more. I've been very tough on myself and my progress so far. The doc says I'm right on track, but I feel defeated and anxious about the future. The Duodenal Switch is hardcore, it requires lots of attention and diligence. Learn from my mistake and realize all these special substances you will need at first, the chewable vitamins to the protein shakes, add up quickly in the cost department. I can only say I am totally looking forward to next Tuesday when I get to have pureed/soft foods. All liquids gets old and I feel for those who have to do that for long periods of time. I've had some shortness of breath, but all tests came back normal, so most likely associated with anxiety. I'm so good at ignoring things that are really bothering me. This whole process is enough to make someone nervous, but I had a death on Monday of a dear friend and mentor that I can only deal with in small moments. Although she had battled Ovarian Cancer for many years, and had fought the good fight, it's still not an easy thing to accept. I'm sure there will be many more things that I encounter along the way. The important thing is to remain moving forward, deal with what I can and take my time with the rest. I'm living my life, my life isn't living me. It feels like ages ago, but just 12 days ago I woke up from major surgery. I wish I could give myself a cookie!
  17. dsdesigna

    Lovenox anyone?

    Yeah It was strange the first couple of times, I don't like the bruises it leaves behind. They don't hurt but are kind of ugly. I have a whole week left.
  18. dsdesigna

    Was this a mistake?

    You may be having an adverse reaction to the anesthesia, it's perfectly normal but understandbly disturbing. Walking and drinking plenty of fluids will get it flushed out of your system sooner. You may want to talk to your doc about a temporary anti anxiety med just to help through this time. It will get better. Try to relax, do things that will distract you from it. Go shopping, take in a movie. Good luck, it does get better!
  19. dsdesigna

    anyone from texas have DS

    I am in Lubbock, Charlotte did my surgery on the 8th. I'm on full liquids. I had my one week follow up on tuesday, and am down about 20lbs from the beginning of this journey. I'm happy with my experience. I'm happy that she was my surgeon, something about her being a woman was comforting. I'm sure Dr. Barker or one of the other docs would have been great as well.
  20. Hello fellow travelers. Thank you for reading this. I'm gonna apologize now that some of its content maybe not only hard to hear but may in fact be inflammatory. Lets get down to business. For those of you who are pre op, presurgery, pre everything... for those of you who are thinking about this journey this is not a joke. You won't, following surgery, beable to continue to eat the way you do right now and expect to not have consequences. You may still lose weight but you will be putting your very life at risk. Whatever diet the insurance or doctor has you do, if you find yourself breaking the rules then you should seriously consider declining to have surgery and save yourself from potential disaster. Post surgical complications can for a majority of cases be traced back to the patient who chooses to not follow the most basic post op instructions. The clear liquid phase, full liquid phase, pureed phase, and subsequent phases are all designed to allow your new stomach and intestines to HEAL. You may still feel hungry, and you will be tempted because your mouth hasn't changed one bit. You'll be tempted to pick up some random peice of food and try to chew it real well just 2 or 3 weeks out from surgery and find that you feel miserable or if you are lucky you will vomit but for the unlucky folks it will cause incision leakage which requires more surgery and is a long recovery. This is not a joke, this is not the easy way out. This is not going to fix you. You are the only one that can make a change. I know many of you who are reading this have convinced yourself that you won't let the above happen to you. But then you struggle and cheat on your pre op diet. You cannot do that. Stick with the program, listen to sound advice. Countless WLS vets exist on this site, use their wisdom, their expertise as a guide. Let me tell you what we don't need around here, whiners. We don't need people to be whining about how hard their pre op diet is. We that are post op already know. It's not that we don't want to be supportive, but you are complaining about the wrong thing. The pre op diet is about allowing your head to change it's ideas about food. You won't be able to comfort yourself with food anymore. The pre op diet gives you an opportunity to find other coping methods. Go see a psychologist if you need to but don't whine on the forum about how you are struggling or even worse how you've cheated. We also don't need scale watchers around here. Nothing is more irritating than that competitive nagging that comes with someone complaining that it's been a week since their scale dropped. Even more frustrating is hearing that they fixed it by following the program... lets stop abusing the forums. Stick with the program, period. You will have all the tools you need. If you have a serious concern about your health, pain, or complications you need to be talking to your doctor about it. No one on this site is a doctor and even if they are they aren't in a position to give you any real medical advise. In fact medical advise given by a professional on this site that you follow and it causes complications can put them at risk for being sued for malpractice. It's not fair to put others in that position. That's why you pay your doctor. Here's what we need to hear around here, tells us how you are succeeding. Tell us what you have found that helps, that works or that didn't work. This should be a positive place. And here's the even more important thing... you need to listen to that sound advice. I can verify that following surgery you are not going to want to get out of bed because the gas pain is really awful. Write yourself a poster and have it by your bedside to remind you to WALK. You have to get out of pain, you need to work through it because they can't give you pain meds for the gas. Pain meds don't work on that kind of pain. You have to walk it out. Belch, burp, cough, allow yourself to vomit up that air. The nausea you feel when you first wake up is just trapped air, go ahead and allow yourself to throw up. It will not hurt you. Actually its not like normal vomiting anyway. But it will relieve huge pockets of air. Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk... then when you get home you'll need to continue to walk. I have a small courtyard in front of my apartment that I do laps around. My neighbors look at me strange but I don't care about them. I'm in pain relieving mode. Did I happen to mention that you should WALK??? So far I'm lucky to have had a fantastic experience with this journey. I look forward to the future although it seems so much more foreign now that it did pre op because the scale is really moving. I think somewhere in my head I thought perhaps I'll be the one that won't lose weight this way. I'm pleased to report that is not the case. I'm happy to be on this journey with you and even tolerate some pre op jitters. Thank you for reading. I hope I didn't completely offend you. This culture is amazing, the people here are amazingly supportive and apparently have tolerated a ton of nonsense for a long time. Bless them for doing so. Perhaps we can change things a little.
  21. dsdesigna

    anyone from texas have DS

    Hi Texaslady, how are you doing? Who did your surgery? Have we met?
  22. dsdesigna

    Vacation After DS?

    Be prepared to be in pain. I am 6 days post op for the Switch and I can't imagine going on any vacation anytime soon. Two weeks out from surgery and your incisions haven't even healed completely. I have one on my left side that hurts only when I move. You'll need to and want to be walking but prepare for your belly to be very sore. Keep hydrated and good luck. Oh and beware of sneezing. Try to hold your incisions while you sneeze, it minimizes the pain.
  23. dsdesigna

    New Dating Site for Bariatric Patients!

    There are 14 men registered on that site... ummm There needs to be some serious advertising. I signed up.
  24. dsdesigna

    Is it getting bigger?

    If women are known to become extremely fertile as they lose weight, certainly breast tissue growth is very likely.
  25. dsdesigna

    Protein shakes

    There are literally hundreds if not more of different kinds of Protein shakes on the market. Go to GNC, I hear they have single serve testers. You will find one you'll love. I stay away from Vanilla's they are the worst in my opinion. The premade shakes are also not as great as the powdered versions. I added PB2 to my shakes to add a little protein and some peanutty flavor. Torani makes sugar free flavor syrups typically meant for coffee that you can use to add flavor to your Protein powder. You'll likely be using Protein Shakes for the rest of your life, it is a good idea to get a good one or two that you like now.

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