James Marusek

I would listen to the advice of your surgeon and the rationale behind the advice. I had severe acid reflux (GERD) prior to surgery. The sleeve will only make that condition worse. That is why I choose RNY gastric bypass. Also RNY gastric bypass has been around longer, most of the bugs are worked out, and it is almost the gold standard. With RNY surgery, you will lose weight at a quicker pace. But with sleeve, even though you lose weight at a slower pace, the weight loss phase can be sustain for a longer period, so with either operation the same weight loss can be achieved.

Congratulations.

I went through almost a day of pre-op tests at the hospital. These tests brought to light several problems or issues that needed further medical evaluation. As a result I then went through a second round of pre-op testing (3 detailed tests) done by specialist in their respective fields. This additional round of testing included a CT Scan, a sleep apnea assessment, and an hour long ultrasound.

I have suffered from severe migraines headaches in the past. I think it is very important to recognize the trigger. For me it was florescent lighting. If you avoid the trigger, you avoid the headaches. It was a little difficult to avoid this lighting when you worked in an office area that had nothing but florescent lighting. But whenever I saw the first signs of an attack, I moved outside for a few minutes and that helped.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. I found the pain levels to be very low compared with pass surgeries. But I may be an exception since I have a high tolerance for pain. I choose to have no pain medicine after I exited the recovery room. I didn't really need it. My pain level never reached a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. But if you are worried about pain, then walk at least 30 minutes per day religiously. And walk, walk, walk after the surgery while you are in the hospital. It really minimizes the pain.

In general, I told everyone - even strangers walking in the street. The reaction that I received was either supportive or curious. The only negative reaction that I received was from my mother. This made sense because she relied on me for support and anything that could interfere with that continues support was view in a negative light. I think that the hesitancy of "not informing" was driven by individual's experiences with the culture of dieting. Generally people go on diets lose weight and when the effects become visible, they open up about their diet. Many pats on the back later and as the months drag on, they eventually plateau, gain the weight back (and then some) and feel like a failure. They then regret ever talking about it in the first place.

Glad to hear you are making progress. Things will get easier over time. But it took me 6 months to reach my Happy State, when all the problems were resolved.

Welcome and let us know if we can be of any help.

I was lactose intolerant for a couple months following RNY gastric bypass surgery. I used Muscle Milk Light (vanilla Creme) blended with Water and with a half a banana blended in. It does not contain lactose.

RNY gastric bypass patients lose weight quickly and then enter Maintenance phase. I was in Maintenance after about 7 months. Sleeve patients lose weight at a slower rate before they bottom out. Some continue to lose weight for 2 years after surgery. But once in Maintenance, the caloric intake between RNY and the sleeve is probably the same. I discussed my perception of the Maintenance phase in the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf After about a year out from RNY surgery, the intestine realize that the stomach is no longer processing fats and sugars and steps up to the plate and takes over that function. So at that time fats and sugars could be eaten without causing dumping syndrome. But for RNY patients, their bodies will never again synthesize Vitamins from the food they eat, so they have to continue to take Vitamin supplement for the rest of their lives.

It is common to experience taste bud changes after surgery. For some people surgery affects their sense of smell. The condition will get better with time. I am 3 years post-op RNY. Taste did improve but still not what it was prior to surgery.

Good luck on your surgery. A bit of general advice. Having hypothyroidism could interfere with your weight loss after surgery. Maintaining the correct amount of thyroid hormone in the body is very important to success with weight loss surgery. Work with your medical team if this becomes a problem.

Congratulations and let us know if we can be of any help.

Congratulations.

I am sorry to hear you are running into problems. One individual in our Bariatric Surgery Group had his surgery scheduled, the date was fixed and only days away. But his pre-op tests uncovered a problem. He was about to have a massive heart attack. The surgeon called him and asked him to come to the hospital immediately. He had open heart surgery shortly after arriving at the hospital. It saved his life. After he recovered from the operation, he was back on track for his bariatric surgery and showed up at the next meeting with a new date.

Your body creates energy from the food you eat but also from the fat that you have stored. So even though you are not eating a lot, you can still be active because the energy stored in your fat cells are being consumed. At 6 weeks post-op, 900 calories per day seems a little on the high side. If you are performing a lot of exercise, it could be that you are producing muscle which is offsetting the weight loss from fat. Muscle is denser (heavier) than fat. How much weight have you lost post-op? Your tickler says 0 pounds weight loss, but that could be because you have not been updating it recently. Assuming you had RNY gastric bypass surgery in 6 weeks you might experience a 15-20 pounds of weight loss. Some people experience more, some less. Generally when you are in the hospital, you gain weight because of all the fluids they pump into your body. You have to lose this additional Fluid weight before your numbers start to go down. That can take a week or two.

The product contains several Vitamins and amino acids. Serving size is 3 tablespoons. This contains 100 calories and 15 grams of Protein. So far, so good. Under other ingredients, the third item listed was fructose which is a sugar. The order of the ingredients is generally given by percentage contained in the produce. So it may have a high sugar content which might be a problem for RNY gastric bypass patients.

Good luck on your surgery and let us know if we can be of any help.

Two important things that you can do at this point is: First, eliminate all caffeine and carbonated beverages from your diet. At the start of the program I went cold turkey on my 6 diet coke a day habit. I lost 20 pounds pre-op from this change alone. I suffered through a week of caffeine withdrawal syndrome of severe headaches and body aches as a result. It is better to go through this now instead of waiting just prior to surgery and then compounding the effects of caffeine withdrawal and the effects of recovering from the surgery. Second, walk 30 minutes per day (or equivalent exercise), every day from now on. It really speeds on the recovery process and also minimizes the pain you might experience from surgery.

I have experienced nightmares (or rather very strange dreams) several times due to a chemical imbalance. Fat cells contain chemicals and hormones that are stored in the cells. As you destroy these, you release them into your system. They are removed by your kidney and expelled from your body in your urine. Therefore it is important to flush them through your system by drinking an adequate supply of fluids. Filtered Water (instead of tap water) is good.

I used Muscle Milk Light (vanilla Creme). I found that blending in a half a banana improved the flavor.

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery. This was the list that I was given. 3 Flintstone complete chewable Multivitamins daily. [This type of Vitamin is preferred because of absorption. Although if you are a few years post-op you might be able to substitute Multivitamin capsules. Gummy Vitamins are not acceptable.) Additional 65 milligrams elemental Iron daily for menstruating women. [should be ferrous sulfate for best absorption.] 1500 to 1800 mg. Calcium citrate daily. 500 to 1000 micrograms sublingual B12 daily [should be methylcobalamin for best absorption.] or 1000 mcg B12 injection monthly. 5000 I.U. vitamin D3. [but do not exceed 5000 I.U.] 100 mg Thiamine (vitamin B1) daily for one year following surgery and then weekly thereafter.

After RNY gastric bypass surgery, I transitioned through 3 stages: full liquids, pureed foods and finally solid foods.

Good luck and let us know if we can be of any help.

I will pray for you.