James Marusek

After surgery, they generally give you antibiotics in the hospital to kill all the bacteria. Unfortunately the antibiotics not only kills the bad bacteria but also the beneficial bacteria in your gut. Thus it is advisable to restore your good bacteria with a probiotic. Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are good for your health, especially your digestive system. Generally probiotics vary by the number of different type of bacteria strains and the quantity of bacteria within each pill. They can be found on the shelves of many stores in the Vitamin isle. Some are refrigerated.

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

Good luck on your surgery. A good nights sleep is important especially since you will get very little of it in the hospital. You will need to get up every couple hours (round the clock) to do some walking.

I am in the U.S., so the approach that I used may be different than yours. After I left the hospital I had to give myself injections of Lovenox (Enoxaparin) for a week. This is a blood thinner and used to prevent blood clots. I did not receive a prescription for this until I was leaving the hospital. So I could not obtain it prior to surgery. I picked it up on the way home. [This is not a common drug and many drug stores have to order it. But in my case since, the operation was done in a hospital that specializes in this surgery, the pharmacy located nearby had this in stock.] I had to give these shots in skin around my stomach. Because it was a blood thinner, after a few days the injection site appeared like large bruises. The length of time you need to take these shots will vary. I suspect that is the reason why they did not give a prescription until the point of discharge. I choose to have B12 shots rather than tablets because I only had to do this once per month. It took a prescription to obtain these shots. I loaded the syringe and I had my wife give them to me in my upper arm. But after about a year, I noticed that whenever my wife began to insert the needle in my arm, she closed her eyes. She is squeamish around blood. So I decided (for my own safety) to transition to B12 tablets. In the end this was a far easier approach. The Vitamins were off the shelf and I didn't need a prescription. They were sublingual which means that you place them under your tongue and let them dissolve. The two important things here is the 1) the type you buy must be sublingual and 2) it must be methylcobalamin. I am almost 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery and this is really the best approach.

I had severe acid reflux (GERD) and that is the reason why I choose RNY gastric bypass surgery. The sleeve will only make this condition worse.

The first couple weeks after surgery your body is in a major heal mode. And therefore it is common to not meet your daily requirement for Protein, Fluid and Vitamins. But now you are approaching a point where you need to strive to meet these daily goals. Also remember to get your 30 minutes of walking in each day. Good luck.

I am almost 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. This is the approach that I have taken in the "maintenance" phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

During your stay at the hospital after surgery, generally individuals gain some weight because they fill your body with fluids. So therefore before you start to show positive results, you must first loose this added weight. After RNY gastric bypass surgery, I lost my weight quickly. But then after around 6 or 7 months I was finished and I transitioned into the "maintenance" phase. But sleeve patients are different. They lose weight at a much slower pace and they also drop weight for a longer period of time, sometimes a year and a half. So be patient and let the magic happen.

Congratulations.

Good luck on your surgery.

I am color blind and I also have a condition that is called face blindness. So as a result I rarely recognize people outside their usual setting. As a result whenever someone approaches me and begins a conversation, I just play along. Afterwards I ask my wife, "Who was that person?" So if someone doesn't recognize me, or if because I have lost over 100 pounds and someone doesn't recognize me after the weight loss, I take no offense. Absolutely, none at all ! I remember years ago, I went through boot camp. During the first week I met a lot of new individuals and made some friends. Then they marched us into the barber shop and shaved our heads. When we left, I couldn't recognize anyone anymore. Nor could anyone else. You had to start all over again. So I would probably take the comment "I don't recognize you" as a compliment. It basically means the surgery and all the work that went into it before and after, had a very positive result. And that is very good.

I think it will get better over time. I am almost 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass. I never really focused on body image either before or after surgery. But I find it is a lot easier to exercise now. I perform a fair amount of physical labor and I think that helps. At 67 years old, it feels good to cut up a downed tree into firewood and hoist logs that weight 70 pounds into my utility vehicle.

Your taste buds may change after surgery, so be prepared to do some experimentation after your operation in selecting the right protein shake for you.

Well, it might be worth it to have a heart-to-heart with your friend to find out what is wrong. Good friendships don't come to an end without a major issue. As far as making friends when you are an adult I give you the following observation. Many years ago I moved into a new housing tract. Each night after work, I dragged my wife along and we visited one of our new neighbors. I knocked on the door and introduced ourselves. If they invited us in, we had a good visit and found several friends that way. About 50% of the people were open to new friendships and about 50% were not. I think most people sit at home waiting for new friendships to magically happen. So take the initiative.

The three most important requirements after surgery are meeting the daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because the body is converting stored fats into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. So at the moment, he is still recovering from the surgery. It takes a little time to heal. What about exercise. Is he walking for at least 30 minutes each day?

The three most important things after WLS is to meet your daily requirements for Protein, fluids and Vitamins. food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. But on the other hand I agree with the comments from 2GoldenGirl. Your inability to tolerate food at 7 weeks post-op seems abnormal and may be indicative of a problem.

Although some individuals report too much weight loss after RNY gastric bypass surgery, I don't believe this problem is very common. It is somewhat common for some individuals once they get into the maintenance phase after surgery to regain some or all the weight back. It means that once you lose the weight you have to continue working at maintaining the weight that you lost. Generally that means exercise and avoiding grazing.

Some people experience reactive hypoglycemia after RNY gastric bypass surgery. This is irrespective of whether they had diabetes prior to surgery or not. Here is a link for symptoms. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/expert-answers/reactive-hypoglycemia/faq-20057778

I hate diets. So here is some advice. Exercise. Walk about 30 minutes every day from now on. It will really help with your recovery process and also you will have less pain after surgery. If you haven't given up caffeine and carbonated beverages, do so now. I went cold turkey on my 6 diet coke a day habit and lost 20 pounds on that change alone. Also since you will probably have to give up caffeine for the surgery, when you get off it you may experience a week of withdrawal syndrome - bad headaches and body aches. You do not want to mix the withdrawal syndrome with the recovery process. That is like getting hit with a one two punch. Read food labels. Become smart on calories. Many foods are loaded. I love milk shakes at Steak and shake. But after seeing how many calories they contain, I had to give it up. So I did. There are many types of sweeteners. So if you have a sweet tooth like I do, get educated about the various types. You can still satisfy your sweet tooth, you just have to change the type you eat.

Good luck on your surgery and check in with us when you are on the other side.

Since I was young, there has been a significant change in the dating habits. I think in the old days, a boy and a girl would go out to eat dinner or a movie. Today many times the norm is more like a group date where several boys and girls get together and go someplace and have a good time. It's like a shared date. I think some dating has even evolved to electronic hook-ups. There are apps where you enter your profile and your phone enters your GPS location. And someone who wants to hook up just gets an alert when you are geographically near each other, looks over your profile, and if he likes what he sees, sends you a message. I am old school. Been married for over 40 years and very happy. I corresponded with a girl on the other side of the world with someone at each side to translate the letters. Then after a year, I went and met her. After 5 weeks I proposed to her using a language dictionary. So it was a grand adventure and well worth it. So love can be found in the most unusual places and in strange ways.

After RNY gastric bypass surgery, many people report losing hunger. Generally this condition does not appear until one reaches the solid food stage. So I would say it is probably normal because you are only 8 days out. You may also feel a need to chew. This is natural part of the digestive process and you may begin to miss this. Some people experience head hunger. This is a false hunger.

Three liters is 101 ounces. So a little on the high side. As you lose weight you may be undergoing ketosis and being very thirsty is one of the symptoms of ketosis. Here is a link. http://diet.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Ketosis_Symptoms

Right after RNY surgery I became lactose intolerant. So overtime I drank milk it led to instant diarrhea. After about 2 months after surgery, this condition disappeared. Some Protein powders/drinks contain lactose.

I wish you the best of luck.