James Marusek

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

After gastric bypass surgery, you experience quit a bit of gas. At 10 days post-op this should start to subside. Walking should help. Another thing that may be of help is taking Probiotics. Generally in the hospital, they administer antibiotics to prevent you from getting various infections. This destroys not only the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria in your gut. You need to restore this good bacteria and that is done by probiotics.

Welcome and let us know if we can be of any help. When I started the pre-op dieting and exercise program prior to surgery, one of the first changes I made was to go cold turkey on my 6 diet coke a day habit. This was a requirement for the surgery (no caffeine, no carbonated beverages) so I figured I would implement this change from the get-go. I lost 20 pounds on this change alone. I suspect this was due to the carbonation, microscopically expanding my stomach over the years. I suffered from a week of severe headaches and body aches from caffeine withdrawal. It is best to get this over with early because you don't want to compound this effect with recovering from the surgery. I also began walking 30 minutes each day. This really helped with the recovery process. After I left the recovery room, I refused all pain medicine because my pain level was so low, in part because of the walking.

After RNY gastric bypass surgery, your weight loss is achieved through meal volume control. In the beginning the size of your meals are incredibly small. Therefore you need to supplement Protein shakes or other protein supplements so that you do not damage your body. Your daily protein requirement is a combination of the amount of protein from your meals combined with the protein from your supplements. As your meal volume increases, you have the option of reducing your consumption of protein supplements provided you concentrate on consuming high protein meals. This is important because the protein supplements you are consuming contain calories. As my meal volume increased I went from 3 Protein Shakes a day, down to 2, then to 1 and finally none. That approach broke my stalls.

After RNY gastric bypass surgery, the most important requirements are getting in the required amount of Protein, fluids and Vitamins. food is secondary. Your body is converting your stored fat into the energy needed to drives your body. Thus you lose weight. Exercise is also important if you want to maximize your weight loss. Transitioning to solid can also present a problem. Solids, especially meats, are hard to go down. I found that when I reached that stage, softer foods such as chili and Soups were the way to go for me.

I noticed the same thing too after surgery. I developed very fine wrinkles on my face that made me look like I was 100 years old. I expect some wrinkles because I was 65 at the time but this was way more drastic. My wife recommended a product called Bio-Oil which can be purchased at CVS, Walmart and other stores. I put this on my face and the wrinkles went away. I have been using it ever since. These wrinkles can also be caused by a lack of fluids. So make sure you are drinking the right amount of liquids each day or your skin will dry out.

thanks for sharing your point of view and I just needed to hear that others had a hard time and it's normal, 6 months is a long time to reach happiness. What did you do to keep your spirits up? Sent from my Z987 using the BariatricPal App I wrote a short article about my experience with Gastric Bypass Surgery. Here is a link. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

It is a little rough after surgery but it does get better with time. It took me around 6 months to reach my happy state when all the problems big and small seemed to melt away. I think in the beginning the complexity was overwhelming. Getting in the Vitamins spaced apart properly, the fluids, measuring the food volume, the anti blood clot shots, the exercise consumed almost the entire day. I liked the fact that I was no longer hungry, that weight just seemed to melt off at a fast pace. Then the clothing sizes started dropping. I also like that fact that all my medical conditions went into remission within the first couple weeks after surgery. This was my main driver for the surgery.

Congratulations.

I like Quest bars. They come in a variety of flavors, some very unique. They contain a lot of Fiber, this helps if you suffer from constipation issues. If you go to GNC you can purchase a variety of bars and sample and then downselect the ones you like best. Then order them by the box over the internet for the best pricing.

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery 34 months ago. I am 67 years old. Since you are about to go into surgery soon, I recommend 2 things. 1. Walk every day for about 30 minutes. It will dramatically improve your recovery process. 2. Get off the caffeine now. When I went cold turkey on my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered with a week of severe headaches and body aches. It is important to not compound the effects of caffeine withdrawal and the effects of surgery.

After RNY gastric bypass surgery, you are restricted to a very small volume of food, therefore you need to use Protein supplement (Protein shakes, Protein Bars, protein powders) in order to keep from damaging your body. Your daily protein requirement is met by a combination of the amount of protein from supplements combined with the amount you consume from meals. As you progress further from surgery, your meal volume increases. This gives you an option to downsize the amount of protein shakes you are consuming and the calories they contain. That is provided you concentrate on eating high protein meals. As my meal volume increased, I went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, down to 1 and finally none. This broke my stalls.

I found that Muscle Milk Light (Vanilla Creme) protein powder mixed with water and a half a banana blended in tasted the best for me.

I don't remember having my stomach fell like there is a hard rock inside. But then again I am 34 months post-op RNY and that was a long time ago. Things generally get better but don't expect it overnight. It took me 6 months after surgery to get to a Happy State, when all the problems both big and small seemed to melt away.

After surgery and as you begin to lose weight, you may experience more intense emotions. Your fat cells store not only fat but also chemicals and hormones. So as you dissolve these fat cells, your body may be flooded with an uptick in hormones which can throw you out of balance. Make sure you drink a lot of clean Water (not tap water) so these can be flushed through your kidneys and expelled from your body.

A search of the internet shows that others reported problems with balance after RNY surgery. There are probably several potential causes. For example a Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause dizziness. Some people experience reactive hypoglycemia after surgery and this can lead to dizziness. Also if you were diabetic prior to surgery and are still taking some blood sugar medicines, your dosage may need to be adjusted. Normally at the 1 year mark they have you undergo blood work. This allows them to fine tweak your Vitamins. Make sure when the time comes that you undergo this. Here is some discussion about this topic. http://www.bariatric-surgery-source.com/lightheaded-and-dizzy-after-gastric-bypass-surgery.html

Abdominal pain is one of the most common and vexing problems after gastric bypass. Anywhere from 15-30% of patients will visit the emergency room or require admission within three years of gastric bypass, and abdominal pain is the primary complaint in over half of these cases. This sharp stomach pain can be caused by a range of problems. This article might point you in the right direction. This may be a problem that you want to discuss with your surgical staff. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3123682/

From my initial consultation until surgery took about 9 months. I don't feel that impatience is a cause to switch surgeons. Congratulations on obtaining approval from your insurance company.

Prior to RNY Bariatric Surgery, I would recommend 2 goals. 1) Walk 30 minutes each day. It will help the recovery process go smoother. 2) If you haven't cut out caffeine from your diet, do so now. I went cold turkey on my 5 diet coke a day habit when I began the 6 month supervised weight loss and exercise program. I suffered from breaking the caffeine habit with severe headaches and body aches that lasted a week. This is something you want to do early. You do not want to compound the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of the surgery. As far as cheating by eating a piece of pizza, forgive yourself, move on and avoid doing it again.

In the end, it is your decision. I am 34 months post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. The primary reason why I chose this surgery was because I had many health issues, including diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, severe acid reflux (GERD). All these issues went into remission within two weeks after surgery and stayed in remission ever since. Liver disease is a very bad disease to deal with. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/763056 Substantial weight loss has been shown to have a significant benefit, but most patients fail to achieve a meaningful decrease in BMI with diet and exercise. Bariatric surgery provides the only reliable method of achieving weight loss in severe obesity and has been increasingly available for obese patients with NAFLD. Congratulations with your success in losing weight. Most individuals who diet, lose weight but when they fall off the diet, recover the weight and then some. That is called Yo-Yo dieting. I started at 260 pounds. I dropped 20 pounds pre-op and almost 100 post-op. If it really takes you 3 years to qualify of the surgery, you will need to think long and hard before making a decision.

How did the surgery go? Good luck on your recovery process.

Congratulations. I didn't have much pain after surgery and declined all pain medicine. I began walking almost immediately after they let me out of the recovery room. As the laps piled up, a nurse came over to me in shock and said you better lay off the walking. Once the anesthesia wears off you will be in a world of hurt. So I limited my walking. I think the anesthesia wore off around 2 A.M., but I am not sure. I never really felt any significant pain. By the time I left the hospital 2 days after surgery, I had done 100 lapse. I remember the look on the nurse who was in charge of administering the pain meds. She would come in and ask me what my pain level was. I would tell her and then tell her I didn't need any meds. She would get a frown on her face and walk off in a huff.

Do you remember how bad the pain was post-op or is it a faded memory cuz of the positive outcome of surgery? That is the only other thing that worries me is post-op pain & excess skin hanging from my belly (& insurance not covering the removal IF I NEED it???) Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App The pain level will vary by individual. I have a high level of pain tolerance. After surgery when I went into the recovery room, I declined all pain medication. I didn't really need it because at the most my pain level never went above a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. I walked each day for 30 minutes for months prior to surgery and then when I was in the hospital, I walked a lot. That really helps with the recovery process and reducing pain.

The whole process for me took about 9 months from the time of initial consultation until surgery. After the 6 month medically supervised weight loss and exercise program, there was still the pre-op physicals to go through and the second round of pre-op physicals. There was the half day of training classes. There was the waiting for the insurance approval. There was the surgeon's schedule. It sounds like you still have a little ways to go. One thing that you said was strange. Normally the first step in the program was to undergo the psychological exam. Since you said "upcoming Psyhc appt", it sounds like you did not undergo this initial step. Especially since you had problems with this step initially, I wonder why they did not schedule this at the very beginning.

Congratulations.