James Marusek

I did not experience any change in smells. I did notice a significant change in my taste buds after surgery.

If you want to minimize the pain from surgery, make sure you walk for 20-30 minutes each day prior to surgery beginning now. I experienced very little pain from surgery. I took no pain medicine after I left the recovery room. I had no need. I attribute most of this to the walking I did before surgery and after I left the operating room.

Focus on yourself. Make sure you meet your daily Protein, fluids and Vitamin requirements. Limit your meal volume as instructed. I concentrated on using homemade high protein chili and Soups. I would make up a batch, place it in containers and eat it all week. It was easy to control volume because I measured each meal using measuring cups. I have included some recipes here. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I am sorry to hear about the hard time you are having. After surgery my body changed. I was lactose intolerant. That condition corrected itself after about 2 months. I had RNY gastric bypass, and the part of my stomach that processes fats and sugars was disconnected. Therefore if I consumed those items it would lead to a quick trip to the bathroom. Over time, the lower intestines begin to mimic the stomach and will begin to process these items. The only time I experienced nausea was due to dumping, when I consumed too much at one meal. It took me 6 months to reach my happy state, when all the problems, big and small, seemed to disappear.

Good luck on your surgery. Check back with us when you are on the other side.

Also walk each day for around 30 minutes. It will help the recovery go smoother and besides its springtime. The birds are out and the snow is melted.

Good luck on your surgery and check back when you are on the other side and let us know how everything went.

The Protein requirement is a combination of the protein that you consume in your meals combined with the protein consumed in protein supplements (protein shakes and protein bars). I am 22 months post-op RNY surgery and I consume around 65 grams of protein each day from my high protein meals alone so I have completely transitioned off protein supplements. After surgery I was taking 3 protein shakes a day but as my meals size increased this changed to 2 then 1 then 0 protein shakes per day. I found that protein shakes tasted terrible. I was able to make them taste better by blending in a banana into the shake. I found Protein Bars to be important because they gave me the ability to consume extra protein when I was away from home. It is hard to drag around your blender when you are away.

Almost immediately. I remember being in the hospital after the operation and I found that I could not even drink the water. The water tasted extremely clorinated. Even when I arrived home, (spring-like) water did not taste good anymore and I had to flavor it in order to drink it. The first time I added ketchup to some food, it tasted like I added hot sauce. Months later, I found seafood (crab legs) dripped in butter to be totally tasteless. It was hard to find anything that tasted good to eat. Eventually I discovered mixing food groups such as in chili and soups gave the meal some flavor.

When I first attended a bariatric surgery support group meeting, I almost decided to not have the surgery. Almost everyone in the group recited horror story after horror story. Then I reasoned that the main reason for this is that either the people attending the support group meeting are pre surgery or they are the individuals that are experiencing severe post surgery problems. The individuals that are free of any complications just do not feel a need to attend support group meetings. That is not the case now. The whole flavor of our support group is different. But the tone of the meetings is very important. I think it is important to first identify the general goals of the meeting: Provide advice to those who are about to undergo the process. Help those that have undergone surgery and experienced complications to resolve their problems. Share information Discuss individual success stories both in terms of weight loss and NSVs. I like to bring in something for show and tell at each meeting. People get excited about show and tell. Sharing a before and after picture is a good visual for the success of the surgery.

Good luck on your recovery. It took me around 6 months to reach my happy state, when everything was working well.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery and the rest of your new life.

Your taste buds change after surgery. So it is not a good idea to fill up the cabinets before surgery. Also the volume of food will be minuscule right after surgery. The primary goals should be to meet the Protein, Vitamin and Fluid requirements. Meals do not become a priority. Your body will be converting your stored fat into energy. That is why you will lose weight. Protein requirements right after surgery is normally met by Protein shakes. They all taste bad in my opinion. Your goal is to find one that is acceptable after your taste buds change. There are many different choices, so be open to experimentation. If you are going with the powdered form, I suggest buying and using a Ninja blender with a single serve mixing cup. Trying to hand mix the powder with a liquid does not provide the proper consistency. It also allows you to add in fruits such as bananas into your Protein shake. It is important to walk about 20-30 minutes each day prior to surgery. It will help your recovery process dramatically. For many people who undergo gastric bypass surgery, hunger disappears. It is not hard to lose weight when hunger is not constantly gnawing at your bones. Good luck on your upcoming surgery.

The first few weeks after surgery, my body was tender. It began to improve when I got off the blood thinner. Someone told me that muscle relaxers work better than pain medicine after surgery. But I had very little pain from the surgery and never used any pain medicine after I left the operating room. So I may not be the best expert on the subject.

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery 22 months ago in Indianapolis. Lost 110 pounds and feel great.

Good luck on your surgery and let us know how things are going on the other side.

On my retirement, I bought a beautiful sports car. But I could barely fit in it. Now after I lost 110 pounds, it fits like a glove.

I have had good luck with Quest protein bars. They came in a variety of flavors and have good fiber.

I enjoyed foods and that was one of the contributors to my excess weight before surgery. I loved the taste of food. After surgery, that is all gone. My taste buds changed. I use to like lobster dipped in butter. Can't stand it anymore. I am 22 months post op from RNY gastric bypass surgery. If I eat more than a cup of food at a meal, my body punishes me. But on the other side, after the surgery I found that I no longer had "hunger" constantly gnawing at my bones 24/7. Without hunger, the weight simply melted off my body. I experienced a little excess skin. It showed up mostly as very fine wrinkles in my face. I began using BioOil which I bought at CVS. I applied it once each morning and the wrinkles went away. I still go out to restaurants to eat but my meal size is very limited. If I order a full portion, I take most of it home as 2 or 3 days of leftovers. The surgery resolved many of my medical issues such as diabetes and high blood pressure. So it was a good decision and I would do it over again in a heartbeat.

Early symptoms of intussusception can include periodic abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting (sometimes bile stained [green color]), pulling legs to the chest area, and intermittent moderate to severe cramping abdominal pain. Pain is intermittent—not because the intussusception temporarily resolves, but because the intussuscepted bowel segment transiently stops contracting. Later signs include rectal bleeding, often with "red currant jelly" stool (stool mixed with blood and mucus), and lethargy. Physical examination may reveal a "sausage-shaped" mass, felt upon palpating the abdomen. The condition is not usually immediately life-threatening. The intussusception can be treated with either a barium or water-soluble contrast enema or an air-contrast enema, which both confirms the diagnosis of intussusception, and in most cases successfully reduces it. The success rate is over 80%. Cases where it cannot be reduced by an enema or the intestine is damaged require surgical reduction.

I stayed 2 nights in the hospital after surgery, but I was ready to go home after the first night. Good luck on your surgery.

Good luck on your recovery. Keep with the program. I took me 6 months to reach my happy state.

Mike Sorry to hear about your problems and I don't really have any answers for you. Perhaps the problems that you are encountering are not related to the gastric bypass surgery. So maybe there is some underlying medical condition that needs to be identified and corrected. About a year after my surgery, I had a severe case of stomach flu. I dropped about a pound a day in weight. Eventually I fell from my goal weight of 160 down (which I had maintained from the previous 6 months) to a new level of 150 pounds. I made a conscientious decision to try and maintain my new lower level. As far as losing too much weight, I suggest focusing on the basics (Protein, Fluid, Vitamin daily requirements), increased caloric intake (primarily from protein and fats), and softer foods (high protein chili and soups). For me softer foods produce less stress on my stomach. If you step back a hundred years in time, individuals that had a little extra body weight were looked at as being healthy. This was before the age of modern medicine. The reason for this was that a little extra fat on the body provided a buffer against sickness. A person who was too thin would encounter a sickness and die whereas a person who had a little extra weight would lose some of their weight and then recover. So I guess what I am saying is try and maintain your goal weight.

Is there any bariatric surgery support meetings in your area. They are generally free and I found them helpful.

Your total Protein daily requirement is the sum of the protein you consume in your meals combined with the protein consumed in protein supplements (protein shakes, protein bars). When I reached the 1 cup per meal mark, I was consuming around 65 grams of protein from my meals alone. I concentrated on eating homemade high-protein chili and soups. recipes are here. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf It is important to fulfill your protein requirement each day. Because you are on the low end of weight, you might uptake the amount of calories you consume daily. Because you have diabetes, you might stay away from overly indulging in carbs especially processed sugar. Snack on protein or fats may work for you. I met someone in a bariatric surgery support group meeting that had a problem with consuming food. She could not eat more than a teaspoon of food at a time even at over a 1 past surgery. I suspect this was due to the surgery that made her pouch too small or to some other surgical complication. In her case the effects were very severe. She lost all her teeth and most of her hair. She was malnourished. I suspect this is not what is happening to you, otherwise you would be citing a slew of problems.