James Marusek

Here is a link to a similar thread. https://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/191644-elevated-blood-sugar-2-weeks-post-vsg/

Normally after surgery, your diet consists of liquids. Liquids in equals liquids out. One thing that might help is taking probiotics. When you are in the hospital for surgery, they routinely administer antibiotics to kill any bad bacteria. But the antibiotics also kill the good gut bacteria. It is important to reestablish these colonies of good gut bacteria after you come off the antibiotics. That is purpose of probiotics.

Congratulations.

It is common to be scared prior to surgery. It is a natural thing. At your stage, I would recommend three things. 1. Take a good before photograph of yourself, so that you have something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success. 2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery. 3. Wean yourself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery.

This thread does not have to do with weight loss surgery. Well maybe a little bit. I read an curious article this morning about a new pillow. https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/12/07/chasing-added-sleep-using-zeeq-high-tech-pillow-12244 The pillow is called Zeeq. it is a high tech pillow with a built in a motion sensor, a microphone to pick up snoring and a gyroscope. It's "anti-snore control" feature engages" when snoring reaches a preset-level, ZEEQ gently vibrates, "the manufacturer writes," encouraging users to change positions to open constricted airways. Before my RNY surgery almost 5 years ago, I had sleep apnea. I snored all night long and my wife could not get any sleep. This went on for years. Every now and then I would get a gentle nudge or kick in the middle of the night. About a month after surgery, my sleep apnea went into remission. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and find my wife hovering over me. I asked her what she was doing. She said I was sleeping so quietly, she though I was dead and was trying to see if I was still breathing. I think one of the conclusions of the article is valid, that advances in technology will produce "all sorts of sleep-analysis gizmos" in the future. My granddaughter wanted a fitbit for her birthday. So I purchased for her a Fitbit Alta. She really enjoyed it. It tracked her sleep cycles and documented each time she awoke in the night. She would graph them out on her iPod and show me when I visited her.

I was in the hospital for 2 days and nights after surgery. My wife was with me and slept on a recliner in the room. After the operation, I was up and walking every 2 hours around the clock. The first night this was difficult because I was all wired up with IVs and electronics and whenever I went for a walk, I had to drag all these around with me on a pole with wheels on the bottom. My wife gave me some stability in doing these walks. On the second day, they began to unhook me so things were easier. I was glad she was there. Even though you might say she was bored, she wanted to be there because this was major surgery. And she stayed by my side.

According to the internet: Factor V Leiden is a variant (mutated form) of human factor V (one of several substances that helps blood clot), which causes an increase in blood clotting (hypercoagulability). With this mutation, the anticoagulant protein secreted (which normally inhibits the pro-clotting activity of factor V) is not able to bind normally to Factor V, leading to a hypercoagulable state, i.e., an increased tendency for the patient to form abnormal and potentially harmful blood clots. Factor V Leiden is the most common hereditary hypercoagulability (prone to clotting) disorder amongst ethnic Europeans. It is named after the Dutch city Leiden, where it was first identified in 1994 by Prof R. Bertina. I had RNY gastric bypass surgery almost 5 years ago. Blood Clots were one of the major concerns. Some of the means by which they controlled this threat were: 1. Get you on your feet as soon as possible and walk. I walked every two hours around the clock while I was in the hospital after surgery. 2. Wear a TED hose until activity levels return back to normal. 3. Use an incentive spirometer 6 times per day for 2 weeks. 4. Take a blood thinner for several days after surgery. In my case that was Lovenox (enoxaparin). 5. Provide 24 hours round the clock support line at the hospital/surgeon staff to get you in touch with you surgeon should you develop any symptoms that indicate you have a blood clot. So this is one of those topics that you need to have a frank discussion with your surgeon about prior to surgery. He/she may imply other measures to minimize the possibility of blood clots.

The transition to solid foods such as steak and chicken can be rough. As a result, I relied on softer foods such as chili and soups. There is no need to rush this transition, just take your time. I have included some recipes for chili and soups at the end of the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

Drinking a cup of normal coffee in the morning causes me to urinate a lot but that is not dumping syndrome. Caffeine has been considered a diuretic by experts and consumers for years. Some people believe that drinking caffeinated beverages will cause them to lose fluids so they can't be counted as part of their daily intake. Normally if you just had surgery I would recommend taking a probiotic to build up the good bacteria in your gut. But you are 5 years out, so that advise doesn't seem to make a lot of sense unless you have been taking antibiotics recently.

A few months after my surgery constipation became a major issue. Generally when I got really bound up (more than 3 days without a bowel movement) I would resort to using a glycerin suppository to unbind me. But you have to shove one of these up your rear end, then around an hour later, it would start to free you up. Once you were free you could resort to other remedies to help keep you on top this problem. These are some of the past suggestions from this site: Eat an apple each night before bedtime. But you must consume the skin of the apple in addition to the pulp. Smooth Move Herbal Tea Prune Juice (warmed) Prunes (4 in the morning and 4 at night) Magnesium citrate Insoluble fibers (Garden of Life Raw Fiber or Renew Life Triple Fiber). Haribo Sugar Free Gummy Bears (Too much of this can lead to problems in the other direction.) Aerobic Magnesium 07 Ground Flax Seeds (but don’t try to grind it yourself). Use 2 tablespoons per glass of water every night before going to bed. Bowel Clear (herbal blend)

Many experience problems drinking protein shakes. I hated them. But in the beginning I drank them, three 16-ounce protein shakes a day, in order to meet my protein requirements. You do not have to like protein shakes only tolerate them. There are many varieties of protein shakes available today. Experiment until you can find one you can tolerate. I used Muscle Milk Light (Vanilla Creme) powder blended with water and a half a banana. That worked for me. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, you might try premixed Isopure. I was also Lactose intolerant. This condition lasted for 2 months and then disappeared. Without sufficient protein, your body will scavenge protein from other areas of your body, such as your muscles. Protein is extremely important after surgery as its job in the body is to build and maintain tissues including your body's major organs and skeletal muscles. Protein deficiency, when continued over a long period of time can cause a disease known as protein caloric malnutrition. Common symptoms are poor healing, fatigue, hair loss and muscle wasting. Immediate post op, protein promotes healing of the staple line and incisions. According to my discharge directions: Wear your TED hose until activity is back to normal. (This is to prevent blood clots). Wear your binder for at least 2 weeks. Your binder is for comfort.

Here is a few links that identify methods for reducing the effects of morning sickness. https://www.babycenter.com/morning-sickness https://www.parents.com/pregnancy/my-body/morning-sickness/morning-sickness/ https://www.thebump.com/a/sick-of-being-sick-pregnancy-nausea

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

I wasn't really bothered by excess skin. Most of my excess shrunk over the first year. Normally the only part that is visible is below my belt line, so most people never see that. The one thing that did bother me was very fine wrinkles that developed over my face. These wrinkles were paper thin and made me look like I was 100 years old. My wife suggested I use "Bio Oil" on them. This is available at CVS, Walmart and a number of other stores. I put a little of this oil on my face each morning and I am good for the whole day. Works wonders.

Cellulitis is a type of bacterial skin infection. Since it was at your incision and since you had the infection drained twice, it seems logical that they would treat it with antibiotics. So even though the incision seems completely healed on the outside, the bacterial infection may have entered you blood and spread throughout your body. Also the point of drainage is a point of penetration into your body and the infection might spread through this opening. Once you come off the antibiotics, it is important to take probiotics. Antibiotics kill not only the bad germs but also the good gut bacteria. Probiotics restore these colonies of good bacteria. According to the internet: The vast majority of bacteria are harmless to people and some strains are even beneficial. In the human gastrointestinal tract, good bacteria aid in digestion and produce vitamins. They also help with immunity, making the body less hospitable to bad bacteria and other harmful pathogens. When considering all the strains of bacteria that exist, relatively few are capable of making people sick.

Congratulations.

Good luck on your surgery and check back with us when you are on the other side. After surgery in the hospital, remember walk, walk, walk.

Congratulations.

The symptoms of dizziness and vision problems can be caused by low blood pressure or by low blood sugar. It can be caused by dehydration or electrolyte imbalance. There are many potential causes. On my discharge directions that list when to contact my surgeon's office is: 6. Chest pain, rapid heartbeat and/or dizziness. The primary concern is probably a blood clot in the lungs, which produces dizziness, chest pains and vision problems. http://www.thrombocyte.com/signs-of-blood-clot-in-lung/

The operation can be expensive and therefore it is very good if it is covered. Review your policy statement for surgery. Many of the health insurance policies are written very similar. Mine reads: Surgical treatment of obesity (bariatric surgery) is covered only if: - eligible enrollee is 18 of age or over - clinical records support a body mass index of 40 or greater (or 35-40 when there is at least one co-morbidity related to obesity). Applicable co-morbid conditions include the following: * Type II diabetes mellitus (by American Diabetes Association diagnostic criteria). * Refractory hypertension (defined as blood pressure of 140 mmHg systolic and or 90 mmHg diastolic) despite medical treatment with maximal dose of three antihypertensive medications. * Refractory hyperlipidemia (acceptable levels of lipids unachievable with diet and maximum doses of lipid lowering medications). * Obesity–induced cardiomyopathy. * Clinically significant obstructive sleep apnea. * Severe arthropathy of the spine and or weight bearing joints (when obesity prohibits appropriate surgical management of joint dysfunction treatable but for obesity). - Documentation of failure to lower the body mass index within the last 12 months through a medically supervised program of diet and exercise of at least 6 months duration. So if you are healthy, no co-morbities, it would mean that you have to have a BMI of 40 or greater to qualify. Also some insurance policies consider RNY gastric bypass surgery to be the standard for bariatric surgery and might disqualify gastric sleeve because it has not been around as long as gastric bypass. Anyways the first step is to read the fine print on your policy. Many health insurance policies are on-line today, if you do not have a paper copy.

I received a few comments like that. As I lost weight I replaced most of my clothes. But I didn't replace my jackets and coats. Well the weight I lost was not only around my waist but also my shoulders became smaller. So when people looked at me they saw the disney character Dopey, because the sleeves went way below my fingertips. Anyways I replaced my coats and jackets and the comments disappeared.

I had confirmed this with my nutritionist and she agreed. But doctors may differ. After my surgery I was drinking 3 sixteen ounce protein shakes per day.

Hope there is no bad side effects. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Your amount of weight loss will taper down the further you are out from surgery. Your weight loss is not only dependent on you starting weight but also on the type of surgery you had. Generally individuals that underwent RNY gastric bypass surgery will lose weight at a very quick rate. I had gastric bypass and entered the maintenance phase around 7 months post op. Sleeve patients lose weight at a much slower weight but they can achieve almost the same amount of weight loss over time. Many do not transition to maintenance phase until a couple years after surgery.