James Marusek

In the beginning the weight will drop off quickly, but then it will start to tapper off. There may be a few stalls along the way. Towards the end as you reach maintenance phase it will come to a slow crawl. I had RNY gastric bypass and I entered the maintenance phase around month 7.

Remembering back to my college days. That was a long time ago, a really long time ago, almost a half a century ago give or take a few years. I had a class it was called Quantum Mechanics. It was a core requirement for my major. I pulled an "F" in the class. As a matter of fact almost everyone that took the class drew an "F" except two extremely smart kids that drew "D's". That professor had a reputation for failing out students that is why so many students avoided his class and choose other professors. Anyways long story short, I retook the class. And as I would have it, by the same professor. A few days before the final, I was told that the majority of the grade would be from the final exam, that it was an open book test, and that everything on the test would be in the book. So going into the test I knew from practical experience that this was going to be the ultimate killer test. When the tests were passed out I was floored by the fact that none of the questions were even remotely in the book. I did my best, beads of sweat passing down my brow, question after question. Then with only 10 minutes left before the test needed to be turned it, I discovered that indeed one of the questions was in the book. It was hidden away in a footnote. As a matter of fact, all the questions were in the footnotes. Anyways I passed the final and passed the course. So the two words of wisdom from this is #1 Never take a course you fail, from the same professor again and if possible do some advance research on the professor prior to taking the class the first time. Part of college is a winnowing process, separating the chaff from the grain. Sometimes advanced classes or extra credit class though they may be a bit tougher produce better grades. #2 Always read the footnotes. The second thing that passes through my mind was a young girl who graduated from our local high school with all A's for her entire school life. She was constantly groomed and pushed by her parents. She received a full ride scholarship. She only lasted a semester or two in college. The stress destroyed her. She was so use to getting A's that she could not accept anything less. She became anorexic. She dropped out of that college, lost her scholarship, transferred to another college and major and slowly put her life back in order. My daughters were high achievers. When my girls went off to college, I had a motto that I gave them. It was "D" is for Diploma. It wasn't that I wanted them to get anything less than an A, but rather if they get a bad grade or two, it wasn't the end of the world. It was a way of taking the stress off them. The third thing that crosses my mind is that you seem programmed for failure. You need to turn that around. How can you change your life to succeed? Going to law school is very demanding. Going to law school while working a full time job, while commuting many hours per day, is next to impossible. If you want to succeed towards your goal of getting a law degree, you need to relieve the stress and not by eating junk food. This can be done by selling your home and getting rid of your mortgage; relocating close to the school to a dorm room or sorority house or apartment; limiting your workload to around 20 hours per week. The stress is killing you. So plan on succeeding not for failing.

I agree with @@Miss Impala assessment. In the past, some doctors generated scripts for narcotic pain medicine like they were dispensing candy. As a result of this abuse many patients became addicted. The government steps in and decides to punish the innocent as well as the guilty and now threatens doctors and drug stores with severe punishment if they write scripts for this type of medicine if it is beyond their guidelines. Therefore the people who really need this medicine to manage their pain, have to undergo extreme vetting.

Congratulations on your weight loss thus far.

My surgeon recommended using Flintstone Chewable Multivitamins. These are a little harder to find nowadays because they have been somewhat replaced with the gummy version (not recommended version), But you can still find the chewables on store shelves.

Congratulations on your weight loss thus far. Like the others have said, "Up your protein".

Mini gastric bypass is a very different operation than RNY gastric bypass. The mini seems to be popular in Mexico, Europe and Australia but not in the U.S.

As you lose weight, the chemicals and hormones that were stored in your fat cells are being released into your body. These will pass through your kidneys and are expelled in your urine. But they can generate a flush of hormones during the weight loss phase. They should simmer down once you transition into maintenance. It is important to meet your daily Fluid requirements, because it take fluids to flush these hormones from your system.

After about 2 months, I was finally able to swallow the large Citrical vitamins.

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery and use Splenda without any problems. After surgery many things can trigger nausea. It might not be the Splenda.

You do not need to rush into the transition to solid foods. According to my surgeon's guidelines, I was not approved to transition to solid foods until week 9 after my RNY gastric bypass surgery. It is a hard transition. I tend to agree with you that something is wrong. If you are vomiting up Water, that is not a good sign. The two main culprits are stricture or ulcer. My surgeon recommend that I take the proton-pump inhibitor Omeprazole (Prilosec) for the first year after surgery. This was to help the stomach to properly heal. So if you are not already taking this, you might speak to your surgeon about this need.

There are many different types of surgery. Even within gastric bypass surgery, you find the most common surgery is RNY (Roux-en-Y) gastric bypass but in other countries such as Mexico, they specialize in mini-gastric bypass, which is a different type of surgery. Sometimes Vertical Banded Gastric Bypass, Gastric Sleeve surgery, and Doudenal Switch surgery are also included under this heading. So depending on the type of surgery, different Vitamin requirements exist. I had RNY gastric bypass and my surgeon directed me to not take gummy Vitamins nor time released vitamins. This is because they are not absorbed properly. Most vitamins have a coating to protect the vitamin during its journey through our system. This coating is engineered for the passage though our stomach and its strong acid environment and then to then pass into our intestines where the vitamins are released. But when our stomach is altered, these vitamins coatings do not dissolve properly and therefore may pass through our system without releasing its interior vitamin content.

Here is a past thread that talks about this condition. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/289815-hashimotos-thyroiditis/

I live about 3 hours drive from the hospital where my RNY was performed. I do not remember any extreme discomfort on the way home.

Your calories are the total of the calories in your meals combined with the calories in your Protein shakes or other protein supplements. The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass surgery are to meet your daily protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. So generally forget about counting calories but make sure you meet the protein, fluid and vitamin requirements. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as Protein Shakes.

I know what you mean. Fortunately we have been sleeping on a heated Water bed ever since the 1970's and using a very thick down blanket. When I go to bed it is like sleeping in a warm cocoon. The only problem was right after surgery. Trying to get out of a waterbed right after surgery was extremely awkward and painful. Thank God for the person who invented chemical hand warmers. We have been heating our house solely with wood for the past 40 years. I love the heat and warmth from our wood stove.

After you finish your antibiotics remember to take Probiotics for a couple weeks. Antibiotics destroy not only the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria in your gut. So therefore you will need to reestablish these colonies of good bacteria in order to maintain your digestive process.

Good luck and I hope all goes well with you.

I read an interesting article on Fiber today and I am still trying to absorb it. Some of the key points are: It is important to consume a minimum of 25-30 grams of fiber per day. It should be a natural fiber from real plant food rather than processed or refined fiber produced industrially like inulin powder. We have a massive microbe community that live mainly in our lower intestines (colon). These microbes line the wall of our gut and their numbers reach generally 100 trillion microbes. These microbes digest high fiber foods (that we cannot) and extract the key nutrients. Humans produce around 17 digestive enzymes while microbes have thousands. These microbes (mainly bacteria but also viruses and fungi) have co-evolved with us and produce many of our Vitamins, hormones and chemicals. They are also key to regulating our immune systems, weight and mood. Here is a link to the article. Beans, Chickpeas, Lima Beans, Split Peas, Lentils, Nuts, Flax Seeds, Chia Seeds and Quinoa.]

I haven't heard of this condition but I had severe migraine headaches. I would begin to see sparkling stars around the peripheral and clear tunnel vision in the center. Then my vision went to blurs which was quickly followed by severe headaches. Generally this occurred several times per year. It was a few hours until I returned back to normal after each episode. I finally realized that the trigger to my migraines were caused by fluorescent lights. So whenever I felt an attack coming on, I tried to relocate to an area of natural lighting and that helped. For the last 8 years since my retirement, I no longer encounter fluorescent lightning and I no longer have migraines.

Sounds like you had a rough go at it. Glad you are feeling better.

Your feet can swell after surgery. That is one of the reasons why they recommend you wear compression stockings (TED) after surgery. Elevation of your leg will help, especially when you don't have the stockings on. Elevate your leg to the level of your heart. Graded compression socks are better than TED hose.

Exercise is important to the process. In my case, I am about 45 minutes drive from the nearest gym. Somehow it seems wasteful to spend 1 1/2 hours driving to do 30 minutes of exercise. But a gym is not the only place to exercise. I had a steep driveway and I would walk up and down my driveway for 30 minutes each day. This is steep hill walking. It uses two sets of muscles in your legs. Think walking on a treadmill at a steep grade. But it is even better than that because when you walk downhill it is different than when you walk uphill. Different sets of muscles. Also you physical labor counts towards exercise. Chores around the house can also count. For example, I have a long 700 foot driveway and shoveling snow off my driveway in the winter is a lot of work, physical exercise.

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

According to the internet: Nausea and vomiting are the most common complaints after bariatric surgery, and they are typically associated with inappropriate diet and noncompliance with a gastroplasty diet (ie, eat undisturbed, chew meticulously, never drink with meals, and wait 2 hours before drinking after solid food is consumed). If these symptoms are associated with epigastric pain, significant dehydration, or not explained by dietary indiscretions, an alternative diagnosis must be explored. One of the most common complications causing nausea and vomiting in gastric bypass patients is anastomotic ulcers, with and without stomal stenosis. Ulceration or stenosis at the gastrojejunostomy of the gastric bypass has a reported incidence of 3% to 20%. Although no unifying explanation for the etiology of anastomotic ulcers exists, most experts agree that the pathogenesis is likely multifactorial. These ulcers are thought to be due to a combination of preserved acid secretion in the pouch, tension from the Roux limb, ischemia from the operation, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use, and perhaps Helicobacter pylori infection. Evidence suggests that little acid is secreted in the gastric bypass pouch; however, staple line dehiscence may lead to excessive acid bathing of the anastomosis. Treatment for both marginal ulcers and stomal ulcers should include avoidance of NSAIDs, antisecretory therapy with proton-pump inhibitors, and/or sucralfate. In addition, H pylori infection should be identified and treated, if present. So the reason why you are not suppose to take Aleve (a naproxen which is a NSAID), Ibuprofen (a NSAID) is because these drugs can aggravate the ulcer condition. There are many drugs that contain NSAIDs. One of the things that they recommend is using a proton-pump inhibitor. One of the common proton-pump inhibitors is Prilosec (omeprazole). This may provide you some relief. So you might discuss this with your doctor. The third thing is to have yourself tested to make sure that you do not have Helicobacter pylori infection. This is one of those hidden conditions that could be responsible for your root problems.