James Marusek

Good luck on your upcoming surgery.

After surgery my beverage of choice was Crystal Light. Now several years later it is Bai. I buy it by the case at Sams Club when it is on sale.

Congratulations on your surgery. It will take a while for everything to return to something approaching normalcy. I think I was at the 6 month post-op mark when I reached my happy state and most of the problems were resolved.

Since you are at the beginning of this process, 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. On this change alone, I lost 20 pounds pre-op.

For the year prior to surgery, I walked everyday for 30 minutes. It was actually hill walking because I walked up and down my steep driveway. This uses two different sets of muscles. This had two effects. It sped up my recovery significantly and it also reduced my pain levels after the operation. I used no pain meds after I left the recovery room. I didn't need them.

@@mari12282 After major surgery, your body is in a major heal mode. So it may be a little bit before you feel recovered. 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. It is also important to do around 30 minutes of walking each day or equivalent exercise. Walking really helps the recovery process and also helps with pain management. There are several things beyond recovery process that may cause you to become tired and sleepy. Not taking B12 daily could do it. Many pain medicines can have this side effect.

After my RNY gastric bypass surgery I became lactose intolerant. Anytime I drank milk or anything with lactose it lead to a quick trip to the bathroom with diarrhea. This condition lasted for a couple months and then went away. Some Protein shakes contain lactose. Most patients routinely receive antibiotics while in the hospital. There are generally many unusual germs in hospitals and antibiotics are given to prevent infections. This not only kills the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria in your gut. Thus it is important to take Probiotics after surgery to restore these colonies of good bacteria so that your gut can process food properly.

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

Congratulations.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery and let us know if we can be of any help.

Good luck on your surgery and let us know how things went, when you are on the other side.

I like to build things. For example my wife and I built our own home. We did about 90% of the labor. When we were hit by tornadoes a few years ago and since our house did not have a basement, I saw the need to build an underground shelter. But I was obese and my health was going downhill fast as a result of my obesity. So I had RNY gastric bypass surgery, lost the weight, resolved my health issues and built an underground shelter. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Shelter.pdf

Good luck on your upcoming surgery and let us know if we can be of any help.

After surgery as you lose weight and lose your fat cells, these cells not only release fat but also the hormones and chemicals that they store. Thus it is common for some individuals to get a hormone flush which can affect their mood. These hormones and chemicals are normally flushed through the kidneys and expelled in the urine. Thus it takes a lot of fluids to make this process work correctly. So make sure you meet your daily Fluid requirements and then some. Also as you transition from the weight loss phase into the maintenance phase, this hormone flush should ease up.

Walking is the best approach. The first week after you leave the hospital, the body needs to expel quite a bit of gas. After that it should ease up. On a side note, have her take a probiotic if she hasn't started taking some yet. In the hospital they routinely give you antibiotics. This is to prevent infection from the various germs floating around the hospital. The antibiotic kills not only the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria in the gut. These colonies of good bacteria need to be restored after surgery and a probiotic does this.

Exercise is an important component to weight loss surgery. It is important to walk around 30 minutes (or equivalent exercise) each and every day. This will make the recovery process go smoothly and also ease the pain from surgery.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery and let us know if we can be of any help.

There are two phases to RNY gastric bypass surgery. These are the "Weight Loss" phase and the "Maintenance" phase. They are different phases and the approach to use is different between these two phases. I am over 3 years post-op RNY and this article describes my experience with the Maintenance phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

Generally in the beginning you should be drinking Protein shakes. As time goes on after a few months you can begin to transition to Protein Bars. For the first couple weeks after surgery, your body is in a major heal mode and it is common for patients to be unable to meet the Fluid and protein daily requirements that your surgeon provide you. But just keep trying to meet your daily requirements and you should be able to get there soon.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass. I strictly avoid processed sugars. I have a sweet tooth and that is one of the major causes that contributed to my weight gain over my lifetime. I limit myself to artificial sweeteners (such as Splenda and sugar alcohols), to natural low calorie sweeteners (such as Stevia) and to the natural sugars found in fruits and milk. I had diabetes. That went into remission when I left the hospital two days after surgery and I have not taken any diabetic medicine ever since and my blood sugar levels are good. I test my blood sugar levels periodically. I read the labels of all food that I consume. I look at the grams of sugar per serving. If it is above 5 grams, I look at the ingredients. The ingredients are listed in order by highest percentage, and if the first 5 ingredients contain processed sugar (in any of its many forms), then I avoid this food, like a plague. This is a list of sugars I avoid: Sucrose (table sugar), Fructose (honey), Dextrose, Maltose (malt sugar), corn syrup, corn solids, high fructose corn syrup, cane sugar, evaporated cane sugar, molasses, corn sweeteners, brown sugar, barley malt, beet sugar, pure maple sugar and date sugar.

According to the instructions I was given: "Wear your TED hose until activity is back to normal. Wear your (abdominal) binder for at least 2 weeks. Your binder is for comfort." In other words after surgery you will experience some pain from moving around. The abdominal binder provides some support and as a result a less painful experience. The TED hose, or Thrombo-Embolic Deterrent Hose is to help prevent blood clots from forming after surgery. According to the internet: TED hose may be prescribed to patients who are non-ambulatory, meaning they are not up and moving around on their own. For these patients, the risk of a blood clot developing in their legs is a main concern for health care providers, as clots can break free and travel through the bloodstream to the lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism. TED hose help reduce this risk by administering pressure on the lower part of the leg and feet – with the most compression occurring at the calf muscle. As patients lay in bed, blood is more likely to pool in the calf, creating the right environment for a clot to form. TED hose compression levels are measured in mmHg, or millimeters of Mercury, just as we measure our blood pressure. TED hose compression levels are 20 mmHg or below. Patients may wear TED hose for up to three weeks, at which time they are mobile once again or have been prescribed a different treatment to reduce the risk of blood clots.

Congratulations.

Do you have other symptoms such as sudden shortness of breath or chest pain with breathing? If so these might be signs of a pulmonary embolism (blood clot). If this is the case contact your surgeon's office immediately and run it by him/her.

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

Keep fighting. Most of the problems that I encountered with the surgery came from my health insurance company.