This is something I am struggling with as well. I had the sleeve done 3-31-14 and my main battle has been nausea. For quite awhile I had CONSTANT nausea and that, to me, is the absolute WORST feeling in the world. I am 41 and still cry for my mom when I vomit, and I would rather vomit than be nauseous. My surgeon said the constant nausea was due to esophageal swelling from the surgery and the after effects of all of that acid that the hiatal hernia repair stopped. It did ease up some. Then my two nauseas were when I was "hungry" and if I ate too much. A dietician at work (I'm a nurse) explained to me the nausea I felt as "hunger" was my blood sugar bottoming out. She also explained the reason my weight loss had drastically slowed down was because I was not getting enough Protein. She said to increase protein to 40-50 g a day and use my fruits and veg as supplements only. Protein helps keep your blood sugar up and will bump up your metabolism. And it did and I dropped 12 more pounds. Then the trapped air nausea started. This is very new to me. Yesterday I had my very small meal high in protein and I guess I ate it too fast. The air that growled from my stomach to my throat (but never a relieving burp) over and over made me want to die right then and there. It went on for an hour and I finally was able to go to bed, early, since I felt so awful. It was really no better in the morning and the Protein Drink that I tried to drink as slowly as possible this morning made it worse. I tried Gas EX pills, simethicone liquid, I was so sick at work. I even locked myself in the bathroom and tried to make myself vomit for some relief, but nothing worked. I finally gave in to another nurses advice and had a few small sips of soda. I burped a couple times and felt better, for awhile. Tried another protein drink quite a few hours after the other one and it was horrible again. A bit of soda, and again a tiny bit better. Tried to slowly eat some dinner, protein of course, and now feel HORRIBLE. I suppose I will try a few sips of soda again. I don't get chest pain, just horrible nausea and feel like I'm going to vomit, but don't. I just get concerned since my intake is about half of the tiny amount I was eating before. Weight loss has stopped again. Ugh. My surgeon is a wonderful man but his office is absolutely horrifyingly ambivalent to anyone's issues. I was quite irritated to begin with that it took me 20-25 minutes to eat my tiny meals, now it's worse. I knew this surgery was going to be hard. Small meals, giving up so many things I loved (eating sugars and carbs of course), exercising more, all sorts of things. This awful nausea was not something I anticipated. I have lost a good bit of weight and am happy about it, please do not get me wrong, I'm just so tired of feeling so bad. I burst into tears at work because I feel so crappy all of the time. Also, please be aware of a nice little dietary/ chemical thing I discovered. Carbs produce tryptophan (the brain chemical that makes you sleepy after a big Thanksgiving meal). Tryptophan is essential in the production and secretion of serotonin. Serotonin is the "happy" brain chemical. So being that I am bipolar and have serotonin issues to begin with, the high protein intake during the liquid diet before my surgery helped lead my frazzled brain to panic attacks. So I figured, as I barely made it in one psychological piece to my surgery, that AFTER surgery I would just be sure to keep a decent amount of low glycemic (so as not to gain weight) carbs in my system. Well that's when I was not getting enough protein and my weight loss slowed. My mood wasn't too horribly bad considering. Now that I have pumped up the protein again? Not good. Even better? I'm horribly sick from this trapped gas and my intake is even less. So as you can imagine, horrible mood, and weight loss stopped again. I'm going to try taking my antacid twice a day, as is safe per product, and hope a little more soda will help again. I am trying very hard to keep positive, but it is a struggle. Hold fast and true my brothers and sisters. It seems to be about patience, balance, eating SLOWLY and lightly, and many internal tantrums and angry times. We must remember our bodies were so badly in need of help that we chose to do this. I wish patience to all of you and especially myself.
