Beanthere

The gas was the only pain I had post op. Baby gas drops work great for that. Moving around as much as possible really helps too. They pump you full of air when they do the surgery too, so you feel really bloated. Just eat very slowly and use the gas drops when you feel the gas coming on and start moving about. That is what helped me the most.

I'm beginning to dread going to the potty after the last BM. Being impacted hurts like a mofo and I have been hydrating efficiently plus taking a stool softener. I seem to be going every 5 days to a week. I'm not at the phase of getting any fiber from my diet yet.

You don't think it will hurt? May I ask; what were others post op diets like?

I don't think I can tolerate even one more Protein shake. I start gagging just thinking about them. I even tried the unflavored and it has a slight sweet taste. All I am allowed right now is: -sugar free Jello (Sickening sweet) -crystal light (Sickening sweet) -Water -broth -Protein shakes (Sickening sweet) -milk (also sweet) For some reason my dietitian scratched off the yogurt and strained cream or clear Soups from my list, but I am tolerating foods fine, other than all the sweetener in everything. It would be nice to just have plain yogurt or some low sodium V8. I got one more week of this phase and I have already been on it for 3 weeks, any suggestions?

I went to my evaluation and she said that she's clearing me for surgery and that I was an inspiration to her. I was scared to death because I have schizophrenia and have for 23 years, but it has been under control for 20 and I have no problems asking for help. That was a BIG load off of my mind.

I am having the EDG scope on 10/31. Has anyone had this yet? Will they sedate me? They haven't told me anything yet and won't until the night before.

Are you going to a support group other than here? If so, take him with you, or even take him to your nutrition classes. Sometimes the people around us (not going through the procedure) don't really understand the gravity of the matter as much as we would like to think they do. Including them in your journey can help them understand better, so they can be there for you. My honey was a bit worried that the surgery meant that the weight loss would be successful and that I would lose interest in him as my body changed. Sometimes our friends feel the same type of feelings. When we have obstacles in our lives, we tend to cope with them by surrounding ourselves with like people. If you make a drastic change, your friends and loved ones sometimes feel left out or that you will want to find new friends for the new you. It happens quite a bit. You just have to lean on each other as you always have; include him in on your journey and let him see the benefits of having a new you.

Thank you for the encouragement. It means a lot.

I discussed my med with my docs. Psych pills and pain meds sometimes have to be changed due to malabsorption issues and the new pouch, specially if they are time released in any way. Many of the other medications will be stopped all together or given as a liquid, or in a more manageable size that can be crushed, but since the surgery changes our bodies so drastically, we won't be taking as many or maybe any at all after surgery. You just have to discuss it with all of your doctors before surgery.

My primary doc was an ass about the surgery. I took it upon myself to seek help from a bariatric doc. I also explained to my doctor that it was inhumane to keep me from ALL of my health options, since all I wanted to do was to better my life. My bariatric doc said that losing weight by yourself (no matter how hard you try) is often unsuccessful. You may lose up to 10% of your body weight and hit a rock solid plateau that will not relent. That is the reality. The odds of keeping off large amounts of weight loss without surgery is not always in our favor. This is NOT an easy choice though. You will diet, exercise, and take supplements your entire life. No exceptions. We will now be eating to live instead of living to eat. The lifestyle change is so core altering that people separate and divorce over this decision. My best advice: Do your research, get a doctor and group who supports you and stick with it. It's like AA, only food is our drug.

My psych test is tomorrow. They are mainly looking to see if you have dismorphic disorder or some other type of mental or nutrition disorder that would possibly be the reason you are wanting this surgery, because it is such a life altering event. I started out with like 75 people in my first nutrition and gastric surgery class. Now there are like 10 people. I was just so glad I was still one of them. lol I have gone through so much, that brought me to this decision in the first place, so there was NO backing out now. Good luck for anyone else taking the test.

I have been on a roller-coaster! I am excited about the surgery, but scared about the outcome. I hope my results are going to be as well as the Dr. seems to think they will be. I am also kinda freaked about being around people for dinner gatherings now. The whole divorce from food is HARD! It's such an aspect of life, family and culture. I was so moody one day, I actually got snappy with my nutritionist because she was trying to be helpful and telling me how great I'm going to feel and how the transition was going to get easier and I said, "How would you know? Have you done it?" I felt a bad, but anyone who tells me (now) how easy this process is or that I am taking the easy way out, well...kinda ticks me. I just hope for the best and keep plugging on, but sometimes I got to have a sob-fest. At least I can control that.

The unjury ones were pretty good. The banana one was tolerable. We had a tasting at nutrition counseling. They can be mixed with whatever and they will send you samples.

I guess this is where we say hello and give our history, so here it goes... I have dealt with a great deal of pain for over 10 years now (without medications), and went through a ridiculous amount of test, thinking I had MS. Thank heavens it wasn't, but it was severe Psoriatic Arthritis, PCOS. Still in a great deal of pain from PA; I tried (for a long time) to lose weight. It started off great and slowly drove me to the ground with insanity from the lack of realistic results. I finally (after lots of deep thinking) decided it was time to take extreme measures. I'm going whole hog for the RNY bypass. I'm scared to death. Not so much of the surgery, but of whether or not I will make it to my goal weight of 180lbs or less. Honestly and not making excuses, I have a very difficult time walking. I was enrolled in swim, but our pool was closed down. I tried biking, but I couldn't get enough strength to push the peddles or balance the darn thing. Believe it or not; up until 7/2013...I was able to hill climb and take care of my self sustaining farm, but a lot has changed since then and now I require a lot of help, so this is the last straw. Any suggestions on low impact exercise or life after surgery will be very much appreciated. More than anything, I just need people to talk to. This has been so hard already and I am just trying to make it to the prize for a better quality of life and the ability to walk well again.