gal friday

I would avoid lettuce if I were you. I'm 11 weeks out and I am just now able to eat it, and I can only eat a little bit. My dad has had his lap-band for 12 years and still cannot eat lettuce. When I serve salad, he eats the other veggies in the salad, and when I serve caesar salad (with his recipe of dressing), he eats the croutons and anchovies, in fact I keep anchovies around just for him - and he has to serve himself! I would stick with ground meat, that was my trick. Bolognese sauce (hold the pasta), chili, smashed meatballs, smashed meatloaf, ground turkey tacos and enchiladas and burritos, even just some sauteed ground meat with a side of something soft, like steamed carrots. My husband was so obliging, we seriously had ground meat of some sort every night for a month! To get my 4 year old on board with all the ground meat, we told him it was ground hamburgers, he loves McDonald's cheeseburgers (they are a special treat) and hamburgers are one of his favorite foods, so I just told him I smashed up a hamburger, or made it into a new shape. Everybody was happy! Another option for me was kielbasa. If you can find turkey, light, or fat free kielbasa at your grocery store and can handle the sodium, it's a good option. I would peel off the casing with a vegetable peeler, sautee it with some potatoes, and then dice both up really small. I couldn't get more than a few ounces of anything in in the first weeks, but that's kind of the point. I also relied heavily on dairy Protein. I developed a lot of food aversions in the first weeks after my surgery (they are getting better now) but I could always get some yogurt or a slice of cheese down. I kept mini Bel Gioso 'snacking' mozzarella cheese packs and those light babybel cheeses (the ones in the red wax) around, as well as my favorite sliced cheese (muenster). Cottage cheese with a little Splenda satisfied sweet cravings. I also keep sorbet and frozen fruit on hand. Sometimes a bite of frozen mango or a teaspoon of green apple sorbet helped me open the fridge and not have everything look disgusting. They kind of functioned like the 'digestif' drinks that were used pre-1900. Honestly, a cube of frozen mango is GREAT for nausea! Peppermint, in the form of tea, and lemon Water also helped me with the 'omg solid food is disgusting' thing. I guess I got lucky, I had SEVERE morning sickness with my first pregnancy (think Princess Kate), and it was no picnic the second time around either, and I am allergic to most pregnancy-safe anti-nausea meds, so I have gotten pretty good at managing when I need to eat and everything looks horrific. Right now, the only post-surgery aversion I have left is to Protein shakes, and I have been working around that with Isopure protein water.

Our bodies were altered and our brains are being rewired, I thought it would be fun if we shared our new food cravings! Right now I am dipping lunchmeat chicken into italian salad dressing! I do the same with almonds. I crave Protein more than I used to, and bread a lot less. And now I am craving salads - I hated salads!!!

I think it's crazy how much my taste buds changed overnight! Popsicles were on my post-op diet, but they were just sickeningly sweet. And I'm not craving bread anymore, and while I still like pasta it's not an addiction for me. I had half a piece of bread with dinner last night, whereas before my surgery I would have been at risk for eating the whole basket.

You didn't ruin your life. We all go through this fear early on. I remember thinking "What have I done?! OMG I can't undo it!" I too had to take anti-anxiety medication (valium, the parent drug to xanax) and my husband had to play therapist and help calm me down. But now, at 10 weeks out, I'm practically skipping through meadows I'm so happy. And not just because of all the weight loss. I feel so much better. I have a lot of chronic health conditions that I have struggled with since early adulthood, but since the surgery I just feel so much better. I have energy again! My recovery was initially very very rough, and I regretted getting the sleeve, but now I kick myself for having waited so long to get it! So your heart rate and palpitations could be the result of your low potassium, called hypokalemia. It can cause abnormal heart rhythms, which, if you are like me, would set off serious anxiety issues. Your body has undergone a HUGE change, and it is still trying to get its bearings and reach equilibrium again. You're not even a month out, so your body is still adjusting. Your body is also used to a much higher calorie intake, so for lack of a better term, it's freaking out a bit right now. Absolutely call your surgeon. He needs to rule out serious problems. Also, you're miserable, and you deserve to feel better. If I had to guess, the changes your body is undergoing are triggering your anxiety disorder, but you want to let your surgeon make that call.

Yeah, I have gone to McDonalds with my five year old and looking at the amount and kind of food people have on their trays is mind boggling. I'll see people with TWO big mac meals, whereas since my surgery I can't even finish a Happy Meal - my 5 year old can out eat me. And I'll be at 7-11 getting coffee and I'll see people literally getting a gallon of coke. That has to be more than your daily recommended calorie intake! I've been out to dinner with my husband and also my book club, and I just can't wrap my brain around getting an appetizer AND dinner AND dessert. How did I used to eat that much?!!!

I had my first lettuce salad tonight, at 10 weeks. It went well! It was just a little bit with my lasagna, it went down and stayed down! Baby steps

That sounds like an electrolyte balance issue. I have an electrolyte imbalance disorder (preexisting the surgery), and have had to deal with low potassium (and high potassium, and low sodium, and high sodium). Electrolyte imbalances come from Fluid imbalances. How much Water are you drinking? Excess amounts of water can wash your potassium out. There are other causes of electrolyte imbalance too, and it's not something to take lightly. Call your surgeon, you need to get his help with this. In the short term, have some banana smoothies. Bananas are very high in potassium.

I had severe reflux prior to the surgery. I do still have some reflux some days now, but I'm doing much better. I am taking far less medication!!!

I was never disgusted by food, but I would get so so stressed out and anxious before a meal, I would sometimes have to take an anti-anxiety pill! Now, at 10 weeks out, if I am eating at home, or my mom's, or out by myself, I am okay. No more anxiety. I'm working on the anxiety in other situations, it's still hard, but I am doing way better than I was at 5 weeks. It gets better, slowly but surely, it gets better!

I think you'll be okay. I wouldn't keep drinking it, but I doubt that two tsp. did any damage.

I've been craving seafood too!

I was banded in 2005 and never lost a pound. In fact I gained weight. I had my sleeve done 10 weeks ago. I've lost 35 pounds. Get the sleeve!

Actuallly, whole grain breads are complex carbs. I meant to say starchy carbs though, that is more inclusive. I never ate rice or potatoes much, but I loved bread.

I have to be careful with sweet drinks, but my downfall was like yours - bread and other complex carbs. But now, I can eat them - even a bagel, if I split into two Snacks - but I physically can't overdo it, and with the ghrelin-producing, crave and hunger-inducing hormone receptors in the trash along with the rest of my stomach, I don't WANT to overdo it! It's amazing to not want to over eat, and not just because I know I'll get sick. I'm just plain not interested. At a restaurant or a party (like my brother's wedding last night) it's hard because I want to eat as much as everyone else and serving sizes are huge, but in my day to day life I don't feel like I'm missing anything (except carbonation.)

Pharmaceutical companies themselves are good resources for cheap or free. medications. Their image is tarnished, so when people can't afford a drug, the drug companies have programs to provide that drug for cheap or free. I have done this once - my insurance company was being an asshole about covering my $80,000 per year MS drug, so the drug company gave it to me for me until I had arm wrestled my insurance company into covering it (which, I should point out, they were contractually obligated to do.) So try calling the pharmaceutical company and see what they can do. If the drug is expensive, there's a decent chance they've got a program for it.

I was told to 'avoid' carbonated beverages, just like I was told to 'avoid' high fat and high sugar foods. So basically that means I had to give up my daily soda/seltzer habit, but some indulgence here and there is okay. I have a friend who drinks a coke each day, but her sleeve was done so tightly that she could only have water and broth for months, and lost twice the amount they wanted, leading to malnutrition. She is considered an adverse outcome. So for her, stretching her sleeve some was a good thing, but I don't want that, so I gave away my Sodastream and my husband only keeps sodas I hate in the house.

Yeah, it's a continuation of benefits. Have you looked at getting coverage under the Affordable Care Act? If you applied on your own, you'd probably meet the income requirements because you are a student.

Can you get COBRA?

I have a friend for whom it did not work. She converted from a lap-band to the sleeve, and then to a bypass. But she wasn't following the rules. You have to follow the rules or the surgery won't work.

My heartburn pre-op was pretty nasty. I took 40mg of protonix twice daily, along with 300mg of zantac at dinnertime. It worked for me.

My surgeon said that dumping syndrome only occurred in bypass patients. He was pretty clear on that.

Yup. Fiber and colace aren't helping. I'm going to call my doctor and ask for Amitiza.

Mostly. I am not great about my Vitamins, but that is mostly due to forgetting. As far as actually cheating, I take sips from carbonated beverages, and I have had a few carbonated beverages where I have the whole thing, maybe 3 or 4 in total. I also take sips of Water during meals, but that is due to an electrolyte balance/kidney disorder. I have to be careful though, because if I take too many sips the water sits on top of the food and makes me miserable. I was not given a list of foods I was not allowed to eat, other than to watch out for fat and sugar. That's not hard for me, I ate a healthy diet pre-surgery, I just ate way too much of everything.

I know we are not supposed to drink during meals (and so far I don't), but I don't know why. Does anyone know? Is there anyone who does drink during meals? I'm just curious because it doesn't give an explanation in the manual.

You know, my gastroenterologist is kind of an a$$ too. But if you try and don't succeed, try, try again. Maybe we should both try new GI doctors.