Daisee68

I had a friend do the HH repair through Dr Nick and believe her cost was $3995 as stated above.

@@Sherri1964 - if it is too dry it will often get stuck or at least it feels that way and is quite painful. Generally (with me anyway) I have to vomit to get it out because it just won't go down. If I have some sort of dip (hummus, Greek yogurt dip, etc) that seems to help it go down easier.

I have to set the timer on my phone for at least 2 minute in between bites. As I start to suspect I am getting full, I change it to 2 minutes. I also make sure not to eat past 20 - 30 minutes BUT I don't think I have ever made it to 30 minutes before I had to stop because I was full. (Or I seem to hiccup when I am getting full so I am trying to train myself to stop as soon as I hiccup!)

Pre-op I loved going out to eat and never would take the time to pack lunch. Post-op I have actually enjoyed taking food. It is such a little amount anyway that it's not a huge deal in the beginning and you could take something you could eat for several days. That part is surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. I have eaten out a few times and had tortilla soup (without tortilla strips). Eventually though I do plan to eat out on occasion. I will just have to plan it very well - look at them menu beforehand, stick to proteins, and pack up most of it to bring home. This is the part I was dreading the most and has honestly been one of the easier aspects.

Pain doesn't sound good. If you are drinking or eating too fast, it will cause pain. You have to be very diligent in eating slowly, chewing thoroughly and eating the right things. I have had a lot of trouble keeping meats down at 7 weeks out and I felt pretty crummy my 3rd and 4th week, but I think I am starting to figure it out. What kind of foods are you eating? Once you vomit, everything gets swollen again, so you have to go back to liquids for 48 hours and then pureed for 48 hours and then you can progress (if you are at the stage for other foods). I have decided to stay on soft/pureed foods until 8 weeks before I try more sold foods again (following a rough week earlier this week). All that said, if you are doing all these things and still have pain, call your surgeon for sure. The feelings of wishing you hadn't done this are very normal. I still have those days occasionally but they are getting farther apart and hopefully will be gone soon. Hang in there!

I had RNY on June 4. I am sure I could try potato chips but it is a trigger food for me so I don't even want to try. In the way of crunchy, the only thing I have had since surgery is 1 pork rind and 2 crackers. While they both went down OK, I am having enough trouble with getting in protein from real food (especially meats) that I don't really have space to get in chips or other carbs. Solid foods are still giving me a but of trouble so I am sticking with soft/pureed foods for a while longer. I can generally eat anywhere from 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) to 1/3 cup (just over 5 tablespoons) at any one time. Really depends in what it is. With something thin like soup or yogurt I can get in a bit more but I only portion out no more than 1/2 cup and stop eating at 20 to 30 minutes even if not full so I don't overeat.

Unwound also add to eat very slow. I set a timer to make sure I wait 1 minute in between bites and as I suspect I might be getting enough I may space that out to 2 minutes. And watch the clock and stop eating no more than 30 minutes from start.

Interesting. I had a friend whose mom had this just tell me the same thing - that the Wright loss actually picks up. Gets was closer to 3 or 4 months but it seemed odd since I thought the earlier months were the fastest but what you say makes sense - just getting used to the new normal and learning how to use the tools even better. I sure hope this happens for me too! ???? Congrats on your journey and continued success in your new lifestyle!

You definitely need to get in the habit of eating slower. Just because you can do all that stuff fast doesn't mean you should. Even with yogurt I set a timer on my phone for 1 minute and make myself wait 1 minute in between every bite. This is one of the hardest habits for me. When I am eating with others around and can't use that timer, I feel a little lost. I know it will become habit eventually but a struggle right now. And when I have solid foods and eat too fast, it is very uncomfortable and almost always comes back up.

So glad someone asked this! I tried one last weekend and wow was it good! BUT for me, I am concerned it could be a trigger food (if in fact I could eat more foods I wanted). I recall eating it so fast! But boy did I love having something crunchy for once! I can see how I might have them in the future but I will have to just get a couple and then get rid of the bag or something or I will be right back where I was eating an entire bag of Ruffles... (Boy do I miss Ruffles! )

That stinks! No good advice just wanted to commiserate with you! Maybe they will get a cancellation and you can go in early?! Fingers crossed!

Yes. Same problem here and I am 7 weeks out. I received good advice to stick with pureed / super soft foods until 8 weeks also and hope it helps. Meanwhile, it does seem to depend on what I am eating when I get the feeling you are describing. Sometimes I even get it from drinking and with both, I use it as a sign to slow down and space my bites or sips further apart. Also, is it possible it is gas and/or acid reflux? Have you tried gas-x and/or zantac? Might help.

Congrats! Such great news! Can't wait to find out my A1C! Can't say I have ever said that before! ????

That is helpful! Thanks!

Ok, I have had a rough few days - again. Vomited Saturday from 3 bites of deli turkey (didn't do anything to keep it moist). Vomited Sunday after eating chicken breast cooked in crockpot (again, wasn't moist enough I guess) and again tonight from deli ham. This time I did have the ham pretty moist with some Laughing Cow cheese, but honestly I knew 2 bites in that it wasn't going to work. Did I stop though? No. I had 2 more bites and then threw it away and tried some hummus because I couldn't possibly have had enough food, but after only a bite I knew it was too late. The thing is, I keep seeing I need to be increasing my calories (still getting in only 500-600 each day) and I just don't have any idea how to do that if I can't keep solid foods down. (Thursday will be 7 weeks post-op.) Combined with some crazy abdomen pain last night, I googled it (bad idea I know) and scared myself deciding I could have an internal hernia. So, I don't need to be scared into seeing the dr. I know I can do that (though my doc is out of town, her partner is great) - and trust me if I ever get that kind of abdomen pain again, I will absolutely go to the ER. But I guess what I am trying to figure out is how normal this vomiting thing is after eating meat at this stage? I am hoping you all say it is totally normal at 7 weeks and it will get better but in the meantime, any suggestions to get more food in? I have been successful with slider foods (yogurt, pudding, hummus, etc.) and oddly pimento cheese goes down very well (essentially a pureed food really). And I can do shakes but just feel like I should be progressing with foods by now. Help!

Yes! All too often in my opinion! Seems to be with tougher foods - fish, meats, etc. I was telling my counselor about it today and she told me to stop worrying about not progressing with foods (only 7 weeks out) and maybe my stomach just isn't ready for tough foods. Hope that is true and going to try that for another week. I will say that the best solution is once you do vomit, you need to go back to fluids for at least 24 hours and let your system calm down and then do pureed for 24 hours and then try again with denser food (at least that is what I have been told

I don't really need a response. Just needed to vent. So discouraged with getting food stuck & subsequently vomiting when trying to progress food stages. One day something works and the next it doesn't. I think my issue today following chicken was more that I had an issue yesterday and should have gone back to liquids for 24 hours but didn't. I am NOW but tough lesson to learn. Sincerely hope that it isn't this difficult to eat the rest of my life. I need a new strategy. Like maybe limiting myself to only 5 bites when it is chicken or something I know can get stuck? Ugh. Tired, Sore. Going to bed... Tomorrow is a new day.... And yes, I know, "it does get better". At least that is what I keep telling everyone else...

Unfortunately bthis is very common with all insurance. Most of us here had to meet with a nutritionist for 3 to 6 months before we could get approval. Your surgeon is generally able to help you with those appointments. My insurance (Cigna) said it would accept Weight Watchers with Dr supervision but it had to be documented within the last 12 months (or something) which I didn't have. The visits with the nutritionist were very helpful in preparing for the surgery / post-op life.

Congrats! What a great day to celebrate!

Congrats!!

For what it's worth, I don't think the band caused the autoimmune disorder. It may have made the effects show up more obviously or rapidly, but it wouldn't cause it. Autoimmune is something that lives in your system. It just chooses when to show up - spoken by a Graves Disease (and likely Hashimoto's) patient t whose autoimmune did not show up until mid-40's)

Yep me too but it was stomach acid. Zantac stopped it.

Assuming you are still pre-op? Trust me. Depression is real. You grieve food like you grieve the loss of a friend. You get frustrated that you can't eat how you want / when you want. You wake up thinking "what the heck I have done". Sometimes you still have to cook but can't eat what your family is eating. And likely worst of all, you will read these boards and wonder why on earth you aren't losing like everyone else is. The depression comes and goes sometimes all in one day. I am told it improves over time....

OK so I have had two friends ask me this question and I realized I don't know either. Why is soup (especially broth soups like tortilla soup) OK to eat/drink the broth when we cannot drink other fluids with our meals? How is the broth different and/or should we be limiting the broth as we eat the other parts of the soup?

I know I haven't had enough to drink. I am trying but Water is causing nausea suddenly (I'm 6 1/2 weeks post-op RNY). So I had a brilliant idea to chew on some ice on my drive home. About 30 minutes and 5 ounces of ice in, I got very sudden severe stomach cramps. I mean severe. I made it home and took Gas-X but I was literally doubled over. I am finally able to lie down now with a heating pad and feeling a little better. I also have pain in my back on the left which could be kidney stone (long history of this). I was ready to go to the ER! Worse pain than I have had AT ALL since the surgery. I think since it is finally waning (about 30 minutes after taking Gas-x) that I am going to be ok. If it happens again, I will go to ER. Any thoughts?