emtscott54

While the following sentence may seem really odd, take a second and let it soak in. I feel fortunate that before I started the whole WLS process, I knew what it was like to be an addict. I have recovered from substance abuse and maintained sobriety/clean time (depending which ideology you prefer) since. Many of us who are obese got this way through overeating. To the pleasure receptors in your brain, food is a drug just like alcohol or opiates. Drugs and alcohol can be avoided in everyday life but the same cannot be said for food. How many times would you find yourself eating because you were sad? What about because you were stressed or angry? How many times would you eat because you were anxious or tired? I willing to bet most of us have said yes to at least a few of those scenarios. Now here is the kicker. How did you feel after you ate? Fat? Ashamed? Worthless? Now how many times did we repeat those same cycles? That is what addiction is. Sadly people don't understand the disease of addiction because, unless the examine your brain tissue, they can't see it. Addiction in all its forms is a disease that our society feels it is perfectly acceptable to blame the victim for. People still talk about this thing called "will power" which is about as real as the Easter bunny. Most people with any type of addiction have fewer chemical receptors in their prefrontal cortex. This has been studied and proven for decades. I highly suggest reading The Brain Fix by Dr. Ralph Carson. It will give you a lot of insight into the biochemistry that many of us have working against us. All of us who have been sleeved now have a great tool to help us deal with our food issues, but we need to do that work and use the tool correctly or we can find ourselves worse off than where we started. This surgery is not a quick fix. Their is no such thing for any type of addictive process. Remember in the post surgery phase that this is where the real work starts and if we get too comfortable and don't do our part, any positive results could end up being temporary. Healthy living is a lifelong process and I hope we all get to enjoy the journey.

I just had surgery. I know a ton of folks who have had it for various length of time. I would actually hear people in our social circles talk about not acknowledging peoples' weight loss because they took the "easy way out." There are some catty people in this world. Hell, there are even a few here on this site. You are enough. Their validation isn't necessary. You did it for you. As my grandma used to say, "F them."

Excellent work! I hope you take time to reflect on your accomplishments and the hard work you put in to achieve them.

I am envious of your problem.

Oh I wasn't apologizing to you. Ps. Your vanity is showing.

Not a doc, but I would not ask for liquid a liquid NSAID of any kind. I had IV acetominephan the entire time I was in the hospital because that will not irritate staple line or cause ulceration. I did have a PCA pump but I believe I only used it once. I'm a recovering addict so I really avoid pain meds. I talked to my doc about identical concerns prior to surgery during the pre-op visit and he heard my concerns and addressed them. He has every patient take a pill called emend before they come to hospital on surgery day and it kept me from having any real nausea.

There is a very real phenomena called transfer addiction. There have been many documented cases of people who can no longer abuse food easily suddenly abusing alcohol, drugs, and various process addictions. So even go on to become anorexic and bulimic. While it can happen all of that seems to be the exception and not the rule. When going through major life change people have two common responses. They either fear it or embrace it. It sounds like you are embracing it. My advice as a person living in recovery, take it one day at a time and be honest with yourself. The surgery was one small part of this process. There is a lifetime of work we need to do to understand ourselves if we want long-term health. Looks like today you are headed in a great direction.

My apologies if anyone felt I was lecturing. I also wasn't aware of that certain posters would be rude enough to judge people for posting and trying to be helpful.

Well I was lucky. Two days postop I could manage a poo. 4 days out I can't to save my life. Any ideas or suggestions?

Well let's just throw the cards on the table and talk poo. TMI spoiler alert! I thought I was going to die. I began drinking Water and then sent wife out to get miralax. I will never know the pain of child birth but I believe my experience may give me some insight. I am going to double down on water and call doc tomorrow. I got bloodshot eyes from the ordeal.

While I can appreciate and understand your desire to lose your excess weight as fast as possible, there are some things to consider. We didn't get to be obese overnight. We won't get skinny fast either. Weight loss can happen too quickly and that can have other nasty complications requiring surgery. While people often see weight loss surgery as a quick fix, nothing could be farther from the truth. Attaining a healthy body weight and then maintaining it are lifelong processes. Patience and acceptance are key. I had to learn to accept who I am today so that I could work towards who I will become tomorrow in a healthy way. Good luck on your journey and school!

I was told to wait two weeks for anything that was extended release. Those cant be crushed so I got the short acting in liquid form or pill form and crushed them. I took them once. I've never tasted a dog's butt, however if I had to guess I bet it would taste like those meds. Called my docs and got cleared to stop taking them for two weeks.

If you ever need support, feel free to reach out. We are all in this together. Our brains need to be retrained to see food for its intended purpose. It is supposed to be fuel, not a drug.

I think everyone has at least a few moments of regret or buyer's remorse after surgery. Most of us abused food for years and made it so that at least for a few weeks we can't. Plus waking up in a hospital bed is rarely ever seen as something we associate as being good. The first two days after surgery, I wondered wtf did I just do to myself? Now I am glad I did it but I am sure that thought will pop up again from time to time. I think that is to be expected.

High protein, low carb and iron supplements is a recipe for constipation. I added Benefiber to all of my drinks. You really need to hit the water goal to get things moving in the basement, if you know what I mean.

My hospital sends is home with therapeutic pillows. They want you to keep pressure on the incision sites when moving, sneezing, burping, farting, coughing, or pooping. I was lucky and pooped two days post-op. It was a struggle. I had to squeeze the pillow against my main incision while bearing down. Kinda felt like I was playing bag pipes on the potty. I got my sleeve done on Tuesday and everything has gotten easier everyday. I have used no pain meds since the day of surgery. Water water water. Protein protein protein. Walk walk walk. Ps. There is no such thing as tmi. We're all in this together and bodily functions are now considered pleasant conversation.

I am only 3 days post-op so I can't comment directly on that specific question. What I will say is that I will see this being tough for me too, but I will not look for a way around it. People spend a lot of time on these boards second guessing surgeons who have performed thousands of the procedures. People want to hold onto old habits even though it is made clear that those habits must change for us to have the best chance at long term success. I look at it this way. Doing things my way got me morbidly obese, pre-diabetic and sleep apnic. If I'm going as far as to have 85% of my stomach removed, I'm going to commit to following my doctor's directions. Half measures availed me nothing before and I don't believe they will now. I'm not trying to come off as preachy, I'm just stating how I am looking at all of these changes.

I am waiting to get discharged now. Got sleeved first thing Tuesday morning. Had some pain but nothing too terrible. I might have used the pain pump 5 times. The worst part for me was that I couldn't pee after surgery and they had to drain my bladder with a straight catheter. Ouch! Ever since then I have been a peeing machine. I could handle water but not the hospital food. The kept bringing in protein jello. I ate one. I've never had jello before. I won't ever again. I'm looking forward to get home to a shake. Good luck to everyone!

I'm sitting in the hospital lobby registering now. Won't be much longer now. Good luck to everyone today!

I have to report to the hospital at 5:45am tomorrow. Part of me still thinks I must be nuts but, I want to live a healthy life and not be a burden to my wife. I will only be healthier for doing it.

I am glad to be on my last day of liquid diet. I go in for surgery on Tuesday at Bryn Mawr Hospital with Dr. Richard Ing. I am excited. I am nervous about pain after surgery and obviously not looking forward to the two weeks of liquid post-op. I know it is all for the sake of my long term heath, which I obviously want. I just hope that I will reach a point where I can enjoy a single piece of pizza again. Not a whole pie like I used to and certainly not on a regular basis. I have started eating better as part of the pre-op program and actually enjoy tracking with MFP and my Fitbit. I guess after two weeks of nothing but these horrible shakes I find myself missing real food. I know I will eat again and that I will enjoy food in a new and healthy way. Right now I just have pre-surgey jitters. Thanks for letting me share. Scott

Speaking as an actual recovering addict, I say this. Know what you are medicating. If you can't honestly look yourself in the eye and say that you are doing it for the pain, don't do it. The problem with addiction is that in many people it is a sleepy little monster. Once it wakes up, you got problems. Mindfulness and awareness are keys to staying safe. If you start chasing that delightful relaxed feeling, stop. Transfer addiction is real and can set in quickly. Most of us had an addiction to food. Once we can no longer have food, it is extremely easy to subconsciously find another way to feed our addiction. I'm not saying that this is true for everyone but there have been plenty of documented cases. I'm sure some people will say that I'm over-reacting, and that's fine. I just know from my own personal life experience and years of actually studying addiction that these things can happen.

It is amazing. It really goes to show how much we were overeating. I believe most of us are actually food addicts. We use food to cope repeatedly and it always leaves us feeling worse but we do it again. Living in this pre-op diet has broken the cycle and let me see what I was doing to myself. I think that may be one reason some doctors have us use shakes. I'm grateful for this phase of the program.

No. Do what they told you. Every practice is different. They may have a certain machine they like to use pistop.

If you are on CPAP, you must bring your machine, mask, and tubing to the hospital. Since you will have anesthesia in your system and pain mess, it is important to have for when you are sleeping after surgery.