BarrySue

Great job! I'm sitting at 103 lbs lost 5 months and 29 days out, but I started at over 350 lbs (so I have a loooong way to go yet). You look great!

I'm nearly 11 weeks post op, and gradually over the last several weeks I've been losing the ability to tolerate food, have nausea and gagging after even a few bites of food, and don't want to eat anything at all. My doctor believes it is a stricture, but I was a self-pay surgery, so everything is out of pocket and I can't afford the diagnostic test to confirm, nor the dilation procedure. It isn't an emergency, so I can't simply get it done and work something out with the bill later. As a student living off a stipend, I had to borrow the money for the procedure as is, so I'm stuck until I get my tax return. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with strictures here (the chronic ones that develop 2-3 months post op, not the acute sort right after surgery), and what their experiences were both before and after it was treated (if it was treated at all). One person told me "you're so lucky, now you'll lose weight fast," but going from an overeater to a chronically malnourished, vitamin-deficient, hairless, toothless mess isn't a very good trade off. Any fellow sleevers who were part of that unlucky 3.5%?

BMI started at 60, down to 43 now at six months post-op.

I didn't realize how integral food was to my comfort and happiness until I stopped. I still tried to eat bad foods after my surgery, but one bite in I'd gag. I'd walk around the grocery store and touch/handle/be drawn to everything I couldn't have, and just having it in my cart was like a security blanket. Sometimes I'd buy stuff knowing I couldn't eat it, I just wanted to HAVE it. Then I'd put it back before checking out, or throw it out/offer it to a roomie when I got home. Much of what I buy even now, I take a few bites and then casually throw the rest away. I think purchasing food/meals/snacks just makes me feel normal. Is that weird?

I've lost 101 lbs now, and much of it is from my face, shoulders, back, upper torso area. I never had a butt (tragic white girl syndrome), but everything around my waist has gotten smaller at a MUCH slower weight. I'm just an apple shape, so I'm learning to deal with it.

I also had a couple lumps in my two largest incisions where the skin simply didn't lay flat. But I'm nearly six months out and it's smooth again.

You need to call your doc ASAP, but all of those laxatives/stool softeners won't be effective UNLESS YOU GET TONS OF HYDRATION. Drink drink drink water.

Your doctor will calculate an average based on statistical analysis, as the typical five-year weight loss for most people ranges between 50-70% of excess weight. So, he is simply being realistic. However, that being said Your doctor deals with statistics. You deal with your own goals, effort, motivation, and desires.

Congratulations! That is a wonderful achievement, can't wait to be there with you!

Grats! The honeymoon phase is wonderful, isn't it?

I've experienced this, especially in the period right after surgery (Protein shakes of all things. My body absolutely cannot handle them). Trying to get through the first two months post-op with no Protein Shakes was...uh, not what I expected with this surgery. I still have a problem with super greasy or rich foods, but it tends to cause nausea and disgust right away, as if my body is telling me "girl, you will NOT like where this ends, stop now."

Call your surgeon and just see if you had a mishap. It can be fixed, you will get better, and all this misery will become smaller and smaller in your memory. I feel you on the being so miserable with you regret everything (I had pretty bad complications). Hang in there, friend. It WILL get better.

I went through the same issue after surgery, suddenly no protein shakes/drinks/mixes worked (I tried every brand, all made me ill). I gagged at the mere scent. What got me through to the solid food stage was Fat-free Fairlife milk (they sell it everywhere now). It is milk that is ultra-filtered to remove both the lactose and most of the sugar, and then fortified with additional protein and calcium. I usually mixed sugar free strawberry or chocolate syrup to have it cold, or heated it up and added diet hot cocoa mix.

It varies for everyone. Some people can sleep on their sides/stomach in a few days. It took me nearly two months. Unfortunately, the answer to most questions can never be definitive. Learn to hear "it depends" quite a bit.

I was 353 before starting my 3-week pre-op diet, sleeved on July 13th, and am 91 lbs down as of this morning. I still have a very long way to go, so I have to keep reminding myself to be happy even though I'm not halfway to goal yet. My sleeve still hates anything greasy, dense meat, pasta/rice/carbs, and just about anything that makes mealtime pleasant, so I'm gradually losing that fear of regain and trying to push myself to eat more in order to make future maintenance easier. I have exercised a total of 2 days in the past four months but I figure when I stall again, I should try taking walks (being outside no longer feels like walking on the surface of the sun here in Florida).

Unfortunately, this is an effect of extreme weight loss. It will not last forever, it will grow back, and the only thing you can really do is get as much Protein as possible and stick to your healthy diet.

There are people who become addicted to alcohol after the first sip. I think that was me with food. I just loved it. I have eight brothers and sisters, and even though we all played sports and were extremely active, I was the only fat one because I could never, ever get enough. It was all I wanted, and I spent all my money on it from babysitting cash at 13 to a good portion of my salary in my thirties. I can't believe how much extra money I have now simply because I'm not heading to a local restaurant, buying 3-4 meals and eating it in the car. Now, when I go to the grocery store, I walk up and down to the aisles and still look longingly over all the delicious things I can't eat. I flip them over, look at the nutritional info, and sometimes I put them in my cart and then dump them right before the checkout line. I really miss food. Most of it makes me ill so I couldn't eat it if I wanted to, but that doesn't change how badly I still want it. I still throw away most of what I buy because I can't eat it, but it makes me feel secure to have it around for awhile. My vice was binging though. I usually only ate once or twice a day, but I could eat enough for 3-4 people in that time. And soda? Oh boy, I lived on mountain dew for 20 years.

All of them made me extremely nauseous. Premier, unjury, isopure, shakes, powders, it just instantly triggers gagging. I ended up living on Fairlife fat free milk (added protein calcium, sugar and lactose filtered out) I mixed with sugar free strawberry syrup or diet hot cocoa mix for variety, and I used it almost exclusively for about two months until I could start eating solids to get my protein.

My doctor reported my spleen was enlarged during my sleeve surgery. They did an ultrasound that confirmed it was enlarged, but the bloodwork was normal and they had no idea why. Removing the spleen is problematic for many reasons, and produces more negative side effects than say a gallbladder or tonsils. Your acupuncturist is well intentioned, but has absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Red root tea? Jesus Christ, no, tea will not reduce organ size. Don't worry about your spleen. Leave it be, stick to your diet plan, and if any other symptoms come up, report them to your doctor.

Yes! I went through this a couple months ago. I would gag just thinking about food! For me, it was half mental, half unusual symptoms of a gallbladder attack. I ended up coming off food for a few days and receiving IV nutrition just to give my body time to rest from the nausea and dry heaving. They ended up asking me to indulge in certain foods that had nostalgia/warm feelings attached to it, which would seem counter-productive after weight loss surgery, but it was to ease me back into tolerating food again. So, I lived on peanut butter crackers for a couple weeks, and while I still can't tolerate many things, I no longer gag at the smell/sight/thought of food.

There is a lot of vulnerability and insecurity around here. That's fine, this is a weight loss forum with a lot of strangers telling other strangers how they must cut out most of their stomach in order to keep their eating habits from killing them. Given how being fat is stigmatized in a way many other addictions/behaviors aren't (there is a heck of a lot of support/compassion for people addicted to other things, especially in the medical community), bristling at bluntness isn't an unusual reaction. It's not that I think we need to be a hug box, echo chamber, or hippy drum circle in which everyone vomits sunshine and rainbows and walks on eggshells for fear of offending the too-easily-offended. But I do think the emotional rawness and fragility is something important to keep in mind. ...Although, if I read one more "I'M SIX DAYS POST OP AND JUST ATE A PLATE OF Pasta, DRANK ALCOHOL AND SMOKED WEED, IS THAT OKAY," I'm gonna punch myself in the throat.

I'll be honest, it remained too uncomfortable for me to sleep on my side for 8-10 weeks. For some reason I had too much pain/discomfort until then.

Hang in there! I had the same miserable slow recovery time, and an inability to stomach most proteins for quite some time. You've just got to make it through the first three months, then it gets much easier.