catwoman7

I understand the urge although I decided against doing that. I did go out to a couple of our favorite places and enjoyed a favorite dish, but I didn't do a "food funeral" as I didn't want to binge after doing so well for so many months. Although some people do choose to do that.

normal. Many women experience weird hormone-related things the first few weeks or months after surgery (screwed up menstrual cycles and emotional weirdnesses). This is supposedly because estrogen is stored in fat cells, and during rapid weight loss, that estrogen is released. It'll eventually stabilize and you'll be fine..

like someone above, I was also diagnosed with mild sleep apnea during my pre-surgery sleep study. The technician (or whoever it was who called me with the results) suggested that I get a CPAP machine, but when I mentioned it to the PA at my bariatric center, he said it was up to me, but it was pretty likely the sleep apnea would be gone after I'd lost about 20 lbs or so. I didn't have a repeat study after losing the first 20 lbs, but I was in a research study a few months post-surgery that involved three sleep studies (they were studying brain waves), and the pulmonologist who ran one of the studies told me I did not have sleep apnea. So yea - my weight loss "cured" it.

My B12 always runs high (1000+), but it's usually met by a shrug at the bariatric clinic. It wasn't until it once went up over 2000 that they suggested I cut back a bit on my supplement. So a high B12 after surgery isn't necessarily unusual, but 3000 is pretty high. Yea - maybe check with your regular doctor just in case. It can sometimes be caused by some serious condition, but they could also find nothing and just have you cut back on your supplementation. But it's probably good to get anything serious ruled out (and it could be that they could tell by your other lab values that there wasn't anything odd going on - but then, I don't know that. I'd just check with your PCP if you're concerned) High AST and ALT aren't uncommon after surgery, but they usually normalize around the second year. But like the person above said, sometimes it takes a little longer. I can't remember when mine went down (actually I just checked - at 2 years 3 months out, mine was still high. It did eventually drop down to normal, though) P.S. I just looked through my MyChart and noticed that when I had AST/ATL checked at 2 years 7 months out (as part of a metabolic panel) they were normal. So it was during my third year that they normalized (although I lost weight until month 20 since I started out at over 300 lbs)

I wouldn't worry that much about the yellow stool because weird stool colors aren't uncommon the first month or so after surgery. Your insides have been mucked around with, so you're likely to see weird things until everything settles down again. I had yellow stool for the first month or so, too. and the diarrhea part isn't unheard of. Yes constipation is a LOT more common, but some people have diarrhea instead. the vomiting, stomach pains, and not being able to keep water down is a bit odd, though. I think I'd be tempted to go to urgent care or the ER this weekend if this keeps up - if nothing else, for peace of mind.

39.5 lbs in three months is failing? Ah...no. That's actually pretty average, unless you're the size of someone on "My 600 lb Life". I was about there at that point, and I started off much heavier than you. stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days. As long as you stick to your plan, the stall will eventually break and you'll be on your way again. This is all VERY normal.

it looks like you're hoping to lose over 100 lbs. If so, you may have loose skin. I had a ton of it (I lost over 200 lbs), but it was easy to hide in clothes. I eventually had mine removed, though. Honestly, lots of pre-ops and early post-ops worry about loose skin, but I think I can speak for most of us who are 2+ years out. We would take the loose skin any day of the week over being obese again!

make sure you're sticking to your plan, and stay off the scale for a few days. As long as you're sticking to your plan, the stall will break on its own. Stalls typically last 1-3 weeks, but occasionally they last longer. If it's been a month or more, than be doubly sure you're sticking to your plan.

fluids (and purees for the most part, too) go right through you, so you won't feel full. You'll start to feel the restriction once you start eating solid food. also, you've had nerves cut, and it takes them awhile to start to regenerate - which again, that should start up again about the time you move to solid food, too. also, keep in mind that your "full" signals (once you start feeling them) might be different than they were before surgery. Mine are different - I get this uncomfortable pressure in my chest, and I know if I keep going, I'm going to be sorry. I've read about other people getting a runny nose or sneezing when they're full. It might take some time to figure out what your new "full" signal is, too..

Pale is usually due to fat malabsorption, I believe, and that's to be expected. I remember having those the first month or so post-op. Gray - iron, maybe? Check with your surgeon, but multi-colored stools aren't that unusual the first few weeks after surgery, though. I think mine only lasted the first 4-6 weeks, though. P.S. I just read that pale is the result of not enough bile salts in your stool - possibly due to an obstruction.. Although that article wasn't specific to bariatric patients. I'll see if I can find something specific to bariatric patients. Although again, weird stool colors arent' that uncommon early out - which makes sense when you consider they've re-arranged our digestive systems. But it's always good to check with a doctor just in case... P.P.S. I just cut and pasted this from the UC-San Francisco's bariatric program Web page: Bowel habits Bowel movements vary greatly after bariatric surgery. Stools may be foul smelling, associated with flatulence, or a different color than normal. Taking iron supplements, for example, will make your stools dark or black. Until you're eating more solid food, your stools will be soft. Most of these changes resolve as the body heals and adapts to changes. Please call your bariatric surgery team if you have persistent diarrhea.

that's often due to low blood pressure or low blood sugar - but I suppose dehydration could do it, too. Usually when it's low pressure, though, you feel it more when you've been lying down or sitting and you suddenly stand up (and that particular scenario is not that uncommon the first few weeks after surgery). But I agree with the others - might be good to run it by your team.

I don't know about bilirubin specifically, but it's not unusual for liver enzymes (such as AST and ALT) to be high the first year or so after surgery. Evidently rapid weight loss is pretty hard on livers. My (as well as a few others' whom I know) had high readings the first year, but then they normalized during year 2, when weight loss slowed to a crawl. I'm not sure if that's true of bilirubin levels or not, though (although that's also produced by the liver). It's good they're checking it out just to be sure there's nothing weird going on.

it's the three-week stall - right on time! stick to your plan, stay off the scale, and it'll break. Does every time...

ditto on three months (at least for me!). I didn't lose that much, though - no one else would have noticed. As Arabesque said, the most you can do is keep on top of your protein and supplements.

I'm guessing gas - although I suppose it could be either. But most of us don't feel restriction until we start eating solid food. Fluids and purees go right through you - plus you would have had nerves cut during the surgery, and it takes them awhile to start to regenerate. So yes - most likely it's gas.

i started making myself drink 16 oz of fluid (water or flavored water) first thing in the morning, as soon as I get out of bed. Then I've got 1/4 of my fluids knocked out before I even get dressed!

the test for nicotine is pretty common. I don't know about the tests for alcohol or drugs - if I was tested for those, I wasn't told.

that's under your control. You can always increase your calories and stop the weight loss. However, keep in mind that most of us experience a 10-20 lb rebound gain after hitting our lowest weight. Also, rebound or not, things do sort of shift around during year 2 or 3 so that you don't look as gaunt. I looked really thin after hitting bottom at month 20 - but things did shift around - and then I put on about 20 lbs quickly sometime during year 3. So suffice it to say, I wouldn't really worry about losing too much weight. A lot of long-timers who looked too gaunt during year 2 didn't look that way once they hit year 3 or 4 (honesty, there are days I wish I was still that thin!)

I've read that stretching out your stomach is pretty rare - it would take lots and lots of overeating - over time - to do that. It's probably a stall. As far as restriction, a lot of us who are several years out have "small pouch days" and "big pouch days" - you may be getting to that point where you may have stretches of time where you don't really feel much restriction.

you've probably hit the infamous "three week stall" (most people have this early stall. It's usually the third week after surgery, hence the name, but it can happen any time within the first six weeks or so). Mine was weeks 2 and 3. Just stick to your plan, stay off the scale, and know that it'll break and you'll be on your way again. No need to do anything different.

you did not gain 2 lbs of true weight unless you've eaten 7000 more calories than your body needs. It's water - or your intestines are filling up again. Very normal.

one stone is 14 lbs. I don't know what your starting weight was, but 14 lbs actually isn't bad. you're probably in a stall now. They happen to most of us every so often along our journeys. They typically last 1-3 weeks, but it's not unheard of for them to last longer than that. I absolutely would NOT go on a water-only diet. You'll just end up with nutritional deficiences and a screwed-up metabolism. Stay on your program. Contact your clinic if you're worried and let them know what's going on - but honestly, I don't think anything is wrong.

don't take much, because you're likely to spend most of your time sleeping Cell phone and charger for sure (you may even want to pick up one of those really long cables in case the outlet is kind of far from your bed). Baggy, easy-to-put on clothes for going home (I just wore the same thing that I wore TO the hospital). Lots of people use lip balm and dry mouth spray (such as Biotene). I took both and didnt' use them, but a lot of people do). Some people like a pillow to put over their stomach for the ride home. I took toiletries, but needn't have bothered since the hospital gave me a bag of them - shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant. Some people like to bring their own sleeping attire, but the hospital will provide you with that (open in the back in case they need to listen to your lungs or whatever) - although it might not be a bad idea to have something to throw over that for when they have you out walking the halls (which they will...) - otherwise, "open in the back" means open in the back - the whole way down! But yea - don't pack much because you're not there very long, and as I said, you'll probably spend a lot of that time sleeping.

one thing to keep in mind is people usually blow through sizes pretty quickly the first few months after surgery. I could barely wear something for a month or two before it was too big. I just went to Goodwill (or similar places) until I was close to my goal because otherwise I would have been spending a lot of money on a quickly-changing wardrobe - things that I could only wear for a month or so before casting them aside.

I've known of several WLS people on the east coast who went to Dr. Capella in New Jersey (that is, if you're willing to travel - some people are, some aren't). All he does is body contouring for massive weight loss patients, and his prices are supposedly pretty reasonable for the New York area. I don't know what they're running now, though. https://www.capellaplasticsurgery.net/post-weight-loss-surgery/ (I actually traveled for mine - to Chicago - about two hours away - but I know people who've flown places to work with a nationally-known plastic surgeon (and Dr. Capella is one)). Also on the east coast who's nationally known is Dr. Joseph Michaels in the DC area (I think he's affiliated with Johns Hopkins University). But again, that'd mean traveling, of course, I've known several WLS patients who've gone to him https://www.josephmichaelsmd.com/ a lot of these really well-known surgeons will do consults over the phone (you'd have to send them pictures so they know what they'd be dealing with) - not sure about these two, but I'm guessing they do). Also, most plastic surgeons will charge you for a consult - maybe $100 or so - but they take that off your surgery if you go with them. I had three in Chicago and one from a surgeon in Mexico - the Chicago ones all charged for the consult, but I felt is was money well spent.