okcpaul

I'm getting sleeved tomorrow! Its pretty crazy to me. For the past couple of weeks I have avoided thinking too much about it because I didn't want to freak myself out. And now that it's here, I'm thinking about it.... and freaking myself out. I have a friend that's going with me. My best friend had it done a few months ago and she's the only thing that is keeping me sane right now. I fly out to Tijuana in the morning. Leaving Oklahoma at 6:30 am. (I should be asleep but I'm online talking to you guys). Surgery is tomorrow afternoon sometime. I would like to take a Xanax tomorrow but I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Any helpful advice is appreciated. Thanks

I can relate. I couldn't find much on him either other than what I found on this site. Congrats on your surgery date. You will be fine. Keep me updated. I'd like to hear about your experience and progress. Don't hesitate to ask any questions if you have any others.

2-3 per hour but I don't think I've had more than 6 total in a sitting.

I can probably drink 2-3 per hour just fine. I sip on them. I sometimes wish my sleeve would have stretched out already. I hate going out to eat with my family because every time I hear "that's all you're going to eat???" I want to drop kick them when they say that. I wish I could eat more so I would stop losing weight. I'm too skinny now I feel like. Hope my thread gave you some good info. Don't be nervous about using Dr. M. LTVSG runs a good operation with a great staff.

So I had surgery in July. So I'm about 10 months out. I'm down 88 pounds. I passed my goal weight and I'm hovering around 181-185. I went through some phases where I was very emotional at times. But I read that's just the hormones in your fat being released and that's just part of it. I've pretty well leveled out and feel normal. I eat pretty much whatever I want now. I avoid old bad habits. Don't eat hardly anything that's fried or much bread. I have a couple of beers from time to time when I get together with my friends. I don't push it though. I've lost quite a bit of muscle mass. I need to work out more. I wish I would have been taking in more protein shakes and doing more push ups, sit ups, and lifting weights over the past 6 months. I've also had some hair thinning. I think that's due to lack of protein. So drink/eat your daily protein! Super important. Vitamins are a must! Now I'm just trying to maintain my current weight. I don't want to lose anymore. Sometimes I wish I would have asked them to do a half sleeve or make my stomach a bit larger than they typically do. But overall I'm very pleased and don't have any regrets.

I got a package of shots from my Dr. in Mexico that he prescribed. I haven't used any of them yet. I was sleeved 7/21 and have just been taking a B complex pill and a B12 vitamin patch (patch MD). Ran out of patches. Thinking I need to give myself a shot but I don't want to! Lol interested to see what people have to say about this one.

Well we may not supposed to be having caffeine and beer but I had my first cup today since I was sleeved 7/21 and it went down just fine. No problems or sickness. I also have beer on rare occasions. I was at the lake today and I had 3 12 oz cans over a 5 hour period. No problem. I know it's "against the rules" to have those things but I think if you're able to handle it, then why not? Beer isn't good, i know, because of the carbonation, but I love me an ice cold Coors Light. ???? cheers bud. It'll be the best decision you'll ever make.

Oh and I blew threw my food stages. I was eating eggs 21 days out. Wasn't supposed to but considering how great I was doing/feeling I risked it anyway. I was sleeved on 7/21. Flour tortillas are terrible to eat. Be careful if you end up trying any. I won't dare do that again lol

Things I didn't expect: Having very little pain. Being able to drink more Water than what I was told I would be able to (2 oz every 15 min was a piece of cake). Not chewing good (chew at least 30 times) or it makes you sick. I didn't crush my pills after the 4th day. The antibiotics were extremely disgusting if chewed. Even after brushing my teeth I could still taste them so I just took them whole. Drink your 64 oz of water and get you minimum 60 oz of Protein. Water is crucial. Best of luck.

Awesome! I'm pretty well 100% back to normal. I'm 37 pounds down 5.5 weeks post op. I haven't pushed myself too many times to know how full I actually am. I'm never hungry anymore. Biggest tip I can give would be to stay away from the carbs! Eating carbs will bring back the hunger. What'd you think of the facilities and the whole experience?

I was sleeved on July 21 and I was back at work July 27. I walk a lot and lift heavy books (one at a time) to take pictures of documents in them.

There's wheat (carbs) in tomato soup.

Smoke some pot. It will help with the pain and nausea. Plus it's just fun anyway. It will give you cotton mouth and you will want to keep drinking water for the dry mouth. It may sound strange but it helps with my hunger pains too.

Not being able to have solid foods for the first 20 days sucks. Watching TV commercials is brutal. I don't think I realized how many food advertisements there were until I couldn't have it hahaha.... The gas pains were bad the first 2 days. No problem after that. Honestly, the gas was probably the worst part. Today is day 6 for me and I almost feel back to normal. No problems drinking adequate amount of fluids and water. I just keep thinking about pizza haha. BUT, I got on the scales this morning and I'm already down 20 pounds in just a little over 2 weeks. So it's all worth it. It's awesome fitting into old clothes I haven't worn in years. Good luck to you.

That's right. I now remember the doctor telling me they don't prescribe controlled substances in Mexico. Today is day 6 and I'm back at work. Feeling good. I think you will be good. Stay positive.

The worst part was the first day out for me. I went thru the same feelings you're having before I did it. I miss food right now, but I'll be able to eat again soon. The pounds are melting off and I'm 5 days out. Still planning on eating pizza when I'm able. I just know I won't be able to eat maybe 1/2 slice and feel full.

Not to mention pot is just awesome anyway. Makes TV so much more interesting. Been killin' it with Breaking Bad on Netflix. I'm re watching. I go back to work tomorrow. I do a lot of walking with my job so I'm wondering how I'll do next week. I'm honestly kinda surprised with how well I'm feeling and well I've done through all of this (so far). My uncle said, "It's like you flew down there and took and nap and came back." I thought I would be a lot sicker/ tired all the time. I don't feel that way at all. I'm just hungry sometimes and I have had pizza on my mind since last Sunday. The girl who convinced me to do this surgery tells me, if your hungry that means you need more Water. There's no way you're hungry bc your stomach is tiny. Are you guys taking time off work? How long?

They give all your medications through the IV. Pain meds, antibiotic, something for stomach acid.... Injected it through a port in the IV. Pot also gives me cotton mouth so I'm constantly drinking Water, which is helpful.

It seems like it's working. One pill a day is all I've needed. Keep in mind your stomach is going to be different and so it may not be able to handle the strong stuff? I don't know that even has anything to do with anything. But it has been helping me. I take one in the morning and I'm good for the day. Also, a little toke of the marijuana has been effective to help with pain and nausea . Helps with my hunger pains too (it's a hunger suppressant). May not be the same for everyone ???? just throwing it out there.

Here are the meds they prescribed me. I also bought some vitamins on Amazon. The patches are awesome. Taking pill form sucks but I still have a few I take anyway.

I had surgery Tuesday afternoon. 268 and 6ft tall may not be that big but I have a big spare tire around me. I've been trying to lose weight for about 7 years now and it's been lose 10, gain 20. My best friend had it done and she was 5'2 170. She was thick but I didn't think she was a good candidate for the surgery but now she looks like a model. I'll post pics of both of us.

I'm 6 ft tall btw

The pain gets easier. I actually feel great today. Getting out of bed was tough this morning but that was because I laid there for so long and got stiff. Nothing you can do to avoid that. I didn't do a lot of rolling around in bed like I usually do. My incision areas are what's sore. Taking deep breaths is kinda hard but it will get better in time. The first day is definitely the hardest. Every day gets easier. And they will give you stuff for the pain thru your IV. My friend has some stomach pains today but she said it's mild. The pain I felt Wednesday is a distant memory. They also prescribed B12 shots to give yourself. I forgot to mention that one earlier. I will take pics when I get back home and post them.

I'll have to take a picture of them and post because they are all in Spanish and I couldn't begin to tell you what they are. I know I have stuff for nausea, a pain killer, an antibiotic, heartburn, an antiseptic spray for the incision wounds, and blood thinners if you're flying. The blood thinners are an additional $50 that's not included in the $100 they tell you in the info sheet. We flew in Tuesday morning and arrived at 9:30am. I text Annette at my connecting flight and told her and she was there waiting on us. She was in her charcoal GMC Arcadia with a sign on the dash. She took us straight to the facility which took about 30 min. They gave us paperwork to sign and we slipped into our gowns and chilled out for a couple hours and waited on the doctors to get there. I saw the cardiologist first and he did some checks to make sure our blood flow was normal. Later the anesthesiologist came in introduced himself and explained what was going to happen. Then Dr. M came in for a brief minute to say hello. He didn't say much. My friend went first and then I went about 3 hours after her. The actual surgery was prob 1.5-2 hours and then they clean up for the next patient. No cath. It's unnecessary. Plus you don't have anything in your system anyway. Couple things they don't tell you that will help is liquids only a day or two before. I took a laxative on Sunday to get everything out. And then absolutely nothing to eat or drink the day of the surgery. I was shaking when I came out of the anesthesia. You'll be in pain from all the gas. You HAVE to walk as soon as possible to get that out. I was up walking around still half drunk from the pain meds trying to get the gas out maybe an hour after I got back to my bed. They were supposed to keep us up walking most of the night but they didn't. That prob caused some unnecessary pain the next day. So be sure to get up and walk about every 2 hours. Sipping Water also helped burp up the gas. Take some Gas-X strips with you. You'll be glad you did. The next morning Annette took us to the recovery house and we both had private rooms with hospital beds and directTV. They gave us a button to push if we needed assistance. We had IVs hooked up to us the whole time. From before the surgery to the hour we left. Martha was one of the nurses/care givers and she was awesome. My favorite person there. She's a sweet heart. Doesn't speak much English but she understood most of what I was saying. Annette picked up our meds so we didn't even have to go to the pharmacy. She took us back to the airport around 11am on Thursday. Everything was very accommodating. The whole experience was great. I was very skeptical going into all of this. Hope this helps you.

Everything went great. Yesterday was rough but that was because of the gas they inflate you with to maneuver around your stomach. I only saw my surgeon for a total or 2 minutes. Although I was surprised with how many doctors I saw throughout the whole process. I met with a cardiologist, anesthesiologist, the surgeon (Dr. M) and then a couple others the following day. The facility where I had the procedure (J.L. Prado) was small but very clean. The recovery house they moved us to the next day was immaculate. Very, very clean and excellent care. I was very impressed. The toughest part of the whole thing was dealing with the gas. sleep was uncomfortable the second night but they gave me a lot of pain meds to help with it. I would recommend LTVSG to anyone thinking about getting sleeved. Even the shuttle lady, Annette, was awesome. My entire experience was way better than what I had imagined.