theantichick

The energy starts coming back (for most of us) once you can eat solid food. Hang in there!

3 months out, and I have days where the thought of eating just makes me nauseated. Then I will have days where I can't seem to get enough to eat. On the days I don't want to eat, I still make sure I eat a few times and get Protein and plenty of fluids. I choose the foods that have "gone down" the easiest for me that have good amounts of protein, and I try not to stress about it.

Not as much as people think. The swelling and inflammation after surgery limits your intake to only a couple of ounces, usually. As that swelling and inflammation goes down as you heal, the volume of your sleeve increases. You also teach yourself to be tolerant to larger amounts of food as you progress. The part of the stomach that is cut away is a different type of tissue than what is left. That part that is cut away is VERY stretchy. Depending on how large the bougie your surgeon used, there is VERY little of that super-stretchy tissue left. The tissue that is left for most sleeves will have a little stretch, but not a significant amount. My surgeon says that most people by a few months post-op can eat about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of food. By a couple of years out, she has seen that go up to a full cup in some people, but usually less. Fluids and air are NOT going to stretch your sleeve.

Long time migraineur here, and an RN as well. I just want to clarify for everyone: the triptan class is NOT an NSAID. There are ZERO contraindications for the triptan class and VSG. This includes Imitrex, Maxalt, Relpax, Zomig, etc. If the generic name ends in -triptan then it's in this class of drugs. There are a couple of formulations that mix a triptan with naproxen, it's the naproxen component that is the NSAID, not the triptan. My team allows me to take NSAIDs because I have auto-immune conditions and the benefits outweigh the ulcer risk. I am minimizing my NSAID intake however, because I only want to use it when I absolutely need it. Knock on wood, haven't needed it since surgery. Excedrin usually will knock out my migraines if I take it fast enough. Since surgery, I've switched to going ahead and taking my triptan instead, and it's working GREAT. I have the kind that melts on the tongue - gets in the system faster that way - and it tastes like a dirty mint but it works amazingly well. My doc is going to put me on topiramate as a preventative if I start having them regularly, but so far that hasn't been needed. Talk to your team, though. They may be OK with an occasional use of Excedrin for migraines. I highly recommend switching to a triptan or even an ergotamine if you tolerate them. Also, the biggest triggers of migraine are dehydration and low blood sugar. In the words of my daughter's neurologist - never let yourself get hungry or thirsty. I had a string of migraines one week when I wasn't on top of my Fluid intake. Oh, the dissolvable one I take is Maxalt ODT, btw.

I have Mirena, on my 2nd one even. Reduced migraines (hormone), and have only had like 2 breakthrough light (spotting) periods in 9 years. One of those was after VSG surgery... spotted for 3 days, then it was done. Nothing since. Insertion/removal is a huge B**ch. No 2 ways around it, it hurts. But the worst of it is over in a couple of minutes, and then it's just cramping like a heavy period for a couple of days (at least for me). My 19 year old daughter has the implant. She bled for 2 months straight, and after that it smoothed out and she has lighter periods than she did.

You should ask your surgeon and/or his team. Every doctor has a different diet progression plan, and sometimes it needs to be tailored for a specific patient. You will have people tell you it's safe, and you'll have people tell you it could be deadly, and you'll hear every opinion in between. I'm a nurse, and the surgery is NOT a small one. Some foods eaten before you're healed can result in a leak or abscess, which can be deadly.

I'm a nurse, and love watching surgery, so I was fascinated by the surgery videos (my favorite is the 360 one by the guy in Mexico) but for many people that is vomit inducing. I agree that many people don't seem to understand how big the surgery is on the inside because all they see are the tiny incisions. I don't know that forcing people to watch something that turns their stomach is the answer, but I agree that more information is needed.

They don't always stop the study, unless the apnea is severe. I had moderate apnea, and didn't find out for weeks after the study. Then I had to schedule another night at the sleep clinic for them to calibrate the CPAP. And another couple of weeks to get the machine ordered. If the apnea is not immediately life threatening, it can actually move quite slow.

I disagree. People who have had successful experience with the surgery, especially once they're out multiple years from their surgery, have a LOT to offer by sharing their experience and advice about what worked and didn't work for them. Everyone's different, so their experience won't be identical to mine or yours, but they know a LOT about what it takes to be successful long term. They also have a lot of indirect experience by virtue of the people they talk to in their in-person support groups, and the people they've talked to online. To say that they don't is very short sighted. There's a reason the term "veteran" exists (outside the military term), to refer to the people who have experience in comparison to those who do not. I cannot express how much hearing the stories of the vets here and getting advice from them has really helped me in my progress. I think it's utterly disrespectful to say they don't have anything to offer. Every vet who posts here does so in order to try and pay it forward because they probably got a lot of help and support when they were going through it. If you don't like what they have to say, just move along. It is not necessary to attack someone just because they're telling you something you don't want to hear. And when you're hearing the same thing from a dozen people, it might be a sign that you should at least consider what they have to say. Making a bad food choice is WAY different than eating solid food before you're cleared to after a major abdominal surgery. We have witnessed a wave of people who come to this board and ask if this food or that food is OK while they're still on a liquid diet. This is not the same as "cheating" on a normal diet. I am a nurse, and I know firsthand what can happen when someone after stomach surgery chooses not to follow their physician's diet orders. It can be deadly dangerous. Many of us here worry when someone posts as you did about eating solid food sooner than their surgeon allowed, and other posters treating it as if it's no big deal. We know that for every person posting, there's an untold number who are just reading and absorbing. Some of them apparently have been given REALLY poor post-op instructions from their docs. We feel a responsibility to make sure people know that it's NOT a good idea to go outside your doctor's orders until you have been released to a full diet. It's not about judgment of the choice, it's about making sure you and others know that the choice can be physically dangerous. I would suggest you block her then. The instructions on how to do so are in the footer of her posts.

Honestly Julie...I loved the cheesecake with candied bacon bits on top. The patrons...well as this is NYC, there were lots of pretty, thin people there. Not like what you would have expected. NYC is a different breed...you just don't see lots of obese people here. It's like when Parisshel used to be online here and said that Paris was filled with pretty people. Same with New York. I did not see much in the way of what you would expect at a restaurant that was all about excess. I haven't been to NYC yet, but from what I've seen, I would think having to walk everywhere would change the dynamics for most people. Out here in the Texas suburbs, we typically don't walk anywhere. Heck, my town doesn't even have reliable bike lanes. Of course, there's only about 3 months out of the year you CAN walk anywhere without either dying of frostbite or heatstroke.

I had the surgery on Wed and was out of the office the rest of that week. The following week I worked from home. I would not have been able to go to the office for any reason until 8 or 9 days out. I had not been at my job for a year, so I didn't qualify for FMLA protection, and didn't want to take any more time than needed, so I was very glad I was able to work from home (I am in IT). If I'd been at my job longer and had more PTO built up, I'd have liked to have taken 2 whole weeks off, because that's really when I felt like going back to work. I'd have benefitted from more time to get to purees at least and focus on liquids and Proteins and get some energy back before going back, even working from home.

My husband is the only person I let plate my food. Mainly because he's being a sweetheart and really is working to get used to the small amount I eat. I would start there. As for the rest of it, are you somewhere that you can take walks? Just getting out of the situation for 20-30 minutes with fresh air would probably help you feel better.

I'm not sure I have anything helpful to offer because the comments you've quoted are ridiculously rude and hurtful. Family or not, I don't associate with people who behave like that with me anymore. I will say something like "I'm going to assume you didn't mean to be hurtful or rude with that comment, so here's your one chance to try that again before I walk away." The follow-through is necessary or they just won't get it. I have family members who I haven't spoken to in years because they've been awful to me, and I believe you teach people how to treat you. If they truly care about maintaining a relationship with you, they'll apologize and start thinking twice about what they say to you, or at least will try to make amends after you disassociate with them for a few months. I no longer have room in my life for toxic people, whether or not they are related to me.

I'm 3 months out and have days where I just can't with the food, and I am *SO* over the Protein shakes. So I'm making ice pops out of Syntrax roadside lemonade, because I am always down for ice pops. I'm also going to lay in some of my favorite comfort foods that are high protein, like hummus and a particular vegetable protein product I grew up on. I'm also going to try my hand at making pudding from scratch with Protein powder in it, since I'm allergic to nutrasweet and haven't found a sugar free pudding mix without it. I have tried forcing myself to eat when I'm just not feeling like it, and I was miserable. So I'm going to try working with my body for a while and see if that works out better.

I'm a nurse, so I generally get a sense of a doctor's competence pretty quickly in talking with them. I was referred to my surgeon by my rheumatologist, who I have a high level of trust and respect for. I researched her background before I met with her, and had several questions to ask her about her protocols and procedures. I was impressed with her, and though I had two others I was planning to meet with, I decided not to bother. Her office is across the street from my office, and her electronic medical records use the same portal as my rheumy and at the time my PCP as well. I already had a high confidence level with the hospital group she practices with, so there were no flags of concern. I had a great experience, and have not regretted my choice one bit.

My hubby isn't drastically overweight, but he's put on a little belly since we got married. I also noticed that he feels compelled to eat any food that I leave on my plate, and he's put on a few more pounds since my surgery. I talked to him the other day, and he grew up without enough food and was taught it was wrong not to clear the plate. We agreed that I'm not going to give him my plate anymore, because it's reinforcing bad habits for him. One reason for me having the surgery was so I could get more active with him, go on walks and such. So we're all going to focus on healthy cooking and eating, including better portioning.

You have done your due diligence and research, and are working with your medical team. I know it's hard to have your family against your decision, but ultimately you have to take care of you. Family usually mean well, but they don't know the whole medical story. My parents were against my having the surgery, but I had to make the right decision for me. I didn't want to hide it from anyone and was prepared to take the flack. They're coming around since I've now had the surgery, lost 55# and haven't had any of the issues they were concerned about. Once we get through Thanksgiving and they see that I'm not a stick in the mud because of food issues, they'll be happy again. (Long story).

Wait as long as you can to order, order so it'll be a little big, and either find a really good tailor and have an appointment for a week or two before or see if David's can guarantee you last-minute tailoring. I made the mistake of ordering too small once because I was on a diet and losing weight, and by the time the wedding came around there wasn't a Spanx strong enough to make that dress comfortable or hang right. We counted ourselves lucky that it would still zip.

My doc said straws are fine, there's no risk of damaging our stretching the sleeve. Some people swallow more air worth straws and that can cause extreme discomfort. Some people actually swallow less air and do well worth straws from early on. I have used them since recovery in the hospital, no problem. I hadn't been using them lately just because the cups I was using didn't have them, but I ended up with a different cop at work this week that did, and I doubled my Water intake. So count me in the straw contingent. sent from mobile device

I had to get off of cymbalta and had the same symptoms you're describing, even the lowest dose was not low enough. I ended up opening the capsules and counting out the little balls to walk the dosage down. One option I didn't know about then, but according to several docs works great is to get switched to something like Prozac which eases the ramp down. But yeah, double check on the extended release, I've not seen any literature about it being contraindicated. You can't crush them is all. My doc let me take small pills and capsules from day 1. Your doc should be able to give you some options. sent from mobile device

Yes! This has been my daughters experience as well, her rheumatologist told us almost 30% of RA patients are "factor negative" and blood tests are not as definitive as they once thought Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App And it doesn't have to be RA to be auto immune arthritis. too many doctors rely too much on bloodwork. sent from mobile device

I'm so glad my doc let me keep taking tablets the whole time. I despise liquid medicine.

That is what i keep hearing that it varies from person to person. So i really don't know what to expect. I know im going to have pain but i dont know the level of it. That is the unknown what is kinda scary. But do they put immidiatly pain meds in the IV or do you need to tell them to?? Sent from my SM-G928F using the BariatricPal App Most docs will order both an IV pain med and a tablet pain med. The tablet pain med is usually hydrocodone, but there are other options if you don't like it or are allergic. As a nurse, I tell my patients to let me know as soon as the pain starts ramping up, because it's easier to control if you don't let it get out of hand. If it's significant pain, I usually give the IV med because it works faster and tends to be stronger, but doesn't last as long. Then after a little while I give the oral med, because it will last longer. Most docs and nurses like to transition to the oral meds as soon as possible and only use the IV meds for break-through or really bad pain. They can't really send you home until your pain is controlled by meds they can send with you. The goal is also to use the least amount of meds needed to control the pain. So it's likely you'll need to communicate with your nurse where your pain level is, and you will work together to keep it under control. I have rarely had patients who could not get their pain under control, and they invariably had serious chronic medical conditions that were contributing as well as a tolerance to pain meds. If you're in good health generally and don't take a lot of pain meds, it's to be expected that they will keep your pain to a minimum.