theantichick

I don't know how long the effect will last, but here's my experience shopping last night at just over 2 weeks post-op:

Walked in the produce section and was drawn to the smell of the nectarines. Mind you, I have SERIOUS food issues (Dad physically force fed me veggies when I was very young) and in the past would have serious anxiety about eating anything outside my comfort zone. I can't tell you if I've ever even tried a nectarine. But damn they smelled awesome. So hubby said he likes nectarines, and we grabbed a couple. (Tried them at home, they're good but not really by themselves, needs to be in a cobbler or Cereal or something.)

Walked by the Little Debbie display - one of my old binge foods. Part of my brain went "oooohhhhh, Little Debbies, that would count as soft food". (Don't worry, I didn't get them.) But then the part of my brain that was imagining eating them, went "eh."

Walked through the Breakfast section - PopTarts are another one of my old binge foods. Used to be I only loved the chocolate fudge ones. Those had no appeal. The cherry ones had more appeal, but there's better ways to get cherry tastes like fruit in yogurt. Walked on by, no cravings no nothing.

Even if this effect doesn't last forever, if it lasts long enough for me to establish some healthier eating patterns, it'll be good enough.

And, I'm 30 lbs down from my highest weight. Jeans I haven't been able to wear since last fall are comfortable on the verge of being loose, and my wedding band which I haven't been able to wear for months is finally back on my hand. Just getting the boost of that 30 lbs gone is exhilarating and making me very excited about the future.

Part of the problem is that many of the antibiotics used, especially the strong ones for c. diff can cause diarrhea on their own. People have differing degrees of side effects from meds.

It's good that you're following up, but the vanc won't make the c. diff itself worse. It might be ineffective, but it won't make it worse.

Good luck! I know c. diff is a tough row to hoe.

LOL My doc prescribed it, and I filled it in case I needed it. But I had zero discomfort other than the "bubble" feeling when eating/drinking, so I never took it. I had my 2 week checkup Wed and she asked about it. When I told her I hadn't even taken it she laughed and said it was the single least compliant med she prescribes. No one likes it. But she didn't say it was to protect my sleeve, she said it was in case I was having burning, reflux-type symptoms.

I'm only 2 weeks out, so FWIW... the part of the stomach that is lost is responsible for a lot of the hormones that drive our cravings. I have zero appetite. I have to remind myself to eat and drink. It's a whole different world from what I had pre-surgery.

Just reading your story. How was your eating before hand? I tend to snack and binge sometimes out of being board i think. I wonder if this would really help those cravings. Its so hard to tell as everyone has a diffrent story.

Do you feel you can stick to the diet once you get back on to solids?

I am an emotional eater. I also tend to eat a lot of the wrong things. Anyway too much of those wrong things. In addition to getting the surgery, I have also been seeing a therapist since February about my emotional eating issues. The surgery is just a tool. but so far, it seems like a really darned good tool.

sent from mobile device

I'm only 2 weeks out, so FWIW... the part of the stomach that is lost is responsible for a lot of the hormones that drive our cravings. I have zero appetite. I have to remind myself to eat and drink. It's a whole different world from what I had pre-surgery.

Interesting. I had seen the adverts for Dr. Kim and his inverted sleeve, but never could find out what made his technique different. If it's just the oversewing of the staple line, my surgeon does that as well. And since she used to teach bariatric surgery, I suspect many of her former students do as well. The 360 video of the procedure by the doc in Mexico also does oversewing of the staple line.

My surgery is already done, and by all indications quite well, but I'm still curious if that's the only difference in the "inverted" sleeve.

I had to switch things up... Protein powder in Soup broth (tip: heat the Soup up separately, mix the powder with a few oz of warm Water, then mix the two.... Protein Powder in hot Water clumps and Protein Powder mixed with something and then heated gets gritty), popsicles made with clear Protein drinks (I use Syntrax). It was day 7 or 8 before I finally made my Fluid goal, and day 10 before I consistently was getting my Protein in (day 13 now, it's still a bit of a struggle, but I'm doing much better).

Remember that Fluid is more important than protein, especially at first. I likely got a little dehydrated, but not enough to need to go in for IV fluids, so I call it a win.

Good luck!!

I get cleared for puree's tomorrow, here's my favorite place to find recipes so far:

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html

I'm down 18 pounds from surgery ( 12 days out) but even better, got my original wedding ring on today for the first time in months and months.

sent from mobile device

I was told at least 2 weeks. I had surgery Wed. Out of work Thu and Fri, then work from home (IT) the entire following week. Then I'm back in the office. I needed all of that, honestly.

sent from mobile device

Whether you decide to confront the doctor or not, get copies of all of your medical records before you do anything. They legally can't prevent you from getting them, but they can put all sorts of obstacles in your way including charging you for each and every page and depending on what computer system they use, they might be able to change the entries after the fact and it might not show up on the type of copy you get. (Though with all of the major systems, there is a way to get records of what has been changed, you probably just have to have it subpeona'd.) Get what information you can before you start rocking the boat.

If you had a perf and they didn't tell you, that's major misconduct.

I was never diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia, but when I was pregnant, my blood sugar would drop to the high 40's (normal fasting is 70-100). I managed it by eating several small meals - every 3 or 4 hours - making sure I had good amounts of Protein in each. Which also cleared up my all-day morning sickness. Outside of pregnancy, I've had a few times where I got clammy and shaky and knew what it was and got some sugar on board quick.

You can get glucose meters and supplies without a prescription, but a prescription is required for insurance to cover the cost. But it's important to be working with your doc and team regardless.

I'm not far along enough to see if it's better or worse after the sleeve, but I'm on the lookout for it. This is a great topic, thanks for posting it!!

LOL. I think a little about it, since I can see where I'm going to have a decent sized stomach pannus. But I figure Shapewear and good lingerie can make any of that look good. My hubby loves the way I look now, he'll love me when I've got loose skin. If I want, I'll be able to save up and have skin surgery, but I'm not going to worry about it until I see what the end result looks like. Being healthy and more active will be worth it!

Doesn't make any sense to me... Respiratory can use an auto adjusting PAP post op if needed.

sent from mobile device

I agree with him.

I cannot be on a diet low enough in carbs to put me in ketosis or it will cause my blood sugar to fall dangerously low. I also personally believe based on my understanding of physiology from my nursing training that a ketogenic diet is not a long term good idea for most people. That's not to say I think simple, refined carbs are a good idea, but many of the ultra-low carb diet plans restrict ALL forms of carbs.

Hearing all the low carb and ultra-low carb plans here presented as if that's the only option had me worried until I met with my surgeon. My surgeon doesn't push ultra-low carb in the first place, but part of what convinced me that she knew her stuff was that she was prepared to modify any and all of the eating plans as needed for my personal medical situation. Not the progression for the healing phases, but the composition of each stage.

A cookie cutter approach without any deviation no matter what is a sign of the inability to account for patient's individual situations and/or laziness IMHO. Now, maybe if the surgeon had met with him instead of having his PA do it, the response would have differed. That he made a specific appointment with the surgeon and instead got the PA is disrespectful in my book unless the surgeon was ill or there was an emergency, in which case he should have been told that by a phone call before the appointment or at least when he checked in and given the option to reschedule.

We don't have mio here.... i just looked it up... its just a bunch of preservatives... i personally wouldn't use it.

I have a relative similar to that who believes everything they hear in the media and takes it as fact.... frequently i get "advice" based on what they hear.

Eg. You can't eat veggies cause they cause cancer or you shouldn't go anywhere by plane because there are hijackers everywhere lol.. stupid stuff like that....

It is entertaining sometimes, but other times i just want to throw their media devices out a window lol

Yeah, there's nothing nutritionally valuable in Mio, but it does a good job of flavoring the Water. W.C. Fields and I have the same attitude about Water - "never drink the stuff... fish f**k in it, you know?" I really do not like plain water. When I drink water without flavor it has to be bottled stuff with electrolytes - not because there's a significant amount, but because the potassium they use changes the flavor a bit. So a little bit of whatever crap is in Mio in order for me to drink the water I need to is a fair trade in my book. I like lemon because it doesn't taste like crap if the ice melts and it gets diluted, like some of the other flavors. So the even funnier part about all of this is, I'm already doing the stuff my sister claims has to be done (just not for the same reasons, because you know, science) but she still needs to make sure she tells me. (eye roll) whatever. LOL

@@theantichick

Probably a good idea to vent here instead of strangling her lol

My dietitian actually suggested that we purchase alkaline PH Water prior to wls, she said it'll be a lifesaver once you have surgery.... i bought a couple of bottles and i sure could tell the difference between the alkaline and normal bottled water.... it.made such a difference for the first 2 weeks

Well, the bicarb in alkaline Water I can see might actually help, but that's opposite of what she's saying. She's saying that we need to put lemon juice in, which would make it more acidic. But with the flavorings she's advocating (Mio) which have zero lemon juice and only slight amounts of citric acid, there's not much chance of altering the pH significantly with the little squirt of it. Like I said, she hears stuff wrong and then it's the gospel in her brain and she has to share it. Drives my little internal nurse educator insane.

That sucks, maybe have a chat to her calmly and explain that while you appreciate her concern and know that it is coming from a good place, that you think you have it under control and if you need advice you will let her know.

In regards to the Water thing..

She is actually correct. Water can a hard surface area, by adding something to it, it makes it "softer" hence easier to get down.... when you are early out, this makes a big difference on how it sits in your stomach... because when it is hard, it can be heavy on your new tummy

You can add lemon, water flavoring, cordial, etc to make it easier on your tummy.

Totally get that flavorings can help... I can't stand plain water and add flavoring... but I don't think it's because of pH changes. LOL. It's something someone said offhand and she misinterpreted, frankly.

I'm already pretty much over it, I just needed to rant instead of burying her head off. LOL

sent from mobile device

Hubby said I was real quiet for the first several days after surgery, just really got "back to myself" yesterday. So, so far, no crying jags or super-B fests at him or kiddo. Figured maybe I'm just lucky enough to have a smooth ride through this mess.

Nope.

I have a sister who's 19 years older than me, and granted in many ways she's more of a mother to me than our mother. However, I get tired of her telling me things like she's the end-all-be-all of information for me. Especially when she gets it wrong half the time, and just tells me I don't know yet when I point out that she's wrong. For Pete's sake, I'm a freakin' NURSE and she'll lecture me about a medication or a condition and she's misunderstood something, but by gosh, it's absolute fact because she says it.

So she had the sleeve several years ago and has been harping on me to get it ever since. Telling me I can't possibly lose the weight without the surgery, it's the only option for me, etc. If there's one single reason it's taken me this long to get to it, it's because of my knee-jerk reaction to try and prove her wrong. Well, she's right about the surgery, but ever since I decided to get it, she's been lecturing me on what I HAVE to do, and how I HAVE to do it. I've tried to shrug her off saying I'm already on support boards and have plenty of research materials at my disposal (I'm in grad school so I have online access to several medical libraries) and am fine. Well, it's not the *right* support group unless it's *her* support group (not this one, obviously). Her guru on that board is the end-all-be-all of sleeve surgery success advice, I just HAVE to ask her about whatever thing it is sis is lecturing me about this week. The Protein shakes I ended up with aren't the good ones. I need to be taught how to make shakes taste better. I have to "change the pH of my water" in order to drink enough, whatever the frak that means. By the way, I'm pretty sure the lemon Mio flavoring doesn't do jack about the pH of the Water no matter how much she tells me it does.

Now I post on my FB that I'm still struggling to get in my Water and Protein goals, and she's lecturing me that the fluids are more important than the protein. No, duh. But I'm not going to abandon all protein because I haven't gotten my fluids in, especially since my Proteins are in the form of fluids, for pete's sake. One is not exclusive of the other. ARGH.

I love my sis, I really do. Most of my life I've just shrugged off her overbearing lectures.

Today, I'm ranting here in order to keep from biting her head off, because I know she means well, and I know this is just hormone dump from the weight loss (down over 13 lbs since surgery).

But OMG she's on my last freakin' nerve!!

There really isn't a lot you can do. I started looking into this because I was concerned about my oldest boy. He is 27 and has to be about 350. I asked him to go with me to the seminar and to consider doing it with me but he has a lot of anxiety about the idea of surgery and wants to give losing another shot the old fashioned way.

I'm devastated because I know what he sounds like when he sleeps and he seriously falls asleep constantly during the day. So so worried about his health.

I am really hoping that after watching me yo yo all these years and then seeing the positive change in my life post surgery he will give it more consideration.

BTW my surgery is tomorrow.... Whoooo!!!!!

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

While I agree with the other posters to not be the one to broach WLS with a kiddo, if your son snores loudly and falls asleep during the day then he very likely has sleep apnea and it can kill him. If you've heard him stop breathing while sleeping, then he almost certainly has it. I think it would be appropriate to prod him to get into a sleep study. Perhaps dealing with health issues will help him realize that he needs to take action one way or another.

I give some variation of this each time I'm asked.

http://www.theantichick.com/2016/08/05/the-easy-way-out/

My parents stopped by this evening to check on me, and I had to repeat it for them for the 2nd or 3rd time. They'll get it eventually.

my problem is that until today I had to take such tiny sips to avoid the discomfort with swallowing that it seemed I was sipping constantly for an hour and my cup would only go down an inch. I've been able to increase the size of my sips each day, and get more Fluid in each day along with it.

Hey @@theantichick How are you doing??

Doing good. Sore, but nothing too bad. I don't like heavy opiates, dilaudid just gave me headaches, so tramadol is taking care of most of the pain for me. No nausea, tolerating liquids and Protein shakes beautifully, if really slowly. It'll be midnight before I hit my Fluid goal, and I doubt I'll hit my Protein goal today, maybe not tomorrow. But in the short term, I know the hydration is most important.

Nice to hear you're doing well! I missed your surgery day! How were you going into this - did you have any panicky feelings of backing out?? I'm feeling that way now and working on it

I had some fleeting thoughts about backing out, after having some success losing weight on the pre-op diet. But frankly, if diets worked for me, I wouldn't be 120 lbs overweight. I have health reasons for having the surgery that are strong motivators.

I've been doing well post-op. By day 3 my arthritis hurt much worse than the surgery sites. I'm sore, but it's not bad at all. I have not had any nausea. My fluid/protein intake is slow, and I'm getting in the minimum needed to stay hydrated, but haven't hit goal yet. Coming closer each day, though.

Right now, I don't really regret the surgery. I wish I could rush through to some real food, even just puree' and soft foods, but my cravings are for protein type foods like cheese and refried Beans right now instead of the sticky carby treats I used to love. I hope that change is permanent. But it's not worth the risk to my healing to rush the progress. So I'm trying to get some variety in the pudding, Jello, and protein options on my list.

I need to update my weight ticker, I've lost about 13 lbs since the surgery on the 17th.

Hey @@theantichick How are you doing??

Doing good. Sore, but nothing too bad. I don't like heavy opiates, dilaudid just gave me headaches, so tramadol is taking care of most of the pain for me. No nausea, tolerating liquids and Protein shakes beautifully, if really slowly. It'll be midnight before I hit my Fluid goal, and I doubt I'll hit my Protein goal today, maybe not tomorrow. But in the short term, I know the hydration is most important.

my surgeon is fine with small pills from day 1, we can cut them if needed. She says some of her patients have problems with nausea with crushing.