ShelterDog64

Perhaps a list of topics that are permissible to you would be helpful. I'm sick of all the scolding and hand-slapping that goes on on this site. Adults speaking with adults, and you can always choose to STAY OUT of a topic you don't like. Just my .02.

I don't think anyone here said this is okay for YOU. We're sharing our personal experiences. MY PROGRAM and MY DOCTOR allow reintroduction of alcohol at 4 weeks. I'm very gingerly dipping my toes in. I'm not 'cheating' MY PROGRAM. If we sat down and compared programs side-by-side, I'd find things you're allowed that I'm not, but I'm not having a hissy fit about the fact that you're going to eat or drink those things. I'm 51 damned years old (my son always says 'you're a grown-ass woman'!) and if I, with the support and 'permission' of my surgical team, want to have a couple ounces of wine, I will. YOU clearly should not. We are not the same person. We do not have the same program. We do not have the same restrictions, guidelines, requirements, doctors... Do you get that? You're very, very insulting when you compare a rational, adult conversation about how to manage an APPROVED real-life situation to moronic behavior like mainlining pop-rocks and coke. Everyone here is an adult, and I don't think it's outside of the bounds of decency to expect to be treated like the adults we are.

Singulair is a leukotriene inhibitor, not an anti-inflammatory in the sense that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are. I've been on Singulair for years and my Pharm. D didn't see any issues with it being continued after my surgery. Of course, you'll want to check with your bariatric office.

Great advice here! I'd DEFINITELY ask him about it And you know what, at the end of the day, you need a great surgeon, not a great guy. The doc who did my sleeve is not well-liked in our bariatric support group, but he does impeccable work and he and I speak the same language when it comes to patient responsibility and who is in charge of me, my behavior and my success or failure. THAT, after his technical ability, was my biggest criteria. Good luck!!

Sugar content isn't really determined by color, but by how dry or sweet the wine is. Very dry to dry wines have up to 10g of sugar per liter, like a sauvignon blanc (usually around 4-5g/L). Pinot gris and viognier come in around 10-12g/L, Sauternes and Riesling are sweet wines, with anywhere from 40-200g/L. Reds are generally drier wines, so I guess in that sense reds are going to be lower in sugar, with cabernet sauvignon, merlot, zinfandel, cabernet franc, grenache, pinotage and virtually all but dessert wines like port being considered dry, so well under 10g/L, some with none. It gets murky when you get into blends, like Apothic Red/White and Menage A Trois...they tend to be a bit sweeter, and some of it is because they're not barreled as long, so the fruit sugars are still present. In general, older (read more expensive) wines tend to be drier than young wines. Well, that turned into a long response! I'm just a wine lover, so I like to talk about it Right now I've only had a bit of cheap-o pinot gris, so a little sweeter than I'd generally drink but MUCH less in quantity than I'd generally drink!

Great idea, adding the extra coffee. That's been another issue so far, my protein coffee concoction isn't as 'coffee-y' as I'd like. @@Dub Do you feel like the coffee taste is pretty strong with Chike? Which one of their flavors do you use?

I got a wine shipment from one of my California vineyard clubs yesterday...I racked them in the basement and walked away. I KNOW I'm not ready for red wine yet Ooooh what did you get? I'm crazy for a good Napa Valley Cab. I'm not ready for wine either. White wine was my surgeons first suggestion but I haven't really had anything with sugar content since surgery so I've steered clear. It's too hot for red. A nice Sancerre though.... This is wine from Carmel Valley...I got 3 pinot noirs from Talbott. They're really more my husband's wine, I'm a huge fan of big, fat Zins and Cabs :-) My favorite wines of all time are the Zinfandels that Ridge produces. I've been having them shipped to me for 20 years, yum! Right now, I've only had some Oregon pinot gris, and small amounts. For some reason wine makes me a little nervous?

I got a wine shipment from one of my California vineyard clubs yesterday...I racked them in the basement and walked away. I KNOW I'm not ready for red wine yet

I might throw something out there about Doritos and cheese dip or something, just to make my weekend more entertaining! Actually, I'm going to a beer fest tomorrow...gasp. Mostly I'm hoping for one of those little taster glasses...that's about my speed with beer right now I don't drink or smoke...(I know how boring)....But how about some chocolate?...or home baked bread?? haha A home baked blueberry scone! My member name here should be "BlueberrySconeFanatic" instead of Shelterdog...I've developed SUCH a craving for them. But in keeping with my new, virtuous lifestyle, I've been putting blueberries in my oatmeal and pretending it's a scone. Hahahaha, it's not working but I'm trying!! Chocolate covered blueberry scones all around!

I might throw something out there about Doritos and cheese dip or something, just to make my weekend more entertaining! Actually, I'm going to a beer fest tomorrow...gasp. Mostly I'm hoping for one of those little taster glasses...that's about my speed with beer right now

Why is that? Why do people have no cravings (or a lot of people) after this surgery? That's something I don't understand as yet. I don't know why, but it's sure been helpful! I'm amazed by some of the immediate outcomes of this surgery: I was on lisinopril for my hypertension, came off of it the day before surgery and haven't had to start it again. I have fibromyalgia and my trigger points are GONE. This is huge for me, as I was taking meds AND going for acupuncture once a week with only some success. And I'm not hungry, not envious of what others are eating, and I'm not at all inclined to eat more than my sleeve can handle. I have a ton of energy and have since about 2 weeks out...it's been marvelous!

I didn't have to do any pre-op diet restriction at all, and I also got my surgery day with a pretty short period of time between that and the big day, about 10 days. I pretty much ate what I wanted, but my problem has never been eating 'bad' food per se, it's been more of a quantity issue and at 51, my metabolism is shot from years of 50 lbs up/50 lbs down/40 back up dieting. We went to a couple of my favorite restaurants and I had what I wanted, and I felt a little panicky the day after surgery when the enormity of the change I'd made really set in. Eat what you want within reason, I'd say...you're not going to gain significantly in a week and after surgery you CAN'T eat, so it's not like you're setting yourself up for some bigger change than those who are on restrictive diets already. And for what it's worth, I have zero food cravings now (except a weird obsession with blueberry scones?) and can watch others eat foods I previously loved without even wanting them.

My program allows alcohol at 1 month...I've sipped a couple of beers and had a couple of glasses of wine, didn't spontaneously combust and wasn't all that interested in finishing either drink. I also didn't 'feel' the alcohol more than I used to, in fact it seems to have less affect on me. Honestly, I put them in the same category as fruit juice and other sugary beverages...I have to give up virtually every other carb I'd put in my mouth that day for that one drink, and it's seldom worth it. That said, my life is loaded with social events where social drinking is the norm. I expect at some point I'll be a little less restrictive with alcohol but for the time being, I want to tear through this honeymoon period losing as much weight as possible so I'm strongly limiting myself.

Totally agree that the US appears to have a better handle on hygiene, best safe practice and post op aftercare! Being American, I have had time in both systems and abhor some of the neglectful practices here. Again, my point is this, if a program has this many patients with serious post op complications, why not halt the surgical schedule, concentrate on all the sick post op folk, then do a review to find out why this is happening? We suspect it is the haste in which we were pushed through the surgical system on surgery day. Totally agree that my pre existing IBS - d will now be aggravated by C Diff etc. My IBS was totally under control prior to surgery because I have been on the low FODMAP diet for years and used loperamide where necessary. I was told that this surgery would not have an affect on my bowels as the sleeve does not touch the bowels. I have been showing signs of C Diff since a couple of weeks post op. I have presented dozens of times with obvious signs of C Diff. Yet I was told that bowel problems are "expected". And statistically, you have to remember the difference in population between here and the US. If so many of us in my area are so sick post op, that means that there is a remarkable amount of patients in the program now ill. During my surgical week, there were more than 50% of us re admitted with life threatening post op problems and are still sick ten weeks out. There are also more morbidly obese people in the US because there are more people. I can and am, only discussing WLS in the UK in detail because I did not have surgery in the US. I simply want our bariatric program here to become transparent about their pre op and post op issues and to improve their pre op education and post op aftercare and support. There is one nutritionist and one nurse practitioner for aftercare support for all of us. That's it. Not good enough. Thanks so much for your concern. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App I absolutely agree that there seems to be a huge problem at your particular location and it's truly awful. My surgical program would have been suspended with such a tight cluster of pinpoint issues, as well as the post-op floor being emptied and deep-cleaned. And I think it's great that you continue to be a vocal opponent of your program at your location...I just think that at times, you're extrapolating your experiences to completely non-similar situations and I don't think that's fair, nor do I think it's your true intention. I wish you nothing but the best in your recovery...chronic illness can be so debilitating and demoralizing, I hope you reach some sort of livable place with all of this soon.

@@Ldyvenus I'm glad you mentioned the Syntrax...I ordered the variety pack and I think the cappuccino flavor is still in the pantry! I'll try that one tomorrow. I've used almond milk in my coffee, but it's still not quite what I'm looking for. Right now, I'm making an espresso, steaming a cup of Fairlife milk and adding a scoop of GENEPRO to it, but I'd love to find something with fewer steps for first thing in the morning. One day I'm going to burn the heck out of myself steaming the milk

@@Ruby1 The neck pain could be from positioning during surgery or sleeping positions post-op. If it's your throat vs your neck, it could be from the endotracheal tube that helped you breath during surgery. But, combined with pain under your breastbone, you probably should call your surgeon or his/her office and tell them about your symptoms. Do you go for a 1 week checkup?

@@cln39 Wow, 47 lbs since surgery is AWESOME!! Congratulations! I've lost 37 and I'm feeling pretty good about myself

Life improved drastically for me after I was able to start eating 'real' food. I'm 7 weeks out and I feel normal (whatever that is!) except when I grocery shop, because I spend a LOT of time reading labels. Congratulations on completing your surgery!

I think you're just saying that most people don't have a negative experience, we just hear about them a lot because those are the people speaking up. I understood.This forum doesn't have the statistics to qualify that statement unless I am missing it somewhere. We would have to poll all WLS throughout the global community to see how many have had negative experiences and factor in how many are reluctant to speak out about them due to fear etc. We will not be able to get a true representation because so many people suffer in silence for their own personal reasons. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Now you're inventing data compilation issues to suit your own preferences. There are numerous large cross-sectional and longitudinal studies showing morbidity and mortality rates associated with WLS, as well as showing the rates of most common complications, weight lost/regained with the different WLS options and regarding patient satisfaction with the surgeries. They are overwhelmingly positive in favor of WLS...the mortality rate alone when compared to the mortality rates of the co-morbidities most WLS patients have is stunning in and of itself, particularly when you factor in the reduction or elimination of many of those co-morbidities that occurs BECAUSE of the weight loss surgery. You, by your own admission, had a raft of other health issues that have undoubtedly contributed to your post-op issues. I can't recall which you have, IBD or IBS, but either alone is likely an enormous factor in many of your problems and it seems as though you're not getting appropriate treatment for those problems. Being a healthcare professional myself, I absolutely hate that you aren't being seen by a GI, that your surgical team is not responsive or concerned and that you're left to the care of your GP, who sounds like a great practitioner, but has no additional training in gastrointestinal issues. BUT, none of YOUR problems are likely to occur in someone like me, an otherwise completely healthy 51 year old woman whose only co-morbidities were hypertension and sleep apnea. In the end, it looks like you're trying to scare others into feeling that WLS isn't for them, despite a huge amount of data, collected in the US healthcare system, that shows WLS to be VERY safe and VERY effective.

She has exactly the same experience in 'the matter' as you do, because 'the matter' is recovery from bariatric surgery, not BAD experiences with bariatric surgery. I've read your story as well and have a great deal of sympathy for what you're going through, but you walked into a post titled 'Did anyone NOT have a miserable recovery' and are picking arguments with people who are just relating their personal feelings and experiences. I don't understand why you're doing this.

Some people have good iron absorption and don't need any, ever. I have, most of my life, had a Hb of 12-14 which is really on the high side for a woman. My hemophiliac half-sister dreams of having an 8. While anything is possible, I can't remember any situation from nursing school where someone could have a Hb of 12 and be iron deficient. I wouldn't think an iron test would be all that useful if you don't have any symptoms of iron deficiency and your H/H stays high. Then why do Bariatric doctors ask for ferritin levels test always. Why don't they check the Hb first and then order for ferritin tests if the Hb is low??!! That's why i got confused. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App My doc doesn't ask for ferritin levels unless my hemoglobin/hematocrit/RBC count is low, but low ferritin levels can be a precursor to low hemoglobin. Sounds like your doctor is very proactive and wants to catch an iron issue before it develops into a Hct, Hgb or RBC issue. Ferritin level is indicative of your iron stores, it's the Protein that stores iron inside cells.

My son bought me a 16 oz S'well double-walled bottle that I carry religiously. It's small enough to fit in my shoulder bag, doesn't sweat so doesn't damage anything in my bag, and it's easy to refill at a Water fountain. I think he got it at Target. Bigger bottles weren't working well for me.

@@mmy 12.5 g/dL is within normal range for all ages of women, so you don't need an additional test.

That's what she says about your "sausage supreme"!!! Best comment EVER! Lololololololol....