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Erissel

Gastric Sleeve Patients
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Everything posted by Erissel

  1. Title pretty much says it all. I had surgery Dec 9th, 2016 so I'm a little over 2 months out. I was prescribed Omeprazole which I have been taking religiously every morning on an empty stomach. I also take one small capsule of a different medication before bed, which I've been doing for a year and never been a problem. Despite that, since the surgery I've had five or six nights when I've woken up due to the horrific, painful heartburn I was experiencing. I take a couple Rolaids or a generic OTC acid neutralizer (cant remember the name) and they work wonders. Usually gone half an hour later. Last night was absolutely awful. Nothing helped and laying down actually made it worse, so I ended up sleeping (for like 3 hours) sitting on the couch. My stomach felt like it was contracting and when it did that, I would experience a sharp pain that would slowly decrease until the next contraction (same idea as labor, for those of you who are parents). This lasted for about 45 minutes when I guess I eventually fell asleep. This morning the acid was still present, but at least the Rolaids helped. Still there, but significantly lessened. I've never had a heartburn episode that lasted this long. Since I'm already taking Omeprazole and have tried OTC remedies, what comes next? Increase Omeprazole dose? Btw, my worst fear about having the sleeve was developing heartburn that was so bad that I ended up having to convert to bypass.
  2. 6 weeks out and I can't finish one of the Oikos yogurt, let alone two. I usually manage about 3/4 of a yogurt over the span of 20 minutes.
  3. Erissel

    What Multi Vitamin best?

    I started taking Celebrate Multivitamin without Iron, capsule form. They make me incredibly nauseous, food or no food. However, their iron chews are fantastic. I'm trying Bariatric Advantage Ultra Multi soon. Hopefully that will be better.
  4. They had me strip completely and put on a gown for surgery, so this was irrelevant until afterwards. However, I didn't feel the need for a sports bra at any point, in the hospital or otherwise. I wore my regular bras. Save your money for when you're down 30-40 lbs. I've had to buy bras twice in 7 months
  5. Erissel

    Highest Weight

    331 lbs was my highest recorded weight, but that was ~5 years before I started the process for bariatric surgery. At that point, I was at 291 lbs... after having lost and regained 160 lbs on my own.
  6. Erissel

    Surgery denied

    Despite your disappointment, I think the doctors made the correct decision. The surgery would not have fixed your stress eating compulsion. If you had it before dealing with that, you would end up with problems... not losing the weight, or losing but ultimately gaining it back up. Imagine how disappointed you would be then. It's for the best. When you do have the surgery, you will finally be on the right mindset to succeed.
  7. Erissel

    "The Process"

    Just to add to the response above... during extreme weight loss, the body can also use muscle tissue to produce energy, not just fat. This is why strength training is very, very important for a bariatric patient after surgery. Some things that have changed for me after having lost 78 lbs: - Bowel movements are once or twice a week... and sometimes it's... difficult. This is because of how little we eat. - I sleep a hell of a lot better than I did at close to 300. I no longer wake up several times a night. - Bladder leaking while sneezing, etc issues are completely gone. I also no longer need to pee during the night. - I can wear dresses without my thighs rubbing each other raw. - Packing lunch for work takes me less than 10 minutes. It goes like this: Put a greek yogurt into the bag, throw a few shrimp into a container with sauce on the side, add a cheese stick for later, and Protein hot chocolate mix for the afternoon. Done. - Sex is a lot easier and more fun because mobility has greatly increased. - My periods, which had been irregular before, are now a lot more regular (still a bit off, but improving) .... I'm sure others will add some, but those have been some of the big ones for me
  8. First... make sure you're eating your meals regularly throughout the day. That's the most important thing to avoid being hungry late in the evening. Second, set a time to stop eating that is 4 hours before you go to sleep. I generally go to sleep at 11:30 pm so I don't eat anything after 7:30 pm Lastly, allow yourself something small to tide you over if you really can't stand it. Choose a calorie dense, healthy food. I like a spoonful of nut butter or greek yogurt. Something that might help... BariWise makes some awesome hot cocoa mixed that are under 100 calories and give you 15 grams of Protein. I like to sip these in the evening if I'm hungry You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/BariWise-15g-High-Protein-Chocolate/dp/B00NTBC276/
  9. Interesting. You are starting out at exactly the same weight I was when I began my journey. In June 2016 I was 291, when I had my surgery in December I was 232 lbs and today I am 212 lb. I lost my weight by basically trying to stick to 1200 calories per day. I never drank soda, but cutting out chocolate was hard for me, and I still indulged occasionally. You should do this too, to keep yourself from going "F!ck it" and binging one day You're doing awesome so far. It will take a while for you to start seeing the physical rewards of your hard work, but once you do, the ball will get rolling and keep you on track. I've dropped from a size 22/24 to a 14/16 and that's enough for me to feel motivated. Try to lose as much weight as you can before the surgery. Not only will you be healthier when the day comes, but you will also make it easier on yourself afterward. Losing weight when you're close to 300 lbs is super easy... losing weight at 210 or so is definitely more difficult. Use the surgery to propel you to Onederland, easy mode You can do it!
  10. Same thing happened to me. I was losing weight great then hit week 3, got my period, and gained a pound. I only started losing weight again about 2 weeks later.
  11. I started my weight loss in June and by October I started to see some pretty massive hair loss (had lost about 45 lbs). I had my actual surgery in December and nothing's changed since I began my anti-hair loss regime. This is what I did: - Take 10,000 mcg Biotin daily - Make sure I get enough Protein every day - Use Pura d'Or Shampoo (Gold Label, not Blue... you can find it on Amazon) The biotin helped, but the biggest difference came from the shampoo. Nothing short of miraculous. They say it takes three months to see effects but my hair stopped clogging the drain within a week. It's expensive but totally worth it.
  12. Erissel

    What Was The Final Straw

    During a neighborhood BBQ, when I saw an acquaintance who used to be about the same weight as me, close to 300. She had lost like 160 lbs and looked great. She also seemed extremely happy. I wanted that for myself, so I did something about it
  13. Erissel

    Hair loss

    I lost tons of weight pre-op (60 lbs) so my hair actually started falling a couple months before the surgery. I would find gobs of it on the drain every morning after shower. There's a shampoo that worked really really well for me. Expensive, but worth every penny: Pura D'Or Gold https://www.amazon.com/PURA-DOR-Anti-Hair-Premium-Organic/dp/B00FH692PQ
  14. Today makes 4 weeks since my surgery. As of this morning, I weigh 216 lbs. On the morning of the surgery, it was 232 lbs. So I've lost 16 lbs. Prior to this, I was losing an average of 10 lbs a month on my own, keeping to an intake of about 1200 calories per day. My intake now ranges 500-650 calories. Mostly Protein, no veggies, no fruit, occasional carbs. Am I doing something wrong? According to the calorie math, I should be losing at roughly double the rate I was before, but this is clearly not the case. I'm stumped
  15. I'm not sure why do you find it discouraging, but nevertheless... thank you, because what you said makes sense. I guess I'm just so excited to be a 'regular' size person again that I got ahead of myself
  16. The answer to the above questions is yes, so I guess I need to be patient. I am just afraid that 16 lbs is going to be the highest loss and from here on it's just going to slow down to a crawl
  17. I had a week and a half off, then I worked from home another week and a half. Just got back to work this week. I feel OK now, but I definitely wouldn't have been up for it when my vacation ran out. I was glad to be able to work from home the extra time.
  18. I experience the exact same thing, and it's due to low blood sugar. If I try to get in the shower, the heat nearly makes me pass out. The solution that works for me every time is 1/4 cup of orange juice (or other fruit so long as it is 100% juice). This fixes me right up in less than 5 min.
  19. I didn't have one, and after the surgery, I really wished I'd had gone out to my favorite restaurant once before the surgery. Nothing excessive, just to eat something I'd enjoy. However, this is because by the time I had the surgery, I had been losing tons of weight (60 lbs pre-op) so I felt particularly deprived
  20. Erissel

    Binder

    Here's the one I'm wearing, for those interested: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009GPZF96/ Current price is about $15, give or take a few cents. It works pretty well for me. I have three incisions, one above my belly button and two more on my stomach. It covers from under my breasts to my hips, and I'm 5' 6" so not exactly short. Note that my waist was about 42" when I bought this one and it fit just barely, so make sure to order a bigger size if you're bigger than that.
  21. Erissel

    Binder

    I had my surgery on 12/9 and I'm still wearing my binder. I put it on as I was getting discharged from the hospital and it was the most awesome feeling in the world. It provides support for all the jiggly, sensitive flesh and makes you feel protected. Incidentally, I also have a hematoma on my stomach that resulted from the surgery, and wearing a binder is the only way I could function without narcotic painkillers. The pain is too much if I take it off, so I foresee wearing it at least for a few more weeks. For how expensive they are (like $15), I would absolutely buy one. If you don't end up needing it, so be it. If you do, however... you'll be glad you had it.
  22. My surgery was 12/9 and I was sipping on a Protein shake the morning after. Yogurt the day after that. No pain, no nausea. Every plan is different. Are you suggesting she should go against her doctor's advice?
  23. Erissel

    Weight loss during Supervised Diet

    58 lbs in 6 months. Started out at 291, having my surgery this Friday.
  24. Erissel

    What's your pre surgery weight?

    Starting weight: 291 lbs (June 2016) Today: 234 lbs My surgery is next Friday. Lost over 55 lbs without surgery, I sure hope the surgery can do better than that

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