DillThePill

I put a squirt of lemon juice in my water now.

If you don't feel shame about it, then why hide it? I don't wear a t-shirt saying I had weight loss surgery but if someone wants to know about my weight loss then I'll talk about how I accomplished it. The best way to remove the stigma is to talk about it a matter of fact way - the same way you'd talk about other weight loss techniques like exercise and diet. No one has a problem talking about that.

I lost 10 lbs a week on the pre and post op liquid diet. I started mushy foods a month ago and it slowed to 4 lbs a week.

In the hospital they gave me a muscle relaxer the first day when it was really painful. After that they came and went for a couple of days. I don't think I've had unusual hiccups since day 3 or 4.

Happy first month!

Finding the right mask is key. Below is the one I use and is popular on the CPAP forums. The site I link will let you return them. I ordered 5 different masks and sent back 4 of them. It's worth the effort to make it work. It has been life changing for me. http://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed-airfit-p10-nasal-pillow-cpap-mask-headgear.html

Yeah, the pain was bad the first day. They have good IV meds at the hospital and I was buzzing the nurse the moment my time was up. It subsided over the next couple of days. My stomach muscles were sore for another week and that has been it for me. But, really, it's a couple of days. It's not much to deal with compared to the total impact of this on your life. Looking at the total experience, the 3 week pre-op diet while I had an intact stomach was harder than the 2 days in the hospital.

I vaped this weekend about 3.5 weeks post op. The cannabis hit me the same way, which meant I got the munchies. I didn't do a good job of controlling myself and ate to the point where I was uncomfortably full. I was hoping the need to eat wouldn't be as strong, but it is. Other than that, I have almost no desire to eat. Funny thing is that used to mean an entire pizza plus donuts or something like that. This time it meant 2 oz of chicken salad and I couldn't resist the half of a deviled egg that put me over the edge. What was most concerning is that even when my stomach was clearly full, my head wanted more. I know myself and I'll keep pushing the limit of what my stomach can do when I'm high. I think I'm going to have to stop. I knew it was a possibility that I'd have to quit. Being healthy is more important than the weed but it's a bummer because I do enjoy it.

I've stalled, too.

I'm down 26 since surgery but I started with a lot to lose. I started mushy foods this week and it's not going well. Everything makes me nauseous. I am disgusted by every Protein supplement and can't choke them down. I never liked artificial sweeteners and that has only gotten worse. For a while I could handle the unjury chicken Soup but now that makes me sick, too. I'm not getting enough protein and I don't know what to do about it. I'm even finding Water unpleasant. I remember reading about that from others and thought that would never be me. My whole life I've been a big water drinker. One health issue I never had was getting enough water. It's weird but I always liked how water tasted. Now it makes me sick. I'm getting worried. I'm not getting enough protein or water and I can't find a way to do so. I'm not hungry at all and feel worn down.

I picked my surgeon because he was experienced and well regarded by other doctors. That's all good and I'm now 10 days post-op. The problem is I dislike the rest of his practice and particularly the nutritionist. She is the least caring health care professional I've ever had. All she does is read to me off her computer without looking at me. She makes no attempt to learn anything about me or work with me as an individual. She offers no more value than reading instructions from a piece of paper. I want someone who listens and helps me make choices that work for me. There are a couple of nice individuals at this practice, but overall I feel like it's a bariatric assembly line. I'm not really sure what to do. I want empathetic care that treats me like a person.

I don't want to be an alarmist but you should take this seriously. I had a pulmonary embolism (not related to this surgery). I could have died. The leading cause of death from bariatric surgery is due to blood clots, which cause embolism, among other things. Are you on blood thinners? My surgeon puts all of his patients on blood thinners for two weeks. I don't know if that is typical. (I'm on them for longer because of my history.)

I didn't think I was going to be so hungry. My surgeon requires two more weeks of a liquid diet before I can move on to mushy foods. The first few days were rough but I've been able to get all of my liquid and Protein for the past 3 days. But my hunger isn't any different than it was on the pre-op diet when I had a full stomach. My greatest fear is that I go through all of this and eating a low calorie diet isn't any easier than it was before surgery.

I also had surgery on 12/13. I was at the hospital for two nights and I wish I'd stayed a third. The IV meds and fluids made me more comfortable. Things started to turn around on Saturday and by Sunday I felt good enough to leave the house for a bit. It took about a week for the incision pain to fade into the background and for my bowels to work again. I'm posting this on Friday 12/23 and I feel pretty normal (except for, you know, not having a stomach). I don't think I'll ever be able to have another sweet Protein shake. They disgust me now. The only protein supplements I can stand are the unjury chicken Soup and the Isopure zero carb drinks. I have one of each to get my 60g of protein. My doctor won't advance me to full liquids until my follow up next Wednesday, the 28th. Then another week until I can eat mushy foods. I can't wait. I'm now going on 5 weeks of almost nothing but processed protein supplements. I did find one treat. I went to a Pho restaurant and only had the broth. Then I asked them for a big container of broth to take home. It was glorious.

Yes, it would be completely unreasonable to tell a drug addict to "stop it" and then send them home with some instructions and a pamphlet for a support group. And they do use prescribed drugs to help addicts wean off of the dangerous, illegal ones. Yes, it's not reasonable to expect a good outcome if you do nothing more than tell a drunk driver to stop. That's why the penalities for drunk driving always include some form of education and monitoring. Yes, it is unreasonable to tell a tobacco addict to stop without giving them the tools to help them. You sound like someone who would argue against bariatric surgery because I should be able to "ACT like an adult" and just eat less. Do you like it when people tell you that?

Thanks for the replies. It passed and I haven't been hungry in days, even consuming only 300 calories.

I was on a 3 week liquid diet pre-op. I think this is an unreasonable demand to put on someone who has had weight problems their whole life. I wish my surgeon's office treated me like an adult and worked with me on plan where I could eat a small, reasonable amount of real food. But this surgeon's practice is a bariatric assembly line and are more concerned with easily communicated rules than they are in working with patients individually. I ate a hard boiled egg most days in addition to the shakes. I flipped out 5 days before surgery and ate a pizza. That was bad. I panicked. I was down 24 pounds at that point and stayed at that weight until the surgery. My doctor said there were no complications with the surgery. I can't yet say it all worked out because I'm only 10 days post-op but it's going very well so far. I've stuck to my prescribed post-op diet.

I bought pure Calcium Citrate from Amazon. This is probably a lifetime supply for $13 considering I only need about 1/2 teaspoon a day. I put a heaping 1/4 teaspoon into 2 shakes a day and can't taste it. It's a hell of a lot better than the huge, chalky, disgusting pills I first bought. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F8I5XPG/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_t3_api_EKXvybEG76V7Q?th=1 I also bought Centrum Flavor Burst multi which is about $9 a month. They taste like candy and actually have a little bit of calories and sugar, but screw it. I get to enjoy something.

Mine is 4 shakes and 2 Protein bars a day with no deviation allowed. They also have me on it for 3 weeks because my BMI is over 50. Frankly, I'm annoyed because I feel like they are treating me like a child. They should allow some leeway as long as I maintain the calorie and nutrient goals. It fits with the general culture of this practice to be inflexible and not patient friendly. I picked them because the surgeon is very well regarded and was recommended by other doctors. The quality of the surgeon is most important to me so I begrudgingly put up with the rest.

I used Facebook to create my account and then changed my screen name. How do I log in with the iOS app? I can't find my user name anywhere on the site. I'm an iOS developer. Do you want some help with making this work? [Edit] I figured it out. My login name was my Facebook name exactly, with spaces. Then I was able to do a reset.

That is such a similar experience to mine. Is your surgeon in the Inova Bariatric practice? I'm still upset with the coordinator, Pam, because even after I convinced her that I didn't need the 6 month program, she insisted that she was required to submit it through BCBS of VA. After a couple of weeks of not getting a reply from insurance, I called up BCBSIL and they said they had no record of the claim. They had no idea what I meant about submitting it through the local BCBS and they gave me a fax number to submit it directly to BCBSIL. I called up and left a message with Pam. She never replied to my message but, lo and behold, when I checked back with BCBSIL, they received my claim on the day I gave the fax number to Pam. This was important for more than the disappointment of having to wait longer. My insurance rolls over to a new year on Dec 1 and I had already hit my out of pocket limit for the year. Now my surgery is after my deductibles and limits reset so it's going to cost me about $1500 more out of pocket. I considered changing to a different practice but the surgeon I chose is very well regarded and resetting the process would only delay it more.

It took about 10 days for BCBSIL to approve me. Requires psych approval and that you have tried other diet plans and they haven't worked. But no specific requirement for 6 months or anything like that. I had to convince my surgeon's office of this. I live in Virginia and I guess the local BCBS is different. (My employer is in Chicago.) If I hadn't done my own homework they would have put me on the 6 month plan before submitting the claim.

I'm also on day 1 and it sucks. I'm really unhappy today.