PatientEleventyBillion

Transparency helps a lot. The word of caution should come from simply Googling somebody and running off to get yourself cut up. Acts of desperation do happen quite often and that's likely where many of the bad results come from, whether it be surgery or not taking care of other issues first (i.e. psychological or physiological). Before I joined the forum I heard of this being done in Mexico and was like, "no way in hell", but reading more and more about people's experiences with specific doctors helps a lot with trust building. One thing absolutely no one should expect is there to be no risks. Always be ready for potential complications.. hell, the very surgery papers you sign undoubtedly inform you of those risks. So while I would still suggest when it comes to Mexico using a bit of caution it would really be no more than surgeons in the US. Given the importance of this surgery I'd go with any proven good Mexico surgeon than a random US one.

That and everywhere I read says chewables absorb better. Glad I'm reading all this stuff now. As for what MV I take I'll wait until my next appointments with my surgeon and RD to ask that. They mentioned taking prenatal vitamins long ago. At least I don't need to buy tampons.

If what you want is assurances of this type of surgery being risk-free, that doesn't exist. The best you can do is get as much feedback as you can from people who do have experience, i.e. reviews.

Very low cals = little energy = sleep a lot. Makes sense. Your body expends calories just to function. Spend your time awake trying to slowly attain your nutritional goals. The better you do, the longer you can stay awake, the better you can attain said nutritional goals. Think of it as a cycle. It'll be like this for a while.

Tablet/Laptop (with "special" SD card), cell phone, charger, naughty mags, guns & ammo magazines, butt pillow, MAGA hat, American flag, bar of snickers thats just out of reach, etc. I'm cruel and unusual.

Barring my taste buds changing to dislike them there is no way in hell I am parting with foods I can't get in Canada that I used to have back in the states: - Round Table Pizza (California and a few other states) - In N Out Burger (California and a few other states) - Jamba Juice (numerous states) - Premier Pizza (San Jose area, California) - Tacos El Grullense (Bay Area, California) - Wienerschnitzel (California and a few other states) - Jack in the Box (numerous states) - Hormel Chili (No Beans, Turkey No Beans) - Armour Chili - Yoplait Yogurt (different than the Yoplait in Canada) - It's It Ice Cream Sandwiches - Japaleno Cheddar Dip (Fritos?) and Fritos Scoops Things I have ditched due to taste buds changing during weight management program: - Pizza Rolls - Hot Pockets - 99% of chips and other related snacks - Soda (I will miss you soda, but you taste like crap now and you helped eff up my liver ) - Any and all alcohol (didn't drink much anyways, but if and only if my liver completely resolves the fibrosis issue will I ever touch alcohol again, pretty sad since I've never had an alcohol problem to begin with) The difference is with the foods I will still eat, is that 1) I almost never have them as my trips back to the US lately have been few and far between (only a few times a year), 2) I will maintain the tiny portions and caloric/carb restrictions, meaning for things like the Super Burrito from El Grullense.. I might be paying 5 bucks, eat a few bites, save more for later, or if wife/daughter don't want it, throw it away. Still plan on stocking up on the chili (Hormel/Armour) from US trips for days like Super Bowl Sunday.. one of my fav SB dips are Fritos Scoops with Jalapeno Cheddar dip and chili. Of course, my portion size will be minuscule compared to everyone else's, but don't care.

HFCS is just sugar, with extremely minor differences -- to the body it's virtually the same. So if you're downing numerous lozenges with HFCS then you're having decent amounts of sugar, thus the side-effects of it.

You have a lot of options. You could be stuck with Glucerna like I am.

I think you might be missing the point..

If it's high protein, low carb/calorie/fat food it won't be a big deal in minuscule quantities (especially if calorie/carb counting). If not, probably should quit doing it asap.

I'll just have chicken noodle soup, drain the noodles and chicken pieces out, give that and some of the broth to my daughter, and have the rest of the broth for myself. It's slightly higher in fat/sodium, and in my opinion tastes a hell of a lot better than the "broths" you buy at the store.

Awesome news. The doctors confused my L5/S1 compression fracture for sciatica and wanted to do an epidural injection but I convinced them to just do facet joint injections on both sides of my back. Thank god for that too. Ablation next, if I need it. Like you, pain has subsided a lot with the dumping of weight, although it still occurs after more than a few mins of standing/walking. Good luck on continuing your recovery,

I hope you get that settled. It's a concern of mine given my reflux problems. Wonder if seeing a success video like this would help..

My daughter is 5 so wouldn't understand what's going on she'll just know daddy was in the hospital. No qualms with giving her the info when she is old enough to understand what happened -- or if she asks.

Ouch. Did you have EGD and/or barium swallow before your VSG? if so did you have reflux already?

complications?

April 20th here too, buddy. Good luck to you!

From what I understand they do have a really long waits in the maritimes -- I feel bad for you guys. I've heard of people going to other areas of Canada to get this done once having the go ahead from the basic requirements (dietitian, psychologist, case manager, and possibly generalist). Do you ever visit places like Alberta? Areas like here in Calgary are pretty quick. I've been in weight management since September'ish 2015. First met the surgeon late 2016 and started liquid Feb 1. Can you be more specific who your appointment is with? Is it the 3 classes? Have you been seeing a case manager, dietitian, psychologist, generalist, etc?

I think there's multiple facets to not keeping the weight off (being a general post not necessarily directly responding to you): 1) the sleeve expanding over time (in a few of the studies I read this is more common than thought - not enough long-term studies which is why despite increased risks RNY is considered "gold standard", many decades of studies) 2) keeping your diet far less than it was before -- being smaller means eating a lot less cals, this is intended to be a permanent dietary change, and many people don't stick to it permanently. One thing anyone attending classes should have understood well is that when you're losing weight, it won't just dive and *splat*.. stay off. It will hit it's rock bottom, rise a little bit, then plateau. 3) When the body plateaus in order to lose weight one must eat fewer and fewer cals. Is this a smart thing to do? At some point you're starving yourself and being nutritionally deprived. Your body will compensate by slowing down the metabolism and when you give your body food it will actually cause negative affects on weight loss as well as organs like your liver. Many people should take the plateau'ing (if that's a word) as a sign that's the weight their body wants them at. Personally I welcome the changes, and I am more than willing to eat tiny amounts for the rest of my life. It's a massive adjustment for sure, but I am on board with it.

I actually asked this of 3 surgeons and they said vomiting is fine, and that because your satiety reflex is obfuscated that's the only way to know you're having too much. So I'd highly disagree.

Good luck!

It might sound cold, but I would too. (to the bold) I'm skeptical that: 1) you didn't know you were pregnant for almost 6 months (~25 weeks) 2) you had no blood tests or anything that relates to pregnancy? no missed periods? no side effects or anything that are indicators? (between August and January) So my belief is you likely knew you were pregnant (or at minimum would logically suspect it) and went along with the surgery. It should have been postponed. I don't really sympathize.

Given how regularly everyone vomits and how much I despise throwing up either I'm gonna try to take some Gravol or just get used to it. Given your body likely feels satiated all the time there's really no other trigger showing you're full or that maybe you sipped Water too fast. It's a learning process all over again. Also this might be news to you if you've never had GERD but hiccups and regurgitating is not vomiting. It's reflux. Are you on meds for this? Maybe try consuming less but more frequently.

His reasons seem a bit selfish, but that's just my opinion with the information given. This is a serious health issue with numerous comorbidities that has consequences on life span so support is a must. I would ensure he understands the importance of it especially if he claims to be concerned about your health. To be honest if my wife wasn't supportive of my surgery we'd maybe not be together. Thankfully she's an awesome wife, she (on her own initiative) has attended various appointments with me since I started the weight management program, some classes too, and one of my dietitian appointments was mainly conversation between wife and RD about what food she could get and cook for me post-op. I would most certainly do the same for her. Definitely reach out to others you can trust who aren't judgmental, who are supportive, or if none exist this place seems as good as any.

Consider the positive impacts. If you have a lot of medical conditions now, think of how much they'll likely be improved. If you don't, think about how you're saving yourself from suffering those.. with obesity it's a waiting game for problems and decreases your lifespan. For those of us who can't seem to make the changes with diet alone, this is a great tool to help get things back on track. Just hope you don't have cold feet about sticking with the lifestyle changes needed post-op to stay healthy.