Berry78

It's all about calories in and out. Knock your calories back down to 1000/day and see if that helps. (When you cut out processed foods it helps you get more food per calorie).

I have a sleeve, and how it feels to me is the food stays in there until I drink a big cup of beverage, and that "washes" the food out. If I don't drink, then 2-4 hours sounds about right. If I try to drink before 30-40 minutes after I eat, I immediately get too full. If I wait, there seems to be room to drink. So, what that seems to tell me is some of the food has already left the sleeve within 30-40 minutes. In an ideal world we will wait a couple hours before drinking so the food has the best chance of getting digestive juices mixed in it.

This is why the blood testing is so important. We don't really know what we need. Sometimes people like to load up on stuff and that's when things go wacky. A typical adult woman needs 8mg of zinc a day. (About 1/2 the recommended amount of iron). Since we can't absorb zinc or iron as efficiently, we usually need more. If you are on iron supplements, then you may need additional zinc to balance it. But, we don't know how much of the iron supplement you are absorbing! Take a look at the zinc content of your food and multi vitamins. It's a good idea to make sure you are getting at least (pulling a # out of my hat).. 12mg. That is extra, but probably not too much. Guys probably should get 16mg or so since their d.v. is 11. As for constipation, regular use of milk of magnesia or miralax might help. (Try miralax first).

Sammy, what does your exercise/diet look like now that you're at goal?

Yep! When I have to start pulling up my pant legs like a long skirt, I know it's time to go shopping!

Thank you, Finnix. I was going to say something, but you did me one better. @Rach84 not all vitamins are the same. Keep trying different ones until you find some you can tolerate. I personally can't do whole pills, so I get chewables and powdered ones. Unfortunately, gummies aren't terribly useful. Make sure your calcium is citrate (not carbonate). We can't absorb carbonate effectively.

Be careful supplementing with zinc. Zinc kinda works against iron, so if you don't need it, it can do more harm than good. Lots if nutrients work in tandem. They have to maintain an ideal ratio to work correctly. Calcium/magnesium Sodium/potassium Iron/zinc, etc. ... OK, so I did a quick search and found a page where someone compiled the ratios. Don't take this page as gospel, but on first glance, it appears to be correct for the ratios I am familiar with. https://discourse.soylent.com/t/optimal-micronutrient-ratios/5049

I was looking at something else, vitamins, I think, and came across the fact that the 2nd part of DS usually happens at around a year post sleeve. They want the patient to have lost a large chunk of his/her weight, but still be in the losing phase when getting the switch. THIS sounds right to me. Shoot, in 5 years, a person could have regained everything!

I think absorbable staples are relatively new. Surgeons tend to stick with what they learned on, and have confidence in. And just as with all of us, they have different rates of adopting "the newest thing". So, no, I doubt it had anything to do with us individually as patients.. it speaks more to our surgeons' differing mindsets/experiences. If I'd had a choice, I probably would have chosen absorbable.. but the body loves cordoning off things that aren't supposed to be there, so I have faith my body will wrap my staples up nice and tight in scar tissue, and they won't cause any trouble down the line. (My hubby had a 20 year old piece of glass, about 4mm from his eyeball. The surgeon had to go through so many layers of scar tissue to remove that glass! Before it was removed, we were concerned a blow could knock it loose and damage his eye. After the fact, I realized there was no way that thing was gonna budge).

That's awesome you got absorbable staples. Mine are titanium and will be with me forever.

What happens is your body was shocked by the surgery. When the body is shocked, it thinks the world is ending, and it shuts down all non-essential functions. Hair growth is non-essential, so it threw the "off switch". The hair stays on your head for about 3-6 months, then will fall out. After it falls out, it takes another 6 months to start growing again. (These are all approximations). So by the time you are 12 months postop, you should start seeing it regrow. The losses, when caused just by the surgery, should not be permanent. If you are low on iron or some other nutrients, it may have trouble coming back. But you won't know that unless a blood tests shows a deficiency. Do not take extra vitamins, especially iron, because it's possible to take too much. In the meantime, you could try a shorter hair style that will allow the remaining hair to fluff up more. You can try a wig or hats, or... I wouldn't recommend Rogain.. but I don't know anything about it really. I've lost at least half my hair, and am almost 7 months postop. It's still falling out, but might have slowed down a smidge. I cut mine shorter so it fluffs up more.

You can go to the drug store and pick up Pepcid Complete. It's chewable, and just chew one up at bedtime. Try and eat your last meal a couple hours before bed so you aren't disturbing the digestion process (especially anything with protein. You need your acid to digest protein). When your doctor's office is open, ask them whether you should switch to a different kind. There are basically 2 different types of acid medicines: H2 blockers, and PPIs. H2 blockers are a bit less effective, but are considered safer (the pepcid I recommended). PPIs are more powerful. I figure just get you started on the simpler one.

The yellow stuff is just normal bile/stomach acid kinda stuff. You may just have a stomach virus, or reaction to the shot (it does happen).. or it may be that you are making too much acid and need to take something for it. Are you currently taking acid medicine?

If you currently have significant GERD, you should choose bypass. Moderate diabetes also responds better to bypass (but mild and severe are fine with the sleeve). If you want the best shot at dumping, bypass. Otherwise, the sleeve is a very good procedure. (To me, sleeve should be the default, except when these other conditions are present). The weight loss differences between sleeve and bypass aren't really that significant.

Sosewsue61 Thank you very much for mentioning this possible complication (ulcer in the unused stomach). As much as I've been on this board and done research elsewhere, this was the very first time I've heard of this. It makes SENSE, I just never thought of it! It would take a special procedure to even get in there and LOOK at the unused portion of stomach, so how many bypass patients have this problem and don't even know it? Scary. I wish they would figure out an effective procedure that wasn't so full of potential complications (the sleeve isn't perfect, either). Sigh...

Beautiful name, beautiful pregnancy. Now that is a NSV if I ever heard one!

I suppose since your exercise dropped so much, the baby is getting those calories. You are one efficient Momma! Lol Baby girls are my favorite.. do you have a name picked out?

Wow.. had no idea you could gain significant weight on so few calories! 20lbs sounds perfect! Good for you!

Since you have no extra body fat, is 1400 calories enough to grow a baby with? (Particularly during the last trimester).

Unless you have pre-existing GERD, you should strongly consider the sleeve. Even though it isn't reversible, it can be turned into a bypass later if necessary.

Oh, I know! Pommes de terre.

Mmmm cookies... Cookies have always been my favorite sweet. I like them better than cake or ice cream, so guess what I'm getting for my birthday? Probably a catastrophy, but I'll try to make some peanut butter cookies with about 1/4 the sugar.. cuz sweets are just too dang SWEET! Gee, I was tasting apples yesterday. Who the heck put so much sweet into an apple? I'm all looking for the tart cooking ones now. But not too tart. Bland apples.. anyone know of the blandest type of apple?

Oh gosh Can you start getting IV fluids regularly until you can start drinking enough? You REALLY need an ounce of fluid (orally) for every gram of protein you consume, or its just not going to digest well. (I think I would try pouring the protein shot into a big glass of water and see how that goes). Since your intestines are inflamed you want to make everything as easy on them as possible. Nice slow-simmered broth might go down easier.. it's worth a shot. Hope you start feeling better very soon! [Hugs]

Really? Thanks! That's a new one on me! Oh, and now I have to watch Dr. V again. I didn't notice him speaking in black and white terms. I kinda pick and choose what I like from what people say and don't worry about the rest. The one time I watched it, my takeaway was simply.. hey, do what you can, have fun with it, and don't worry about killing yourself in the gym until you're ready... 6 months being a reasonable timeframe. Oh, and the progressive nature of the exercise should be to stop as soon as breaking a sweat (which takes longer and longer as you get into shape). Now I completely disagree with sweat being any kind of litmus test as to exertion level. When I'm out of shape it takes longer for me to begin sweating than when I get into better shape. But his POINT is a good one. Go slow and gently. Don't stress.

What's funny is I never did get period cravings. My daughter does, though. Preop, I always knew when Aunt Flo was coming for a visit because my skin would get bad. Now it sneaks right up. Yesterday I had some mild cramps to get 'er started. That was the only warning! Now I can expect the scale to not budge for 5 days, and then drop a bit (fingers crossed).