KCgirl061

My husband is concerned about me eating chia seeds. He’s worried they’ll expand in my sleeve and be uncomfortable. Anyone have good or bad experience with chai seeds? I’m 7 months postop.

WOW! Congrats on completing your first 5K! That's awesome!

It helps prepare you mentally to make sure you can stick to the diet post op. So if you need to cheat a little then do so but just know its better not to cheat at all after your surgery or you risk complications.

Protein powder just went in everything when I was at that stage. High protein yogurt, soup with protein, applesauce with protein, jello with protein, hummus with protein.. you get the idea. I bought and still buy bariatric food items from the bariatricpal store. The points I get participating in forums helps get it discounted and I can always hit the free shipping if I include purchasing my vitamins through them as well.

I don't think you shouldn't eat grapefruit, but I do think you need to focus on eating more than grapefruit, simply because it is so low calorie. Your focus needs to be getting your protein it. I hope you are able to supplement with protein drinks until you can tolerate more foods.

The BMI chart is outdated and not a good measure of whether or not you’re healthy. I dropped down to wearing a size 6 and was still “overweight”. It’s BS

Nope nope nope. Im like the rest of the responses - can't believe that there are still surgeons out there placing them. I strongly urge you to rethink the decision. There is a reason that they are falling out of favor.

It's always good to look at medical sites and studies. A common opinion I see "a huge percentage of VGS patients get GERD and need to revise to bypass anyway!" That does happen, but according to medical studies, the numbers aren't as high as people's perceptions.

No. According to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, revisions made up 14% of the total number of bariatric surgeries in 2017. You have to figure that yes, some of them were revisions from sleeve to bypass, but its much more likely that a majority of those were revisions of lapbands to either sleeve or bypass since band failure is the issue we see more often. In 2011 bands made up 35% of weight loss surgeries so theres a lot out there probably getting revised. If you are curious here is the website: https://asmbs.org/resources/estimate-of-bariatric-surgery-numbers

I had hair loss. And I did everything I could to prevent it. Biotin, high protein diet, an expensive shampoo and conditioner (Organic Fight Fall Out Plus, Niacin & Caffeine) . It still happened, but its not near as bad as other people's Ive seen. I did cut it short and resist washing it too often, using dry shampoo. It would fall out the most when I was washing it. Another thing though, I read an article about Phytic acid. Its a unique natural substance found in plant seeds. It impairs the absorption of iron, zinc, and calcium and may promote mineral deficiencies. So I stopped eating plant based foods when I would take my mulitvitamin so it wouldn't interfere. Thats when my hair loss slowed. It could be a coincidence, but I thought I would share anyway.

I have a Vitamix. They're expensive, sure. But they are great for use as a food processor too. I use it to chop onion and even make cauliflower rice. Be sure to look at it as an investment.

There's an idea!!

Quest bars are my favorite. Some people complain they are nasty but it’s a matter of opinion. There are so many flavors you’re bound to find one that floats your boat! The more popular flavors are sold in bulk in boxes of 4 or 8 at Walmart and Sams Club, dropping the price down to about $2 a bar.

Have you contacted your surgeon? You might have a stricture.

I remember taking my nausea meds for 5 or 6 days postop

Nope, haven’t been in contact with my NUT about the issue.

I read somewhere that going to a sauna helps get the nicotine out of the system.

I started having coffe once a week during the first months postop. Now I’m back to drinking it daily. It’s a light roast though that I add caramel protein drink to as a creamer.

No you aren't being stupid. Sadly it sounds like your surgeon doesn't want to address your issues and actually treat you. Go to your primary care physician for a wellness check and see if they can address your health concerns.

So I had never heard of this and looked into what it was. You definitely want to check your iron levels and make sure that you aren't anemic at all. In order to get the Platelet Rich Plasma that they use for injection they have to take a good amount of blood and basically spin off all the components of the blood to separate the Platelets from the red blood cells and plasma. I don't know how much blood they need and if they do their own lab work to make sure you're not anemic before they take the sample. Ask a lot of questions! Sounds cool though!

Oh my heart breaks for you. I can't tell you if it gets better or not but I sure hope it does for you. I'm so sorry.

I'm not on board with them. They are too new and I don't want to gamble my health on something that hasn't been tested enough. If people that don't take their vitamins at all can claim that their labs look good, then it means it may take years for a deficiency to show up. The same logic can be applied to vitamin patches. Personally, while a lot of people like the idea of slapping a patch on, I prefer not to have sticky residue of a patch on me. I did with the birth control patch for about a month and absolutely hated it. Popping a single multivitamin at bedtime is convenient enough for me.

I'm close to hitting that 100lb lost mark. I lost 15 pounds in my 6 months prep, 15 pounds during my 2 week preop liquid diet and the rest in the last 7 months since my surgery. So it is possible but not guaranteed - everyone is different.

So I have two thoughts. First is the charlie horses might be from a vitamin or mineral deficiency. Are you taking your vitamins and getting your labs tested like you're supposed to? Second is that the scar tissue you feel is kind of 'taking over' your whole abdomen and causing the charlie horses and kinking the bowel and causing the GI problems. Whatever it is I hope you get it figured out soon! If you do have gallbladder disease and the scar tissue problems they can generally be fixed in one surgery.