chellyvillen

So for Christmas eve I wore a dress. I never wear dresses, not since I was a little kid, but I'm 7 months post-op and lost ~100 lbs since my highest and ~70 lbs since surgery, and I was feeling good. And I went to a friend's party and everyone was telling me how good I looked, literally everyone, and it was all I was talking about all night, people had questions but I'm open and talked about my weight loss with everyone. As I was leaving, someone who didn't say a word to me all night comes up and says, "You look so nice... now." I almost punched him in the face. I don't even remember what I said, I was so mad. And I have been thinking about this comment ever since. I don't know if I need to get my emotions in check or find an outlet or what. How do you deal with this kind of comment?

I had surgery about 8-9 months ago, and have all the markers for rheumatoid arthritis (all the blood tests, I haven't seen a rheumatologist yet). I've been trying to see if there is a connection to my sleeve surgery and found a couple papers saying that some people have developed auto-immune diseases around 11 months after surgery, but correlation is not causation. Did anyone have to deal with this, did it lessen after your weight settled?

I was on the pill and was told I had to go off - I switched to an IUD

I eat the 'One Bar' protein bars - they are a little outside your preferences but they are big, so you could easily eat half. 220 Calories, 20g Protein, 24 carbs, 1 sugar, 6 sugar alcohols, 9 fiber for the Chocolate chip cookie dough. And 210 Calories, and 22 carbs w/ 5 sugar alcohols for the Birthday cake one. You can order them on bariatric pal, but I also have them in my grocery store (I don't care for the lemon one).

Even people who lose weight through diet and exercise will lose hair a little bit - I did the first time I tried losing weight before deciding on surgery. I lost a lot of hair around month 4, but it was only for a couple months. The part that bugged me the most was how dry and brittle my hair got. I was doing an argon oil hair mask once a week to keep my hair hydrated, and went though so much conditioner... I've heard that biotin, omega-3, and iron can all help, but it is hard to verify with anything scientific.

Just make sure you aren't snacking on them all day - in one of my follow ups my dietitian actually told me to stop eating them because they have a lot of calories for the amount of protein you get and mindlessly snacking on them was adding ~300 cal and I was only supposed to be having ~500 cal/day.

Additionally, the hospital that I went to was part of the healthcare 'system' (University of Colorado Health) that my surgeon is part of - but they did not have experience dealing with WLS patients and I went through lots of unnecessary tests/xrays/ultrasounds.

I had never experienced reflux before surgery and I started having really really bad reflux a few weeks after surgery. I was on 2 different antacids 2x a day to control it - for about 4 months. Then I got down to 1 just in the morning. And I was trying to get off of it, but I've noticed reflux a night recently and I am going to start taking my antacid mid-day so that it lasts longer into the night. If 1 antacid isn't working don't just start taking another one - some of them you can take together an others you can't - talk to your doc about it.

I seriously ate mostly applesauce - it was the only thing I found that went down well for me. And I was drinking protein shakes (and still am today).

I was not getting in 64oz of fluid for the first few months after surgery and I did not have major dehydration because of it. I had major dehydration after getting a stomach flu and not being able to keep water down 2 weeks after surgery. I went to the ER when I started noticing symptoms of major dehydration - my lips were extremely dry, my mouth was extremely dry. Even swishing water around in my mouth didn't help, I just didn't have any saliva. Again, I was very sick and couldn't keep anything - even water- down. And I ended up getting 2 bags of fluids and IV magnesium - which is 8lbs of liquid. If you start noticing those types of symptoms go to the ER, but a headache/dizziness could be caused by other things and it is up to you to decide what to do - trust your gut.

I had a different therapist for the eval than the one I normally see. The eval person asked me to explain what I knew about the pre-op, surgery, and post-op process. And I had to answer a questionnaire with like 200 questions on it, and some of them were on there multiple times so you should be answering them the same, so if you are honest it will be easier to do that. My eval took almost a month to get back to my surgeon and it held up scheduling my surgery, I had to call them over and over to send it - it was super frustrating to me - and I never went back to them.

try bone broth, it does not taste like broth, it is not very flavorful - it sort of tastes like meat tea, if you need to you can add a bouillon cube or salt if you prefer it to taste like broth

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you should guess the best you can and then find a good alterations person that can get something done for you the week prior. I really have no experience with this, but I do know that weight and inches come off differently, and for me, inches in my stomach area came off slower than my hips and bust. It really will be a guessing game, sorry.

I was on 2 antacids 2x a day. Talk to your doc about adding another - some types you can take together and some you can't. And I was on them for about 2-3 months until I could go down to 1-2x a day.

It is probably swelling combined with abrasions from the breathing tube you had during the surgery. If you are allowed to have liquid Tylenol, try taking some to ease the pain, and it will coat your throat a little.

I had something similar, where I had very bad acid reflux and I didn't realize it because I was on antacids it wasn't burning, I was just full of acid. Depending on what antacid you take, you might be able to combine 2, but you have to ask your doctor. Also ask if they can do a chest x-ray with contrast to see if there is a bunch of acid coming up (if your insurance covers it).

I had this a little bit, but it was acid reflux. I was on an antacid so there wasn't any burning sensation but the acid was coming up to my throat. Talk to your doc about adding another antacid if you are already on one (some of them you can take together and some you can't). It went away after a few months of taking 2 antacids 2X a day.

I had to go to the ER after getting a stomach flu and not able to keep water down, I got severely dehydrated. They ran a bunch of tests and saw that my liver enzymes we're very high - not high enough to do anything about it, but high enough that I had to get it checked every month for a few months. It got worse before it got better, but it did get better and after about 4-5 months it was down to normal. I was told that it was most likely caused by bruises that the retractor left on my liver during surgery. I'm not saying that this is the same for you, but I can relate, because I was freaking out for months about it.

I was really nauseous my first couple days home (from anesthesia maybe?), but I ended up having to sleep sitting up, I couldn't lay down without heaving. I didn't lose my taste for sweets, I can eat chocolate today at 7 months post-op but most other sweets give me gas or really upset my stomach.

I have an office job, and I took 2 weeks, but the last couple days I turned into half days and took some other half days for post-op appointments. I was a little out of it for the first week, not really hungry but weak and groggy. And I had a drain in after surgery for 2 weeks and it was uncomfortable, and I was wearing stretchy/lose pants that might not be appropriate for work. Good luck! It was the best decision I've ever made.

I am almost 7 months now and I was told to eat 800 calories/day with 70g protein - low carb. I can't really eat more than 3oz of meat at anytime, I just get full. But I can eat more if it is veggies or yogurt. I had a metabolic test done at the hospital that said I was burning 1566 cal/day without doing anything, so I calculated what that would be if I wanted to lose 10lbs/month using 3500cal/lb, which comes out to about 350cals/day. Then I added in 50cal/1000 steps, so if I walk 5000 steps/day I can eat 250 cals more per day. And if I go to the gym I estimate how many calories I burn, and I can eat that much more. So far this seems to be working for me, but I am female, 5'7" and 230lbs.

Most insurance require 6 months of supervised diet, and psych exam. Your surgeon will want you to lose a certain amount before surgery to show that you can follow directions. And right before surgery you will have to do a liquid diet anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks - so find a protein drink you like, but don't buy a whole ton of it because you might not like it after surgery (your taste preferences might change). Good luck! It was the best decision I've ever made

Hard boiled eggs worked better for me than scrambled. I still have a hard time with scrambled and I'm 7 months post op. I haven't been able to eat pasta without throwing up and I can only have a couple bites of bread not a whole slice. I also have gotten really sick eating certain sweets, chocolate is ok but frosting is a no.... Everyone is different and you're just going to have to experiment for a few months, just make sure you aren't pushing yourself and eating more than you should.

Have you tried diet and exercise before and it didn't work? For me that was what happened and I wanted something that would be long term. Lipo is short term and very expensive, surgery was covered by my insurance so it wasn't really a question for me. If you are concerned about the hubby's support I suggest going to a therapist (both of you, separately and together) to get everything out.

Hey all, I'm still pre-op. Is there something you wish you knew before heading to the hospital, or something you wish you did differently? I'm hoping something comes up that I haven't even thought of yet...