ANewStart4Me

I’m normally a big drinker and would scull my drinks in one go. So this constant sipping is taking practise. I hope I have it better by the time summer hits. Few times I have done a slow gulp trying to quench my thirst and by the time you hit the third swallow you feel the pain and have to back off. It doesn’t last long but it does let you know to not keep going. You will breeze through this. You have so much more information under your belt and are prepared than most people. 80ml seems crazy little but I am not hungry at all. At first it was a little weird when I would eat and not feel that full feeling, I don’t really get that satisfied feeling like I just had a really good meal, but I’m not dissatisfied either. You know when you have eaten too much but it still isn’t the same feeling of being full. Mentally that was probably the hardest bit at the start and head hunger. I would always snack on shapes after the kids went to bed and same time every night I would crave them even though I wasn’t hungry, just head hunger from the bad habit. Now I have a drink or chew my vitamins at that time and it gies away, and I can happily eat a few bites of a meal and walk away not seeking that full feeling. Message me anytime, I will support you anyway I can.

Yeah, I’m in Victoria. Pre op I was just on 100 at my heaviest. I then decided to take out top cover health insurance and start the ball rolling. In the 12 month wait period I tried duromine, dropped 12 kilos in 3 months but the lack of sleep just made me feel crazy. Was doing good and dropped another 2 kilos off duromine. Then the weight crept back. Over about 10 weeks I went from 86 to 96 kilos. So by the time I saw my surgeon I was so glad he had me booked into hospital 3 weeks from our first visit. So far eating most things has gone really good. Only if I eat one bite too much I vomit a bit. Drinking enough is the bit I struggle the most with. Atm I can eat almost 1/2 to 3/4 of a small yoghurt now. So around 80ml. How much my taste in food changed was the biggest shock. The kids got kfc the other week, I stole one popcorn chicken, one chip, and a little pinch of skin and it all tasted disgusting, and I threw it up within few minutes. Tried a bit of ham cheese and tomato pita bread and was horrible. Things I would normally love taste vile, I really hope it stays that way forever haha. Try to have a variety of shakes and sugar, free jelly, different stuff to make smoothies when you come home from hospital. All the things I drank a lot of the first couple of weeks I can’t stomach now. They ones I switched up often I have no problem with now.

I have been happy with it so far. Had the typical 3 week stall but it only lasted 1 week. On surgery day I was 94 kilos, I only weigh myself on mondays, trying not to be ocd about the scales, so 5 days ago I was down to 81 kilos. First 2 weeks was the biggest drop 5 kilos, then it has been a consistent kilo a week once I got over the stall.

That is how much of the small intestines they bypass. 100-150cm is what my doctor said he normally aims for. 200cm seems extreme. Shorter length Without being a doctor and only watching them on tv haha, I assume you absorb more from what you eat etc. going longer you risk malabsorption but I would also guess you might dump easier. My doctor did 100cm on me, first couple of weeks even this length dumping was crazy on liquid drinks like protein drinks, ensure drinks, up and go’s. Last 4 weeks has been really good until I drank an up n go too fast and instantly dumped it. I go Tuesday to check my vitamins to make sure I am absorbing enough. Here a link from one of the melbourne clinics that explain touch on length a tiny bit. http://www.melbournebariatrics.com.au/laparoscopic-gastric-bypass.html

I am gonna go against the grain here. I would suggest opening up to them less. From what you write here they don’t sound very open to actually listening to your opinion unless it aligns with theirs. Will telling them how you feel actually change anything? Being the black sheep of the family myself I understand how hard of a role it can be. The way I have learnt to deal with it is, I make general small talk and keep things pleasant, anything that is important to me eg tattoos, haircuts, extra children, things that effect my life and the lives of my nuclear family(husband and children) I only discuss with my husband. If I don’t want to feel my outside families judgement in my decisions, I don’t involve them in my business. You can’t change how other people think or how they will react. My husband and I are so much happier now. I am so less stressed. Sometimes it is hard and I fall back into old habits. Being the black sheep, you always seek your families approval so sometimes you give them more information then you mean too when things are going good, then it bites you in the ass. I honestly have a much better relationship with my outside family. What they say and do doesn’t seem to hurt me as much when they don’t approve of me anymore. And not letting them into my nuclear family relationships has made my nuclear family so much stronger. My husband and I are a solid team now and united on all fronts.

I have been using my old pregnancy triangle pillow to support me while I sleep. If I am flat on my back I place it under my legs right up against my butt. If I sleep on my side I place it between my thighs. If I half sleep on my stomach I lay it beside me and place it under my knee that is out to my side. If that all makes sense. That keeps my hips more supported while I sleep as the weight falls off and they get used to holding a different position. It will take time for the muscles to retrain so the pillow has taken all the pain away from being uncomfortable sleeping. When I get in and out of bed or in and out of the car. I never roll or try to step out with my knees apart so this keeps my hips and pelvis supported. Hope you get a bit of relief soon.

I don’t think you are a slow loser at all. And stalls are perfectly normal. Please don’t fatigue yourself by trying to keep your calories too low. Be kind to yourself and stick to the plan. I think everyone above has covered what I would say about dilation needing to be done more that once and writing things down. So I really just want to make sure you know how much of a slow loser you aren’t again. And embrace the stalls, it is the bodies way of catching up and taking a moments rest. They won’t last long and you will lose again.

I had an RNY, the same night as my RNY I was taking all my meds without crushing. First day I could only swallow one tablet or capsule at a time, that lasted about two weeks. By two weeks I was swallowing all 4 of my daily meds in one go. Yesterday I switched from chewable vitamins to tablets and I am only swallowing them one at a time.

Good luck, we will all be here cheering and supporting you through this.

I would go to a shake like ensure that has more carbs. Protein shakes are much lighter on cards so you will lose weight if you can’t get enough other food in the day. Ensure is better for maintenance and gaining.

Tuna, cottage cheese, i tried a bit of stir fry chick, first time just eating the veggies and bit of noodle was fine, next time i ate a tiny bit of the chicken and threw it up. Don’t recommend chicken but stir fry veggies cooked soft was yummy.

I’m still in the early days which is when most people regret the surgery before they start seeing the big changes. And i have no regrets. It is a big change but so worth it. Hardest part for me was the pre op diet. I have tried a few little tastes of things I used to love and seriously they just tasted disgusting to me and I spat them out. Was such a relief. Some days I struggle to drink enough water but I am slowly getting there. I an taking chewable vitamins, hopefully that will be good enough to make sure I get what i need from them. My surgeon is having my labs drawn every 6 weeks to start with, then my doctor will take over after the first year. If you have concerns about iron or anything else always ask your doctor to draw labs and check. Sounds like you have worked very hard to get here. Everyone I am sure had a moment where they thought am I doing the right thing. I would do this again in a heart beat. I am loving the change to my life even in this short time.

Amazing how much taste has changed. Things that normally taste good now are so ugh. Getting enough water is the hardest part. But it is nice to actually start to feel normal again.

Try making sure everything is warm or room temp. If I drink cold, it hurts. I take small sips and make sure I burp as much as possible. If I am really thirsty or have just drank a few mouthfuls in a row, I always lay down afterwards for a bit, sitting upright seems to make things more uncomfortable. I try and pace myself to one mouthful every 5-10mins during the day. Only when I wake up and have a dry moth, I want to drink faster. So I keep a bottle of water beside the bed and stay laying down after first few mouthfuls. Not sure about a straw, I tried to drink an ensure drink with a straw and it made it much worse. Didn’t matter how I tried to not suck air in with the drink, didn’t work. The most liquid I can get in now is barely 1/4 a cup before it gets painful. Water, soup, protein shake, doesn’t matter what. If I go over 1/4 in a short space of time it hurts. Hope it gets a little easier for you soon.

18 shake. Only ones that keep my full longest and good protein carb ratio.

I have had appendix in my 20s, 3 c-sections in my 30’s then a hysterectomy. My surgeon was extremely worried about scar tissue around my intestines and not being able to to rny. I had to sign a release that if for whatever reason rny couldn’t be performed by keyhole surgery what options I choose next. I selected rny by open surgery, then if rny was completely off the table then sleeve as last resort over closing me up and doing nothing. I got lucky and got my rny done by keyhole. When they removed my appendix it was wrapped around my bowel and I had to have open surgery to untangle it all. My appendix scar goes from my right hip And stops halfway between my belly button and left hip on the otherside of my tummy, it is long. My c-section scars are tiny compared to it, and they removed babies not just an appendix. So going into this I was extremely worried about scar tissue preventing any surgery taking place. I’m sorry you didn’t get the surgery you thought you was going to get. But please try and look in the brightside, atleast they gave you a sleeve and didn’t close you up and make you decide later what you wanted to do. That would be so much worse having to go back to get a sleeve later and come out with no surgery.

Some say as it can dehydrate, it is also mild diuretic, others say due to it being acidic not good for your pouch. I was shocked when the dieticians said I would be allowed coffee straight away, as I did say coffee would be one of my struggles and drinking enough water. They assured me one coffee a day is allowed and had no issue with it. I then questioned my surgeon over it also. He said one cup a day he has no issue with. Drinking it in excess I’m not allowed. For the acid side of things making sure I’m taking my ppi’s every day it is no worse than anything else I am having. I do make sure I have it extra milky to be safe. And he said one cup will not dehydrate or cause a diuretic effect, count it as fluids in. It is amazing how different all surgeons are. What some allow and what others require. Listen to your surgeons but also listen to your body, don’t do anything that doesn’t feel right. This is one surgery that really shows how different everybody is and how our pouches handle things after.

Yeah, I was given real coffee with caffeine in hospital. Cuppacino even and it was so good. At home I am only drink flat whites and I don’t want all the frothy milk in my stomach. Using soy milk and making them a little more milky than normal. I had rny on the 12 th of August, first week I was on one coffee a day and that took me about 1 hr to drink and I didn’t want more. Last 2 days I can drink my coffee in around 30 mins and starting to feel like a second coffee in the afternoon would be nice but I won’t go there yet.

Good luck. Don’t be nervous, you will do great.

Mine was pretty much the same. Clear liquids day 1 and straight to straw diet. If I can suck it through a straw (not literally of course) then the consistency is allowed. And by day 2 the hospital was trying to bring me fruit smoothies. I was like ugh this is so heavy and noped right out of it. Now that I am home I have switched to soy milk. I just can’t handle any normal milk at all, even a tiny bit in my coffee each morning. Few sips of coffee with normal milk and I feel it. But soy milk I can drink the entire cup of coffee no issues.