NovaLuna

My surgery has a sleeved stomach and while I don't have GERD I have EOS (a.k.a EOE: Eosinophilic Esophagitus) which causes acid issue at night. I used to have to take two acid reducers at night, but after my surgery I only need to take 1. I was surprised by that as I actually thought it'd get worse... So while acid issues do tend to get worse for most people who have VSG (or DS or Loop DS), I think there are also a rare few who it improves upon. At least that's what I've taken from my own experience. In the end it comes down to whether you're willing to take the risk that you may have to end up having to have a revision because it makes your GERD worse.

I was told it was fine to take them like normal, but since the labs are fasting obviously don't eat or take them the day of until after you've done the labs.

Congrats! You'll reach your original goal before you know it! 😊 I, myself, have low standards and just want to be in the overweight category as I've been obese since I was in elementary school. Right now I'm the smallest I've been in 19 YEARS as I was 14 the last time I was 235! It honestly blows my mind and the fact that I'm even in a smaller size than I was when I was 14 is even odder to me. (I was a size 20 in pants and a 2x in tops when I was this weight at 14, but now I'm an 18 in pants and an xL in tops). There's also the fact that I hadn't been under 300 pounds since I was 17! I'm grateful every day that I made the decision to have this surgery... I put it off for far too long!

I had the Loop DS and mine was done all at once. Some surgeons do them separate and I was warned that my surgeon 90% of the time ends up having to do them separate because peoples livers haven't shrunk enough, but he said my liver was in great shape and he was able to do mine all in one... My surgeon never focused much when it came to calories, but starting off with 1000 calories is too high. Try lowering your calories between 600-800. Also, you've hit the three week mark and that stall will happen. My stalls bounce me between two or three pounds (for example my last stall was between 237-239 and lasted two weeks and I just got out of that stall a few days ago and after weighing in today I'm still 236). As for carbs... how many are you eating? This week for example I eat oatmeal in the morning which is 21 carbs, but my lunch has been only about 15-18 carbs and dinner is also usually 15-18 with my snacks being usually under 10 (1-9) carbs unless it's fruit. Also you may need to mix it up week to week like I do when I hit stalls. I'll have lower carb weeks and some weeks where I up my carbs slightly to try and get the weight loss in motion again.

When I started the process for WLS I was 385 pounds. I made the choice to start dieting before I even saw the nutritionist. I had a six month program like yourself, but wasn't able to get in to see the nutritionist until the third month. At that point I was already on my own diet and the nutritionist approved of my choice. The first month I cut down my portion sizes and stopped eating seconds. The second month I cut out soda. The third month I cut out rice. The fourth month I cut out pasta. The fifth month I cut out bread. The six month I cut out beans, potatoes, etc. But I ended up having to wait an extra two months as they were overbooked and I just kept up my diet for the two months until my two week pre-op diet. I lost 64 pounds before my surgery and was 321 on my surgery date. And I've lost an additional 85 pounds since my surgery six months ago. In the end, it's your life and you get to decide how you want to approach your surgery. I wish you the best of luck!

When did you have your surgery? I've had multiple stalls in the six months since my surgery and just got over one today after losing 1 pound... -_-" But hey, weight loss is weight loss and I've lost 85 pounds in 6 months so it does add up. Part of my issue though is hypothyroidism. I've had to have my meds changed twice already and now I'm thinking I need them upped again. I'll have to ask my PCP to test my thyroid levels again.

I think it was around week three when I started to get my energy back... my surgery was 6 months ago so it's kinda hard to remember now lol, but I'm pretty sure it was week 3.

I don't exercise. I WOULD if I wasn't having chronic dizziness and balance issues. My doctor has been trying to figure out what's wrong with me for MONTHS. Right now she's convinced she knows what's wrong because she had a new patient recently that has a disorder that has all the same symptoms as me and it brought me to her mind, but we're just waiting for me to be able to do the tests to either confirm or deny if I have it or not. My advice is to take it easy and not do too much at once. Start slow and work to more.

I wasn't scared of the surgery or being put under but mostly because I'd had brain surgery in 2017 so this was like a walk in the park by comparison... Your mind makes things out to be worse than they actually are. I think it's just human nature to stress about the worst possible outcome. Your chances of not making it through the surgery are 1 in 1000. Chances of major complications are like 4%. It's slim. Just trust that you're in good hands and try not to stress yourself out more by reading about the worst things that can happen or you'll just stress yourself out more! In my own experience when I went into the operating room I was talking to the anesthesiologist after they got me situated and he asked me a few questions and the next thing I know I'm being wheeled into a room. I'm going to be honest... when I woke up I felt like I got hit by a bus! But they gave me pain meds when I mentioned that and then I was good. My worst experience about my surgery is that I vomited old blood for the first two days... and it HURT! It scared my mom, but the nurse said that sometimes that happens and it's normal. I had those blue puke bags on hand just in case lol. But I had the Loop DS and that's different then Gastric Bypass so you likely won't have that issue. Just try and stay away from reading about the worst possible outcomes and just think positive. Think about how much better you'll feel as you hit each milestone! I wish you the best in your upcoming surgery!

Everyone's experience with vitamins is different. I had the Loop DS and I take 1 Bariatric Complete (orange flavored) vitamin (with iron) and 2 Celebrate (grape flavored) without iron (I apparently process iron REALLY well as my iron levels are perfect with just the one iron, more than one makes me constipated, tmi I know). As well as two Bariatric Advantage Calcium Citrate (I used to take 3 but my calcium was high). And I also take 10,000IU liquid Vitamin A every other day. It just really depends on how your body handles the vitamins. Some can take less, some have to take more and some have to add extra like my Vitamin A. You'll figure out the process as you go. Just choose an initial brand and take what they tell you to and adjust as needed. As for recipes... I get a lot of recipes here: https://www.bariatriceating.com/blogs/recipes

If oral vitamins make you sick maybe try the patch vitamins? I'm lucky, I guess as I have no issue with taking my vitamins, but there are those that struggle and the patch vitamins would probably be the best solution

In my experience most PCP's will automatically sign off on it if your BMI is high enough (over 40). Every PCP I had save two pushed me toward WLS, but I had to come to that decision on my own so I always told them not until I felt I was ready. My current PCP was one of the two who never pushed for it. Funny enough? She had VSG several years ago so she knows you have to be in the right mental place for it to work for you. So just bring it up with your new PCP, I bet they'll give you that referral you want!

SADI-S a.k.a SIPS a.k.a Loop Duodenal Switch is the surgery I had. I'm also a first time wls patient. I had mine done 1-23-2020 so I'm exactly six months out as of today! If you have any questions about my own experience with it, please feel free to ask! 😊

I take 1 Bariatric Complete Orange flavor (don't EVER get the berry, it's like berry flavored dog food!) and to me it tastes like a slightly stronger Flintstones vitamin. And I take 2 Celebrate multi's (without iron) that are grape flavored (these are actually good). The Bariatric Complete are sold in my doctors office and you can buy 2 bottles for $45 or order online and it's $20. I get the Celebrate on Amazon and I order a three month supply at a time for $46. The site I order the Bariatric Complete on is where I get my calcium as well and they're Bariatric Advantage. I order both the chewy ones for $33 or the tablet chewables for $25.

Hopefully yours goes away! I'm almost 6 months post op and didn't start having issues with dizziness until a month after my surgery. The surgeon told me to stop taking my blood pressure meds. It didn't get better. My doctor had me take Meclizine which I took for almost a month and it didn't help. I ended up going on disability two months after my surgery and when I finally saw my doctor in person in May she put me back on my blood pressure meds because my BP sky rocketed in the two months I'd been off them and then she sent me for a bunch of tests and all came back normal (except I haven't had the halter monitor yet, I get that in two weeks) and had me do physical therapy for dizziness. I just finished my physical therapy and now she's planning on sending me to have an MRI (which is going to be difficult since I have a metal plate in my head... -_-"). She doesn't believe that it's caused by the surgery, but who knows at this point... I just hope yours gets better because mine has just gotten progressively worse and now I'm paranoid that I have a brain tumor since it runs in my family and my mom had one when she was 29 (I already had brain surgery once for my TN and I REALLY don't want to have it again!).

I was off for 7 weeks and then was back at work for two weeks and went on disability and have been on disability for almost 4 months now. But mine is due to chronic dizziness that my doctor doesn't believe is caused by my surgery. I've just completed my physical therapy for the dizziness so next comes an MRI (which I'm not sure how that's going to work since I have a metal plate in my head... -_-"). Anyway, you know your body best. If your surgeon doesn't want to give you extra time off then ask your regular doctor and discuss how you're feeling with them. Nursing is a difficult profession and you're on your feet all day on top of that and essentially have to be in top shape and if you're not feeling like you can go back hopefully they can see where you're coming from! I hope everything works out for you!

I'm almost 6 months post op from Loop DS. Here's some suggestions from me: If you crave pasta try Birds Eye veggie pasta. My favorite is the spinach lentil pasta in alfredo sauce and the zucchini lentil pasta in marinara. You add parm cheese salt and pepper to the alfredo one and split into three servings and you add a handful of shredded cheese and a little parm, salt and pepper to the marinara one and split into three servings. It's delicious! Also, cauliflower rice instead of regular rice because it doesn't have a flavor and low in carbs and whatever sauce you add onto it will soak it up, the only thing to get used to is the texture is quite different. I suggest making a stir fry with G.Hughes Terriyaki sauce because it has no sugar and you can't tell the difference (they sell it at Walmart and they also have a bbq sauce. I recommend the hickory flavor, it's delicious with rotisserie chicken). Sugar free pudding is a rare treat I allow myself when I'm craving chocolate. I also will allow myself no sugar added ice cream because it's lower carb, low sugar, and low sugar alcohol. I only buy it once every other week. I just recently in the last three weeks added lower sugar oatmeal into my diet (4g for most though one flavor has 5g and hilariously has less carbs than the original flavorless one... the have 21, 23, and 25 carbs for the flavored ones and 29 for regular -_-"). I eat cheese sticks, fruit cups (no sugar added ones), nuts, yogurt, cheese crisps and salsa, bellpepper and salsa, carrots and ranch dip, and the above mentioned pudding, and ice cream as snacks. Also, I suggest cauliflower pizza for pizza cravings. And my nutritionist allows me to have corn tortilla's so I have the occasional taco for lunch or two taquitos. I'm probably on slightly higher carbs than the average person though as my doctor wants me to have a MINIMUM of 15 carbs per meal (though she prefers 20-25) due to my chronic dizziness which they still don't know the cause of. I also had constipation issues and they thought it was the banana's I was eating as well as my iron intake so they told me to cut out the banana's and stop taking the iron for three days and then after three days cut it down to 2 iron multi's instead of 3. It cleared up only to start again once I started back on the iron so I stopped the iron for another three days and cut it down to 1 iron multi a day and two non-iron multi's and my blood work is perfect (other than a slight Vitamin A deficiency, but I'm on extra Vitamin A now so, it'll work out) and no more constipation issues since. Hope you figure out what works for you!

Well, it could be the berries (strawberry & banana are both berries) as I was told by my surgeon not to eat berries for the first three months due to possibly not being able to tolerate them. Or... it could be the almond milk because I was also told to avoid nuts for the first three months for the same reason. Personally, my worst experience was when my nutritionist gave me the okay to add low carb bread into my diet and I had a bbq sandwich wrap made with low carb wheat bread... needless to say I no longer will touch wheat products because that was the WORST nausea I've ever had... and I had brain surgery three years ago! (I honestly thought nothing would top that nausea until my reaction to the wheat bread proved me wrong). The hilarious thing about my experience? My surgery isn't supposed to HAVE dumping syndrome, but when I described it to the surgeons office (stomach ache and cramping, gagging, dizziness, heart beating fast, sweating, flushed, diarrhea, etc) they said they were classic signs of dumping syndrome and advised me to avoid eating what caused it (duh, why would I go through that AGAIN -_-"). You could try one thing at a time to see what triggered it. I hope you can figure out what caused it...

I believe it was the same for me regarding the vitamins and protein. They made me wait awhile before starting either and I doubted it a bit, but stuck to it. I just had my 6 month check up and the doctor said I only had one vitamin deficiency and that was Vitamin A which was only under by 3 points and she said she was impressed because usually with Loop DS patients their 6 month check up has tons of deficiencies. She said I follow my routine very well and it shows in the lab results and to just add some Vitamin A into my regiment. Which I did. I find it hilarious that my iron looked good though because I've cut down to only 1 Iron multivitamin a day (and two non-Iron mulit's) due to it stopping me up. I think my body just processes Iron REALLY, REALLY well! x'D Anyway, I wish you the best!

A little advice, don't weight yourself the first ten days. You'll have water weight from the IV and will likely weigh MORE than you did before your surgery. After ten days then go for it!

I lost it in the boobs first. No joke. My face, my arms, my legs, my shoulders (so friggin' weird!), my neck, my thighs, my behind, and then finally I lost some in my stomach. It was NOT even! Still isn't... But, you WILL lose the stomach weight, eventually. It's just harder to lose. Last year around this time I was a 32 in pants and now I'm an 18. I was a 6xl top and now I'm a 0x-1x. It'll happen!

Genetics are one of the reasons my weight loss goal is 180 and not lower. My family is genetically predispositioned to being overweight. I literally have TWO adult family members who are not overweight. TWO (my uncle and my cousin)! I even did one of those DNA tests a few years back and it to no surprise said I was genetically predisposed to weigh more. I think 180 is realistic. If I can lose more than that I'll be pleasantly surprised, but as long as I get to the 180 goal I'll be happy! More would just be a plus, in my mind.

My surgery requires a MINIMUM of 80g of protein a day and I'm not going to even bother getting that on my own. It would stress me the hell out, so I go for a minimum of 50g on my own and then 1 protein shake that has 30g. I had to work to that. For a while I was on 2 protein shakes a day and trying to get in 20g on my own. I usually average somewhere around 60g on my own and then with the protein shake I'm about 90g and since you had the gastric sleeve your requirements for protein are less and it's very possible to be able to do it on your own without the shakes eventually. You'll get there!

My nutritionist wants me to keep under 1500mg a day due to my blood pressure. I find that impossible so it's usually around 1800mg, but she said at least that's me TRYING to keep it lower.

I'm 32 (almost 33) and had the Loop DS at my surgeons suggestion because along with the original DS it has the highest average percentage of weight loss. I say average because some people can lose just as much with the other surgeries, but I have hypothyroidism and so the Loop DS was their suggestion. I was 321 on the day of my surgery and now five months out I'm 245. So I've lost 76 pounds in these past 5 months (and 64 before my surgery). The thing with the DS though is you occasionally get really BAD stomachaches. Like my system will be fine one minute and the next it's like RUUUUUNNN (or you know, accident). It's kinda the norm now though so... you get used to it, but my family knows when I get an odd look on my face that I'm gonna be 'occupied' for a while. Oh, and this is TMI but don't think you can escape the constipation curse that people often get with weight loss surgeries if you have the DS, because it happened to me TWICE and it shocked my surgeons office because apparently I'm their first Loop DS patient who ever had that issue... but it CAN happen! Also, I have a reaction to wheat that was remarkably similar to dumping syndrome even though that's not SUPPOSED to be possible with the DS or Loop DS (I started having stomach pain, sweating, nausea, followed by... bathroom time, about 15 minutes after I ate. Worst nausea I'd had since BRAIN SURGERY! Needless to say I avoid wheat products like the plague now!). Soooo, yeah. I don't know if it's just weird abnormal stuff that happens to me or if a lot of Loop DS patients have had similar experiences lol. I don't regret my choice for surgery though. Every surgery has their ups and downs so you kind of just have to go over those and decide what'll work for you! I wish you the best!