S@ssen@ch

In the beginning, I only told my husband and a few trusted friends. Today, I generally admit to it if someone asks me, but I do not advertise it. Aside from the obvious, here on BariatricPal, I have not discussed it in any social media and don't plan to. This is not out of shame or anything, I just felt as if this was a private affair. No one has any reason to know except those I trust with it. Funny, people don't ask you how you gained all that weight. But they're all up in your face when they see you succeeding, wanting to know what you've done.

I ditto what others have said. Not all sleeve patients experience the lack of hunger. I was fortunate, I didn't have true hunger or appetite for months and even now I only notice my hunger when I'm REALLY hungry. I'd like to address the dizziness you mentioned. Dizziness is usually a sign of imbalance. Fluid or electrolyte imbalance. Are you getting enough liquids? What about salts, potassium, etc? This would be a symptom to discuss with your doctor.

I take Carafate. I always try to take on an empty stomach and not eat/drink for about 30 min afterward. Also, I have discovered that it is more effective if you dissolved it and take it as a slurry rather than a whole, intact tablet.

The Lynx procedure is not an "off label" use. "Off label" means that you're using a medication/procedure/device for purposes other than they were originally developed. Not the case with LYNX. This ring of magnetic beads was specifically designed to close the lower esophageal sphincter in patients with an incompetent sphincter. Also, studies have shown that it is an effective method of treating GERD in patients who are not a candidate for the standard Nissen Fundoplication procedure 5-year study confirms long-term benefits of LYNX I have mild GERD and I've been seeing a GI specialist mainly because I'm concerned about the long term effects of GERD and/or the long term use of PPI's. While my current medication regime and lifestyle adjustments seem to be keeping the condition well controlled, we have discussed more aggressive options like Lynx and STRETTA. Per my GI doctor, both procedures are being approved by insurance.

I wouldn't recommend stockpiling in any way. You don't know how your body and your tastes will react after surgery. Examples: I planned on the vitamin patches, spent more than $100 on them. Within a couple weeks of surgery, I had an allergic reaction to the adhesive. $100+ in the trash I tried more vitamin types in the first month or 2 than I can recall. So many of them tasted horrible or flat out made me sick, even ones I had taken before surgery. I LOVED Premier ready-to-drink protein shakes before surgery. I drank one every day for months (maybe a couple years). After surgery, I couldn't stand them. I tried several different kinds of protein supplements. Lots are sitting around to this day and probably should be tossed. Finally settled on something I tried years before (when I had lap band), Unjury. But, I'll tell you, I generally do not like all that sweetness anymore. My doctor sent me home with a "care pack" of sorts, with lots of samples. That helped a lot with the vitamin testing stage. He even included 2 or 3 protein supplements in various forms (powders and ready to drink). That saved me some $, but didn't really stop all the trials and failures. My recommendation, plan only for your immediate post op period where you'll mostly be on liquids. Have some varieties and try a few things out. *In those first few weeks you'll find yourself eating (drinking the same things over/over). Do not spend a lot of money and do not have enough for an army. You certainly won't need it because you won't be able to tolerate much at any given time. Helpful hint: I pre-made 4oz jello servings in little gladware containers. Much cheaper than those pre-packaged ones at the store and for me, they were the most satisfying items in the first week.

This is EXACTLY what I was going to say. It took months before I could eat an entire hard boiled egg. Even now, I CAN but I generally stick with soft-boiled eggs.

I had GERD before my sleeve. Had a long talk with my surgeon and we felt that sleeve was a reasonable risk even in the presence of pre-existing GERD. About a month after my surgery, I started getting heartburn. I take 20mg Nexium every day and it seems to keep the heartburn at bay, but I do have some nighttime reflux. Not anything severe, I wake up with a sore throat. My GI doc is following me and we are weighing options, preferably ones that would avoid bypass.

I had that problem in my first few weeks. I tried several different vitamins, I tried taking with meals/after meals, you name it. When I switched to multivitamin gummies, it seemed to help. Not sure if it was the formulation or form, but it stopped. After a few months, when I depleted my gummy supplies, I went to a standard swallow-type multivitamin. I was afraid I'd get the nausea again, so I change the time of day. I now take my multivitamin in the evening with my evening meal. No nausea issues.

I travel for work a lot and my husband likes to eat out a lot. Honestly, I have no problem aside from getting these giant portions that I cannot eat. I choose the best choices for me and take the rest to go. I can usually get another 2 meals out of it (maybe more). tip: if your meal comes with a salad, get the dressing on the side otherwise you're in for a soggy mess and inedible as a leftover. When I'm out of town/staying in a hotel, I try to get a room with a refrigerator and microwave. That way I can pay for 1 meal that lasts me and I save on expenses. You didn't mention at what point in this process you are, your profile says pre-op, so I'll also provide a tip related to those special liquid or soft diets. When I was in pre-op and/or freshly post-op, I took items I could eat with me. EX: I had protein shakes with me (either ready made or ones I could mix easily in a shaker, as long as I knew I'd have access to milk). I kept protein bars with me and if I had a way to refrigerate things, I took string cheese, yogurt or cottage cheese with me.

I can't necessarily tell you from experience, but before I was sleeved I did try something called a "nutritarian" diet by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. It's largely plant-based and similar to a ovo-lacto pescatarian diet although his diet encouraged entirely plan-based and allows for occasional fish. I suppose you could take his basic premise and make what you need of it in terms of eggs, dairy, fish. Sadly, I reverted back to some bad habits, hence the sleeve. BUT, while I was on it, I felt great! I highly recommend Dr. Fuhrman's books and nutrition plan. The one that got me started was "Eat to Live". Good luck!

It took me at least a month after surgery to figure out which vitamins worked for me. I doubt I have enough space or time to provide a comprehensive list. For me, not only was it the type of vitamin but time of day and whether I was taking on an empty stomach. (bad by the way). I settled on Vitafusion gummies. Yes, they have a bit of sugar, but I couldn't tolerate any of the standard bariatric chewables or soft-chews. So, I considered it a trade-off I could live with. I stayed on the Vitafusion gummies until the 2 gigantic bottles I purchased were gone. Then, I changed to standard multivitamins, yes the giant horse pill variety. I take them with my evening meal and haven't had a problem.

OMG, I feel right at home in this thread. I drink tea most of my day. I primarily drink green tea, flavored green tea, or green tea blended with an herbal. I avoid black tea due to caffeine content but will enjoy oolong if I need a boost. I keep pu erh on hand and have a blend of pu erh with chrysanthemum. I have tried ayurvedic spice tea blends and like them. I've even made my own ginger tea from fresh ginger. I prefer loose teas in an infuser but will tolerate bagged tea for convenience while traveling. I generally drink my tea unsweetened, although if I feel like I need an immune system boost I'll put a little raw honey in it. I love tea and I consider myself a bit of a connoisseur.

I have no regrets, although I would warn you that in the course of this surgical journey you MUST change your relationship with food. Early on in my recovery (maybe the first 3-6 months), I went through a bit of a "mourning" period where I realized that I could no longer use food for comfort, celebration, or any number of ways that food became like that little green mucous dude in the Mucinex commercials. He's there talking to you, trying to share life with you, and gets upset when you finally kick him to the curb. In terms of "complications", I have a little bit of nighttime reflux. It's nothing that can't be dealt with and certainly nothing like what "notmyname" above describes. Would I do it again? Absolutely and had I known then what I know now, I probably would have done it much sooner. I lived obese and a slave to my relationship with food for too long. There's a saying..."nothing tastes as good as thin feels". I'm by no means "thin" (yet), but I'm thinner than I was and I feel REALLY great!

I thought the same thing after thinking about this. I wonder why the doctor proceeded with surgery knowing you had atelectasis. That seems VERY questionable @vsgafter40.

You're welcome. I think we all go through a bit of panic or buyers remorse in the first days/weeks post-op and it sure doesn't help if you've had any complications. This one is pretty easily treated. Stay active, do your incentive spirometer and it will pass.

Atelectasis, or a partial lung collapse is a known complication of general anesthesia. It could happen with ANY surgery and is not specific to bariatric surgery. That's one of the big reasons we have to do that incentive spirometer. Do your incentive spirometer as directed in your post-op instructions. Make sure you're communicating with your doctor with your symptoms.

The initial consultation is just that, a consultation. The doctor reviews your history and you discuss options. Depending on the direction the 2 of you agree to go, you'll start with the pre-op testing and treatment. Like the above posters, I had to fill out a comprehensive health history evaluation ahead of the appointment. I think I really only spent about 10 or 15 minutes with the doctor, who reviewed my health history and even had my insurance requirements in front of her. She really didn't even do an examination. I left the office with plans to proceed with upper GI, psych evaluation, and nutritional counseling.

This sounds like an awful experience. Do you have any recourse? If this assistant was not qualified and was performing procedures on you that may have resulted in damage to you or your appliance, that seems to me like negligence. My sleeve is working just fine. And yes, I agree that there are a lot of people out there that take advantage of desperate people.

@Suzie EI'm so sorry this has happened to you. I can only imagine your disappointment and frustration. I'm curious as to why you mentioned that you had wanted your lap band out, then changed your mind. What was it that made you feel that way? My band was good for me at first, then was never the same again after the gall bladder went to pot. After almost 5 years of misery, I chose to have mine out. Doctor said it was slipped. He never said it, but I suspect that it was slipped after the gall bladder issue because I was having a lot of heaving and vomiting at that time. I was sleeved last year and have no regrets other than maybe I should have let my band doctor convert me when he removed the band. Would have saved me a lot of heartache and pain.

83 lbs is GREAT! It sounds like you and I are on similar paths. I'm at 11 months and have lost 78 lbs and I have about 40 left to lose. I contented myself with losing very slowly. Could I have been more faithful to the bariatric diet? Yes. But I'm happy and I feel great and to me, that's all that matters.

I had the foamies or slimies in my first couple of months, but like GradyCat above, I only got them as a consequence of eating things that my sleeve didn't tolerate or eating too much of something. I don't get them too much anymore. At this point, the most I get is maybe some extra thick saliva if I've overdone it a bit. @Seb Palmer, if you're getting this with water, you might want to let your doctor know. It doesn't seem quite right that you're getting it with water (something that should pass pretty easy through your sleeve)

I have to really look/study myself to see the weight loss. It's easier if I focus on certain areas. For instance, I can see my clavicle. But I don't really "see" it in my face or anywhere else for that matter unless I look at my before pics. I took a photo a day or 2 before surgery and I take regular photos almost every week. I wish I'd taken one at my highest weight and/or before I really started focusing on the 6 month diet before surgery. Maybe it would have been more apparent to me? I can see the difference when I look at the photos side-by-side. This sounds weird, but I can "feel" the weight loss even though I can't see it. EX: If I'm laying in bed before I get up in the morning and I brush by my abdomen or rub my shoulder, I can feel my bones closer to the surface and/or feel the smaller size. I am also in the same boat as Diana_in_philly (above). I go to my closet or dresser and I pick out items to wear. I'm picking out things that are too big because it seems weird to me that I wear that size. I fully expect items that are my size to be too tight/too small. Funny story that happened to me this weekend: I got my hair cut, really short and really different than I've been wearing for the last 5 years or so. I passed through the bathroom and didn't turn on the light. As I passed the mirror, I did not recognize myself. For that fraction of a second that it took me to realize that person in the mirror was me, panic set in that some stranger was in the bathroom with me!

I eat chia seeds. I put about a tsp in my yogurt for breakfast. I've eaten them for years either in yogurt or smoothies, even before my sleeve. I'm pretty sure I re-started them within a month or so of surgery. I mix them up in the yogurt and let them sit for as long as a half hour before I consume. They're properly plump by the time I eat them. Unless you're downing dry chia seeds and allowing them to expand in your stomach, I don't see the risk. Even then, you'd have to be consuming A LOT of chia seeds to expand large enough to make a difference. Besides, they're kind of gelatinous and by the time they fully expand, wouldn't they have sort have "moved on", if you know what I mean?

Hair loss after ANY surgery is common and even more common when your surgery affects your nutrition. I strongly encourage you to research tellogen effluvium. https://www.healthline.com/health/telogen-effluvium It happens, but it's usually temporary.

I have all sorts of gadgets (some of which are pretty costly), but I'll be honest. The only one I used in my post-op period was my stick blender. I used the stick blender to blend fruit into my protein shakes. That's it, really. When I was on pureed, I stuck with stuff that was naturally pureed like refried beans, cottage cheese, soft scrambled eggs, etc. I wouldn't invest a whole lot into gadgets unless you plan on using them for life or as a normal part of your daily diet.