Lifestyle Changer

I’m 5 weeks post op. I’m dealing with acid reflux, nausea and gas pains. It really tough. The nausea is the worst one deal with cause I’m only able to drink water, Gatorade2, Pedialyte and chicken broth. Today I had wicked gas pains and nausea. My doctor called in a prescription for Zofran and I can take 1 Alka-Seltzer antacid Heartburn relief chews. I’m hoping this will help me. My doctor did remind me that some of the nausea is related to me recovering from the rectus sheath hematoma which happened around 7 to 12 days after my surgery.

My therapist I’ve been seeing for about 2 years has helped me in various way to deal with the issues of my ptsd. She is also helping me to look at myself to figure out what is triggering my bad eating habits. Finding a reputable a therapist that firsts helps sort out your emotional needs. Second check by asking if they can help you with your emotions that triggers your bad habits of eating. Insurance will pay for a therapist that treats for emotional issues. A therapist with the added help with eating is usually from emotional issues. You need to check your insurance of therapist that they cover. Then start researching and calling them with the questions along with helping clients with emotional issues do you also help clients learn to look at the emotions that trigger the bad eating habits.

You should setup an appointment with a nutritionist. The nutritionist can direct you to the proper foods which will help shrink your liver and losing weight. Good luck to you.

I’m a month a 2 days post op. I was just starting the purée foods and having cottage cheese and scrambled eggs. A few days ago I started getting nauseated all the time. It was continuing when I’d be doing things around the house. I called my doctor who got back to me with an hour. He told me to go back to the liquid diet. He also wanted me to continue to wear my binder. The reason I need to wear a binder is that I’ve been recovering from a pain hematoma that developed between the outer stomach and the muscle. The doctor believes that even if most of my pain has subsided, the muscles are still not completely healed. He mentioned that when I’m up and around doing things my system can’t handle it. Therefore it’s causing the nausea. My doctor said if I go back on the liquid diet and continue with bed rest for a bit longer my stomach will heal and I can start back to the phase of eating.

I’m so glad things are moving in the right direction for you. I didn’t want to see you hanging without any answers. Sending my thoughts and prayers that you stay healthy for your upcoming surgery.🙏🙏🙏

Hello Ellinnet! I’m checking in to see if you’re OK. I’m curious to know if you have been able to contact your doctor’s office regarding information if my surgery is scheduled or not. If your surgery has not been scheduled the question you need to ask the staff should be the following or something like it. Please explain why I’m scheduled for my Pre-op appointment on 12/13 if no surgery date has been scheduled? Wishing you the best and hope you get your answers. My thoughts and prayers are with you.🙏🙏🙏

I’m really sorry for how you’re feeling. I believe part of the nausea you’re experiencing is the lack of proteins and calories in your diet. I agree with others that you need to add non-flavored protein powder to your broth or whatever you’re drinking. You really need the proteins and at least 1000 calories to function. I would suggest making an appointment with a therapist. I believe a therapist will be beneficial in helping you workout those issues regarding with your surgery. A therapist will also teach you ways to be with family members even if they don’t support you. I know from experience what your body does when you push your feelings and frustration away or try to deal with them alone. Your body can physically make you sick. I had gotten so sick for almost two years for not dealing with tough issues with my older sister my college classes. I let it fester to the point I ended up using my wheelchair cause every time I stood up to try walk I passed out. Doctors didn’t know what was causing the problem. It through all kinds of testing. All tests came back normal. Finally a psychiatrist came to my hospital room to evaluate me. He figured out that my continued passing out ended up related to severe stress to where I had withdraw from my college classes. I think you’re trying to deal with your emotional pain by yourself or you’re pushing the away so you don’t have to deal with them. With that said this could be adding to the nausea along with the lack of of nutrition you’re experiencing. I know when I was having nausea from my gastric sleeve surgery which was on 11/01 I was afraid to drink anything except my water. When I explained this to my doctor, he said my nausea was due to lack of protein and calorie intake. Even though it was difficult I had to push myself to drink my protein drinks. I have the Boost Glucose Control MAX 30g of protein. My doctor and nutritionist require me to get 64 to 80 grams of protein per day.

That’s weird that you already had your pre-op appointment a month ago but no surgery date scheduled. Most of the time the surgery date gets scheduled first then the pre-op appointment gets scheduled. I knew when my surgery date 4 months prior which was scheduled on 11/01/2021. The end of September I was given my pre-op appointment 2 weeks before my surgery date. My pre-op and surgery appointments were done by the scheduling department at the hospital I was having my surgery done. What’s concerning is that is you stated your doctor is so busy. So if he is so busy did his office schedule your pre-op appointment or did the hospital? Can you call your doctor’s office and talk with one of the staff about your surgery to see what is happening. You really need to start getting some answers of when your surgery is happening. Hang in there.

Husky mama mentioned using the Baritastic app. I’ve been using this app since I started the required weight loss program prior to my surgery. BTW my gastric sleeve surgery was 11/01/21. I love using this app. I found out there is a timer. My nutritionist suggested that when eating there should be at least 20 seconds between each bite. That means put your fork down and chew your bites thoroughly then swallow. There are exceptions to the rule with foods such as scrambled eggs, yogurt etc. With that said this will help slow down your eating. The question is are you eating too fast and finishing your meals in less than 20 to 30 minutes. If you have a scale go back and start weighing your food again. Finally if your weighing yourself everyday day you’re not going to see changes. Pick a specific day and time to weigh yourself. Then weigh yourself once a week on the that specific day you chose and you may see some progress. I wish you the best and please don’t give up. You’ve gotten a lot of good advice and I hope you will read them use these to help you succeed with your weight loss. Keep us updated on your progress as all of us want to continue to support you. 🙏🙏🙏

I had my surgery on 11/01. My surgeon used the robotic for my surgery I have 6 incisions. According to the nurses they told me my arms were ace bandaged to my sides. My legs were belted on the operating bed. I do know I so much scar tissue that my surgeon had to use the robotic for removal. My surgeon told me that the scar tissue was on my liver and it was thick it took an hour and half to remove using the robotic. Also scar tissue was wrapped around my stomach like a rope he wasn’t sure my gastric sleeve could be done. He found a piece of residual band in bedded underneath my stomach from when I had the Lapband in 2008. It was removed in 2012 as it had eroded. There was huge amount of scar tissue on the right outer stomach wall which took considerable amount of time to remove. He removed some scar tissue from my bowels as well. My surgery originally was to be 2 hours ended up taking 4 hours. My surgeon said my surgery was very tough due to the amount of scar tissue imbedded. He said it appears much of the scar tissues was most like from the years of having endometriosis removed when I had my hysterectomy years ago. He also said it looked as if the tissues wasn’t removed properly which was what caused the damaging build up I had when he was doing my gastric sleeve. After my surgery my shoulders hurt bad and the back of my neck which I ended up with a migraine. My left leg had a bruise on the middle of the calf. That is my leg I have problems with. My left leg is easily bruised. Due to my arms bandage to my sides from surgery they were a little sore but not bad. It felt like I just banged up against the doorway. I can’t understand why your arms would be tied above your head. It seems bizarre. Did you as your doctor why they did that and what the reason was?

I had my surgery 11/01. It’s interesting how your psych evaluation lasted only about 5 minutes. I don’t how they can determine anything with that. However, I’m sure you’re ready to handle your surgery as they wouldn’t have passed you through. When I had my telehealth psych evaluation at lasted the whole entire hour. Plus they asked me if I have an outside therapist that works with me due to history of mental health. I told them I do. The psychiatrist also asked me if my therapist can work with me about what triggers me to eat the bad foods. I told her yes and that my therapist has been working with me since I started the program. So I was lucky to have my outside therapist that works with me on my mental health issues and helps me figure out what triggers I need to deal with so I don’t end up back to eating the bad foods. I will be having a second psych evaluation after my 3 month follow up with my doctor. Best wishes with your upcoming surgery.

My nutritionist has me starting eating things like scrambled eggs, canned chicken or tuna with very little light mayo to moisten it so it won’t get stuck going down while swallowing. I can eat lean ground beef, thin sliced deli roast beef and turkey, shrimp, cottage cheese, yogurt some cooked vegetables. I still need at least one protein drink included in my day. My nutritionist stated I have to introduce these foods slowly to determine if my new stomach can digest these food. She some patients find out that the foods they ate before surgery find out they are unable to eat afterwards. I am so excited to start transitioning to textured foods but nervous at the same time that my new stomach will handle it now. Wishing all my fellow November Surgery Buddies who are transitioning to the next phase of your diet plan. What do you all think of changing our group name from “November Surgery Buddies” to “2021 November Surgery Warriors” I believe this group we are all warriors from our decision making, preparing or already has their gastric bariatric surgery as well as joining BariatricPal for support. I will understand if no one wants to change the groups name. I just wanted to bring it up as a suggestion. Reading these posts and seeing how much all of support each other made me look at how much we have a lot of strength and are uplifting thoughts for each other. It reminds me that we are warriors of battling our challenges together.

In Massachusetts hospitals are being ordered to reduce elective procedures starting on Monday 11/29. It’s because any hospital or hospital system that has limited capacity must begin to reduce non-essential, non-urgent scheduled procedures to ensure adequate hospital capacity for immediate health needs. The reason is due to staff shortage. Some staff have reigned. Some are unpaid suspensions due to ignoring the vaccine mandate, and the uptick of COVID cases and the nurses strike that still continues at one of our hospital. So it was a good thing my surgery was done before this order is being held. I feel so bad for the patients who have had their scheduled dates and preparing for surgery in my state and now get a call that their surgery is canceled.

My gastric sleeve surgery was about was just over 3 weeks ago. I’m still on bariatric III which is the liquid and some full liquid diet. This is my first Thanksgiving. My husband, sister and brother-in-law had all the traditional turkey fixings and desserts. I had Progresso tomato soup. Then a couple hours later I had some sugar free chocolate pudding. I guess you can say I had a non traditional turkey dinner. Happy Thanksgiving to you all

I do the Gatorade2 and the Pedialyte cause I need to make sure I have enough electrolytes. Plus they help you stay hydrated.

After my surgery my doctor and nutritionist have me on children's chewable vitamins, B12 sublingual, and calcium chewable. The calcium chewable taste like chalk and it makes me gag. My doctor told me to slop taking them. Some of medications were lowered or discontinued since my surgery. Due to my setback not related to my surgery the hematoma pain I have when walking around too much causes nausea. It’s been difficult for my stomach to handle protein drinks. Since you’re only 4 days post op it’s normal to have nausea. Continue taking the required supplements. If you have a pill cutter I suggest to split your supplements into smaller pieces. This will be easier on your stomach. Also instead of taking them with water try taking them with Gatorade2 or Pedialyte. You need to give yourself time to heal. Make sure you rest.

My medical team told us 1 year!

I’m sorry for what you are going through. It’s concerning that your team isn’t even willing to bring you in for an exam to actually make sure things are medically ok. It appears the only person on your side is your therapist. Maybe you can setup an appointment with your PCP to be checked out. Also instead of therapy once a week maybe for a few weeks or until the holidays are over having therapy two times a week. Try to journaling your thoughts. You don’t have to organize them just keep writing down them. This might help you find what could be triggering your desire to eating. You can bring this to your therapist. I do journaling i don’t do it everyday. Those days I do journal I find it helps me what triggers my bad eating habits. I’m able to bring my journal to my therapist and that’s when the hard work happens to work on turning the bad habits around to something more constructive and positive. I wish you the best and I hope you can get things resolved soon.

Hello All! I wanted to let you all know that I was hospitalized Friday 11/12 until late afternoon Saturday 11/13. I ended up in the ER early morning on Friday 11/12 with severe pain. All kinds of tests and a CT scan were done. The test results confirmed I’m diagnosed with Rectus Sheath Hematoma. (Rectus sheath hematomas result from bleeding inside the vascular rectus muscle layer of the abdominal wall.) My doctors say I will be in this pain anywhere from 2 to possibly 4 weeks. Tylenol and Tramadol are the medications to manage pain. I have to wear a binder and use a heating pad to help soothe the pain. Bed rest is all I can do right now. I can’t even stand for know more the 5 minutes at a time. My doctor said it’s a very tough setback and recovery to have rectus sheath hematoma cause of severity of the pain.

My pain is finally starting to subside. It’s so boring having to bed rest most of the time. I’m able to walk around for 15 to 20 minutes before I start getting a some nausea. I think that is caused by pain. As long as I wear my binder everyday it gives me the support I need until the pain totally subsides. Hopefully after Thanksgiving I can do even more walking.

Hi I know I’m a newbie as for as the gastric sleeve surgery. I know journaling what I eat I was able to keep track of my eating habits. That I was able to figure out the good foods and the bad food I was eating. Also I added was why was I eating. Was it due to boredom, was I really hungry, was due to emotional needs, etc. So keeping track of that helped. Using a food journal will get you back on tract and may tell you why your eating. Try to motivate yourself in taking short walks a couple times a day. Also ask your PCP for a referral to setup an appointment with a nutritionist? Finally, I would continue getting support from this group. It’s important to get as much support and encouragement as you can especially when this time of year is most difficult. Hang in there my friend. We stand behind you every step of the way.

I’m still on the bariatric diet 3 which is full liquids. My nutritionist has me starting on cottage cheese, scrambled and other soft textured foods. I love cottage cheese with chives. I had a bit of that the other day. I tasted so good. It was nice to have something to eat that had texture instead of liquids. About an hour after I had it I ended up having a real bad case of diarrhea. I waited a few days later to try eating the cottage cheese again. I had gotten the same problem. Apparently my system at this time can’t handle cottage cheese. However I’m able to use Simply Smart milk with my shakes.

My surgery was on 11/01. I only had a liquid only diet the day before my surgery. I guess each doctor protocols are different for pre-op requirements.