SleeveToBypass2023

Who got you approved? Typically you have to get a referral to a bariatric surgeon, their coordinator tells you what Medicaid's requirements are, you spend however much time doing everything Medicaid wants, then it's all submitted to them, then they approve it. How did you get approved for bariatric surgery with no surgeon?

I totally relate to buying things just because they fit. I'm still trying to remember that I get to actually be choosy and find fun and cute styles and colors that are flattering and fun, that I actually like. I'm in a size large. I can go into literally ANY store anywhere and find stuff that fits me. Now it's just a matter of "do I like this enough to buy it, or is it cute HERE in the store but not enough to shell out the dough for it" lol I haven't been able to shop like that in 27 years. So it's definitely taking a while to change my mindset around it. My husband STILL has to remind me "Babe, why do you keep going to the plus size section? You can't fit in any of that anymore. You wear a large now. All of that will literally fall off you, then you'll be naked in public, I'll get into a fight with someone, I'll get arrested, and all your shopping money will have to go to bailing me out and paying for the lawyer. So just stay over here in the skinny people section and stay away from there. You don't shop over there anymore." When he said that to me the last time we went shopping, I was literally guffawing lol

This isn't the kind of thing you can breathe through. And being in that kind of uncontrolled pain can actually slow down your recovery. Is your kid still living with you? If so, put your pain meds in a lock box that only you can get into. If they aren't, then you should be ok. Just hide the meds when they come visit. But you need to think of yourself and your body right now. You need to be able to fully relax, fully rest, and fully heal. And that won't happen if you're constantly suffering and in all kinds of pain.

Maybe you're eating something that doesn't agree with you. Maybe you're eating too fast or too much in one sitting. If I do that, I get really nauseous.

YAAAAAY!!!! I'm so happy and excited for you!!!!

When is happening and how often? After activity, after you eat, or at any time with no rhyme or reason? You may need to call your surgeon's office. Could you be sick? Or pregnant?

I'm curious why you wanted to know the details. Are you having issues with your sleeve?

I started having issues around 8 months post op from the sleeve. It started off as heartburn and quickly turned into GERD. I was having horrible, sharp stabbing pain in my stomach, burning in my stomach going up my esophagus and into the back of my throat, and I had a lot of nausea. I wasn't able to eat much because everything triggered the GERD, even milk and water and bread. My surgeon put me on 40mg of Nexium in the morning and it didn't touch it. So he upped it to 40mg twice per day, and it helped but I still had break through GERD so he also had me take Pepcid once per day and TUMS as needed. That kept things mostly at bay, but that was such a high amount of PPI over a long period of time that I started to develop polyps. He sent me to have a barium swallow and they found the gastritis and esophagitis and GERD that way. So then he sent me to have an endoscopy and they found my stomach was literally COVERED in polyps. It took 4 endoscopies in total to remove them all. After that I was told I had to have the revision to bypass, so I did. That was the best decision I ever made.

Does this mean the same thing as when those of us in the South say "good on ya" and we mean good job or nicely done?

Do you have any of these symptoms? If not (and your post doesn't sound like it) then I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's not gastritis. I had it and it's ROUGH. I would say it makes sense you would be hungrier on days you're more active. What are the symptoms of gastritis? Stomach upset or pain Weight loss: You may lose weight without trying to Tiredness: You may feel tired, short of breath, or light-headed Difficulty swallowing: It may feel painful or difficult to swallow Lump in your stomach: You may feel like you have a lump in your stomach Belching and hiccups Belly (abdominal) bleeding Nausea and vomiting Feeling of fullness or burning in your stomach Loss of appetite Blood in your vomit or stool: This is a sign that your stomach lining may be bleeding

Ok, so I'm 2 years and 4 months out from my 1st surgery and 1 year 3 months out from my revision. I'm still losing (trying to stop losing but so far I'm still losing an average of 4 pounds per month) so I haven't experienced the rebound weight gain yet. I can tell you I eat popcorn all the time. I also eat smokehouse almonds, cheese cubes, salami and/or peperoni slices for snacks. I eat Rebel ice-cream, keto brownies, sliced apples mixed with fresh blueberries and raspberries, Greek yogurt with fresh berries and monk fruit sweetener mixed in, keto cake with sugar free icing, French toast with keto bread, fresh berries, and sugar free syrup. If I want "guilty" food, I have something like steak, 2 spoonfuls peas mixed with mozzarella cheese, and 2 spoonfuls of Bob Evans mashed potatoes. I don't tolerate carbs very well, so I have to be careful with them. I also have kettle chips fried in avocado oil, 1 packet (instead of my former usual 2-3) of oatmeal such as cinnamon apple or banana cream, and minestrone soup and crackers (only like 4 or 5). Everything is a balance. Nothing in excess, no large portions, no "off plan" foods too often. Just a little here and there and whatever you have should be fine. Just remember to keep working out, keep moving your body, keep prioritizing protein and you should be good.

Mine was due to complications from the sleeve. I had gastritis, esophagitis, and horrendous gerd. I was taking such high amounts of PPI (80mg of Nexium per day plus Pepcid and TUMS for break through gerd) that I developed so many polyps throughout my stomach it took 4 endoscopies to remove them all. Had my revision from sleeve to bypass and have been great ever since.

I use the BariatricPal Multivitamin w/ 45mg of Iron. I've used it since my original surgery and use it to this day and have had fantastic numbers.

Trust me, it can happen at any point. It's normal and annoying. And your body can also develop allergies or sensitivities to foods that were never a problem before. Happened to me. But you just learn to pay close attention to your body's response each meal.

That top pic is literally EVERYTHING!!!! That's what I love to see. You have a beautiful smile and you look FANTASTIC!!! Congrats, girl!!!

Personally, I have stayed away from it. I was told once I hit a year out, I could slowly try a little every once in a great while but the carbonation really didn't sit well with me. The syrup in the diet soda literally tasted like pure sugar. I was shocked. I couldn't tolerate it. I tried 3 different kinds of diet sodas (luckily my hubby likes them so they didn't go to waste) and the carbonation really bothered me and the taste was too sweet for me. I tried 2 different kinds of carbonated drinks (non sodas) and again, the carbonation bothered me a lot. So I've given it up. I don't need it, anyway. I use to drink a 2 liter per day of soda, so not drinking it really isn't a bad thing, anyway.

Ok what??? HOW??? I was staying between 177-179 for the last few weeks so I thought I was FINALLY at the place my body was setting at. Apparently not!!! I've even increased how often I eat. But it seems like the more I eat, the more I lose. The less I eat, that's when my weight stays pretty much the same. And that seems pretty messed up to me. So I have to starve myself to STOP losing weight but if I eat well I'll keep going lower??? What??? I don't WANT to go lower. I was supposed to stop at 190!! Make it make sense, cuz the math ain't mathin. Just had blood work done. Other than being anemic (thanks lupus!!) everything was normal, including my thyroid. My nutritionist and I got my calories up to 1600 per day when not working out and 1800 when I am. Protein up to 90g on non work out days and 120g on work out days. Carbs are trickier since I'm super sensitive to them, but we got them up to 35g on non work out days (up from 20-25) and 45g on work out days (up from 35). Healthy fats we upped to 70g on non work out days and 100g on work out days. My fluids are always good. Normally I drink around 80 fl oz on non work out days and 100+ on work out days, which 20 of those being an electrolyte drink like Prime hydration, Propel, or Gatorade zero. Being that I'm 2 years and 4 months removed from my 1st surgery and 1 year and 2 months removed from my revision, she's really surprised that I'm still losing. I said "You and me both, lady. Now how do I make it stop?" She said to just keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully my body will eventually hit it's set point and stop on its own. Um...what?? I'm now 15 pounds below my goal. I understand the whole "bounce back weight gain" or whatever it is, but that can't happen until my body finally picks a weight to settle at. I really don't like how I look at this point, and it's frustrating that nothing fits...again. I know it seems crazy to complain about this kind of thing, and believe me, I never EVER thought I would be the one doing it. But something's gotta give, you know? I'm really starting to look sickly, and in my line of work, that's not a good thing at all.

This is actually a huge help. And the last one, Carbohydrate Maldigestion, sounds like me. After my last surgery, I developed severe lactose intolerance literally out of nowhere. Never in my entire life have I ever had a single issue with it, and all of a sudden I can't go near dairy. And not long after that, I started having real issues with carbs. Very, very interesting......THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! At least I have a starting place now.

Ok, spill!! What booty workouts???? Because these pancakes need HELP!!!!!

It seems to be all carbs that give me trouble, although "bad" carbs make me sick almost immediately. My body went from constantly craving carbs to seemingly not being able to process them anymore. It's really weird. And frankly, annoying. And I agree, a few of my doctors are seeing numbers on the scale and bmi and not me as a person and my overall progress. I've lost 246 pounds from my highest weight. And 213 pounds from my original surgery weight. And that still doesn't seem like it's good enough!!! My current weight is lower than some other people's final ending goal weight. THEIR doctor's are ok with that, yet MINE seem to think I need to lose more, more, MORE!!! This is how people fall into disordered thinking and eating. I'm trying very hard for that NOT to happen to me again, and this is not helping. Also, yes I have started adding a Chobani Complete liquid Greek yogurt to my snacks. They have 20g of protein, 15g of carbs, and 180 calories per serving. I've got myself up to 40 carbs per day with that (without working out) and seem to be doing ok, so I'm going to go up to 45 carbs daily without working out (that's where I was at but with workouts) and then sloooowly try to increase from there and see if I can. My body just really resists carbs, so it's really slow going.

This was at my bariatric surgeon's office, so I'm not sure if I can see anyone else for my yearly blood work and follow ups. At this point, I'm not sure I even want to bother anymore. As far as the carbs go, I can't tolerate more than 10-12 carbs per sitting and no mare than 40-45 total per day before I get sick. And by sick, I mean SICK. Light headed, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, shaking, serious fatigue, headache, It's like I went from being a carbaholic to my body almost not being able to process them at all. And there doesn't seem to be much difference in the type of carbs, either. Although bad carbs send me over the edge almost immediately, long before I get anywhere near my limit. But as far as actually going over the limit before getting sick, my body doesn't care if it's good or bad carbs. It just doesn't like them. Period.

Girl YES!!!! You are KILLING IT!!! Look at you!!! You look amazing. You really do. I'm so so happy for you

I ended up with gastritis, esophagitis, and an incredible amount of polyps that developed as a result of the extremely high amounts of PPI I had to take to try and control the GERD that developed from the sleeve. I had to have 4 endoscopies to remove them all.

So now I'm just PI$$ed!!!! I've been working with the fairly useless nutritionist to try and gain weight...as you know. Well the nurse practitioner from the surgeon's office called today because they want me to schedule iron infusions (I knew that was coming) and she said I should schedule an appointment to see her because the nutritionist mentioned I'm trying to gain weight and she's confused by that because I'm only barely out of the obese category and I still have more to go before I should be looking at maintaining, nevermind gaining anything. Ok...WHAT??!?! I told her I don't want to lose more because I was already below where I want to be and I'm not feeling great and she said I just need to add muscle. She said I'm losing muscle as well as fat and I need to start eating and doing work outs that promote bulking up to try and gain the muscle back. She said that will actually help me tone up and I'll lose more weight. I asked her how, since muscle weighs more than fat, and she said because I'll still be losing fat while I'm gaining muscle, but I'll also be toning up. She wants me to drop another 20-25 pounds and then add 5-10 back on in muscle. I told her there's absolutely no way that will happen because I don't have the time, energy, stamina, or strength to do it. And do you know what this heifer said???? She said "Well, you can let it slide if you want, but you didn't come this far just to come this far, did you? You're so close to the finish line. Let me help you finish strong." I literally LOST IT. I said "LADY, I FINISHED STRONG 15 POUNDS AGO!!! Since when do you get to decide what our goal weight is? I moved my goal weight twice. First it was 200, then it was 195, then it was 190. I was happy then, and now my body won't stop. I want it to stop. You're the OPPOSITE of helpful." I've never wanted to slap the taste out of someone so bad in my LIFE!!!!

It's not that it's hard to increase them per se, it's that they make me sick if they go too high. But I've been working on that more. I also cut out my working out (it went to 2 days a week because I work all week) but since I'm a medical assistant and on my feet most of the day, I decided to stop the weekend work outs for a bit and see how that plays out.