CatLover1963

I did have my surgery on 10-14-08 and have lost 52 pounds! I now have a problem with horrible gas and constipation. My surgeon told me to take a laxative to start off with and then take a daily stool softener. The problem with that is I can no longer swallow pills and have to grind up my BP meds and have gotten most of my vitamins in either liquid or chewable. There are no chewable stool softeners that I can find. I tried Pedialax stool softener that is supposed to be fruit punch flavored. You mix it with juice so I tried mixing 8 oz of diet V8 splash and that did not help the taste nor did adding 8 more oz of splash. I took 3 sips and was on the verge of throwing up and poured the rest of the bottle as well as the juice mixture down the drain. Now I have so much gas and don't go to the BR unless I chew up some ex-lax. I am seeing the bariatric md where I live at Tuesday and am going to see what he says. Is anyone out there having these types of problems? What if anything can you recommend that will help? I am desperate as I fear that strainining will lead to a surgery of a different kind.

I did have my surgery on 10-14-08 and have lost 52 pounds! I now have a problem with horrible gas and constipation. My surgeon told me to take a laxative to start off with and then take a daily stool softener. The problem with that is I can no longer swallow pills and have to grind up my BP meds and have gotten most of my vitamins in either liquid or chewable. There are no chewable stool softeners that I can find. I tried Pedialax stool softener that is supposed to be fruit punch flavored. You mix it with juice so I tried mixing 8 oz of diet V8 splash and that did not help the taste nor did adding 8 more oz of splash. I took 3 sips and was on the verge of throwing up and poured the rest of the bottle as well as the juice mixture down the drain. Now I have so much gas and don't go to the BR unless I chew up some ex-lax. I am seeing the bariatric md where I live at Tuesday and am going to see what he says. Is anyone out there having these types of problems? What if anything can you recommend that will help? I am desperate as I fear that strainining will lead to a surgery of a different kind.

Well, today I talked to my md's office that is doing my lap band surgery and told them about the 110 gms of protein and I faxed them the 1200-1400 calorie diet plan that the bariatric nutritionist here where I live at told me to do. They could not believe all of the protein and food on it. I told thm also that it was a lot more than I have been eating for the last 6 months! They told me to go back to what I was doing before and then 2 weeks before the surgery do the low carbs so that is what I am doing. I am attending a support group at lunchtime on Tuesday to ask some questions and see what kinds of foods I will be able to eat. What kind of foods are any of you eating? What favorite thing have you had to cut out? Me I am a steak and potato girl. When could you start eating real food again and has anyone had to throw up as a result of having the surgery and trying to eat real food? I am worried about the throwing up part as I have read that it can cause band erosion. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I am closer to the decison to have it for my health and to live a longer life for my son and my cats.:smile:

I would like to thank all of you for your comments and they have all helped me. I have had a new health issue added as a result of having blood work drawn on Monday. I now have a slightly elevated bad cholesterol level, one more nail in the coffin. I can only hope that having the lapband surgery will help all of my health problems. Not only do I have arthritis of my knee that has been operated on once already (had another MRI done last week and will get the results on 11-6-08 to see if I have to have more surgery on it as it will not straighten out) but I also have hypertension, sleep apnea and chronic insomnia. There are major health benefits to having the surgery I can see. I have to have my surgery done 3.5 hours away from where I live due to insurance issues and I am concerned about the long ride back home and blood clots. I see where someone had the surgery done in Mexico and flew home the next day so I assume that travel should not be a problem but that is a question that I will be asking my md on 11-6 when I see him for my preop visit. What are your thoughts on this? I am seeing a medical bariatric md and his nutritionist here where I live and they will follow me after my surgery to help me along the way. They have put me on 110 grams of protein diet before having my surgery for the next week as on 10-31-08 I will start the low carb diet for preop from my surgeon. Has anyone else been put on this kind of high protein diet before surgery?:sad_smile:

Hi, I'm 45 year old female, 5' 3.5", 230, and have been overweight for most of my life. I have been doing diet and excersize programs at the YWCA, work 50+ hours a week and my weight is going no where. I have osteoarthritis of the knee, insomnia, sleep apnea, and hypertension. Have also had Meniscal Tear repaired in my right knee, which limits the amount of excersize I can do while on my feet. And I find with excersizing on the treadmill 30 min a day 5 days a week, plus 90 sit-ups everyday on a excersize ball, my weight is still not going down. My dilemma is should I try to increase my excersize level in what little time i have left from the hours I work and cancel my surgery, or should I go ahead with the Lap-Band procedure and continue with my current excersize routine. Also, I seem to be getting mixed responses from my surgeon and my weightloss/fitness trainer that was at my bariatric nutrionist' office as to what I need to do before/after my surgery. The Surgeon asked me to go on the Atkins Diet two weeks prior to my surgery, and then a liquid diet four weeks after my surgery, and a gradual move to more solid foods. And that I would require a fill 6 weeks after my surgery and other fills every 3 months. The weightloss/fitness coach told me that I wasn't prepared for my surgery as I needed to be on a more rigouris excersize program than i'm doing now, a minimum of 5 Hours of Cardio and Resistance Training 3 times a week. I needed to have been eating 110-118 grams of Protein a day before for several months before my surgery. And that I'd require fill's every 6 weeks. So my concern is i'm not prepared and am doing this the wrong way, and I will either have complications from the band or this procedure will fail in someway. Please let me know what your opinions are on this, as my sugery is in 3 weeks, and I'm now terrified, and am getting cold feet. :tongue2::biggrin: