Tiffykins

There is no way on God's green Earth that I would follow those guidelines. Sorry, but I did that without the sleeve, and never lost weight. I did 600-800 cals, no more than 30-40gr of carbs, 60+ Protein and never had a stall, never went one week without losing weight or dropping inches. I barely eat 1400 calories in maintenance until pregnancy, and even then at my maintenance weight, I am supposed to eat 1700-1800 calories a day that with growing another human being in my body. There's just so many other dietary guidelines out there that are more stringent with carb intake, and calorie restriction. It burns the fat faster because of ketosis. I'm all about following doctor's advice, but if it's not working for you, then I suggest changing things up and finding what works for your body. If you're 8 weeks out, and can eat that many calories already without drinking calories, then as your sleeve matures and your restriction lessens (and it does stretch out some) you might find that you'll be able to eat way more calories and carby foods the further out you get.

Check page 5 for size comparisons: http://www.medovations.com/pdf/Esophageal_Dilatation.pdf Size 32-40fr is minimal. Some studies are suggesting that bigger than 40fr has a higher incidence of regain at year 3-5, BUT it's going to depend on your own anatomy, and your surgeon's technique. The difference between a 32 and 44 is about 4mm. As long as he dissects, and removes the entire fundus, you will have restriction. You might be able to eat an ounce of two more than someone with a 32fr, BUT 1-2oz of steak isn't going to make you fat again. Ya know what I mean??? I can eat more than some with the same size stomach than, and then there are some that can eat way more than I can even at 2 years out that have the same size. The sleeve is not a standardized procedure yet. Each surgeon does it a little different. I have seen patients with a 40fr bougie used get a stricture so the bigger size bougie doesn't guarantee that it won't happen. Our stomachs are unique to our bodies. Taller people have longer stomachs supposedly. And, I have a 32 fr, and when it comes down to restriction/capacity, it really depends on what I'm eating. Mushy/slider foods, I can eat 6-8oz, steak and chicken it's 3-5oz, scallops/seafood I can get in about 6oz.

Do a search at the top of the forum in the box and type in food Funeral, or look for topics that have that as a title. It's common. I didn't have a strict pre-op, liquids only diet. All I had to do was low carb/high Protein the week before surgery. The only problem with over-indulging right before surgery is the slimy/slippery fat deposits on the liver can make it difficult for the surgeon to move it out of the way so he/she can get to the stomach. Low carb/high protein pre-op diets resolve this issue. My BMI at my revision was 49, and my liver looked stellar.

Those funky, stout breath strips help. And, a tongue scraper really helps with the fuzzy tongue. As for the heightened sense of smell, for me, that was the worse part of the recovery period. Baby powder absolutely made me vomit. To this very day, the hand sanitizer they gave me in the hospital to bring home with me and use for changing my dressings(before and after) on my pic line, and incisions/drains, still to this very day makes me dry heave. Smell is the strongest sense for our memories. There are things that I smell from that time, 2 years ago, and I get nauseated. The smell of the radiology department at the hospital still makes me queasy. I can only assume it's because my first couple of months I went through more CT scans to recheck for leaks and my sleeve status that the smell of that place just brings up some neurological memory. It was a traumatic experience to say the least. There is one rad tech there who wears a certain cologne and if he happens to be in the room with me, I want to hurl. It's the weirdest thing in the world. He's a super sweet guy, took amazing care of me at my worse, but his cologne and his smell just makes me want to puke all over him.

As much as it sucks, and is discouraging, I can honestly tell you that all the prep work you put in pre-op will help you tremendously post-op. Establishing better behaviors, getting the right mindset with eating, learning and beating the eating curve with the sleeve is so much easier if you start establishing those habits before you have to go through all of it at once post-op. Recovery is a big enough b*tch, and adding on the trying to learn to eat, drink, how to schedule meals around drinking your fluids, how to manage the eating habits and behaviors associated with "why" we are fat is 10 times more difficult if you just rush into having 85% of your stomach removed. The sleeve only does so much. Our every day choices, living, and learning as much as you can ahead of time to prepare yourself will pay off in the long run. If you read enough on here and other forums, you'll see that some are 2-5 years out have had weight regain. The one constant, and recurring theme is that their BEHAVIORS got them the weight regain. I'm one of those people that saw a true regain because I allowed some old habits to creep in, and while I got it off super fast, I know that it is my choices, not the sleeve that caused the gain. My gain was only about 7lbs, but there are those out there that have tacked on 40-50+ pounds that they lost just because they thought the sleeve would take care of them. Sadly, the sleeve can only do so much. Nothing beats the mental side of this journey.

Yes, Yes, Yes, and be very careful using any products in those regions. Plus, your skin, (all over your body) might go kinda batpoop crazy. I broke out everywhere! ! ! My face looked like a pubescent teenage boy's face. I developed adult acne on my shoulders. Dial soap worked great for me. Witchhazel was another little tip I found to help with the funky body changes, and breakouts. It's your pH being thrown off by ketosis. It does settle down. You might notice a metallic/funky taste in your mouth, fuzzy tongue, your general body odor might change, and it's not your deodorant. It's just your body smell right now. Push fluids, and it does get back to a normal. The first 2 months were the worse for me.

Ohhhhh check out the marinade recipes on allrecipes.com Some of the best dang marinades are on that site, and I love them ! ! !

Personally, I've seen too many people take Flintstones and have issues with other supplemental nutrients, plus I think those are the ones with Calcium in them, and well the Calcium prevents the Iron from being absorbed properly. I took a chewable from GNC for a long, long time before I found Celebrate Multi Complete chewables. I also use their chewable calcium citrate plus 500 which has magnesium and vit D. And, I love that I just need to take 4 chewables per day. I was taking 8 pills/chewies per day on my previous regimens. The GNC never steered me wrong, I just won some Celebrate from a FB giveaway, and fell in love with them so I switched. Here's a list from the ASMBS for nutrition and Vitamin guidelines for bariatric patients. http://www.asmbs.org...s/bgs_final.pdf I seriously LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this woman's blog, this is one entry I've had bookmarked for a long time, you can peruse her other topics as well: http://wlsvitagarten...iencies-in-vsg/ There are so many things we need other than just the basic Vitamins. Copper, selenium, zinc to name a few. We just can't eat enough food, and with all the preservatives, free radicals in our bodies, and just overall we've altered our parts, we just can't get enough. Even the most clean eaters, need stuff. For me, I feel it necessary since I am an adult to take an adult multi. For all the money I was saving on not buying crap food, I could justify investing that money in a good, high-quality vitamin that wouldn't fail me.

I just wasn't sure so I wanted to follow up. That's why I added the disclaimer to apologize if I misunderstand. I know that voice inflection, and tone are not translated well over the internet so I just wasn't sure what you meant. Many apologies for the misunderstanding ! ! !

I followed through with complaints filed, reviews sent to the state board, and HIPAA for Florida state's agencies were contacted. I did my part to stop the madness with his office practices. I've never made any man in my mind god-like, and any surgeon is being paid to provide a service. Above all, I took names, and reported the issues to the appropriate departments. I'm a huge advocate for my own health. This is why he was my surgeon for a mere 4 months before I fired him, and took my business elsewhere. I'm not here to preach to people on how they need to handle their own issues with their chosen medical professionals. He was a douchebag that ignored my complaints for months, I've shared that for over 2.5 years now and if people ask for facts and all the gory I'll be more than willing to share, but I simply added to this topic my experience with firing my band surgeon. His wife was his office manager, she was horrible to work with, and above all just not a nice person when people needed help. So, I shared one portion of the story. When the topic is appropriate to share the intimate details of my trials and tribulations with a particular doctor, I'm more than willing to share. Other than that, those comments, issues, and details were NOT pertinent to this thread topic. I shared out of commiserating and celebrating with the original poster regarding her actions. If I've misconstrued your reply to my comments, I'll apologize. BUT, from how I've interpreted your comments, I'll sum it up with the fact that I do not need to be lectured on what I can, should, or can not and should not share within a topic on a public forum, or that the information that I've provided is NOT pertinent.

There are several. . . They are closed groups and it's my understanding you have to be added by someone on your page. VSG for ME Gastric Sleeve Support - CLOSED group Are the 2 that I am active in only because some of the support groups are OPEN, meaning every time you post something, it shows up in your news feed for all your friends to see. I left the other 2 OPEN groups because people were just randomly adding me, and then bombarding my page with posts on the group that kept showing up on my news feed. It's a new FB setting and there was NO way to HIDE those so I just left. If you need an invite for the groups on FB that I am active in, shoot me a message with your Facebook URL or link and I'll get you an invite.

He wants to get paid. I'm an insurance agent, worked with all types of providers from health/life insurance companies, and unfortunately, it honestly sounds like your surgeon's office screw up. They need to provide written documentation. Also, I wouldn't trust office staff who is going to say anything to save their ass from getting in trouble. Sorry, I know that isn't what you want to hear, but it's the truth. That person is going to say "Well they told me this ___________________!" If they do not have documentation, your insurance company will. As for what I would do, I would call my insurance company, and request that if their calls are recorded, or transcribed, documented with notes on your file, that you get copies of those conversations, and any documentation they were sent from your surgeon's office and they sent to your surgeon's office from them directly. Do not allow your surgeon's office to bully you. They will expect you to take some ownership since you didn't verify the in or out of network status, BUT at the same time, that surgeon pays his staff to provide a service to you, and in my opinion, they failed miserably. PPOs are pretty simple to navigate through their policies. Check your policy for in-network, out-network co-pays, and any out of pocket that you might have even though you've met your deductible.

It sounds like an error by surgeon's insurance coordinator. They might have been an in-network provider, and then it changed. However, I'm with Stacy on this one. Unfortunately, it seems that it's not your insurance carrier's discrepancy, but will fall back on your surgeon's office. I would check and see if the insurance coordinator/verifier has a hard copy of authorization with documentation of your out-of-pocket cost. That will more than likely be your only saving grace. Your surgeon's office should have it documented with who they spoke with at your insurance company, and they should have verified their in or out of network status. Honestly, it doesn't sound like a downfall of your actual insurance company, and you might not have any recourse unless they provided a written statement/explanation of benefit to your surgeon's office.

I didn't have any major bathroom issues when I'd eat fat except for heavy dairy fat Soups like cream of broccoli and cheese, and some heavy sauces made with heavy cream, but I would get that weird pain in my abdomen that shot up to my shoulder. When the gallbladder is removed, the body can't break down the fat properly until it adjusts. It was weird that red Pasta sauce was a trigger for the pain, but I could eat ketchup. I could eat alfredo sauce, but couldn't eat full fat thousand island dressing. I could eat pistachios, but not macadamia nuts. It was just weird. It took 2-4 months for my body to adjust, and I was able to slowly introduce those foods back into my diet. I also refused to take the Actigall prescription,for gallstone prevention. 1) There is no guarantee that after the 6 month regimen that someone still won't develop gallstones 2) There are liver contraindications with that drug, and for me, I refused to take anything additional during the rapid weight loss phase due to our livers working overtime because of the ketosis and the heavy fat burning period. My surgeon and I discussed it in depth, and the stats that are out for any weight loss surgery patient is only 25% of patients need to have the GB removed post-WLS. I was more willing to take that 1 in 4 risk than task my liver with breaking down more medications.

At my heaviest, 270lbs, 5'2" I was in a size 22/24W pant, 26/28 tops. At my lowest around 120, I am a size 2, I can wear size Xsmall Small tops, everything depends on the cut, shape of the clothes. Even at 125-130, I wear a size 2 pants, super skinny Diva cut from Old Navy, but I need a size 5, even some 7s in Junior cut jeans. LilMissDiva weighs 50lbs more than I do, and is only 4 inches taller, yet we could probably wear the same size of clothes. She and I are built completely differently. She's way more curvy and muscular than I am. I'm stick straight, she has more definition, and her hiney stayed where I never had anything but a flat, wide a$$. She has a waist and I don't. I'm shape like a cereal box LOL, she's hourglassy. . . YES, that is pure envious you are reading in my post bwahahahaha ! ! !

http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/17829-alcohol-after-surgery/page__p__149611__hl__alcohol__fromsearch__1#entry149611 http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/15947-the-diet-coke-debate/page__p__135030__hl__alcohol__fromsearch__1#entry135030 http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/15685-alcohol/page__p__132872__hl__alcohol__fromsearch__1#entry132872 http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/19277-still-craving-carbonation/page__p__162484__hl__beer__fromsearch__1#entry162484

Up at the top of the forum; Type in the little search box "Soda" and "alcoholic beverages". . . I'd type out my usual response and if you have issues finding topics I'll come back and post some links, but there's 100s of topics on here regarding this 2 subjects. It depends on what your surgeon mainly. BUT, I drink alcohol (not now in my pregnancy), and I've drank soda for 18 months with zero issues with weight regain and/or change in my sleeve capacity. There are varying opinions on soda/alcohol, you'll have to decide how you want to manage that post-op. I didn't have either in my losing stage.

I will keep y'all in my thoughts. . My leak was repaired differently so I can not comment on life with a stent or NG tube. I was on TPN for over 2 weeks, and NPO that entire time. Things will improve and I hope they can get the nausea under control. Zofran was my saving grace, and I hope he can get some relief. Please keep us posted on his progress ! ! !

Sorry, I missed your last post. I lost my GB at 8 months post-op, and it was the easiest surgery EVER. Be careful once you're out and back to eating. I had to cut all the full fat foods and red pasta/marinara sauce from my intake. No avocados, no nuts, no Peanut Butter because it took my body sometime to go back to normal. Best wishes chickee with the surgery. I was up and home within 1.5 hours of hitting recovery.

What a horrible story, and best wishes on your continued recovery ! ! ! I would venture to guess that since leaks occur pretty soon that all the symptoms you were experiencing were little tale tell signs, and the leak could have been tiny, and as the swelling subsided, the leak opened up. Leaks just don't happen a month or several months out, they're typically misdiagnosed, and often so small that the swelling keeps them from being detected. BUT, what matters now is that you are on your way to full recovery ! ! !

About 4-6 months for me, and my whey protein intolerance never went away. I still puke when I try to drink whey protein drinks, and if I manage to get it down, I end up with diarrhea and cramping.

Ohhhhhhhhhh can you tell me how to get the "plug in" ??? Wait, I figured it out, THANKS ! ! !

Are you eating closer to bed time??? It could be the taco filling. I've had some breakthrough reflux in the pregnancy, and it's been the most random foods like a fricken blueberry poptart, but if it's within an hour of me going to bed or lying down, I know I'm gonna have some acid. I hate the ads too ! ! !

You might develop lactose or whey intolerances so it might not just be the taste and flavor. unjury.com offers an unflavored, but my opinion is that it's not TASTELESS, it smells and reminds me of baby formula. There just isn't any flavoring like strawberry or chocolate with it. Unjury also offers a chicken Soup flavor that seems to be popular. You can order inexpensive samples from their website. As for Protein consumption, I developed whey protein intolerance and didn't get protein in until I was 6 weeks out. Most of us lose some muscle during the rapid weight loss phase. During the first 2-3 weeks of the post-op my surgeon was more concerned with staying hydrated and resting over pushing in protein that was making me sick, puking and having volatile diarrhea. You can also try Jay Robb egg white protein which a lot of people like because it's not milk base, and apparently the flavor is great. I could not drink milk, but could tolerate some yogurt and some cheeses. Whey protein is a milk product so I couldn't use it. You can also try soy Proteins that are available.

I couldn't have meat on full liquids, but could on mushy/purees. All the soups had to be strained and thinned out on full liquids.