ouroborous

Congratulations! It's always so gratifying to get those labs back and hear that "everything looks great," isn't it? As a fatty, I was always waiting to hear that I had diabetes or needed blood pressure meds, or something. Now all the labs just get better and better! So again, congratulations!

Congratulations! That's amazing!

It's very different for very people. However, for both my girlfriend and myself, we get a feeling of being "run down." Sort of sluggish and sleepy. You can feel this coming on, and I'm learning to interpret this as "oh, I need to eat something." Also, I get a weird hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach -- almost like hunger, but just dialed way, way down. Finally, there's the clock. Honestly, I mostly judge when to eat by the clock. I try to consume a little snack (100 calories or less) every 2 hours or less. So far this is working for me.

Just for reference, I've lost 40 lbs in 5 weeks. Of course, I'm a man, and I had more to lose than you. But still, yeah, you should be able to do it.

Yes, bone loss is the one big thing that is a risk for PPI's. If you're having any signs of osteoporosis, it's good to talk to your doc about it. Truth be told, however, osteoporosis is also a risk for ALL weight loss surgery, so I'm not sure how much worse it is. Still, I scratch my head at people acting like PPI's are heroin or something that you have to "kick." Our knowledge may certainly change (hey, we used to think that Phen-Fen was a good thing, and we used to think that Vitamin C cured the common cold!), but as of right now, aside from the osteoporosis risk, PPI's are considered VERY safe and VERY well tolerated. I even asked my PCP about this because I thought I had an ulcer before surgery. I said "is there a risk with being on omeprazole long-term?" And he laughed and said "if there is, then about 30 million Americans are in trouble!" So that's how I learned how to stop worrying and love the bomb-- er, the acid blocker pill :crying:

Hmm, this (dehydration/healing) might explain some... related male issues I've been experiencing.

I gotta say, I'm starting to really enjoy exercise. Now that I'm 30 lbs. lighter than I've been in a long, long time, I'm really enjoying my "fitness" walks, and I find that my pace is MUCH faster if I even want to work up a sweat. The miles just fly by! Today I did a walk up beautiful Elliott Ave. onto Alaskan Way, with the gorgeous Elliott Bay to my right, and all of Seattle's interesting, colorful people out with me! I got to walk past the Seattle aquarium up to the cruise terminal, before I had to loop back. There's a flight of stairs at the Olympic Sculpture Park -- actually 3 flights of stairs, probably close to 100 steps. I was actually able to RUN up those steps and only be mildly breathless at the top. I love it! Next step is, to get cleared for weightlifting again. That long-neglected gym isn't going to know what hit it!

Thank you! My feet are MUCH more comfortable now that I'm about 40 lbs. down from my high point. I just bought a new motorcycle and when my girlfriend bought me some new riding boots as a birthday present, we were surprised to discover that instead of an 11 wide, I just wear an 11! That's a pleasant side benefit -- shoes should fit much better and be much easier to find in my size! Who knows, maybe my "fallen arches" will improve, too! :crying:

Well, I'm now 20 lbs. down from my surgery weight over 3 weeks. That's almost exactly one pound a day. Counting my 15 lbs. from the pre-op diet, that's an astonishing 35 lbs. total. Many, many to go, but I'm really happy! If I could just even out my energy level (I think I'm not eating regularly enough during the day, or perhaps not staying hydrated enough), I'd be the happiest camper there is!

Scratch that: 40 lbs.

I have to say this makes me nervous. My surgeon has me on PPI's and Carafate for at least 6 months. He says that excess acid can actually damage the sleeve and delay the healing process. This makes me very nervous for your "day 3 hell on earth" with no PPI's only 5 weeks out -- what is all that acid doing to your staple line? Are you risking a stricture or esophageal erosion, or Barrett's esophagus, or a gastric or duodenal ulcer? Is it REALLY worth it just to avoid taking a fairly low-risk pill for a few more months? I'm happy for you if you're feeling better, but me -- no way, no how. I'm following my doctor's orders and staying on the PPI's for at LEAST 6 months. The risks of PPI's are WAY less frightening to me than the risks of severe, uncontrollable acid reflux.

I would think it's possible. But for women, and especially those who start with a lower BMI, the unfair truth is that you're not going to lose as fast as us guys do. 30 pounds in 10 weeks is doable. Just make sure to follow your doctors' instructions to the letter (in terms of hydration, exercise, portion control, total daily calorie intake, and so on). Also, try to keep your carbs lower (I'm not part of the wildly anti-carb gang -- I've seen some folks make great progress even with *gasp* 80-100 g of carbs per day, but still I believe that you should try to pick lower carb choices when possible). And of course, make sure your Protein and Vitamin levels are good. But yes, you should be able to do it.

Oh absolutely! My legs -- under the fat -- were like tree trunks of muscle. That's what you get from hauling around 330 lbs of man up and down hills. I'll be sad to say goodbye to some of that muscle (since hauling around 210 lbs will be much less "every day" exercise), but I'm thrilled to find out that I can walk at almost a jogging clip now without getting out of breath!

The girlfriend likes the Wii Fit more than I do (she's into yoga and whatnot). I like the regular Wii games -- upper body workouts galore in the Wii Sports games!

Buy a Wii! It's actually a surprisingly decent workout to play some of those games, and it's way less boring than 100 crunches, or whatever. Plus, the Wii Fit helps you track your weight and such.

I guess I'll be the token male on this thread! I'm not single, however, but I encouraged my girlfriend to get the surgery once she'd made up her mind (and once I was convinced that it's safe). Not just for the obvious, "noble" reasons -- it's good for her health, she'll live a longer, happier life, etc. But also for one very un-noble, "selfish" reason as well: I wanted a skinnier girlfriend. Mock me if you'd like, but let's be honest. Men -- especially single men -- are visual creatures. We care, very much, what you look like (even when we protest that it doesn't matter, it matters). Hopefully, if we're good guys, that's not all we care about, but it's pretty important. So, I can't speak for other men, but I can speak for myself, and I bet I speak for a lot of men. Mostly -- at least in the "first impressions" department -- we care that a woman is healthy, and looks good. This surgery achieves both of those goals. Sure, you may not want to give him every gory detail, but that kinda goes without saying (a new relationship isn't usually the place for detailed talks about former medical procedures). If you need to explain anything (for instance why you eat so little, or why you can't have carbonation), just explain that you had stomach surgery in the past, and it's doctor's orders. Most men really won't care beyond that, as long as you're healthy. But honestly? I think a guy will just be thrilled to be with a "skinny" girlfriend, to the point where he doesn't really care HOW she got skinny. In the long run, hopefully, we'll move beyond caring so much about appearances. But the truth is that we NEVER get completely past it; we always care at least a bit what you look like (which is why the sleeve is such a great thing for relationships!). Once we start moving beyond first impressions/lust, we should just be thrilled that the surgery is making YOU happy, and less judgmental about it. In other words, as the immediate visual draw becomes less important, our caring for you should take over, and in that department lap sleeve is a plus, too. There will likely be a small percentage of exceptions, but honestly I think most will be happier with the results and not care how you got there. The exceptions who will make a fuss about it, aren't worth your time.

So, this isn't serious enough for me to bother the doctor with (yet), but I was wondering if any other sleevers have this same experience. For the most part, during the day, I feel fine. In the past few days I've had a few bouts where I feel flushed, and my BM's (sorry, TMI) have been very loose -- bordering on diarrhea. But I only go once a day, so I dunno if that's it. Edit: I should mention that the nut. had me taking Colace (a stool softener) for a while due to hard constipation right after surgery. Obviously I've been off that for a few days now. I've been trying really hard to stick to all the nutritionist and surgeon guidelines. For the most part I'm eating 800 calories a day. There was a day when I ate 950, there was a day when I ate 650, but mostly I'm right around 800 calories. I'm getting >60g of Protein per day, maybe closer to 80-100. I'm taking my recommended bariatric Multivitamins. Most of the time, during the day, I feel fine. At times, I feel better than fine -- when I'm exercising I feel like I'm king of the world. The problem is when I lay down to sleep, I generally feel icky -- shaky, a little queasy (not enough to throw up, just a little... off), and generally like something's "not right." I know I tend to get anxious over little things, but this is disrupting my sleep a little -- just when the reflux calmed down, this popped up. I've been brainstorming for solutions, and here are a few that I thought up. I'd like input. Due to the loose stools, I'm losing Water. When I'm drinking 80 oz of water a day, I may be losing enough so that I'm mildly dehydrated by the end of the day. It's a challenge to drink too much more, because it tends to flare up the reflux. "No more than 80 oz" was what the nut. recommended to avoid reflux, but maybe I can tweak that. I'm not getting enough of some nutrient. But for the life of me, I can't think of what. I THINK I may be a little low-carb since almost everything I eat is protein, but MyPlate (my food tracker) says I'm actually over on carbs 80-90g/day. If I'm malnourished, I can't think of what. Again though, the loose stools could be causing me to lose out on nutrients, too. I'm undernourished. I may be eating the recommended calories (800), but according to LiveStrong, I'm also burning 250-400 calories per day in exercise. I wonder if I'm just running low on fuel? I'd really like to nip this in the bud before I have to see the doctor/nutritionist, but I will definitely talk to the nut. about it on my next appointment (on Wednesday). I'm just curious if anyone has gone through this -- feeling mostly fine during the day, but then feeling run-down, shaky, and a little nauseous at night.

You can have pizza some day. That's how I'm thinking of all of my favorite things -- pizza, philly cheese steaks, even beer: some day, and in moderation. Thinking of it that way helps a bit with the "deprived" feeling. Lifelong deprivation doesn't tend to make me succeed on diets. Moderation, on the other hand -- I can do that! And I can certainly wait until I'm healed (although if the weather gets nice and I get my new ride... temptation!)

Did you notice that it started out good and then decreased during the day? That's what's happening for me -- in the morning up until around 2pm, I feel GREAT. When I exercise, usually a long walk around lunchtime, I have incredible energy and stamina. But then I start feeling more and more sluggish, irritable, and a little sick to my stomach. By bedtime I usually feel shaky and wobbly and miserable. The only thing I can figure is that I'm still sort of eating on my old schedule, where my meals were VERY widely spaced. Since I tend to go to bed fairly late, that can mean up to 6 hours since I last ate, by bedtime. Also, since I've slowed down my Water intake a lot to help with the reflux (and it HAS helped), I've been struggling to make 60-80 oz of water/day. I wonder if I'm getting a little dehydrated too. First thing I do when I get up in the morning is drink 20 oz of water, so maybe it's a progressive thing throughout the day, too. Or who knows, it could just be a healing thing. I'm really happy about the weight loss, though. I hope my "pound a day" thing keeps up for just a little while longer. I wouldn't mind seeing 275 by my birthday (although 20 pounds in 17 days seems like a stretch...) :001_tt2:

Honestly, your symptoms sound like reflux, aside from the cold sweats. Stomach pain and hunger sounds VERY much like acid reflux. Are you taking a PPI?

From what I understand Zofran is an antinausea medicine. My nausea hasn't really gotten bad enough to need that, and I'd like to attack the root cause of the wooziness, not just the symptoms. Thanks for the advice, though!

Well, I had a big moment of food regret today when I was out for my fitness walk (2.2 miles today! huzzah!) All along the Seattle waterfront (where my walk goes) are these amazing restaurants, big and small, from deli to Anthony's (anyone in Seattle will know Anthony's). The food smells were dizzying and delicious. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not HUNGRY. It's just that after three weeks of being on mushy/slushy foods and Protein shakes, the idea of one of those delicious, meaty, hearty philly cheesesteak sandwiches was just... overwhelming. And then I got to thinking "well, with the bread... and the meat is sometimes a little tough... I can't have a philly. Ever again! WAAAAH!" Don't get me wrong, I'd still get sleeved again in a minute, and I still think fitness and health and self-esteem are WAY more important than a stupid sandwich. But the thought of never again, no more philly cheesesteak and a beer while people watching on a warm summer day... that made me sad! I'm a strange creature, I know :thumbup:

You got that right. I'm trying to make exercise and motorcycle riding my 2nd job (I gotta keep up my midlife crisis street cred, after all). Gaming is just a "when I can spare an hour" thing these days.

B12 is absolutely required. With the sleeve in general, and also with PPI's, we don't have enough intrinsic factor to get enough B12. Without enough B12, you can rapidly get serious, irreversible neural (brain) damage. I would question any nutritionist who said that a bariatric surgery patient could go without supplements for the long term. For a few days or a week while you're first healing, you should be okay. For longer? Get a second opinion, or a new nutritionist. Malnutrition is not something you want to mess around with. Edit: oh yeah, anemia is bad too. Make sure you get enough Iron. But honestly, brain damage scares me much worse than some reversible hair loss does.

Yeah, it tastes just horrible, but it really does seem to help. I hope you feel better soon, Angie.