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Hello all, I am having the Sleeve on Thursday this week and up until now I have been really excited, now not so much. I keep questioning if I should do it on my own. Its just seems really daunting at this point. I started my pre surgical diet yesterday and pretty much spent the last 2 days dying of hunger and in the bathroom (sorry for the TMI). I am sure that is what is causing the freak out. But well here I am. Well thanks for listening. Sent from my SM-N981U using BariatricPal mobile app

I'm 8 months out from the Loop DS (or SADI-S). My surgery weight was 321 and right now I'm 222 so a 99 pound weight loss so far. -I avoid wheat products like the plague. They tell you that you won't get dumping syndrome and I call bullsh*t because wheat makes me dump. I try and avoid overly carb-y foods but I still get about 60 carbs in a day. I also try and avoid overly fatty foods because it does bring about diarrhea if I have too much. -I do occasionally have issues with diarrhea. Usually when I've had a little bit too much fat in my diet (I love my cheese a little more than I should). I used to take three bariatric multi's with iron a day but I process iron a little too well so I would get massive constipation issues and they suggested I lower to two but I still had that issue so now I do the switch as listed below. -For vitamins I take one bariatric multi with iron and two bariatric multi's without iron one day and then the next I switch it to two bariatric multi's with iron and one without. Also take two Calcium Citrate a day. And due to having a Vitamin A deficiency I take extra Vitamin A as well. -I don't struggle to maintain my loss. It's more frustration when I hit stalls. Mine happen probably more frequently than the average person due to hypothyroidism and it gets really frustrating. I've had my meds upped three times already and I really feel they need to be upped again but my doctor won't test my thyroid until November... And yeah, you are AWARE you are on a diet. But you have to change your way of thinking. It's a LIFESTYLE change. There will be times you want to cheat and if you do don't beat yourself up about it if you have a cookie or something.In my own experience though your taste buds change and you crave different things. For some reason I'm constantly craving fruit. Though I do get chocolate cravings and I bought protein bars and sugar free pudding for that particular craving. -Things I wish I knew before surgery? Well, I wish I knew about how frustrating and frequent the stalls can be with someone who has hypothyroidism. I also wish my doctor had warned me that it's a POSSIBILITY that you can vomit blood the first few days following surgery. It was scary when I first vomited blood and I thought something was wrong and then the nurse was like "honey, it's just old blood, it's totally normal" -_-' It's probably either because of my vitamin regiment or my dairy intake but every two days my system decides to empty EVERYTHING in it so I spend an hour or so locked in the restroom (TMI, sorry). And I'm sure there's more that I wish I'd known, but my brain is stalling lol. If I can think of something else I'll add to this post later. Oh, a person a few posts up said that you need 130g of protein BUT my surgeon said between 80-100 (but I'm a girl so...). I usually get around 90-95g of protein a day. And that's with only one 30g protein shake in my diet. So it's possible to do it with only one protein shake eventually. Also my labs said my protein intake was perfect so...

Hi, I just had my conversion to bypass from sleeve two days ago and today I had my first vowel movement. Great I thought! Now, rather than passing gas I run to the bathroom just in case it’s not. I’ve had about 3-4 small bouts of loose stools today. Is this normal at all?

My lack of hunger feeling only lasted for a month. Now, when I feel hunger it doesn't take much to satisfy it. I rarely have that "I'm so hungry I could eat the whole kitchen feeling." I'm almost 2 yrs out from RNY GB and that rumbling sound for me is peristalsis in my bowel! My abdomen has gotten so flat sometimes I can actually feel gas bubbles moving through it and can predict when it leaves the body (sorry if TMI!) Now that I think about it, the gas bubbles kind of feel like when you feel a baby move early in pregnancy!

Hang in there & try to get your water & protein in. I also noticed if I had anything that had too much sodium I retained fluids & the scale didn't like that. I also freaked out & actually tested my scales by weighing a small 2 lb weight to make sure my scales were accurate, they were. Mother Nature wasn't nice to me, but afterwards the excess water weight dropped back off. I still take a stool softener as prescribed, just to help things out. Hope that wasn't tmi but those last couple of things did affect my numbers on the scales. I just went through a plateau & was grateful for all of the advice I read on this forum. Good luck & remember we are all here for one another!

I'm 7 months out from having the Loop DS. I only recently in the last two or three months or so started feeling actual hunger again. In the earlier months I knew I was hungry when my stomach started making noise. Now if I ignore that symptom I start to feel nauseous and then the hunger pangs kick in. My surgeon told me that everyone's experience is different, because our bodies work different. For example (this is TMI, sorry) I was the first Loop DS patient my surgeons office has had that had constipation issues. No joke. But as to your worry about the hunger... well, your body is working extra hard to shed those pounds and adjust to a new way of life. My metabolism has gone through the ringer and I go through spurts where I feel like I'm eating wayyyy too much. Funny enough that when I feel like I'm starving is when I end up losing more weight that week, which I still find strange. And yes, it's still easy to satisfy my hunger be it a fruit cup or string cheese or protein bar to snack on between meals. I'm still losing weight, even if it's slowed down now so obviously I'm doing something right. If the hunger really bugs you because you feel like it's too soon then I suggest bringing it up with your surgeon and seeing what they have to say about it. Just try not to stress. I know I had instances where I questioned every little thing I did (especially during stalls) but every time I phoned the surgeons office they told me it was normal (barring the constipation, which had even them confused lol) Anyway, congrats on your recent surgery and if you have any questions at all feel free to ask!

Hiatal hernia and RYN on 8/3 Stayed in hospital 4 nights due to damage to hernia. All good now no pain and walking 5 miles a day. Down 19 lbs. BUT today I have diarrhea TMI sorry and my stomach what’s left of it hurts hoping tomorrow is better

I won't miss getting out of breathe when I walk up or down the stairs. I won't miss my legs rubbing together causing a rash. I won't miss feeling uncomfortable on theme park rides. I won't miss standing up to wipe my bottom after using the bathroom (tmi). I won't miss feeling uncomfortable sitting in a booth. I won't miss sweaty under-boobs!

I won’t miss- that fear in people’s eyes when I board a plane, or the fear I have that someone as big as me will sit next to me. going to sporting events and have to wedge into the narrow seat and be uncomfortable the hole time not being to find anything in my size that looks good. TMI- the fat roll beneath my waist not being able to keep my pants up without making my belt feel like a tourniquet Hating going to the beach or a pool where I will need to take my shirt off being the fattest guy in the room not being able to go hiking with my son (or if we do, it is much slower than he wants to go) not being able to jog using a CPAP feeling like a loser when I see friends or former classmates I haven’t seen in a few years not getting the job after they see how fat I am having boobs bigger than my wife’s

Had surgery on Monday, went back to work yesterday. I've gotten lucky my boss said he hired me for my brains and not braun... however I never really noticed how much walking I do in a day. Definitely, exhausted and went to be around 8 lastnight. I've had my first BM. I know alot of you might feel tmi...but I was so excited I told my sons who were getting ready for work and textes my husband. One incision is still draining but everyone that noticed the wet spot on my shirt were completely understandable and super supportive. I called my doctors office about it. It seems to be alot, but the nurse called me back and said it was normal, some people have the drainage while others don't. As long as it doesn't turn yellow or green or start to smell funny. My headaches are still waking me up. I think im sleeping about 3 hours before it wakes me up. Nothing appears to be working. Is anyone else experiencing severe headaches where its above the left eye towards the center of the head. Any ideas or suggestions...please. They hurt tremendously bad and the 500 tylenol twice every 6 hours doesn't touch them.

Been feeling bloated and generally unwell for a few days. I'm definitely dehydrated, pee's turned a horrible dark orange colour and today my poop was blueish-black. Tmi? I really need to start going outside. It's just I literally have nowhere to go. Uni is all online, no friends live near enough to visit, most places are still closed due to COVID.

I have read that not all overweight (or obese) people are unhealthy. Myself, I knew that my weight was causing my high blood pressure, hiatal hernia, shortness of breath, bladder leakage and GERD. However, the sleep apnea is believed to have been in existence since I had my tonsils out at 15 and I was tiny at that time. The thing is that I listened when I was told that my weight was causing my health to fail because it made sense, after all, I am 4'11" tall. That doesn't mean I didn't drag my feet getting WLS. When I made the decision to have surgery, I knew I had no choice. My heart is in good shape but wouldn't be if I kept going the way I was. For a long time, I knew the truth but kept lying to myself. When I topped out of my last size range I said, "That's it." What if the doctor is right and we take offense and choose to ignore them? Is it the doctor who suffers? Nope. Ask for what you think you need. Your health is in partnership with your doctor or doctors. I have waited for doctors to take the lead because I wanted to be taken care of. It still pisses me off when the doctor doesn't remember what you told them in your last appointment. But truth is, I am only one of their patients and they don't see me every day. I give TMI because I want them to have all the information they may need. I know my body very well and you never know what detail might make a difference. I just have to be careful not to self diagnose or push their diagnosis in the wrong direction which I do and have done. You have to fight for your right to be healthy whether it is the doctor or the insurance company. You can bet that if Medicare approves your claim, you need the surgery. The surgery costs a lot as some of you have found out through paying it out of pocket. I jumped through every hoop willingly. Why? Because if they are willing to pay for it, I have to do my part to help them make that decision. The nice thing is that when you have secondary to Medicare's primary, the secondary will pick up the percentage that Medicare doesn't. On the flip side, if Medicare denies the claim, the secondary will not pay. WLS is not a given, If it was, many people who don't need it would have it (for example: Models). It is a last resort tool for those of us who for whatever reason have failed over and over to lose and/or keep off the weight that we need to lose to be healthy and prolong or save our lives. After all, it is a life change and a decision not to be taken lightly.

The broad keto would be much better for you. It would be something that could be more easily maintained, and people would less likely fall off that because of less restrictions. The more you restrict yourself, the more likely you are to want to cave in. A lot of people can't process sugary foods, and you'll get sick if you try to eat too much. Once you are post op, your body will adjust to eating healthy things and want healthy things more often, so maybe you can indulge the sugar craving with something healthy, like fruit. Also, I agree with colormehappy. You NEED that fiber to go to the bathroom. Constipation is a BIG deal, and it SUCKS. I can finally eat veggies now with every meal, and my bowels are much happier because of it. (TMI, I know)

I know weird question, and yes I take a shower everyday, and use wipes after I go number 2 so before surgery I don't remember being this potent down there [emoji23] is that to me expected? Sent from my LML212VL using BariatricPal mobile app

TMI the constipation is REAL. I bought Medicated Laxative Suppositories and it worked like a charm.

Every time I give to the bathroom after I eat and I have bad diarrhea!!! [emoji21] is that normal? I feel fine other than that. Sent from my LML212VL using BariatricPal mobile app

This is gonna be TMI and nasty, since it's all about constipation. 30 days post-op and yesterday was the absolute worst day I've had. I can't recall being in as much pain and discomfort in all 43 years of my life. My post-op constipation has been ongoing. Generally there's been 3-4 days between bowel movements and every bowel movement has taken a lot of effort. Yesterday...yesterday was a whole new world of suffering. I was on day 4 since the last BM and woke up knowing I was backed up and I was going to have one at some point soon. Except 5 trips to the bathroom yielded nothing but straining and discomfort. I ended up going home early because I was so uncomfortable. Came home and downed 60ml of milk of magnesia and prayed it would work fast. It didn't. Ran to the store for Miralax (which my surgeon wanted me to avoid for the time being) and an enema kit. Drank the Miralax, despite knowing it wasn't going to actually do anything right away, but would hopefully start the process of helping going forward. Called my primary care because I was in so much pain and was pretty much told to drink MoM and start on Miralax and definitely use the enema to hopefully break things up and make it easier. Waited a couple of hours to see if I could pass anything on my own or if the MoM was helping. Nothing but liquid and blood from hemorrhoids for my trouble. Finally gave in and used an enema. Met with even higher levels of pain as I expelled the liquid, but nothing else. Spent 20 minutes on the toilet in agony and tears, on the verge of asking to be rushed to the ER. I could not physically stop straining to pass what was blocked. I was finally able to get it to pass and was horrified by what had finally left my body. I am 99% certain I was on the verge of a fecal impaction based on what finally came out. The diameter was about 1.5" and probably a total of 12" in length. I ended up having one more loose movement about 45 minutes later which may have been from the MoM or remnants of the enema...not sure. Then followed 8 hours of added agony in the aftermath where extra strength Tylenol did very little to ease the discomfort. Sitting down? Hurt. Standing up? Hurt. Lying down? Hurt. Went to bed around 10pm. Fell asleep around 1am when the pain finally started to subside. No BM this morning. Mixed Miralax in with my breakfast protein shake. Not sure if I should do more MoM today or not. Need to go to the store and get Benefiber since the Celebrate powder clearly doesn't have enough fiber in it for me. But the worst thing is that I am genuinely afraid of trying to go to bathroom now. I can't go through that again. I would gladly take the pain from the first two days post-op back if I could get rid of this constipation. I really hope that I can get past this.

I do NOT miss: - Boxy clothes. - My husband’s disappointed glances. Now he wants to touch me more all of a sudden :-). He never said anything out of line, but I don’t miss those occasional glances... - Inner thigh rashes and zits. - Hiding behind people in photos. - Only liking photos of me taken from the neck up. - Saving smaller clothing sizes for “one day”. Now I can actually wear them. - Pot lucks & buffets. Yeah... no thanks. An all-you-can-eat place would be a complete waste of money for me now, anyway. - Car seatbelts riding up around my neck. - The waddle my walk was developing. - Weak bladder control. I can “hold it” a lot longer now. As a result, I have less issues with odor after near misses. I know... TMI - Hot flashes. Somehow they have disappeared. Interesting.

Hope all is well with everyone. I’m deal with some things. Not necessarily related to my surgery. I can’t remember if I said that I’m not sure but one thing I think that helped with post op swelling (besides compression stockings) was Garden of life Turmeric gummy supplements. I also took my usual Garden of life whole food based gummy multivitamin, natures way hair skin and nails formula gummy, plant based omegas I added extra Biocell collagen and antioxidants. of course it can take 4-6 months to a year to see the true results (Something like that) it is still a bit unreal to me. I haven’t looked at the big picture yet. I don’t see myself as small. I struggle with body dysmorphia and sometimes it’s a battle between chronic health issues and wow my stomach really is flat I’ve never had an actual flat stomach ... I will be honest also and say I sleep in my Faja though I haven’t quite figured out the Faja and underwear thing I mean you can’t wear them under the Faja but it’s too weird to not have anything with the open crotch. Especially wearing dresses. 🤣 The open incision on my left T incision (thigh lift) is finally getting closer to being closed. I had a protruding swollen “fat cell” which is what usually fills an open incision in secondary wound healing. it was keeping the incision from closing. And a blood blister next to it. It was swelling and also two small areas in the incision had some small blood pockets. Not to be TMI but I snipped and drained the swelling of built up blood in the “fat cell” and pressed it hard to push it into the incision and the “blood blister” next to it was the likely culprit I found a suture in it and drained it and cleaned it the best I could. Afterward It looked better and I could see the incision has nearly closed. I just have to monitor for any internal swelling. I haven’t mentioned it to my surgeon since it’s the weekend and I don’t want to be an annoyance. I’ve learned to take care of things myself most of the time. Even had my surgery been in the same state I’d have been doing the same thing ... The open incision on my backside (coccyx or whatever you call it) the stress point, it’s no longer a hole not healed yet but getting there. A couple of incision points need to heal more. Considering my immunodeficiency part of me expected some complications but in a way these were small compared to ones I’ve seen online. Especially for thigh lifts if the surgeon is removing more than just skin. I’m surprised at how smooth some parts of the incisions are. I’m not worried about scars. Though I think I’ll notice a few little things down the line ... like behind my knees, my calves, the incision on my inner thigh in pictures I take for wound care checking has an odd angle to my inner thigh. But One difficult thing for me is I’ve never seen myself as pretty and I’m not happy with my face maybe it’s loose skin. And maybe I just won’t ever see myself that way. I actually bought a article of clothing I never thought I would. A romper. For when the incisions are healed enough for the last bandage to come off. And I get up the nerve to wear it. I’ve Been wearing dresses since they are easiest but very casual ones. Since I’m mostly home except when I venture out for errands. I actually bought a girls size large dress at Target (Under $4) and was surprised it fit. My mom wanted a picture to show a friend. Sigh 😔 I hate my face. It’s still a bit unreal that I had three surgeries June 15th ... sorry for babbling.

I've always had big legs. My dad said that our family doesn't have legs, they have tree trunks. <love the name by the way>. My legs were one of the first places I really noticed my weight loss and they have slimmed to the point I have a little bit of a thigh gap. The breeze in my nether regions can be a little unsettling. Sorry if that's TMI, but if any group can understand, I"m sure this group can. I'm a bit lumpy/bumpy from the knees up. I wouldn't say I'm Shar Pei material, but it's jiggly and loose, especially in my inner thighs where I used to have "chub rub." From the knees down, I've slimmed. I still have bigger ankles and would never be able to wear an anklet, but not the stumps/cankles I once had. In fact, I can actually see the definition of my ankle bones these days. Huge improvement.

An extra pair of pjs, or sleep wear, & knickers in case you have to stay an extra day or accidents. (At my hospital they make you shower & put on your own pjs on the second day.) My friend swears by incontinence pad knickers. Not for incontinence but for the not uncommon & totally unexpected attacks of diarrhoea. As her surgeon warned her: you may think you’re about to pass wind but it will be way more than that (apologies if tmi). Non slip slippers or slides for your laps around the ward. I couldn’t stand anything pressing against my incision wounds so soft waisted pants/skirts that you can fold down at the waist to wear home or a dress. Good luck.

Everyone's experience with vitamins is different. I had the Loop DS and I take 1 Bariatric Complete (orange flavored) vitamin (with iron) and 2 Celebrate (grape flavored) without iron (I apparently process iron REALLY well as my iron levels are perfect with just the one iron, more than one makes me constipated, tmi I know). As well as two Bariatric Advantage Calcium Citrate (I used to take 3 but my calcium was high). And I also take 10,000IU liquid Vitamin A every other day. It just really depends on how your body handles the vitamins. Some can take less, some have to take more and some have to add extra like my Vitamin A. You'll figure out the process as you go. Just choose an initial brand and take what they tell you to and adjust as needed. As for recipes... I get a lot of recipes here: https://www.bariatriceating.com/blogs/recipes

I had my surgery day before yesterday. I expressed my concern to the surgeon that I cannot tolerate narcotics, opioids, etc., and even the most potent anti-nausea drugs do not touch the awful unrelenting vomiting I have with them (sorry, TMI). So he administered a TAP block when I went under anesthesia. Post-op, I had IV ibuprofen, toradol, and oral liquid Tylenol. Absolutely no pain whatsoever in the hospital. I had minimal discomfort last night at home, but no worse than if I had done a bunch of sit-ups. I was quite pleased 😊

Y’all, 😩 I’m one week post op today, and between yesterday and today I’ve had, LITERALLY, completely liquid bowel movements. Like, thought I needed to pass gas and.. yikes. Is there anything I can do to help this???

I remember having a HARD time with the first bowl movement after surgery, too. I took stool softeners and that helped. After that, a lot easier and no issues. Maybe TMI but..... my bm changed to this soft, smelly, sludge that even I couldn't stand. Keep the vent ON. LOL