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Hi all! I am scheduled for revision of my bypass on March 16! Original stats : 260lbs pre-op RNY Bypass : November 2009 Lowest : 135lbs Plastics - Abdominoplasty; Panniculectomy; Thigh Lift : June 2011 Divorce - Remarried - Regained Sept 2020 : Re-entered Bariatric Program at 279lbs Current : 245lbs I will have my pouch resized and reconnected distally for a little bit of malabsorption. Hoping for ~ 70lb weightloss and then to maintain.

the only time I've had to fast before labs is when they're testing glucose, which I don't think they've done with my bariatric panel in quite awhile. Although I've sometimes been asked before a "surprise" blood test (like when I go to my PCP for some issue and she orders a blood test) how long it's been since I've eaten -- they can still test glucose level, evidently, but I'm guessing they do something different if you haven't fasted. the PA at my bariatric surgeon's office once recommended that I stop taking vitamins a couple of days before my annual bariatric panel, but honestly, I'm not sure why he recommends this since I take vitamins every day and have for almost six years. So whatever my vitamin levels are on any given day is my "norm". The only vitamin I take that's not a daily thing is B12 - I take a megadose every two weeks. So I try to schedule my labs in the middle of the two-week cycle, since having labs done a day or two after I take my B12 could show that I'm really high in B12, which may not be my "average", if that makes sense.

Good morning everyone! I think everyone would agree, the two week pre-op diet and post-op diet requirements are TOUGH! Especially if you haven’t found a protein shake that you actually like. I want to share info about a company I found that has great options! Ideal Fit ( idealfit.com ) offers many options of whey protein isolate shakes and clear fruity drinks. I have tried several flavors and LOVE having a choice! Protein shake burn-out can happen so easily! They ship quickly and have 50% off sales all the time. Check out these flavors: caramel mocha birthday cake vanilla) chocolate brownie cookies and cream cold brew coffee white chocolate peppermint chocolate mint chocolate peanut butter red velvet cake And there are still several flavors I haven’t tried yet! They offer clear protein fruit flavored options that are delicious too! Strawberry Lemonade mojito passion fruit peach mango These are nice because they aren’t as heavy as the protein shakes and they are easy to get down. I AM NOT GETTING ANY KICK BACKS FROM THE COMPANY FOR SHARING THIS INFO. I just want to share my find with others because I think it makes this journey so much easier and enjoyable. I had the dietitian review the nutritional elements and she confirmed that these shakes have all the required nutrition for bariatric surgery patients. Now......does anyone know of any protein bars that actually taste good??? I’d like an option for those on-the-go days! 😃

Hello All- New Guy here. Confession: I am the spouse of the soon-to-be patient and recipient of a sleeve procedure. But we will be going through the upcoming changes together in 8 weeks time as she starts her process. I’ve been researching all the diet standards and recipes as chief house cook and trying to come to grasp with some of the upcoming permanent changes that will impact my wife/ best friend/ love of my life. Primary reason for undergoing the procedure is medical, due to both a sports injury in college and severe diabetes that got worse after each of our four children. She JUST qualified in the 36 BMI range with medical conditions and after tons of other attempts, her doc said this was a necessary last resort to avoid complications later in life. We’ve been married 14 years and together for just shy of 20! I would say our marriage is solid: we have been through times where we couldn’t rub two pennies together, a very difficult sickness and then death in the family, her 9 years of medical training and my “earning your stripes” years in my career and then most recently COVID and all the fears of having the wife/mom immediately at risk in one of the biggest hospitals in the city. We’ve always worked to take both time for family vacation as well as time away just for us with date nights or sometimes a big week away. Our marriage, intimacy and family, though right in the thick of crazy child-rearing (we have twins!), is probably in the best place it’s been in years. I guess this is where my real question starts: I fell down the internet rabbit hole about a week ago reading not about all the medical info and diet info, but about family and marriage impact. Personality changes, mood swings, emotional issues, depression, people acting like “a different person”, and the term “bariatric divorce”. My nights have now been basically sleepless. A year ago we were told we could lose our medical professional spouses to COVID and thankfully she never got sick. However, now I am petrified of losing her to bariatric surgery and her “new self”. She has very much assured me this would never be the case and worked to calm my nerves. Now, I am a numbers and research guy and much of the data out there says our relationship should be fine, statistically. We’ve been together for many years, there are not underlying toxic issues, and when we first started dating we were both very fit... Like I said, I think we are rock solid and I am committed 100% to doing this with her, including changing my diet and exercising more, as well. Sure, we’ve had challenges in the past, but nothing that has ever threatened our relationship and who hasn’t? We’ve always worked through everything together and come out the other side stronger (as best as I can tell). Still I am ashamed to admit I feel threatened, if not only for the many, many articles you can find online. She is primarily doing this so we can grow old together and get rid of her ailments and to be a more active individual with our busy kids. She joked and now I do too that she will look like she did when we first met and dated and that it will be a huge bonus just for me and she will love the way she looks again, even though it’s not the reason we are even doing this... That she’ll feel more confident also to dress more like the way she used to (prior to kids and wearing scrubs, she was pretty high maintenance- which I admittedly miss and she knows it). So, the endgame question is- has anyone experienced some of those threatening items about personality changes and shifts, life decisions out of nowhere and the like? I’m trying to do EVERYTHING right here and while I am a confident guy, my biggest fear in life is losing my wife or kids. She’s my best friend and I could never love anyone as much as I do her... I want her to get healthy, but for herself, she decided to do this and came to me with it and I initially went all in to support her. This could make our lives better and longer despite some of the permanent changes. And we actively are talking about “the benefits” regarding appearance and intimacy on a daily basis. So even though all of that is positive talk, and reassuring, I’m turning to the people with experience to ask- AM I JUST FREAKING MYSELF OUT??? thanks!

It's been a little while for me (almost 3 years), but I specifically recall my surgeon/bariatric coordinator telling me not to worry about vitamins for the first couple of weeks. After that, I went through about 2 months of trial and error with vitamins. I was less concerned with them tasting good than I was with how they made me feel because it seemed like every time I took them, I felt TERRIBLE/SICK. After trying several forms and varying the time of day, I settled on a gummy vitamin WITH a meal. Caution: some doctors forbid these. It was the ONLY thing I could take that didn't make me nauseated, so it was a matter of getting my vitamins or skipping. After about 6 months, I converted back to a standard "horse pill" tablet and haven't had any trouble since.

I never took bariatric-specific vitamins, but the advantages are that for a lot of them, you only have to take one a day, and also, you'll meet all of your requirements. I just took Centrum from the get-go (or the generic equivalent from Walgreens or CVS). You have to take two of those a day to meet the requirements (or at least the requirements for your multi - many of us also have to take extra iron, calcium, and B12). I started with the chewables and then switched to regular tablets when I was a few months out.

To answer this... I don't think it's possible to binge through your entire pantry/freezer in one setting. However, it is possible to graze your way through your day, and depending on what you graze on, you could theoretically get up to 4000 calories. I think the difficulty with maintenance is entirely individual. This is YOUR journey and your own habits/practices dictate the difficulty level. Since COVID lockdown, I noticed that I've reverted back to some old (aka BAD) habits like sweets/baked goods/etc. I'm struggling a little to eliminate those again. It's like crack or something... Fortunately/unfortunately, my husband was recently diagnosed with diabetes and we're getting back on track TOGETHER. So, I guess the point here is that it's easy to revert to old habits. If you have strategies in place to keep yourself on track, maintenance will be much easier. Side note: take advantage of your Bariatric TEAM. Consult your nutritionist as needed. If you need counseling, get it. I'm almost 3 years out and I absolutely cannot eat as much as I could before the sleeve. Can I eat more than I could in the 1st year? Yes, sometimes. That depends on exactly what I'm eating. Some foods fill me up much faster than others, but my typical meal fits on a small dinner plate (like the one you put under your coffee/teacup).

I also tried the Bariatric advantage and just cannot stomach chewing vitamins. I am the same with any chewable medicine (or liquid). Gross! My clinic doesn’t want you to do capsules until 3 months or later (9 weeks) so I switched to patches. They are awesome. I put them on at night. I haven’t had any issues with them. I do still choke down the b12 dissolving vitamin. Biotin and multivitamin patch, is what I wear.

My surgeon doesn’t have patients start for a full week after surgery. I definitely did not choose chewable for a couple of reasons. First, it wasn’t the clinic’s first or second choice, and second, I have major issues with taste/texture. Like I cannot take liquid meds at all without puking. The couple of times I had to take a prescription cough syrup medicine it was a...process, to say the least, that required crackers and holding my nose taking the medicine and then more crackers and water, and I still gagged. Give me pills any day. So I take calcium pills 3 x a day, and vitamin D and a bariatric multivitamin with iron at bedtime (which supposedly helps with any nausea, which I haven’t had). That being said, every surgeon/clinic has a suggested regimen and start date, so be sure to check with yours. Good luck!

I just ordered a 15 count trial sample kit of Syntrax Nectar protein powder so I can try most of the flavors before commiting to a large tub. My favorite so far is the fuzzy navel flavor. The chocolate tort was good too but I couldn't get past the texture (I used water.) The shop will definitely be my go to when I need bariatric related items. Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

Honestly, this is already the hardest diet I've ever been on. From pre-op until now... I've learned so much and tried a bunch of new "healthier" foods I would have never tried before. My previous diets were all about eliminating foods but because this is for the long haul, I have a different mindset now. People who haven't been through it, can't really understand. I have a bunch of smaller friends who have gotten liposuction, lifts and enhancements but I KNOW they would still judge me if I told them. Its funny that they think their surgeries are minor or not as bad because they technically didn't need it. But they look down on bariatric surgery because they think its a "cheat." They think people should just eat right and work out... 🙄 meanwhile they eat horribly. Its just the way some people are. I decided not to say anything to anyone.

Had my 6 month follow up today with the nutritionist, and surgeon (it will be 6 months tomorrow). They were both extremely happy with my success. I was told that I have done exceptionally well thus far, and to keep up the good work. I have lost 76 lbs., and 77% of my body fat!! All my labs came back good, except I am anemic, but have always been. So now I have to take the bariatric vitamins with 45 mg of iron. I was told to do was to add in some exercise, just light stuff with the tension bands. Only 15 minutes, 3 days a week, then slowly work my way up. I have fibro, so I have to be careful or I will be in too much pain to do anything at all. I am so happy! My journey is far from over, but I am well on my way to being a healthy, productive, active person. My only regret, if any, is that I wish I had this done 10 yrs. ago.

Hello, I am 65 will be post op 3 yrs April 2021 So you had the lap band and having a do over with the sleeve? I had the sleeve and did lose 100 lbs but have been stuck and I am thinking I may have stretched my stomach and I am thinking of asking for a do over and go with the lap band, which is what I wanted in the first place but because I was like 370 lbs it was suggested the sleeve would be best. I see my Bariatric doctor this week and my weight has gone up a bit since I saw her 6 months ago. One main problems is I don’t have a regular schedule. I’m retired, live with 2 cats. I can wake up at 10AM have coffee and really not hungry but when I do eat (between 8PM-midnight) I want a little of this and that. So days/evenings I forget I hadn’t eaten, So yeah I don’t have a set schedule to sleep, get up, have breakfast, lunch, dinner. So maybe we can help each other out.... yes we can do this!!!!

I'm 13 months post op so my memory is a bit foggy lol, but I think I was 10 days post op when I started taking my vitamins. And I started off taking Bariatric Complete berry flavored 3x a day which btw is DISGUSTING (tastes like berry flavored dog food) and then 3 Bariatric Complete calcium citrate chocolate flavored (which taste like a tootsie roll. I'm not fond of tootsie rolls so that was the only bag I bought). Over time my regiment changed with my vitamin needs and I've been on the same vitamin regiment now for 4 months and my 12 month labs were 100% normal levels in everything. I take 2 Celebrate non-iron multi's a day (grape flavor), 1 Bariatric Complete multi WITH iron (orange flavored) a day, 2 Celebrate calcium citrate a day (I have both cherry tart flavor and berries and cream flavor), 1 EZ Melt Vitamin A every OTHER day (strawberry flavored), and 2 COQ10 gummies (orange-peach flavored) every day. Sometimes you have to play around and find a vitamin that'll appeal to you because some of them are down right disgusting. I only dislike my iron one, but the orange flavor at least is bearable and is just like an overly strong orange flinstone vitamin taste wise... Anyway, don't stress too much about it, you'll find a vitamin regiment that works for you though it may take some time to find ones you actually like. Just hang in there.

I've never tried it, personally, but if it'll maybe help you can always try it... I've never had issues with my vitamins making me nauseous though so I'm lucky in that. Personally, I take Celebrate for my non-iron multi's (I take 2 a day), Bariatric Complete for my iron multi (I take 1 a day), Celebrate for my calcium citrate (I take 2 a day), and EZ Melts for my Vitamin A (I take 1 every OTHER day). I also take COQ10 but I'm not picky about brand for that... So if your doctor recommends that brand for you maybe it'll work. Buy some samples to try out to test it.

That is curious, and beyond my limited experience! I suppose that is can be strictly an esophageal problem, though as I noted, I have only seen such things as they related to other root causes. No, I haven't had such a revision, though it was suggested at one time for another issue, but I have avoided having to go that route (with the help of some second opinions that basically said to leave well enough alone for now.) I do have minor GERD, which is readily treated with low level OTC meds, so there is nothing worth fixing at this point on that account. The sleeve is predisposed to GERD by virtue that the stomach volume is reduced a lot more than its acid producing potential, but the body usually adapts to that over a few months, and most surgeons prescribe a PPI for the initial few months and then wean off of them. (Similarlly, the RNY is predisposed to dumping, reactive hypoglycemia and marginal ulcers, so there is no free lunch in that regard, no matter what procedure one goes with - there is always some risk there.) I would prefer to keep the sleeve as long as it cooperates, as the RNY is a little bit fussier to live with, but it's not the end of the world, either, and certainly preferable to what you are going through; my wife has a DS which is a bit fussier still, so I'm familiar with all that entails if I need to go there. The surgeon who has adopted our local support group does quite a few oddball and esoteric revisions (like the complex RNY to DS), people come from across the country to see him, and he sometimes pulls up scans on his laptop of one of the wonky sleeves that has come his way, so we get some feel of what can be done, that other surgeons pass on. That's why I brought up the stricture idea (beyond your regurgitation sounding like that might be it,) because that is something that many surgeons prefer to revise away rather than correct. I does seem like you are heavily restricted, much more so than normal for a normal sleeve, or RNY. 500 calories isn't so bad - it's not that unusual for people with any of these WLS to still be down there, though more commonly somewhat higher in the 6-800 calorie range; it's the water intake that I would be concerned with as dehydration will get one thrown into the hospital a lot faster than low protein or other nutrients in the short to intermediate term. The vast majority of people go through this, an RNY, or VSG, or a DS, with little or no complications, but sometimes they crop up; hopefully, you have had your share of them now and that's it. In some respects, the RNY is a more familiar procedure for the surgeons,, even if they don't do as many of them as sleeves, as it has been around in bariatrics for 40-50 years, so most started out with them; the basic procedure upon which it is based has been around for some 140 years in treating gastric cancer and other GI maladies, so it is familiar territory for most; the VSG on the other hand, had more limited application until it was created/adopted for WLS as part of the original BPD/DS, so it was not as widely used until the DS guys started using it some by itself (usually as part of a two stage DS) and saw that it offered good weight loss all on its own, so I wouldn't worry too much about your surgeon's experience with it, as that was the default WLS in Canada until fairly recently.

So I have a question. I've already stocked up on the one a day chewable bariatric vitamins (which the surgery coordinator told me not to take till they clear me to do so after surgery). I also stocked up on Calcium Citrate powder and on B12 and Biotin liquid. I know they say not to take the vitamins right off the bat, but if I start taking the biotin and the B12 liquid right after surgery would this be an issue. **I got the biotin because I do not want to lose my hair and have it thin out. I have very fine and silky hair as it is, if it starts falling out I'll look like a have barely any hair.

It sounds like you may have a stricture in your sleeve (makes it hour glass shaped) - did he mention anything like that, as that would show in the barium swallow test? The drugs that you are taking wouldn't help that as they are just to treat the acid overproduction (the pantoprazole and Dexilant) and the resulting insult to the tissue (the sucrafate). From what I have seen over the years (not an MD, just an interested bystander) the problems with the esophagus are likely a result of the stomach problem (assuming that it is a stricture - I have seen such things sited as a result of lap band damage resulting in such symptoms) Strictures of such severity (if indeed that is what it is) were more common several years ago when the sleeve was new and most US bariatric surgeons were just learning how to do them. The stomach, when sleeved, tends to like to bend or twist in the middle if you don't do it just right - it takes practice. These days, I see it discussed more commonly in countries, like Canada and Australia, that were slower to adopt the sleeve, so as a result, their surgeons, as a group, are at about the same place in the learning curve as the US surgeons were 6-10 years ago. Usually, it is treated by a bypass revision as the surgeon won't know how to repair it (if it can be done.) Often, it can be repaired, or resleeved, to correct the problem, But that needs a surgeon who is much more experienced with the sleeve, so if it is possible in your system to get a second opinion on it (particularly from someone more sleeve savvy) that would be the way to go, if for no other reason than to get concurrence with your surgeon's solution (or hopefully, an alternative approach.) Ideally, you would like to find someone who is experienced with the duodenal switch WLS, as that uses the sleeve as its' basis and those surgeons tend to be much more experienced with them than the average bariatric surgeon, but they tend to be few and far between. The only one that I know of in CA is Michel Gagner, who IIRC works out of Montreal. Likely, the RNY revision is the standard of care within the Canadian system (and much of the US as well,) for this type of problem/ Good luck,

I purchased a multivitamin off the recommended vitamins list provided by my program; I went with Bariatric Advantage Chewable Advanced Multi EA™ (Strawberry). I am having a hard time imagining chewing and getting them down post-surgery because the vitamin smell they have already yucks me out a bit. When did others start taking their bariatric vitamins and how did it go for you? Did you have more success with chewable, or pill form? Was it trial and error to find a vitamin that worked for you?

Have you been tested for COVID or COVID antibodies? Someone I know who is not a bariatric patient is experiencing symptoms eerily similar to yours. As others have said have all your vitamins and other metabolic blood panes tested.

Misha, may I ask what, if any, information has been provided to you by your surgeon and / or dietician? Did they provide any post op guidelines around food, drink etc and to what volumes or measurements? This seems to be a question that is being avoided. If you went out of state or overseas for your surgery sometimes ongoing support and/or post-op programs is not given, and people do struggle. If no post op guidelines were given pre surgery or at the time of surgery , I assume such information is not going to be available to you and that it may be beneficial for you to seek out relevant information from other surgeons/clinics online. I have always found this website useful https://drjalil.com/bariatric-post-op-diet/, it may vary from other post-op guidelines elsewhere but that's the way it is, post-op programs do vary significantly.

Hi all-been a long time since I've been on this board. I had my sleeve with Dr. Aceves in 2011 (?). Time has passed and I'm looking for a sleeve revision and DS. I searched Dr. Wilhelmy but couldn't find anything recent. Anyone been to him lately? I really loved my previous experience and decided to stick with them but would love to hear from anyone.

At first I ordered the bariatric fission powder to make my own shakes. They were fine but without the blender and ice they are gross so I switched to the pre mixed premiere protein for when I'm at work. Most of the flavors have been ok, salted caramel the best so far because the little taste of salt goes a long way when all you are doing is drinking sweet protein shakes and eating sweet jello and Popsicles Sent from my SM-A515U1 using BariatricPal mobile app