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I don't have the same full feeling like pre op anymore (kinda miss it, messed up huh?). Anyway, I did serve myself an extra ounce of cottage cheese. Thinking that its simply ridiculous that I can't get this protein in. Well, I ate maybe .5 ounce before the not-so-full feeling turned to just nausea.... Ugh. Never again, you'd think right? Nope, I accidentally did it this morning. I chose not to measure and just eat till I felt full, but since I didn't know when to stop I went straight to nauseous again. It seems I learn like Homer Simpson! Edit: I should add that the other day I went to a restaurant with the family & since I couldn't order anything else I had the wonton soup without the wontons. Gave away 2 small servings (my kids) and proceeded to sip the entire meal. I didn't want to have nothing to do so I kept sipping. When it was time to go I stood up and I could feel all that liquid sloshing inside or something. It was the first uncomfortably full feeling I've had. About 30 minutes of waking later I felt better. Full relief came after a bathroom break (TMI sorry).

1. Lane Bryant - bye! Bye! Tired of paying ridiculous prices for the simplest garment! It costs a fortune to look nice for work each season and a lot if the clothing styles should not be made plus-size (horizontal stripes size 22/24 is not flatering no matter how well made or attractive the item is!) 2. Pulling into a parking space and then you realize you can't squeeze out the door, so you have to re-park or change spots- embarrassing!! 3. The "personal hygiene" issue- I use tons of cornstarch-based powder! 4. Seats, seatbelts, rides, cars, bikes, etc. - always the worry "Will I fit?" or "Will I break it?"-horrifying!! 5. Feeling like the most undesirable woman in the world! My husband is so supportive and truly loves me but I don't love myself enough to be free to love him. The weight has affected my self-image (zero labido-TMI, sorry!)

Christie..yes i forgot about the upper gi..omg.. I thought i was going to pee all over the floor. I would gag and pee, sorry for the tmi.. Not very nice. Wow..65 lbs..EXCELLENT!!! The last time I was weighed, u was told i weighed 220. I see my Dr next Friday, curious to see what the scale says but I'm sure its no where near your accomplishment.. Good girl!!!!

take a teaspoon of MOM, mint is best..... I was not allowed metamucil til 12 weeks after surgery..... I had one day I thought I would SH!& an elephant but coud not. IT is a miserable feeling....I tried enamas, it was too hard to come out...sorry tmi It took me 3 enamas one day just t get some relief!!! take the MOM and get it over with..the miruleux did me NO GOOD at all. best of luck to u

A timely thread for me...I'm in so much pain! Yowch. glad I searched before I posted Before it was mildly annoying, now I'm in hell. I try to poop and its just...stuck....TMI :D

Well first, be sure that it really is constipation. At this point out you are barely eating anything and you should only be eating Protein.. so your body may actually be using everything you put it. I know I didn't (and still don't, sorry TMI) go very often at all. At one point though it had been a couple weeks, and I took a tsp of milk of magnesia. It was kinda gross going down but it worked. The milk of magnesia was what was suggested in the small packet I received from my doctor. In the meantime, just focus on getting in your liquids and protein and don't worry about it so much.

5 days! So excited! I am so ready to work my sleeve and begin getting healthy again. Dropped off my prescriptions this morning for after surgery and it was so weird. I am still in disbelief that the time is here. So I got my period on Saturday and had it for 4 days and now its gone. I am praying and hoping it doesn't pop back up after surgery. I hear a lot of people saying that it does. I had some different kind of cramping this period it was more painful. I am doing pretty good on Pre-Op Diet, I have lost 12 lbs in 12 days. A pound a day , I will take that!!! It is actually easy now. I don't want anything else.

I have my in-laws in from Ireland as well as my mom up from Atlanta taking care of me so I haven't been on here in a bit. I'm 6 days post-op and so far so good. I was supposed to go back to work tomorrow, but I'm going to take the whole week. I'm scared to tell my manager, but he's been saying all along that he'd be supportive...we'll see! I'm sore at my port site, but the gas hasn't been too bad. I'm on Roxicet (TMI...that also means I'm on stool softeners, YUCK!). I've been trying to get out and about but I get pretty tired. How's everyone else doing?

Gina, What is leading you to question if you need an unfill? There is a very fine line between being just right and big trouble. I just went thru that. With my band at 7.5cc I was throwing up after eating about 3 times a week (TMI.. Sorry). Removing just .5cc completely eliminated that and put me back on course.

When did your "dumping" (hope this isn't too TMI LOL) stop? It seems like anytime I drink or eat (if Soup, pudding, etc is eating that is...) now

I am on Biotin as well. 1,000 mg. I have noticed a change in my hair for the better since adding it. I now have curls. Weird. Not Elaine on Seinfeld curls but the curls I had when I was a child. Plus the hair on my legs has reappeared. (TMI?) I am not a hairy person by nature and so blond that the hair on my legs has not been there in years. My MD told me that your body only uses as much Biotin as it wants so if you take 1,000 or 5,000 mg it doesn't matter. So I do 1,000. Protein is key and every time you have an appointment with the docs they should be asking you if you have having issues with hair, skin, nails.

Ok, more TMI. I am 5 weeks out and not necessarily having a problem having to go, it's just a nigh,are getting it out. Take 2 Colace every day and it certainly isn't softening anything g up. Any suggestions?

I love my Fitbit One! It's about an inch and a quarter long, half inch wide, and has a super sturdy clip that I hook onto my bra so it's unseen and secure. It measures how many steps I take each day, but also number of flights of stairs i climb, how far I go and even attempts to tell me how many calories it thinks I've burned on a given day. I love that it has an 'alert' feature on the Fitbit One (the cheaper one doesn't have this) that I can set as often or whatever time and frequency I want, and it'll vibrate just enough to let me feel it - which is my reminder twice a day to get up from my desk and take a walk around the building, so i don't stay too sedentary. All that is just on the device's little window! Then I can see a more full report on my handheld phone and on my computer (or ipad). On phone and ipad and computer I can enter the foods I eat (like using myfitnesspal - or you can even link it to your myfitnesspal account) and it calculates how much I can still eat and stay within my goals for burning calories for the day. So on a super active day it'll say i have more left to eat while still keeping a 1000 cal deficit. I don't pay any attention to that calculation really, since i typically try to eat the same calories each day. It's been really accurate when I've checked it against mapping or other calculators, but you have to set your stride length and tell it your stats for it to do that accurately. They're about $100 but I had a loyalty coupon from Best Buy that knocked off $15, so good deal. Honestly, If I lost it or wrecked it, I'd buy another one tomorrow! It's essential for me keeping track and keeping motivated. Also - (Sorry if TMI) I got one for my hubby, and my niece and I have 'friended' each other on it too, so we can all check to see who's ahead with steps or stairs - and it doesn't share anything you don't want, like weight or food or anything. Finally, I accidentally went swimming with it on once, and it dried out just fine. Others have said you can do that maybe one time, but the second time they got it soaked it died. I"m hoping NOT to do it again obviously! Good luck - go check them out.

I am so trying not to get wound up like an eight day clock, but I'm having a hard time. Tiff, you are right. I know you are! Especially about the in and out. TMI...Struggled this morning with constipation (1st poo since surgery). Finally accomplished, then an hour or so later I was at the other end of the spectrum!! What's up with that? Anyway, this just has to work for me (surgery)! What else is left?? FAILURE!! I would almost rather be nauseous for the rest of my life then ever feel hunger again. Ok, breathing in and out. Sorry for the drama guys...it's just been a long and hard 6 days.

@@j16 Me too!!!!! I told my husband yesterday that this would be much easier if my stomach wasn't always growling. I feel like I am over the mental hunger and am not having issues with choosing what to eat it is just that my stomach is always growling. Post Op at least that should be helped a bit. A little TMI but my liquid diet is making a lot of bathroom issues. Guess it is a sneak peak into the future "don't trust a fart" phase!

I was banded January 2007 in August 2011 I was in the er for a major gall bladder attack and my gall bladder was removed September 2011. My gall bladder was the size of a fist an hour outpatient surgery turned into 4 hours and I was admitted overnight. Also they had to put a drain in because there was so much bile. DO NOT HESITATE TO GET YOUR GALL BLADDER REMOVED! I had symptoms for years and had no clue I thought it was heartburn. Anyway in January I came in for a fill. The ms took the Fluid out of the band and it was brownish Orange color she scheduled me for an endoscopy the next week for possible band erosion thankfully everything was fine. She said that there was so much bile leaking from my gall bladder during my surgery that the fluid seeped into the band. Everything is fine now thank goodness. In regards to how you will react after surgery, you won't have an appetite for a few days you'll be tired just take it easy. Then your body is going to adjust ie: bowel movements 4 times at least a day. It was so bad I got a hemmerhoid if this is tmi I'm sorry I'm just keeping it honest. The constant bm was about a week. Then after that I ate like a horse and gained 30 lbs! But I'm back on track and lost 20 of that so far. So that's my gall bladder story and I have to say mine was the worst. If you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them.

Tara - The get-together is for anyone - banded, unbanded, recently banded, not-so-recently banded, etc. Come!! Kathy - TMI = Too much information

I know this may be tmi but 5 days post op and i had my first bowel movement .. I TOTALLY expected that to be an issue because I wasnt even regular PRE op .. but sure enough it came.. NOTHING solid but it came from THAT hole so ill call it a bowel movement lol.. is this normal?? How many days post op was it for you guys?

I had a VSG and I can tell you have have definitely experienced dumping before. When it first happened it was one of the most frightening things to happen to me. Mostly because I didn’t know what was going on and it came on so suddenly. Basically, you feel this wave come over you: hot flash, cold sweat, nausea, and for me, horrible diarrhea (sorry for the TMI). I have ended up sitting on the toilet for close to an hour before with a trash can in my lap in case I need to vomit. My head spins and I feel like I’m going to pass out. Very scary. This is part of the reason I avoid new foods if I know I can’t go home/use a restroom privately. Now I avoid overly sweet things, and really take the time to slow down and eat. I had the tendency in the past to inhale my food which could exacerbate it IMO!

My goal 6week goal is to hit the gym. My biggest TMI issue is #2 no desire to go but I know I need to. I am At 7 days post op. I gotta relax I went out 3 days in a row and I feel some pain on my side so I am gonna take a day to just relax.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm trying yo get as much Fluid as possible but honestly, I've only been able to stay awake for an hour or so at a time. Today I've been so cold and noticed I have a slight fever. Went up to 100.8 earlier but down to 99.4 now. Also just the sharpest pain in my rib cage if I try to take a deep breath so I just have to take shallow breaths. That pain flares up with every sip I have too. Not sure it could be gas because I've had no problem passing gas. Oh and diarrhea all day-to-day just bile- probably 10 times. Sorry if that's tmi. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hi! I'm back. Here is my story. It may be TMI, but it's the long version: Thursday, May 30th - Travel Day We got up at 4 am to get to the airport for my flight to Cancun. I made the decision to travel alone because I speak Spanish fairly well (NOT fluently, but I understand everything they say to me) and I felt comfortable traveling alone. Plus I am a big baby about pain and I would rather not have anyone there with me while I whimpered my way through this. In hindsight, I wish I had someone there with me. It got really lonely for 3 ½ days with no one to talk to. Although the patient facilitator I worked with, Sheri Burke, said a lot of people there spoke English, hardly anyone did. Here are the people that spoke English fairly well during my stay there – Vanessa, the clinic representative (really good English – saw her for about 10 minutes total), Esteban, my driver (learning English – really nice! After discharge, he took me to the mall so I could walk and he stayed there with me for an hour), Dr. Verboonen (fairly good English, who I saw for 10-15 minutes total during the trip), Dr. Perez (great English, 10 minutes total), and the anesthesiologist (good English - can’t remember her name, but she was so sweet - I saw her for 5 minutes total). Remember that you are unconscious during the surgery, so it’s most important that the nurses speak English well and hardly any of them did. Well really, none of them did. Sheri Burke, my patient facilitator, (so nice! – and speaks perfect English – but she was not in Cancun the weekend I had my surgery) arranged for me to spend the night at the hospital on the night before the surgery because I had such an early surgery. In hindsight, this was probably not the best idea because the bed was so uncomfortable – didn’t bother me the first night too much, but I still had two more nights to spend in it! I got to Cancun at about 2:00 ish – a little early - and it was arranged for a van to take me to the Ambiance Hotel. I don’t know why I went to the Ambiance Hotel to wait because I wasn’t staying there after surgery. I was going to be staying at the Ramada. Well, I got there early – about 3:00 and my driver was not scheduled to pick me up to take me to the clinic until 4:00. I contacted Sheri by phone to tell her I was early, and she contacted the driver. He was working and came about 4:20 or so. I waited in the lobby of this hotel that I wasn’t going to be staying at for over an hour to get a ride to the clinic. It was kind of weird. I’m not sure why I wasn’t taken directly to the clinic. But I got there, so everything worked out all right. I got to the clinic about 5:00ish, met Vanessa, signed some papers and waited in my room for surgery for the following morning. That’s a LONG time with no one to talk to. But I like to read, so I read all night. Surgery, Friday, May 31st – 7 am Up at 5 am for prep. The nurse gave me antibiotics in my IV in preparation for the surgery and I promptly threw up. You could tell I did a good job on my pre-op diet because there was only fluid coming out. Nothing eventful happened after that and I remember NOTHING about the recovery room. I’m going to be honest and say the first day is a blur. I was surprised that it didn’t hurt more. Not to say it didn’t hurt, it did. I’m sure the pain meds helped a lot. Mostly the pain came at night when I was trying to find a comfortable way to sleep on my back. Every time someone came to put something in my IV, I asked “what is that?” I had to ask a lot of questions because they didn’t offer a lot of information. Looking back it’s probably because they didn’t speak English, but I’m just speculating. I feel like in the US, we normally expect our nurses and doctors to tell us what they are putting in our IV, or what our blood pressure is, etc. I know I urinated a couple times the first day. I wasn’t surprised at the blue urine because I had read someone else on the forum talking about that before (thanks VST!) That was from the blue dye they used to check for leaks during the surgery. (ALSO, it’s a good sign you’re not leaking as you’re recovering if no blue goes in your drain). I was not allowed any liquids or ice chips until Saturday evening. So nothing went into my mouth or tummy that first day (and most of the second day). The surgery night was difficult psychologically. I kept beating myself up about whether this was the right thing to do or not. If someone was with me, I probably would have broken down crying. But I needed to work through this on my own anyway because it was already done! I thought a lot about my kids and my husband and how this would affect them if something went really wrong. I think other people work through a lot of this with their psych in the US. Choosing Mexico, it’s something you have to work out on your own OR find the support that you need in other ways. There were a few other bariatric patients there and one of them was having such a rough time. I heard that person through most of the night vomiting and crying out. This was hard for me to hear and it made my state of mind even worse. I was glad that the person had a companion for comfort. If I were to offer any suggestion for someone going to Cancun, I would say “take someone with you!” It’s worth the extra airfare. They don’t have to pay to stay at the clinic with you or the hotel (unless you stay extra days, of course). First Day Post-Op, June 1st This day was better in some ways and worse in others. I began to feel the loneliness quite deeply. I wished I had someone to talk to. And I really wished I had somewhere else to sit in my room besides my bed because my back was starting to hurt quite a bit. There were no chairs in my room so I just had my bed and it was getting to me. I don’t have anything to share about my liquid intake because I wasn’t allowed any. My doctor (Verboonen) came by and asked if I had any questions. I asked him about the barium test and getting the drain out. He said that didn’t hurt and nothing to worry about. He also said I could have ice chips later in the evening and that he was leaving town but his partner would follow up with me on Sunday. Then he left. I did have a little bit of ice in the evening, but I had to ask for it. Then I thought better of eating ice made from water in Mexico, so I stopped. I was getting plenty of IV fluids, so I knew I wouldn’t be dehydrated. Second Day Post-Op, June 2nd Well, this is when the “…. hit the fan”. It was about 5 in the morning on my second day post op. I had a really vivid nightmare in which I was watching my dog die and I woke up scared to pieces. My blood pressure shot straight up and my heart rate was through the roof. My hands were swollen and wrist area looked like I was having IV extravasation. It looked like the fluid was not going into my vein but into my arm (It looked like bloating in my arm). The nurse came in and I tried to tell her about my hands, arm, heart rate and blood pressure, but she did not completely understand me. She said my hands looked fine (they didn’t – trust me, I’ve had them attached to my body for 53 years and they weren’t fine). She did take my blood pressure and it was 160/100. Even though I take blood pressure medication, my blood pressure had been in the normal range the entire time I was at the clinic without taking it, so this was way high! She called the doctor and he told her to have me take my blood pressure med (which I hadn’t taken that day) and give me a nitroglycerin patch (wait, what?!) At the same time she was trying to give me antibiotics in my IV, which I felt was flowing into my arm instead of my vein. I said “No” to all of it. I told her I needed to call my husband (who is a pharmacist). I called my husband in the US and he told me this was all fine to do and I really should have the antibiotics. So when the nurse came back in the room, I told her to go ahead and give me the antibiotics, but to move my IV to my other hand before she did it. She said no – you are going home today and the doctors will be here soon so we are not giving you the antibiotics and we don’t need to move the IV. (Ok, I’m speculating, but I’m pretty sure she called the doctor while I was freaking out with my husband and they decided to get me out of there fast). I took my blood pressure med (which was the first time I had swallowed liquid since surgery, so I was scared about that) and she gave me the nitro patch. By this time I was about ready to jump out the window. I was so stressed!! THEN, she comes in with an 8 ounce cup of blue liquid and tells me to drink it. I looked at her like she was crazy. Or maybe I just looked crazy! I told her that I hadn’t had anything to drink since the surgery (besides my sip with the blood pressure med) and how was it possible for me to drink all of this. She just said I needed to drink it. So I did. But I was so confused, because I was supposed to have a barium test, not the blue dye test. She told me that Doctor Perez (works with Dr. Verboonen) would be here soon to do my test and take out my drain and then I never saw her again. I had a different nurse after that. HAHAHAHA! I have to laugh whenever I think of this next part. So about 9:30, a doctor walks into the room with the anesthesiologist (sounds like the beginning of a bar joke) and he greets me in Spanish. I say to him “Dr. Perez, nice to meet you. Do you speak English?” He says “Dr. Perez! Dr. Perez!” and stomps out of the room. I’m standing there stunned and I look at the anesthesiologist and say, “What? Why is he mad? I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings!” She says it’s ok, it’s ok and goes out to the hallway to talk to him. He won’t come back into the room, but Dr. Perez DOES come into the room. And I have to say that this was the best part of the experience. He spoke perfect English, explained everything to me about this blue dye test, pulling out the drain and all my post-op instructions. I was SO relieved! He looked at my drain container (I don’t know what those are called) and said do you see any blue in there? I said no. He said, that means you have no leaks and you do not need the barium test. YAAAAAAAYYYY!!!! I was elated. Here’s the bottom line for my suggestions for those thinking of Cancun. I am looking at this from the perspective that having it done in the US is not a choice for you and you are trying to decide how the Mexico experience would work for you. 1) I would definitely take someone with me. 2) Go to Dr. Perez and make sure the surgery is at the hospital rather than the clinic. I believe this way you will have more nurses who speak English.

OOOOOh! Of course, I knew it should have been obvious! I agree, SO sounds better than boyfriend, it defines your relationship better, but your right, I would have figured a same-sex relationship if you hadn't said "he"...I'll try to get up-to-date with you on the vocabulary. so, what's TMI? hehe (I'm serious, but tell me some other time or I'll just hijack this thread) So, on to the East Coast Bandster Bash!

I ended up with impacted bowel 4 weeks after surgery and was in pain and miserable for a week; I would tell you how my doctor had me fix the situation but it’s gross and TMI. I now religiously take 1/2 cap of miralax with 4 oz of Trop50 every morning. If I miss a dose or don’t go at least every other day, I know it’s going to be problematic.

Ladies.....has anyone had to deal with AFTER SURGERY gas pains, followed by their mental cycle? I will have to because I was not able to choose my surgery date. Was anyone able to choose their date because of this reason? Dealing with recover is a task within itself, however; adding cramps on top of that will not make my recovery any easier. Sorry gents.....TMI!!!!!!