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Reactive hypoglycemia is low blood glucose (sugar) that occurs within four hours after eating. Symptoms of reactive hypoglycemiamay include anxiety, fast heartbeat, irritability (feeling very stressed or nervous), shaking, sweating, hunger, dizziness, blurred vision, difficulty thinking and faintness. But, reactive hypoglycemia post–gastric bypass generally can occur in patients one year or more after their bariatric surgery. ... The further out from surgery you are, the more tuned in to your body and reactions to food you become. Since you are 9 days post-op, I suspect this is not the problem. Another possible explanation is that you were diabetic prior to surgery. If that was the case and you were taking blood sugar medicine, it might be time to reduce the amount of medicine your were taking. So you might want to check with your doctor and reset your prescription. I was diabetic prior to surgery and I went off all my prescription medicine the day I left the hospital after surgery. Another possibility is that it is not a blood sugar problem but rather an electrolyte imbalance. Common electrolytes include sodium, calcium, magnesium, and potassium. ... When the amount of electrolytes in your body is too high or too low, you can develop dizziness, cramps, and problems with an irregular heart beat (heart rhythm) or symptoms of mental confusion. This may happen if you don't take in enough fluids daily. Another possibility is dizziness can be caused by a blood clot. Embolism can occur when an embolus, or blood clot, forms around a heart valve that is not working properly, or is released within the arteries to the brain, causing a stroke. The effects of a stroke may include temporary dizziness. However, if the embolus travels to the vestibular system, it can cause severe dizziness. This is a very serious condition. Or there are other possible causes for dizziness and fainting. I would refer to your hospital discharge directions. There should be a page that describes when to contact you surgeon's office. On my discharge directions it states: Chest pain, rapid heartbeat and/or dizziness. Better to be safe than sorry!

I was diagnosed about four years ago. I've been on synthroid ever since. It takes a couple of weeks to get into your system - and you'll need to get your bloodwork checked every month or so until they get you to where you need to be. Mine was triggered after giving birth to my eldest daughter - whom is now 8. My hormones didn't return to normal and my thyroid slowed tremendously. Your thryoid controls your metabolism - which in turn affects your entire body. hair, skin, nails, mental capacity (I got really forgetful), weight, attitude (I turned into a bi***). Seriously I thought I was bi-polar for a while. Your body can produce too much and you'll be hyper or not enough hypo. I was feeling really strange last week - had bad swelling in my ankles and felt light headed/dizzy. I went back to my doctor and they re-tested me. My level was too high. I hadn't had my blood tested in a few years (since it was regulated). Now that I'm 65 pounds down from my original testing - I didn't think of getting it rechecked. They had to lower my medication to get me regulated again. Once you are regulated - don't forget to get that checked yearly (with your physical) - it can change.

Now that you say it, perhaps I was hypo prior as my weight was escalating since November. I thought it was just holiday eating. Hopefully blood work shows this and Doc will up my meds. Thank you for the reminder about meds and calcium. I had been taking a multi Vitamin since my balloon with my synthroid...need to figure out a better routine.

Building on my comments above, if you got along well with your band - it seems like you did - but just had mechanical problems with it, then the sleeve is a good replacement as its' character is similar, being strictly restrictive, but without the foreign object problem potential of the bands. The bypass is a good procedure that has been done for over forty years as a WLS, based upon procedures that are about 140 years old developed for gastric cancer, so it is a well established and understood procedure, both the good and bad. There has been a continuing effort in the industry to develop better procedures (as there should be) and a number have come along, with some remaining and becoming established as viable alternatives (such as the BPD/DS and VSG) and others falling by the wayside, never getting traction (such as the mini-bypass,) and others where the jury is still out (the SIPS/SADI/Loop DS.) The BPD/DS generally works better, being stronger metabolically, but is also technically more challenging to perform, so few surgeons have adopted it; the VSG came out of the DS (the DS is based upon the sleeve, and adds malabsorption) and has established itself as being comparable to the bypass in average performance - overall weight loss and regain resistance - in a more straightforward procedure that has fewer long term compromises for the patient. GERD is the main potential bugaboo with the sleeve, which compares with the bypass's predisposition toward marginal ulcers, dumping and reactive hypoglycemia. The ulcer potential is what presents restrictions on some medications with the bypass, the biggest group being NSAIDs, but there may be others that one encounters in life that will also be off the table, or severely restricted, with a bypass. There is also the blind stomach and upper GI loop with the bypass, which makes those areas more difficult to monitor and evaluate through life (can't just stick an endoscope down there to take a look,) and there are an increasing number of endoscopic treatments for a variety of maladies available these days that would also be off the table. If one needs periodic monitoring in that region, for instance for a history of stomach polyps or family history of some cancers, the bypass becomes much less interesting. Another factor to consider is what I call the "Plan B" case - what to do if things don't work out as expected and things need to be revised? While the bypass is technically reversible, that is rarely done as that in itself is another fairly complicated procedure. The bypass, overall, is something of a dead end procedure in that it is difficult to revise into something else is need be. As weight regain is similarly possible with either the sleeve or the bypass, there isn't much to be done to correct that with the bypass - installing a band over the pouch or tightening up the stoma are the most common revisions, and neither has a very good track record for resolving regain problems. The VSG, on the other hand, can be revised (some would say "completed" into a DS fairly easily as it is the first step in a DS, or it can be revised into an RNY if GERD problems can't be resolved with meds (the RNY is usually reversed if an ulcer problem can't be resolved with meds. So, more options are available with the sleeve should a "plan B' be necessary. These are the reasons why the sleeve is building in popularity; there are good reasons to choose either, but one needs to take a close look at one's circumstances going into it to determine what is the best trade off for one's needs.

I have been lurking forever perhaps years.... Wanting to have the surgery but chicken.... Now.... I am 41 with 2 kids 8 and 11... I am just over 40 BMI Hypo Thyroid Meds... High Cholesterol but the good is high too. I have been seriously battling my weight for about 16 yrs and I am currently heavier than I was 9 months pregnant with my oldest. It has really taken its toll on my health , joints, and mental state. I have Aetna , Managed Choice, I have heard that my coverage is really good. Hoping and praying this will go off without a hitch. I don't want to jump through hoops, but i will if I have too. I have some degernerative disk disease in my lower back so my Chiro wrote me a letter stating that significant weight loss would improve my well being etc. Wish me luck if you have any insight on how all this will play out please let me in on it...... thanks in advance Lor

Hi happy to read your story. I'm a 47 year old "thick girl" also and have been proud of it. Never had a weight problem until I had my daughter in 2004. After that I found out I was hypo thyroid and the weight keep piling on. I kept eating feeling lonely, depressed that nothing I ever did I could lose. Then my meds were finally working for me & my hypothyroidism became "controlled"... I lost 65 pounds on my own but within 6mos to a year, new boyfriend who loves to take me out, cook, and have a good time I gained it all bac plus some... That was 3yrs ago & the scale keeps climbing... Same boyfriend though whose 6'4, 160 pounds lol... Anyway I'm now Type II diabetic, high cholesterol, sleep apnea (on C-pap) machine and high blood pressure because of my weight. I looked into weigh loss surgery a few years ago before I developed medical issues but it terrified me at the informational session. I ran for the hills. I tried my hardest to lose the weight. After yo-yo diet after yo-yo diet, I made another appointment with the bariatric team back in March and now my surgery is June 5th. Next Friday!!! I am so grateful & nerves all over the place. But can't wait to get this weight off and keep it off & off these meds. I'm doing preop diet until my surgery next week but I'm READY!!! Congrats and I'm so happy that you are here. Keep in touch & add me as a friend!

You could always ask for some singular.....it is used both for asthma and allergies. I take it on a daily basis for both asthma and allergies. If it is allergies along with the antibiotic Ketek it should help knock you into shape quickly...... Will say prayers for you to feel better soon so that you can still have your surgery! This is no way professional advise but personal advise from a fellow asthmatic and reactive airway disease person.

Hello new friends. I had a lapband 4 years ago and it has given me trouble from day one. It simply wasn't the best tool for me. My sister had full gastric by-pass the same day. Shes down 100 pounds. (she made the right choice for her). Four years ago I thought lapband would be best for me. My body has not responded regardless of amount of Fluid in I have had port pain- side pain- and choking and vomiting. I recently decided to go forward in my life and after prayer, research and counsel I have decided to have the sleeve. My doctors feel that I will be successful. I also feel that I will be successful, but I have to share that I am not willing to share with friends and co-workers. I don't want to continue to be the person they always greet with A. How you feeling? B. Have you lost weight? C. Wow Your looking great!. The only loss I had before was during the pre-op. After that I started gaining off and on throughout the years due to not able to get meat down (protein) and choking even on the smallest bites and frothing. Ugly story. My doctor shared that when you can't get Protein down, you live on carbs therefore- your body thinks its going to starve so you hold on to all the carbs and the carb results. Needless to say- I went up 25 pounds in 4 years. I just did'nt want to give up on the band. I wanted to be successful so bad. Now, things are different, I am tired of being tired, chaffed, taking blood pressure meds, the arthritis, swelling and uncomfortable in clothes, uncomfortable sitting, standing and walking. I want to be healthy. The same thing I wanted 4 years ago. I am ready to be bandless and to be sleeveful. :wub: MollyBsleeve wants to be sleeve- full very much. I do have a question and hope someone will have the answer for me. If you have Hypo-glycemia how do you keep from having sugar drops when you are so limited on getting nutrition in at the beginning. I had very few sugar drops after surgery but I know when I am weak and can't eat due to stomach virus or such I get sugar drops and it usually takes Peanut Butter - (small spoons at a time to get me back up). Blessing for a new journey for all.

Lady in article sounds like extreme case. Reactive hypoglycemia is one of the forms of "dumping". More likely to happen with RNY but can happen in sleeve but not usually (I get it with sleeve if I eat too much sugary stuff but would never be so bad as to pass out. )

Has anybody tried adding Fiber to their food/shakes? I am 5 weeks post op, approved for all foods, but dont really have room for high fiber foods after getting the Protein in. I would prefer a premptive approach rather than a reactive one as I am worried about treatments "kicking in" during inopertune times like meetings, driving etc. HW 385 SW 359 CW 335 (50lbs down!) Sleeved 10/5/16

Hey folks, I will be following here. I have had reactive hypoglycemia in my past, pancreatitis in 2015 and am the adult child of 2 diabetics, not diabetic yet another reason why I have an upcoming RnY b.s. instead letting my faulty sugar heredity catch up with me So this subject resonates with. me so hard even you can feel the vibration.

This is common even for those who were not diabetic prior to surgery. It is called Reactive Hypoglycemia. Here is a link. https://www.ridgeviewmedical.org/services/bariatric-weight-loss/enewsletter-articles/reactive-hypoglycemia-postgastric-bypass

It definitely sounds like reactive hypoglycemia, but with your meds and medical issues you need to see your doctor. An English muffin and peanut butter has too many carbs in it. To many simple carbs and your blood sugar shoots up then crashes. The crash is going to make you feel horrible. You'll struggle to keep your eyes open, your hands get really shaky and you may start sweating. You feel like you need to eat more carbs, but resist and eat some protein like cheese, nuts, or lunch meat. The best way to manage it is to have 5-6 small meals a day and avoid simple carbs. No bread, Pasta, rice, sugar, or peanut butter with sugar in it.

Hair loss is common, however it's not exactly "hair loss" in the normally used sense. Your hair is thinning because surgery caused your body to trigger a "rest phase" on more hair follicles than would normally be at rest. When they reactivate, they shed the hair they were holding. This appears to be "hair loss" in reality it's just a larger percentage of the normal shed process happening at once due to the surgery. Good news is, the condition is seldom permanent and re-growth typically is complete. It's just going to take some time to get all that hair back to your preferred length. I'd avoid any cosmetic tattooing for at least 6 months to a year to allow your body to get back to normal. I'd hate to hear that you had the tattooing, then your hair grew back and it looks silly or funny now.

hey you are human and it happens, i'm sure you will have lost enough. Being type 1 diabetic having a hypo you will need a high carb boost so you know....don't worry it'll be fine

I'm a diabetic, and yes it does sound very much like how I get when I am having a hypo - I think you should go and get checked out for this as its not good to let it go on. Also buy yourself some dextrose tablets and take 3 or 4 of those when you are feeling like this - if it makes you feel better quickly, you will also have your answer... Take care. this isn't something to be ignored.

I'm not a medical professional, but what you're describing sounds like reactive hypoglycemia. I know there are others on this forum who have dealt with it--try doing a search. Are you hitting your Protein and Fluid goals? Are you limiting starchy foods? If not, that's a place to start.

A few random thoughts, in no particular order - You will likely lose some muscle mass as you lose weight irrespective which procedure you get; the main emphasis in general for WLS is to minimize muscle loss as we lose. Some maintain that it is impossible to build muscle mass while in a caloric deficit (needed to lose that fat) and while I never like to say "never" on such things, I would say that it would be exceptionally rare for it to happen, Typically, we lose what we need to lose to a healthy weight and body composition, and then work on building additional muscle mass if we so desire. The bypass and VSG have very similar weight loss and regain characteristics - there isn't much to choose between them from that aspect. You may lose a bit quicker with the bypass owing to its malabsorption, but will ultimately end up in the same place. The caloric malabsorption of the bypass is a temporary thing - it dissipates after a year or two - so weight maintenance is similar for both; nutritional malabsorption is a long term affair, however. As long as one stays on top of supplements and lab tests, both are good for long term health. The bypass, however, is somewhat fussier in its supplement requirements - minerals are malabsorbed, so one usually needs to supplement iron and calcium more than with a sleeve (and that may not be enough, as the need for iron infusions is usually greater with the bypass than with the sleeve. Iron and calcium is somewhat fussy as they need to be spaced out during the day. it's mostly a matter of establishing the habit, but this will bother some more than others. The sleeve has a predisposition toward GERD or acid reflux, so if one already suffers from this, the bypass is often preferred unless there is a specific identifiable cause that can be corrected during surgery (such as a hiatal hernia.) In contrast, the bypass is predisposed to dumping, reactive hypoglycemia, and marginal ulcers (which precludes the use of NSAIDs such as ibuprofin or aspirin, which are better tolerated by the sleeve.) The sleeve is conceptually a more straightforward, or simpler, procedure. However, it still takes some time and practice for a surgeon to master, so it is well to ensure that a prospective surgeon has performed several hundred of them. In the US, that isn't a big problem these days as most have been doing them for several years, but in other countries where they have been slower to adopt it, this may be a consideration. Owing to their national health policies, Canada is running about five years behind the US on their learning curve, and other countries seem to be similar. There is a recent poster (from AU, IIRC) here who went through a quick revision from an initial sleeve to a bypass within the first week or two, that is likely an example of this. So, if your surgeon is recommending one over the other, it is well to pay attention to them - their recommendation may (or may not) the absolute best thing for you, but it is likely to be the best that they can do for you, or are most comfortable performing on you.

It's up to you. I had the surgery because of my family history. I am perfectly healthy now, but being proactive is better than being reactive once something wrong happens. Plus the younger you are, I imagine, the easier it will be to bounce back after surgery. I'm in my 30s, good health, and bounced back quickly (I know it's not like that for everyone). BTW- This is *not* easy by any means. It's a hard decision, pre-op is hard, post-op is hard, changing habits is hard. But being obese is hard too, so choose your hard! good luck!

If you still have some of the anaesthesia in your body, being in a hot shower or tub can reactivate it and cause you to feel faint.

You may have already done considerable research about RnY. But there are some very significant medical complications and side effects with the RnY that the sleeve doesn't (usually) trigger. For instance, * significant malabsorption and anemia issues requiring very serious Vitamin, mineral and other supplements for the rest of your life (more than with the sleeve) * reactive hypoglycemia -- as many as 72% of RnY (bypass) patients have it; it ain't a minor thing at all. "Reactive hypoglycemia is a late complication affecting up to 72% of RYGB patients although it seems to occur also after SG, in about 3% of the cases." See http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01581801 * more complicated surgery and more surgical complications with RnY than with gastric sleeve That's not to say that there aren't some diagnoses / patients for whom gastric bypass is the better choice. But IMHO you should choose bypass ONLY if you have those diagnoses. The choice between bypass and sleeve is not a simple 6 of one, half-dozen of the other proposition.

The reason hyper vs. hypo confuses me is because nearsighted vs. farsighted sounds backwards to me. I also have a problem with astigmatism. Do you have a stigmatism, or an astigmatism? They should drop the "a" and call it a stigmatism! People also get "fortunately and unfortunately" backwards all the time. Therefore I have a slow thyroid, no confusion! Now I have to read up about how soy will affect my already slow 'roid.

Yes, my blood sugars go down when I am feeling hypoglycemic. Here are my "numbers" that were tested in the hospital and are where I cannot go: Blood sugar of 190 - I begin to shake and have rough hypo symptoms Blood sugar of 170 or below - I pass out (Most do this when blood sugar is 130 or so) So, in my first nutrition meeting today, they said they are sending me to the Joslin Diabetes Hospital, which is luckily right across the street from the hospital I have chosen for my surgery. Hypoglycemia has been a huge problem of mine since I was a kid. Diabetes is new, and all over my family history.

Hi :smile2: I'm scheduled for surgery in January and I'm just curious how those with hypo-thyroidism are making out with their lap-band...? I know how slowly I lose weight NOW with it - (I also have type II Diabetes controlled by metformin). I'd love to hear from all of you that have this thyroid disorder to see how you're making out or how you've made out... Thanks renee

Hi, I also have hypo, I had to crush the meds for the first couple of weeks, and wasn't really sure they were totally effective being crushed. But I did not see or feel any major differences losing weight. I am losing 1-2 pounds a week which for me is fantastic. I'm still very exhausted though, but I guess that will take time. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.