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This happened to me. Did all the testing day prior to surg cancel insurance denial And I did 3 appeals and lost I had proof of weight watchers. Diet pills etc. they wouldn’t take. I have Cigna. 2/10 I am leaving for Mexico ! I have no choice

Hey everyone! ♡ Found this site in my many moments of Googler panic searches. Lol! Decided to join as everyone seems so dang wisdomous. [emoji14] Anywho! My timeline made easy ... ________________ ●Surgery, Thursday, February 2nd, 2023: In the recovering room, I remember being in so much pain I puked up blood some .. they doped me on pain killer and I woke up in the stay room later [emoji38] ________________ ●Friday morning: Started to pee and burp in the recovery room. Walked the halls so much that all the staff Kept commenting on it. Think I did 1/3 a mile that morning Kept all my pills and delicious Protein packs with Gelatin down. Total sarcasm. Taste yuck. All the while I've got major major pain in my right side, belly button area, neck, and shoulders.. they say it's all the gas. Hence I'm walking a lot Then I was released that day around. Haven't pooped yet. ________________ ●Home Friday evening: Even more pain. Face scrunched, pausing in time pain. I guess I hate gas [emoji38]. Lounge in the recliner. I set timers for walking once an hour, and Protein every 15 minutes. Medicine as needed and instructed. Breathing 3x an hour, etc. Still no gas or poop. Developed an itchy back of throat cough that makes my incisions burn like crazy. Lips flaky and dry Sleeve blush. I look cute I guess [emoji8] Nightly shower plus foot compressing kneading machine. ________________ ●Saturday: Finally farted at 3 am! Was such a feat I texted everybody. [emoji1787] proceed to fart like 7x that morning.. Threw up liquid Tylenol. Swapped to pill form. The pain subsides greatly but still sharp pains as it's reforming. Walking is much easier. My throat sore all morning. Guessing the scope? Still no poop. started my dang period. Of all the times. So now pms plus recovery. [emoji22] [emoji24] Nightly shower plus foot compressing kneading machine. ________________ ●Sunday: Everything is about the same. Many said 3rd day is the hardest but I felt much better personally. Perhaps I was all superwoman with pmsing symptoms plus surgery.. that once I was releasing gas I felt great. [emoji38] [emoji1787] Still no pooping. Following regime great. Pop cough drops for annoying itchy throat. Got sugar-free hard candy to suck on. Yay taste. However, feeling more tired. The pains are even sharper when my stomach attacks me out of nowhere though. Can only guess that's the poo forming I'm not sure. Napped for almost 2 hours which threw me off my Protein intake. Chapped flaky lips finally cleared back up. My throat is no longer sore. Nightly shower plus foot compressing kneading machine. Moved to the bed to finally sleep in it. ________________ ●Monday: Today! Getting up from laying on my side burns a little. Felt major pressure on my back door. I POOPED! A little. Looks like a dog kibble soaked in water..But I did it. I was worried I'd have to go in soon if I didn't. Pain overall is greatly subsided. I still get brief sharp center belt pains. Then afterwards I feel like I need to fart. Energy is pretty good so far. Finally able to hit 2500 on the spirometer! About 2hrs later I had a full BM! ________________ Will keep this updated! ((Does anyone share similarities??)) *~☆AnxiousMommy☆~*

Sorry to re-open an old thread but wanted to add some info for those who might search on this topic. I started experiencing this about 5-6 months after a sleeve-to-bypass revision. It's bad enough that my PCP put me on a continuous glucose monitor (Freestyle Libre 3) so I can monitor it and learn my patterns. I'm now 12 months post surgery and the issue is a daily concern. For breakfast I usually only have something light with very low carbs. If I eat any carbs at all at lunch, even a slice of bread, I have a crash about 90 minutes to 2 hours after eating. I've found that if I eat carbs at lunch I can solve the issue if I have a protein bar about 90 minutes after eating. I like the Pure Protein bars with 20g protein and about 180-200 calories, as they work well. I just try to account for these calories in my daily eating plan. I've also used glucose tablets, fruit juice or a piece of candy, but anything high in sugar it just starts a cycle of my glucose bouncing high and low in kind of a ping pong effect. Eating the protein bar settles my glucose and I'm good until dinner. I rarely experience issues after having an evening meal even if it has carbs. This has turned out to be quite challenging to deal with, and is really the only side effect of the surgery that I've experienced. I'm still better off than before the surgery but wish I could find a way to eliminate this issue.

Best of luck with your revision surgery! I did the same thing for the same reasons a year ago. My biggest issue was a hiatal hernia that had caused great pain and difficulty eating. I also had pretty bad reflux. It seemed like recovery was about the same the second time around, although I was seven years older. I did not lose as much weight after the bypass, but probably because I didn't have nearly as much to lose. As has been said, be careful to chew thoroughly and you still might find some foods that cause you challenges for a while. Just go slowly and if something causes issues wait a while before trying it again. The pouch does react differently than the sleeve and it takes a while to learn how to deal with it. Two things that you may or may not experience after the bypass are dumping syndrome (your body reacting to sugars) or reactive hypoglycemia or late dumping (your body overproducing insulin in response to a meal). I was lucky not to experience dumping but do have issues with the reactive hypoglycemia. I noticed that I lost weight for about 3 months after the revision, then stopped. One difference for me this time is that if I gain weight it seems to stay around, where often times with the sleeve I would gain a couple pounds then lose them easily. Not sure whether this means that my metabolism wants to be at a higher set point weight. I didn't really do the revision to lose weight, and I'm still 15-20 pounds lower than when I had the revision, but it is something I've noticed. Also, my experience is that although the surgery helped tremendously with reflux, for me it's still not gone completely. I'm still taking omeprazole daily, and if I eat certain things in the evening I might still have a reflux issue late at night. I can completely control this by not snacking at night.

I had a lower body lift, arm lift and breast revision on January 25, 2023. My Surgeon implants a pain pump (a medical device he invented) in the abdominal area that lasts about 3 days after surgery so I really had much less pain than anticipated. I feel pretty good so I constantly have to remind myself not to do too much and jeopardize my recovery. My main area of soreness are my arms. The itching is the most difficult issue I'm having. My Plastic Surgeon, Dr. John LoMonaco in Houston, TX, co-wrote a book on plastic surgery specifically for bariatric patients. "Bariatric Plastic Surgery: A Guide to Cosmetic Surgery after Weight Loss". I found it on Amazon/Thrift Books and it's a great resource! If you're researching Surgeons, I highly suggest you check him out. He is a truly gifted Surgeon who specializes in Bariatric Patients, and in addition is an excellent human being! Best of Luck!

yep. Normal. You just went through major surgery. It took about two months before I felt completely back to normal, but you get better and better every day. The first couple weeks are the hardest. BUT....they'll soon be over!

I would check with your dr for sure (and report back). I routinely walk over 10k steps (a week post op now) and wonder what will happen when I bring lifting. How have you been feeling post work out?

I have a question to everybody: I am 4 weeks out and already back to exercising (I have been exercising regularly for 2 years and is quite fit for my size). I am instructed to eat no more than 600 calories a day but I am already burning more than that working out (today I burned 1000 calls at orange theory then 400 doing Krav Maga (self defense) class). Is 600 clas enough? I am not hungry and have lost 21 lbs since op day. Thanks!

Well I'm 4 days post op! Zero issues with hydration and protein. 80 0z liquids so far today and 65 grams of protein. Never had "sharp pain" but felt like I had an ab workout from hell that I'm still trying to get over the soreness lol. No nausea. No diarrhea. No leaks. No complications. Had surgery at 10 am the 1st and headed home around 9am the next morning. No issues with my chewable vitamins. No horror stories of gad pains from the lapo. Was belching day of surgery, passing gas by day 3, first BM day 4. Taking miralax each morning, mixed w Gatorade zero. Taking just Tylenol, still have two "pain pills" just in case. Drove my car today! No temp or taste issues. I feel super grateful my luck so far! Down 11.6 lbs but I'm assuming IV fluids weight is alot of that number. I have 6 incisions like the first photo. The bruised one is the one they place the stapler through. Sent from my SM-F721U using BariatricPal mobile app

2/17 here as well!!!! I have a 2 prior day liquid diet and started lean protein, veggies, fruit and water on Feb. 3. I’ll check in with you post surgery.

I hit one for a while but am 45 lbs away from my goal and according to my dr I only have a few more weeks to reach it. He wanted me there by the 6th month and I don’t see it happening… I am so disappointed!

Stick to your pre-op diet best possible. It might be hard, but after surgery all those cravings go away really quickly. Weight loss feels controlled, stable, and predictable. The first week I was tired and had discomfort from gas in my body cavity that felt intense but was gone at the end of week. I spent much on the first week in bed resting. The second week post surgery was my stomach acid week I’d wake up at 5am and feel like I had a belly full of acid. Not super painful, just annoying and that symptom went away at the end of week two. I was back to work and up and about week 2 but sleep early or naps in the afternoon. Week 3 is when my progress allowed me to move on the soft Proteins. What was most noticeable this week is that occasionally I would get extremely dizzy with the room spinning. I realized this was due to seasonings or Condiments with minimal sugars but the first sugars I had experienced since surgery. Those first 2-3 grams of sugar /food iwould cause my my insulin to over compensate and my blood sugar would drop real low. That happened for about a week and a half 1-2 times a day and then my body adjusted and I haven’t experienced it since.   I also experienced a bit of nausea at this time as I tried new foods and learned to slow down eating but never have actually threwup. I’m two months out now. Only remaining symptom is light fatigue and occasional nausea as a reaction to eating something new or eating to fast. But it’s super tolerable and not as bad as it might sound. ALL OF THIS TO SAY: some of the initial symptoms may seem miserable or annoying in the moment while your body is adjusting to your surgery, but understand most of them will pass in a week or so they aren’t there for the long term. Be kind to yourself, allow yourself to rest, and focus on your Protein and hydration above all else. You got this!

Hey hey! I'm 3 days post op. I was in SO MUCH PAIN and still get sharp gas pains today. Not as bad at all but the first two days oooo it hurt. I finally started passing gas about 3 am this morning. Still haven't passed BMs yet though either. Everywhere I read it is normal given our intestines are still waking up from being drugged up! Walk, drink, and wait [emoji3590] *~☆AnxiousMommy☆~*

I had my surgery February 2nd and today is February 5th! Only 3 days postop. The day of surgery barely remember, to be honest, I was released the next day. I've been able to keep my fluids down, only Saturday morning is the one time I've vomited, but that was right after I filled my stomach with pills, and went to drink my protein crap they sent me home with. I can't handle that taste at allllll. I mix it up now, almond milk with the shakes, ramen noodle broth, sugar free water, etc! Sent from my SM-A136U using BariatricPal mobile app

Good luck March surgeries and congrats on taking this step. I was sleeved 12/5. The two biggest comforts to my recovery were an electric heated blanket and sugar free popsicles. The heated blanket really helped soothe the gas discomfort that can be expected in the first week and any soreness. Best of luck.

Yes. I was in bed for most of the week following my surgery taking slightly longer walks each day. I was up and around almost like nothing happened the second week with the exception of the need for a nap in the afternoon or super early bedtime. I’m two months out now and I’m still dealing with some fatigue … I go to bed early and my swim speed is still about 10sec/200yds behind my pre-surgery pace but definitely night and day from the week immediately following surgery. Remember surgery is a major trauma to your body and we heal the most efficiently at rest. Make sure you are getting some walks in but allow yourself the rest :)

My surgery date is February 20th. I have pre existing blood clots and have to inject myself with Epogen. I am on the 2 week liquid diet now. I am not a bug eater to begin with and have done 30 day juice fasts so I am mentally prepared for the two weeks. It's the Epogen that is a doozie. I already have lupus and fibro and this medication makes my bones and muscles hurt and now.I have the chills. 2 doses down 10 to go! Sent from my SM-A326U using BariatricPal mobile app

I went from sleeve to bypass on 12/27 for the same reason. In my experience, the recovery is easier because you've gone through it before. I ate better and more varied foods during the liquid and pureed stages this time around. Know how they tell sleeve patients they need to chew very thoroughly, but how you don't really need to? You definitely, definitely need to with bypass. Small bites chewed to a paste. Cues for fullness change for sleeve, especially once you're 3-4 weeks out. Your sleeve has a valve that opens to release food into your intestine just like a normal stomach. A bypass pouch doesn't have that; as you heal, liquids and purees will move immediately through your pouch. That changes what fullness feels like. For me, I don't seem to have a setting between hungry and overfull anymore. My body isn't really telling me I'm full so I pay a lot of attention to portion size to know when my meal is over. As for vitamins, I just ordered Barimelt brand from Amazon. Their calcium, B complex, and multivitamin+iron. They taste alright.

Good luck to everyone who has their surgery this week!!!

I had a long 8 months to wait for this surgery and thought I was very prepared. I read this forum from back to front. 20 years worth of problems and advice. I didn't know it all though, I didn't know that hormones live in fat cells and when we loose a lot of weight quickly we had all these hormones rushing around our bodies like puberty on steroids. I was having a tough time of it with nausea and vomiting too. I cried for a week and did not know why. I asked for help on here and got it. The answer, too many hormones at a time when I was overwhelmed with trying to do everything right. I think you need anti nausea medication. So, You are not alone. Its normal to feel like you are. As you have realised its big surgery and now you have to get to grips with it, there is no going back. IT WILL GET BETTER. You wont have to chew food like this forever, it just helps your tiny stomach digest your food so that you get the nutrients from it. Your headaches could be from dehydration, its tough to get all the liquids and food in early on, it feels like it will never get better but it does. Just do your very best everyday to get your liquid and protein onboard. That way you will improve every day and doing that will improve your mental health a little Please seek counselling for your eating disorders, hopefully you can find one who understands bariatrics too. OR talk to us on here, you can rage, cry and get these feeling off your chest and it may help a little bit. We don't mind, the ones before us did the same for us. You are not alone

I was sleeved July 2015 but within a few month acid reflux so bad but took till 2020 to get surgeon to run lots of test. Well I had a hernia at the top of my stomach so even swallowing saliva the acid would shoot up into my mouth. Well still thanks to covid had to fight to get surgery done plus fight insurance saying it was 2 nd wls and they refused. Now this was January 2020 but by time insurance would pay half it was covid and hospital wouldn’t allow surgery as was cosmetic. Well my fillings in teeth feel out than I lost 7 teeth and dentist wrote letter to insurance saying it was from stomach acid. So finally got mini bypass on Dec 23,2021. Been a nightmare since because I lost so many more teeth that I have dentures and I had great teeth before surgery pearly white straight from braces years ago to none on top and 4 missing on bottom. Plus 4 more hernias all in intestine and a 1” tear in my intestine landing me in hospital for 6 weeks. I can’t eat much and also afraid what I eat as those 6 weeks in hospital scared the garbage out of me. I was in a medical coma and had 2 surgery’s to fix tear. I’m afraid to do the scope to check since tear happened 3 days after the scope to see if any more hernias.

Good luck next week, looking forward to hearing how you are doing

It does get better. It's normal to have regrets at your current stage. I am one of the very rare bariatric surgery patients to have serious complications. However, after a challenging year, I've lost a total of 115 lbs and my life is totally normal. I eat regular food and have resumed all of my prior activities. A year ago I was in hospital due to peritonitis and sepsis arising out of bariatric revision surgery. I rued my decision to have RNY>RNY revision surgery. I spent 7 weeks in hospital with 3 endoscopy procedures and two open surgeries, followed by 3 weeks in a rehab facility before returning home. I had an open surgical wound for another 3 months, requiring daily dressing changes. I'm lucky to have survived at all, with organs and limbs intact. Because of the endoscopy procedures my pouch and anastomosis were stretched so I now have minimal physical restriction and will have to watch my diet and record my intake for the rest of my life. I accept that and hope to lose more, but will be content if I don't continue to lose. If you read the many stories on this site you will see that regrets pass and the vast majority of us are ultimately happy with our decisions to have surgery. Life does return to normal. You will be able to eat normal food. If you follow an appropriate food plan and learn how to eat differently during this period of restriction you will lose weight and keep it off. Since you have had such meager support, it's up to you to read and learn more about how to make a successful return to normal life minus the excess poundage. There are many excellent books available. You may be able to get some on Amazon.de or have them sent to you by someone in the US (or on Kindle in English). Here are a few of the books I recommend. There are many other excellent books and cookbooks to support you. You may ultimately still need breast reduction surgery, but you will be in better shape before you proceed with it. In the meantime, make the most of the tool you have been provided. Hang in there. Day by day, it will get better.

My BP was SUPER low after bypass for about 2-3 weeks. It hit 85/50 at one point and then lingered around the 95/60 mark for quite a while. It did make me dizzy, but I did not experience the hot flash as far as I remember.

I had serious doubts about getting the gastric sleeve a few days before my surgery. I expressed them to my husband but he thought I was just nervous and wanted to support me, so he urged me to go through with it. I hate it though. I hate my life now and I'm not sure if I will ever not hate it. I have a couple close friends and they did not feel this way 4 weeks post-op like I do. I cry all the time. I'm worried something is wrong and terrified of having to go through any kind of revision surgery. I'm an American living in Germany and it is so difficult to contact my surgeons office and get anyone who speaks enough english to help me. I started my WL journey about 4 years ago when we were stationed in Italy. I was denied a medically necessary breast reduction because my BMI was too high. So I was referred for weight loss guidance.First, I was sent to the base nutritionist (a perfectly in shape airman) who told me I needed to work out more and eat more whole vegetables. I had to work with him for 1+ years before being able to try any WL medications. Unfortunately that was in early 2019, and we all know how the next few years went. We PCS'd to a new base in Germany in 2020 and when I asked about the WL medications I was told that was not an option here. They recommended I carry on with my (now virtual) nutritionist. I wasn't losing any weight and working out would send my back into spasms from my H cups breasts. I was taking a combination of Flexural, Motrin, and Valium for my back spasms, only using the Valium when they were at a level 8 or above pain level (so less than 1 valium a month). Turns out not only could I not get WL meds here, I also could not get a refill on my Valium. I had used too much (less than 1 pill a month for a year). So any weight training was immediately phased out of my working out, which now consisted of only walking. This past summer I went back and told them I really need a breast reduction and if I had to go the WLS route then I was open to that. The provider (who has had WLS themself) was very on board with WLS. I told them that I had already done the nutrition part at my previous base, so he put in the surgical consult referral right away. After I met with the surgeon, who surprise, surprise wanted to operate (surgeons always gonna surgeon), my provider put in the referral for my surgery and stated that all prerequisites had been completed at prior base. Then boom... endoscopy and surgery scheduled. Now all I had said was that I went to nutrition at my previous base and continued it virtually. So I had no idea what other preqs there could be. I had a few meeting with the nutritionist here about the gastric pre/post op diet. That's it. I learned about the full liquid to clear liquid pre-op and clear liquid to full liquid to purees to soft foods diet post op. I was completely unprepared mentally and emotionally for this surgery. Not to mention I had done all my pre-op nutrition with the American on base nutritionist and post-op was with the German hospital nutritionist. They had completely different guidelines (like the Germans wanted me to start soft solids on DAY 5 post op and stop protein shakes immediately). I was in the hospital for 4 days with nurses who spoke very little English, so they would give me shots and pills but never tell me what they were giving me. I know a small amount of German, enough to get by with running errands and what not, so I understood one nurse when after I told her my German was minimal and asked if she could speak English, she got annoyed with me and told me I was never going to be allowed to go home. The patient liaison from base sorted it out and the issue was the hospital nutritionist would not do my consult without an in person translator that I needed to provide and I could not be discharged without that consultation. I felt like I was drowning; I still feel like I'm barely able to tread water now at 4 weeks post-op. My end goal wasn't WL to be skinny. I just wanted a breast reduction. Before surgery I didn't have high blood pressure, diabetes, GERD, sleep apnea, high cholesterol...zero comorbidities. For all intents and purposes I was a healthy fat lady with giant boobs. So post surgery I was/am overwhelmed with regret. There's all these things I feel like I didn't know and wasn't prepared for. Like I knew I was going to be eating smaller portions, but didn't know about the tiny bites and chewing things until its mush in your mouth for the rest of your life. I didn't know that my stomach would be almost too swollen to drink water after surgery and that the german hospital only provided water and broth, no popsicles or jello. So I spent my days in the hospital feeling nauseous all the time because drinking water made me taste blood in my mouth and that made me gag, all while my nurse tisked me and told me I was never going home. No one asked if I had a history of eating disorders (which I do) and how this surgery and diet are going to bring up old thoughts and feelings of self harm and negative self talking. No one weighed out if the possible negative side effects of the surgery were stronger than the positives. Pre surgery I took ZERO daily meds other than a daily vitamin. Now I need an antacid and stool softener to be able to ingest anything other than water and not tear myself in half in the bathroom. I also need daily tylenol because eating anything gives me a massive headache. I don't even want to eat anymore. I spend 30 minutes forcing myself to take tiny bites of some high protein food and then I spend the next hour actively trying not to barf it back up. Without tylenol I am running at 99F, but when I eat it goes up to 100-101. The doctor said its not an emergency unless its 101.5, which is hasn't gotten to yet. And even if it did, what would I do?! The hospital was horrible. My hand still hurts from where the nurse wouldn't flush my IV, so the port go blocked and all he fluid and medicine soaked into the flesh of my hand, making it swell up like Wreck It Ralph. I had an allergic reaction that made me sneeze for days after surgery. No one would offer any help or advice about my sneezing. They told me to eat less, but I wasn't eating anything at all. I just hate this. I hate food. I hate eating. I hate the thought of chewing until something is a mushy paste. I hate life. I just wanted a breast reduction and now I feel like I've had a life reduction.