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The BariatricPal Store carries a huge selection of Bariatric friendly Protein drinks at https://store.bariatricpal.com/collections/protein-powders. Here are some popular options: BariatricPal Protein ONE: MultiVitamin, Calcium, Iron, Fiber & Meal Replacement Single Serving Packet - 9 Flavor Variety Pack from https://store.bariatricpal.com/collections/protein-powders/products/bariatricpal-protein-one-multivitamin-calcium-iron-fiber-meal-replacement-single-serving-packet-9-flavor-variety-pack Syntrax Nectar Protein Powder Sampler Variety Bag - All 17 Flavors! from https://store.bariatricpal.com/collections/protein-powders/products/syntrax-nectar-protein-powder-sampler-variety-bag-all-17-flavors GENEPRO Medical Grade Unflavored 30g Protein Powder - 2nd Generation! from https://store.bariatricpal.com/collections/protein-powders/products/genepro-medical-grade-unflavored-30g-protein-powder-2nd-generation Bariatric Advantage HPMR High Protein Meal Replacement - Available in 8 Flavors! from https://store.bariatricpal.com/collections/protein-powders/products/bariatric-advantage-high-protein-meal-replacement Single-Serving Protein Powder Packets - Super Jumbo "60 Flavor" Sampler Pack from https://store.bariatricpal.com/collections/protein-powders/products/single-serving-protein-powder-packets-super-jumbo-60-flavor-sampler-pack

Thanks Taylor and Gotta for the vitamin recommendations. I'm using Bariatric Advantage now (chewables--yuck) and I had seen their soft chews. I was actually interested in grape and watermelon-strawberry, so I think I'll pull the trigger and try one of each. I'll let you know how it goes!

Vitamins- I like the Bariatric Fusion chews and the Barimelts for the multi. I haven’t tried Bariatric Advantage chews in the multi, but love the calcium chews from them.

Hi Recidivist--my NUT gave out a bunch of vitamin samples prior to surgery and I found that for me, the only ones I found doable were the soft chews. I take the black grape Bariatric Advantage multivitamin soft chews (AVOID the orange-flavored ones--ick) and the Pineapple-flavored Iron plus C chews. They start off sweet and then have a sour ending...very strange, really, but they do NOT taste minerally at all. I also take fiber gummies to manage constipation and I think of them as little treats (like gummy bears). If I didn't enjoy the soft chews, I'd go for the gummy versions. My NUT even said Flintstone vitamins were OK for the multivitamin!

I didnt have any set number of visits. Went to the info seminar, consult with surgeon, bariatric nurse, nutritionist, 2 3 hour classes, upper GI, phsyc consult and now that insurance is approved just need a date, some pre-OP tests and meet the surgeon again. All told, 2-3 months assuming I get a June date. Started process in March. Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

So, let's talk vitamins. I originally got tablets, but they were too big for me to swallow. I then got chewables, and they are so disgusting that they literally make me nauseous. Before I try yet another type, I'd like to hear which type of vitamins you all prefer. What about soft chews? Gummies? Quick melts? Powders? Liquids? Is there anything that's not disgusting? By the way, I use Bariatric Advantage brand, which my doctor recommended--but I'm open to other brands.

This is correct. Stick to what your Bariatric Team told you and the stalls will pass. The stalls are frustrating but it all works out in the end.

Hello All- Any NC patients have surgery with Dr. Ellen Carraro with Novant Bariatric in CLT? I am trying to get in to see her for a surgical opinion about my 2011 VSG. I have horrible GERD and major malabsorption issues even though the sleeve isn't supposed to come with that. I am thinking a RNY revision may be necessary to get rid of the GERD. Looking for both the positives and negatives about your experience with Dr. Carraro. Everything I have read has been super positive so I hope she can help me. Thanks in advance! Teachkdz0507

Kanoodlebug, I don't think I would wait go to ER or urgent care. They may be able to at least do xrays to make sure that you have no blockages and put you in contact with a great Bariatric specialist. Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Well, I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, and I'm only 6 weeks post op, but I do have a serious stricture and also have pain in the center of my chest, alond with nause and difficulty swallowing. It may be unusual to have a stricture 4 years out, but you never know. Find a bariatric surgeon to check you out. Hope you feel better soon and hope it is not a stricture. Could also be an ulcer. Do you take NSAIDS? Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

So, I had a horrible nightmare last night. I dreamt that I had an appointment with a surgeon (not my surgeon), a sort of final prep appointment. She did an examination of my abdomen and declared that I wasn't a candidate for surgery and that she would never would have suggested it for me. She said I should never have been in the bariatric program and I wouldn't be allowed to have the surgery. She was really quite mean about it. In the dream I went to my regular surgeon (who didn't look at all like my surgeon) and asked him why he had let me go through 2 years of prep only for me to be disapproved at the last minute. He said that he gets paid for everyone in the program, whether they have surgery or not. When I woke up I was so upset, it felt soooooo real. It was a solid 15 minutes of being awake before it sank in that it was only a dream. You think my poor brain is trying to process my anxiety and nerves? Lol Sent from my SM-G960W using BariatricPal mobile app

Hunger may be reduced with bypass or sleeve. Not disappear. Link below on bariatric 101. https://www.obesitycoverage.com/the-complete-patients-guide-to-bariatric-surgery/ M hunger didn’t disappear. I have real and head hunger. It’s not the same as pre surgery. It’s much more manageable. I feel the sensation of full on smaller meals. Another link for bypass vs the sleeve. https://www.obesitycoverage.com/gastric-bypass-vs-gastric-sleeve-surgery/

I know.. That's what I thought too! Sleeve patients dont get dumping. I have to disclose here that my hubby is a doctor as well, and he is perplexed by my dumping symptoms. He has taken my blood pressure and other observations when I have the symptoms, and they are definitely real. I am drenched in sweat, my heart rate races to over 120, and my blood pressure drops dramatically. I become breathless and dizzy. I have seen our cardiologist and I check out ok with my EKG and echocardiogram. Should I see a new dietician? Am I reacting too much to protein? My husband is not in the field of bariatrics, so I will need to see a new surgeon. But what can they do anyway? Is this what bypass (or RouxnY) patients suffer for ever anyway? Good grief, it's miserable. I am starting to resist going out for meals and getting quite down about it.

You can look up BPD/DS..Right now, I have a gastric stricture. Not one dr has concluded this yet, but extensive research I have done for last week has led me to this conclusion. Newbies in the honeymoon stage hate me. Think I'm being negative...no, being realistic. Do you think my bariatric surgeon told me all of the possible complications - of course not, this is what he does for a living. Luckily, he is a good surgeon so I hope he didn't make my opening too small. Praying for last hour, as it took me, not the three doctors I've seen, to diagnose myself. Even an experienced nurse in a Bariatric Surgeon's office said I was anorexic and needed a good dietician. I am not anorexic! How did I get so fat? And struggle to keep the weight off for 7 years, and suddenly develop anorexia...total nonsense. I am literally getting unable to eat, it nauseates me and I can hardly swallow. My bowels are shutting down.. But I know hospitals can screw up. God, this is overwhelming. So, I'm praying and claiming, I'm right, I'm getting to the right Bariatric Surgeon or right ER doctor, etc. Praying I have no complications from the correction, dilation of the stricture. I may have to have multiple dilations. I may develop a bleed during dilation. Hope you get the drift how complicated this is. Please don't take this the wrong way, but if I asked, May I ask what a DS is, you are not a good candidate for DS. You can fight serious health complications, requiring many hospitalizations, or even death. May not happen, but may. And you cannot be revised from DS, If surgery is available, any responsible surgeon wouldn't do it If you can't lose the weight at this point, get intensive therapy before making such a lifetime commitment. From your pic you don't look that old. This is for the rest of your life!!! Bariatric practices are going to tell you about all of the successes, not the failures. I would be considered a huge success, maintained my weight for 7 years, and now losing....how exciting....wrong...I may be dying. Praying for Divine Intervention. I'm not ready to check out yet.

Hi all, I am still struggling with dumping syndrome side effects. I was sleeved Feb 2018, and have lost 78lbs which I am happy with. I have 20lbs until target weight. So all going well with the weight loss. Once I started back on the diet, following high protein, low carb, low sugar.. My new stomach has struggled. I have daily episodes of diarrhoea (maybe up to 7 or 8 times), heaps of gas and flatulence. I can still only eat maybe 4 or 5 tablespoons of food. But what I'm just exhausted with is 14 months of dumping syndrome. Now everything I read and researched says it doesn't happen to sleeve patients, but can be an issue for gastric bypass patients. At least once a day, about 10 to 15 minutes after eating (protein seems to trigger it), I become hot, sweaty, nauseous and suffer incredible fatigue. I could lay right under the dining table and sleep. I get light-headed,and my heart races. To be honest, I feel awful. And I cannot swallow another thing. I chew my food very slowly, I don't drink with meals, and I am so sick of it. My husband has termed it the bariatric "ice-cream headache". You know, when you think your head is going to blow off because of freezing ice cream.. And then it goes away within 10 minutes or so? After suffering with an episode for about 20-30 minutes, it then resolves back to completely normal. The diarrhoea is frequent and sporadic and is exhausting. Especially trying to keep up the water intake. I would go back and see my surgeon except he retired. (Kind of... There are multiple charges of medical negligence and complaints about him, so he had had to cease working. I dodged a bullet right there!) Is it even a tiny bit possible that he did a bypass rather than a sleeve on me? Are the symptoms I am suffering not associated with a sleeve with anyone else? I just don't really know what to do. I keep thinking it will resolve but 14 months later it is as bad as it was in the first month.

Mine was robotic. There were 2 very experienced surgeons there the entire time. My time in surgery was normal, and my recovery was as well. My team is fantastic. All of their bariatric surgeries are robotic. It allows for greater dexterity and more arms in there working. Personally, I was comforted by that fact, human reactions are pretty darn fallible. Robot arms are steadier. This is from the first study I looked up: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286948/ Robotic vs. standard laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass A systematic review of robotic vs. laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass identified 10 studies, which included results for 2,557 patients (15). The overall major and minor complications did not differ significantly between the robotic and laparoscopic group. The rates for anastomotic leak, bleeding, stricture, and reoperation did not differ significantly.

I never had any pain either. They gave me pain meds in the hospital but I never took any pain meds once I got home. I followed the guidelines they gave me and have had no issues. I did have the “foamy” stuff come up a couple of times in the early stages when restarting solid food due to either eating too fast or too much but otherwise no vomiting or nausea. It doesn’t take too many times of doing that to figure out your bodies cues to slow down! I consider myself to be having a textbook journey and am grateful. I don’t get stressed out if I have a day where I don’t get my protein in. I just do better the next day! I did get hunger back after 4 weeks but it doesn’t take much to make it go away. I used to live on sugar, now I have no desire for sweets or junk food. Now I just look at junk food and think to myself, that’s what got me to the bariatric program in the first place! I’m doing the best I can and so far it’s working. I’m no longer Pre-diabetic and no longer take taking BP meds. Good luck with your journey. It’s ok to being doing great! Your doctor will be proud of you!

From my sayings app; BEFORE ANYTHING TRULY GREAT HAPPENS EVERYTHING FALLS APART! Hi there from another Boomer(73) in Central Ohio. I have gone from 28-30W at 5ft8in to a 20, and teetering on the brink of 18.HW365+, Currently at 224, losing 2-3 lb each week, bariatric clinic is forecasting I will achieve Onderland at or slightly past my one year anniversary on September 5th. Boobs a tragedy like yours , gone from 48 DD to 42C, my goal is to be 175 and a 15 junior, why do I specify that? Because for a BIG Girl I am not overtly busty, I am a Fat Athletic build, my ortho who is also a Sports med specialist says "Impossible" I told him You are looking at one now. Had 2 knee replacements, partly due to fact I caught softball and baseball, because that was the only way my neighborhood could field a team, played center or power forward in basketball, none of my boy cousins would challenge me to horse after age 12,,i was good and I left them in the dust but I was chosen among the first when choosing sides cause nobody wanted me on the other side. I was merciless on court! Now I am an arthritic has-been who shrunk 4 height inches after menopause, I was 6 feet if I didn't flatten down my hair. And I am ambidextrous, so I switch-hit in one kind of ball, and was deadly in layups and,free throws. We were somewhere and one of my kids was playing around with a b-ball, I said give me that basketball, shot from centercourt , sunk it , no rim needed, Whaaat said my offspring, how can you do THAT? Mama had a life before you guys came along, and I still have secrets. I have bat wings and also flying squirrel thighs, maybe they go together? A scrawny turtle neck, I wonder who I will look like when this is all over, I certainly barely resemble myself anymore. Recently I have gone from Looking like my,Mama, her older sister Aunt Grace and today I look like their mother,Grandma Cora. And this is a shock, she never was above 5ft4in even on tippy toes. I just pray I still look passable and don't frighten people in the street too badly. My bit of glory, my rump is going away, I used to be a Baby who had Back, now I have gently rounded butt cheeks. Harder keeping my pants up, they have nothing to hang from anymore! And the stretch marks, low flesh and different ways my body is, those are our battle ribbons, we took our place in a deadly war and We Won!

You are not alone in having a weight gain. I want to kick anyone who says bariatrics is the easy way out. This is work. Getting back on track is overcoming the mental battles. If you are having stress/emotional eating problems, you may want to read some books on this topic or work with a counselor. None of us get to avoid life stresses. Its finding ways to cope without using food. Getting back on track may be hard but, being over weight is hard. Suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Go back to bariatric real food stage basics. Log your food, Stay within your weight loss calories and macros, hydrate and exercise. If you need help with your plan/calories/macros call your dietician for advice. There is a search button on the top left of this forum. Type in weight gain. https://www.bariatricpal.com/search/?q=Weight gain

Although I do not have an exact date just, I know I am going to have surgery towards the end of May or beginning of June 2019. I have been having appointments since the beginning of this year, but I still have not found the right way in which I should tell my Supervisor that I need the time off for surgery? I did not want to say specifically that it is bariatric surgery/weight loss surgery though. I don't feel ashamed by having this surgery, its just that to me this is so personal and I do not feel comfortable with telling anyone at work what I am going to have done. Does anyone have any tips on how I can word it or has anyone been in this same situation? Also, apart of me is wondering if I can actually get the time off needed. I have accrued PTO hours, but Im still figuring out how all of that can work for me. If anyone has any tips or advice or anything in general, I would really appreciate it, this is my first ever surgery and I am new to all of this. Thank you.

Although I do not have an exact date just, I know I am going to have surgery towards the end of May or beginning of June 2019. I have been having appointments since the beginning of this year, but I still have not found the right way in which I should tell my Supervisor that I need the time off for surgery? I did not want to say specifically that it is bariatric surgery/weight loss surgery though. I don't feel ashamed by having this surgery, its just that, to me, this is so personal and I do not feel comfortable with telling anyone at work what I am going to have done. Does anyone have any tips on how I can word it or has anyone been in this same situation? Also, apart of me is wondering if I can actually get the time off needed. I have accrued PTO hours, but Im still figuring out how all of that can work for me. If anyone has any tips or advice or anything in general, I would really appreciate it, this is my first ever surgery and I am new to all of this. Thank you.

Ask your surgeon his/her success rate with the surgery and how many he/she has performed. Your nutritionist will give you sample diet plans. You can pretty much eat anything but carbs or sugar and about 600-800 calories per day. the bariatric plate says to fill a plate with 50% protein, 25% veggies, 25% grains. Eat protein first. If full, stop. If still hungry, eat the veggies. Same thing. Don't eat the grains unless still hungry and eat them last.

They very possibly could have, when YOU are in pain ,often you don't have the Brain God Gave A GOPHER! I finally figured out the source of my very first ulcer, Hector, that I brought into the RNY mix. Ok, I have been " cheery" every since I was a small child, every cold virus visits my lungs and engenders mucus to get rid of. My PCP gave me frequently Capmist, a lovely expectorant, got rid of my lung mucus but had the effect of minimizing if not destroying my gastric mucus layer. At the same time, I was also having arthritis flares, I am the unhappy possessor of both varieties, Osteo and Rheumatoid. Orthopedic surgeon says Take Advil and since you are such a BIG Girl take then every 4-hours! Well both doctors are Graduates of very reputed Colleges of Medicine, did I question THEM? Nope, just kept on until Hector showed up and. nearly chewed a hole through my Gastric Well. When I consulted my. Gastroenterologist, he was almost perforated, and I was on Omeprazole therapy at that time. It DOES NOT WORK for me! Okay fast forward to Surgery last September 5th, that went well but among my post- surgeries is my non-friend Omeprazole, I told them at that time, we are Going to have problems,it isn't going to be Gastroprotective! Please let me take Dexilent which does work for ME! I was told the professional equivalent of "Please shut up and give the meds we have ordered a chance to work, we are the educated and licensed individuals. Give yourself the chance to heal and heal correctly!" Well I am nothing but compliant, I took each med faithfully and at proper intervals. Even opened the Omeprazole capsules and sprinkled it in a teaspoon of unsweetened applesauce, that was the excuse Shannon one of the NP gave me for Omeprazole instead, shoot I could have cut my 60 mg capsules,of Dexilent open and shook it on! Well 2 weeks in I started fussing, told them" I am starting to get,ulcer symptoms again!" been there before, knew WHAT it feels like. And every Man-Jack said I was delusional. I was not giving my new pouch a chance to heal properly, I was being nothing but a pain in the backside! Finally at 6 weeks, I suspect to Shut up my Mouth, they scheduled an Endoscopy, that was October 12th, went peacefully to sleep, when I awoke Dr Noria, my surgeon's Junior Partner, who does their endoscopies because she likes doing them, shook my hand and stated " You were correct, you have a very irritated pouch, 2 ulcers within and severely stenosed, that's why you are frequently having emesis, it's like a pin-hole, only liquids make it through. If that isn't enough you have 5 additional ulcers on the back wall of your jejunem, and those do look wicked, I will be giving you script for Carafate, every 6 hours around,the clock,we will get,on top of this but I was not able to dilate your stomal opening today" well I started having attempts at 2 weeks, a month later, the end of the month of November I was hospitalized for a week because I was malnourished and protein anemic, that's when I received my PICC line, was fed TPN every 12 hours to Give my GI,system a chance to heal and THAt was a 3 months duration, in that time I still was receiving frequent endoscopies, I have now had a lifetime total of 13, 10 with Dr Noria, and now it is believed one more and it should stay open. I would have stented ME before now, started me on Carafate from the start since I was a proven Ulcer Producer, but I don't have the medical licenses, certification of surgical skills, I am only the sufferee, But I see a future, there is hope for me AHEAD and they feel by September I should be over this all. After final endoscopy which should be June or July 4th at latest, at my next visit in August. the final decision will be made, whether further surgical intervention is needed or whether. I have completely become open , functional and ulcerations are healed. But at this point, betting odds are 8 to 5 further surgical repair. I know this was long but now you and all the readers know how things stand with the World's Oldest RNY recipient and No, despite everything in my bumpy path, I DO NOT REGRET MY BARIATRIC surgery, I have a lot more. of Life Achievements Ahead.

And ooh it does sound so good! I am 8 months after, although others at this point are level 3 or 4, which is basically small portions healthy normal foods, due to prolonged stoma stenosis and jujenal ulceration I am just now "testing the waters" . Don't worry , you will not emulate me in THIS, I am So Special I have become a "one of a kind " after all. Liquids and purees become tasteless and boring after month after month, basically stuck,in This Mode ever since my month pre-surgery liver shrink, which was August 2018, the bestest news is 140 pounds down from highest recorded weight, 95 pounds since surgery, and after many bumpy months I think I can see the joys of Onederland ahead, NP at my Bariatric Clinic says I should break the 200 pound barrier at or shortly past my one-year anniversary-- which will be September 7th. And after what I have been through that last 20-25 pounds until goal should do easier. One of the staff says she would be satisfied with 199 or less for ME but I would like to give size 15 Junior and 175 pounds a try, after all I have spent the first 72 years of my life Obese, why not become a Olympic contender and receive my GOLD metal after all!

I am not sure what is meant by "erosion" in this context, but the RNY anastomosis is something of a delicate structure owing to its environment. The part of intestine that the stomach pouch is joined to at that point is not resistant to stomach acid, as the duodenum is (that's the part of intestine immediately downstream of the stomach in the normal anatomy, and is resistant to stomach acid, but is bypassed along with the remnant stomach in the RNY). Consequently, the anastomosis is often under frequent or constant irritation from the acid, and sometimes never completely heals, and can in some cases be a continual source of minor blood loss or weeping. This is also the point where ulcers usually occur (the so-called "marginal ulcers" that are a predisposition of the RNY) and is the origin of the "no-NSAID" rule that permeates the bariatric world. I don't have any particular studies or sightings on this, but it was something we covered in our pre-op education seminars. Techniques do indeed improve over time; for instance, bile reflux used to be relatively common with the bypass, but careful adjustments to the limb lengths seems to have minimized that. And, when my wife and I were first looking into WLS some 15-16 years ago, we found references to the matter that endoscopic dilations of the stoma had become so common that they ceased being considered a "complication", but just SOP; that doesn't seem to be that common these days as I have seen very few references to that being needed, so they seemed to have figured out the "just right" sizing compromise for it. We tend not to get the whole story when we run into these occasional problem cases, either in person or online - were they doing everything "right" or were they getting lax on some of the rules (this is not helped by many practices that fail to distinguish between early post op rules for good weight loss and "forever" rules to ensure proper long term health and function,) - did the patients, for example, get tired of ineffective pain relief for their arthritis and start hitting on the Naproxen (an NSAID) for better results?