Search the Community

For me, I have absolutely no shame at all. Unlike others, I do not struggle that I needed this to be healthy. I don't have perfectionist issues and don't feel as if I've let myself down that I didn't do the 'hard' or 'right' way. I do not feel like a failure. And I am very open and outgoing, to the point of shocking people sometimes . All who know me know that TMI does not apply to me! You want info, I'll give you info!! Lol. I am not a private person. That being said, I've told no one but my closest friends and my hubby and my parents - those who I KNOW will support me. I've learned through years of research with weight loss surgery and being on boards like this for years on the Band, GB, etc, that people are, and can be, very negative. Yes, some are supportive and helpful, but there is, unfortunately, a stigma attached with is unfair and wrong. And I did/do not want to deal with people's biases and opinions. I have a co-worker out of another office down south and we all went to the company holiday party last year and she had lost about 100 lbs in a year. A group of us were standing in a circle telling her she looked amazing and she was just glowing. She was so proud and happy. One person asked her, of course, how she did it and before she could open her mouth, one of her close co-workers said derisively, 'Oh, she had weight loss surgery'. Like she had contracted herpes or something. Well, obviously, her face fell, her glow went away, and in one simple statement, that one person completely minimized everything she had done, everything she had struggled with, every work out, every salad vs. doughnut decision we still have to make. It was so wrong and unfair. And yes, we can tell ourselves that those things won't bother us, and that what we know is what matters, but sorry, it's such bullsh*t. It still hurts and it still minimizes our success and what we have done. So I decided I wouldn't give people's ignorance, or jealously, or nay-saying (the one that always says, "oh, so-and-so had that done and GAINED IT ALL BACK") a chance to piss on my parade, or negate my accomplishments. But, I did decide, that if someone overweight asked me, I would completely open and honest with them. To be able to share with them all this wonderful opportunity really is. It's like having the cure for cancer, and when another cancer patient asks you how, you have to tell them! Not quite as extreme, but you know what I mean. You truly WANT to share with someone who knows what struggles and pain you have lived with your whole life. That was my decision....in a nutshell, lol. I can get a little wordy!!

I drank half of the whey Protein shot (2oz)and about 45 minutes later I had the most violent bodily function. Has this happened to anyone else? I was sleeved 10/24, and honestly have not been regular, but this was extreme. Just wondering if this was a fluke or the shots....... Sleeved 10/24/12 Sent from my iPad using VST

I am at the end of my 6th day post-op. I guess the initial high from having the surgery is wearing off, because man, I've been in the dumps all day. I'm tearful. I'm gloomy. I feel sorry for myself because I am STILL on Clear liquids and it's starting to get to me. I think I might have actually felt hunger today . . . which I hadn't felt yet post-op. I think at some point I even regretted my decision. My brain doesn't regret it . . . but my heart is kind of falling apart right now. I also feel like I *should* be feeling better . . . but, honestly, I am still having some pain from the surgery. some of it's gas and some of it is port pain, but it's pain nonetheless. This may be TMI, but I'm also on my time of the month right now and it's really weird -- not like all of my other times of the month. Very strange. I'm trying to focus on how exciting it is right now that I've lost so much weight . . . but my sad little brain can only see my shrinking boobs and very swollen belly. LOL. I know this too shall pass. Thank you for letting me come here and let it out. Reading this forum is the only thing keeping me sane right now.

Okay... TMI warning I know this has come up, but I'm two weeks out, and so far I've only had 2 BMs - both were very difficult and uncomfortable. It's now been several days, and... nothing. I've been taking Colace, but it doesn't seem to be helping. I'm still on liquids... is this normal or should I be concerned? Should I try throwing a couple prunes in the blender with my protein shake? I never had this problem pre-surgery, so I'm not sure what else to do. I'm staying active, walking, getting my water in, etc., but nothing seems to help.

TMI RIGHT BACK AT YOU... I had my period the day of surgery...ugh. I had a tampon in and they told me to take it our...YIKES... They stuck a pad onto a Chuck and I shoved it between my legs. That will be the ONLY time I will be glad my thighs rubbed together....It sayed in place just fine.....LOL

Thanks, Spicy. A girl in the pre-op class said the same thing today. She also said she had the runs from the shake. TMI right.

I had the Loop DS (which is a little different) January 23 2020 (right before the Covid crap storm). From what I remember... I didn't poop a whole lot the first two or three weeks since I was on liquids and then puree and barely ate anything so from my own experience maybe your plane ride will be fairly normal. I did have overactive bowels once I hit stage 3, but hell, when I hit stage 4 I actually got constipation issues (and then learned it was because I was taking too much iron. Went from taking 3 multi's with iron to 2 and then finally down to 1 multi with iron. My family actually tends to hyper absorb iron and I forgot about that so... I actually don't need as much of it and still test in the normal range. Smack dab in the middle of normal at that). They probably won't warn you, but there is the rare chance it'll happen to you too so... 1. I vomited old blood after my surgery. It hurt like hell, but only happened 4 times so... not too bad, I guess. And, 2. Any surgery with malabsorption has a 3% chance of you developing either a wheat allergy or Celiac Disease (I got the wheat allergy). Also, when you do get put onto general diet try to avoid fatty foods because they will likely cause stomach issues (at least they did to me earlier on. And still kinda do that to me now). And if you wait too long to eat your stomach may decide to empty everything in your bowels (I can't be the only one who had this surgery that this happens to. Also, I'm not joking). It's incredibly annoying, but if I have constipation issues I know how to solve it lol. Problem is though that you will be in and out of the bathroom for a few HOURS because your stomach will not settle and my surgeon warned not to take imodium because it can cause bowel blockage and with this surgery you REALLY don't want that. So you'd be stuck at home. Best thing to avoid this is have something like a granola bar next to your bed so you can eat if your stomach wakes you up (mine does. but I'm stupid and ignore it sometimes because I'm tired and I pay for it later... bright side, if you can call it that lol, is that after the day spent in the bathroom you'll drop 2-4 pounds and no, I'm not joking. You really go that much. Or I do, at least. TMI, sorry). Also, regarding needing to be around a bathroom... not necessarily, but make sure you know where it IS. If you need to go then you will get a rumbling in your tummy and you will know when you need to rush to the bathroom. So make sure you do know where it is just in case. Also, the thing they say about never trusting a fart? Don't gamble because you might lose lol (I'd say 80% of the time it's an okay gamble, but the other 20% could be embarrassing if you were in public). Again, sorry for the TMI, but I figure it's info that you'd probably need to know. I'm happy with the surgery I chose, btw and have no regrets (other than wishing I hadn't had to take a med for my Trigeminal Neuralgia that made me gain 18 pounds back and even if I lost half of that since I switched meds I still can't lose the other 9 pounds for the life of me. But really that's not the surgery's fault, it's just my stupid ass TN that decided it was going to crap on my happy parade and send me into absolute agony and force me to take meds that make me gain weight... and yes, I'm still upset about it since the flare is still going on 7 months later and even if it's mostly under control now it's a progressive disorder and I REALLY don't want to have brain surgery AGAIN! Sorry. Rant over). Anyway, I wish you the best and hope everything goes well for you!

Warning TMI -I don't know what kind of inhaled anesthesia I had but I know I had one. A few days after surgery I coughed of this glob of phleem that tasted really "mediciney." It was DISGUSTING!

I have always struggled a bit with constipation, but this surgery is KILLING me. Lol I have been taking meds now for 3 days to try to go. Still nothing. I know maybe TMI but please tell me this is normal?

That is way too funny!! I wouldn't have thought of something cool like that. I have told everyone at work, my family, everyone. So I guess I won't mind talking about it to someone I am dating, if they ask. If they have a problem with it, it's their problem. Sorry for the earlier post, it was probably TMI with the hormone thing, but it is nice to hear from some men going through the same thought processes. Another reason I don't think I can date and get very serious now is that, I have a 6 year old who still sleeps with me. I would sure hate to kick her out just because I got married!!LOL What do you guys and girls do for fun? I am not really going to be into the bar scene anymore. Just can't do that. I feel like I am really boring now. But I guess it comes with having a family. I would like to take my daughter snorkeling in Florida for spring break. I just got my open Water diver scuba certification, so I want to go to FL to scuba dive. Have any of you ever heard of Weeki Wachee? Thats where I would like to go, if I am taking my daughter. If she stays with her gparents, then I may go to cozumel. Any different ideas for kids vacations? Kristi

I agree with the poster Jack. It always helps me to take my time. I've had a "stuck" incident and have had problems since. Today I tried to take a tiny bite of BBQ beef. I chewed and chewed, but it got stuck. Tried the hot coffee trick, no luck. Then tried the "downward dog position" from Yoga and boom, it popped out, along with the coffee and it all landed on my bedroom floor. At that moment my pride and dignity went out the window. DH walks in and sees me bending over with my rear up in the air and this mess on the floor and he looked horrified, nevermind, I will stop here...TMI!

Alyson -wow, you go! What is TMI, by the way? I just subscribed to a CSA as well and I'm really excited about getting locally produced meat and veggies. I was at Kroger today and just for sh!ts and giggles thought I'd ask if they have any organic meat (not that I thought they did), but he said they had chicken (gasp!), so I bought some. I couldn't believe it. We've got a soon to be four year old boy and I used to bike with him a lot on the back of my bike but he's too big for that now, so we're driving a lot of places where we can bike. So I'm going to get one of those bike trailer things - not the one they just sit in and get pulled, but the one that has pedals and a wheel and a seat so they can pedal too.

At 1 year in and 78 pounds down, I am grateful for: 1. Going from an 18 to a 10 and shopping at regular stores in the regular size section. 2. Being a leader in my cycling/spinning class when 10 months ago I couldn't last 5 minutes on the back. 3. Being healthy and active with my husband and kids because I'm not tired all the time. 4. Weighing less than my husband for the first time in our 15 year marriage. 5. This is TMI but....looking down and being able to see what I am doing when I'm shaving my bikini area without the use of mirrors

I think everyone has different bowel experiences. I have not been constipated at all. I am 6 and 1/2 weeks out. I tend to still have loose although not uncontroled or rushing to bathroom. Sorry if that is TMI just wanting to say don't worry loose or constipated it all seems to be normal on here.

dlm59, I don't know sometimes after surgery, your taste buds can change, I used to love chocolate pudding n yesterday, when I try it, it taste horrible to me, yuck!! I will try again sometime next week. The miralax powder is working, I started Wed until Sat..I pour an 17 grams of Miramax onto an 18 ounce Water cup, im going to stopped now for a few days, cuz I don't want to get diarrhea, sorry tmi, lol n I want to go easy on my new stomach Thanks for the congrats, my husband was happy too lol

Could i take a ex-lax vs. Muralax? Instead of muralax everyday?? Has anyone tried exlax I am over 2 months in and unable to poop properly with out murlax seeing this might be a life long thing (not sure) muralx is 10 bucks a bottle... Soooo exlax might be cheaper long term... Has anyone tried exlax? Enmas hurt therfor i dont want to wait tiop i need one ... Once i stop murlax i dont go for up to 4 days before i do an enema and its nothing nice extremely painful soo i just take murlax everyday n i go...[emoji85] So pleaaaaasseee help Sent from my LGLS676 using BariatricPal mobile app

**Warning - possibly TMI** (lol) Okay all you poopers. I had my surgery Monday and no poop for me yet. I'm eating puréed proteins 3x a day. At what point do you all think I should be concerned? Oh, also got another period yesterday, too! Had one on the 7th and another one showed up yesterday. Really?! I don't know if I should be worried about it or not.

Hey guys so this is my first post. I had my sleeve done one week ago on December 20th. It's been quite a journey. I'm 25 and I have been overweight my entire life. It really got bad when I got put on antidepressants when I was 12 (I have anxiety/depression & bipolar disorder.) I tried many different antidepressants and it seems like each and every one increased my appetite. But I was such an anxious and depressed wreck without medication that it just wasn't possible for me to function without it. When I was in middle and high school my mom and I would diet a lot. I was on nutri-system, weight watchers, and many others but I never lost much and I would become discouraged and quit. At times I was resentful of my mom because she was always encouraging me to eat healthy and nagged me when I didn't. My mom has dieted her entire life and struggled with weight issues herself. About 7 or so years ago they told me I was prediabetic and I was put on metformin. I was also put on Byetta and I lost about 30 pounds. I was getting ready to do the lap-band surgery and was doing everything I needed to do to get it when my insurance informed us that they had told us wrong and I wasn't approved for the surgery. I guess I became hopeless and gave up on dieting. In a way though I was also relieved because I don't think I was truly ready for such a big change. Since then I've basically been steadily gaining weight. I've been in college (just graduated) and until recently I haven't really restricted my eating at all. I would eat however much of whatever I wanted all the time and often to the point of being miserably full. I've definitely eaten an entire pizza to myself more than once. I ate when I was happy, when I was sad, when I was celebrating, when I was heartbroken, etc. I knew I was unhealthy and I was ashamed but I guess I tried not to think about it much. In October something just clicked and I knew I couldn't go on like this anymore. I knew I had to do something if I wanted to live a long life, have a healthy pregnancy & have kids someday, play with my kids someday, etc. Losing weight, dieting, and exercising just always seemed pointless because I knew I'd never lose enough to become healthy. I felt I was just too far gone. But I realized that having surgery could help me lose weight and get me to a more manageable weight so that I could exercise and diet and do all the things I always thought were pointless before. I had really good insurance this year, better than ever before and my out of picked price would only be $1000. The price of my insurance is going up at the end of the year and I have no idea what type of insurance I'll have after the new year so if I wanted to get the surgery it had to be before December 31. I attended a seminar and the lady in charge of insurance and the surgeon assured me they'd work with me and I'd be able to get it by the end of the year. I was so ecstatic I burst into tears. A lot of unforeseen complications came up however. My Iron was very low and I needed at least 2 iron infusions. My surgeon got fired. My EGD had irregular results and I had to see a specialist. It seemed like getting the surgery by the end of the year was going to be impossible. But everything fell into place. I was approved by my insurance and they scheduled my surgery for the 28th. Then they moved it up to the 20th. The surgery went well. Waking up was kind of brutal. I was very nauseous and miserable. I had been fasting since midnight the night before and I couldn't have anything to drink until the next day. I was in quite a bit of pain AND SO THIRSTY. Its funny because the most painful parts were things I didn't expect. For example, my incisions didn't hurt much but my back hurt like crazy from the hospital bed. And since I've been home from the hospital the most painful thing I've experienced was my severe constipation (sorry for the TMI but it was the worst). I've been so happy that I was able to get the surgery in time that I haven't experienced much sadness or regret like I've read about most people experiencing for a period after surgery. Today has been the hardest day. I'm still on only liquids for another week until I move onto puréed foods. Today my dad made French fries and I started bawling. I wanted French fries soooooooooo badly. It's been tough watching as my family ate Christmas dinner while I eat Protein shakes and broth. I know it's worth it but sometimes it's so hard. I'm so happy to be where I am and I'm so excited to see and feel my body changing but I know it will be a tough journey which is why I signed up for this website. Also I am off my metformin which I am beyond thrilled about! Anyways, that's been my journey so far. Thanks for reading and I can't wait to hear back from some people! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

My post op info stated by week 5 I could return to sexual activity if I felt up to it. I broke that guideline and week three resumed some activity taking it very slowly. I didn't worry about having an "O" that first week because i was afraid how all the tightening up would feel on my tummy. This week (week 4) things are back to normal, I am not going crazy mind you but things feel normal. I did however leave my tummy covered, those incisions just are not so hot lol. sorry for the tmi

So I got stuck yesterday after a few bites of grilled salmon, and everything came back out pretty violently (without my control... and sorry if this is TMI.). Since then I've had this weird pain inside when I take a deep breath or now even just as I sit here typing. I also didn't feel like eating and only forced myself to drink a Protein shake for some nutrition since I had only had Breakfast all day. I am wondering if this is just my body reacting to what happened, an irritation from the incident, or whether the throwing up did something to my band and moved it out of place or something. Anyone experience something similar? What does it feel like if your band slips and can this happen from such an experience? I'd appreciate any advice you have. Thanks, Jo

Rumor: I haven't had trouble drinking either and feel like i am doing something wrong because i am not only sipping 1 oz per 15 minutes but instead drinking a few ounces at a time when i read on here about people not being able to sip an oz at a time. I am going to chop this up to Water not filling the pouch and just slidding through due to less swelling than some. I get to start Full liquids tomorrow which includes ONLY the following : yogurt, milk, Protein shakes, pudding, soupy grits, and strained cream soup (and clear liquids). I have been on Clear Liquids since Sunday (1 day before surgery). My atkins shake never tasted so good and i am looking forward to some grits tomorrow morning. My only complaints are the tightness, hunger pains, gas, and the diarrhea (TMI). No one told me about the last one. I guess it is a given; liquid in...liquid out. I can wait to start mushies on day 15. It was worth it though. Hope everyone is doing well!

I had the same constipation problem as not my name. Suffered for a week after surgery. TMI time - I could feel the plug through my vaginal wall. Laxatives only caused me to pass new stool around it. I had to clear up the problem as my husband was having brain surgery and I would shift from my surgery recovery to his. I had no pain from the surgery, but had Rx for gabapentine (blocks nerve pain) and a muscle relaxer. The combination of the two got me to pass the plug. I still have occasional problems with constipation and even after 6 months I take a stool softener daily. Second is you don’t know what you’re restriction will be like. While my meal size is substantially smaller than before the sleeve - I eat way more than many people on the board. And I can eat anything except over cooked dried out meat. I joined Noom after the new year to help me eat healthier. This has helped tremendously, A nutritionist visit every three months was not enough to help me eat properly.

Sorry if TMI but I've been having diarrhea several times a day since the day after discharge (Saturday), I put in a call to my doctors office but just wanted to know if this was normal? I'm having trouble with fluids on top if this so I'm afraid I will become dehydrated, please help!

So this may be tmi but my doctor pointed something out to me the other day and I wondered if anyone else had this issue. Even though I'm not anywhere close to goal I have a bunch of hanging skin since I've lost 200 lbs. I just turned 30 and just started dating again. I don't feel comfortable being naked with someone because I feel disgusting. My doctor pointed out I was fine and didn't care about how my body looked when I was much heavier. It really made me stop and think. I don't know why I was more okay being naked when I was heavier than I do now. The only thing I can think of is that I didn't care at all what I looked like before and now I do. I wear make up and I dress nice now. I don't know how to become comfortable enough with my new body and hanging skin to be intimate with someone. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

He's being so negative. He probably has low self esteem. Now that you feel and look good he should be saying things like "dam you look HOTT' or "come here and so i can screw you with that on" lol sorry TMI... i know it sucks cuz its been 2 years but it is not worth it honey. He will bring you down and you are in a roll. You don't need him making you feel bad causing you to probably go grab a burger or maybe he encourages you to eat the wrong things. GIRL LOOK HOW CUTE YOU ARE. Kick him to the curb because there are much more guys waiting for you to come walkign by with your new bathing suit. Good Luck hun and hang in there!!!