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What can I expect to feel like the first week post op?
Bypass2Freedom replied to AndreaJD's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Hey! So I had my surgery back in May - how are you feeling about your upcoming surgery? My first week was interesting for sure. I did feel overwhelmed at first trying to work out what I could and could not "eat" (I use that term loosely as it was the liquid stage 🤣), and I was over-thinking everything. I was trying to take all my vitamins, drink all the water I needed to, and also drink the "food" I could have. Plus just adjusting to how my body FELT whilst I was just doing all of these things. I'd never had surgery before, so it really did feel a bit surreal, but honestly it was not as bad as I thought it would be. My pain was very minimal, and I did quickly settle into a routine of things. Constipation post-op was a bit of an issue, so I'd advise maybe picking up some stuff to help alleviate this before you have surgery, just so you are prepared if it is an issue! But other than this, I haven't actually had any issues. My advice would be to not do what I did, and don't try to do it all at once. Focus on one little thing at a time. If you need rest, then rest, and drink when you can so that you are keeping your body hydrated. I was genuinely surprised at how quickly everything felt normal. Just take this time to slow down, and be mindful of how your body feels, and new sensations you may come across in terms of how eating/drinking feels etc. You'll be absolutely fine though! And this site is amazing for advice, and just to talk, so always reach out & good luck! I look forward to following your journey! -
Gastric sleeve outfit home
SleeveToBypass2023 replied to Mandapanda@'s topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Both times I wore leggings (soft with a soft waist) and a loose top. I wore it there and just wore the same thing home. I just wanted to make sure it was soft and loose. -
London Baby!
SleeveToBypass2023 replied to MrsFitz's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
That sounds so wonderful!!! Have a fantastic time, you deserve it. And you're right, we all deserve to have time with the one we love and not worry about anything else. I call it "the bubble". For this amount of time, nothing but hubby and I are allowed in our bubble. All the stress and BS will still be there later, but right now, in this time and in this bubble, it's just me and my love. Nobody and nothing is allowed to bother us in our bubble. YAY on your NSV!!!! The first time I was able to paint my toe nails without straining or getting out of breath, I literally almost cried. I couldn't believe it!!! So being able to do that is definitely a victory worth celebrating. As for leggings, I still wear them all the time (when I'm not in scrubs for work lol) I love them. They're super comfy, and the smaller sizes have the cutest colors, styles, and designs. And like @summerseeker said, they hold my wobbly loose skin just enough lol Something @catwoman7 said really struck me. She said "not because I'm fat, because I'm not any more" and I stopped right there because HOLY CRAP, I'm not fat anymore!!! Sometimes I forget that. I don't know why that resonated with me so much, but it really hit me that I'M NOT FAT ANYMORE. I know you're going to hit your goals. We all have our ups and downs, and this journey is not easy and not for the faint of heart. But if you do it, and you really make the changes and do the work, it's BEAUTIFUL on the other side. And I know you'll get there. But for right now, put everything else out of your mind, get pampered, get in your bubble with your hunny, and have an awesome time in London ❤️ -
Vomiting for hours after food
summerseeker replied to DaisyJaine's topic in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
Oh my I am so sorry this is happening to you. I had at least 6 months of this, day in, day out. They tested me for a stricture but found my stitch line was swollen and inflamed and although I could swallow liquids slowly, solids were difficult. Now I still take Lansoprazole twice a day and antacid when I need it. It sucks to be the 1% that has difficulties. I found that artificial sugars, some protein substitutes, rich meats and iron in the vitamins were not for me. I didn't reach my liquid or protein goals but my team were sympathetic and monitored me. I was told to focus on drinking. I tried to eat 6 - 8 tiny meals a day. Every time I had a day of vomiting I would go back a step to liquids. I had a lot of thin soups, tiny slivers of cheese and milk. I tried to eat as clean as I could which wasn't hard with the tiny little amounts of food I could eat. I am occasionally sick now but its because I overeat, forget not to eat grape skins or eat too fast. Now I just give my stomach a days rest and continue. I am used to the feeling of pre vomit and I will usually deal with it. For some reason a popsicle sometimes works -
Gastric sleeve outfit home
Arabesque replied to Mandapanda@'s topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I wore home what I wore to the hospital: a loose thigh length top & pull on trousers with elastine. The pants fit snuggly (not tight) a little above my wound line & I actually found them supportive around/against the wound line. Also knew they’d be easy to fold down if they did put too much pressure on the wounds & the top was long enough to cover the folded waist. My wounds were in line with my belly button but some sit below the belly button - you never know where they’ll be exactly. If you’re worried I’d go the dress route. All the best with your surgery. -
Gastric sleeve outfit home
NickelChip replied to Mandapanda@'s topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Hey there, I had gastric bypass but it's basically the same thing for incisions. I suggest something loose and comfy. My surgery was in the winter, so I wore elastic waistband pajama bottoms and a loose top. You may be a bit puffy from IV fluids and surgical gas so expect to feel bloated and not wanting anything tight on your abdomen. If I were choosing an outfit for summertime, I would probably go for a sundress with no waistband or light pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. I actually wore my clothing in and back home because I arrived first thing in the morning and immediately changed into the hospital gown, which I wore until I was discharged, so my arrival clothing was clean. Just brought underwear, socks, and very basic toiletries. You won't need much, but I do suggest chapstick because dry lips is a real problem. Some hand lotion, too. I brought my Kindle and never turned it on. -
Phase 3 Gastric Sleeve
Arabesque replied to Lulu60's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
If you’re in the purée stage whatever you eat should be a thick but still a bit loose in texture or dollopy like yoghurt. If you want to blend or grind meat add gravy or stock to get the texture thin enough. Minced meats with a sauce or gravy like meat loaf, meat balls or bolognese without pasta are great in soft food. If you’re allowed potatoes they should be mashed. I lived on yoghurt, instant rolled oats, scrambled eggs, thicker blended soups during that stage as I found puréed meats unpalatable. Did even eat baby food twice. A lot of people eat egg salad (mashed eggs & mayo) in this stage. Think of a baby transitioning from milk (liquids) to thin cereals like Farex, baby food, etc. (purées) then soft foods like slow cooked stews, minced meat dishes, sausage, etc. Congrats on your weight loss so far. -
I can eat all fruits but still struggle with skins. Grape skins especially give me the foamies. I also peel apples, tomatoes and peaches/nectarines. TBH skin really scares me, I have had so many vomiting episodes. The first fruits I tried were raspberries and watermelon and are still my most favourites. I eat fruit with my yogurt in a morning and as an afternoon snack, watermelon or a low cal berry. Some evenings I have a peeled and cored apple with cheese.
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Dumping is fairly uncommon, like 30% of patients I believe, so odds are in your favor it won't happen to you. I've had my heart race for several minutes from what could probably count as dumping, but that was admittedly after having something very high in refined sugar that I had no business eating in the first place. Fruit has never been an issue in that way, but it can be an issue for me with the skin or texture as my stomach can be very picky about that. I have been sick from a peach with the skin on, as well as from a piece of thawed frozen mango that was a bit tough. But honestly, you just have to give it a try and remember that dumping is something that, while it could be a little unpleasant, isn't really bad enough to be nervous about for the vast majority of people.
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I just got my labs and EKG today. I’m really hoping that’s okay because the lady put four of the little sticky things under one of my boobs. They have always put them on both sides so that was weird. The dr looked though and didn’t say it was bad or anything. I actually just had one like a month ago but they said they wanted the labs to be within a month of the surgery so I said let’s just do it again just in case. I don’t want anything to push my surgery date. Im trying to get back into the habit of taking my vitamins too. It’s really hard to remember them. I take the procare health multi and bariatric advantage calcium chews but i did try the bariatric pal ones and they aren’t bad. I just want to ask the NP about them before I make that switch. I bought the bariatric advantage chewable multi for the first month. That’s awesome to hear about the smoking. I quit a while ago and it’s definitely an accomplishment. I remember it being kinda freeing that it was one less thing I always had to keep track of and worry about. And now I don’t now how I ever was a smoker. I smell it and it takes my breath. It’s so weird. I meet with the NP tomorrow to verify but I think my liver shrink diet is supposed to be a week long. If so, that means next week I will do a low carb diet to prepare. That’s not required but I just don’t want to go from eating like I do now to the LSD. If I’m correct, I will be starting that process this Tuesday. I am trying to tie up all my loose ends by next week. I don’t want to have anything extra to do the week I am on the liver shrink diet. I figure I will take that time to get my house in order. Every surgery I ever had I sit here and look around at what I could be doing if I wasn’t physically restricted so I hope to get it all done this time.
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Oh my gosh, me too! But: We got this!! I'm going to get my lab work done next week and I know it should look really good with as long a path I've been on to get to this point and all the vitamins I've been taking! I've been taking the Barimelts multi w/iron (dissolved crazy easily, best I've found) the Calcium from BariatricPal every other day, and some Multi-collagen Peptides w/Probiotics for like, two months. I also had to quit smoking cigarettes and with the help of Chantix I've managed to do it, and just passed my fourth month of not smoking! I use the Baritastic app for my food tracking. There's SO much to the process! I'm nervous and wondering if I'm going to end up feeling like a stranger in my own skin but I'm trying to keep focusing on my reasons for doing all of this - better health, longer life, better quality of life, etc. Feel free to message me; I can be bad about checking my emails but I found an app called Finch that is helping me keep track of everything, thank goodness, and reminds me to CHECK my email. Sorry for the delayed response!
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It won't cure the arthritic knees and pain but it will help as you will have much less weight to be walking around with so less pressure on them. I have no cartilage in either knee and have been getting steroid injections and also hyaluronic to cushion the joints and they only last a while. Doctors told me I needed both knees replaced at a later date but I had to loose weight first and my knees need to thin down more (as I have bad lymphedema). I can already feel the difference now with the weight loss, I can walk further and faster without much pain. Whereas before I would not be able to sleep at night due to knee pain. I will get another round of injections in September before my holidays just to be on the safe side and will see what the ortho says about my knees (I don't think they have slimmed down enough yet) and I think my knees have a few more years in them.
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Ugh, I definitely get the foamies from time to time (nice to know there's a word for it!) but a few times it's developed into all-around nastiness: sweating so badly my skin is wet and I soak all my clothes, bad cramping, concurrent vomiting & diarrhea, dizziness, and basically wanting to die LOL. I just assumed it was dumping, but none of those times have occurred with sugar -- and I'm pretty sure none of them were due to high fat content cause I've been ridiculously careful about that. (Other than the chicken, which was thighs cooked with skin on -- removed before eating though.) That said, most of the time it's also been with food cooked in a restaurant so who knows what kind of things they put on that they just weren't admitting too. At this point, I'm too scared to eat out other than at a few restaurants I know I can trust. :S
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What do you wish you had done BEFORE your gastric bypass surgery to get ready?
SleeveToBypass2023 replied to DianeF's topic in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
Don't overthink it. We tend to want to over-prepare, pack too much, stock up way too much, read every single thing we see online and then obsess about any negative thing we see. You're ready. You've finished all the hurdles, you've been approved, you have the date. There's not a lot you can do 2 months before your surgery. Maybe start looking at different food tracking apps to see which feels the most user friendly to you. Look through youtube to find some good GENTLE workouts for the first 6 weeks post op and save them to a private playlist for yourself. Make sure you have some loose clothing for after surgery. I bought one of those big, cure jugs that is 64fl oz so it would be easy to measure how much water and fluids I was taking in (admittedly, at first I was barely getting in 3-4oz at a time, but I quickly worked my way up and was glad I had that because it was cute and convenient). Make sure you have plenty of Miralax on hand and possibly, if things are really plugged up, a laxative/stool softener combo. And I made sure when I was drinking broth, it was bone broth because it has more protein. That's really it. -
I am sure you have just reached a stall period, don't let it worry you, EVERYONE has gone through it, or is going through it, as it is raised as a topic here every few days it feels like. Your body is trying to adjust to the new you, new routines etc. so even if the scale has stalled (or even goes up a bit) you may be loosing inches etc. Over the last year I have had a few stalls and it is frustrating but part of the process. It also gets harder/slower as you get closer to your natural weight as there is less to loose. When it has happened I have upped my exercise (an extra walk or longer walk, more time in the pool etc.) to try and give the body a little nudge to get loosing again not sure if it helps or not but makes me feel better. Try not to stress and just keep up the positive changes you have made. It is seriously not that long into this part of your journey.
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Dumping Syndrome is Dumping!
learn2cook replied to Lilia_90's topic in Gastric Sleeve Surgery Forums
I dump and my first sensation is feeling loopy, then I see bright spots that don’t go away, they get worse. Then the sweats and shaking starts, and if I haven’t fixed myself with some protein then it turns into vomit/diarrhea town. Others could feel different, but the clue to me is you saying your “skin was crawling.” If it’s food allergy related, it’s very serious. I wish you the best! -
Hellooooooo So I'm one week shy of being 7 months post op, and for those 7 months I have avoided sugar like the plague except for some rare occasions where I was traveling and the European country I was in was famous for desserts that I would order and only have a miniscule bite of. On one occasion I got excited and had 3 bites and thought I was fine. 10 minutes later I started feeling extremely nauseous that I was almost dry heaving, I started walking back to the hotel and after 1 kilometer I felt much better so I guessed that was dumping! Not fun Yikes! So fast forward this week, and it is that time of the month and I was craving some chocolate, so I picked a 72% dark chocolate square which I had with a few roasted cashews (to manage the blood sugar spike) and guess what? 10 minutes later I am extremely nauseous and queasy that my skin was crawling. I was at my desk and got up and walked back and forth but to no success. It lasted a good half an hour/40 minutes and it only fully subsided midway through my Pilates class. Does this happen to anyone? The chocolate square barely had any sugar! Will I ever be able to have a little fun? A tiny slice of cake for my birthday? Ice cream? Anything? I don't crave sugar anymore but I like to taste things and take bites here and there especially when I'm travelling/out for a nice meal (which is often).
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Nothing like completely avoiding the digestive tract. I love the convenience of only having to change the patch twice a week. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get my script filled - supply dramas sigh! My GP swapped me to a gel & a progesterone pill for two months hoping the patch would be available by then & also hoping I’d absorb enough progesterone to cover me for the short term. They’re hoping end of August for the patch to be back which means I’ll need four months of the gel & tablet. Unexpected effect of being smaller was I was told to rub the gel into my upper arm. Tried that but I’d had to rub it over my entire arm because of the amount of gel & it still wasn’t enough skin. I now rub it all over my butt & tummy. That’s only 1 pump. I’d be rubbing it all over my body if it was two pumps. Lol! PS I found eucalyptus oil really great at removing the sticky residue left on my skin from the patch.
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Holiday Clothes Shopping
summerseeker replied to Bypass2Freedom's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
Its hot as h**l in Greece in September. If you are going Self catering then you will not need as much as if you are in a Hotel. I took a huge case full for 3 weeks in May and wore 3 swimsuits and 3 dresses and 3 tops/dresses for over my costume. I wear swim dresses and feel confident in them. The rest I didn't wear for the most part. Lesson learned for me. Its a very laid back country and unless you are going in a 5* hotel, you will be ok dressed down. Shorts are what everyone wears. Loose dresses look great and are practical. I would buy a size down. I went down a size every 2 months. -
Holiday Clothes Shopping
MrsFitz replied to Bypass2Freedom's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
Do you have any idea of the kinds of temperatures you could be looking at so you can plan around that? We generally go to Cyprus in mid September and the temps can be mid-40s. Have a look at Superdrug for Lanacane anti-chafing gel https://www.superdrug.com/health/medicated-skin/medicated-skin-treatments/lanacane-anti-chafing-gel-28g/p/687900 I would also have a look for some mozzie repellent too as you don’t want to be bitten to death! Lots of stores are having a sale now, especially as our summer has been a complete washout. Have a look at Roman - 60% off sale plus use the code EPIC for a further 15% off everything (got to love a discount code 😉) The Next sale began at the weekend, Tu has up to 50% off brands, George (Asda) have their sale on plus Debenhams always have some sort of sale on! Thin, floaty things are always a winner as already mentioned by others. Thin tops and loose shorts are good for daytime, just be careful on sitting on hot, plastic seating outside cafes etc as you can end up leaving the skin off the back of your thighs behind (definitely speaking from experience with that one 🙄) A hat is a must as well as some high factor sun cream to begin with. Tescos dry oil is pretty good - you don’t end up feeling horribly sticky with it; Boots have sun cream and after sun that has insect repellent already in and doesn’t stink. A pack of one a day over the counter antihistamines are really useful if you suffer from prickly heat (or if you don’t normally but start with it on holiday) Take it with you as it’s generally expensive abroad, same with paracetamol. More importantly, have a totally wonderful time and revel in your fantastic weight loss to date! -
Holiday Clothes Shopping
FifiLux replied to Bypass2Freedom's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
I know the autumn styles will be in the shops closer to when you go so it could be difficult to find summer clothes by then but if you can wait a few weeks I would as you could drop a couple of sizes before your trip. If you can't wait you could get a summer dress (or three) in a size or two smaller than you are now and then have some belts if the style suits that way you can cinch them in if needed. Another thing is drawstring loose trousers as that way even as your waist shrinks you can adjust the waistband. I got lovely ones in M&S in both navy and black and even though they are the bit too big now they have a nice summer flow to them. -
Holiday Clothes Shopping
NickelChip replied to Bypass2Freedom's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
Do you like dresses? I adore dresses for warm weather. I suggest getting some loose, flowing types and a few light cardigans or those scarf-life draping kimono/shawl thingies for if you go inside somewhere that is cooler or want to cover your arms. I would probably take measurements to match up to your size on online size charts and try ordering or shopping in mid-August. You might get some things on end-of-season clearance. Actually, one of my favorite tricks is to find one dress I like and buy it in 3 or 4 neutral colors, and then top it with different accessories that I can use at any dress size. Three different kimonos will make a single dress look like you have three. -
What’s for dinner? The non cooks version.
FifiLux replied to ShoppGirl's topic in Food and Nutrition
Other than the mozzarella it sounds nice to me though I am jealous, I have found since my op I can't chew/break down sundried tomatoes and they seem to stick in my throat, no issue with regular tomatoes. Same with grapes, not sure if it is a skin thing but I miss them both as used to love including the tomatoes in a salad and snacking on frozen grapes. -
I didn’t loose any weight with the liquid diet because I had already been following the bariatric plan for a whole year before the surgery so my body was used to being calorie restricted. The salt levels sound kind of high… like others have said. Don’t be surprised if you gain weight while in hospital because the IV fluids are full of salt too. Just keep drinking water and it will come off. Best of luck with your recovery!
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When did your weightloss stop ?
learn2cook replied to Star1234's topic in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
I kept loosing until the 2 year 3 month mark. I found the last year of it needed more attention from me. I still need to be mindful, not obsessed, but mindful. If you make the effort to keep your good habits up the scale will go down and stay down.
