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As you are early out contact a doctor at your surgery, go to the A&E or ring 111. You need to know what is going on. Its tough when you are having surgery in a different country as you are not able to get their direct input . Unfortunately they are not bariatric surgeons but they will check for symptoms It could be as simple as the Covid or a reaction to the sugars in the shakes. Also tomato soup is very acidic and could hurt your new tummy, try strained chicken soup or diluted bovril stock cubes. My Uk surgeon believes in plain skimmed milk not shakes. Its cheaper too. Just a thought ... How are your bowel movements ? Sorry TMI, I know but we speak freely on here as we have all been there done that Please feel free to ask me anything

I've seen a few posts on this on here. And I found this, it's an interesting read. https://www.barilife.com/blog/secret-complication-after-bariatric-surgery-2/

My clear liquid diet only lasted 3 days, and I was in the hospital for 2.5 of those, but I had broth, jell-o, and herbal tea. I've been on a cloudy liquid diet for almost a week now (with 6 days left to go until 'soft' stage), and I've had... Imagine brand organic broccoli soup (pureed) Imagine brand portobello mushroom soup (also pureed) Trader Joe's butternut squash soup (same) Bariatric Fusion meal-replacement protein shakes in flavors cappuccino, chocolate, & strawberry-banana Orgain clean protein shakes (in cartons) and to drink, besides the protein shakes... Hint flavored water (uncarbonated, unsweetened) TJ rooibos blood orange tea (herbal) Vitamin Water Zero (limited to 1/day) ...and lots of plain filtered water, of course

I had revision at age 73, 30 years after my RNY. I was on the bariatric clinic’s program for eight months prior to the revision surgery. I lost 70 pounds pre-surgery by cutting out all sugar, flour, white potatoes, rice, and processed foods. I’ve lost a total of 106 pounds to date. There were complications from the revision surgery so it did not result in any consumption restrictions. The additional weight loss is due to sticking with the plan above. I encourage you to do some reading about sugar and food addiction. I recommend the following books. Food junkies: recovery from food addiction, by Vera Tarman Why Diets Fail (because you’re addicted to sugar), by Nicole Avena & John Talbot Weight loss surgery does not treat food addiction, by Connie Stapleton

I posted these recently in another thread, but here are some recent studies that investigated how safe bariatric surgery is for seniors: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11695-019-03718-6 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550728922001605 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ggi.12527 https://europepmc.org/article/med/30175564 The cliff's notes version is that the surgery is actually safer than staying obese. As others pointed out, complications can happen, but obesity is a lot more likely to kill you than the surgery. To be safe, make sure the bariatric center you are going to is ASMBS accredited and that your surgeon is an ASMBS Fellow. Ask about their experience with senior patients and about mortality risk for you based on any underlying health conditions you have. They can run a risk stratification and explain the specific risks to you.

Literally the only thing that I wish they would have told me is that there is a 3% chance that you can develop a wheat allergy or celiac disease with any surgery that has malabsorption. I developed a wheat allergy and it completely blindsided me. I have crappy luck so had I known I would have expected it. Still would have done the surgery, but I would have expected it (not joking about the crappy luck. I had an MVD in 2017 and there is only a 1% chance of getting meningitis and guess what? I got meningitis. Yeah, my luck is crap). Also the hilarity of me having to call the bariatric surgeon because I was having chronic constipation and their confusion because they'd never had a patient with my surgery have that issue as it's generally the opposite (diarrhea) made my day. I laughed so much when the doctor had trouble processing that (I absorb iron really, really, really well so the fact that I was taking 3 iron multi's is what caused that issue. I now take 1 iron multi and 2 non-iron multi's and my iron level is the high side of normal... yeah). Also, keep in mind that everyone loses at their own pace and try not to compare yourself to others. You'll get there. It may be slower than someone else that started at the same time, but you could actually lose more than them in the end. You could also be a chronic staller (that was me. I've never met anyone who stalled as much as me) and that is incredibly frustrating (oh, the stress and frustration!), but it happens. And yes, even if you're not a chronic staller, stalls DO happen and are 100% normal (generally can last up to 3 weeks. Though some can last longer as I had a few that lasted in the 40 day range. No joke.).

Hello! I just had VSG surgery on July 11th, so I guess that makes me 7 weeks post-op! I'm currently in the "Mashed Food" phase until September 12th when I can start "Easy to Chew Foods". I like that mashed food is a bit more like real food than liquid or pureed, but it still feels really limiting. I don't mind eating small portions, but everything I eat basically has to be refrigerated and I can't wait to get to a phase, maybe? where I can eat some convenience foods, aka throw something in my purse in case I get hungry or I need to eat and a restaurant doesn't have what I need. Anyway, you can see most of my details in my profile, but I can't fill out some of it, which is weird. I'm not pre-op obviously. Oh I know...I lost 30 lbs prepping for surgery by walking, eating smaller portions and practicing the 30 minute waiting and such, oh and more water and no diet soda. Since my surgery I've lost another 35 in the last 7 weeks, I'd say that's not bad! My most recent bariatric nurse appointment was positive and she said that I'm ahead of the curve. I think I'm losing weight faster because I'm absolutely horrified by vomiting and I may hold back a bit because I don't want to get sick. My local friends that have had WLS said if I've gotten this far without vomit, I've probably done a good job following the rules and its not going to happen to me. I do once in awhile get the pressure in my chest, but then I either don't eat that thing again for a few more weeks or I eat a portion of less than 1/4c. Has anybody come up with any "life saving" types of recipes or convenience foods that they like???

Hello... I am not well at all. I was in the hospital twice this past week. Each time I eat now I get pain in my mid/left abdomen that is quite severe. My stool is also almost white. It was yellow and horrible...I started eating beans at each meal which helped...but now my stool looks almost white. I am exhausted after eating... and at about 2-3 hours after each meal, I am having severe hypoglycemia. I don't know who to turn to for help. I would give anything to have a reversal of this surgery. When I went to the hospital, my Lipase test was elevated. They didn't seem concerned at all. They did a CT scan which showed nothing. I switched to the capsules of bariatric vitamins. They seem to be tolerated ok. I also had another bladder infection... I just finished my antibiotics, but I am pretty sure the infection is still there. I also had a bad SVT arrythmia at the hosptial. I feel like all systems in my body are shutting down. My surgery was June 29th. I am scared.

I'm having my last pre-surgery visit with my bariatric surgery team this week. Because that's how I roll, I have an extensive list questions so far. I'm curious if there are any questions you wish you'd asked your team, but didn't? What surprises did you encounter? What do you wish you'd known ahead of time about the surgical process, your recovery, or your weight loss? Thanks all!

My providers insist on chewable vitamins at first (for how long, I can't recall). I have several Rx that are capsules, so I'm not sure why, but I trust them and do what they say. My forms: multi - chewable tablet calcium citrate - soft chew B12 - sublingual tablet My multis (Bariatric Fusion cherry) taste nasty... I will switch to a 1-a-day capsule as soon as my doctors give the OK.

Bariatric chewable vitamins might be easier for you this early post op.

I agree. While you're waiting for your appointment, you could start back on a bariatric multivitamin once a day and calcium citrate three times a day. I've linked the bariatric vitamin I use. It has iron in it, so you should wait two hours before taking the calcium. They tell me that chemically, iron and calcium are both anions. Our post-surgery bodies have a limited capacity for absorption, so if you take two anions at the same time, the amount of each that's actually absorbed is unpredictable. (My last chemistry course was almost 50 years ago, so it was a stretch to remember this stuff.) You need calcium citrate because more easily soluble than the more common and cheaper calcium carbonate. If you need more iron, you'll need ferrous gluconate rather than ferrous sulfate for the same reason. Your doc will tell you whether you need iron based on the blood work. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HZ3YQ5X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I’m on the 2nd too. I’m going to Mexico Bariatric Center down in Tijuana for a gastric sleeve.

Best wishes! I wonder if the diligent care we have to take care of ourselves post-bariatric helps gird us for future operations or health challenges, so I suspect you'll do really well with the recovery!

In my program I started my multi, vitamin b & d but I’m suppose to wait until my blood work and followup to start my calcium. I know I have low D, I was taking the B before my bariatric consult and I started the multi before my surgery (with ok) to make sure I could tolerate it.

I'm not quite your age, but still in the "boomer" set. I can't tell you if you should or shouldn't have bariatric surgery, only you can decide that. I did want to point out that if you approach bariatric surgery as something that will "feel like a sacrifice", this may not be for you. Instead, I would suggest you think about the things you are currently sacrificing at your current weight. Are you sacrificing your health? Are you sacrificing activities with family and friends? The only people I've met that regret bariatric surgery are the ones that didn't think of it as a life changing opportunity to fix their relationship with food. If you have the surgery and go right back to eating junk, you may regret having it done because you won't attain your goals. in the event you are wondering if it's safe and effective "at your age", I'll leave you with some studies: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11695-019-03718-6 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550728922001605 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ggi.12527 https://europepmc.org/article/med/30175564

Bariatric advantage is supposed to be the one that keeps you full longest. But don’t use it after the surgery only before.

As a side note, HospitalBC followed ALL US Covid precautions (better than most places here) and a passport is not required to cross back into the US on foot or by car. I also do not have one, so I took my birth certificate, SS card, marriage license, and drivers license and didn't have a bit of trouble. The bariatric hospitals in Mx. do this half a dozen times a day, so they will literally walk you through every single step. Tijuana is immediately across the border from San Diego, and HospitalBC is all of 20min of the SD airport. You really don't even feel like you're in another country.

Thank you for sharing that. I am 67 and this is my first weight (and I hope last) Bariatric surgery. Good luck with your next procedure and don't give up!

The nurses called my case "outside the bell curve." I had so much pain I couldn't get up for the first time until 13 hours after my surgery, and that's saying something since I don't have a low pain tolerance. I also had to spend a 2nd night in the hospital in the cardiac wing (not the bariatric wing because of my blood pressure going through the roof), but then suddenly I turned a corner in terms of pain and everything else, and now I'm 3.5 days post-surgery at home and doing quite well. I've had one dose of Tylenol since getting home yesterday afternoon. Hurts when you'd expect it to hurt... getting up, going up the 2 flights of stairs in my townhome, getting into a tall pillowtop bed, coughing hard, but it's quite low and manageable all the rest of the time. I'm getting up every half hour to move for 2 minutes.

I've wondered if Portion Fix would be helpful after bariatric surgery. It seems to be a very healthy way to eat - very clean. I just wonder if one would alter the container counts..?

OK, well for what it's worth the nutritionist I've had to work with on my programme has been by far the least well-informed and least helpful of all the professionals involved. I seem to know 100 times more than him about bariatric surgery. He's obsessed with carbs for some reason and won't accept that I've almost reached goal weight without upping carbs, as he suggested at every opportunity. Arrrrgh - would have loved to have someone available for the last 9 months who *really* got it and who I didn't have to start every conversation with along the lines 'well, how are WE getting on with adding in carbs now?' (the inference being - you idiot)

Same here, I don't know why they can't make bariatric chewable vitamins better. It is crazy, regular vitamins are fine... makes no sense. Regardless, my team wasn't too worried about me missing them in the first 2 weeks and then cleared me to take capsules at my 2 week follow up. They did explain that if I struggled with the capsules to reach out because then it becomes more serious. Luckily I have been perfectly fine with capsules and pills. Whew. Reach out to your team, maybe they can help or suggest something. Also, there are different brands you could try. I hated them all though, couldn't do it.

i could not dew chewables either. i threw up every time. I ended up using bariatric pal multivitamin capsules. Because of the high iron in it i threw up. I had to lower the iron amount down from 45mg to 18mg and i stopped throwing up for the most part and i take another iron supplement later in the day because my last labs came back with my iron saturation was on the low side.

My husband of 17 years is just really driving me CRAZY!!!! I've made a lengthy post about some health stuff I have going on right now (reflux, esophagitis, gastritis, esophageal spasms, and esophageal dysmotility which they think is caused by a hernia...waiting for appt for scope) and he's using it as an excuse to just stop working out, stop eating right, stop everything. None of what I have going on is from my surgery. I don't have any leaks, strictures, blockages, nothing. BUT, this started after I did an insanely intense workout, so everyone is thinking that's the cause. ANYWAY, he has a pattern of quitting stuff when he starts, as soon as it gets hard. College, 3 different side businesses, working out, keto, vegan, low/no fat, calorie counting, bariatric surgery (had 1 consult, set up the nutritionist appt and backed out. Did this 3x before they said he couldn't come back), etc etc etc. He's always been like this, but it's gotten worse over the last year or so. He literally follows through on NOTHING. Not one single thing. OH, unless it's involving wrestling or gaming. Oh THEN his follow-through is on point. Can't let his guild down!! Can't let his buddies down!! Can't miss wrestling (he literally watches Mon - Fri, and if there's pay per view on the weekend, he watches that, too). I work full time and pay all the bills. The deal we have is I will work and he is to take care of the house, grocery shopping, etc (I have a much higher earning potential than he does, and I love what i do, and he doesn't like to work, and I hate household stuff, so in theory the deal works) but he's been slacking on that, too. I'm cleaning up behind him, doing chores, grocery shopping. He's sleeping or gaming or whatever. We've argued about it and I told him if I have to take care of the house AND work, then he needs to go get a job too. If I have to work full time, do the cooking and cleaning and shopping then what the heck is he even here for? He's not supportive anymore, we don't do anything together, we argue a lot, and he has NO FOLLOW THROUGH ON ANYTHING. He gets all excited "I'm gonna start a youtube channel" or "I'm gonna start streaming on Twitch" or "I'm going to design websites for a living" or "I'm gonna go to school and get my degree in Early Childhood Education and work as a teacher online" etc. And he ends up doing NOTHING. "I'm gonna work out and get healthy so we can lose weight and have better health together" and "I'm gonna eat right and make sure we have healthy food in the house so neither of us are tempted to cheat" and then he goes to Burger King and buys 2 double whoppers with fries and eats it all. I'm just so sick of it all. I hate even being around him sometimes. He's just so LAZY and has zero motivation for anything at all. It's infuriating!!!