questions?

[Guest asante@LBT]

How long did you stay at the hospital with the sleeve?

What did you eat the first week?

What about dumping syndrom with the sleeve?

When did you go back to work?

When did you become pain free?

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[Guest MacMadame@LBT]

How long did you stay at the hospital with the sleeve?

I stayed overnight. That's pretty typical. I know of one doctor doing this surgery as an outpatient, but I think that's not a good idea. Some people stay longer but that's because they have issues -- like having trouble peeing or something like that.

What did you eat the first week?

The first 2-3 weeks I was on a liquid diet. Then I progressed to soft food and by 6-7 weeks I was eating anything I could tolerate. Which is pretty much everything except bread and bread-like products. (I'm 2.5 months out. Kind of early for bread.)

What about dumping syndrom with the sleeve?

You don't really get dumping syndrome with anything but RnY (bypass) because with all the other surgeries, you retain your pylorus valve and that keeps food in your stomach for long enough.

But even people without WLS sometimes find high-sugar or high fat foods rush too fast into their intestines and that sometimes happens to sleevesters too. But most of the time my friends say they dumped, it turns out they actually have a bad gallbladder.

When did you go back to work?

1.5 weeks, but I should have waited for 2. Most people are going to say 1 week and they were fine though. I had a hiatal hernia repaired at the same time as my sleeve and that slowed down my recovery.

When did you become pain free?

That's a hard one. I was off the pain meds at 1 week. But I had little aches and twinges for longer. Also, I've gotten very top heavy and so I have a lot of problems with back pain now. I foresee a breast reduction in my future. I only recently felt comfortable resuming strength training but I was back on the stationary bike at 2 weeks out and swimming laps as soon as my incisions healed up enough.

Compared to my open gallbladder removal and my two c-sections, the recovery this time was a breeze. If that gives you an idea of the relative differences.

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[Guest parksonrocks@LBT]

How long did you stay at the hospital with the sleeve?

I went to MX so i was in the hospital for 3 days

What did you eat the first week?

First week, no food, liquids only

What about dumping syndrom with the sleeve?

I do not dump but sometimes if something is too sweet or I eat too much sweets I wil get a stomach, something I never had before

When did you go back to work?

I went back to work after a week, I don't have a physical job, so it was fine.

When did you become pain free?

Pain free about 7-10 days after I was completely pain free.

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[Guest asante@LBT]

thanks for the input, one more question, they keep saying about keep walking around to avoid blood clot. Okay, I get that.. What about at night? Do you get up and walk?

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[Guest MacMadame@LBT]

No, you don't have to do that. Thank goodness! :smile: They want you to get up every couple of hours while you are awake and walk around. Some people react to surgery by wanting to curl up in bed and not do anything and that's what they want you to avoid.

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[Guest asante@LBT]

what about gas? Is it as bad after surgery? Oh it goes away? And Vitamin, how long do you have to take them? I thought you did not have to take them with the sleeve..

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[Guest MacMadame@LBT]

You have to take Vitamins with all the surgeries, forever, even the band. It's not as critical with the sleeve, but osteoporosis is a common complication with partial gastrectomies if you don't take extra Calcium.

For the sleeve and the band, the problem is that we aren't eating a lot of food and so its easy to miss a micronutrient. For the RnY and DS, you have that issue *and* you have malabsorption.

Gas is one of those things that's very variable. I have less gas since I stopped drinking diet soda. The surgery didn't change my gas, really. Some people get more though, sometimes because they aren't getting enough Fiber, or because of what they eat. Some people get lactose intolerant after WLS and so drinking milk or Protein shakes makes them gassy.

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[Guest asante@LBT]

thanks for the response, I mean you get so many clear answers from the patient than the doctor.. I guess because you have lived it.. I hope you do not mind my questions.

I have read your previous post about having trouble eating.. So we the sleeve you can only eat one ounce?

And the other question when did you start to chew?

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[Guest MacMadame@LBT]

When you first get your sleeve, your stomach is swollen. I could only eat .5 to 1 oz of most things in the beginning. But then the swelling went down. Now I can have about 2 oz. of hard Protein plus some veggies. Or I can have 3 oz. of something not so hard. But I should be able to eat about 4-5 oz. by 1 year out.

It varies a lot with the individual too. I know people with sleeves who can eat 7-8 oz of certain kinds of food. They are more than 1 year out and they are a lot taller than me. So their stomach is probably longer.

I was on liquids for 2 weeks and then I started doing soft foods, very slowly at first. By about 7 weeks out, my doctor said to start introducing more hard Protein and veggies and now I eat pretty much anything that looks good to me. Except bread. I still can't do bread. I assume I'll be able to eat it again some day though.

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[Guest asante@LBT]

You need a lot of will power not eating that much.. I was at wal-mart yesterday and just realized how much food was around me and I am like how is it possible to loose weight like that when you can not control yourself. I hope you will be able to eat the bread too.. So you can not tolerate or you can not eat bread yet? What about Peanut Butter? Because peanut butter has lots of Protein. Do you still take protein suppliments or just from the diet?

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[Guest MacMadame@LBT]

But with surgery, you don't need willpower! That's really the whole point of getting it. It makes you not very hungry and you can be satisfied on very little food. That's why it works and why dieting alone doesn't work.

The bread still expands in my stomach. So it's hard to know when I'm done and it's easy to overeat and throw up. I don't like it enough to risk it but I think later one I'll try again.

I drink a Protein shake every morning for Breakfast. I was never a big Breakfast eater so the shakes work pretty well for me. Then at night I usually have Protein hot chocolate. I might have another shake instead, if my protein is very very low.

I haven't tried Peanut Butter yet. It's high in fat and I rarely ate it pre-op as it's not my favorite thing. I think it's worth having a lot of calories or a lot of fat if you love something -- I had two bites of a candy at my company Christmas party, for example -- but if it's not your favorite thing, then it's not worth it.

If you love PB though there is this great powdered version that has 80% of the fat content and tastes just like PB. If I loved PB like I love chocolate, I'd be all over it.

I would think it would be fine though... it's not hard to chew and it doesn't take up a lot of room in the sleeve. The stuff that is hard are things like shrimp, which is very hard to chew slowly and enough, and dry meats. Some people have trouble with salad early out, but I don't.

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[Guest asante@LBT]

Sorry,

I am still going back and forth with this.. My friend went ahed and did it.. This is what scares me.. She got it done on 12/15 or 16. She said she has to drink at least 64 oz of liquid that is too much I think? And she said right now she can drink as much as she want and she do not feel fool and even when she had blended Soup.. Then she told me she can not eat food until 4th week and this is like mash potato and stuff like that.. Then week seven that is when she can go back to eat solid. That seems like a long time to me.. Are the stepple that sensitive? And can you tell how much stomack you have left? And you will feel fool quick when you start eating the real food?

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[Guest MacMadame@LBT]

Well, drinking 64 oz. of Fluid a day is a pretty common recommendation for everyone, even people who don't have WLS. So it's something you should be doing now. :smile: It can be hard the first couple of weeks post-op, but eventually it gets as easy as before surgery. I can do 80 oz now if I work it, but the first week, it was more like 32 oz. But some lucky people can do 64 from the get-go.

For the food progression, even if you get a lap-band, the good surgeons want you on liquids for about 2 weeks minimum so your stomach can develop scar tissue around the band. For the other surgeries, you are doing it to let the staple line heal as it's at it's most delicate then.

But most surgeons have all patients on the same regime no matter the surgery type or only have small variations based on surgery type. I don't necessarily agree with this approach, but I can see their POV.

Anyway, after 2 weeks, you progress from liquids to mushy food and then to regular. How fast you progress, and how many stages there are, really depends on a combination of what you can tolerate and your surgeon's program. Some are very conservative and some aren't. Some patients have a harder time of it than others. Etc.

I was on liquids for 2 weeks and then was supposed to be on soft food for two weeks. But I was still pretty swollen so at my 3 week follow-up visit, my surgeon told me to wait until week 7 to progress to regular food. But some of his patients progress to regular food at 4 weeks. It just depends.

Yeah, it's pretty common not to feel full on liquids. It's really worse for the lap banders, I think. Ask around here about "Bandster Hell" when you have no restriction so you are as hungry as before, but you are supposed to be on liquids.

With the sleeve, it's a bit different. Some people report being hungry in the first 2 weeks, especially on liquids, but it generally comes and goes. Then by about 2 weeks out, you just don't feel hungry any more, except head hunger. At some point, that comes back for most, though I know a few who just never feel hungry after that even years later.

For me, I lost my ghrelin hunger pretty much immediately after surgery. But I still have occasional hunger off and on due to other things, some real, some in my head.

The band works differently. In the beginning, it isn't doing much at all. Some people get restriction right away, but most don't. So you start out really hungry and gradually get less hungry as you get more and more restriction until you get to your sweet spot. Then, you are satisfied until the sweet spot wears off and you need another fill. But eventually you'll need less and less fills and the sweet spot will last longer and longer.

So it's almost the opposite... start out starving and then get as hungry as you are going to get vs. start out not very hungry and gradually get more hungry later.

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[Guest asante@LBT]

MacMadame thank you for put me in place about my liquids in take..lol So you was on liquid for seven weeks and you was on liquids few weeks before surgery right? OMG.. I am not sure if I can do it.. The people around me love to eat.. I told my friend I was going to do the diet with her and see if I can stick to eat.. I only lasted few days.. That is why I am so scared that I will not follow the instructions. So when you start eating regular food that is when you can feel the restriction..

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[Guest MacMadame@LBT]

I was only on liquids for 1 day before the surgery. My doctor likes us to lose some weight pre-op but doesn't say how we have to do it or how much we have to lose. So I just did a regular sort-of-South Beach-type diet pre-op. But the day before you have to be on Clear Liquids to clear out your system. (I had to do a bowel cleanse, too. Yuck.)

Then I was on thin liquids for 2 weeks -- this includes Protein drinks and Soup and milk. So it's much better than Clear Liquids. It was hard when my family had dinner. I had to leave the room and shut myself up my bedroom. LOL

But it was only two weeks. From weeks 2 to 7 I added in "soft" food. So yogurt, pudding, cottage cheese, cheese sticks, eggs, chicken salad, etc.

It's not hard if you aren't hungry. It's SO HARD pre-op because when you go on a diet, your ghrelin levels rise. But post-op, it's not like that, at least for sleeve, bypass and DS. People who are pre-op are always saying "you have such great willpower" when they see what we post-ops eat, but it doesn't take willpower at all. At least not for the quantity. The willpower comes in when it's time to pick what to eat -- like not eating junk when everyone else is. But even that is easier too. If you eat less carbs, you crave them less.

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