Still Can't Wrap My Mind Around All The Varying Eating Instructions Given By Each Surgeon

[CHELL 41]

I'm sorry but the more I read about the leak risks I can't seem to understand how some folks r allowed to start food immediately or within a couple weeks after leaving the hospital. I'm two weeks post op tomorrow n still on clears. I would luv to eat something atleast pureed. If there are so many risks how can surgeons allow this. Just curious.

[coops 1,790]

I was on liquids for three weeks ie Soups, youghurts etc... then mushies for two weeks... onto solids after that. I didn't mind the long transition to be honest, as I was worried about prolonging the healing.

Try not to worry about others, just concentrate on you and your surgeon's instructions.

But yea, it is confusing when you hear conflicting info.

[Capt Derel 287]

I just drank alot of Protein Shakes and apple juice cut with Water up up to the 3 week mark. I feel the same way you do. I am cautious of what I eat and the amount of what I eat. Plus I dont chug any fluids either cause the better I let it heal the better off in the long run its going to be. I totally took my time with my progression

[Lissa 2,631]

I look at the conflicting opinions like this: Your surgeon knows his or her own surgical technique and what has worked for his or her patients in the past. Hopefully you trust your surgeon to know what works best with his or her own handiwork...and our new sleeves are definitely the handiwork of that surgeon. I would follow the instructions your doctor gave because your doctor knows what works best with their method of doing the sleeve.

My doctor uses a drain and a fairly restrictive diet post-op, but he's had 2 leaks in all the sleeves he's done. One was a band to sleeve revision and one was not. He's very open about possible complications and I trusted him, literally, with my life. I followed his instructions and, so far, haven't had any major problems. For me, it was that simple.

When it comes down to it, though, it's YOUR sleeve. You can do whatever you think is best for your situation. I just think you have to take into account the risks. If you push forward faster than your surgeon recommends, then you might end up having problems that mean you'll have to do liquids and mushies for a lot longer. I wouldn't take that risk for myself.

[MyGastricSleeveLife 180]

Different doctors have different opinions just like each person has different opinions. Just trust your doctor and do what he/she tells you to do and you'll be fine - even if he/she is one that allows you to progress right away. I'm a self-pay patient and I feel like I'm paying my doctor to do this & I better trust what he says & I better ask him the major questions I have - even if it means calling his office multiple times a day! Although other doctors may say other things, other doctors did not operate on you. Just trust your surgeon and dietician and their advice.

[docangtx12 20]

What it really tells you is that there really isn't a "right answer" to what the best post op diet really is. Essentially, there have been no objective studies that prove one diet is better than another. Maybe this is because we are all different and there is no way we are going to achieve identical results with this type of surgery as there are too many variables (ie, exact amount of stomach remove, relationship of esophagus to removed stomach, scar tissue formation, location of hormone receptors on remaining stomach, ect). Because of this, a small amount of people will be able to rapidly return to normal foods without trouble, a small amount of people will have tremendous trouble returning to normal food, and a vast majority will lie somewhere in between.

Most surgeons will repeat whatever habits/diets the surgeon they learned from used, and as time goes on, they may make their diets more restrictive or less restrictive based on their personal patient experiences. If they have a bad outcome (maybe nothing they did, just patient had a rough time) they may make the diet for all their future patients more restrictive just to avoid this again. Personally, what I did was to research many different surgeons post sleeve diets (found them online) including my own surgeons diet, find the common "no-no's" and common time lines for advancement, and carefully let my body be my guide. I did liquids for 2 weeks, puréed for 2 weeks, soft for a week, and then pretty much normal food except no Pasta, rice, or untoasted bread until 3 months (I'm actually at 10 weeks now).

Everyone's progress and plan will be different, and it is best to follow your surgeons advice because, after all, if something goes wrong, it will be your surgeon who will need to take care of you.

[CowgirlJane 14,260]

I guess it is more art then science...

My surgeon's office says that their guidelines are based on the best available data from their own practice and other surgeons. There are some things they used to routinely do that they don't anymore and vice versa, based on actual outcomes.

They are experts, but they are not all knowing. My strategy was to pick a surgeon that has a good reputation, good stats, good results and TRUST him and follow his guidelines as best I can rather then being concerned with what others are doing.

[Wheetsin 714]

It all varies so greatly. For example, before I spoke with my surgeon I completely assumed he would do leak tests at the hospital. Mine doesn't do any leak test. Instead, he submerges the sleeve in saline and looks for bubbles (exactly how they QA things like hoses and tubes), then he scopes the sleeve to ensure everything is closed from the inside. He has never once had a leak test catch something that this combination has missed, so after 3k or so, he quit doing them.

My plan also allows food advancement fairly quickly, but once you get to soft foods you stay there for a long time. Bariatric clears (sf liquids) the first two days, which is when you're in the hospital. Day 3 starts "full liquids" like purees, yogurts, strained Soups, etc. I think that lasts a week. (I haven't actually read the brochure in a while). Around day 10 we're able to move on to soft foods like deli meats, cheeses, cottage cheese, canned tuna or chicken, eggs, etc. But we stay there for like 8 or 10 weeks (I'm still in that stage now).

My surgeon has been doing this for a long time. He's meal plan used to be a lot more restrictive, but he found through his research & others that it just wasn't making a difference in leak rates to start soft foods sooner, but it WAS making a difference in weightloss (satiety, mainly - more dense/solid foods fill us up faster and keep us satiated longer).

He's been selected to train a consortium os US surgeons, so I think he's doing OK with his decisions.

[CHELL 41]

I hope I didn't give the impression that I wasnt going to follow my surgeons instructions because that's not the case. I was just curious that's all.