Hungry!

[Jessyeish 5]

Hello all!

I had my DS surgery at Duke University in Durham NC with Dr. Sudan on 4/3 and am doing really well. Have tolerated mostly everything on my soft diet. I did have to stay in the hospital for 5 days and the 2 week post op liquid diet was rough! I made it through and feel lots of energy and have lost about 40 lbs so far.

I had a question. Since everyone's surgery have any of you been hungry? Or what you "think" is hungry? When I met with the psychologist, which was required where I had surgery, she said we would not experience physical hunger for 6 months to a year. I am one month post op and I feel hungry or what I perceive as hunger. I am eating every 3 to 4 hours as I am supposed to. Getting in my 80 to 100 grams of Protein everyday, but I still feel hunger. I am trying to re train my brain that I do not need food all the time to function. This has been challenging for me.

What I have mostly identified in my body is that when my stomach is empty I feel the need to eat.... Has anyone else experienced this?

Is there anything that has worked for you?

Thank you so much!

Jessye

[AussieSam 234]

Feeling hungry is normal exercise gets rid of that hunger feeling so does drinking lots of Water all the best with your surgery.

[Jessyeish 5]

Thank you! I will get on the drinking more Water and exercising!

[Djmohr 6,965]

I have felt actual hunger since I was 8 weeks post op which is when I began aggressively exercising. I do not believe that you won't feel actual hunger until you are post op 6 months.

I also heal very quickly so maybe that has something to do with it.

Now, there is a difference between when my pouch is empty and my brain says I need food. That to me is more head hunger that I am learning to deal with. I will drink Water or milk in those cases.

[James Marusek 5,244]

I had a RNY which is different from DS, so the effects on hunger may be different. After surgery, I completely lost hunger. Even today, 2 years post-op, I do not feel normal hunger, at least the way I did before surgery, where it was constantly gnawing at my bones.

I noticed that some people on the board talk about the need or strong desire to chew. Chewing foods is a normal part of the digestive process. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/07/31/chewing-foods.aspx

So now that you are beyond the liquid stage, you have the ability to chew food once again.

[ComedyPete 2]

I had my DS surgery 3/14 and had several times I would not feel hungry at all, but had to make my self eat cause I got weak. My biggest problem post op was finding foods I liked. My taste buds kind of changed and food I loved, that was acceptable post op, did not taste good at all and foods I disliked, but tried, where not bad.

[ohclementine 9]

I had to comment because I just had DS with Dr. Sudan on June 2! In fact, I'm going back to Duke tomorrow for my 2 week check up and then on Tuesday for the post-op dietary meeting. I was excited to see another patient of Sudan on here! Private message me if you would like to keep in touch and share some of this journey! (I live in SC)

[cknhealthyme 11]

It has been a while since you wrote this post but would love your feedback. My DS surgery with Dr. Sudan at Duke is in two days. I just wanted to know how things are going with your WL journey since the surgery?

[Jessyeish 5]

Wow!! I never knew how many people commented on this one! I am sorry to be out of touch. The hunger is still there and I am 10 months out. I can definitely eat a lot more than I could in the beginning. Sometimes it scares me how much I can eat. Carbs tend to take up a lot of room in my stomach (rice, bread, pasta) so I try not to eat as much of those so I can focus on Protein. Drinking Water and exercising has been quite helpful for me!! I can exercise I a lot more now since I am so much smaller.

It is the only thing that helps, especially, since I felt so HUNGRY at about 1 months until about 8 months. I am 93 lbs down since 4/3/15, which was date of surgery. Dr. Sudan's team at the hospital is marvelous! I had such a great experience there, the nurses are wonderful and everyone is so nice. Every visit I have had to Sudans office post op has been very good, he always says I am right on target! Billing at that office has been a bit of a dilemma, just never pay a bill if you have a question! Make sure to stay on them about it! I have had to, but it might be that I have duke insurance.

Good luck with your surgery! You will do awesome! Just remember to ask questions, if you need to. I felt like such a failure because I was hungry all the time. I do not know if it was head hunger or not, somedays are better than others. I now get hungry but not quite like it was. I had this conception that I wouldn't feel this hunger anymore... that I would be like Scarlett O'Hara and never be hungry again! Alas, it was quite different from what I thought! But in reality I find that if I exercise as much as possible, like 4 to 5 times weekly and push the Water, I do much better.

As for my diet I do a low sugar (by choice, because it sends me on a roller coaster ride of emotions) (low sugar for me is NO white, raw or processed sugar, fruit is okay, very little honey, I try to stay below 5 grams per serving, with natural sugar only), high Protein (chicken, fish, Beans, I don't eat red meat or piggies by choice) But I have NO issues with any foods, besides foods that have high fructose corn Syrup in them, those will send you to the bathroom with promises of "never again"!! I wish that I had done low sugar from the beginning like 3 months out. I only started that at about 8 months. The low sugar has helped me substantially, emotionally and physically. I think my cravings for for food or that hunger that I felt so much was the sugar wreaking havoc on my body!! I am a sugar addict, I was before and I will always be.

Thank you for responding, everyone! It really does feel like I have come so much further than I think some days, because reading through this and how different I feel now.

I will update my profile with new pictures too!!

Again, good luck! Feel free to contact me on here too if you wish!!