2 weeks beyond surgery still hungry 2,200 calories a day what's wrong?

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

Seriously try a home cooked meal instead of lean cuisines. Real food is not only more filling, it's more nutritious. Half a poached chicken breast over chopped spinach with some of the broth to keep it moist is easy to make & you can cook a batch to eat over the course of a week. A chopped hard boiled egg made into egg salad and using half plain Greek yogurt & half mayo is another nutritionally sound meal.

Lastly you are a fairly recent postoperative. It's not unusual to not feel restrictions early on. Keep in mind you had this surgery to change eating habits. Try to stick to the typical recommendation of 2 - 4 ounces. If you are feeling what you interpret as hunger, try using a PPI such as omeprazole. Do not test the limits by overeating early on.

[PaulaWodzisz 9]

I had pain under my rib for quite a while. I also notice that I am getting full faster now...I think my stomach healed more or something since surgery. My hospital had a very strict diet guideline after surgery and I wasn't allowed solid food until 6 weeks post-op...not even soft food. I think as time goes on you will notice yourself getting full much faster and everything will work itself out...or your will find that your surgeon made the pouch larger. Good luck to you.

[Dallas Powell 23]

I've been doing research on that gastric fistula. The US Government says that it happens to 6% of people who have a Rouxen-Y gastric bypass. They also say that you don't have to have a fever as a symptom. Another site says that most symptoms are related to epigastric pain and ulcerations around the anastomotic site. Both of which I have. I have some pain and a lump at the bottom edge of my left rib.

I have been starving myself and keeping it down to around 1,300 calories a day. It seems like you guys are right that all of that food has to go somewhere and the pouch is too small to hold it. But with a fistula the food continues to go into the stomach. Still connected in one spot. Not a complete separation. It takes 2 paths, stomach and the new intestine connection. I definitely need to get this figured out. And I greatly appreciate all of your comments!

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

It sounds like you need to be on the phone with your surgeon. I know mine has a 24-hour contact number. Call!

[Threetimesacharm 1,400]

The pain you have under your left rib is your stomach, sounds like you are stuffing in too much food and yes that will cause pain. What happens when you eat half a cup of food? What do you mean by starving yourself? What type of hunger symptoms do you have? You may have only head hunger that is making you eat. Sounds like you may need nutritional counseling and meal planning. Give it a try.

[Dallas Powell 23]

The pain you have under your left rib is your stomach, sounds like you are stuffing in too much food and yes that will cause pain. What happens when you eat half a cup of food? What do you mean by starving yourself? What type of hunger symptoms do you have?

The pain under my left rib is all the time. All the way through to my back when it's bad. And not eating for an extended period of time ends up giving me the sudden stabbing pain that comes and goes. Typically eating helps decrease the pain. If I eat a half a cup of food nothing happens. Still hungry that's it. I only get the tight full feeling after eating quantity of roughly 3 lien cuisines at once. Which I haven't been doing due to fear of damaging something. All that food is going somewhere and people here are saying that the pouch itself is too small to hold that quantity of food.

Regarding starving self at 1,400 calories a day I feel exactly like I did before prior to the surgery if I was eating that little. Nothing different. I do realize the difference between head hunger and real hunger. I have both like most people do. And I try not to eat when it's head hunger.

[winklie 518]

@@Dallas Powell

I am going to make a post, you may well not like. Call it tough love. It consists of two parts, first. Stop eating more than 800 calories a day. Man the fuck up, and just stop. I eat 600-800 calories a day and am never full, I do get satiated from time to time, but I find ways to distract myself, take a long ass walk. Like 2 hours long, you can't eat if you are an hour away from home in some park.

CONTINUE EATING AS YOU ARE AND YOU WILL DIE.

Part two. Run, better yet, drive, and drive quickly to the hospital that performed your surgery, and refuse to leave until they have solved this problem. It is IMPOSSIBLE for you to eat 3 lean cuisines with a 4 oz pouch. There are really two possibilities, first, a Fistula, secondly the opening from the pouch to your intestine if that junction is too large (it should be roughly 1/2 the diameter of a dime at this stage) you lose the restrictive portion of the surgery. Then, it becomes possible to eat as you have been because the food does not even slow down in your pouch, it just slides right through and you won't feel satiated until you have filled your entire roux limb AND pouch.(and I am not going to do the math but if you have a standard Roux limb it is 150cm long so think of how much food it takes to pack 150cm of garden hose and you get an idea of the volume of food you COULD stuff into yourself) Either of these is a borked surgery that, and I am going to bold this;

YOU PAID FOR. YOU ARE A CUSTOMER. YOUR SURGERY WAS NOT COMPLETED PROPERLY, REFUSE TO LEAVE THE HOSPITAL UNTIL THIS IS FIXED.

I'm not an asshole, but you have to understand the customer, salesman relationship. You or at least your insurance paid for a service that is defective. Pack a bag and head back to the hospital. Under no circumstances leave until this issue is resolved. Look up the hospitals resources. Call them. Dispute your discharge, just about every hospital has Q A people you can call.

NO EXCUSES, NO COME TO MY OFFICE, NO LET’S MAKE AN APPOINTMENT, FIX THIS AND FUCKING FIX IT NOW, OR YOU ARE LEAVING ME NO CHOICE BUT TO SEEK LEGAL REMEDY.

Sorry for all the cursing, but this has gone on long enough. We cannot help you, only your surgeon can. He already admitted a 'problem' making your pouch, We'll if he has to go back in and unfuck his mistake, that is on him. We have done all we can do, anything more in this post is speculation, you need medical care, and now.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

[drmeow 323]

The pain under my left rib is all the time. All the way through to my back when it's bad. And not eating for an extended period of time ends up giving me the sudden stabbing pain that comes and goes. Typically eating helps decrease the pain.

This sounds very much like an ulcer. Stabbing pain that improves with eating. If you aren't already on a PPI like omeprazole I would ask about that. But you may need to be scoped as well.

[SleeveandRNYchica 1,155]

I am also confused on your Vitamin regime. You said you take 1 chewable? Something doesn't add up. Do you have a nutritionist? Did they do a leak test post op?

[Djmohr 6,965]

I am with @@winklie on this. Get yourself back to the hospital and demand answers and solutions.

This is absolutely not normal, something did not go right with your surgery.

I am 13 months post op tomorrow. I still can barely eat 1 cup of food at mealtime. I try to get between 1000 and 1200 calories a day and most days have to snack like heck just to get to 1000.

Also, you really do need to quit processed foods and focus on good home cooked Protein. It keeps you full a lot longer and gets you the Protein needed. You should not be eating Pasta of any kind at this point.

Low carb, high protein. Carbs should come from vegetables and some fruit.< /p>

I am so sorry that this has happened to you and want you to be successful. It has to start back with your surgeon right away.

Please take good care of yourself! You deserve to be healthy after everything you have hone through. Please take the time to hold your surgeon accountable.

In addition, I would call your nut and ask for a specific guide to your required diet ASAP.

[TMG1980TMG 136]

I am almost 4 weeks out and I can barely get 500 calories in.

When they said soft foods they mean yogurt, cottage cheese that sort of thing- not soft lean cuisines. In my pre-op education I was told no bread, Pasta, rice.

What are your Protein goals? Are you meeting them?

I hope you can talk with your surgeon/nutritionist ASAP! I agree with others who said go back to the hospital.

I can't even fathom how you could eat 3 lean cuisines in a row after bypass surgery... Mind blown!

I hope they are find out what is going on here--- this doesn't make any kind of sense. ????????

Edited October 26, 2015 by TMG1980TMG

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

@@Dallas Powell, please let us know how you are doing when you get a chance.

[Beachsprite 118]

I think many people are missing something here it could be the food is rapidly exiting the stomach into the gut therefore you can eat more, that's how those super skinny fast racing eatters can do it not because they have massive stomach capacity but because food exists the stomach quickly like liquids it could be it's your valve there is an issue with rather than pouch size either way you need to see your surgeon and go by the motto "just because you can doesn't mean you should...."

[Dallas Powell 23]

Winkle I took your advice and went to the hospital yesterday. I ended up going to another one and unfortunately they didn’t have a bariatric doctor. I will have to go out of town for that. But they did do tests. They did a CAT Scan which they said confirmed that I don’t have a fistula. The way this hospital worked is they sent it out of town to Richmond VA for people to analyze it and then sent results back. So I could only talk to a nurse who repeated what they said. I asked her if the stomach has to be full in order for the contrast to get through a fistula because I hadn’t eaten anything as of then. She said no.

That still leaves the question where could the food possibly go. I have been emailing back and forth with the surgeons assistant and she says there is no problem. The nutritionist doesn’t say that though. She says it's impossible.

Drmeow, I am on some anti ulcer medication and a heart burn medication they said I have to take for 3 months.

Likeadiamond regarding the Vitamins, I take Dr. Wallach’s 90 essential nutrients. Which may be too strong as he is way over 100% of the daily value on almost all Vitamins including the fat soluble ones. They said they do a leak test by blowing up the stomach with gas or air or something while they are doing the surgery. And I think that CAT Scan would test for leaks as well. It may be that he made a huge stomach. Or that he didn’t taper down the other side of it so food doesn’t sit in it but rather just drops right into the intestine. After all the surgeon did tell my GF that he had difficulty creating my pouch due to my anatomy. She had the same surgery by him 3 weeks prior to me. And she can eat way more than you guys can. Not as much as me but still way more than you guys. And during her surgery he called me and said it took so long on her due to scar tissue he had to get through and "her build".

TMG yes meeting the Protein goals. They say 60 to 70 grams a day. Meeting any minimum isn’t difficult when I don’t get full.

MsTwist. It’ seems to me now after having that CAT Scan that it may be exactly what you’re saying.

I don’t see it as being possible for me to remain on a diet forever. As with all fat people statistically I will end up breaking it. I have already been dieting for 6 months prior to the surgery as a requirement. And I’m getting real tired of it. I wish they would have done it right the first time... what a pain. I really was excited about this surgery and hoping that I would feel full on small amounts of food which would have helped me tremendously on losing weight.

I am still loosing though. On the day of the surgery 3 weeks ago I was 307. I am now 294. But I have struggled to get there. It has been by a regular diet. The surgery hasn’t helped me get there. It’s all me fighting the urge to eat.

The surgeons assistant said the next appointment with him is the second week of November. So I guess I have to wait until then. The emergency room has concluded that the contrast went where it should and said I’m not in danger of dying right now. And I can guarantee when I go back to the Dr. he’s going to deny it and say it’s not his fault. That’s what I expect to hear. Seems the way people do things these days with lack of integrity and honesty.

Thank you all for helping me through this and helping me realize that there is in fact some problem!

[Kimberly Bouche-Perez 48]

I am shocked. I am 2 years and 4 month post op. I still have a hard time getting more then 1000 calories in.

I am not trying to scare you but don't waalk RUN to the hospital. DEMAND a scope that goes down your throught (sorry I forgot what it's called)

This will let the doctor's see your new pouch. They give you a dye. This DOES NOT HURT, no not one bit!!!!!!

They give you IV sedation. So just take a 15 min nap.

At 2 months I was still trying to drink 12 oz a day. I even got the dumping syndrome cause I had a very small bite of toast. It was so bad it took me OVER a year before I tried any kind of bread.< /p>

You should ONLY be on protien shakes.< /p>

I have no idea WHY your surgeon is not very concerned.

I DO NOT mean to scare you at all. I am sorry if I do. But I AM CONCERNED.

I had a thighplasty 6 weeks ago (this is when they take the extra skin off your thighs and hips. I had a Tummy Tuck in March of this year)

But for ome reason since I got home from hospital, I have to eat tums after even 1 bite of food. Don't know why. I am having a scope tomorrow.

Please keep up with the post. If I was you I would either go to the er tonight OR I ould be sitting at the door when the office opens bright and early first thingf in the morning.

GOOD LUCK

AND WE ARE ALL HERE FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am shocked. I am 2 years and 4 month post op. I still have a hard time getting more then 1000 calories in.

I am not trying to scare you but don't waalk RUN to the hospital. DEMAND a scope that goes down your throught (sorry I forgot what it's called)

This will let the doctor's see your new pouch. They give you a dye. This DOES NOT HURT, no not one bit!!!!!!

They give you IV sedation. So just take a 15 min nap.

At 2 months I was still trying to drink 12 oz a day. I even got the dumping syndrome cause I had a very small bite of toast. It was so bad it took me OVER a year before I tried any kind of bread.

You should ONLY be on protien shakes.

I have no idea WHY your surgeon is not very concerned.

I DO NOT mean to scare you at all. I am sorry if I do. But I AM CONCERNED.

I had a thighplasty 6 weeks ago (this is when they take the extra skin off your thighs and hips. I had a tummy tuck in March of this year)

But for ome reason since I got home from hospital, I have to eat tums after even 1 bite of food. Don't know why. I am having a scope tomorrow.

Please keep up with the post. If I was you I would either go to the er tonight OR I ould be sitting at the door when the office opens bright and early first thingf in the morning.

GOOD LUCK

AND WE ARE ALL HERE FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!