Stalls Da&%it!!!!

[neon07734 36]

So, I was down a solid 40 pounds in 6 weeks. Awesome. I've had lots of complications, still having swallowing issues, but I've been walking daily now and I know I'm keeping my calories down and I probably am NOT getting in enough Protein. But that aside I was typically dropping a pound a day, at least most days. Since June 12th, 16 days ago, I've not lost a single pound! I've gained 2!

I read postings on here that this is a simple stall and it will pass and I appreciate having access to all of you for support. However this is freaking me out!

How long are theses stalls typically for all of you? I know "we are all different" but how long do these last for most of us?

[Sadiebug 206]

Every 2-3 weeks I have a week where my weight goes up a bit for a few days. Like 2-5 lbs up... and it usually drops back down after a couple days. It is terribly frustrating even though I know to expect it, I know it's not a real gain and I know it will go away! Hang in there!!!!

[akaet 91]

I had surgery on June 16th I hadn't lost a pound, I came home 5 days post op and in fact I weighed more.

I stoped weighing myself daily as the office had advised me to. They also said that my weight can fluctuate between 3/4 pounds daily due to the different times of weigh in's and any retention. At my f/u yesterday I weighed in and counted 6 pound loss! Wow! I was expecting more. I asked the Surgeon yesterday why only 6 pounds he replied with, "your body has just had major surgery, it's healing and I'll see the weight drop once everything goes back to normal. As long as I stay on track" So I'm trying hard to stay on track.

Why are you not getting enough Protein? Have you started your second week of foods?

Aka_ET

"You may see me struggle but you will never see me quit"

[neon07734 36]

I had my surgery nearly 9 weeks ago. And honesty i've been on a liquid diet and soft food since. My deal is a little complicated. I have a couple of auto immune diseases that play havoc on me. The first and most serious is myasthenia gravis which makes my muscles super weak. Then the second is achalasia and this is why I can't get my Protein in most days. my esophagus is nothing more than a dead tube, making swallowing a real problem. and Protein Shakes are tough for me. Sometimes Water is too much for me. My bariatric surgeon is also the doctor that has been treating that for the last 5 years. We are going to stretch my esophagus and see if that helps. But it makes most solid food impossible regardless of how well I chew it or blend it up. This is why I know my calorie count is so low because I don't get a lot in. Having this surgery has been awesome in that I'm not as hungry as I used to be, but getting in requirements is tough.

[neon07734 36]

update: My stall lasted 20 days! That's enough to really play with your mind a little.

[makemyownluck 785]

Hi neon, how are you feeling now? How is your achalasia?

I have a sleeve and developed achalasia last year. I'm having a Heller Myotomy and revision to gastric bypass on 9/13. My surgeon said I would likely have really horrible and uncontrollable reflux if I didn't revise to a bypass, and I still have about 100lbs to lose from my initial surgery (I was over 400# to begin with).

Curious to know more about your achalasia diagnosis and if you're able to eat better now that you've been healing for a few months.

[neon07734 36]

Hello!

I'm kinda excited to meet someone else that has achalasia! I've yet to meet anyone else that has this fun annoying auto immune disease. I was diagnosed by my bariatric surgeon with achalasia in 2011. At that point I was at 300 pounds and I too had the heller myotomy done and that did help quite a bit. With that initial diagnoses and Diet and Exercise I was able to drop 78 pounds. Initially the achalasia was pretty bad. Because of the rarity of the disease getting a diagnoses was difficult.

Then as fate would have it I developed another rare auto immune disease called myasthenia gravis in 2014. This causes my muscles, including facial and throat muscles to not work well or at all. I had a tumor that grew behind my heart on a gland called the thymus. Lots of hospital stays with this issue over a two year period. This illness requires prednisone and between that and the generalized weakness throughout my body I put back 50 of those pounds. The same surgeon suggested the bypass and did that this past April as well as another hernia repair. Because of my issues the sleeve was never an option. The myasthenia has evolved into having plasmapherisis twice a week to help lesson the symptoms. plasmapheresis is a lot like dialysis, The plasma is removed from my blood and artificial plasma is put back in.

After the bypass surgery I was having a lot of trouble swallowing and still am. I had an endoscopy done last week with hopes that he could dilate and stretch out my esophagus but when he looked at my esophagus he said that the openings were fine and my achalasia is just getting worse and that I'd have to be more careful going forward.

I did ask him what my outlook could look like at it's worst possible scenario and he said that they cut the colon and bring it up to the esophagus to help with swallowing but that in his career he's never seen it get that bad. So I think I'm just left with it being difficult and being more careful with what I eat.

My weight loss has been slower that I thought it would be. I'm down 50 pounds and today is my 4 month mark. I know that 50 pounds is substantial but I thought it wold be more by this point. I have a hard time getting my Protein in, some days even that shake is tough to swallow. My love for potatoes is over since those are hard to get down in any form, which I guess is really a good thing.

How is your swallowing been? What helps, if anything? Foods that really get to me are ground beef, chicken breast, potatos, bread and roast beef. anything dense really. Some days are better than others. Some days are down right terrible. Weird, right?

Edited August 24, 2017 by neon07734
add more information

[Berry78 4,261]

19 minutes ago, neon07734 said:

My weight loss has been slower that I thought it would be. I'm down 50 pounds and today is my 4 month mark. I know that 50 pounds is substantial but I thought it wold be more by this point.

You are right on track. I think the general public perception of weight loss surgery is that we lose huge amounts of weight in no time.. but it does take time. 10lbs a month, on average (faster at first, then it slows down). You should have no trouble meeting your goal.

[makemyownluck 785]

27 minutes ago, neon07734 said:

I'm kinda excited to meet someone else that has achalasia! I've yet to meet anyone else that has this fun annoying auto immune disease.

I'm weirdly excited to have someone else to talk to about this too!

I had my sleeve with no complications back in 2013. At the time, I was morbidly obese and had a new dx of high blood pressure, but was otherwise healthy and had no health issues to speak of. The sleeve recovery was fine and I lost about 150lbs. Then... I got pregnant. Pregnancy was good, baby and I were healthy, my son was born and life was great. Except that I had allowed about 50lbs to creep back on. So last spring/summer, I decided to kick start my weight loss and went on a Keto diet. Shortly after, I started having symptoms of achalasia, which I didn't know what it was at the time, and just attributed my indigestion and vomiting to eating too dense of Protein too often with my sleeve. I wasn't seeing my bariatric doc anymore due to insurance changes and just thought I needed to be more careful about what I was eating.

In January, I experienced sudden onset of chest pain on my right side, that was so intense I would've thought I was having a heart attack if it were happening on the left side of my chest. I went to the ER, was checked for a pulmonary embolism (which it wasn't) and had a CT of my chest. I had empyema and pneumonia. I was admitted, the next day I had 2 liters aspirated from my lung, and it wasn't enough. I had to have surgery (thoracotomy), and during that surgery I aspirated. I ended up being put on a ventilator, sedated until they could stabilize me and operate again. I had my second surgery which was successful, but left me in so much pain! After that, I ended up with sepsis in my blood, my kidneys failed and I needed dialysis - all while I was too drugged up to know what was happening.

I was referred to a university hospital in Chicago by the GI that saw me in the hospital. I had all the testing and confirmed I had achalasia - which now that I know what it is and have read up on it, I realize that my symptoms were all pretty spot on for this condition. My new bariatric surgeon says that the sleeve will cause reflux if he does the myotomy without converting to bypass, so that's what we're doing.

I totally understand what you mean that some days are better than others. There are days I can eat just about anything with no problem, if I try to eat the same things the next day, it's a disaster and I'm miserable all day. Unfortunately, the easiest thing to get down most days are CARBS. If I continue to have swallowing problems after the myotomy/bypass, I have no idea what I'll eat! I also have problems with Protein Shakes, Water, yogurt... stuff you would *think* goes down easily, doesn't.

I'm quite nervous about what comes after this and why I developed this in the first place. Knowing that it's an auto-immune disease has me worried I may develop others, as you did.

I'm sorry for us both suffering from this awful condition!

Losing 50lbs in 4 months is fantastic, especially given the disadvantage of eating problems. I hope for similar results - I figure if getting this condition is what prompted me to do something about the remaining weight that I never lost with my sleeve, then it's not all bad.

If you have any links of resources for this condition, please share. I've done my own research, but then I see other people referencing having "atypical achalasia" or "type 2 achalasia" and I have no idea what that means!

[Berry78 4,261]

20 minutes ago, makemyownluck said:

Unfortunately, the easiest thing to get down most days are CARBS. If I continue to have swallowing problems after the myotomy/bypass, I have no idea what I'll eat!

With your unique situation (actually, both of you), I urge you to consider a whole foods plant-based diet. These are, by nature, high carb, low fat, moderately low Protein diets that may be easier to swallow (ok, pun intended .. ).

https://www.forksoverknives.com/plant-based-primer-beginners-guide-starting-plant-based-diet/#gs.s3flkhc

Ultimately, I don't think it matters as much WHAT we eat, as long as we get the protein we need (protein shakes may be lifelong requirements for y'all), and as long as the calories are in check, your weights will be ok.

[neon07734 36]

Thanks Berry78! I can't speak for makemyownluck, but some days, in fact most days, Protein Shakes are also a challenge to get it. It's a weird deal. I too struggle with yogurt, and mashed potatoes!!! But I will have a break in the clouds and I can eat a grilled cheese sandwich without any issues. I think my weight loss stalls simply because I'm starving myself most days. I don't have any way of knowing that I am having a good day or a bad day without trying, and since most days are bad I can got weeks without hardly getting any thing in. Because eating something that gets "stuck" way down in your esophagus makes for a miserable day! It's next to impossible to bring "it back up", trying to drink something only makes it worse, when that's the most logical method you can think of. It's a super weird deal. Taking medication is really tough too.

Makemyownluck, it sure sounds like you've had some super rough stuff with the achalasia initially. I had the heller done initially and I can attest that helped significantly back then. I had a gi doc that didn't think I had a problem other than reflux. It was terrible. Lots of vomiting and feeling terrible. Then they did this barbaric throat pressure test and because of it's rarity they just didn't know what it was. So my tests were sent to some medical conference and my (now) bariatric surgeon saw the tests and called me out of the blue and said he could help me. He treated me (heller and hernia repair), and all the vomiting stopped and I felt tons better. I lost 20 pounds being sick so I just continued to lose with the help of diet and exercise. I was super motivated at that time.

Then whammo auto immune #2, which has been horrific but finally getting to a manageable state. It's strange having two rare auto immune diseases.

I'm sorry you've had so much go on for you. My bypass surgery wasn't fun at all. My myasthenia makes recovery very difficult. Not to mention he accidentally tore a hole in my stomach and then 4 days after I had to be re admitted with a very painful pulmonary embolism. Those aren't fun.

I have to find a way to eat more. I think if I can do this I can break the stall and move on a little more quickly.

I haven't done too much research on the achalasia. I to have no idea what a typical or type 2 is. The myasthenia is far more difficult to manage day in and day out. The achalasia is more annoying at this point. I too, thought of the achalasia as a tool to help me lose the weight but the myasthenia really made it impossible to keep it off. Now the myasthenia is manageable and with the help of my twice a week plasmapheresis I have more stamina and can get in at least 25 minutes of walking each day.

I have never experienced heartburn or reflux. the achalasia has masked that for what sounds like years and years. How do you know you are having a reflux issue? Do you take medication to reduce or eliminate it?

Good luck, makemyownluck! when your body gets to a certain point I know you'll begin to feel better. The bypass and the heller will help.

[makemyownluck 785]

I have heartburn about once or twice a week. But it's different from "regular" heartburn - tums don't help at all, nor pepto, mylanta, etc. It's not actually reflux of stomach acid, it's more esophageal irritation from something I ate that hasn't cleared. My doc is confident that it will stop after surgery. He says he has been quite successful with Heller Myotomy and he is a leading bariatric surgeon so I think he will handle my revision well also.

I'm very much caught in my own head about what recovery will be like, and frankly it seems like this procedure has a rather large margin for issues post op. I'll just have to take them as they come, stop stressing the unknown, and hope for the best possible outcome, knowing that an IMPROVEMENT might be all I get, as "back to normal" doesn't seem to be an option with this condition. It's a lot to wrap your mind around!

Also, I can RELATE to it being impossible to tell what will go down from one day to the next. Even plain Water is difficult at times. It's very frustrating, and more than anything, I'm sick of being SICK all the time.

[Myaiku_Kuraitani 245]

I had my surgery in April haven't truly stalled until August 11th. The stall broke today. Usually I would lose every other day. So my stall stuck around for two weeks, that is the longest my weight stayed the same. It does eventually pass for everyone but I understand how you feel. Sometimes when I gain weight back I freak out and get mad at myself for it.

----------------------------

HW- 273

Pre-op Wt- 230

SW- 226

CW- 173

GW- 130

Ht- 5'2.5"

DOS- April 26th, 2017

"Only those who try will become." ~FFX

[JohnnyCakes 593]

On 8/24/2017 at 9:49 AM, neon07734 said:

I struggle with mashed potatoes!!! But I will have a break in the clouds and I can eat a grilled cheese sandwich without any issues. I think my weight loss stalls simply because I'm starving myself most days.

i think it's because you're eating mashed potatoes and grilled cheese sandwiches.

[neon07734 36]

57 minutes ago, JohnnyCakes said:

i think it's because you're eating mashed potatoes and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Johnnycakes, I don't eat those but have attempted to eat them once maybe twice just to get any food down due to the achalasia. We have days we can't get Water down. I was merely using those as examples that me and someone else on this site suffer with on top of the bariatric surgery. low cal yogurt, water, Protein Shakes, watermelon, are terribly difficult. I was using it as consistency examples. but thanks for the sarcasm.