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A little about me. 45-year-old, male. Fought my weight my entire adult life. Chronic IBS. GERD. Heart attack in 2016. Heart disease. Diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea in 2022. Fatty liver disease. Metabolic syndrome. Diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos - Hypermobility Type in 1997. Currently have chronic pain in both shoulders and both hips, especially when sleeping. This is due to the EDS. I have SLAP tears in both shoulders as well as partial rotator cuff tears, and frozen shoulder on the right side. Married. Twin 13-year-olds. Quality of life really hit bottom. I decided to take control of my life. I had my first appointment with the Dr back in November. Just had VSG on May 18th. Severe gas pains for about the first 5 hours after surgery. Like really bad. Gave me dilaudid to help with the pain, and it did knock the edge off. I was able to get up and walk, drink a little, and pee. Let me go home about 6.5 hours in recovery. The first nights sleep was brutal. THE HICCUPS! Why did no one tell me about the hiccups?! I was able to wear my apnea mask just fine, but every time I got up to pee (about 5 times total), the hiccups would start almost immediately and last for 30 minutes or more. I was shaking the bed and keeping the wife awake, they were so bad. Also had some mild reflux with a little bit of the foamies (I got those before the surgery when the reflux would flare). 1st day after surgery, much better. Very few hiccups. No nausea. Got all of my fluids and protein in. Even walked about 8000 steps (I would've done anything to make sure the gas pain didn't return). Now I'm on the third full day after surgery, and each day has been better than the last. Still tired. Off pain meds for the entire day today. I can't stomach the clear protein, so I'm drinking full (creamy) protein diluted 50/50 with water. No issues so far. I think I have overdone it with walking too much too soon, because I feel really tired and weak. I'm going to cut the walking down to 5000 steps and see if that helps. My ABS are pretty sore, especially immediately after sitting/laying. They tighten up pretty quick. Still a long road ahead, with 1-2 shoulder surgeries later this year. And I know there's still a long road ahead with my weight loss journey. I appreciate everyone's candidness describing their issues (poop, slime/foamies, etc). I like to know what to expect. No regrets.

Thanks brother. I'm looking forward to the same. I'm not sure if it's the initial weight loss, diet change, or both, but I'm monitoring my BP in the morning and at night. The doctor said do not take BP meds unless I see it climb to either 150 (top number) or 90 (bottom) number. So far it's consistently in the 120/70 range, so no BP meds. It seems crazy to me that I'm off the BP meds that quickly. Looking forward to the rest.

Hi Helen, I’m with Kaiser Washington and started back in January please keep us posted and good luck on your journey 🙏🏾🙌🏽🥰

I had my revision to bypass in August 2022 as well. I still get the foamies/slimes occasionally. It's strange but with the VSG I had experience dumping (fast heartrate, sweating, feeling clammy, malaise...Etc. but with the RNY, I experience foamies but no dumping. The only way I can stop the foamies is first, I keep blowing my nose when I first notice it, so no more will build up, then if that doesn't stop it, I use one of those tongue cleaners and rub the back of my tongue a few times, makes me cough and all the slime comes out. I remember in the beginning they would last for hours and hours. Now it's usually till I can clear it once. Last time I had it was after eating at a restaurant, on the way home in the car. I didn't have my tongue cleaner but used a chopstick from my takeout bag and an extra plastic bag. Eww. lol

@mcipanda I Did get Greek yogurt so might have to start trying some new things but just so focused on getting at least one shakes down and it’s so challenging. Thank you.

Yes I had this too and its tough. There are still things that I am 'over' I have gradually expanded my diet and found Thai foods are tasty to me. You will sort it out and find your way. Keep trying different foods

Yeah... we all experience this unfortunately. things I used to love are so gross to me now. It's a good and bad thing. But it will keep changing, so don't write stuff off, you might like it again in a month or so.

Right now I'm in Florida on vacation and this is the smallest I've ever been on a beach. It's SO much easier to walk on the sand and I even RAN on the sand today. I have not gotten short of breath at all. Last year a month before my surgery we went to Orange Beach, AL, and I had to keep stopping for breath every few feet and it was miserable. I was in so much pain too. swear I feel like a teenager again at almost 50! Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

I love these lists! I’m still 52 lbs from goal, but so far I have a whole list: 1. Not feeling like I have to rush home to get into pajamas because it’s the only thing that doesn’t feel like it’s strangling me. Bras just fit better when you arent as fat, who knew. 2. Chairs! Chairs with arms! Flimsy looking chairs! Patio chairs! 3. So much variety in clothes, and I can wear styles I like instead of huge frumpy cardigans over everything. I can thrift now, and shop in pretty much any store. 4. I feel like I have energy and interest in doing things again. I don’t just want to hide out at home and eat all weekend long. 5. Not being terrified of running into someone I knew 10+ years ago in public because of how fat I’d gotten. 6. I can go up the stairs and not die. I can exercise and not feel like I might die. Amazing. 7. I wore a pair of shorts yesterday and they weren’t Bermuda length! And my thighs didn’t start a small fire. 8. I like my facial features so much better now. My eyes look bigger, my jawline actually exists, and I look more like myself. 9. At my heaviest my arms stuck out weird because of the fat, and my legs were always at a weird angle because of fat as well. I can rest my arms by my sides and stand with my feet together.

Not being angry at the end of the day because my bras were so freakin tight