DLCoggin

No problem guys - I need your email address.

Not at all. Not everyone experiences dumping.

Click on my name to the left of this post. That will open my profile. At the top right click "Send me a message" button. Piece of cake!! LOL

Many doctors will remove the gall bladder at the same time they are doing rny - even if there isn't currently a problem. BBdoodle's experience is quite common following rny and it's easily removed during the rny procedure and adds very little additional time to the surgery. And it avoids a second surgery and anasthesia - both big plusses!!

Research has repeatedly shown that folks who maintain a food log or food diary lose more weight and are more successful at maintaining their goal weight. There are tons of apps out there that you can download to your phone. My Fitness Pal is highly recommended by those who use it as is Spark People. I have used Tap and Track Pro on my iPhone since Dec. 7th of last year. It just happened to be the app with the best reviews when I was looking. I have logged everything I have eaten since that day right up to this minute and I fully intend to maintain a food log for life. Incredibly power tool. When you add a food, you simply access a database and select the one that you want to add. All of the nutrition information is in the database. In addition to a general database, many give you the option of searching grocery store brands or searching by restaurant name. Entering your meals is a little tedious in the beginning but you quickly get used to it and the more you use the app, the easier it becomes (for example you can use a shortcut to access foods that you have previously entered). Highly recommended!!

Nothing so far...

Forgot about the symptoms. There is a pretty wide variety of symptoms that may occur but you could experience one or more of the following. Nausea Vomiting Dizziness Diarrhea Flushing Sweating Fainting (in rare cases)

I never experienced dumping until I was about seven months post-op. Even then I did not have any vomiting. I ate some red grapes and the light headedness hit me about an hour later. Most folks (about 2/3) experience dumping within 15 to 30 minutes following a meal. The other 1/3 don't have any symptoms for one to three hours. How do you know it's dumping? Dumping is caused by the rapid movement (dumping) of food from the pouch into the small intestine. The symptoms are thought to be caused by the dumping of large amounts of sugars into the small intestine (hyperglycemia). In response, the body releases large amounts of insulin to absorb the sugars which causes your blood sugar to crash (hypoglycemia). Once you understand what dumping is and you connect it with what you ate, pretty easy to put the two together and know that it's dumping. In the case of my grapes, I was curious so I checked my blood sugar which was 50 - the insulin released by my body caused my sugar to crash and the light headedness followed. Dumping is not very pleasant but in the overall scheme of things, it is not considered serious from a medical perspective in all but the rarest of cases. It's also worth noting that you might experience dumping with a particular food but eat the same food weeks or months later and have no problem. So you may want to try some foods periodically.

Celebrate every pound you lose. Pre-op, post-op, liquid diet, or voodoo - it doesn't matter. Celebrate every pound and congratulate yourself for doing a great job! You've made a life changing decision and you're gonna love the new you!!

I didn't go out of my way to tell everyone but I chose to tell anyone who asked. BUT...I wasn't worried about anyone talking me out of it and with the exceptions of family and close friends, I wasn't too concerned about whether they "agreed" with my decision or not. I haven't had any regrets about the decision but when all is said and done, it's a personal decision. If you're most comfortable not telling anyone, then that's what you should do. You're gonna love the new you!!

You might find some ideas in my post "Managing Hunger" - http://www.rnytalk.com/topic/1493-managing-hunger/page__fromsearch__1 A week out you won't be able to apply all of this but you'll be eating before you know it!!

Great job!! Congratulations!! Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? LOL

I wasn't allowed any bread or crackers until five weeks post-op. When you can eat them, you might want to try Kashi Pita Crisps. I've had the 7 Grain Sea Salt and the Zesty Salsa. Both are 120 cals, 11 crisps per serving, 3g of protein and 22g of carbs. I enjoy crunchy and these crackers are very crunchy. I eat them with all kinds of things and they really are quite tastey!

Love to read tips like this! Thanks so much for sharing!

I use Splenda exclusively and I have never had dumping from it. And I've never read of anyone having dumping from it. I guess that it makes a statement that my surgeons office has a Keurig coffee maker in the lobby and the only sweetener they have is Splenda.

You're welcome! And don't be too impatient when you first start using the CPAP. It takes some getting used to. When I first started, I'd wake up in the middle of the night and take it off. Not the end of the world. Just try it again the next night. And the next and the next. It's a gradual learning curve but once you get there, you will be amazed how much better you feel!

I had sleep apnea for many years but thanks to rny, it's officially gone as of three weeks ago. The mask you describe in your post sounds like the one that I was using for a good two years. Much more comfortable than the older ones that were much larger. There are a lot of different styles of masks out there but they tend to be expensive. Almost all of the masks will require that you breathe through your nose. There are "full face" masks but doctors and technicians seem to universally state that they are not as effective as the other ones, are more uncomfortable and are not recommeded. Although it's intimidating at first, most people get used to breathing through their nose without too much trouble. Once you get used to it (it really doesn't take very long), you definitely will sleep MUCH better. You'll notice the difference quickly. And there's an excellent chance that the apnea will be resolved by the surgery. It takes a while for it to go away so don't be too impatient once you're post-op. In my case, it took three to four months for it to resolve.

Forum rules don't allow me to post an Excel spreadsheet and this one has three sheets. I'd be happy to email it to you if you shoot me your email in a PM or post it.

Fish is pretty much always OK. But I'm not sure about the cornmeal. What are the numbers? I'm thinking that cornmeal is probably better than flour but I'm not sure either one is ideal.

Just emailed the Protein food list. Carb loading is important for intense exercise like a marathon or any kind of exercise where you're going to be burning a lot of energy. Carbs are king when it comes to energy. Just look at what the Olympians eat on the day of a competition - some of those guys eat 6000 calories for breakfast. Not sure why your increase of carbs would result in your being sluggish the next day. Possible that you're expending so much energy on heavy exercise days that you're exhausting the carbs and what you're feeling the next day is just the absence of carbs. I'm pretty much stumped by the pain. Nuts are rich in poly and monounsaturated fats. Unfortunately that doesn't give me any ideas regarding what the cause of the pain might be. Possibly an ulcer? Are you seeing your surgeon tomorrow? The surgeon might be the best bet for diagnosing that pain. You also might want to look at what you have eaten preceeding the times when the pain surfaces. If it's an ulcer (or pre-ulcer), you may be able to identify what food or foods trigger it. Your doctor would probably like to know how long after you eat the pain occurs as well. That might help them narrow down if it's the pouch or lower in the small intestine or not related to the digestive tract at all. I'd be interested to hear what they say!

LOL! Ain't no way to win that one Tank!!

Wow, good question. I think the biggest advantage was that I had the opportunity to observe first hand the progression of the recovery during the first several weeks following the surgery. There's no doubt that the first few weeks immediately following the surgery are the toughest. The whole getting reintroduced to food and getting familiar with the idiosyncracies of the pouch are challenging. I had the opportunity to see the challenges, both physical and mental, and to see how they progressed and what worked best for overcoming them. That and I got a lot of experience with new ways to appease a very grumpy wife!

P.S. I also occasionally have a Pure Protein bar to supplement my protein if I'm running low on any particular day. The Chocolate Deluxe is absolutely delicious. Pure Protein makes them up to a whopping 78g of protein but the one that I buy is 20g of protein and 200 calories.

Hi Ms. Jewels! I do a combination of both. I have a 35g, 160-170 calorie protein shake (Pure Protein) every day for breakfast. With few exceptions, it's all real food after that. My surgeon requires all of her patients get 100g of protein a day. Challenging at first but as time went on I discovered tons of foods, fresh and packaged, that make it relatively easy at this point. I've compiled a list of high protein foods and I continuously add to it as I discover new gems. If you're interested, I'd be glad to send it to you (Excel file with three sheets) if you'll send me your email address. I'm familiar with My Fitness Pal but not "on" it. I started using "Tap and Track Pro" on Dec. 7th of last year. It just happened to be the app with the best reviews on the day I was looking for a way to log my intake on my iPhone and I've used it every day for every single thing I eat right up to today. I've heard nothing but great things about My Fitness Pal and Spark People is supposed to be excellent as well. Food diaries are admittedly a little tedious but they are an incredibly powerful tool and I have every intention of using one for life!! Research studies have repeatedly shown that folks that log their food intake lose more weight and are more successful at maintaining their weight than folks who don't maintain a log.

You're certainly welcome and so glad to hear she's doing better!!