CrazyCatLady

Sorry in advance for graphic post. So, after 9 weeks of consistent/constant bright yellow, loose, cramping stools, I finally talked to a doctor. Because I've always been the "I can fix it myself!" or the "I'll just wait it out" type, I was hesitant to bother a professional and be told "nothing to worry about". But having painful, uncontrollable diarrhea multiple times a day has gotten to be an issue. I can't always dissapear into the restroom for 30 minutes at a shot while working. And the sharts (see other threads!) are getting worse, not better. When my intestines start with the sharp, stabbing pain, I begin to sweat, ache, and feel dizzy. I am constantly dehydrated because of the total liquid nature of the stools. So, after asking some questions and collecting a sample, GI doc sends me for a slow-contract GI series...and here's the fun part: I now have an answer for WHY. Apparently, my pyloric sphincter (the one at the bottom of the stomach, that is the "gateway" between the stomach and the duodenum) has become overactive, in that it opens and allows unprocessed, incorrectly-pH'd food to pass out of the stomach when it is approx 50% full (1.2oz!). Upon reaching my small intestine, it is immediately rejected because it has not been properly broken down and mixed with stomach secretions, causing it to be moved along at a rapid pace. The phrase "gastric dumping syndrome" was used many times by the physician - so there goes the myth that sleevers can't dump! In my case, that is exactly what is happening. The bad news is - physician has no idea how/why this is happening. No matter whether eating solid Proteins, drinking fluids, eating Beans, etc....everything seems subject to this effect. I am already waiting 45 minutes after drinking before eating, and 30 minutes after, which is making it even harder to get my fluids in. There were no recommendations to remedy this issue, other than to stretch my window of fluids to an hour each direction - but large quantities of fluids (over 6 oz per 30 minutes) makes my intestines react as well. Does anyone have any experience with this? It's gotten so bad that I consumed NOTHING for the 8 hours I was at work today, because I was not at liberty to leave the floor for any reason, save for my 30 minute lunch, and I couldn't chance consuming something and having a bad reaction. Any advice or experience is welcome. Nine weeks out from surgery and still having things crop up. Man, bummer.

Been gone for a bit. Had to take a break from online and try to live a little. I'm still on the Coumadin for my portal vein clot, but it's become very difficult to stay thinned-out enough since I started eating more solid foods. Went in for my checkup today and had an INR of 1.1...which is BAD, as my target is 2.5 - 3.5. Also, have been feeling "off" the last few days, keep losing my voice...I have atypical bacterial pneumonia. I was sent home with a doubled dose of Coumadin, and some antibiotics for the pneumonia. While I no longer feel in the 'pit of despair' as I used to, it feels like the last two months have just been one thing after another. Is it selfish to say that I want a break? I still wish things could go back to how they were. My weight loss is at a crawl, as my stomach has decided it doesn't want to tolerate much in the way of any type of protein now. I can eat some tofu once or twice a day, and a couple bites of chicken, and that's it. I'm chronically constipated, and milk of mag makes me slime badly. I'm not as frustrated as I was a month ago, but am still feeling unbalanced. Just a small break, that's all I need.

For those of you who can't / won't / don't eat eggs, or just want something different.... 1 block firm tofu, drained and crumbled 1 bunch green onions, sliced 2 Tbsp soy sauce - Tamari is best for this 1/4 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp chicken bullion powder (optional) Combine all and saute in lightly oiled skillet over med-high heat until liquid evaporates off. Delicious hot, reheated, etc....

You beat me to it! Yes, my husband (who is post-op RNY) is HUGE into spicy foods. It wants food so hot that it makes his brow sweat and his bunghole tingle....and eats pretty much any spicy food he wants, with restriction only to carbs, as the sweet stuff really messes with him. Chances are, EVENTUALLY you will be able to have those spicy goodies again, but it won't be on your time table...it'll be on your sleeve's timetable. Patience, young padawan!!

I second that. Was talking to a dietician friend of mine, and she keeps bringing up drinking milk as a good way of protein/fluid replacement. I'm so sad to have to exclude dairy from my life - if I would have known I was going to be one of the unlucky ones, I would have spent my last weeks before surgery freebasing the stuff!

It's more of a - no outside liquids issue (currently working contract in a prison. Thanks anyways.

Wormholes?? I'm more of a Stargate gal myself, so I assumed it has something to do with the space-time continuum, and possibly the Goa'uld. Just sayin. Seriously though, I had that same issue myself the last two weeks. Stalled out, and miraculously dropped a pant size, despite dropping no weight. WTF. Best not to question it, just go with the flow Congrats on your continued success!

You may have lost your period....cause apparently, I found it! I started my period 3 days after surgery, and it went for almost 2 weeks. So I figured this month, I'd get a break....wrong! Another 13 day period. Sigh. Ain't it grand to be a woman? lol

Another thought - depending on how your hormones are influencing where you lose weight, you may not lose sizes for a bit and then BAM, skip over a size or two. Remember, fat stores estrogen, and as that fat is released, so is the stored estrogen. Sometimes, it sucks to be a woman >.<

Let me correct myself - the powdered Lean Shakes. I can't do RTD due to the nature of my work. Wish I could >.<

I am so bummed - saw this post this AM and beat feet to my nearest GNC....only to find out that the Lean Shake is NOT lactose free. As I am totally and painfully lactose intolerant, I am sad - I have been looking for a good no-lactose shake without luck. Maybe next time.

You may also try posting this on the Self Pay/Mexico forum, lots of Dr Garcia patients there that may be able to share some insight

There's quite a discrepancy between docs, so you always have to go with with what your Surg/NUT advises. That being said....man, I wish I COULD hit 600 cals! I got to 480 last thursday, and felt like a champ, lol.

I admit, I've been using sports bras...because at the end of a 12 hour shift of lifting people, I couldn't deal with underwires anymore. And much like others, I'm having the "dissapearing band" problem. I'll look into the Genie bra, though...thanks!

I'd like to second this. The first time I went through pre-op dieting, my surgeon's office and NUT didn't realize I was diabetic, and I felt TERRIBLE. After the third day, I called them in tears and explained that I just wasn't cut out for surgery if I couldn't handle this. After listening to my symptoms, the doc switched me to a more balanced Protein Shake and let me have an extra one a day, and it made all the difference. Give your doc a call, be honest, see what they say. Good luck!

So, it appears that my body was just waiting for some unknown signal from my ovaries that yes, my period was DONE and I was allowed to commence losing weight again. Phew. Though, it was really bizarre to step on the scale and see a "5" in the second digit. The 250s are a historically hot-button weight for me. I always seem to hinge stuff on the 250 mark... "I'll buy a swimsuit when I hit 250" "I'll go to the gym when I hit 250 - when I'm heavier, my knees hurt too bad and I can't exercise" .....ad nauseum So today, I bought a swimsuit. Yes, it's a fluffy lady suit with a skirt...cause that's what I could find, dammit! But it's not bad looking, and it's a size 20, instead of the 26 I had to buy last time (and that made my boobs sag to where they were nearly parallel with my waistline, I kid you not). Cause eventually, I have to stop being a number and start being a person, even if ignorant teenagers still "mooooo" at me ocassionally. It's all good.

HOLY GUACAMOLE, that's a lot of weight - congrats! My question...I'm dying for a foot tat...did it hurt??

I'm always so glad to see people that are several months, years, etc, out from surgery come back and talk to the rest of us...helps us get a realistic picture of what to expect. Thank you! Best of luck as you recover from surgery and move forward with your life

I admit, I was feeling pretty good about my self and my weight loss...until I logged on to Facebook (grrrrr....I should know better!) and saw that an old coworker of mine, who is the same height I am, and started at the same weight (plus 7lbs)...had gastric sleeve surgery 4 weeks ago. And has lost **52lbs SINCE SURGERY!!!** I almost choked on my glass of ice water. WTF!?! I had my surgery 7 weeks ago (as of tomorrow), and I've lost....38lbs since surgery. Almost twice her time, and less weight. I've lost 40lbs in two months before by low-carb dieting...so this is not an exciting moment for me. Why is it we spend our precious time comparing ourselves to others? I was reading one of those "after your surgery" books....and came across the statement that the honeymoon period for weightloss surgery was the first 3 months....3 months?!? I'm more than halfway through that! ....there's that comparing again. Grrrrrrr..... Sometimes, I wish I lived on an island, with no one to compare to. Even my dear, darling husband made the comment, "After my RNY, I never stalled - I just lost weight the whole way down". I wanted to crush his manbits with a sledgehammer...and I was perfectly rational at the time that I told him as much. Yes, I had complications. Yes, I know that it affects me....but that base human part of me somehow feels inferior, simply because I can't become less-fat just as fast as someone else. WTF.

While we may not experience "dumping" in the same way that RNY/DS patients do, we do still have a definite connection between consumed foods being rejected by our GI system. The bariatric surgeon I worked with previously explained it as such: The theory is - when that 80%+ of our stomachs were removed, we lost lots of enzyme/hormone production capacity. These enzymes and hormones normally help us process particular items - added sugars, lactose, gluten, different amino acids, etc - hence why a significant portion of post-sleeve patients become lactose intolerant, some for the rest of their lives. Now here's the beauty of the body - we have redundancies built in! Some of these same enzymes are produced in the small intestine (which, when Bypassed in an RNY and coupled with no pyloric sphincter, produce the RNY version of dumping). Over time, the production facilities that are left often DO ramp up production, which is why those episodes become further and farther in between as our sleeved time increases. Some do not - see the lactose intolerant example above. Additionally, gastric dumping syndrome can be caused simply by our body's attempt at self preservation: we put too much food (or an undesirable food) in our sleeve. Body says "WTF! Move this stuff out before it does damage!" and shunts it into the small intestine before it's had adequate time to be mixed with gastric juices, brought to the proper pH, etc. Our poor duodenum gets overloaded....and nastiness results. Without becoming overly technical: yes, sleeve patients DO dump. Let's observe the symptoms.... "Early dumping begins concurrently or immediately succeeding a meal. Symptoms of early dumping include nausea, vomiting, bloating, cramping, diarrhea, dizziness and fatigue. "Late" dumping happens 1 to 3 hours after eating. Symptoms of late dumping include weakness, sweating, and dizziness. Many people have both types." Note that the National Digestive Diseases Clearinghouse, a branch of the National Institutes of Health DOES deem vomiting in this context as a symptom of gastric dumping. I can tell you that I personally had that experience today, over 3 bites of beef bologna. Within 10 minutes of consuming my bologna, I became pale, shaking, severe nausea, cold/clammy sweats...followed within 30 minutes by OH DEAR GOD diarrhea time with the great white porceline god in the washroom. It was not pretty. As with most things...your mileage may vary.

Yes, it's true....we nurses get excited about some VERY strange things. I will admit to clapping for a patient when he FINALLY passed gas after waiting in recovery almost 4 hours after his colonoscopy - I'm sure he thought I was a freak

I had surgery over a month ago....we were at Costco today, and I purchased a slice of pizza for my daughter from their little food-court thing (we rarely have junk at home, and she's had a real yen for pizza the last several weeks)...and this skinny broad in line behind me starts making these very obviously loud comments to the woman next to her about how terrible it is that PEOPLE can't rein themselves in and how last she knew, Costco sells SALADS, etc. People are cruel no matter what. Surgery changes nothing. They have no idea that I've lost almost 50lbs, or that I can barely get down 400 calories on a good day - all they know is that I am FAT, and therefore an out-of-control JABBA THE HUT clone who deserves to be publicly humiliated. My daughter came home one day and said she was invited over to a friend's house, but was warned that they won't have junk food at home, like we OBVIOUSLY have at our home. Which made me laugh...prior to surgery, I was hypertensive type 2 diabetic, I had to monitor my diet very closely. We had a bag of chips that sat on top of the fridge until they turned stale. I should mention that even when you do get surgery and you do start losing weight, there's the inevitable comments about how you took the "easy way out", to further invalidate your efforts at health. Bottom line: haters gonna hate, whether they be kids or adults. If you knew how little people thought of you, you'd think little of them too. We here are very proud of you for soldiering on and doing what you need to do to take care of yourself. Don't let ignorant comments lodge in your brain

Yes, I said it...I hate food. All of it. It's 2:30p, and I haven't had anything to eat today - because the thought of putting anything in my mouth is totally repugnant. I have no interest. I tried eating a piece of chicken this morning: chewed it up and then spit it out, because I knew if I tried to swallow it, I'd gag on it. I can't believe the change from 2 months ago, where I ate all day long. It is mindblowing. I suppose it doesn't help that my weight loss is somewhere between a "crawl" and "non-existent" these last handful of days. Logically I know I have to eat - I just have no desire. None. Wonder when/if this will change.

If you have Trader Joe's, they have Hemp Protein, that has no whey or dairy derivatives in it. You have to watch some of the soy Proteins...sometimes they sneak in whey or dairy for 'enrichment'.