kchristian

I agree 1000%. I thought the same thing when I was losing weight on my 2 week pre-op diet. I thought, why do I really need this surgery if I can lose like this? the answer - BECAUSE IT WILL COME RIGHT BACK ON! Like it has the other 20 times I've gotten some of the weight off, only to add it back plus some. Hopefully this tool of a stomach will help me out this time

Hathery is spot on. If it's dark, you are past the point of "maybe" on dehydration. My doc says if you are dehydrated, give up food for liquids. Drink drink drink. If I were you, I'd probably just call my doc and see if I could go in for IV fluids. No one wants to be in the hospital at all I know, especially after just coming home - however, you may be past the point of being able to rehydrate yourself by drinking. I know I couldn't have at that stage.

sounds to me like internal stitch healing. It's not so much a really hurtful pain as it is a pulling sensation right? That location is exactly where I could feel my stiches healing on that right side. It should go away in a few days. If it starts to get worse or really really hurt, please call the doc!

Right this moment I'm eating a scrambled egg. I scrambled it with some milk, cheese and teeny tiny diced cubes of ham! it's delicious and for lunch I had 1/4 cup of refried beans with some cheese mixed in.

Dizziness during rapid weight loss is quite common. Now, does that make us feel any better? NO WAY! Dizziness is super scary and makes my anxiety jump through the roof. Every time I stand up and start walking around I experience the dizziness - that form of dizziness is called "orthostatic hypotension". Basically what happens is that when you are sitting, more blood pools in your legs then when you are standing, so when you stand up, your body senses the lower blood volume in the upper body through receptors located in the arteries and sends a message to your heart to speed up it's pace to help circulate the blood to the upper body, particularly the brain. At the same time, the arteries constrict which helps to propel the blood back to your brain as well as the rest of your body. (yeah, I totally copied and pasted that ). So your blood pressure drops momentarily, making you dizzy. What I do to help with it is, whenever I stand up, I take a few steps and then bend over slightly and hold on to something. I usually get a wave of dizziness and it passes super quick. If I get up and try to keep on walking I could very well pass out. It just takes a few seconds for your brain to readjust and regulate your blood pressure again. Now, if you are dizzy all the time, I seriously suggest adding in some G2 Gatorade into your daily fluids. Maybe try a 20 oz of it a day. Your electrolytes could be out of whack. You may also want to find a way to monitor your blood sugar. There are a lot of people (including myself) that are NOT diabetic, but during weight loss, have bouts of hypoglycemia. It happened to me yesterday. And your blood sugar doesn't even have to get really low. Mine went to 77, but I felt like I was DYING. My sugar just dropped really quickly, causing the same symptoms as really low blood sugar. I ate 1/8 of a banana and a tablespoon of Peanut Butter and it jumped right back up. So make sure you are eating something every couple hours. I hope you start feeling better because dizziness just SUCKS. I know my anxiety can cause it too, even if there is nothing wrong with me. How many oz of fluids are you getting a day? I'd aim for like 90-100 if I were you and see if that helps too.

So I'm doing great with eggs now. Scrambled with milk and cheese. Super moist and fluffy. Goes down SO much better than just a regular scrambled egg!

I sort of felt the same way. One day POOF I was just able to drink more. It was really crazy. At first I was like, oh no - how did I stretch my sleeve! LOL I realized it's probably just the swelling going away

I had liquid bandaid on my incisions. It will start to fall off, peel off, etc. Try not to let shower water run over it for a long period of time, it makes it come off faster. I wouldn't say put more on, unless it starts to look like it's opening up - but in that situation I'd call my doctor first anyways, because you don't want to SEAL an infection in!! I really wanted to peel the crap off too LOL but I made myself leave it alone and all was well.

I had GERD before surgery, but took zantac everyday and had no issues with heartburn or reflux. After my surgery, my dr put me on pepcid 2x daily and starting about a week after surgery, I had RAGING heartburn everyday, all day. I kept a bottle of Maalox in my hand constantly and I'd drink a bottle a week. I called my dr's office several times and they kept trying to give me "tips" to fix it but I finally just said the Pepcid by itself is NOT working. I was totally freaking out thinking I'd have to go the bypass route eventually, but my dr had me add 1 Prilosec a day and I'm not even kidding a little - the FIRST morning I took it (which was yesterday) I had ZERO heartburn...nothing, all day! I haven't had any today either. It's the answer to a prayer!! I was miserable for 3 and 1/2 weeks, felt like I took a 2nd job as a fire-swallower. But now - oh the relief And there are PLENTY of other things they can try as well before you would have to go so drastic as do to a total bypass. So don't sweat it right now, and know that if you do get heartburn afterwards, it most likely can be handled with meds. If one doesn't work - there are plenty more to try! Good luck!

I'm 4 and 1/2 weeks post op and I still have back pain. I'm now using my stomach muscles for things again, so it's lessening up, but right after surgery, my BACK did all the work when i walked around, etc, and if you don't use your stomach muscles it wreaks havoc on your spine, and thus your back muscles attached to it. It's been a slow painful process and thank goodness my hubby gives me back rubs.

LOL!! I honestly thought there were times when I would need to have my husband tie me up in order to keep me from eating, but somehow, by the grace of God I found some sort of inner self that knew better and I didn't give in. You know what really helped the cravings was chicken broth. It hit that salty spot I needed!

I freaking LOVE that saying. That is hilarious; and you are totally normal. I felt the same way, bitter, angry, annoyed, I think I may have actually kicked a wall. I ran and hid upstairs whenever dinner was being made, I bawled while making my toddler a sandwhich, I sat on the kitchen floor one time and sobbed because my family made fajitas and they smelled so good I just wanted to go get my own apartment and have no food allowed in it!!! After surgery it's SO much easier. I'm NOT hungry, food still does smell delicious, but I'm happy with my 1/4 cup of refried Beans and a dash of shredded cheese or mashed potatoes, etc. Once you get past the healing stage, the anger for me at least, seemed to melt away a bit and now I'm happy with my sleeve, love that I made this decision and most of all, my 2 weeks of pre-op pure liquid diet HELL were completely and TOTALLY worth it. Every tear, every child-like fit I threw...everything. Good luck, try not to punch anybody and look forward to your surgery date

I tried an egg for the 1st time yesterday and I noticed a TON of burping and pressure in my chest. I just tried another one and only got thru 3/4 of it. I think it's because it's the first food that I've tried that wasn't in some way liquidy and so no matter how much I chew, it's still pieces going down, not liquid and with those pieces, goes air. I'm hoping it will go away over time.

good to hear! right now, make SURE you put liquids ahead of Protein. Your body can handle a week or two without the protein, but not enough fluids will land you back in the ER faster than you think. I'm sure it's not a place you want to end back up! My first day home post op I got in 30 oz and the 2nd day I got in 40, by day 3 I was able to hit my 64 oz goal. It took me until almost 4 weeks post op to be able to get in about 70 oz a day.

ok, my lack of true medical knowledge will show here, but my doctor told me that in addition to the staples & sutures, he also removes this fat pad that we all have in us at the start of the surgery, maybe it's attached to our stomach's naturally, not 100% sure. But anyways, he said he attaches that to the stapled part of the sleeve after the surgery is complete so that if there WERE to be a leak, it would absorb into that fat pad instead of just leaking into my insides! Does anybody else know what I'm talking about?

Love that pic!! you look fantastic!

Oh and don't be surprised if you feel like you just ran a 5K after your shower. I had to lay down and take a nap. It was exhausting.

I actually had to have my husband help me shower! I had him brace my stomach while I washed my hair and body. Don't know about you, but I couldn't walk around without holding a pillow to my stomach for the first week and a half. Oh and if you shave your legs, try your best to bring them up to you. I tried to bend over, let's just say that was not a pleasant experience. Thank goodness I have little tiny shelves in my shower that I could put my foot up on. (I honestly think they were meant to be seats, but not with my huge rear end)!!! But oh, the joy of feeling scrubbed clean after that shower was amazing

I seriously HOPE not! That's a top priority in picking a surgeon IMO - find out how they do the surgery!

Yes, absolutely. I think it's crazy if they don't do something to reinforce the staples. I even have pictures from my insides during surgery proving he did LOL!

Like everybody else said - itchy is good! It definitely means healing. Just don't scratch it hard LOL. You don't want to open an incision and get an infection. Just put a blanket or something over your belly and then rub on top of your incisions with your knuckles. It helped me some. It will go away soon!

I'm at 4 weeks today and still on purees. I see my dr on Thursday and i'm sure he'll clear me for soft foods. Right now I'm just doing protein shakes (Bariatric Fusion are the only ones I can tolerate), and things like soups, refried beans, mashed potatoes.

What do you guys take for calcium supplements? I searched everywhere because they are HUGE pills that I cannot swallow. I found these miniatures, but seriously, they should not be allowed to call them mini's. They are still big. I'm scared to death to try to swallow one. I have one pill I take everyday that is almost that size and it gets stuck almost daily. I hate it. So, any good suggestions for calcium citrate?

All normal feelings, trust me. All I can say is take it one day at a time, don't freak out about stuff that isn't happening yet (this is coming from someone with through the roof anxiety lol). Your post pretty much looks exactly what I was thinking in your place pre-op. You will do great, just follow dr's orders and take it slow!

I just googled it and went to their website. http://www.sunkistprotein.com/products.html It then tells you that you can order them from this website - http://www.europasports.com/ I just wonder how good of quality Protein they are...