Justinh125

Last summer, my drinking was reaching epic and incredibly disastorous proportions, so I checked myself into a treatment facility. Now, I have an AA "homegroup" that I regularly attend--not because I'm in a state of crisis anymore or because I've "sunk so low," but instead because I really like the people there and find it to be a great place of support to talk about all kinds of things.

I suppose what I'm saying is that I go to AA meetings voluntairly because I enjoy them, not because I think there's something "wrong" with me or that I'm a "bad person" or anything like that. And sure, they help keep me sober, and I know that's important to me for many reasons.

Prior to last summer, you would have NEVER found a person less willing to have anything to do with AA than a guy like me, but now I feel bummed if I have to miss a meeting I like. This summer, I got the VSG. So I suppose for the last 2 summers I've worked on an "upgrade" of sorts.

I'm in the same boat with food and I'm worried about it. I can eat a 5.5 oz yogurt with no real trouble and no ill effects. Just went to Panera and had their cup of Tomato Soup and felt very satisfied, but not overly full afterwards. Is this normal??

Everyone's been telling me that once we get to solid food things will change. But honestly I was hoping my appetite would go away to a larger extent than it has, because it's tough to crave a bunch of food and not be able to eat it right now...

I'm in the same boat too! Sleeved on Aug. 22.... Also, I see you guys are walking like crazy.... Man! I am still just exhausted! I could sleep all day if I let myself....!

I was told to walk for at least 10 minutes for every hour I'm resting or still, but I've been feeling pretty good in the mornings especially, so I figured it would be good to walk for much longer as long as my body felt good. I try to get in a long walk in the morning and then a few smaller walks throughout the day, but I also feel the "drained/exhaused" feeling too. Today I think I took like a 2 hour nap in the afternoon after my long morning walk. I think feeling tired is normal after our bodies have been through the ordeal of major surgery.

Excess stomach acid can mimic hunger. Are you taking a PPI like Omeprazole for stomach acid? This helped me with my "hunger" feelings.

Yes, I'm taking Omeprazole (and have for 10 years,) and it seems to work well for the reflux that I've historically experienced, and seems to be working fine now in that I don't feel any reflux or anything like that.

I thought I had a hiatal hernia, but my surgeon said that he carefully examined and did not see any hernia. He did say, however, that I have a "very large" esophagus. When I watched the barium swallow on the real-time X-ray, all the barium just sat in my espophagus (which was much larger than the sleeve,) and he kept saying "swallow," and I did, but only a little barium trickled down into the sleeve.

Basically, the surgeon said that what I thought was a hernia was likely this esophagus issue, and probably for many years. He's going to send me to a GI doc to see what (if anything) can be done to help, but for now I'm just going to continue the Omeprazole and hope for the best. My sleeve surgeon suggested that it might improve with weight loss.

Not sure if the giant esophagus is related to the sensation of hunger or not. Though I have noticed that I take a handfull of pills in the morning, and they go down fine as well, but I suspect that they are just sitting at the bottom of the esophagus and trickling through as gravity pulls them down.

Also congratulations to Watugiv in starting your journey toward a (hopefully) healthier life!

Thanks for the feedback. Even though it feels fine, I'm still sipping my liquids slowly (they told me I can switch to "pureed" on 8/30.) If nothing else, I'm certainly getting my reccomended Protein and exceeding my suggested fluids per day, and I'm also walking upwards of 4 miles each day as well.

The walks are feeling pretty good...seems to help with the pain and I was told it would help with the healing process, so I just keep putting my shoes on and walking some more.

I talked to the nutritionist today, and she said some people with the sleeve say that they think "the doctor forgot to do the surgery" a week out because many people tolerate the liquids well. Apparently I'm not alone. We shall see how things get once I start to transition to more solid food.

Great to find this website where I can talk to others who have shared this experience.

Hello All,

I got sleeved on 8-21-13. After the pain and swelling went down, I was discharged and generally feel pretty good, but I'm on the last few days of the "full liquid" diet and have questions:

1) I've noticed that the rate at which I consume fluids doesn't matter. Drinking Water or any other Fluid feels exactly like it did before I had surgery. Is this normal? I certainly don't feel "full" or anything like that, nor do I feel pain. I'm drinking slowly because they told me to, but if I wanted to, I'm convinced I could rapidly drink pretty much any Fluid without feeling anything. Protein shakes, Water, flavored water, sugar-free popsicle, whatever---it all just goes right down the hatch. Is this normal?

2) The first 3 days I had 0 appetite, but now I have moments where I crave food as much as I did before if not more so. Consuming one of the allowed fluid "meals" doesn't always help and I just have to deal with it. At moments, the hunger almost feels painful. Is this normal?

Any experiences or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Justin