mrsbailey921

hi everyone. i was sleeved on nov. 17th and everything is going stellar--i'm 20 pounds down! but yesterday i woke up with SERIOUS pain on the surgical site where my stomach tissue was removed. the muscles are killing me (ok not literally but the pain is something fierce)--they feel strained and very tender to the touch. i can't move or walk easily and i am really forced to lay down if i don't want to experience pain.
there is no bleeding, weeping, redness. the area LOOKS pretty great, but there is slight swelling. this pain is really bad. i am thinking i may have overexerted myself this weekend. i am not picking up anything heavy but i can tell i am healing slowly because as a mom, i cannot sit down all day long.
has anyone else had this pain in the surgical sites before? i am hoping i didn't really damage the muscles, which were of course cut into during surgery. help!

So far the thing I love the most about my sleeve is my ability to now eat what I like without feeling the need to stuff myself. It's n like my brain is ok with saving food for later, or coming back and eating a bit more without feeling like I'm losing a best friend. I almost never get over full now, I stop when I feel satisfied and if I have another bite, I feel full and definitely stop! And the best thing is, I feel ok doing so! I'm not worried about stretching my Sleevie, I think we will be ok.

Hey everyone! Good luck to all soon to be sleevers!
Is anyone tagging Gummy Vitamins? I know they aren't recommended, but after months of battling the chewable vitamins...I just can't do it anymore. I can't stomach the smell our the taste and I spotted taking my Vitamins altogether because it was so bad.
I am now trying to get back on track but with gummies. I chew really well and they are so much easier on me. I am going to start taking an Iron supplement for support too...
My nut of course is against this but my surgeon is of the mindset that gummies are better than nothing. At 13.00 for 300 gummies I can also afford them.
Any encouragement and/or advice is appreciated...thanks ladies!

Hey everyone! Good luck to all soon to be sleevers!
Is anyone tagging Gummy Vitamins? I know they aren't recommended, but after months of battling the chewable vitamins...I just can't do it anymore. I can't stomach the smell our the taste and I spotted taking my Vitamins altogether because it was so bad.
I am now trying to get back on track but with gummies. I chew really well and they are so much easier on me. I am going to start taking an Iron supplement for support too...
My nut of course is against this but my surgeon is of the mindset that gummies are better than nothing. At 13.00 for 300 gummies I can also afford them.
Any encouragement and/or advice is appreciated...thanks ladies!

Other than the info I've thrown out here.. you don't know jack else...but go on...you're stupid know it all rant is entertaining

I have to say, I agree with Babb's... you sound like you're exercising too much.

I was told to steer clear of pills because many of them will clear the digestive tract before being fully broken down by the body.
Yet I also hate chewables. My current solution is to crush them and then swallow them in two separate gulps along with Water.
Ugh.

I don't have any advice... I hit a five month stall and just didn't weigh myself or stress it at all. Then suddenly I lost 4 lbs two weeks ago and have been steadily losing since, so I guess my stall is over.
Seeing the scale move so unexpectedly encouraged me to begin an exercise regimen again though! ????

I don't have any advice... I hit a five month stall and just didn't weigh myself or stress it at all. Then suddenly I lost 4 lbs two weeks ago and have been steadily losing since, so I guess my stall is over.
Seeing the scale move so unexpectedly encouraged me to begin an exercise regimen again though! ????

this surgery's success is just as much mental as it is physical. you are not only retraining your body, you are retraining your mind.
i too am one of the ones who felt almost NO restriction after surgery...and i blame it on my absolutely excellent, awesome surgeon dr. jordan garrison. he did the operation so well that immediately afterward, besides the obvious pain from slicing through stomach muscle to get to the organs inside, and being groggy from the meds, i had absolutely no pain and my first meal after surgery, slurped down the ENTIRE bowl of broth (about a cup) and easily slurped down 2 ounces of Water every 15 minutes.
by the time i was healing a week later, i was dying of thirst because 2 ounces of Water just wasn't enough for me. i decided to push myself to see how much i could hold...4 ounces EASY...6 ounces before restriction even wanted to kick in...and about 8 ounces before i felt overfull! talk about a pouch!
i panicked. because i felt like i could hold WAY too much liquid that early out. when i started on thick liquids...i could EASILY get down 4 ounces of Tomato Soup and not feel "full". i also remembered him telling me he removed ALOT of my hunger nerves to help control that insatiable hunger signal of mine. so naturally, when i went to my appointment with my dr...i told him "hey doc i'm eating way too much! not only that, i'm hungry! not head hungry...but actually HUNGRY. like...where's the meal?!" i mean hey...why was i HUNGRY when he removed so much of my stomach and attached nerves?!
he looked at me, as calm as can be and said, "t...everyone is different. this is a tool for you. i didn't operate on you to remove your digestive system. or to make you never hungry again. i operated on you so you can take control of your weight via better choices, and have your body cooperate with your determination a bit more. this is still your battle. some people get hungry. some people don't. some people can drink alot, some people can't. this surgery is different on every person and no two results are exactly alike. in the meantime...youre 20 pounds down and doing great!"

i never worried again. i am realizing that for me...i had an EXTREME hunger response before surgery and now, i have what i would call a NORMAL hunger response. it is for me, the same way it is for my healthy weighted friends who have never had surgery. it is not a suppressed response like some other surgery patients. it's just normal. that is the result i got, and i am working with it. i feel my surgery was a success in that arena because although he did not remove my hunger signal, he helped to bring it down to a normal level. prior to surgery...i would still have hunger signals even while being full to the point of being sick! i would be physically over full, but feel like i hadn't eaten anything all day long! hard to explain but it was there! and now...i get hungry...i eat...and i'm not hungry anymore.

success!
my weight loss is much slower than others. at 10 months out, i'm only 50+ lbs down. some people are already 100+ lbs down by this time. but you know what...i can eat normally. i NEVER get sick, i've never vomited. i've overeaten a time or two, and paid the price. but i feel more in control. food doesn't control me like it used to on a good day. i notice the only time my food control will gets thin is when i'm under HIGH stress. yes i can still process junk food. i can still process alot of empty liquids. but now, i can turn away from those things and NOT feel like i'm coming off of drug withdrawal. i don't need those things to CONTROL my life.
i stopped overthinking my surgery results. stopped nitpicking over every little thing my body did afterwards that wasn't "by the book". i followed the rules, sometimes toeing the line but never going over. and i am adjusting pretty well i think. i never had a huge drop in weight...and to continue losing, i now have to work out, exercise and watch what i eat! but i would say...considering that the goal of the surgeries we undergo is for them to be a TOOL and not the solution...i would say i'm right on track.

and i realize my surgery turned out just fine for me.
calm down, breathe deep, follow the rules and pay attention to your body...and you may find that your surgery result is just fine, despite being different from everyone else's.
sorry for the super long response, but i just want you to know that i too had an atypical post surgery experience...but here i am, 10 months later, so happy i did it. and 50 lbs smaller.

this post is so to the point!!! i feel the exact same way. before surgery...i couldn't "put the food away"...now i say, "hey, it'll be there when i get back!"

surgery success!
i did not want food to become my enemy after surgery. i refused to get rid of real sugar for artificial, i did not want to get sick from anything. i did not want to be leery concerning an activity i MUST do to stay alive.
i am happy that for me, this surgery didn't take those things away from me. i LOVE food. i LOVE eating.
i just do it normally now.
i'm also a JC girl btw! hiii! *waves*

this surgery's success is just as much mental as it is physical. you are not only retraining your body, you are retraining your mind.
i too am one of the ones who felt almost NO restriction after surgery...and i blame it on my absolutely excellent, awesome surgeon dr. jordan garrison. he did the operation so well that immediately afterward, besides the obvious pain from slicing through stomach muscle to get to the organs inside, and being groggy from the meds, i had absolutely no pain and my first meal after surgery, slurped down the ENTIRE bowl of broth (about a cup) and easily slurped down 2 ounces of Water every 15 minutes.
by the time i was healing a week later, i was dying of thirst because 2 ounces of Water just wasn't enough for me. i decided to push myself to see how much i could hold...4 ounces EASY...6 ounces before restriction even wanted to kick in...and about 8 ounces before i felt overfull! talk about a pouch!
i panicked. because i felt like i could hold WAY too much liquid that early out. when i started on thick liquids...i could EASILY get down 4 ounces of Tomato Soup and not feel "full". i also remembered him telling me he removed ALOT of my hunger nerves to help control that insatiable hunger signal of mine. so naturally, when i went to my appointment with my dr...i told him "hey doc i'm eating way too much! not only that, i'm hungry! not head hungry...but actually HUNGRY. like...where's the meal?!" i mean hey...why was i HUNGRY when he removed so much of my stomach and attached nerves?!
he looked at me, as calm as can be and said, "t...everyone is different. this is a tool for you. i didn't operate on you to remove your digestive system. or to make you never hungry again. i operated on you so you can take control of your weight via better choices, and have your body cooperate with your determination a bit more. this is still your battle. some people get hungry. some people don't. some people can drink alot, some people can't. this surgery is different on every person and no two results are exactly alike. in the meantime...youre 20 pounds down and doing great!"

i never worried again. i am realizing that for me...i had an EXTREME hunger response before surgery and now, i have what i would call a NORMAL hunger response. it is for me, the same way it is for my healthy weighted friends who have never had surgery. it is not a suppressed response like some other surgery patients. it's just normal. that is the result i got, and i am working with it. i feel my surgery was a success in that arena because although he did not remove my hunger signal, he helped to bring it down to a normal level. prior to surgery...i would still have hunger signals even while being full to the point of being sick! i would be physically over full, but feel like i hadn't eaten anything all day long! hard to explain but it was there! and now...i get hungry...i eat...and i'm not hungry anymore.

success!
my weight loss is much slower than others. at 10 months out, i'm only 50+ lbs down. some people are already 100+ lbs down by this time. but you know what...i can eat normally. i NEVER get sick, i've never vomited. i've overeaten a time or two, and paid the price. but i feel more in control. food doesn't control me like it used to on a good day. i notice the only time my food control will gets thin is when i'm under HIGH stress. yes i can still process junk food. i can still process alot of empty liquids. but now, i can turn away from those things and NOT feel like i'm coming off of drug withdrawal. i don't need those things to CONTROL my life.
i stopped overthinking my surgery results. stopped nitpicking over every little thing my body did afterwards that wasn't "by the book". i followed the rules, sometimes toeing the line but never going over. and i am adjusting pretty well i think. i never had a huge drop in weight...and to continue losing, i now have to work out, exercise and watch what i eat! but i would say...considering that the goal of the surgeries we undergo is for them to be a TOOL and not the solution...i would say i'm right on track.

and i realize my surgery turned out just fine for me.
calm down, breathe deep, follow the rules and pay attention to your body...and you may find that your surgery result is just fine, despite being different from everyone else's.
sorry for the super long response, but i just want you to know that i too had an atypical post surgery experience...but here i am, 10 months later, so happy i did it. and 50 lbs smaller.

this surgery's success is just as much mental as it is physical. you are not only retraining your body, you are retraining your mind.
i too am one of the ones who felt almost NO restriction after surgery...and i blame it on my absolutely excellent, awesome surgeon dr. jordan garrison. he did the operation so well that immediately afterward, besides the obvious pain from slicing through stomach muscle to get to the organs inside, and being groggy from the meds, i had absolutely no pain and my first meal after surgery, slurped down the ENTIRE bowl of broth (about a cup) and easily slurped down 2 ounces of Water every 15 minutes.
by the time i was healing a week later, i was dying of thirst because 2 ounces of Water just wasn't enough for me. i decided to push myself to see how much i could hold...4 ounces EASY...6 ounces before restriction even wanted to kick in...and about 8 ounces before i felt overfull! talk about a pouch!
i panicked. because i felt like i could hold WAY too much liquid that early out. when i started on thick liquids...i could EASILY get down 4 ounces of Tomato Soup and not feel "full". i also remembered him telling me he removed ALOT of my hunger nerves to help control that insatiable hunger signal of mine. so naturally, when i went to my appointment with my dr...i told him "hey doc i'm eating way too much! not only that, i'm hungry! not head hungry...but actually HUNGRY. like...where's the meal?!" i mean hey...why was i HUNGRY when he removed so much of my stomach and attached nerves?!
he looked at me, as calm as can be and said, "t...everyone is different. this is a tool for you. i didn't operate on you to remove your digestive system. or to make you never hungry again. i operated on you so you can take control of your weight via better choices, and have your body cooperate with your determination a bit more. this is still your battle. some people get hungry. some people don't. some people can drink alot, some people can't. this surgery is different on every person and no two results are exactly alike. in the meantime...youre 20 pounds down and doing great!"

i never worried again. i am realizing that for me...i had an EXTREME hunger response before surgery and now, i have what i would call a NORMAL hunger response. it is for me, the same way it is for my healthy weighted friends who have never had surgery. it is not a suppressed response like some other surgery patients. it's just normal. that is the result i got, and i am working with it. i feel my surgery was a success in that arena because although he did not remove my hunger signal, he helped to bring it down to a normal level. prior to surgery...i would still have hunger signals even while being full to the point of being sick! i would be physically over full, but feel like i hadn't eaten anything all day long! hard to explain but it was there! and now...i get hungry...i eat...and i'm not hungry anymore.

success!
my weight loss is much slower than others. at 10 months out, i'm only 50+ lbs down. some people are already 100+ lbs down by this time. but you know what...i can eat normally. i NEVER get sick, i've never vomited. i've overeaten a time or two, and paid the price. but i feel more in control. food doesn't control me like it used to on a good day. i notice the only time my food control will gets thin is when i'm under HIGH stress. yes i can still process junk food. i can still process alot of empty liquids. but now, i can turn away from those things and NOT feel like i'm coming off of drug withdrawal. i don't need those things to CONTROL my life.
i stopped overthinking my surgery results. stopped nitpicking over every little thing my body did afterwards that wasn't "by the book". i followed the rules, sometimes toeing the line but never going over. and i am adjusting pretty well i think. i never had a huge drop in weight...and to continue losing, i now have to work out, exercise and watch what i eat! but i would say...considering that the goal of the surgeries we undergo is for them to be a TOOL and not the solution...i would say i'm right on track.

and i realize my surgery turned out just fine for me.
calm down, breathe deep, follow the rules and pay attention to your body...and you may find that your surgery result is just fine, despite being different from everyone else's.
sorry for the super long response, but i just want you to know that i too had an atypical post surgery experience...but here i am, 10 months later, so happy i did it. and 50 lbs smaller.

this post is so to the point!!! i feel the exact same way. before surgery...i couldn't "put the food away"...now i say, "hey, it'll be there when i get back!"

surgery success!
i did not want food to become my enemy after surgery. i refused to get rid of real sugar for artificial, i did not want to get sick from anything. i did not want to be leery concerning an activity i MUST do to stay alive.
i am happy that for me, this surgery didn't take those things away from me. i LOVE food. i LOVE eating.
i just do it normally now.
i'm also a JC girl btw! hiii! *waves*

this surgery's success is just as much mental as it is physical. you are not only retraining your body, you are retraining your mind.
i too am one of the ones who felt almost NO restriction after surgery...and i blame it on my absolutely excellent, awesome surgeon dr. jordan garrison. he did the operation so well that immediately afterward, besides the obvious pain from slicing through stomach muscle to get to the organs inside, and being groggy from the meds, i had absolutely no pain and my first meal after surgery, slurped down the ENTIRE bowl of broth (about a cup) and easily slurped down 2 ounces of Water every 15 minutes.
by the time i was healing a week later, i was dying of thirst because 2 ounces of Water just wasn't enough for me. i decided to push myself to see how much i could hold...4 ounces EASY...6 ounces before restriction even wanted to kick in...and about 8 ounces before i felt overfull! talk about a pouch!
i panicked. because i felt like i could hold WAY too much liquid that early out. when i started on thick liquids...i could EASILY get down 4 ounces of Tomato Soup and not feel "full". i also remembered him telling me he removed ALOT of my hunger nerves to help control that insatiable hunger signal of mine. so naturally, when i went to my appointment with my dr...i told him "hey doc i'm eating way too much! not only that, i'm hungry! not head hungry...but actually HUNGRY. like...where's the meal?!" i mean hey...why was i HUNGRY when he removed so much of my stomach and attached nerves?!
he looked at me, as calm as can be and said, "t...everyone is different. this is a tool for you. i didn't operate on you to remove your digestive system. or to make you never hungry again. i operated on you so you can take control of your weight via better choices, and have your body cooperate with your determination a bit more. this is still your battle. some people get hungry. some people don't. some people can drink alot, some people can't. this surgery is different on every person and no two results are exactly alike. in the meantime...youre 20 pounds down and doing great!"

i never worried again. i am realizing that for me...i had an EXTREME hunger response before surgery and now, i have what i would call a NORMAL hunger response. it is for me, the same way it is for my healthy weighted friends who have never had surgery. it is not a suppressed response like some other surgery patients. it's just normal. that is the result i got, and i am working with it. i feel my surgery was a success in that arena because although he did not remove my hunger signal, he helped to bring it down to a normal level. prior to surgery...i would still have hunger signals even while being full to the point of being sick! i would be physically over full, but feel like i hadn't eaten anything all day long! hard to explain but it was there! and now...i get hungry...i eat...and i'm not hungry anymore.

success!
my weight loss is much slower than others. at 10 months out, i'm only 50+ lbs down. some people are already 100+ lbs down by this time. but you know what...i can eat normally. i NEVER get sick, i've never vomited. i've overeaten a time or two, and paid the price. but i feel more in control. food doesn't control me like it used to on a good day. i notice the only time my food control will gets thin is when i'm under HIGH stress. yes i can still process junk food. i can still process alot of empty liquids. but now, i can turn away from those things and NOT feel like i'm coming off of drug withdrawal. i don't need those things to CONTROL my life.
i stopped overthinking my surgery results. stopped nitpicking over every little thing my body did afterwards that wasn't "by the book". i followed the rules, sometimes toeing the line but never going over. and i am adjusting pretty well i think. i never had a huge drop in weight...and to continue losing, i now have to work out, exercise and watch what i eat! but i would say...considering that the goal of the surgeries we undergo is for them to be a TOOL and not the solution...i would say i'm right on track.

and i realize my surgery turned out just fine for me.
calm down, breathe deep, follow the rules and pay attention to your body...and you may find that your surgery result is just fine, despite being different from everyone else's.
sorry for the super long response, but i just want you to know that i too had an atypical post surgery experience...but here i am, 10 months later, so happy i did it. and 50 lbs smaller.

Your "restriction" at this point (and maybe always) should be MEASURING your food and not eating more than that!!!!!!! Putting down the fork is a restriction too.
I didn't, and still don't, feel full most of the time. My "full" is when I have had my portion. You don't have to feel full to have had enough food.
Eat 2 oz (or how much for whatever stage you are at) and put the rest in the fridge. The food isn't going to run away. It will be there for your next meal.

try PURE PROTEIN whey Protein Powder. you can order it from Amazon.com for just 20.00 for 2 pounds, which will last you about 3 weeks. blend it with ice, fat free milk and some Torani Syrup for a delicious treat. when you blend it with ice it comes out like a milkshake--when you add the ice after blending it's like chocolate milk! it is SO easy for me to get in all of my protein and drinking these drinks keeps me in a healthy food mindset, plus i use them as meal replacements! the chocolate flavor is awesome. i promise you'll get your protein in, for a cost thats 1/3 of what some other people are spending for their protein powders.

I have the same issue, and was told by my surgeon that every person is different. I think we are still producing moderate amounts of rheglin and that's contributing to the hungry feelings of course. Eat as often as you are hungry but the trick is to eat as healthy as you can.
Also if you haven't remained on your Protein Shakes please go back to them. The shakes in the morning hemp regulate metabolism and keep you fullest longer. I noticed that when I start off the day with regular Breakfast foods which are high in sugar... Like sausage, eggs and say a waffle, I'm up and down with hunger. Whenever I start with Protein shakes I feel way more in control of myself and feel less cravings as the day goes on.

Are you weighing or measuring your portions and tracking your food? How many calories, carbs, and grams of Protein are you getting each day? Are you meeting your goals for fluids? Do you find yourself snacking or grazing? Are you getting enough sleep?

yup im struggling with this...i know mine is due to extreme mental fatigue and burnout though...

i have been overeating (not chronically but very uncomfortable afterwards) for about 2-3 weeks now. today was actually my first day of measuring out my portions and stopping when full...but i also admit today was the best mental day i have had in weeks.
the only way i get over the guilt of "food wasting" (it was pushed on me as a very young child about starving people around the world and so yes, i always eat EVERYTHING on my plate no matter what) is by portioning out beforehand and making MUCH smaller meals. i notice when i cook way less, i eat way less and don't have guilt about leftover food because there is none.

yup im struggling with this...i know mine is due to extreme mental fatigue and burnout though...

i have been overeating (not chronically but very uncomfortable afterwards) for about 2-3 weeks now. today was actually my first day of measuring out my portions and stopping when full...but i also admit today was the best mental day i have had in weeks.
the only way i get over the guilt of "food wasting" (it was pushed on me as a very young child about starving people around the world and so yes, i always eat EVERYTHING on my plate no matter what) is by portioning out beforehand and making MUCH smaller meals. i notice when i cook way less, i eat way less and don't have guilt about leftover food because there is none.

How many months are you? I use GNC women ultra Vitamin, chewable and very good.

for me, NORMAL is key. i just want to eat NORMALLY. like HEALTHY people do. i want to have a VARIED diet with all nutrients, minerals and Vitamins, and yes, fat too.
i was once on a strict no fat diet...my body was retaining the weight and i was always sick. then i started adding fat again but in more limited quantities and i started losing.
i also had a relatively high fat diet that did not include bread or Pasta and i lost a good amount of weight, and always had energy.
fat is not the enemy and i do not listen to any advice that tells me to cut it from my diet.

for me, NORMAL is key. i just want to eat NORMALLY. like HEALTHY people do. i want to have a VARIED diet with all nutrients, minerals and Vitamins, and yes, fat too.
i was once on a strict no fat diet...my body was retaining the weight and i was always sick. then i started adding fat again but in more limited quantities and i started losing.
i also had a relatively high fat diet that did not include bread or Pasta and i lost a good amount of weight, and always had energy.
fat is not the enemy and i do not listen to any advice that tells me to cut it from my diet.

i feel your pain! i too...was HUNGRY. no, not head hunger, not all in my mind...i was HUNGRY. and guess what? i still get HUNGRY. as a matter of fact...i have to eat about every 2 hours around the clock because i get real hunger and i don't like to be hungry.
for me, as my body becomes more adjusted to life post surgery and the new me is emerging, i realize that i go through two phases every day, REALLY fast, around the clock:
1. i get hungry VERY quickly
2. i get full VERY quickly
i do not have a "middle ground" where i am "on my way" to being hungry. i eat and i am very full, and then two hours later, i go from full to hungry.
i no longer have a signal telling me i am GETTING hungry. i just get hungry.
i have adjusted to it, and i am fine with it. at first, i was very worried, but my surgeon was honest with me throughout the entire process. he reminded me that EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT.
EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT.
and that is not a bad thing.
some of us still get hungry. some of us don't.
i do.
personally, i like being hungry. i haven't lost my love for good foods, i haven't lost my desire to eat. personally, i was worried that i would "forget" to eat. ha, that is not a problem for me! i now struggle with my full signal...but that's another thread entirely. LOL.
do i regret my surgery? not a bit. i am almost 46 pounds down in a bit less than 4 months. i have no regrets and no qualms.
our surgeries are only tools...we are ALL different. you did not waste your money...you just have to make it work for you.