bigloser2014

5 years ago, my doctor out me on Prilosec once a day to control my Asthma symptoms. At that time, I did not have any acid reflux. Fast forward 3 years, I was determined to get off some meds and did a detox to make my allergies & Asthma better. Getting off Prilosec was the hardest. Here is what I learnt then: - There is a condition called Rebound Reflux which is caused when you try to leave PPI inhibtors. I DID NOT have any acid reflux when I was put on Prilosec but got severe reflux when I tried to leave it. I was miserable to a few weeks but detemined. What helped me in those days was reseaching ways to naturally treat reflux, like oatmeal, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, eating small meals and chewing gum after dinner. With all of that I was able to manage my reflux without medication for most part. There were times when I needed tums but only a few times a month. Nothing major. So think about that when you try to leave PPI drugs post surgery. You will most probably experience rebound reflux. Fast forward again, to my recent changes in diet and drinking Protein shakes, I was hit with bad reflux once again. I did some more research and found something very interesting on a blog: - Making Protein Shakes in high speed blenders causes the bubbles to form in the shake. All those bubbles can potentially cause reflux. I was willing to test that theory. I continued to make my shakes in my Vitamix but made the shake at least a hour. I found that a full glass fresh out of the blender was always reduced to 2/3 of a glass. So, 1/3rd was just bubbles. That helped my reflux right away. I also stopped over-blending. Just blended long enough for everything to mix and then put it in a Blender Bottle. That helped too! I have had to take Prilosec again a couple of times in the last 2 weeks but that's okay. I know I may need it after the surgery and I am ready! H Hope this post helps someone! Have a good day!

You look amazing! Congrats!

After losing 45 pounds from my heaviest weight, I have heard many compliments. Then there are people who refuse to acknowledge my weight loss. The funniest one: One co-worker who I meet in halls everyday has said this to me for the last 5 days in a row, "Wow! That color looks so good on you!" And I have worn a different color everyday! Thought I would share. lol !

All that you are feeling is normal! Keep your eye on the goal. You will be fine! Good luck!

Beautiful & Inspiring! Congratulations on your success!

Thought I would share my success: So, this morning I had to try about 20 outfits to find one that was not falling off me! There is a big pile of clothes that don't fit on my bed. In the past, it was the reverse! The pile would consist of clothes that were too tight! Not a single pair of my office pants fits me anymore. So, I am going to use my 30% kohls coupon today to buy a couple of pairs to ride me over. Down from pant size 22 to 16! YAY!

AWESOME! Love NSVs!

I hear ya! Old habits and fears are hard to shake off! To answer you question, this time around, I am getting rid of clothes. This step towards a healthy life was a drastic one for all of us taken with a lot of thought and care. Now is not the time to doubt it! I cleaned out 3/4 of my closet this weekend and packed 6 giant bags for Goodwill. This has motivated me further. Seeing my closet almost empty and only consisting of clothes that fit has made me stronger in my resolve! Try it! Just clean out and pack loose clothes away. See how it feels for a week or so before dropping off the clothes at goodwill. POSITIVE THOUGHTS!

Hello friends! It's my Birthday today! I am 42 today and haven't felt this healthy since I was 20. As of this morning, my wt. is 220.6 pounds, down from my HW of 265! So, I want to share my thoughts/experiences about the topic of food and fun based on this weekend and plans for today: Social event # 1: This past weekend we had some friends over for an overnight stay. I had a full house with 7 adults and 5 kids. Spent almost all day Saturday cooking. First of all, 6 weeks out of surgery, it is pretty darn amazing that I cooked up a storm and did not feel any pain! I did not taste the food I was cooking, no licks, no tastes! My hubby was glad to help with that part . When everyone was enjoying the appetizers, I was sipping my Isopure and had a have an Avocado. While playing cards with friends for fun, I had 3 Organic Strawberries and continued to drink Water. At night for a late dinner, I had a spoon of some of the veggies I had made only because I had already fulfilled my Protein requirements for the day. No dessert for me! Sunday morning, made Breakfast for everyone while enjoying my Protein shake and had a Faye non-fat yogurt while everyone was having breakfast. But I had a blast with my friends! Playing cards, watching movies, staying up to chat. Social event # 2: Sunday evening, BBQ at my brother's house for my Birthday. I had a drumstick, .5 oz pork loin, one disc of grilled yellow squash and 3-4 Edamame Beans. My niece made a cake for me and I had a very small bite to make her happy. Main event: My Birthday today: My wonderful hubby and lovely daughters decided that we should go to Dave and Busters tonight. A little bit of food and a lot of fun! I did not feel deprived or depressed. I guess working with a psychologist about meaning of food in my life is helping Moral of the weekend? FOOD DOES NOT EQUAL FUN! Did I mention that no one outside of my hubby and kids know of my surgery? People think and see what they want to see. They see me losing weight. They can think whatever they want. I do not owe them any answers. But they did notice how I eat and commented, "No wonder you are losing weight. You eat like a mouse. Good for you!" One last thing, my Birthday gift for myself: Starting to work with a personal trainer from tomorrow, twice a week! YAY! Life is good! Can't wait for the Onederland! Take Care all!

As Patsy said, everyone is different, but from my experience: Pain was helped by drugs at the hospital but walking helped the most! I walked inside my house and increased the walk by a half a min to a minute every time I got up. Try to walk just a little every time you get up for any reason. Don't worry too much about calories, Protein etc. for the first couple of days. Concentrate on sipping slowly every few mins. I used the same trick that patsy mentioned. Drink every 15 mins with the timer. I had Nausea in the hospital but the meds helped with that. Don't be afraid to ask for help! When in doubt call you doctor. Post here on the site. Ask your family to help you out! One more thing. No matter how bad it seems the first few days, it does get better! Good luck!

Good morning, Friends! Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Father's & Husbands! I have been posting pain issues on this board so thought I would give you all an update. I am almost better now. The excruciating pain that I had last week is almost all gone. The pain was on the left upper quadrant going back to my ribs. Once docs ruled out anything bad, I just waited it out and walked as much as I could. One important thing I learnt was that no matter how "routine" the pain seems by reading about other peoples' experiences, call the doctor! Ask questions, get tests done to remove all doubts! Everyone is different. My pain was luckily just a part of healing but yours could be something that needs attention! Don't ignore any symptoms that are out of the ordinary. Not worth it! Now on the wt. loss: HW: 258 SW: 238 CW: 224 14 pounds lost in 5 wks and 2 days since surgery. Not much by many VSG standards but I am very happy! Slow and steady wins the race! Now off to Arlington Race Course to spend a wonderful Father's Day with my family! Have fun and stay healthy!

Are you taking anything for acid reflux? Nausea and cough fits are very common symptoms of reflux. Even if you are taking something already, you may just need a different medicine. Talk to your doctor. Good luck!

I live by Gurnee. Dr rantis was my surgoen. Surgery was on May 9th.

I have so much pain on my left side more than 4 weeks out. Went to the doc last week. Had an upper GI anc blood test. Ruled out leak and infection. But the pain is still unbearable. I couldn't return to work as scheduled. back on Narcotics. And to top that all, I have only lost 10 pounds so far since surgery. So sad and depressed! Any ideas for managing pain? PLEASE HELP!

I was off pain meds when I came back home from hospital. Only used Tylenol for a couple of days as needed. However, I have been put back on Tramadol as of last week. I am hoping to stop taking that soon because I do not do well with narcotics. I am hoping that the healing is done soon for all of suffering.

In my case, everything has been ruled out! Doctor thinks this is just muscular pain due to the fact that I have previous scar tissue from hysterectomy coupled with this recovery. I had a harder time than normal recovering from that to. I talked to him today and he wanted me to go out and walk no matter what. I walked for a few minutes and it seemed to help at least in uplifting my spirits. I had stopped doing that last week when the pain got worse. I have to remember that walking helps with healing! Thank you!

I am 3 and a half weeks out and was doing fine with pain. Last week I started experiencing sharp pain in the general area of my left big incision. The pain is more if I bend at that spot. I can no longer sleep on the left side. No trouble with meeting any nutrition goals. I am in the pureed food stage. I called the surgeon's office. He wants me to monitor a couple of more days and come in for scans if it gets worse. I have no other symptoms. So, I am wondering if this could be due to constipation. I have a small BM every 2-3 days. Anyone else experience this? Can I use Metamucil? Thanks!

I got sleeved on May 9th. So far, I have lost 7 pounds post op. Can't say it's not been stressful. But, more on that later. First an update on how I am doing: Incisions healed! Pain is minimal! Able to get in most of my fluids and more than 80 gm of Protein most days. Some fatigue and weakness is still there but getting better each day. Nerve damage to left arm due to a bad IV is healed almost 80%. Starting to move more and feel positive most days. NO REGRETS! Now onto my slow weight loss: I visited my doctor 2 days ago and asked his PA about losing only 7 pounds so far. Her words? "WOW, you lost 7 pounds!". That does put things in perspective. I feel that reading all the posts about quick wt. loss set some unrealistic expectations for me earlier. I forgot that all bodies are different! I have always been a slow loser. But I have never been able to lose 7 pounds in 2 weeks. THAT MAKES IT 28 POUNDS LOSS SINCE I STARTED MY PRE-OP DIET! What more can I ask for? I also remember feeling proud if I ever lost 2 pounds in a week in my previous life before the surgery, so, why be negative about it now? 7 pounds is 7 pounds! It's 28 sticks of butter! It's one whole infant! And what else was I ignoring in all of this? My clothes are getting loser. This past weekend, I had to sit on floor for an event and was able to squat for 40 minutes before I had to change my position. In the past, I could not squat for more than 5 mins! Oh, and one more thing. I can cross my legs now! I had about 100 lbs to lose when I started this journey. I am more that 1/4th of the way there! I am sure I will still be complaining about slow weight loss sometime in the future again but right now, it feels good to put things in a positive light. I will continue to follow the plan. As long as weight is headed in the right direction, I am going to try not to worry about it too much! Hope everyone is doing well! Try to look at the positive! Think good thoughts!

Got sleeved on May 9th and have only lost 2 lbs since! Not panicking though! From what I have read, I am not the only one who is facing this. Hopefully, things will turn around soon! On the bright side, I am easily able to take 70-80 gms of Protein everyday! Getting better everyday. Couple of incisions hurt still but but not too much. I have not had to take any pain killers after day 4 of surgery. Anyone that had an early stall, please feel free to holler! Thanks.

Sorry to hear about your issues. I got sleeved on May 9th but am not allowed any pills yet. My doctor prescribed a Prevacid capsule that I break and eat medicine out of. That has helped me. Good luck with your appointment tomorrow! Hope all is well.

My surgery is on May 9th. My doctor allows me Bariatic Advantage shakes 4-5 times a day with fruits blended in, sugarfree Popsicles & Jello. I had to pick up 2 big packets of Bariatic Advantage from the office for my pre-op diet which I did. I was able to follow the diet for 4-5 days but then started hating the taste of vanilla & chocolate BA. Since then, I have still followed all the rules but changed a couple of things: - Changed BA to GNC unflavored. The nutrition is the same. If anything, GNC is lower on calories and carb. - Also have one powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury chicken Flavored Soup a day. Other than that I have followed all the rules and lost 13 lbs. This morning, I got a call from my doc's office to confirm that I was following my BA diet. I told them I was. But now I feel like I lied. The thing is that if I had continued the BA, I would not have been able to continue just because I hated the taste and felt like throwing up! Now the questions: Why is my doc office insisting that I use Bariatic Advantage? Did anyone else have that experience? Did I make a mistake by substituting? Should I be concerned? Thanks!

I have eaten 70 g of protein today, around 500 calories and 65 grams of carbs. I got them from Kefir, skim milk etc. Am in taking too many carbs?

Thank you for all the rsponses and advice. I had my surgery on May 9th, 14 pounds lighter than where i started. Doctor was very happy with my progress. I did find out why they insist on BA. As some people mentioned here, they are a BCBS center of excellence and have to deliver consistent results to maintain that status.

My surgery was on May 9th and let me start by saying that all the pain that I went through and the discomfort I am going through right now, is well worth it! I have lost 21 pounds from my HW of 258 bs. Looking forward to many more! Bad news first: I have super tiny veins, very hard to find. Before surgery, the nurse could not find one so the Anesthesiologist came to try to start an IV. The stupid doctor inserted the IV inside of my left wrist. Within minutes, it had infiltrated and had started to swell up. Another Anesthesiologist came with an ultrasound machine and found one vein in my right arm where the IV went. During my stay, the blood draws were a nightmare since many techs poked me several times to find a vein. As a result, my whole arm is black and blue. I could live with that but since yesterday, there is bad tingling in my left hand and my range of motion is almost negligible. it feels like I am holding a live electric wire in my hand, Every time I extend my foreman, an electric shock runs through it. The more I researched this, I found out that this is caused by nerve injury and that the IV in wrist is a no-no. I went to my surgeon today who was shocked to hear that the other doctor tried to put an IV there. So, tomorrow I am going to an ortho hand surgeon for a consult. I am so upset at that stupid doctor and hoping that is just an inflammation that pinched a nerve. I don't want another surgery. Now to a couple of questions: How long before the incisions healed and the pain got better? I cannot sleep on either one of my sides. How long before you were able to eat more than 200 calories? I have found ways to sneek in Protein and had around 30 grams today. I know I need a lot more but that is a start. I am trying to stay hydrated too. Sipping Water all day, drinking some gatorade and even had a sugar free popsicles but calories were not enough to survive. Thank you for all your support during this process! This website rocks!

Thank you for alll your replies. An update on my arm: I went to the hand surgeon today. He thinks that my Median Nerve is pinched due to bd inflammation. I have to wear a sling for the next 2 weeks. He also wants me to take ibuprofen after I stop taking Lovenox shots. My surgeon does not allow NSAIDS. I am going to call the office tomorrow and get permission to take that for a couple of days. Followup with the hand doc in 2 weeks. If it does not get better, they will run nerve tests. Thanks for the responses on pain and diet! I am doing better today.