dsdesigna

I am 6 years out from surgery. I started out at 371. I am now at 234. I’ll answer your questions in the order you asked them: - What foods do you avoid? (Fatty foods? Carbs? Can you tolerate small amounts?) Foods I avoid: Rice! and Carbonated beverages. Both have a very negative effect on my stomach even now. Rice seems to grow once it gets in my stomach causing it to feel overfull. Carbonated beverages are to be avoided anyway but occasionally it’s the only thing around to sip and never has there been a time that I didn’t regret it! - Do you have diarrhea? Occasionally but it’s rare and usually something I know is going to happen. Constipation is a bigger issue and my go to remedy is a slice of plain cheesecake. Seriously. It works better than anything else. To help keep things moving I am sure to add real butter to any carbs I eat. Sometime I use MCT oil to help keep things moving but be careful cause it can cause very loose stool.  - How many Vitamins do you take? Have you experienced Vitamin deficiencies? Have you had to get infusions? I use PERSONA now for vitamins They do an assessment that determines your vitamin needs for me that is one Bariatric Multi, 8 Calcium Citrates spaced out in three doses, Vitamin D, and a Probiotic. I was seriously anemic and had to do iron infusions until I had a hysterectomy July 2019. Now I’m normal and won’t need them again. I take powdered Collagen in my coffee everyday to keep my hair growing, my skin from drying, and my muscle from aching. - Do you struggle to maintain your weight loss? Do you feel like you are constantly on a diet? Weight loss is a constant struggle, you will not lose on a smooth downhill slide. It will fluctuate and drop suddenly then rise and fall like ocean waves. Keeping the weight off is the challenge and with the DS weight gain is less likely it still is very possible if Carbohydrates are your source of comfort in times of struggle and stress. You won’t feel like you are on a diet, you will feel like you are a slave to your stomach. You’ll spend an hour making the most delicious meal and take two bites and be full. You’ll find that foods you once loved now don’t make your new stomach all that happy. But with all that you lose and all that is frustrating comes so much amazing stuff like feeling average sized. Shopping in a average clothing store, sitting in theater seats or airplane seats or really any seats and not worrying about what the person next to you might think. Saving so much money cause you can split meals with friends.  - Anything else you wish you had known before surgery? My words of advice: find a local support group or an online one if you can’t find one in your area and stay faithful to going to meetings and events for at least one full year but two would be better. Your family and friends will have no idea what you are going through and will say things that will be surprisingly hurtful but they won’t mean it that way, like “Wow, you look how small you’ve gotten!” (Internal thought: I must have been huge) You’ll need people who know not to say those things and instead say “You are making great progress! I am so glad to see you again!” Good Luck! It gets better! Walk Sip Walk Sip Never Trust a Fart! 😜

It’s always possible to regain if you drink your calories and refuse to follow a healthy eating program regardless of which surgery is chosen.

You will need to work with your doc. NSAIDs are not recommended as they contribute to stomach ulcers.

There is a danger of anorexia, being unable to keep on weight, with both SIPS and DS. I would call a doctor and have blood work drawn to make sure you are not doing irreversible damage through malnutrition. You may need supplemental nutrition. Regain stats with SIPS does not exist. For traditional DS it’s less than 5% so it’s unlikely you will be counting calories. To help yourself out be sure your meals are nutrient dense. No simple sugar/carbs. Protein, colored Vegetables, fiber rich Fruits. Also Bariatric vitamins taken faithfully. It sounds like you are doing well but it’s better to be safe consult your Bariatric surgeon and Primary Doc for blood work good luck

Over eating can cause a number of issues for people a headache is one, hiccups, burping, excessive salivating, feeling over full, chest pain, shortness of breath. Try walking for about 10 minutes or more and try to stop eating before you feel full. Over chew before you swallow. One bite can make a huge difference. Good luck.

It’s normal for one of your incisions to be more bruised and look different from the others. It’s where the largest instrument was inserted. It’s where things were removed like your gallbladder and portion of stomach. It should heal up fine. Mine are hardly noticeable and I’m 4 years out. Liquids and getting anything down is going to be difficult for a few weeks. Your new stomach is tiny and inflamed from surgery. Try warm liquids and see if your medication comes in a liquid form. Hang inthere. It gets better.

I’m 4 years out from having the DS. I’m not sure where you heard that we have no hunger, it’s not true. At 205 I would not consider the DS as an option. It’s a huge life adjustment. The vitamin regime alone is daunting. I take them three times a day! If you aren’t already start using MyFitnessPal and track what you are eating. Make sure you aren’t drinking your calories. That’s the number one reason for regain with the sleeve. If after a year of being diligent with your eating/drinking you have continued to gain then consider it. But be warned it’s very different than any other WLS. Good luck.

Whether or not you intent to cause someone to stop using their medication your caution in taking it along with possibly negative side affects could in fact be enough for some to stop their medication. You are apparently not aware of the negative consequences of your opinions and I encourage you to keep them to yourself until you understand. I say opinions because you are not a medical professional or you would know of what I am referring and instead just offer your own experience. If the medication caused you side affects then share that alone. Otherwise you could be scaring people unnecessarily.

Your opinion is appreciated however be careful when sharing. Going off medications because of something someone said online can have disastrous consequences. Topiramate is quite affective in assisting with weight loss. It does not cause it itself. It’s just a tool. Just like weight loss surgery. It’s not meant for long term use with regard to weightl loss and I personally always look at possible side affects of anything I’m prescribed.

Have you been checked to Hashimotos? I was misdiagnosed with mental health symptoms for a decade but turned out my body was attacking my thyroid. It requires a special Thyroid Antibodies blood test, not a standard test. Check out the symptoms of low thyroid! It’s crazy.

It’s the bypassing of the small intestine that causes the severe malabsorption. It happens a little in the RNY but it’s nothing compared to the DS. Consider that the RNY can get away with taking a single chewable multivitamin whereas the DS requires multiple doses of chewable vitamins everyday. I take mine 4 times a day. Here’s a daily snapshot (Celebrate brand everything) Multi+ADEK 3x/day Calcium PLUS 500 3x/day Vitamin D3 3x/day Iron + C 60mg 1x/day Biotin 5000 1x/day Zinc 220mg 1x/day

Yes. It made me nauseous, food had a metallic taste and I started smelling strange things like burnt dust or plastic. I had to stop taking it. I’m still on the Phentermine and it is working fine without it.

Both the “RNY” and DS are kinda of Bileopancreatic Diversions but they are vastly different in possible outcomes. You will get a bigger weight loss from the DS and better chance of no weight gain as time goes on. However you might consider that the Gastric Sleeve might be all you need if your issue is just portion control. And you can have that revised to the DS if your weight loss is not ideal. But you’ll be eating more normally but smaller portions.

What do you need to know? I had my DS in 2014. I lost 160lbs. The last 40 my doctor added Phentermine/Topiramate to help. I had stalled for more than a year. It worked.

Just wait. It’s coming. BMs will become larger and have more odor (noxious). If you get constipated try eating a slice of cheesecake, seriously, it works better than medicine for the DS. Also simple carbs, like white sugar, will cause excess gas and possibly tummy discomfort. This is the life! 👍