James Marusek

You don't decide to enter maintenance mode, your body decides. So just keep going. You should at least be able to drop a hundred from your starting weight. Part way through my weight loss phase, I did receive some comments that I was getting too skinny. It turns out that it was due to my clothes. When I shrunk in size, part of this reduction took place in my shoulders. So when I put on a coat or jacket, my sleeves hung down over my fingertips. This gave an impression of looking like the Disney character called Droopy in Snow White. The solution for me was to get rid of all my coats and jackets and replace them. Shoot towards your goal weight and your body will readjust over time.

When I went cold turkey on my caffeine, I suffered trough a week of severe headaches and body aches. Then I was O.K.

Some individuals have the same problem. The three most important elements after weight loss surgery are to meet your daily protein, fluid and vitamin requirements. Food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. Many things can cause exhaustion. Do you have any other symptoms?

Welcome and good luck with your surgery.

Most of the gas pain should ease up during the first week. It is alway rough at the beginning. Just hang in there.

I don't think it will make a major difference. If you suffer from severe acid reflux (GERD), I would recommend that you have RNY gastric bypass because the sleeve will only make that condition worse. Both surgeries should enhance your fertility. So selection of the type of surgery may be a matter of personal choice. One other thing to check is to make sure the type of surgery that you select is covered by your health insurance.

I had bariatric surgery 5 years ago. One of the initial steps was to get approval from a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist was on staff at the hospital that specializes in bariatric surgery. The psychiatric exam took about an hour. The main focus was determining if I had any underlying problems that might prevent the surgery from being successful. They asked a number of questions, many dealt with how I became overweight. I just answered them truthfully and that step was done.

Bariatric surgery radically affected my sense of taste. Other people experience a radical change in their sense of smell.

Before my gastric bypass surgery, I loved to drink a nice cold glass of ice water. But immediately after surgery, my taste buds changed. Water tasted so chlorinated, like swimming pool water, that I couldn't drink it. I found that flavored water such as Crystal Light, took away the bad taste.

Congratulations.

Eating mush for the rest of my life! What, who told you that? Your nutritionist! The answer to your question is no, you do not have to eat mush for the rest of your life. I am 5 years post op RNY gastric bypass surgery and I do eat steak and chicken sometimes or even a raw carrot. After your surgery, you will go through a phase where you will be restricted to full liquids. After that you will be allowed to eat pureed foods. Then you will transition to solid foods. This transition is to allow your stomach to heal after the surgery. For me each of these two initial phases lasted 4 weeks each.

The directions which I received from my surgeon's office for gastric sleeve patients read: 3 Flintstone complete chewable multivitamins daily. 1200 to 1500 mg calcium citrate daily. 500 to 1000 micrograms sublingual B12 weekly. 100 mg. Thiamine (Vitamin B1) weekly. Probiotic daily recommended but not required. These requirements were listed on the Discharge Instructions when I left the hospital. Vitamin chemistry is important for absorption. Calcium supplements should be calcium citrate. There are also different chemistries of B12. I use the sublingual B12 and was told to use methylcobalamin. You cannot use a time-release version of B12. If you are taking iron supplements, it must be ferrous sulfate for the best absorption. Gummy vitamins are not absorbed properly and should be avoided. Some patients are also required to take iron supplements. Other types of surgeries have very different vitamin requirements.

According to the internet: Nausea and vomiting are the most common complaints after bariatric surgery, and they are typically associated with inappropriate diet and noncompliance with a gastroplasty diet (ie, eat undisturbed, chew meticulously, never drink with meals, and wait 2 hours before drinking after solid food is consumed). If these symptoms are associated with epigastric pain, significant dehydration, or not explained by dietary indiscretions, an alternative diagnosis must be explored. One of the most common complications causing nausea and vomiting in gastric bypass patients is anastomotic ulcers, with and without stomal stenosis. Ulceration or stenosis at the gastrojejunostomy of the gastric bypass has a reported incidence of 3% to 20%. Although no unifying explanation for the etiology of anastomotic ulcers exists, most experts agree that the pathogenesis is likely multifactorial. These ulcers are thought to be due to a combination of preserved acid secretion in the pouch, tension from the Roux limb, ischemia from the operation, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use, and perhaps Helicobacter pylori infection. Evidence suggests that little acid is secreted in the gastric bypass pouch; however, staple line dehiscence may lead to excessive acid bathing of the anastomosis. Treatment for both marginal ulcers and stomal ulcers should include avoidance of NSAIDs, antisecretory therapy with proton-pump inhibitors, and/or sucralfate. In addition, H pylori infection should be identified and treated, if present. So generally what this is saying is 1) stay off all NSAIDs such as aspirin and excedrin that contains aspirin. 2) use a proton pump inhibitor such as prilosec (omeprazole). My surgeon recommended I take this daily for the first year so that my stomach would heal properly. At the end of my first year I discontinued it. I am now 5 years post-op. 3) make sure you were tested for Helicobacter pylori infection. This is a very common infection, one that is somewhat hidden because of a lack of symptoms. The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass surgery are to meet your daily protein, fluid and vitamin requirements. Food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. So my first concerns are not focused on food but rather to make sure you are meeting your daily protein and fluid requirements.

Your stomach takes awhile to heal. I suspect that at 12 days post-op, protein bars are way too soon. It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th month that my nutritionist recommended them. I recommend you discuss this with your surgeons office or nutritionist. When you reach that stage, I would recommend Quest protein bars. These bars were good in that they had high protein, minimal sugar and also contained fiber. They also came in a lot of different flavors. The fiber is important because it helps with constipation that can become a problem towards the end of your weight loss phase.

Generally I found Crystal Light to be acceptable. Later I began drinking (non carbonated) Bai. They come in a variety of flavors and taste very good. I buy it by the case at Sams Club when it is on sale.

I hope all works out for you and that your problems are minimized.

I will pray for the success of your surgery. Remember after the surgery to walk, walk, walk. It will help a lot with relieving the gas pain.

After surgery, many people seem to suffer from this problem. Recommendations from past threads on this website are: Smooth Move Herbal Tea Prune Juice (warmed) Prunes (4 in the morning and 4 at night) Magnesium citrate Insoluble fibers (Garden of Life Raw Fiber or Renew Life Triple Fiber). Haribo Sugar Free Gummy Bears (Be very careful with this one because it can lead to diarrhea.) Aerobic Magnesium 07 Ground Flax Seeds (but don’t try to grind it yourself). Use 2 tablespoons per glass of water every night before going to bed. Bowel Clear (herbal blend) What worked best for me was an apple a day just before bedtime. But you must eat the skin of the apple along with the pulp.

Since you are still early in the process, I would recommend three things. 1. Take a good before photograph of yourself, so that you have something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success. 2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery. 3. Wean yourself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery. In answer to your question, I had RNY gastric bypass surgery and lost my appetite right after surgery. A year later it has returned but not near the same level as before surgery. I do not know if this affect of no hunger also applies to sleeve patients. So maybe someone who had the sleeve might enter the discussion.

Interesting philosophical question!

Stalls are very common especially with sleeve surgery. That is why someone on this site a long time ago created the phrase "Embrace the stall". Many sleeve patients remain in the weight loss phase for up to 2 years, so you have many, many months to go. Just follow your program guidelines and shift your focus to NSV, non-scale victories, such as fitting into smaller clothes or the remission of serious medical conditions.

I had a problem taking calcium tablets after surgery. I lost my ability to swallow large tablets after surgery. So I crushed them and took the powder with a glass of water. That was horrrrribbblee. They tasted like chalk. In the end, what worked for me is mixing the powder with a glass of crystal light and chugging that down. Which was good but because it formed a paste at the bottom of the glass, I had to add more crystal light, stir and chug that down. After 3 or 4 times, there was no more paste and I was good to go. [One of the up sides to this approach was that I didn't have to worry about meeting my daily fluid requirements.) Around 2 months after surgery, I found that I was able to swallow again and all was right with the world. Also leg cramps can be a sign of dehydration and mineral depletion (too little potassium, calcium, magnesium). So make sure you are meeting your daily fluid and vitamin requirements.

As I recall it cost me $150 for each visit that the insurance refused to pay.

The largest incision point is the longest to heal. I am 5 years post-op. I think it took about a year or two before I could no longer feel it.

Good luck on your surgery. Here are 3 bits of advise. 1. Take a good before photograph of yourself, so that you have something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success. 2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery. 3. Wean yourself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery. In my case this change alone resulted in a 20 pound weight drop in the pre op stage.