James Marusek

Congratulations on your weight loss thus far. Like the others have said, "Up your protein".

Mini gastric bypass is a very different operation than RNY gastric bypass. The mini seems to be popular in Mexico, Europe and Australia but not in the U.S.

As you lose weight, the chemicals and hormones that were stored in your fat cells are being released into your body. These will pass through your kidneys and are expelled in your urine. But they can generate a flush of hormones during the weight loss phase. They should simmer down once you transition into maintenance. It is important to meet your daily Fluid requirements, because it take fluids to flush these hormones from your system.

After about 2 months, I was finally able to swallow the large Citrical vitamins.

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery and use Splenda without any problems. After surgery many things can trigger nausea. It might not be the Splenda.

You do not need to rush into the transition to solid foods. According to my surgeon's guidelines, I was not approved to transition to solid foods until week 9 after my RNY gastric bypass surgery. It is a hard transition. I tend to agree with you that something is wrong. If you are vomiting up Water, that is not a good sign. The two main culprits are stricture or ulcer. My surgeon recommend that I take the proton-pump inhibitor Omeprazole (Prilosec) for the first year after surgery. This was to help the stomach to properly heal. So if you are not already taking this, you might speak to your surgeon about this need.

There are many different types of surgery. Even within gastric bypass surgery, you find the most common surgery is RNY (Roux-en-Y) gastric bypass but in other countries such as Mexico, they specialize in mini-gastric bypass, which is a different type of surgery. Sometimes Vertical Banded Gastric Bypass, Gastric Sleeve surgery, and Doudenal Switch surgery are also included under this heading. So depending on the type of surgery, different Vitamin requirements exist. I had RNY gastric bypass and my surgeon directed me to not take gummy Vitamins nor time released vitamins. This is because they are not absorbed properly. Most vitamins have a coating to protect the vitamin during its journey through our system. This coating is engineered for the passage though our stomach and its strong acid environment and then to then pass into our intestines where the vitamins are released. But when our stomach is altered, these vitamins coatings do not dissolve properly and therefore may pass through our system without releasing its interior vitamin content.

Here is a past thread that talks about this condition. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/289815-hashimotos-thyroiditis/

I live about 3 hours drive from the hospital where my RNY was performed. I do not remember any extreme discomfort on the way home.

Your calories are the total of the calories in your meals combined with the calories in your Protein shakes or other protein supplements. 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 generally forget about counting calories but make sure you meet the protein, fluid and vitamin requirements. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as Protein Shakes.

I know what you mean. Fortunately we have been sleeping on a heated Water bed ever since the 1970's and using a very thick down blanket. When I go to bed it is like sleeping in a warm cocoon. The only problem was right after surgery. Trying to get out of a waterbed right after surgery was extremely awkward and painful. Thank God for the person who invented chemical hand warmers. We have been heating our house solely with wood for the past 40 years. I love the heat and warmth from our wood stove.

After you finish your antibiotics remember to take Probiotics for a couple weeks. Antibiotics destroy not only the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria in your gut. So therefore you will need to reestablish these colonies of good bacteria in order to maintain your digestive process.

Good luck and I hope all goes well with you.

I haven't heard of this condition but I had severe migraine headaches. I would begin to see sparkling stars around the peripheral and clear tunnel vision in the center. Then my vision went to blurs which was quickly followed by severe headaches. Generally this occurred several times per year. It was a few hours until I returned back to normal after each episode. I finally realized that the trigger to my migraines were caused by fluorescent lights. So whenever I felt an attack coming on, I tried to relocate to an area of natural lighting and that helped. For the last 8 years since my retirement, I no longer encounter fluorescent lightning and I no longer have migraines.

Sounds like you had a rough go at it. Glad you are feeling better.

Your feet can swell after surgery. That is one of the reasons why they recommend you wear compression stockings (TED) after surgery. Elevation of your leg will help, especially when you don't have the stockings on. Elevate your leg to the level of your heart. Graded compression socks are better than TED hose.

Exercise is important to the process. In my case, I am about 45 minutes drive from the nearest gym. Somehow it seems wasteful to spend 1 1/2 hours driving to do 30 minutes of exercise. But a gym is not the only place to exercise. I had a steep driveway and I would walk up and down my driveway for 30 minutes each day. This is steep hill walking. It uses two sets of muscles in your legs. Think walking on a treadmill at a steep grade. But it is even better than that because when you walk downhill it is different than when you walk uphill. Different sets of muscles. Also you physical labor counts towards exercise. Chores around the house can also count. For example, I have a long 700 foot driveway and shoveling snow off my driveway in the winter is a lot of work, physical exercise.

Good luck on your surgery and check back with us when you are on the other side.

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 the reason why you are not suppose to take Aleve (a naproxen which is a NSAID), Ibuprofen (a NSAID) is because these drugs can aggravate the ulcer condition. There are many drugs that contain NSAIDs. One of the things that they recommend is using a proton-pump inhibitor. One of the common proton-pump inhibitors is Prilosec (omeprazole). This may provide you some relief. So you might discuss this with your doctor. The third thing is to have yourself tested to make sure that you do not have Helicobacter pylori infection. This is one of those hidden conditions that could be responsible for your root problems.

If you have GERD then go with RNY gastric bypass surgery. Sleeve will only make this condition worse. Several members on this board have undergone revisions from sleeve to RNY gastric bypass because of this problem. I am over 3 years post-op RNY surgery. The main reason why I had the surgery was because of medical issues. I had high blood pressure, diabetes, GERD and sleep apnea along with other conditions. All these conditions went into remission within weeks/days after surgery. I am off all the prescription medicines that I was taking for these conditions. Life is good. By the way I am 68 years old. I take a regiment of vitamins each day and periodically my blood is analyzed to ensure that my vitamin intake is correct. So my nutrient levels are well balanced and fine tweeked. My bones seemed fine. I do little projects around the house. Last year I moved 100,000 pounds of gravel by hand along with around 60,000 pounds of concrete blocks and this year I moved about the same amount.

Prior to surgery, I had sleep apnea. But that condition was quickly resolved after my RNY gastric bypass surgery 3 years ago and stayed in remission ever since. While sleep apnea accounts for more than three million cases in the U.S., Insufficient sleep, which is now so widespread that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently called it a public health problem, plagues between 50- to 70 million Americans. So it sounds like the CDC coined a new phrase. So what do they recommend for this new condition? The National Sleep Foundation recommends adopting healthy sleep hygiene habits in order to improve overall quality of life. Among those: skipping caffeine later in the day, exercising daily, and practicing a consistent bedtime ritual that does not include your smartphone. Here is a link to the article that discusses insufficient sleep. http://acsh.org/news/2016/11/30/sleep-apnea-or-insufficient-sleep-both-are-costly-dangerous-10506

Yes I did drop 2 pounds a day after surgery. This quickly tapered off to 1 pounds per day and then stalls as I progressed towards the maintenance phase.

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. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as Protein shakes. It is common for your taste buds to change after surgery. I remember in the hospital after surgery I could not drink the Water because it tasted very chlorinated. Eventually I found flavored water such as Crystal Light to work O.K. Many experience problems drinking protein shakes. I hated them. But in the beginning I drank them, three 16-ounce protein shakes a day, in order to meet my protein requirements. You do not have to like protein shakes only tolerate them. There are many varieties of protein shakes available today. Experiment until you can find one you can tolerate. Over time as your meal volume increases, if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals, you can begin to reduce your reliance on protein shakes. I went from 3 a day, down to 2, down to 1 and eventually none when I reached 1 cup per meal at a year and a half post-op.

After surgery your taste buds change. After the operation when I was in the hospital, I couldn't drink the Water. It tasted very chlorinated, like I was drinking swimming pool water but worse. I eventually found that I could tolerate drinking flavored water such as Crystal Light. I used to like drinking water prior to surgery so this came as a shock. I am now over 3 years post-op and this problem has completely disappeared. I can now enjoy drinking just plain water again.

Sorry, I have no idea. Perhaps it is not something you are missing in your diet but rather an addiction response. When I gave up caffeine, I suffered through a week of withdrawal syndrome - severe headaches and body aches. But you are 17 days out so you should be well over this reaction. Perhaps it is related to medication or the cessation of medication. Maybe pain medication.