James Marusek

Congratulations on getting over that problem. Hopefully everything will be downhill from here.

Congratulations.

It will get better over time but not overnight. It took me 6 months until I reached my happy state when all the problems seemed to melt away.

Congratulations.

I had RNY surgery and I transitioned into the Maintenance phase at 7 months. Sleeve patients are different. They lose weight at a slower rate. But they often lose weight over a longer period of time, sometimes 2 years. One thing to do now at this stage is to assess your Protein intake. Your protein requirement is met by a combination of the protein from your meals combined with the protein from your supplements (Protein shakes, protein bars). Since your meal volume is beginning to increase, that also means that the amount of protein from meals is increasing, especially if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals. Therefore you could be able to reduce your reliance on supplements and the calories they contain. I went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, then 1 and finally zero when my meal volume increased to 1 cup per meal at a year and a half. This allowed me to break the few stalls that I encountered.

I did not feel that the seasons played any role in my surgery with only one exception. That was because the process is long and could spread out over two calendar years and therefore from an insurance perspective I might have to meet my health deductible for each of those years before my health insurance covered the bills. I found that the day of the week in which the surgery was scheduled was somewhat important. Friday is a bad day for scheduling the surgery because it meant that the hospital stay was over the weekend. Many surgeons take the weekend off and the staff at the hospital often is manned differently over the weekend. It is best to have the surgery and hospital stay during the weekdays.

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery over 3 years ago. I had sleep apnea prior to surgery. I snored so loud that it keep my wife awake many nights. A few weeks after surgery, this problem went away. I would wake up in the middle of the night and find my wife hovering over me. I was sleeping so quiet that my wife thought I passed away and she was trying to detect if I was still breathing. It is no longer a problem for me.

I was about an hour and a half away from home and the ride back from the hospital did not bother me. One thing I had to do on the way home was stop at the pharmacy in order to purchase the prescription drugs I needed after the operation. This took about an hour of standing in line. So you might be prepared for this.

Good luck on your surgery. Before surgery I was always focused on food but not afterward. You will be surprised by how little food you will eat in the few months right after surgery. Also your taste buds may change dramatically. So this is one case where you may not want to be too prepared.

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. After RNY gastric bypass surgery, the part of your stomach that normally process fats and sugars has been cut away and consuming high amounts of these two food types can lead to dumping syndrome. After about a year, your intestines will figure out something is wrong and step in and fill the gap. This will allow you to consume fats and sugars again. But it is best to follow the plan guidelines for food types and meal volume during the Weight Loss phase. You will transition into the Maintenance phase soon enough and you want to maximize your weight loss during the Weight Loss 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. It is important to follow the plan guidelines on food. Your stomach in the beginning is in a major heal mode. It needs time to recover and heal itself. If you transition to quickly from liquids to pureed to solids you may damage this healing process and regret it. I know you are tempted and so was I, but it really is best to adhere to the guidelines.

It is important to walk around 30 minutes per day before and after surgery. I began walking every day around a year prior to surgery. Immediately after my operation, I was walking the hallways every two hours around the clock and I continued to exercise every day for the first year after surgery. Walking improves your recovery time and also minimizes the level of pain you will endure from the operation.

Meet both requirements. If you are not getting enough Protein from your foods than add in more protein shakes. 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 went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, then 1 and finally zero when my meal volume increased to 1 cup per meal at a year and a half. I had RNY gastric bypass surgery where you had a sleeve. So your guidance might be a bit different on meal volume.

Congratulations.

There are many pre-triggers to dumping syndrome including the formation of excess mucous, hiccups, sneezing, the change in the way food taste. These are signals that your stomach is full and one more bite and you will be in full scale dumping syndrome which can manifest as stomach pains, nausea and vomiting and several other symptoms. But being only 3 days post-op I suspect that this is not your problem. The pre-triggers seemed like they appeared after I transitioned into the solid food stage. It might be a cold. After I had my RNY surgery, I became lactose intolerant. So when I drank milk, it lead quickly to stomach pains and a quick trip to the bathroom with diarrhea. This condition lasted for around 2 months and then disappeared. Some Protein shakes contain lactose, and sometimes Protein shake powder is blended with milk, so if you have these symptoms, you might forego anything with lactose for awhile.

I agree with @@laceemouse that gum is restricted post-op but that is not the case pre-op.

I am not sure that I have an answer to your question. FMLA is a separate program from sick leave. Normally doctor's notes are accepted for sick leave (paid leave). I do not think FLMA approves leave. They provide a guideline by which Family & Medical Leave (which is unpaid leave) may be taken. These guidelines state that the leave may be taken for: * for the birth and care of the newborn child of an employee; * for placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care; * to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or * to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition. https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla Generally going through this process I underwent many visits to doctors. These included initial consultation, visit with the psychologist, several visits to meet the insurance requirement for a six month medically supervised weight loss program, pre-op physicals, second round of pre-op physicals, a half day of classes, the surgery, post-op visits. So I think that the time you need for meeting the majority of pre-op requirements would be using sick leave. But the operation and recovery period could be covered by FLMA. In your case it would be important to minimize the number of long trips in the pre-op stage and try to do this locally. In my case my insurance did not want to cover the expense for going to see the doctor for the six month medically supervised weight loss program anyways, so this might be out of your pocket whether you go in state or out of state.

Just around the corner. Good luck on your surgery. At your stage I would recommend 3 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.

Sounds like a good goal.

There are many different formulations of Protein shakes. Individuals sometimes find that they taste terrible. The important thing is to try a variety until you can find one you can tolerate. I found that Muscle Milk Light (vanilla Creme) powder blended with Water and a half a banana worked best. I used a Ninja blender with a single serving cup to mix the Protein shake. Others found that a completely different formulation such as premixed Isopure worked for them. Some have found that adding protein powder to their foods worked for them. Past threads talked about a protein powder that had no smell or taste. Sorry but I forgot the brand name. If all else fails then try fortified milk. 32 ounces of 1% milk plus 1 cup of dry milk provides 56 grams of protein. Also be prepared to experiment after surgery. Many patients find that their taste buds changed dramatically after surgery.

Yes. 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 phase. It is important to meet your daily Fluid requirements, because it take fluids to flush these hormones from your system properly.

@@Djmohr is on the right track. This is probably a vitamin/mineral deficiency. Our bodies are different. So even though you are taking the Vitamin regiment given by your doctor, your body might not be absorbing all the vitamins/minerals. That is why I undergo period blood work that identifies how well my vitamin levels are. They are fine tweeking my vitamin and mineral needs. As a result of this blood work, they determined that I was low on Iron, so I now take an iron supplement. Low iron levels can cause weakness. B12 is another important vitamin that can be related to weakness. In the case of this vitamin, you cannot take a time release version of B12. You need to take sublingual and the chemistry must be methylcobalamin for best absorption.

Yes, I think almost all of us went thru this. Lovenox (Enoxaparin) is a blood thinner. It helps reduce the chance of developing blood clots. So this is important. I normally gave this shot by pinching my skin together near my stomach. They gave me detailed directions. The major downside is that after about a week my body was covered with bruises. Because it is a blood thinner, it causes bruises. But after a month, my body healed up and the bruises went away.

It is common to crave crunchy foods after RNY gastric bypass surgery. This is because your body craves chewing. As you eat, chewing triggers a release of digestive fluids that aid digestion. But if your surgery was 10/24 you are way too early to make this transition. You want to give your stomach time to heal. My meal plan placed me on full liquids for the first four weeks, pureed food for the next 4 and only when I reached week 9 was I allowed solid foods. 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. (If you do not meet these daily requirements, they can lead to exhaustion.) 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 had RNY gastric bypass because I had severe acid reflux (GERD) prior to surgery and the sleeve will only make this condition worse. Also RNY gastric bypass is almost a gold standard. It has been around for several decades and they have most of the bugs worked out.