James Marusek

You may have developed a stricture or an ulcer. Here is a link but you can search the internet for more information. http://bariatric.stopobesityforlife.com/obesity-surgery/correcting-obesity/bariatric-surgery-risks/ulcers-or-strictures/

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. The attached article describes my experience after RNY gastric bypass surgery. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. After surgery I was given a maximum weight lifting restriction. Since it was so long ago I don't really recall the limit but it was around 10 or 15 pounds. That restriction went away fairly quickly. I think by the time of the first follow-up meeting where they removed the stitches after surgery, they eliminated this weight limit. The weight limit was in writing and most companies will honor the weight limit due to recovery from surgery. It means that certain tasks cannot be performed until you are healed. If you work in surgery, I would think most hospitals would comply with this requirement.

Good luck on your surgery and let us know if we can be of any help.

It sounds like a stomach flu. If you went 9 months without dumping and this was set off only by a cup of coffee and a hard boiled egg, my guess is stomach flu.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. This is my approach for the maintenance phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

I used Flintstone chewable. They are a little harder to come by now because they seem to be replaced with gummy Vitamins which will not work for RNY gastric bypass patients because they are not absorbed properly.

You taste buds may change after surgery. Some people report that their sense of smell also changed. Therefore don't stock up on too much. I would recommend that you obtain a sampling of Protein shakes, so that after surgery you can experiment and down select to the type that best fits your taste. After surgery, my taste buds changed so much that the Water in the hospital was undrinkable because it tasted like chlorine. In the end I discovered flavored water such as using Crystal Light was an acceptable alternative.

I hope you mend soon. Ulcer and strictures can be a bad experience. 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 the primary focus should be on meeting these three requirements. When I look at the information on the internet it says: 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. Therefore there are three points here since you have an ulcer. Do not take NSAIDs like aspirin. Use a proton pump inhibitor such as Omeprazole (Prilosec). And third, make sure you were tested to verify that you do not have , H pylori infection. My surgeon prescribe Omeprazole for the first year. This was not to treat acid reflux but rather to allow the stomach to heal properly. I had some problems but nowhere as severe as yours. It took me 6 months before I reached my happy state when most of the problems dissolved away.

The transition to solid foods can be hard. So take your time, your stomach is still in heal mode. I found that softer foods (chili and soups) went down much easier than harder foods such as steak and chicken. I have included some recipes in the following article at the end. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

Congratulations.

In my case, my wife was the one that suggested that I have gastric bypass surgery. My wife also stayed with me in the hospital for the two days following surgery. I basically told everyone that I was having surgery. Even strangers on the street. The reaction of most people were either supportive or curious about the operation. The only negative comments I received was from my mother. She is elderly and depends on me and does not want anything to interfere with that help, so she was negative.

Congratulations

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery and the weight fell off fairly rapidly. I transitioned from the Weight Loss phase into the Maintenance phase at around 7 months. Sleeve patients lose weight at a slower pace but they lose weight over a longer period of time, sometimes 2 years, and can achieve almost the same weight loss as RNY patients. Even though I lost weight rapidly, it was not a shock. Some people no longer recognized me. It is good to take a good before photograph so that you have something to compare it with after surgery. Many people do not see how obese they really are. I never appeared in photographs because I was the photographer in the family. When I looked in a mirror, it was alway straight on. The problem is that many people do not see how obese they really are and after surgery do not see how much weight they really lost. So in my case I took a before photo and a 6 month after photo. I tried to strike the same pose so it was a good one to one comparison. Here is the photo.

I will pray that your surgery is a success and all goes well.

Transitioning to solid foods such as chicken and steak can be difficult. I relied on softer foods such as chili and Soups. I have put some of my recipes at the end of the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf 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 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 do not know what the requirements for Medicare insurance is. With normal health insurance, I went through he follow stages. Initial consultation. Psychological assessment Nutritionist consultations 6 month medical supervised weight loss and exercise program Almost a day of pre-op testing A second round of pre-op testing with specialist in their respective fields for my specific major risk areas A half a day of classes detailing surgery and post op requirements. Insurance approval Surgery

I put some recipes for high Protein home-made soups and chili at the end of the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

pain after surgery from day 1 to 2 weeks out? (i had very little pain with insert and removal of band keyhole) I had very little pain. I took no pain medicines after I left the operating room. It is important to do around 30 minutes of walking daily before surgery. It helps to manage pain (mostly from gas) and speed up the recovery process. *how hard is it really to drink and what makes it so hard (the feeling that makes it hard i.e too full?) After surgery, my taste buds changed significantly. I couldn't even drink the Water it the hospital because it tasted very chlorinated. I found I could tolerate flavored water so I stuck with Crystal Light after surgery. *how hard is it to take pills if you have to? After surgery I found that I could no longer swallow medium to large size pills. This condition lasted for around 2 months. I used pill splitters and pill crushers on my Vitamins. *when transitioning through each food stage which foods will cause this dreaded dumping? After RNY gastric bypass surgery the part of your stomach that process fats and sugars has been cut away. So therefore if you consume these, they can be dumped into your intestines that do not know what to do with these. Also solid foods such as steak and chicken can cause dumping. Also if you eat more than you new stomach can hold, that can lead to dumping. Think of dumping as a learning tool. Your stomach will quickly teach you what you can and cannot do. *once you have lost weight to your goal and even heading up to it can you ever eat treats or the food you used to like in small quantities? I have a major sweet tooth. This is how I gained so much weight. After Weight Loss phase when I transitioned into the Maintenance phase, I have to be very careful to limit my intake of sugar otherwise I will gain the weight back. Fortunately there are many alternatives such as low calorie natural sugars (stevia) and artificial sweeteners (Splenda, sugar alcohols) that satisfy my sweet tooth and many of these are being integrated into the foods that we buy in the grocery store.

Goal weight is an artificial number. After some thought I set mine at the high side of Normal BMI. This point corresponds to the lowest mortality rate. It is important to have a little extra fat because when the human body encounters a serious illness or injury, we tend to rely on this for recovery.

Find a copy of your insurance plan or go online and find one and look up the part that discusses bariatric surgery. Many health insurance plans are similar. This is what my plan says: •Surgical treatment of obesity (bariatric surgery) is covered only if: - eligible enrollee is 18 of age or over - clinical records support a body mass index of 40 or greater (or 35-40 when there is at least one co-morbidity related to obesity). Applicable co-morbid conditions include the following: • Type II diabetes mellitus (by American Diabetes Association diagnostic criteria). • Refractory hypertension (defined as blood pressure of 140 mmHg systolic and or 90 mmHg diastolic) despite medical treatment with maximal dose of three antihypertensive medications. • Refractory hyperlipidemia (acceptable levels of lipids unachievable with diet and maximum doses of lipid lowering medications). • Obesity–induced cardiomyopathy. • Clinically significant obstructive sleep apnea. • Severe arthopathy of the spine and or weight bearing joints (when obesity prohibits appropriate surgical management of joint dysfunction treatable but for obesity. - Documentation of failure to lower the body mass index within the last 12 months through a medically supervised program of diet and exercise of at least 6 months duration. Since you have GERD, it would be wise to focus on RNY gastric bypass surgery, because sleeve surgery will only make this condition worse.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. I hit a couple bouts of severe constipation along the way. What worked for me was eating an apple a day just before bedtime. But it was very important to eat the skins also. One of the things that can cause constipation is dehydration. So if you are not getting in enough fluids then increase your uptake. Constipation come up often on this board. Here are some of the past recommendations: 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 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. Low Fat Bran Muffin (recipe). 80 calories each 1 cup flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon cinnamon 2 cups bran Cereal 1 ¼ cups milk 1 egg ½ tablespoon applesauce optional: banana, berries, mini chocolate chips Bake 400° F for 22 minutes

Congratulations.

I read this article today and thought I would share. Nothing to do with weight loss surgery directly but only indirectly. I had RNY gastric bypass surgery 3 years ago and the most difficult part of the process was dealing with the insurance companies. This article explains the undue pressures being put on our medical staff today by the government and insurance companies under the guise of medical coding. I would probably rename the article "Medical Coding: Driving Our Physicians into Early Retirement". http://acsh.org/news/2016/09/15/government-torture-physicians%C2%A0-where’s-outrage-10163

One of the main reasons why I had RNY gastric bypass surgery was because I had diabetes. I was on two forms of medication and even that wasn't controlling the diabetes and my primary physician wanted me to transition to insulin shots. My mother had diabetes and I helped to care for her. She developed a diabetic ulcer on her foot. With diabetes these wounds simply do not heal. She had it for years and if it was not constantly cared for it, could easily lead to a major infection and a foot amputation. So seeing what she went through, I resolved not to go down the same path. The interesting thing is how quick you can end diabetes forever. The day I left the hospital, two days after my surgery, I was off all my diabetes medicine. I haven't taken any meds since. I am 3 years post-op and diabetes is still in remission. I test my blood sugar levels periodically and they are fine, actually far better than when I was on my meds prior to surgery. Also gone is my high blood pressure, sleep apnea and GERD.