catwoman7

yea -- that sounds like dumping! A lot of people think vomiting after eating is "dumping", but it's not - what you described are classic symptoms of dumping (p.s., of course, vomiting after eating can be one sign of dumping - but often, it's not. It's just that your stomach isn't happy with whatever you ate, for whatever reason. But what you described with shaking and almost passing out sounds like true dumping)

not at seven days post-op, though.

it's hard to tell in advance who is going to be "blessed" with a lot of loose skin, but with over 100 lbs to lose, I'd be surprised if you don't have at least some. I had quite a bit of it, although I'm a lot older than you (age is one of the factors that can influence it). It was really easy to hide in clothes, though (I've since had it removed - but to be honest, I was the only one who knew it was there. With the right clothes, it "disappeared"! P.S. this is me (below) BEFORE I had plastic surgery. I had a ton of gut skin, especially. I just tucked it into jeans or "tummy control" leggings and wore slightly-oversized, long-ish tops. I also wore 3/4 length or longer sleeves to hide the bat wing arms. Ta da! Gone!

I was eating low glycemic fruits at that point - for example, a few berries on my yogurt. I still don't drink fruit juice at five years out. I occasionally drink those five-calorie cranberry "beverages", but they only have like 10% fruit juice in them. oh and I agree. Dumping is an individual thing. I've never dumped. I've heard/read on this forum and others that only about a third of RNY'ers dump, although I don't think I've ever seen any actual medical research on this. Although I do know a lot of people who don't dump.

most people lose at least some hair (but there are some who don't lose any), but for most of us, we're the only ones who notice. It's pretty rare for it to come out in clumps, like it might for a chemo patient. It's more like shedding. I hardly lost any hair. One of my friends lost about a third of hers, but she said she doubted anyone noticed but her. It's temporary, though. It'll come out for a couple of months and then it'll grow back. And there's a good chance you're the only one who will notice. Biotin and other vitamins (as well as special shampoos) get mixed reviews. Some people swear they helped, some people say they did nothing at all.

I know a lot of long-time vets on another forum that do WW when they want to lose a few pounds, Most of them love the new program.

recovery is pretty easy for a majority of us (although I know it's not for some). I doubt you'll need a shower chair. Even if you're one of the unfortunate ones who experiences pain with this, it doesn't last long - maybe a few days at most. As for a wedge pillow, I had one for plastic surgery - but that was much more painful than my RNY. I just propped up some pillows after my RNY. Although it certainly wouldn't hurt to get one.

I agree on getting a second opinion - but re: the first part of your comment. esophageal cancer (although getting it is definitely not a sure thing - but a risk nonetheless) would be worse than most complications of RNY would be. And mortality rate on RNY is 0.3% - which is pretty low. Either way is a crap shoot, of course - but I think I'd be more afraid of potential esophageal cancer. There are deadlier cancers for sure, but the survival rate on that is only about 50%.

first, alcohol is a lot of empty calories. Second, they want to try to avoid transfer addiction. Unfortunately, developing alcoholism after WLS is supposedly not that rare. that said, most surgeons do allow occasional social drinking (like one drink!) after a certain amount of time. I had to wait a year. Now I probably have three glasses of wine a year - and it hits me FAST!

that's the usual fix for it, yes. You don't want to mess around with unmanageable GERD. It could progress into Barrett's esophagus, which in turn could progress into esophageal cancer. Sometimes it can can be managed via meds - but your surgeon may be thinking this is a case for revision. Like the person above said, they can't force you to have surgery, but on the other hand, if you have dangerous GERD, I'd be inclined to at least listen to the surgeon. If you're really doubting it, you could always get a second opinion.

not sure I'd do Triscuits this early out, but there are some good suggestions here....

actually, most people don't feel hunger until they're a few months out. Mine came roaring back at five months out - for some, it can be up to a year. So take full advantage of never being hungry while it lasts! It'll never be easier to lose weight than it will be right now when you don't give a flip about food!

programs are all over the place with this. Some want their patients on ultra-low-carb diets (like under 40 or so), some want them on semi-low carb diets (e.g., 80 or fewer), and some don't care about carbs at all. So...you're likely to get answers all across the board. My program didn't mention counting carbs, but after fitting all of my protein in, it was pretty rare that I got over 80 or so until I was over a year out.

my first stall was weeks 2 & 3. My weight loss started back up again during week 4, and I dropped like 6-8 lbs in a couple of days. So hang in there!

almost everyone has that early stall. It usually lasts 1-2 weeks. Just stay off the scale if you have to. Stick to your plan, and the weight loss WILL start up again!

I haven't - but I know it's fairly common. I was never a big drinker since alcoholism runs in my family (so I rarely drank), so I knew that particular transfer addiction wouldn't be a problem for me - but so far, nothing else has been. It's happened to others I know, though...

nope - there are a lot of people who started in the high 300s (myself included)

it's actually a pretty safe surgery, so I'm sure you'll pull through just fine! what made me decide for sure was going to an info session (I went to several, even though they all pretty much said the same thing) and seeing the surgeon point to a chart of the human body and saying things like "80% of patients see improvement with .... 60% of patients go into remission with .... 90% of patients have significant improvement with...." (covering a bunch of different ailments like diabetes, high blood pressure, etc) the other thing that did it was when it occurred to me that if I didn't do something about my weight NOW, I may not live to see my 60th birthday (which fortunately - I did! And I'm sure having the surgery had something to do with that!!)

I had almost no pain with this. In fact, that's fairly common (although some unlucky folks do experience pain...)

I think I probably ate about that much then. And then after about the second month I ate 600-800 calories for most of that first year.

you're right - this won't last forever!

this person seems to be hitting various bariatric surgery sites (not just this one). Not sure what this is about.

it'll start up again on its own as long as you stick to your program. No need to increase or decrease calories or exercise - just stick to your clinic's plan. And stay off the scale for a few days if you have to. Your weight loss WILL start up again. as for 16 lbs in the last month, that's very normal. Most of us lose in the 15-25 lb range the first month. I know people often expect more, but I think a lot of expectations come from shows like "My 600 lb Life", but you have to remember that those people are starting at a MUCH higher BMI than the average WLS patient. For us more "normal" WLS patients, that kind of loss is the exception, not the rule. You are doing just fine!

you might. Like I said, we see so few posts on this type of revision that it's hard to see the big picture.

Those surgeries (tightening the pouch and stoma) seem to have mixed results, from what I can tell. Some people do lose 20 or 30 lbs after them, though. I'm not sure about people losing more than that - I suppose some might. I just don't see many posts about this type of surgery, so I'm not sure.