catwoman7

a lot of women have hormone-related issues the first weeks or months after surgery. This includes screwed up menstrual cycles and...moodiness! Estrogen is stored in fat cells and supposedly some of it is released during rapid weight loss - so you get a huge surge of it. I'm guessing that might be what's going on. It'll eventually stabilize.

that may be an individual thing. I don't remember being any more "gassy" than I was prior to surgery. I do know certain carbs can make people gassy, though.

a lot of women experience hormone surges after surgery because estrogen is stored in fat cells - so it could be that. If so, that's temporary. Also, maybe your skin is drier since you're taking in fewer fats now?

very common. For some it's only temporary. For others, they still get cold even when they're years out.

exercise is great for overall health, but it really doesn't make a significant difference in weight loss (some difference - yes - but weight loss is 90% food intake, and only 10% exercise). If you're running marathons or spending half the day in the gym, well, yes - but hardly anyone has time for that. Exercise supposedly is more effective when trying to maintain weight. Suffice it to say, it's probably not going to make a significant difference - and if it hurts, don't do it. I have arthritis, which is a gazillion times better now that I'm 200 lbs lighter, but I've always done aqua fitness classes - even when I weighed almost 400 lbs. Swimming, water aerobics, or anything in water is very easy on the joints and is often recommended for people who have arthritis. So that's a possibility if you want to exercise and have that option. Otherwise, walking is always good as long as you can tolerate it.

it could be just an intolerance to something in the chili (maybe the beef - but maybe the beans?). Dumping involves cramping, heart palpitations, chills or sweats, and diarrhea - and supposedly it can go on for a long time

I think only real sugar can cause true dumping syndrome (in some people, anyway - the majority don't dump) - HOWEVER, a lot of people have issues with certain artificial sweeteners, esp sugar alcohols (those with names ending in "-itol", like xylitol). They can cause cramping and diarrhea in people who are sensitive to them.

this article does say that she'd complained about abdominal pain for months, and that the opioids they found in her system may have masked some of the pain. Other articles I've read also said she'd had pain for months - although babyspoons said she'd read that LMP didn't have pain. So...not sure what the real story is here, It does say, though, that bowel obstruction is a rare complication (and that I knew....) https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/lisa-marie-presley-death-rare-risk-bariatric-surgery-rcna94373

I was "allowed" to drink BEFORE eating once I was a few months out. As far as drinking AFTER eating, that's a life-long rule.

it's not uncommon to have a temporary backlash when you're weaning yourself off of PPI's. Call you clinic for sure, but this may be all it is.

I'm several years out and I take melatonin occasionally. In and of itself, it's not dangerous, but like someone else said, it'd be a good idea to run it by your clinic first to make sure it's not going to interact with anything else you're on.

how far out are you? If you just had surgery recently, it's probably blood from the surgery. Or as you said, it could be iron - that can also turn stool black. I'd run it by my clinic just in case, but it's probably fine.

I'm not a revision patient, just an eight-years-out RNY patient, but I can eat bread products now (have been able to for awhile), but I don't eat a lot of them since they sit in my stomach like a brick and stay there for awhile. I don't think I ate any of them at all the first year or two, though.

P.S. according to my mother-in-law (I talked to her last night about all this), the pain from a bowel obstruction is pretty severe - so you'd KNOW something was wrong. Although maybe the opioids in LIsa Marie's system numbed the pain? I don't know - but she would have known something was wrong. Or should have.

bowel obstruction is a potential complication, but it's a rare one. On top of that, she had abdominal pain for MONTHS, and didn't see a doctor about it. Who goes for months with unexplained abdominal pain and doesn't see someone about it? If she had, she'd still be alive. My mother-in-law had two bowel obstructions (she's NOT a WLS patient). In one case, they cleared it out (since it was possible to do that), in the other, they had to do a small resection of the affected part (because it couldn't be cleared out). Lisa Marie should have seen a doctor about it. It's sad that she never did, because she didn't have to die.

I couldn't tolerate sweet things for the first few months - like sweet protein shakes (I drank a lot of Unjury chicken broth shakes). And I couldn't eat bananas for like three years - too sweet.

I know this sounds weird, but enjoy it while it lasts - because it doesn't last for the vast majority of us. Sometime during the first year after surgery your hunger will come back, and it makes things a lot harder. I wish I was one of the lucky few whose hunger never came back. It was so easy to lose weight when I was never hungry and didn't give a flip about food!

this didn't apply to me since I was already post-menopausal when I had surgery, but I think we were recommended to use two forms of birth control the first few months since women tend to be super fertile the first few months after surgery.

lapband? It's an outdated surgery that was largely replaced by the sleeve. You might be hard pressed to find a surgeon who'll even place them anymore - most don't because there were too many complications with them. Most people who revise from sleeve go with RNY or DS.

we were told not to count calories early out. With as little as you're likely eating, calorie intake isn't going to be a problem. We only were told to count protein grams and fluids.

most of us don't start feeling the restriction until we move to solid foods.

I don't know about Kaiser specifically, but most insurance companies generally won't cover this unless you've had medical problems with the excess skin that don't respond to traditional treatments - for example, chronic rashes. If you're experiencing something like that, be sure to see a doctor for it and make sure it's documented, because the insurance company will want to see documentation that it's not responding to more conservative treatments before approving the surgery. None of mine was covered - but for some of us, yes, insurance does cover - but again, it really depends on the situation.

I was always able to drink more than they said I'd be able to it. I was worried about it as well, but the PA at my clinic said not to worry about it - fluids go through you pretty fast. He said my stomach would tell me if I was drinking too much/too fast.

you're also what we call a "light weight". You started out at only 209 lbs. Many of us started out at 250+. Starting BMI is one of the factors that determines how fast or slow the weight comes off. Given your starting weight, I'm not surprised at all at your loss so far. But as long as the overall trend is down, you're good!

it probably varies. I think it was about two weeks for me.