talkingmountain

You can get over the counter rogaine to massage into your scalp. I think the generic name is minoxil.

I'm in the same boat! My liquid-only diet starts dec 17 and surgery is dec 28. I told my mom that I wasn't coming to Christmas dinner and she's not happy but she understands. I'll join them afterwards and am planning to have hot cocoa (sugar free and using high protein almond milk) so it will feel festive.

I'm allowed 1-2 cups of regular or decaf coffee in both pre and post op. No sugar though! My surgeon prohibits any tea -- says the tannins can irritate the pouch.

I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea about 15 years ago (stopped breathing 57 times a minute). At the time I only weighed about 215 lbs and the sleep technologist said I "had the breathing problems of a 500-lb man." It took several extremely frustrating months to find a mask that I would wear through the night (apparently I'd rip them off in my sleep) and get used to it. I was in tears of frustration, anger, & exhaustion numerous occasions. If it weren't for my incredibly helpful respiratory therapist -- who gave me mask after mask after mask to try -- I probably would have given up. But once I did, there was no going back! Once you know what it is like to really sleep, you will be amazed at how you have managed to function without true sleep all this time. Hopefully your transition to wearing a cpap will happen without any frustrations. But if you do run into any roadblocks, Please DONT GIVE UP! Once you experience regular sleep. You will be so glad you stuck with it!

Bellabloom - don't feel alone in having past eating disorders! I'd guess that many of us who seek WLS have binge eating disorder... It's just that the medical world cares if you get too thin, and jumps into action; but if you're too fat, well it's your fault and you just need to eat less. (I'm being sarcastic here). Since you seem to be losing weight while eating healthily, I'd personally like to know what your food/drink/exercise routine is so that I can learn from your success! If you don't feel comfortable posting details, I hope you'll be willing to pm me (I'm 5'6", 270lb, and scheduled for RNY on 12/28).

Protein drink reviews. Not just individual preferences, but what you liked and why (sweetness, texture, grittiness, artificial sweeteners, chemical aftertaste, lactose content, etc)

Have they checked you for lead, mercury, and other toxic metals? Several can cause most if not all of the symptoms you mentioned. Exposure to toxins is my professional area of expertise so that's why your symptoms sound so suspicious. It's admittedly unlikely, but not impossible; for example Consumerlabs.com has found lead contamination in many Calcium supplements, and heavy metals in some Protein drinks. You may want to ask your dr to run a heavy metals panel just to rule this out for sure. NOT some hokey test of your hair or nails -- a real blood test by a real MD (for example the correct test for lead is a ZPP or zinc protoporphyrin test).

I have to say that you are (were) a stunner even before your weight loss! You are just smaller now! Congrats on the health you have created for yourself and your family.

December 28 for me! The way Bugsy described it is exactly the way I'm feeling. Except that starting today I have moments of feeling utterly terrified!

Thanks! That's a much better way for me to think about it! Got my surgery date today -- Dec 28th! Pre-op is Dec 17. So, I have about a month to find a Protein drink that doesn't make me gag (my doc requires a 10-day liquid-only protein diet to shrink the liver & clean out the colon). So far everything I've tried has been sickeningly sweet.

I just got my date today! December 28th. Between now an pre-op date (dec 17) I am scrambling to find some kind of Protein drink that doesn't make me gag. My dr requires all patients to do 2 wks of low-carb liquid Protein to shrink the liver and clean out the intestines.

Just discovered another plant-based Bariatric surgeon! Dr. Matthew Weiner in Michigan. He has a lot of great videos on YouTube.

Did you use the Optifast 800 shakes or the Optifast HB?

What I'm looking for is NO STEVIA! I'll be starting a 10-day pre-op liquid only, high-Protein, low-carb diet soon. I've tried every vegan protein powder that I can find in sample packs. All of them make me gag. They are way too sweet and sweetened with stevia, which I just can't stand. All of them are pretty grainy, too, though I can actually handle that better than the flavor. My ideal flavored vegan protein supplement would contain: - Minimal ingredients (most have all kinds of veg & fruit additives, which affects flavor and increase the chances of allergies). - Sweetened with a mixture of fructose, xylitol or ertythritol, and monk fruit to get a natural low-glycemic sweetness without too much sugar alcohols. No stevia. - Not overly sweet! You can always add sweetener if desired, but once it's in there you can't take it out! - Available in chocolate, vanilla, & berry favors. - Dissolves well without a heavy grainy texture. - Has at least 15 g protein and no more than 8 carbs per serving

Thanks and please keep the suggestions coming. I'll try the ones suggested. The drinks have to have at least 15 g of Protein and less than 7 g carbohydrate so Optifast, which I like, isn't an option :-(

I will be starting my liquid pre-op liquid diet soon. The purpose is to shrink my liver so it has to be low carb (6-7 carbs max) & high Protein (min 15 g) all-liquids to help clean out my intestines. Problem is, all the protein drinks I've tried literally nauseate me. Some even give me an immediate headache. Obviously I have to find something, and fast! Here are the drinks I've tried: - Premier Protein (ready-to-drink, vanilla. This was sooo sweet, with a horrible artificial sweet taste. (And is the brand that is most people's favorite !) - Atkins Advantage coffee flavor. The first few sips weren't too bad, but it's then the sweetness took over, and it even gave me a headache. - Vega One chocolate had the same too-sweet, artificial sweetened flavor that makes me gag. Plus since its dairy free, it has a slight gritty/grainy texture. - Garden of Life Organic Plant Protein chocolate had the same problems as Vega One. - Garden of Life Raw Protein chocolate was the only one that Sint have the sickeningly sweet taste. Since its dairy free, it has a slight gritty/grainy texture, but I think I could live with that better than the sickening sweetness odf the others. If I had to. Years ago I was on a doctor-supervised liquid diet and I recall liking the drinks quite well, so there's got to be something out there!

Decolonization and swimbikerun - is there a way to keep in touch with eachother thru this board? I'm planning to adopt a lowfat plantbased diet after WLS and since my surgeon is clueless about it, I'd really value you support & "expertise!"

A lot of vegetarian recipes use lots of dairy products. I've read that many people become lactose intolerant after WLS. If you are using recipes that use dairy products (cheese, yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, milk, cream, etc), you are getting lactose, so your pain could be simple lactose intolerance. Since dairy products make my arthritis flare up, I've avoided them for years; so feel free to ask me if you want to try some of the excellent dairy alternatives out there (including a home-made nut-based "cheese" to die for!). The other culprit could be simple fats/oils. Many vegetarian recipes will replace the loss of flavor from meats with more fats (even the "leanest" meats are naturally very high in fat). You might try some low-fat flavorful recipes. My favorites are from the book "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" by dr. Caldwell Essestyn. Many people rave about free recipes from the happyherbivore.com and fatfreevegan.com, too. Best of luck!

Hi, l am pre-op and new to the board, but I too want to adopt the Forks Over Knives way of eating after my surgery! I ate this way about 7 yrs ago and the weight practically fell off, and I felt incredible! (Unfortunately my "sweet/fat" tooth got a foothold again and I gained the weight back). There is a Bariatric surgeon who advocates this way of eating -- google Garth Davis Facebook and you'll find his Facebook page/blog. He hasn't addressed how to eat during the liquid/purée/soft food stages and I really wish he would; I'm actually thinking of calling his office to ask! Because I'd like to eat homemade fruit/veg smoothies during this phase rather than sweet Protein drinks, but I'm worried the fruit could cause dumping. Mostly "Dr. Garth" says all the research shows that average women need at most 45 g of protein, and there's no evidence that WLS need any more than that. There is a terrific free tool called chronometer that could be used to figure the protein content of food. Wouldn't it be great if all of us ganged up together and shared the protein/carb/sugar/fat content of various vegan foods that we made?!

However you spell it, this is my first post to BariatricPal! Got a "welcome message" when I joined this group that suggested I give some background, so here's a little about me. I hope to get a surgery date next week. I've jumped through all the hoops other than the 4-hr educational class and whatever pre-op is required. I'm hoping to get it done either the week before Christmas or the first week of January. Now that I've finally decided to do this, it can't happen soon enough as far as I'm concerned! The nearest WLS center is 2 hrs away but my GP is very supportive and has other WLS patients, so I am not worried about the distance. The WLS is a " Center of excellence I've toyed with the idea of WLS for more than 10 years. Each time I started thinking seriously about it, I'd give healthy eating one more try-- usually with minimal results. About 6 years ago, though, I adopted a low-fat, plant-based diet and lost almost 50 lbs -- way more than I'd ever lost on Weight Watchers (9 times), Jenny Craig, OptifSt, Atkins, the Zone,...you know the story! And even though I felt fantastic, somehow the crap started sneaking back in and I regained all the weight (plus some extra, of course). A couple of months ago the idea of WLS popped into my head out of the blue, and it just felt right. Since then I've gone full bore on meeting the requirements. Once I go through the mandatory 4-hr class, I'll have met all the program's requirements and they will submit my paperwork for insurance approval. If I understand the process correctly, I can get a surgery date once insurance approves me. Since I've met all the insurance requirements, it is not supposed to take them long. I am 5'6" and weigh about 255-265 lbs. I think that makes my excess weight about 130-140 lbs (assuming an ideal weight of 125 lbs). Supposedly most WLS patients stabilize at 50-70% of excess weight lost. If I'm using the right calculations, that would be 164 to 195 lbs. I'd really like to stabilize at 145-150 lbs, though if I stabilized at 15-170 and didn't have to struggle to stay there, I'd be satisfied. But boy, I sure would hate to get my guts rearranged to end up at almost 200 lbs!

Have you tried any healthy Protein like fat free refried Beans, hummos, nut butters, o smoothies made with high-protein whole foods like oatmeal or cooked broccoli (yes they are high in protein too)? I haven't had my surgery yet but at the support meetings a number of people have said they can't tolerate meat and/or eggs and/or dairy, so these are some of the things they eat. I already can't stand the smell of cooking steak, eggs, or fish, so I'm definitely going to try their ideas! (One of the members turned us all on to Dr. Garth Davis's blog -- he's the bariatric surgeon that they made a reality tv show about -- he now recommends plant-based "real" foods to his patients).

Did I read your story right - your high bp went away within DAYS of having the surgery? If so, that's amazing (and I hope it happens to me)!

Anyone go to Frye Surgical Weight Loss in Hickory? Just wondering what you thought of post-surgical support in and out of hospital?