ShelterDog64

@@GinaCampbell **From the messages that I receive here from people, mostly resident Americans, there is a higher rate of complications than is even being reported publicly here.** What kinds of things are these patients experiencing? I'm truly interested, not trying to dispute you at all. I know what the numbers are nationally and regionally, as well as within my hospital's practice and throughout our particular health system, but interested in the civilian sector's common complications.

Clearly you've not seen all the threads about popcorn, pizza, swedish fish, pork chops and tacos. Ha, but those aren't asking for support, they're asking for permission

@@theantichick **There are also a LOT of people who get their information needs met by their surgeon's team, have a good support group in person, and just don't have any complications to speak of. Those people never even sign on to a board like this. That's why I say if you want information about how common a complication or side effect is, talk to your surgeon. They report to agencies about that sort of thing, and they know the real numbers. Complications like nausea and vomiting are common, to be sure. But it's not common to have intractable nausea/vomiting (meaning not responding to meds). It happens, sure. But nowhere near the incidence rates one would think just reading this board.** I'm going to save this to just c/p from now on. Support groups/boards/online communities are TERRIBLE places to find out how safe/unsafe/effective ANYthing is. Your surgeon should be able to readily provide you with his/her complication rate for any given procedure, as well as tell you national rates of the same. You should also be provided with things like your hospital's rate of infections acquired during admission. I had a super easy post-op course, but that's meaningless to YOU other than it being reflective of the rate of easy post-op courses in general for a VSG. Do your homework with your doc/practice/hospital. You can't even find out if a TOASTER is good or not because so few people take the time to say "I love this toaster" but nearly everyone has time to complain about their toast being too brown, not brown enough or popping up too high Same for gastric bypass, VSG, DS and bands!

This is not worded too strongly. I know I need to do these things. It's very difficult when I have a really bad fear for throwing up. Before surgery I was a. Why picky eater and I'm even worse now. The smell of things disgust me. The look too. I also do not like milk. I never did before surgery and I sure don't now either. I used to be able to tolerate skim chocolate milk but even mixing shakes with skim milk now is gross. I am so nauseated by all this fake sugar. I have no idea how I was ever such a crazy Diet Coke drinker. I quit months before Surgery and to think about how much I used to drink of it now is disgusting. I keep making broth and shakes and as soon as I get it in front of me to drink I'm about to hurl. It grosses me out so bad. I think it goes with the nausea though. Trying to go to my closest ER and tell them my surgeon didn't take me seriously was a joke. I went to the hospital the surgeon works for yesterday and it finally went somewhere. So I will see what happens from here and keep trying to get Fluid in." Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App i absolutely understand the fear of throwing up, its almost a phobia for me I do everything in my power to avoid vomiting, but it's also much better to have something to throw up than to dry heave, imo. Pinch your nose closed, don't look at it and sip. If you can get past the first couple of swallows, you may be able to keep it down and once you can keep things down, you'll start to feel better and so on and so forth! I'm going through a phase right now where almost everything I put in my mouth that contains protein makes me nauseated...so I nibble and sip and get up and walk around, breath through my mouth, etc. until I can keep it down. Are you on a PPI or something to keep your stomach acid down? Just another thought.

I'm going to give you 2 pieces of very concrete advice. First, you can't lay in bed and cry, you HAVE to figure out how to get some nourishment into your body. You feel awful, of course, but you're only going to feel MORE awful if you don't get something in to keep your electrolytes up. I have problems with my potassium levels, it started while I was in the hospital post-op and I still have to be careful. Milk is a good source of potassium, and Fairlife milk has good Protein, too, plus it helps replenish the Calcium you lose when your potassium is low. broth with protein powder is a MUST for you right now, and you should use the Fairlife milk and add protein to it as well. And you need to get your Water in, whether you're nauseated or not. Second, if your medical team won't respond to you, you need to find someone new. Period. Call around and find someone who will take you. Tell your current team that you're leaving if they don't take your care seriously. You need carefully coordinated care right now and speaking only to a PA who can't be bothered to pull your chart before calling you back isn't competent care. Go to the ER again if you have to and tell them your practice won't take you seriously. It's absolutely critical that you're under the care of a team who understands the complications that follow bariatric surgery and if your original surgeon won't provide care, you HAVE to find someone else. I'm sorry you're feeling so awful and I hope this isn't worded too strongly for you, but you're sick and feeling hopeless and you MUST do something to help yourself. Get some broth and protein in your stomach, drink water and make phone calls on Monday. It WILL get better!

I think you've got the hard part beat...you KNOW you have the self-sabotage gene and are wary of it. You're already ahead in this game, just by knowing and admitting it to yourself. I'm only 4.5 mos out, so no expert, but I am a champion "bored eater" and I've had to come up with ways to combat that tendency. First, I get a glass of Water and drink it. I often ate, thinking I was hungry, instead of recognizing that I was actually thirsty. Second, commit to an activity that you can do in lieu of eating. I'm lucky that I have a treadmill in my basement, so after I drink the water and I still think I need food, I go walk a mile on the treadmill. At that point, I'm near the laundry, so that burns up a bit more time...I try to occupy myself and wait for the urge to pass. If the above fail, I have sugar-free popsicles in my freezer at all times (the tropical flavors are MUCH better than the regular ones). 15 calories for one pop, it's cold and sweet and generally finishes off my cravings. And btw, I have no REAL hunger yet, this is all head hunger. It's a bear sometimes. The key is being cognizant and then being mindful in your subsequent behavior. And you've got that halfway nailed Good luck with your surgery, I'll be looking for your posts once you're on the Loser's Bench with us!