JMJames92

I remember after my surgery it was recommended to take a sip of Water every 5 minutes to make sure I stayed hydrated. That worked for me back then. As time went on I stopped doing that, as I am able to drink more water at once when I get thirsty. The whole 64 oz of water a day or (insert number) amount of water per day is not true. Obviously we need water and when we are unable to take a lot in at a time we need to follow some strict guidelines to not get dehydrated, but when that no longer applies, your thirst response is a very good indicator of when you should drink water and how much you should drink.

22 minutes ago, HealthyLifeStyle said:

I guess it goes both ways with the bowel movement problems. Before surgery I was so constipated I would be doubled over in so much pain. I would take Miralax every day, and it would not work. Now after the surgery, I can not stop going. Weird how much the surgery has changed things. You did remind me by saying medication....I was on a lot more meds before the surgery, and that is what probably did it. Is there anyway you could maybe change the medication your on?

The medication is Suboxone and I take it as a medication assisted treatment because I am a recovering heroin addict. Technically I could go off of it but I never had any success with staying clean before I started taking Suboxone, now I have nearly 7 years clean. A little Constipation is a low price to pay for that. It used to be a lot worse too, but I have since lowered my dose and it is more manageable. I used to go 2, sometimes 3, weeks between bowel movements. I am planning on lowering my dose a little more over the course of the next year or so. Maybe it will get even more manageable

I'm so jealous of how often you guys defecate! 🤣 I take a medication that causes severe Constipation so I am lucky if I go twice a week. That's with the help of Miralax too. I am still surprised with how small my bowel movements are though. Before my surgery, their length and diameter were much larger. I guess when you eat a lot less food, a lot less waste needs to come out.

49 minutes ago, Bookkeeper bariatric said:

That is a huge number rigth there!, i paid 18,000 out of pocket

33 minutes ago, STLoser said:

Also, it was totally worth every penny. I paid 21, 800 out of pocket.. My surgery was 6 months ago. I started at 393 lbs. and a bmi of 69.9. I'm am 272 now and I think my bmi is 49.8. I still have a long way to go, but I am so happy I chose to pay out of pocket.

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

Wow!! Back when I had my surgery (honestly even today but more so back then) if my insurance wouldn't have covered it then it may as well have been $10,000,000, I would be just as unable to pay it haha!

On 02/07/2021 at 09:38, NiceAnkles said:

Wow what a horrendous experience. I’m glad you shared your story in hopes it will help someone else. After that initial torture, was your healing and recovery managed ok?

Yeah after that few hours everything was smooth sailing. I didn’t have any pain or side effects after that. I never even had any foods that I had any issues eating. It’s the best decision I ever could have made for my health (besides maybe quitting heroin a few years before XD)

On 02/07/2021 at 08:37, kristieshannon said:

I’m a nurse in a suboxone treatment program. For anyone reading this that will be facing the same situation, please have your suboxone provider advocate for you with your surgical team! We do anytime one of our folks is having surgery. We call directly to the surgeon and assist with formulating a post op pain plan. There are meds that can help along with suboxone to manage pain! Great job on both your recovery and your surgery, Joshua. And thank you for sharing, you will save someone the same agony you experienced!

Thank you for your perspective on this! This may not be true for everyone but I didn’t need anything for the pain other than the suboxone (once I finally got it). I just took a slightly higher dose for a couple days and had no issues.

I agree with what @catwoman7 said. The numbers for the BMI categories are weird in my opinion. I am 5'8" and 160lbs. I am right on the edge of average/overweight. If I were to gain a half a pound it would put me into overweight. Also BMI can be a decent general indicator of health and weight for some people but if I were to start working out super hard and a year from now I have gained like 25 pounds of muscle, I would probably have an obese BMI. Don't let it get you down, you have worked so hard and come so far. You should be very proud of yourself!

1 minute ago, OAGBPal said:

You're an inspiration, Joshua. Thanks for your honesty and for sharing.

I obviously didn't have a sleeve, but the post op pain for me was between 9.5 and 10 for a few hours. They wouldn't give me more morphine, and I was at one point told they had to 'go see incoming patients' in the first room there. I was livid, and nobody was allowed in to the hospital due to covid. I to this day believe I would've offed myself then if given the chance.

Not to scare anyone away, mind you. Even with what I've achieved a little over two months out, I'd actually go through that without hesitation again just for feeling this much better already.

However, I think the advice I'd give was talk to your surgery team about pain management upfront. And know that it's "just" the bloated stomach from gas pressing on freshly cut insides ... you're not about to burst or anything (I remember being scared something was very wrong, which didn't help at all).

I'm so sorry you had to go through such extreme pain also. I was also a little worried about scaring people away with my post but it shouldn't be that bad for the majority of people that go through it. Looking back, even with the experience that I had, it was a million percent worth it!

I was just idly wondering if anyone else had an extreme amount of pain after their sleeve (or any weight loss) surgery? I don't mean to scare anyone away from having their surgery because my situation is pretty unique in this regard.

I am a recovering heroin addict so at the time of my surgery (August 2016) I was taking a medicine called Suboxone. Suboxone blocks pretty much all other opioid painkillers from working. I told my surgeon and anesthesiologist that I was on this medication and I was concerned that it would make the post-surgery painkillers not work so I brought my prescription to the hospital with me so I could give it to them so they could administer it to me after the surgery.

Well fast forward to me waking up after my surgery in agonizing pain. They had literally just made 6 cuts into my abdomen and cut out the majority of my stomach and I had nothing working to dull that pain at all. They wouldn't let me leave the recovery room (I think that's what it's called) until my pain was under control. I was literally screaming in pain which I had never done in my entire life before that and I have not done since then. The nurse actually kept telling me that I needed to be quiet! If I was capable of that I would have been! The nurse kept giving me Dilaudid (an opioid painkiller) injections on someone's orders -who? I don't know. I kept telling the nurse that it wasn't going to work because I was on Suboxone, which by the way takes a very long time to work out of your system - like at least a few days until other painkillers will work. The nurse must have given me at least 4 injections of Dilaudid with no effect whatsoever before she finally believed that it wasn't going to work.

Hours had passed since I woke up after my surgery before they finally listened to me when I told them that my mother was in the waiting room with my Suboxone prescription and that would actually work. 15 minutes later they brought it to me and I put it under my tongue to dissolve. Within 10-15 minutes my pain felt like it disappeared completely. Now it hadn't actually completely gone away but compared to the agony that I was experiencing before, this might as well have been nothing. What relief!

To anyone that actually read all of that story thank you for making it this far! I don't have a real reason for sharing this, I just like this forum and have recently gotten back to reading and posting here and wanted to share some of my surgery experience. Feel free to comment about my story, ask any questions you want, or share any similar experiences you had.

-Joshua

I have never heard of a Vitamin Patch, that is actually really awesome! To answer the initial question in this thread, yes. For months after my surgery I couldn't take a Vitamin without throwing up. If I took it with food then it was a little better and sometimes I just got nauseous without actually throwing up. I talked to my doctor and switched to a different brand of Vitamins and that completely stopped it. I don't know what was in the first brand that caused issues but I was amazed that it just stopped with the other one. Maybe it would be a good idea to talk to your doctor and maybe try switching brands to see if this might be the case. Good luck!

I just told everyone at work (and anywhere else that people asked) the truth. I don't see how WLS can be seen negatively, but even if it is for some reason- screw them. You did it for you! I'm not sure of your gender and maybe the experience is different for men than it is for women but I only got very positive responses to the surgery and my weight loss. After a couple weeks people will get so used to the way you look that they will pretty much forget what you looked like pre-op.

The billing in the whole situation confused me so much. Everything up to the surgery was simple, I just paid my $15-$30 copay for every doctor's visit. For the surgery, I was told in advance that my portion would be ~$200 and I had to pay it on the day of the surgery. At the time I was 23 years old and I did not have much money at all so I made sure to save money so I would have that $200 for my surgery. When I got to the hospital the day of my surgery they gave me a bill and I owed them just under $700. I just paid the $200 that day and explained to them that I was told $200 and I would be able to make payments. They didn't have an issue with that (thankfully).

Good for you for taking this step to better yourself. I had my surgery at age 23 and I am glad I did it so young. I lost a lot of weight very quickly and I do not have much loose skin at all (I have a little of course!). As for your insurance, it really would be impossible for anyone here to say definitively either way. You said you are on month 3/6 so I assume that means that your doctor's office contacted your insurance and they gave them a list of stuff they want you to do before the surgery? If that is the case then as long as you do the stuff and get approved by everyone that needs to approve you, you should be good to go.

I had Blue Cross of California when I had the surgery and I got approved right away as soon as I did my diet documentation, cardiologist visit, nutritionist visit, psych visit, and 6 months diet documentation. I think there might have been a one or two day class in there somewhere as well. My apologies for rambling a bit. I wish you the best of luck in this process!

-Joshua

I have a pretty simple and unexciting diet as well most of the time. As far as getting vegetables incorporated into your diet, before my surgery I basically did not eat any vegetables. I highly recommend getting some Brussel sprouts and cutting them in half, placing them on a baking sheet and drizzling them with a little olive oil and then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Bake at 375 for ~40 minutes. They are delicious!

I agree with @catwoman7 that stalls can last much longer than three weeks and it is completely normal. When I was 5 months out I was probably eating about 800 calories per day. Also not to be a downer or anything but I have read that the amount of calories that an exercise machine tells you you have burnt is not all that accurate. They have been found to overestimate by as much as 40% sometimes. I think you are good and you just have to stick with it and you will start losing again.

11 hours ago, Amanda Oh said:

Surgery: 08/31/2018
HW: 346 lbs
SW: 330 lbs
CW: 172 lbs

Damn!

I was very unprepared for my psychiatrist visit. All they had me do was fill out a questionnaire and then leave. I thought we were going to take about my answers to the questions. I answered the question "Do you ever think about death?" with a yes. I didn't mean that I was suicidal or that I wanted to die, just that I have thought about whether or not anything happens after death. Since we didn't talk about my answers I did not get a chance to explain that. The psychiatrist recommended against surgery for me and I had to go to my PCP and my normal psychiatrist to get them to write letters saying I am not suicidal. It was a hassle.

6 minutes ago, Jnfinney said:

@JMJames92 I am a big texture person when it comes to food, so I know I’ll struggle with purées. However, I’ve seen lots of recipes for a ricotta bake, which I imagine would give a similar flavor, so that is one recipe I plan to try out.

I completely understand that. There is a lot of food I won't eat because of texture. During the pureed stage I basically survived off of this Vanilla Custard recipe along with banana baby food. Me and my sister are weird and have eaten banana baby food our whole lives haha. It tastes really good!

I know this thread hasn't been posted in for a few weeks but I also wanted to say along with @Arabesque and @ms.sss that I haven't taken my Vitamins in quite a while. I took them for about a year, give or take a few months, after my sleeve surgery. I had my blood tested recently and everything was good for me as well. I'm sure it won't apply for everyone but for a lot of people, myself included, I would think that when you are able to eat a normal amount of food again following the surgery, as long as you are eating a balanced diet then you are probably getting all the nutrients you need. Of course, I am not a doctor though and everything I say should be taken with a very large grain of salt!

5 hours ago, Kris77 said:

My insurance company didn’t cover weight loss surgery either. Had to self pay. Of course the next year they switched plans and it was under that plan but by then it was done. No regrets what so ever. Yes it costs but for me worth it to be healthier. Good luck to you in which ever way you decide to go. Sorry it’s not in your plan.

Just out of curiosity, how much did the surgery cost you out of pocket? Feel free to tell me to beat it if you are uncomfortable telling me. I just know that my insurance paid ~$80,000 for my surgery. It was definitely one of the best decisions I have ever made but I couldn't imagine dropping that kind of money.

I feel for you. I am exactly where I want to be with my weight and still have some belly fat. I think it's mostly some loose skin but it looks a lot like a beer belly haha. I am at 160lbs now but even when I was very underweight, 130lbs, I still had it. I think the only was to completely get rid of it is plastic surgery. Also, while crunches are great for your core, it is my understanding that they don't actually do anything to get rid of belly fat specifically. Honestly, it is probably more noticeable to you than to anyone else. That's how it seems to be for me at least. Good luck though!

18 hours ago, ms.sss said:

Hubba hubba!

Right back at you!

I second catwoman7. Any number of nutrient deficiencies can cause Hair loss.

This reminds me of when I was a few weeks post-surgery and on the pureed food stage of my diet. I was really craving pizza so I took some cheese, pizza sauce, pepperonis, and a low carb tortilla and put it in a magic bullet and blended it up. The texture was very weird but it actually didn't taste too bad. It definitely satisfied the craving.

I just posted this in another similar thread but this one seems more current. First picture is a few months pre-op when I was 296lbs and the second picture was a few months ago (about 4 years post op) at 165. The third one is from just a couple days ago. I am at 160lbs now, 5’8” and 28 years old.