trailtramper

Hello, I was sleeved October 17th. It has been far from an easy journey. I have been in the hospital more than not because of dehydration, I am still on Clear Liquids. Halloween I had to do a CT scan and found out I have a blood clot in my stomach, in the vein right next to my liver. I was in back in the hospital for 5 days and now home taking it easy and now on blood thinners for at least 6 months. Has anyone else gone through this?
Hw 374 SW 358 CW 332

Thank you for your reply. I'm doing ok so far. Managing small amounts. Things taste very different now. Not sure if that's because of the anaesthetic. I was only in over night. I have 6 incisions with staples. Not in any pain, just sore. Looking forward to starting my journey

My doctor says our taste preferences change after surgery.

I am a month and 5 days post-op and have only lost 10 lbs. My surgeon said we should lose an average of 20lbs a month. I was losing more weight before the surgery than after! I'm starting to feel like I made a mistake. I'm also having trouble getting in my 64 oz of Fluid in a day because I can't drink fast. I was trying to eat based on the diet given by the Dr. but having to wait an hour was making it even harder to get the fluid in and I was becoming dehydrated, I actually still am a little, so I've quit trying to eat at all during the day just to get the fluid in. The Dr said if we didn't eat right now it was ok we could have Protein Shakes here and there but he really wants me off the shakes by now if possible and to be eating. I'm just so frustrated that the weight loss slowed after surgery! WTH?
Sent from my Alcatel 6055U using BariatricPal mobile app

Hey everyone. [emoji4] I haven’t posted for awhile but i just want to share my story as there are lots of new people flowing through surgery and I’d love to help anyone with my experience.
I had wls dec 2014. It was quite an ordeal for me, very painful and I had complications. I weight 243 lbs at my surgery and I’m 5’6.
I ended up having five or six surgeries on my stomach over the next 6 months.
Gallbladder went, exploratory, revision surgery, a endoscopy for a super bad stricture, a granuloma removed from my belly button ...
After my wls I was unable to eat solid food for 10 months due to a severe stricture. I could only eat broth and sometimes cheese. So in a way this helped me reach my weight loss goal and surpass it. At my lowest I weighed 114 lbs.
Going through the surgery I realized I had a major eating disorder. I had to come to terms with a lot of emotional turmoil and self hatred, guilt and shame and fear of food and regain. I’m still going through some of it. I was very reluctant to return to normal eating post op even once I could. Losing weight became an unhealthy addiction. I ended up having to seek eating disorder therapy.
What I discovered as I clawed my way to better health was that dieting had no place in my life and would never work for me. It made me miserable and there was no future for me if I didn’t stop. I had to fully accept the possibility of regaining weight in order to embrace a non diet approach to weight maintenance.
4 years later I no longer diet or weigh myself on a regular basis. I eat through a method called “intuitive eating” and it has changed my life. I have worked very hard to try and embrace my body even as my weight fluctuates. Some days are easy, some are harder.
Many people regain weight after wls. Many people struggle to lose enough. I personally believe this is due to dieting being the reason many of us gain weight in the first place. Most people who are obese are suffering from an eating disorder. I wish I had know that before surgery.
I don’t regret surgery in fact I am a huge proponent to weight loss surgery. But I feel a combination approach is necessary long term to keep weight off and also have quality of life. Wls combined with I Intuitive eating has really worked for me.
Today I think I weigh around 130 lbs. I’m very thin, I struggle to keep weight on especially as food becomes more and more neutral to me. I forget to eat a lot and I have trouble getting regular meals in because I get busy. But I’m not underweight any more so that’s a big improvement.

My health is good but I suffer from dumping syndrome which can be stressful and exhausting. If I eat tom much sugar and fat together I will get it, or if I eat too much food, or put Fluid with my food it can happen. I also throw up occasionally especially if I drink while I eat. But if I follow the “rules” I’m mostly okay. But eating slowly and eating the right things becomes very hard and impractical at times so there are still plenty of times I break the rules and suffer for it. For one thing with dumping- I can eat very little Protein before I get full. If I wanted to not dump I would have to be low carb- but even eating tons of carbs, sweets and fats I can scarcely maintain my weight, I lose very easily. So a low carb diet is not an option for me even if I wanted to do it.

Wls is not something that is an easy fix. It’s a very hard surgery with a lot of longer term consequences. I still feel it was worth it however.
Here’s some pics and I’m happy to chat which whoever needs advice.
   

What helped everyone with their nausea? I feel like every time I sip something I get nauseous. How long will this last? Really struggling post op

You'll do great then. I was very calm before my surgery. I took it one day at a time. I knew there would be some bumps but that's okay.. bumps help you learn how to use your new tool.

I am on day 6 of my liquid diet. I don’t have head hunger anymore, but my stomach is definitely crying for food, and the headache won’t go away. I will make it, but man, is it tough.

I'm glad you're feeling better today. So am I. Everyday is going to get better and better.. I know it.

Hey everyone! I had my 3 week post op check yesterday... my BMI changed from 45 on the day of surgery to 41 yesterday. I’ve lost 24 lbs. 10inches total... so like some from my waist and from my hips... those are really the only measurements I’m worried about at this time... I met with my NUT and she told me to start to eat that extra bite to start the process of stretching my pouch ... that seems so soon and I don’t feel ready to do that yet. She said I should be eating a cup of food around 3 months. I’m eating about 2oz. Per meal. I drink most of my Protein and she gave me the green light to keep doing that.

I do have an open wound still healing. It’s not causing any problems other than what one would expect from having to dress the wound every 8 hours and it gives me pain every so often and i want to itch it, but I refrain from that. If it weren’t for the open wound I’d feel pretty darn good... Also I’ve been waking up on my belly without pain and I’ve been getting good sleep... I’m looking into getting an individual membership to the community center to work out. I usually get a family one but no one comes with me and they don’t have a daycare option ....

Thanks for the tip! I have always have post op nausea/vomiting so I have contacted my surgeon and requested this medication or something similar. I am waiting to hear back - keeping my fingers crossed.

I am out of surgery and I had a little bit of nausea, but that finally subsided. The gas however took a bit longer, Drinking hurt big timed, so I did what any mother would do... I patted and rubbed my chest until I burped.. It was the most wonderful burp I've had today. I'm feeling sooooo much better. How are the rest of the 11/8's?

I go to the hospital in a few hours. My surgery isn't until 4 pm CST. I'm up all night anyway so this is good timing for me. Good luck with yours, may your nausea be calm or something like that.

I generally don't have post op nausea even when they took out my gall bladder, but this is my stomach, so it could be a whole different ball game. Thanks for the info. Good luck to you!

Good luck to you too! I think you are before me. [emoji3]

Just had my preop appt. with my surgeon. It went well. He is giving me a drug called Amend. You take one pill three hours before surgery, and it prevents post op nausea. He says he has used it in 700 procedures, and it works well. Insurance may not cover it, but it only costs $30. I thought I should mention this since so many people suffer with this.

Well hydrated.. 2 key words.. My pipes should be totally cleaned out by Wednesday. I maybe living in the bathroom the next 3 days hahahaha!

I got a push notification from Domino’s. I deleted the app and told the hubby he would need to get a smartphone or figure out how to call for delivery.

I think my doc should have suggested I take the two weeks of the liquid diet off. The hunger and weakness are bad enough, but the headache woke me up because it got worse at 2:30 am. I think it has to go away at some point, but working is tough. Granted, I already have chronic pain including headaches, but this is ridiculous. It is too late to take off because I haven’t given my staff a plan yet. I am getting a massage Wednesday. Maybe that will help. Anyone else still having a hard time?.

You’ll do great. Hoping for a fast recovery for you.

Kimberly H on YouTube did. She talks about it a lot.

Hello I am so happy to say my job has put me on full time and i qualify for the health insurance. We get to choose between Cigna & United HealthCare and they both cover the surgery. My question is which is better when it comes to the surgery requirements and having to wait on having the surgery.

Hey guys can I say struggles...... lol I started my preop diet today. I thought I could’ve done 3 weeks but of course I failed but I’m not this time around. I’m just starting my first drink of the day Protein Isopure and I don’t like it and it won’t go down.... how am I going I do this???? I’m going to costco to get Premier Protein shakes because everyone well most people seem to love those so hopefully I will too. Surgery 11/20 I don’t care how I make it but I’m going to make it! Good luck to all sleevers who are having surgery this week! I’ll be praying for everything to go great for you guys!!

That is an extremely small study with so many variables - you did not include all these. The majority had type II diabetes and that significantly affected the presence of the dysphagia, also they did not review the techniques these 3 surgeons used - which could also affect the outcome of the sleeve. And the significant use of anti-inflammatory meds and opioid pain killers - so like I said too many variables. And also patient compliance with following post-op instructions was not considered either.
You are 'buying' trouble by trying to find silimarities to yourself in inconclusive studies. You instead need to consult with your surgeon and ask about his/her statistics - how many complications and what kind, any strictures, any leaks, etc etc. There are very few significant complications with this surgery.
Good luck and chill out.
Correlation is not causation.

I too have been all over YouTube and a few other websites getting insight and as much information I could find to make my decision on the rest of my life. I choose this because I know in my heart it is something that will help me help myself.

For some reason, I'm so worried about getting a stricture and dysphagia (painful swallowing). I read a study that there are some risk factors linked to post-op dysphagia and some of these included GERD and hypothyroidism and I have both.
"As shown in Table Table2,2, there is increased prevalence of diabetes mellitus in those individuals who develop postoperative dysphagia compared to individuals with no dysphagia (P The study consisted of 352 patients up to 2 years post-op and 80 of those presented with dysphagia symptoms. 33 were found to have narrowing of the sleeve.
Just wondering if anyone had any research, experience, wisdom on the subject? I'm trying to put my mind at ease over it.

Thank you. Just what I needed today!

Happy to help. I am glad the million posts I read and the hundreds of YouTube videos I watched are paying off for someone besides just me. I lost a lot of sleep reading and watching. This makes it worth it.