notmyname

Most sleevers don't get GERD if they didn't have it before - it just seems that way because people don't really post the positive - you're FAR more likely to see a post about getting GERD than a post about not having a side effect/complication. According to some studies, about 9% of people who are sleeeved get GERD (the title in the link to this article is a bit misleading: https://www.mdedge.com/gihepnews/article/80250/gastroenterology/sleeve-gastrectomy-often-worsens-gerd)
According to the article: "Most LSG patients [who had GERD before surgery] (84.1%) had persistent GERD symptoms after the procedure; only 15.9% reported resolution of symptoms. An additional 9.0% of LSG patients reported postoperative worsening of GERD symptoms. And 8.6% of patients who didn’t have GERD before undergoing sleeve gastrectomy developed the disorder afterward."
So, if you don't have GERD now, this study would say you have an 8.6% chance of getting it afterwards. Most of the people I've met who have had the sleeve have no GERD (and one bypass patient I know does). And the few sleevers I know who do have GERD have it well under control with medicaiton.
In the end, read the studies. Talk to your surgeon. Have you had an endoscopy - talk to your surgeon about the results and what s/he thinks it means for the likeliness of getting GERD.
As to why - my understanding is that because you're stomach basically becomes a tube, the pressure in your stomach increases, which increases the chance of the acid being forced back into the esophagus. This is a really nerdy article, but Table 1 talks about why obese people in general have a higher incidence of GERD, why someone might newly get GERD after sleeve (de novo column), or why GERD might get better after sleeve ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4579881/
NOTE going into the next paragraph - my experience is NOT typical. I know some on this board would prefer that people don't talk about their bad outcomes, but I feel like people should know that a small number of patients do get the. I'd also say that, for me, some presentations of GERD are not preferable to being overweight. Unfortunately, my surgeon gave me the 8.6% figure as ALL sleeve patients - he didn't give me the #s on people who had GERD before (I recognize I should have done more of my own research - I did some, but somehow didn't see the study linked to above). I had a bit of GERD that was very well controlled before surgery. I felt great for about 3 months post-surgery. Months 4-5 were so rough with GERD I could barely eat (I struggled to get 3-400 calories vs. eating about 700 in the few months after surgery) and struggled every waking moment not to throw up. It is better now (at 8 months), but I still have GERD and can tell you at any given time exactly where the acid is in my esophagus. I can tell you that at months 4-5, I would have 100% taken all the weight back to feel better. And even now I seriously regret the surgery and would trade the 125-ish lbs loss to feel like I did before surgery (edited to add - I also have other complications, so its not just the GERD that makes me regret this - but I likely would have had the other complications with RNY, too). But, for various personal reasons that really only apply to me, I wouldn't have had the RNY and still won't convert. So, I'm working on it in therapy because it is not mentally healthy to continually regret a decision I can't take back.

I used an app called good habits. You set your own habits, how often you need to do them, and can have a reminder. Then when you do whatever you need to do, you check it off. So, when I was first post-op and taking 4 chewable vitamins a day, I had an entry for Vitamin 1, Vitamin 2, Vitamin 3, and Vitamin 4. I could see how often I took them (or didn't) and it helped me keep track. Now that I'm on one a day Vitamins, I still have an entry for it. It helps me remember.

I had a horrible Constipation problem after surgery. Let's just say when I told my doctor about it, he said I should have gone to the ER rather than try to get it out for an hour and a half, bleeding much of the time and tearing things that shouldn't ever tear.
So, he has me taking colase every day. And if it gets bad, take Miralax. The colase is really, really helping. When I raised a concern about not wanting to get to where I couldn't go without meds, he told me that colase was fine, it was laxatives that would be concerning to take every day. I've been regular and easy every day since (although the first day on the colase it boomeranged the other way, but then it evened out.

I'm working with my therapist to try to see the good side of this surgery . I originally wrote a long post about how crappy I feel, but instead I'm going to focus on the good (if you're curious, you can see my most recent rant post). I've lost 88.65% of excess weight (measured from weight on date of surgery to top of healthy BMI), 42% of total weight (measured from highest weight) and 81 inches (bust, chest, waist, hips, both thighs, both calves, both arms, and neck). My nails are really strong (not surprising given how much dairy I eat) and I've been cleared to stop taking extra Calcium. Most of my blood tests are good (except cholesterol which is, weirdly, higher - but still not horribly high)
NUT at last appt (which was last week) asked if I wanted to stop losing. I was a bit surprised at the question. I guess I haven't really focused on what would be the goal weight-wise. Doc has never set a goal (just says that 50% lose 60% EWL), and I haven't really either because I know if I set a goal and don't meet it, even by half a pound, I'd feel like a total failure (a trait I am working on). Before surgery, I would have said beating the average would be good. But maybe given where I am, I aim for a healthy BMI - about 15lb more? Who knows - something I need to think about.
Surgeon has basically said I need to continue to do the blood tests he wants, but that I can do that with my GP if I want and he'll call her to tell her what to look for.
some pics for reference. Please ignore my messy bed (I should be better about making it - particularly before pics - but i never thought I'd show these to anyone). I hope all are doing well.

So, I was trying on my rings (all are far too big now, even with my ring sizers on) and realized my high school class ring fits (and I’ve been out of high school for well over half my life). It hasn’t fit since I graduated college. I think my fingers have lost more weight than the rest of my body - I definitely couldn’t wear any clothes I wore in HS. 🤣

I'm not really asking for advice, I just need to rant somewhere. And my friends have heard enough of it. Don't have a therapy appoint for another couple weeks. So I came here. Had my 9 month (well, because of delays 10 month) check up today. Ever since February, I've felt rotten. The reflux has gotten better, but I'm still pretty much unable to eat much other than soft foods. Sometimes I can eat fish or tofu,but they usually cause pain. Sometimes terrible pain. I've also had a Migraine for 3 months now. Doc says that the food issues may be caused by a small hernia, and to fix that he'd need to convert to bypass. Which for a whole host of reasons I can't do. And he's not actually sure the hernia is causing it. So now I'm left to know that I did this horrible thing to myself to feel better and stave off future health issues - I really couldn't give two craps what I look like. Instead I feel like crap on a stick every day - and apparently that isn't going to change. I feel like I I made this huge decision that has made my life worse, and there just isn't anything I can do about it. I DREAM of veggies - especially nice, crisp raw veggies. My diet was so varied and healthy before - I ate mostly fish/veg, but a lot. And now 90% of my diet is dairy. Which I don't even like. It is just so hard to know I've made a decision to try to make my life better which made my life worse. THis is all compounded by the terrible Migraines. So, I'm just tired. And venting. But, he basically released me to not see him anymore if I get my bloodwork done by my GP. So there's that. And at least he didn't say that patronizing thing that most people say - "Well, but at least you lost all that weight, that has to feel good." No, no it doesn't.

So, I was trying on my rings (all are far too big now, even with my ring sizers on) and realized my high school class ring fits (and I’ve been out of high school for well over half my life). It hasn’t fit since I graduated college. I think my fingers have lost more weight than the rest of my body - I definitely couldn’t wear any clothes I wore in HS. 🤣

I'm working with my therapist to try to see the good side of this surgery . I originally wrote a long post about how crappy I feel, but instead I'm going to focus on the good (if you're curious, you can see my most recent rant post). I've lost 88.65% of excess weight (measured from weight on date of surgery to top of healthy BMI), 42% of total weight (measured from highest weight) and 81 inches (bust, chest, waist, hips, both thighs, both calves, both arms, and neck). My nails are really strong (not surprising given how much dairy I eat) and I've been cleared to stop taking extra Calcium. Most of my blood tests are good (except cholesterol which is, weirdly, higher - but still not horribly high)
NUT at last appt (which was last week) asked if I wanted to stop losing. I was a bit surprised at the question. I guess I haven't really focused on what would be the goal weight-wise. Doc has never set a goal (just says that 50% lose 60% EWL), and I haven't really either because I know if I set a goal and don't meet it, even by half a pound, I'd feel like a total failure (a trait I am working on). Before surgery, I would have said beating the average would be good. But maybe given where I am, I aim for a healthy BMI - about 15lb more? Who knows - something I need to think about.
Surgeon has basically said I need to continue to do the blood tests he wants, but that I can do that with my GP if I want and he'll call her to tell her what to look for.
some pics for reference. Please ignore my messy bed (I should be better about making it - particularly before pics - but i never thought I'd show these to anyone). I hope all are doing well.

So, I'm 10 months out and still having problems eating solid foods (doc knows, nothing they can do). Since this appears to be my life, I need to get out of the rut of only eating yogurt for Breakfast and dinner. Lentils seem like they go down fine. We have a meal delivery service here that is run by immigrants/refugees and I have been able to get all sorts of delicious Middle Eastern, Indian, and African (lots of stuff from Eritrea and Ethiopia)-style lentils from that. But those have a lot of salt and oil, so I'd love to be able to replicate them by cooking at home. Does anyone know of a good lentil cookbook that has a lot of different styles of cooking? Thanks!

So, I'm 10 months out and still having problems eating solid foods (doc knows, nothing they can do). Since this appears to be my life, I need to get out of the rut of only eating yogurt for Breakfast and dinner. Lentils seem like they go down fine. We have a meal delivery service here that is run by immigrants/refugees and I have been able to get all sorts of delicious Middle Eastern, Indian, and African (lots of stuff from Eritrea and Ethiopia)-style lentils from that. But those have a lot of salt and oil, so I'd love to be able to replicate them by cooking at home. Does anyone know of a good lentil cookbook that has a lot of different styles of cooking? Thanks!

And by Water down - I mean add milk. Water makes it gross. But you can add milk and get it to a consistency that you can likely eat at whatever stage (but check with your team)

Have you tried double milk - essentially milk mixed with powdered milk. (or add milk powder to yogurt - Water down the yogurt to a consistency you can have). That helped me when I started to not tolerate Protein Shakes.

And by Water down - I mean add milk. Water makes it gross. But you can add milk and get it to a consistency that you can likely eat at whatever stage (but check with your team)

Have you tried double milk - essentially milk mixed with powdered milk. (or add milk powder to yogurt - Water down the yogurt to a consistency you can have). That helped me when I started to not tolerate Protein Shakes.

Have you tried double milk - essentially milk mixed with powdered milk. (or add milk powder to yogurt - Water down the yogurt to a consistency you can have). That helped me when I started to not tolerate Protein Shakes.

Have you tried double milk - essentially milk mixed with powdered milk. (or add milk powder to yogurt - Water down the yogurt to a consistency you can have). That helped me when I started to not tolerate Protein Shakes.

Have you tried double milk - essentially milk mixed with powdered milk. (or add milk powder to yogurt - Water down the yogurt to a consistency you can have). That helped me when I started to not tolerate Protein Shakes.

I'll work with my neuro on the Migraines. But on the stomach issues, it appears there isn't much I can do. So, I'll work with my therapist to figure out how to live with it.

I'm not really asking for advice, I just need to rant somewhere. And my friends have heard enough of it. Don't have a therapy appoint for another couple weeks. So I came here. Had my 9 month (well, because of delays 10 month) check up today. Ever since February, I've felt rotten. The reflux has gotten better, but I'm still pretty much unable to eat much other than soft foods. Sometimes I can eat fish or tofu,but they usually cause pain. Sometimes terrible pain. I've also had a Migraine for 3 months now. Doc says that the food issues may be caused by a small hernia, and to fix that he'd need to convert to bypass. Which for a whole host of reasons I can't do. And he's not actually sure the hernia is causing it. So now I'm left to know that I did this horrible thing to myself to feel better and stave off future health issues - I really couldn't give two craps what I look like. Instead I feel like crap on a stick every day - and apparently that isn't going to change. I feel like I I made this huge decision that has made my life worse, and there just isn't anything I can do about it. I DREAM of veggies - especially nice, crisp raw veggies. My diet was so varied and healthy before - I ate mostly fish/veg, but a lot. And now 90% of my diet is dairy. Which I don't even like. It is just so hard to know I've made a decision to try to make my life better which made my life worse. THis is all compounded by the terrible Migraines. So, I'm just tired. And venting. But, he basically released me to not see him anymore if I get my bloodwork done by my GP. So there's that. And at least he didn't say that patronizing thing that most people say - "Well, but at least you lost all that weight, that has to feel good." No, no it doesn't.

I'm not really asking for advice, I just need to rant somewhere. And my friends have heard enough of it. Don't have a therapy appoint for another couple weeks. So I came here. Had my 9 month (well, because of delays 10 month) check up today. Ever since February, I've felt rotten. The reflux has gotten better, but I'm still pretty much unable to eat much other than soft foods. Sometimes I can eat fish or tofu,but they usually cause pain. Sometimes terrible pain. I've also had a Migraine for 3 months now. Doc says that the food issues may be caused by a small hernia, and to fix that he'd need to convert to bypass. Which for a whole host of reasons I can't do. And he's not actually sure the hernia is causing it. So now I'm left to know that I did this horrible thing to myself to feel better and stave off future health issues - I really couldn't give two craps what I look like. Instead I feel like crap on a stick every day - and apparently that isn't going to change. I feel like I I made this huge decision that has made my life worse, and there just isn't anything I can do about it. I DREAM of veggies - especially nice, crisp raw veggies. My diet was so varied and healthy before - I ate mostly fish/veg, but a lot. And now 90% of my diet is dairy. Which I don't even like. It is just so hard to know I've made a decision to try to make my life better which made my life worse. THis is all compounded by the terrible Migraines. So, I'm just tired. And venting. But, he basically released me to not see him anymore if I get my bloodwork done by my GP. So there's that. And at least he didn't say that patronizing thing that most people say - "Well, but at least you lost all that weight, that has to feel good." No, no it doesn't.

I'm not really asking for advice, I just need to rant somewhere. And my friends have heard enough of it. Don't have a therapy appoint for another couple weeks. So I came here. Had my 9 month (well, because of delays 10 month) check up today. Ever since February, I've felt rotten. The reflux has gotten better, but I'm still pretty much unable to eat much other than soft foods. Sometimes I can eat fish or tofu,but they usually cause pain. Sometimes terrible pain. I've also had a Migraine for 3 months now. Doc says that the food issues may be caused by a small hernia, and to fix that he'd need to convert to bypass. Which for a whole host of reasons I can't do. And he's not actually sure the hernia is causing it. So now I'm left to know that I did this horrible thing to myself to feel better and stave off future health issues - I really couldn't give two craps what I look like. Instead I feel like crap on a stick every day - and apparently that isn't going to change. I feel like I I made this huge decision that has made my life worse, and there just isn't anything I can do about it. I DREAM of veggies - especially nice, crisp raw veggies. My diet was so varied and healthy before - I ate mostly fish/veg, but a lot. And now 90% of my diet is dairy. Which I don't even like. It is just so hard to know I've made a decision to try to make my life better which made my life worse. THis is all compounded by the terrible Migraines. So, I'm just tired. And venting. But, he basically released me to not see him anymore if I get my bloodwork done by my GP. So there's that. And at least he didn't say that patronizing thing that most people say - "Well, but at least you lost all that weight, that has to feel good." No, no it doesn't.

I'll be 9 months out tomorrow. Loss has definitely slowed. This month, I lost 1.5 lbs and 2.75 total inches. Still the right direction, just slower. I find that on the weight loss side, I've been up one week, then down the next for about 6 weeks. I'm actually kind of glad that I've been able to wear the same clothes all summer - cheaper that way since just before summer I had run out of smaller sizes in my closet and had to buy a whole new wardrobe. I kind of hope this stuff will last until fall, when I'll have to buy new stuff no matter what because none of my fall/winter clothes fit anymore.
It'll be interesting to see what the next 3 months brings. Because of my schedule and my surgeon's schedule, I don't have my 9 month check up until September.

I'm female, so dresses lasted me several sizes, particularly with belts. When things were on sale at old navy or other cheap stores, I'd buy a few pairs of jeans in several sizes on the way down. Basically, my transitional wardrobe was: a few dresses that worked even when I was a different size, two pair of work pants, a few work shirts, a few t-shirts. I probably had to buy that in a few sizes. Shirts would last 2-3 sizes though. Pants were harder, but I bought them cheap. I've been roughly the same size for a few months, but still losing. So I have a small summer wardrobe.

I'm female, so dresses lasted me several sizes, particularly with belts. When things were on sale at old navy or other cheap stores, I'd buy a few pairs of jeans in several sizes on the way down. Basically, my transitional wardrobe was: a few dresses that worked even when I was a different size, two pair of work pants, a few work shirts, a few t-shirts. I probably had to buy that in a few sizes. Shirts would last 2-3 sizes though. Pants were harder, but I bought them cheap. I've been roughly the same size for a few months, but still losing. So I have a small summer wardrobe.

I'm female, so dresses lasted me several sizes, particularly with belts. When things were on sale at old navy or other cheap stores, I'd buy a few pairs of jeans in several sizes on the way down. Basically, my transitional wardrobe was: a few dresses that worked even when I was a different size, two pair of work pants, a few work shirts, a few t-shirts. I probably had to buy that in a few sizes. Shirts would last 2-3 sizes though. Pants were harder, but I bought them cheap. I've been roughly the same size for a few months, but still losing. So I have a small summer wardrobe.