JessLess

Malnutrition can lead to amenorrhea (no or irregular periods.) Please go see your surgeon for blood work and your gynecologist to discuss. You can probably have both conversations with telemedicine and just got to get blood drawn. Good luck!

I could and did swallow pills the day after surgery at my doctor's direction, with the sleeve.

I was getting monthly Vitamin B injections for the sleeve after surgery because I had to take a lot of other Vitamins, but going to my doctor's office got old fast so I switched to tablets.

This is what my program recommends for Sleeve and Bypass:

Morning:
• One A Day Women’s Vitamin
• Vitamin D 2,000
• Vitamin B12 500 mcg
• Vitron C Iron

Noon
• Viactive Calcium
With Dinner
• Viactive Calcium
Evening
• Viactive Calcium

I keep track of it with a free app called Medisafe. The only chew is the Calcium. I think at 1.5 years out I could probably get rid of some of it, but I feel great and my bloodwork is always good, so I just take it. I get most of these generic at CVS so it's 20% off and BOGO.

I don't think a reputable surgeon would do that. I can eat a fair amount with my sleeve at 1.5 years out. I don't want to, because I don't want to gain weight back. Example: I used to be able to eat half a medium pizza. Now I am full after 1 slice.

The first few bites of most things taste the best anyway. You'll be satiated with less which will help you reach your goal of losing weight.

Try to up your Water to 64-100 oz. a day. You need water to do this. I use to take a Colace every morning. It's a stool softener with no cramping. Eventually I graduated to 3 prunes with Breakfast. That has worked great for me. I don't like taking laxatives or teas that give me cramps.

16 hours ago, MsMocie said:

Wait a minute, you can sell your big-girl clothes on ebay? *mindblown*.

I have given mine away on marketgroups on facebook😣 Perfectly good clothes, some of them still with the tag on!

I've sold some and donated some. The best stuff went to a friend who is my old size. But yeah, I have been buying and selling on eBay for over 10 years.

I've found cheap and nice leggings and tops on eBay. I have a bunch of my own too-big jeans listed on there to sell as well.

There are fun, inexpensive classes like aerobics on Zoom right now. I like having an instructor and set time, but if that doesn't matter there are a lot on YouTube. Also, if you can swing it, maybe get a treadmill? A lot of people are Spring cleaning and unloading things they don't use.

I do Pilates for my bad back and long, lean muscles, run my dogs, which is somewhat challenging with a mask, and run on my treadmill. I've come a long way. My back was so bad before my surgery, my only exercise was physical therapy!

Good luck, sounds like you are doing great!

I didn't feel that way BUT I was already on antidepressants when I had my surgery and I have heard many people talk about having similar feelings. Some people feel even worse and completely regret their surgery.

I think depression, anger, sleeplessness, etc. are also quite common during the pandemic, especially for women.

I don't know if you are open to this but my insurance is offering many options to talk to a therapist online via Zoom. You might find that helpful if it's something yours offers. I would think someone with bariatric surgery experience would be best. Maybe your surgeon's office can recommend someone?

Feel better! You're doing amazing.

I've been really happy with the decision all along. I'm 1.5 years out. At first, when I was dropping a noticeable amount of weight each month, I was just super happy. I'm very wary of regain and just do my best to exercise and eat healthy, low calorie food every day.

A lot of people say they wish they had had it sooner, but I wasn't really ready any sooner. I'm also glad I waited until there were some relatively long-term outcomes on the Sleeve.

7 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

the OP will probably need one regardless. Not because they might possibly need to list it as a co-morbidity - at that BMI, they won't. But they need to know if a person has sleep apnea before a major surgery - the anesthesiologist will need to be aware of it.

My surgeon wanted me to have a sleep study but insurance denied it so I never did it, we just moved on.

41 minutes ago, Danidab64 said:

You should avoid all high fat foods...try turkey products...higher in Protein and less fat. Are you still seeing your dietician? You should because you shouldn’t be eating bacon at 6 weeks post op.

Are you a dietician? Not sure why you are telling people what they should or should not eat when a lot of bariatric patients are successful with Keto, which is high fat. I wouldn't do it, but I wouldn't tell people not to either.

8 minutes ago, marti33m said:

I don’t. He did lab work and a complete scam and he said I’m healthy. I just need to lose weight. He said I should be able to accomplish by diet and exercise. But in the last 6 months I have gained over 40 lbs and I’m very stressed.

Can you switch doctors? He's wrong. Is we could lose weight with diet and exercise we would have. Only 5% of people can keep it off long term.

Your employer needs therapy.

I had a drink fairly early, 3 months out. Joke's on me, I don't get a buzz from alcohol anymore, just a wicked hangover.

Hi! It could be Water weight or Constipation, yes. How many calories are you eating a day? If you have a deficit, meaning you burn more than you eat, it's probably a temporary fluctuation. How's everything else going?

I had thought about it for years, but when my PCP recommended it, I went to a highly recommended WLS program, met with my surgeon, and started seriously learning about it.

Ugh, that guy! Haha

Yeah, I agree about there being no such thing as maintenance. I'm always going to be on a diet or healthy eating plan, or whatever you want to call it. I don't plan to ever stop counting calories and being vigilant about not gaining.

BUT I had plenty of confidence when I was fat because I am more than my weight. If I didn't accept myself as a fat person, I never would have lost the weight.

I took a lot of Colace (stool softener) after surgery. Maybe 1-3 a day for the first six or so months. That and being really hydrated helps a lot. I hate cramps from laxatives. Now I eat three prunes at Breakfast EVERY morning and that's it. Works perfectly. Good luck!

I've taken Phentermine several times. Most notably, the last time I lost 80 lbs and gained 70 back before I decided to get WLS. You can't take them for more than a year, and when you stop, at least in my case, you get much more hungry than you did previously. They are also speed, so sleeping can be challenging. There are some newer ones out, but I don't know as much about them.

@WInston223322I have a telemedicine call with my PCP coming up shortly. Thanks!

You can't stay on most diet pills long, and in my experience, when you go off, the hunger comes back twice as strong.

I'm going to check my salt today, at least from Baritastic. I switched to Cirkul water, which has electrolytes. I think just getting up slowly will really help. Thanks, all!

@darcyjae, yeah, I think you are right. I haven't heard back from my PCP or surgeon but I have FIVE doctor friends on Facebook (!?) and they all said more fluids, more salt, move slowly but it's not a big deal.