Prestonandme

So sorry to hear about the pain and suffering you are going through.
I know that your GI appointment is a month away, but if the GI doc is any good, s/he may be able to diagnose your problem and help you. I have chronic nausea and gastric cramping. I visited my bariatric surgeon, PCP, and a GI doc. They all ran tests but the GI doc did the most thorough job. Both he and the PCP suggested prescription meds for me which have helped ameliorate but not resolve my condition.
If you can, ask to be placed on your GI doc's cancellation list so you might get seen sooner. And you can call the office every once in awhile to ask if any appointments have opened up.
Best wishes to you.

I regained all I had lost, too, but my rny was in 1990. In preparation for revision surgery I have been doing "no sugar, no wheat flour, no processed foods". I finally came to the conclusion that I am a sugar addict and these are my trigger foods. I have lost 36 lbs since the first of April. I intend to continue an abstinence diet for the rest of my life. These books helped me arrive at this decision.

A brief video on how different medications affect your weight

Also, and this may apply only to a very small percentage of patients, some of us have livers that become highly sensitive to alcohol intake post-surgery. During one weekend, I drank a lot of wine and got very concerned when I went to the bathroom and noticed that my poop was jet black and diarrhea in form (sorry if TMI). I was afraid that this indicated internal bleeding so immediately went to urgent care. They performed blood tests and found that my liver enzymes were very elevated, showing inflammation/injury to the liver. They told me to not drink alcohol at all for awhile and to return in a month. They re-tested and found to my relief that my enzyme results had returned to normal. So I severely restrict my alcohol intake -- only a lite beer maybe twice a week. Nothing else.

There have been a few people, including myself, in the forum who have battled chronic nausea, vomiting, cramping, gastric emptying, etc. and after having undergone lots of tests and procedures, were told there was not yet a diagnosis for their symptoms.
In my case, my g.i. doctor eventually hypothesized that my nausea, cramping, and chronic gastric emptying was due to vagus nerve separation and possible damage. The vagus nerve serves as a connection between the brain and the gut. During WLS, its afferent and efferent segments are separated and, according to the National Institutes of Health, "the gastric vagal branches are often damaged during bariatric surgery."
In my case, I am mostly dealing with nausea, chronic cramping, and frequent gastric emptying (I've experienced those same extreme rushes to the toilet you describe, but haven't dealt much with vomiting issues).
My PCP prescribed an anti-cramping medication called Bentyl, which I take twice a day. I'd say that it's alleviated my symptoms by about 50%. My g.i. doctor offered Elavil and/or Librax as alternatives (both reduce g.i. spasms) but the Bentyl has been doing a good job for me so far. If you have the opportunity, you may want to ask your PCP or G.I. doctor whether any of these medications might help your situation.
I hope you feel a lot better soon.

To answer the original question: yes. I’m 7 months out, and although I’ve hand a good outcome from an objective standpoint, I regret this decision deeply. These are my reasons:

1) There’s not a day when I don’t think about how terrible my body looks. I’m currently very close to where I thought I wanted to be long term, but I can’t stand seeing myself. I’d rather look at my old self in the mirror.

2) My menstrual cycle is totally screwed up and has been ever since surgery. I was having constant periods for a while, and now I haven’t had one in 8 weeks. Totally unpredictable, and all my surgeon has to say is, “That shouldn’t Ben happening.”

3) I’m tired of being praised for how great I’m doing, how great I look, and what I eat. I don’t eat anything different than I’ve ever eaten: the amounts are just smaller. Not all fat people are fat because of pizza and fast food. Some people gain lots of weight during a period of chronic illness, and that reality is totally lost on my medical team. I’ve stopped following up with my surgeon because I’ve tried discussing how anxious our appointments make me due to all this praise she’s giving me for nothing, but she never stopped doing that even after I requested. The thought of seeing her gets me really upset, so I’ve just stopped going. I’m a healthcare provider myself, so I’m aware of that being a risky decision.

4) I’m tired of the random comments about my body from people I know as acquaintances. Losing this much weight isn’t heroic, and I don’t like it when other people refer to me in that way and with similar adjectives.

5) I hate that people treat me differently now. It’s like my worst fear has been realized: there are a lot of people who like me now only because of my smaller body size. Suddenly, I get to sit in on conversations where thin women make fun of fat women: conversations where I would’ve been the one being gossiped about a few months ago.

Granted, there have been good things about it. I like being able to do more things with my body. I like having more clothing options. But that’s it. If I could, I’d take this entire decision back and be as I was before.

I am glad that I've been able to lose a massive amount of weight via WLS, but I am sad that I, too, have experienced chronic nausea, cramping, and diarrhea for more than 1 1/2 years.

I'm nearly two years out and sometimes experience "hunger days" when I have urges throughout the day to satisfy my hunger.
When I'm having one of those days, I use MyFitnessPal to log everything I eat throughout the day, and I concentrate on low calorie Snacks (e.g., a grape is 3 calories) to quell the hunger pangs. I make sure I don't exceed my recommended daily caloric intake this way.
One of my best "cheats," however, is to drink a cup of coffee because for some reason it usually stops my hunger cravings for several hours.

I am glad that I've been able to lose a massive amount of weight via WLS, but I am sad that I, too, have experienced chronic nausea, cramping, and diarrhea for more than 1 1/2 years.

I am glad that I've been able to lose a massive amount of weight via WLS, but I am sad that I, too, have experienced chronic nausea, cramping, and diarrhea for more than 1 1/2 years.

I am glad that I've been able to lose a massive amount of weight via WLS, but I am sad that I, too, have experienced chronic nausea, cramping, and diarrhea for more than 1 1/2 years.

Thanks!

I have this link saved on my favorites on my phone for when I want to update anything about my surgery.

Go to the dropdown next to your name, click surgery then, progress. Be sure to click save on the bottom.

So, the entire month of April had been terrible for me. I've been dealing with a really bad osteoarthritis flare since April 5th so I only lost 1 pound the entire month due to inflammation issues and have been in constant pain since then. So, in the wee hours of this morning when I stepped on the scale I, honestly, wasn't expecting it to tell me I'd lost a pound because my weight keeps fluctuating between 190-193 and had done that the entire month of April. So I was shocked to see 189.2 on the scale! I stepped off the scale and then stepped back on it and it popped back up. I moved the scale and stepped back on it and, again, it said 189.2 for the third time. I didn't believe it at first lol (I think moved the scale like 5 times and checked it 6 or 7). But it's official! I can finally say that I've lost 200 pounds! That's a HUGE milestone for me! I have less than 10 pounds to go to get to my goal weight! And that just honestly blows my mind! I've been so miserable the last month due to the stupid flare, but seeing 189 on my scale put a huge smile on my face! It made my day! I just wanted to share my milestone...

Since WLS is documented to trigger remission in a large percentage of diabetics, it's very unlikely that your recent diagnosis will prevent you from undergoing the surgery. If anything, it gives you more evidence that your WLS is necessary. Remissions are more common for people recently diagnosed with diabetes, as opposed to those who have had the condition for many years, have been taking insulin for extended time, and/or whose diabetes is uncontrolled.

Since WLS is documented to trigger remission in a large percentage of diabetics, it's very unlikely that your recent diagnosis will prevent you from undergoing the surgery. If anything, it gives you more evidence that your WLS is necessary. Remissions are more common for people recently diagnosed with diabetes, as opposed to those who have had the condition for many years, have been taking insulin for extended time, and/or whose diabetes is uncontrolled.

I loosened up way too much in my daily carb intake. My dietitian asked me to remain at 90 g or less of carbs but I found myself exceeding that amount frequently. I also got sloppy about what type of carbs to eat. But in my case, I am now paying a price for my sloppiness. I never was diabetic but my A1C and blood glucose have returned to my pre-WLS levels, which were just nearly in the pre-diabetic range and have been creeping up steadily for the past year.
So now I have to be extremely strict now -- return to my original diet plan and, in fact, try to stay at about 60 g of carbs or less per day in the hopes of lowering my A1C and blood glucose before I cause myself irreparable harm.

The scale keeps me aware of microtrends. I use MyFitnessPal to track my weight and I weigh daily. There have been three two-week intervals where I gained and lost 6-8 lbs. even though via food-tracking, I confirmed there was absolutely no change in my daily caloric intake. I reassured myself that these gain/losses were aberrations, not signs of actual weight gain. They could be explained by Water retention, salt increase, medication changes, etc.
So I look at 7 day, 30 day, 90 day, and 180 day trends. For the past six months, I've been relatively stable and I owe this to food diarying and daily weighing.

The scale keeps me aware of microtrends. I use MyFitnessPal to track my weight and I weigh daily. There have been three two-week intervals where I gained and lost 6-8 lbs. even though via food-tracking, I confirmed there was absolutely no change in my daily caloric intake. I reassured myself that these gain/losses were aberrations, not signs of actual weight gain. They could be explained by Water retention, salt increase, medication changes, etc.
So I look at 7 day, 30 day, 90 day, and 180 day trends. For the past six months, I've been relatively stable and I owe this to food diarying and daily weighing.

Lots of different choices available to readjust your situation.
You can easily restart tracking your food. It will be helpful in several ways because you will have to write down exactly what you eat and how many calories, carbs, sugars, fats, etc. you take in. Be kind to yourself if you find that initially you are logging "bad" foods -- sugary treats, etc. Focus on hitting and not surpassing your maximum daily caloric intake. Little by little, modify your diet so that you are back on track with your Protein and carb goals. Remind yourself that you are not on a fast train to disaster. You have identified a problem before it is out of hand and you are immediately taking steps to remedy it.
As for exercise, lots of us falter, particularly during these COVID times. When I stopped exercising like you did during 2020 COVID (because I quit the gym), I was nagged by family members, sent articles about fitness, and finally was encouraged to take small steps to reintroduce the exercise I needed. I began viewing the Leslie Sansone "Walk at Home" videos on YouTube and walked along to them every day. At first, I would fast walk just 10 minutes three times a day with the videos and eventually I shifted to one 30 minute a day fast walk accompanied by video. She offers scores of different videos so I can do new ones every day for variation.
So I think actually you are in a great situation to regain control of your life. You haven't regained. You are very aware of your shortcomings. And you are motivated to change.
Take small steps towards each goal and you will get back on track. Best wishes.

Ha! I read all these messages about teeth being bad after WLS and didn’t have the problem......UNTIL! I went to the dentist for the first time since my surgery, and also hadn’t been there in over a year and had 5 areas on my teeth with cavities! I ALWAYS (since adulthood) had great checkups. I could hardly believe it! He asked me if I had GERD, and I said yes, I’ve had it for YEARS and I’m on pantoprazole even now, but he said acid is causing my problems. I have no problems with GERD being on the medicine, so what else could it be??? He also gave me a script for the strong fluoride toothpaste, but doesn’t know if he can save my molars! Great news! Just thought I’d share! I am not on a Calcium supplement.

your pouch is probably fine. Supposedly it takes work to stretch it - as in chronic overstuffing. You're probably just used to eating more, and it's hard to cut back once you've been eating at a higher calorie level. Regain is pretty common - but I know a lot of people who've managed to lose it. Some have gone to Weight Watchers, some start counting calories again, some do Keto, some do Intermittent Fasting - whatever works. But I would get on it now before it really gets out of control. It'll be a lot easier to lose 20 lbs than 50...
If you're a calorie counter (I am...), then track your intake for a week or two to figure out what your current average calorie intake is. I find it hard to drastically cut mine, so I just try to cut it by 100-ish calories at first, then after a week or two, I'll cut another 100 calories - and so on
if you hate calorie counting, then go back to following the rules we all followed the first year - Protein first, then non-starchy veggies, and then if you have room, a small serving of fruit or whole grain carb. Or find a program that you like and can stick with for awhile (like Keto or WW), and try that...

You're extremely disciplined and knowledgeable. Plus you are meticulously watching your weight. If you are plateauing or even gaining a pound or so, you can reduce your caloric intake and increase exercise. I know you'll make the necessary adjustments and be fine.
Make a list of extremely low calorie Snacks (e.g., one red grape is 3 calories) that you can munch on if your cravings won't pass after some time. Really savor the snack.
In the end, all of your vigilance and discipline will pay off and keep you at your ideal weight. I'll bet on it.

My poop suddenly turned black after I began drinking wine again. I had blood work done and discovered that my liver rates were elevated. I stopped drinking wine and other mixed drinks, and within 30 days, my liver levels had returned to normal. Apparently, my post-WLS system does not tolerate and process alcohol well.