NovaLuna

While your stomach is still healing it's best to stick with the liquid diet. I know it sucks. I hated being on the liquid diet for a week after surgery after having been on the two week pre-op diet so that when I finally got to purees it was like heaven lol. I will admit though that I did move to soft foods a day earlier than I was supposed to, but I stuck to the rest of the diet. I really didn't fancy having to go back to the hospital because I moved to a stage far too early (and my surgery was before Covid was a thing). As to getting enough Protein in... I think many of us struggled with that in the beginning. I was also supposed to get two Protein Shakes in. What I did was have one in the morning that I usually sipped on for two hours (sad that) and the second I had about an hour after dinner (and proceeded to sip on for another two hours). Eventually, around month three or four, I was able to get enough protein by food that I was able to cut down to just one Protein Shake (my particular surgery requires a minimum of 80-100g of protein a day for females. I can't get that through just food. Well, I probably could NOW, but I still have the protein shake every day so I don't have to stress so much about my protein intake. I can now get a protein shake down in about 20 minutes. I like that I only have to feel responsible for a minimum of 50g of protein through food). Also, some people are a little dairy sensitive after surgery, so if you're using whey protein shakes that might be what's causing the gassiness. Maybe try a plant based protein or even Fairlife protein shakes (they're lactose free, so you may be able to tolerate them).

For me, it was 18 months and 1 day to reach my goal weight. It's different for everyone though. It depends a lot on 1. how much you have to lose and 2. how fast your weight loss is. My weight loss is very slow due to hypothyroidism and I've had near constant stalls along my journey. However, I was still able to get to my personal goal weight. And I'm even passed it by a pound. If I hit maintenance any time soon, I'd be okay where I'm at now. However, now that I've reached goal I think it'd be nice to see 175 or even 170, but if I don't get there, I'd be alright with that.

When I had my surgery I was told if I didn't feel right when switching to the next stage of the diet (stomach upset, nausea, pain, etc) then to go back to the stage I was just on for a few more days and then try again. Maybe try that?

I've heard a few people who had the sleeve saying that they stopped losing weight early on. Sorry that you're going through that! I've had pretty slow weight loss myself when I compare myself to others due to my hypothyroidism and not being able to really exercise due to my back injuries and arthritis, but I was still recently able to get to my goal weight even after multiple really long stalls throughout my journey including the most recent one being 47 days long. If you look into revision, other than gastric bypass, you could also see if your insurance will cover the duodenal switch or loop duodenal switch surgery and if you can find a surgeon who will perform it. The sleeve is literally the first part of the surgery, they just add the intestinal bypass portion and you statistically lose the most weight with the DS. So it's an option to look into. I hope you can either find something that will work to pick your weight loss back up or a revision that'll work for you. I'm so sorry you're struggling and I hope that things work out for you.

Accidental double post. Ignore this one lol

Are you eating anything new? I discovered that I'd developed a wheat allergy after surgery (found out around 6 months post op) and when I have something with even trace amounts of wheat in it I get unbearable nausea and sometimes stomach pain. If it's more than trace amounts I have what is akin to dumping syndrome along with hives that include welts. There is only something like a 3% chance of developing either a wheat allergy or celiac disease after surgery, so that's likely not your problem, but I'm just mentioning my own experience. It could also just be maybe a certain food or drink or something in the food or drinks that you're consuming that your body isn't tolerating. I'd, personally, suggest calling your surgeon to get their input or maybe going to visit the gastroenterologist.

Congrats on your weight loss so far! You're doing great!

1) Yes, I get hiccups sometimes when I eat too fast. It hurts! 😢 (my surgery has a VSG stomach. Just with the intestinal bypass bit added that makes it the Loop DS)

2) I do stagger sometimes, but I also have arthritis in my knees, hips, and back so I always attribute any staggering to that. But, honestly, you've lost more than 25% of your weight. As the above poster mentioned, your center of gravity may be a bit off and you should be able to adjust over time.

3) Well, I was a 34 in jeans when I was at my highest weight (389 pounds) and my shirts were 6xl. I had clothing from about 15 years before when I was a 26 in jeans and some shirts from high school that ranged from 3xl-4xl so I put off buying clothes for quite a while lol. I went from those 26 jeans straight into an 18 (that I luckily didn't have to buy because my Mom wore this size so she just gave me a few of her pants). I also bought a few xl shirts around that time too. They were all on sale lol. Then I waited and bought 14's when the 18's were sliding off. I also bought a bunch of shirts since I figured I was close to my goal weight at the time so I bought a bunch of larges. I'm now in a size 12 in jeans and wear both medium or large shirts depending on the fit. Personally, I'd say buy a few things off the clearance rack if you can't stand how big your clothes are, but since you'll probably grow out of them pretty fast, don't buy a whole lot.

Well, you could always do an RNY to DS (Duodenal Switch) revision. You'd have to see if your insurance would cover the revision though because not all insurances do.

13 hours ago, lunadreams said:

My VSG on 7/20 reportedly went well, but I had to stay in the hospital an extra day as due to pain and not feeling well, was pumped full of fluids (today, I am still eight pounds higher than my surgery weight, and look pregnant), was discharged on Thursday, went back to the ER on Friday and was diagnosed with a superficial blood clot near where my IV was), and ever since I started trying to add back diluted Protein Shakes yesterday, it's been awful.

Every time I tried to take a teeny tiny sip of the diluted Protein Shake, I would burp, my stomach would make horrible noises, and I eventually had to stop (I drank about 2/3 of the bottle between afternoon and evening) because I was fighting so hard not to throw up. I haven't tried a Protein shake today, but the burping and nausea (despite the Zofran I was prescribed) are happening constantly after I take tiny sips of clear Fluid. I'm trying to drink protein Water, which is a little better, but I'm still struggling with it. I'm really worried that I can't drink even tiny sips without either burping and/or fighting the urge to vomit.

Did this happen to anyone else? Did it go away? I hope this isn't a serious complication.

Definitely call your surgeon just to make sure it's not a stricture or anything. Also, are your Protein Shakes milk based (such as whey Protein shakes)? Because some people can't tolerate dairy after surgery (sometimes only for a few months, sometimes a year or so, and sometimes permanent). You may have to try a different type of protein such as plant based protein.

The funny thing is that I'm a reader so I brought a ton of books to the hospital, but I didn't read a single one lol. I walked the halls and watched GSN (Game Show Network. For some reason whenever I'm hospitalized that's the station the TV stays on lol. I don't even watch TV at home! 😂). But yeah, I was exhausted after surgery, but forced myself to walk the halls every 45 minutes to an hour to work the gas out. I got complimented by the nurses for walking so much lol. I didn't feel like doing much else so I just watched TV and walked.

I never used one, but if you feel like it'd help you can try it.

Half a pound is nothing to worry about. Statistically daily fluctuations can be up to 5 or 6 pounds. It's usually Water weight or your bowels being full. If you're female and not menopausal then you can gain weight a week or two before your monthly and then not lose it until after (I'm going through that right now. I'm up 1.5 pounds and it's driving me up a wall! 😣). I'd say try not to stress about it, but it's difficult not to, I know.

My surgery involves a VSG stomach (just with the intestinal bypass bit in addition). I'll be 18 months post-op tomorrow. I was concerned with several things leading up to my surgery, but everything has worked out well and, honestly, like many, I just wish I'd done it sooner.

1) How long will we struggle to drink Water?

I struggled the most with my Fluid intake. I was really bad at it and I don't remember how long it took until I was getting in what I was supposed to, but it's not as bad as you're probably imagining.

2) I've seen that some people say they will almost always vomit after eating or drinking?

I've never vomited once since my surgery. Nausea? Yep. Vomiting? Nope.

3) Will I be able to swallow the meds?

I can't really help you with that as I have EOE and couldn't swallow pills BEFORE my surgery and still can't swallow them after surgery (EOE is an auto-immune disorder that can cause dysphagia. I can't swallow pills because I choke on them. Every damn time since I before I was even officially diagnosed 5 years ago. I, quite literally, haven't been able to swallow pills in half a decade)

4) Will we feel tired and impaired due to the limited food and Water we can take?

You'll feel tired because you had surgery! I've had surgery three times in my life (two other times then the WLS) and exhaustion is a normal symptom after. You'll be fine after a few weeks. I think it was about 3 for me.

5) I was made to understand from the doc that dumping isn't common for the gastric sleeve.

It's very uncommon for the sleeve. I mean, it's not impossible, but it's more likely you'll just stumble onto a food you don't tolerate well. It likely won't be full on dumping syndrome, but maybe nausea or stomach upset. But then, there are some who have no issues whatsoever. You may be one of those.

6) I currently do not have GERD, but is this something I should expect to occur after the surgery?

My EOE causes acid issues, but only at night. I had that before my surgery. After the surgery I noticed that I had LESS issue with acid. I take one antacid a day verses the two I used to take before my surgery. Only about 30% of people have GERD issues. That's 3/10. If you look at it like that, then your odds are that you may have no GERD issues at all. I mean, it can happen, but there's a 70% chance that you'll be fine.

I hope this helps, and I wish you the best!

I'm almost 18 months out. I try to keep my calories around 1300 (sometimes it's less, generally it's somewhere in the 1300's, but I've had a cheat day or two that went up to 1500). My carbs I try to keep around 80-100 (my dietitian said I can have up to 200, but that just doesn't feel right to me). And my Protein is 80-100 per doctor's orders (lately it's been more on the lower side around 85-90). I don't keep track of the fat other than to choose low fat or no fat options when it comes to food. As to stalls... they're apart of the journey. You can try adjusting your diet where you think it needs it. I've adjusted my sodium intake to break a stall, upped my carb intake, lowered my carb intake, upped my calories, lowered my calories, etc. It rarely helps. Mostly, I just try and ride it out and continue to make the healthier food choices. My longest stall was 47 days and I was resigned that I must have hit maintenance, but it DID eventually break and I've lost five pounds since that stall broke almost a month ago. My best advice is to log what you're eating, keep making healthy choices, and adjust if you feel you need it. And try to remain positive! You've come a long way to get where you are and you've done an amazing job at it! Positivity goes a lot farther than negativity though, admittedly, it can be hard to remain positive during stalls...

Sorry they had to open you up, but your hospital stay was the same as mine despite that. I also stayed three days. I hope your recovery continues to go well and I wish you the best!

I can totally understand being upset by them suddenly adding an extra two months when you already worked your ass off to get where you are. You just have to remind yourself on how far you've come and how close you are to getting your surgery. Two months is nothing! It flies by! I did the 6 month weigh in thing myself and due to my six months falling around Thanksgiving my surgery got knocked back due to them being overscheduled so, for me, it was actually 8 months from my first appointment to my surgery. I, however, wasn't given a set amount of weight to lose. I was just told not to GAIN weight. I choose to try to lose as much weight as I could though and to try to get myself into healthier eating habits before my surgery and I was proud that I'd lost 68 pounds during that time. Now I'm almost 18 months post op and time has flown by! Right now two months seems like forever, but it'll go by fast! Try not to be discouraged! You'll get there!

9 hours ago, mischa23 said:

I’m 5 month post op gastric sleeve surgery 4 month gallbladder removal surgery I’m still getting pains in my stomach can I take ibuprofen

I've tried NSAIDS 3 times since my surgery. Ibuprofen sent me to the ER with chest pains, I used a topical NSAID for my arthritis (my knees) and ended up having an allergic reaction that caused hives and welts all up my neck, and the third time was when my doctor prescribed me Meloxicam for my arthritis because she said as far as NSAIDs go it's pretty mild and she takes it for her own arthritis and she had gastric sleeve several years ago and is fine with it... I've only taken it once because I got really bad chest pains when I took it so I had to take a valium with it and that makes me tired so I'm iffy on taking it now and so instead of taking Meloxicam I just take Tumeric or Ginger Root pills which I buy from my local Walmart. I also have Green Tea pill which are also a natural anti-inflammatory, but I haven't tried it yet. I mean, the Meloxicam worked, it just wasn't worth the extra effort to get rid of the chest pain. It also makes me paranoid that I developed an outright allergy to NSAIDs after my surgery so I'm iffy on trying it again in case I end up getting an angioedema reaction (I've had an angioedema reaction to ACE inhibitors... and it was terrifying, especially since they told me that if I hadn't come in I would have suffocated to death) and when the chest pain happened I took two benadryl before taking the valium for the chest pain. Also, allergies can change after WLS. I developed a wheat allergy after WLS that I didn't have before. I found out after the fact that there is something like a 3% chance of developing either a wheat allergy or Celiac Disease that they never bothered to mention that fact to me, so it wouldn't surprise me to develop a medication allergy on top of that.

10 pounds is actually really good so try not to get down on yourself. I've had near constant stalls along my journey while I've seen many people breeze their way to their goal with maybe 2 stalls. It gets frustrating and disheartening, so I fully understand how upsetting it is when you compare yourself to others. You're doing great and 10 pounds a month is nothing to be upset about. The first three months I lost in the double digits and then it was single digits for two months and then 10 pounds and then single digits through the rest of my journey. I recently got out of a 47 day stall (I lost 2 pounds on May 5th and then didn't lose anything until June 22nd where I lost two pounds, then lost another pound on July 6th and today July 13th I lost another 2 pounds) in which I was convinced the entire time that I'd hit maintenance and I was extremely sad that I hadn't met my goal weight, but my weight loss HAS still continued even if it moves at a crawl sometimes. Also, I don't exercise much at all due to my arthritis and two back injuries that make it next to impossible and yet, I'm only 1 pound from my goal weight! If I can get there, then I know you can to! So just try not to be so hard on yourself. You'll get there!

Most surgeons are different, but the minimum is usually 6 months. My surgeon's office was 1 year. Alcohol hits you harder after surgery and is also empty calories. They also worry that food addiction will transfer to alcohol as it's very common in WLS patients. So maybe ask your surgeons office what their guidelines are and decide from there.

I do get random boughts of nausea, but I've had those since I had my surgery. Admittedly, the nausea is more frequent in the heat and just this week it's happened three times. I just take a ginger root pill and the nausea disappears.

Stalls happen. For me, they happen all the time. However, probably something like 80% of people have their first stall within the first month. It's generally referred to as 'the 3 week stall' because it usually happens around week 3 post op though can happen around weeks 2-5. Stalls generally last between 2-3 weeks. My longest one lasted 47 days. And no, I'm not joking. I lost 2 pounds on May 5th and then didn't lose anything until June 22nd where I lost 1 pound. Fifteen days later I lost another pound (it's been two days since I lost that last pound lol so who knows how long until I lose another). However, I'm also 17 months out so I'm getting closer to maintenance so my experience is a little different I guess, but I've had stalls constantly throughout my journey. It's an annoying part of it, for me. But hey, I've still lost 138 pounds since my surgery (and an additional 68 pounds prior to surgery) so try not to stress (next to impossible not to, I know).

I'm iffy on NSAIDS since the one time I took ibuprofen since my surgery I ended up in the ER due to chronic chest pain that made me feel like I was having a heart attack. I used a topical NSAID for my arthritis and ended up getting hives on my neck even though I used it on my knees. Recently my doctor prescribed me another NSAID called Meloxicam for my arthritis because I've been dealing with almost constant flares since the beginning of April and nothing is working and she said it's pretty mild as far as NSAIDS go and she had the sleeve several years ago and she takes it and is fine. I've only taken it once and I ended up with chest pain, but when I took some Valium the chest pain went away and the Meloxicam did work on relieving quite a bit of the pain so now I'm keeping it for when my arthritis is so bad that I can't stand it and then just take it with maybe half a Valium. Until I get desperate though I'll just stick with taking Tumeric and Ginger Root for the inflammation.

For me, personally, it was really weird. I skipped sizes. I'm not joking. I started in a 34, but I had pants down to a 26 so I just pulled those out as I went down. Then, I literally went from a 26 down to 20 and then a 20 to a 14 and right now I'm in a 12 (and probably going to settle there considering I'm 17 months out and I've only lost 1 pound in the last month and only 1 pound the month before).

There is an arrow next to your forum name in the top right corner. Click the arrow and a bunch of things are there and it says 'My Surgery' that's where you add your info and update. The 'My Tickers' option gives you the little signature thing that many people have... I hope that helps. This is for your computer btw. I don't know how it works with a phone if you're on your phone...

While I didn't have the gastric sleeve specifically (my surgery has a VSG stomach, but it also has the intestinal bypass bit because it's the Loop Duodenal Switch/SADI-S/SIPS) I AM disabled due to two back injuries and osteoarthritis in my knees, back, hips, ankles, etc. that make it to where I can't really exercise. I was told that weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise and after having lost a grand total of 204 pounds (136 pounds of that since my surgery. The other 68 pounds was my monitored weight loss before my surgery) I agree with that statement. I WISH that I was more mobile because I KNOW I would have lost more, but I'm incredibly happy with my results. I mean, I'd like to lose the last 5 pounds to my goal weight, but if I hit maintenance I'd be okay where I'm at (lost 1 pound this month after a 30-odd day stall. Lost 4 pounds last month and 1 the month before that after a 30 day stall. I'm getting closer and closer to maintenance, I think).