Qamilian1

Yes you're right this sucks big time. My surgery was originally scheduled for March 2020 And I live in a great state of stupidville California where somebody hiccups and they shut the whole state down. Anyway I had to wait a year for my surgery date ultimately ended up being 3-18-21. A year after my original schedule date and one month exactly after my mother died of covid. That encouraged me big time because my mom's weight was so high they couldn't turn her over. Her suffering was so bad before we lost her. So I understand about the need for covid shutdowns and I understand the devastation of having this necessary surgery postponed. But everyone here is right saying stick to your guns and to the tools that you've learned. You can take off some additional weight before your surgery. Be even healthier for it, and your outcome can be good and you'll heal really well and fast. Time goes by no matter what we do. So let's make the best of the time that we have.

My blood work has been good all along but once I got off the Lisinopril (about 1 month post op) I have felt much better. It’s anecdotal but maybe there’s something with these types of surgeries and diuretic BP meds. Good luck!

One note here is that lab tests, and what counts as low normal or high, can vary from one lab to another depending upon what precise test is done, reagents, etc., so what is just "low" in one place can be "critical" in another. Also, having it done in a hospital may bias the action some - since you're already there (and maybe they have beds to fill) they admit your, whereas if you were in the doctor's office or at home when the results came in, she would just send you home with an Rx.
I suspect that your surgeon wasn't overly concerned about the diuretic because the small amount used in the blood pressure meds (usually HCTz) doesn't have that much of an effect. There are some potassium sparing diuretics that can be prescribed if they are hitting some other Water retention problem with heavier doses. IIRC, I was on an BP med that included HCTz and it wasn't an issue, though your PCP may want to reduce your dosage, or take the HCTz out, in anticipation of falling BP levels as you lose weight; my PCP was somewhat aggressive in dropping BP med levels, preferring my BP to be a bit high than fall dangerously low (as can happen sometimes with rapid weight loss.)
My wife is chronically low on K - nothing to do with her DS, just her - so we have been playing with this for a long time. Normal OTC supplements don't really touch it as the legal FDA limits are so low (3% RDA, or 99mg) as to be useless. She now dissolves here K tablets into her daily smoothie (which also gets some of her calcium citrate added, too) which is also K heavy - tangerine juice, banana, starwberries, kiwi sometimes, so dissolving the tablets in something is a workable solution - just make sure it is something that you drink slowly as it is otherwise a time release pill for a reason. The best non-Rx source that I have found is the low sodium version of V8 juice - an 11 oz can has around 1200 mg in it.
Overall, hydration seems to be the biggest factor, and as has been noted before in these forums, is the quickest way to get put back into the hospital after WLS. A friend of ours got food poisoning on a trip across Canada a year or so post op (dehydration is one of the worst side effects of that) and by the time they got to Nova Scotia, he could barely get out of the car. The ER docs there told him that he had the lowest K level they had ever seen on someone still living (IIRC is was in the 1.x range), so take your hydration seriously.

It isn't weird at all, and yes, you can have a heart attack when your potassium gets badly out of whack. 3.5 is borderline...it's just under normal. 3.0 is bad (particularly combined with indicators of extreme dehydration and poor kidney function).
Moral of the story: Drink your fluids. Sip, Sip, Sip. All day. Everyday. When you are at more risk for dehydration, you have to extra careful with overheating in ways you weren't before.
I remember being able to chug almost a quart of Water when I got overheated before surgery. These days, over three years out, I can barely "chug" 6 ounces.
Learning to drink water all the freaking time when it's hot...is essential. Eating your bananas and salty stuff is a good idea, too.

WoW! Crazy! Glad you are doing better now. I know I was taking Lisinopril and Hydrochlorothiazide (water pill) for my high BP and the day I left the hospital the surgeon told me DO NOT take the HCT for fear of dehydration. My regular doc at my two week visit did NOT add it back on either.
You are lucky!!! I won't get any new labs until September (which will be 4 months out from surgery) and I hope all is good come that time.

Thank you everyone for your comments. I really don't understand how I became dehydrated when I was drinking 74 oz of Water a day or a more. Except for the fact that I was drinking water. Not Gatorade not electrolyte waters just regular plain water. I don't like all of the sweeteners and the tastes that they add to the Gatorades and the waters. I just like clean water. But that was flushing everything out of my system especially with the diuretic. So I guess that's the key there. I'm feeling really really tired super rundown. I figured out how to get nearly a thousand milligrams of potassium in my morning shake which takes me about 3 hours to drink. So that starts the day off right. But all these macros and nutrients gosh I didn't think it was going to be that difficult. For whatever reason my stomach just clamps down if I'm going to eat regular food before noon. That's new since after surgery. So the shakes work great. So I'm just going to find ways to keep adding what I need to that shake. As far as the rest of the day I eat salad and Protein and I try to get a piece of fruit in. I also like that milk has a lot of potassium and protein. So I'll squeeze in a cup of milk as a snack. But other than that I've been doing great, my weight's been consistently going down. Of course I put on 6 lb overnight in the hospital with all the Fluid bags they had running through the IV and it's coming off now at about a pound and a half a day. If anybody has any suggestions on how to get your nutrients in more simply please offer them up I'm open to anything you got.

So the beginning of my 12th week I started having pain in my right side. It would not get better. Saturday morning I called my doctor and she said let's do a quick test and see what's going on. I show up at the hospital and they admitted me immediately. I was surprised by that. They did blood work a CAT scan and ultrasounds. The blood work came back immediately with my potassium at 3.0. I don't know a lot about that kind of stuff but I learned that anything 3.6 and under you are admitted for. Apparently you can have a heart attack. My kidneys were at stage 2 failure shutting down from dehydration low electrolytes and potassium. Hence the right side pain. So they started me on the drips and the potassium and kept me Saturday through to Sunday afternoon. By Sunday at 6:00 a.m. my kidneys looked better and my potassium was at 3.6. how did this happen That's the question. I was on blood pressure medication that also had a diuretic included in it. My doctor knew this, my doctor and I discussed this before surgery and immediately after surgery. She put me on a regular blood pressure med with no diuretic for one week after surgery and then told me to continue with the regular one with the diuretic. Why would she have done that. You're already struggling after this kind of surgery to get all your fluids in only to have a diuretic move all of them out of you quickly including all your electrolytes. So for 3 months I have been fighting a diuretic and my kidneys have been working overdrive to make up for it. I'm very angry. I live in the Central Valley in California and in this next week our temperatures will be upwards of 114°. In the hospital they told me if I hadn't come in I would have come in in an ambulance within a few days simply because of the heat and how low my potassium was. And who knows if I would have made it. I'm still tired it will take awhile for me to fully recover from this and it was completely avoidable.

So the beginning of my 12th week I started having pain in my right side. It would not get better. Saturday morning I called my doctor and she said let's do a quick test and see what's going on. I show up at the hospital and they admitted me immediately. I was surprised by that. They did blood work a CAT scan and ultrasounds. The blood work came back immediately with my potassium at 3.0. I don't know a lot about that kind of stuff but I learned that anything 3.6 and under you are admitted for. Apparently you can have a heart attack. My kidneys were at stage 2 failure shutting down from dehydration low electrolytes and potassium. Hence the right side pain. So they started me on the drips and the potassium and kept me Saturday through to Sunday afternoon. By Sunday at 6:00 a.m. my kidneys looked better and my potassium was at 3.6. how did this happen That's the question. I was on blood pressure medication that also had a diuretic included in it. My doctor knew this, my doctor and I discussed this before surgery and immediately after surgery. She put me on a regular blood pressure med with no diuretic for one week after surgery and then told me to continue with the regular one with the diuretic. Why would she have done that. You're already struggling after this kind of surgery to get all your fluids in only to have a diuretic move all of them out of you quickly including all your electrolytes. So for 3 months I have been fighting a diuretic and my kidneys have been working overdrive to make up for it. I'm very angry. I live in the Central Valley in California and in this next week our temperatures will be upwards of 114°. In the hospital they told me if I hadn't come in I would have come in in an ambulance within a few days simply because of the heat and how low my potassium was. And who knows if I would have made it. I'm still tired it will take awhile for me to fully recover from this and it was completely avoidable.

So the beginning of my 12th week I started having pain in my right side. It would not get better. Saturday morning I called my doctor and she said let's do a quick test and see what's going on. I show up at the hospital and they admitted me immediately. I was surprised by that. They did blood work a CAT scan and ultrasounds. The blood work came back immediately with my potassium at 3.0. I don't know a lot about that kind of stuff but I learned that anything 3.6 and under you are admitted for. Apparently you can have a heart attack. My kidneys were at stage 2 failure shutting down from dehydration low electrolytes and potassium. Hence the right side pain. So they started me on the drips and the potassium and kept me Saturday through to Sunday afternoon. By Sunday at 6:00 a.m. my kidneys looked better and my potassium was at 3.6. how did this happen That's the question. I was on blood pressure medication that also had a diuretic included in it. My doctor knew this, my doctor and I discussed this before surgery and immediately after surgery. She put me on a regular blood pressure med with no diuretic for one week after surgery and then told me to continue with the regular one with the diuretic. Why would she have done that. You're already struggling after this kind of surgery to get all your fluids in only to have a diuretic move all of them out of you quickly including all your electrolytes. So for 3 months I have been fighting a diuretic and my kidneys have been working overdrive to make up for it. I'm very angry. I live in the Central Valley in California and in this next week our temperatures will be upwards of 114°. In the hospital they told me if I hadn't come in I would have come in in an ambulance within a few days simply because of the heat and how low my potassium was. And who knows if I would have made it. I'm still tired it will take awhile for me to fully recover from this and it was completely avoidable.

So the beginning of my 12th week I started having pain in my right side. It would not get better. Saturday morning I called my doctor and she said let's do a quick test and see what's going on. I show up at the hospital and they admitted me immediately. I was surprised by that. They did blood work a CAT scan and ultrasounds. The blood work came back immediately with my potassium at 3.0. I don't know a lot about that kind of stuff but I learned that anything 3.6 and under you are admitted for. Apparently you can have a heart attack. My kidneys were at stage 2 failure shutting down from dehydration low electrolytes and potassium. Hence the right side pain. So they started me on the drips and the potassium and kept me Saturday through to Sunday afternoon. By Sunday at 6:00 a.m. my kidneys looked better and my potassium was at 3.6. how did this happen That's the question. I was on blood pressure medication that also had a diuretic included in it. My doctor knew this, my doctor and I discussed this before surgery and immediately after surgery. She put me on a regular blood pressure med with no diuretic for one week after surgery and then told me to continue with the regular one with the diuretic. Why would she have done that. You're already struggling after this kind of surgery to get all your fluids in only to have a diuretic move all of them out of you quickly including all your electrolytes. So for 3 months I have been fighting a diuretic and my kidneys have been working overdrive to make up for it. I'm very angry. I live in the Central Valley in California and in this next week our temperatures will be upwards of 114°. In the hospital they told me if I hadn't come in I would have come in in an ambulance within a few days simply because of the heat and how low my potassium was. And who knows if I would have made it. I'm still tired it will take awhile for me to fully recover from this and it was completely avoidable.

So the beginning of my 12th week I started having pain in my right side. It would not get better. Saturday morning I called my doctor and she said let's do a quick test and see what's going on. I show up at the hospital and they admitted me immediately. I was surprised by that. They did blood work a CAT scan and ultrasounds. The blood work came back immediately with my potassium at 3.0. I don't know a lot about that kind of stuff but I learned that anything 3.6 and under you are admitted for. Apparently you can have a heart attack. My kidneys were at stage 2 failure shutting down from dehydration low electrolytes and potassium. Hence the right side pain. So they started me on the drips and the potassium and kept me Saturday through to Sunday afternoon. By Sunday at 6:00 a.m. my kidneys looked better and my potassium was at 3.6. how did this happen That's the question. I was on blood pressure medication that also had a diuretic included in it. My doctor knew this, my doctor and I discussed this before surgery and immediately after surgery. She put me on a regular blood pressure med with no diuretic for one week after surgery and then told me to continue with the regular one with the diuretic. Why would she have done that. You're already struggling after this kind of surgery to get all your fluids in only to have a diuretic move all of them out of you quickly including all your electrolytes. So for 3 months I have been fighting a diuretic and my kidneys have been working overdrive to make up for it. I'm very angry. I live in the Central Valley in California and in this next week our temperatures will be upwards of 114°. In the hospital they told me if I hadn't come in I would have come in in an ambulance within a few days simply because of the heat and how low my potassium was. And who knows if I would have made it. I'm still tired it will take awhile for me to fully recover from this and it was completely avoidable.

Magnesium and potassium deficiency. Happened to me too. I bumped up the magnesium and potassium and it went away.

I named my stomach Shirley. I’m like “quiet down, Shirley!”

I absolutely love this topic. I have gastroparesis. It's the reason why I had VSG. Surgery was very successful and it's 9 weeks now and I feel amazing compared to how I felt always sick before. Anyways the funny thing is about 3 days after surgery my stomach started making noises. Like crazy noises. I know a lot of people will think oh that's normal but I hadn't heard a single peep from my stomach and over 5 years nothing... silence. So now to hear so much noise it's hilarious and sometimes if I don't hear noise for a little while I get a little scared. I get a little worried that maybe The surgery wasn't as successful as I'd like to think it was. But then my stomach starts making noises again and no time and I realize that's just a normal stomach thing. Enjoy the noises people enjoy the noises.

I absolutely love this topic. I have gastroparesis. It's the reason why I had VSG. Surgery was very successful and it's 9 weeks now and I feel amazing compared to how I felt always sick before. Anyways the funny thing is about 3 days after surgery my stomach started making noises. Like crazy noises. I know a lot of people will think oh that's normal but I hadn't heard a single peep from my stomach and over 5 years nothing... silence. So now to hear so much noise it's hilarious and sometimes if I don't hear noise for a little while I get a little scared. I get a little worried that maybe The surgery wasn't as successful as I'd like to think it was. But then my stomach starts making noises again and no time and I realize that's just a normal stomach thing. Enjoy the noises people enjoy the noises.

Mine got better after about a week. I'm 9 weeks out and doing GREAT! Occasionally I have a little swollowing issue and I just need to slow it down and relax.

Mine got better after about a week. I'm 9 weeks out and doing GREAT! Occasionally I have a little swollowing issue and I just need to slow it down and relax.

My surgery was March 18th at 8:00 in the morning. I have had problems swallowing from the beginning since surgery. Will this change? I swallow it goes about halfway down then gets stuck and I have a lot of pain and then it goes down the rest of the way and then the pain goes away.

My surgery was March 18th at 8:00 in the morning. I have had problems swallowing from the beginning since surgery. Will this change? I swallow it goes about halfway down then gets stuck and I have a lot of pain and then it goes down the rest of the way and then the pain goes away.

Oh no. That’s disappointing. We’re all so different aren’t we. x

So most people are giving you the basics. But the one thing that saved my bacon was a nice pair of slippers. I'm talking about the ones you just slide your feet into. Cuz you're going to be walking walking walking. And you want your feet to be comfy and you want to be able to get in and out of your slippers easily. The next thing that is critical and I mean super critical is bring a pair of jammy pants or some kind of comfy easy to get in and out of pants. Because you don't need your butt hanging out while you're doing all that walking. I had the nurse help me into my jammy pants and I am so incredibly grateful I brought them and my slippers. Of course your general toiletries like toothpaste face wash face moisturizer and bring a hair scrunchie.

Magnesium and potassium deficiency. Happened to me too. I bumped up the magnesium and potassium and it went away.

I agree. With Tim. This has been what I consider easy meaning if you follow the guidelines you get results. No pain or food intolerance. I have no desire for Snacks or junk food. My tastes are not changed or off. I am exercising daily. I am down 36 lbs in about 9 weeks since surgery- 65 overall since I started seeing Bari surgeon. I think it is because I did not have a true food addiction or emotional issue involving food. I just enjoyed eating the wrong things too much. Hoping it continues to be easy and I continue to see results and that others can feel this way too without guilt.

I think this is something that isn't said alot on here because of the fear of making others feel bad. I mean I get how it would be defeating to read about other's non-issue recovery/experiences when one is really struggling. With that said, I theorize there are actually quite a lot of people out there who actually did experience this process as "the easy way out" and did not struggle at all.
I just basically said this in another thread: While it IS very nice/kind to keep the feelings of others in mind when posting stuff, it is also totally okay to say eff YEAH to Celebrate your own successes, whether it came easy or not. The level of difficulty one goes through to get to goal doesn't diminish nor increase the value of said goal. A goal is a goal is a goal. Yay, EVERYONE!

I can definitely agree that unplanned random drinking can certainly lead to some drunk decision making. So I only drink occasionally and plan my experience. I have these super dainty lovely crystal glasses that full only hold three ounces. I fill to the curve line with an ounce. I cut up an ounce of this delightful extra aged Gouda cheese with those crystals in it into tiny pieces . So I know my tasty snack and dont drink enough for an altered state requiring fridge cleaning.