ClareLynn

I had the loop DS / SADI-S in November 2021 (~6 months ago). I have a 300cm common channel (the part of my intestine that can still digest food and absorb nutrients). Since my surgery date I have lost 82 lbs and am still losing about 6lbs a month. I had some complications post surgery that I've had to deal with. Turns out my gallbladder was bad going into the surgery but no one realized it (since I had sludge and not stones). So they didn't take my gallblader out during the surgery and had to go back in to remove it 3 months later. I really wish they had proactively removed it because I was sick for months waiting for the gallbladder surgery and recovering from a second surgery so soon sucked. I still have a hiatal hernia because for reasons, it didn't get repaired. Again, I'd totally recommend making sure that they fix EVERYTHING while they have you open... I also have bad liver function test results that I'm waiting to hear back on, so I can't really comment much on why it's off. I feel fine though. I take vitamins 6 times a day for the rest of my life: 3 calciums and 2 multi vitamins. So far my vitamin levels look good. I eat about 500 calories a day still at 6 months out because I'm not hungry still. I realize some programs want more calories, but my surgeon has stressed that I shouldn't eat unless actually hungry. I don't have problems with any foods really, and my digestion is just fine (though I guess more gassy than before). I had a lot of health problems before surgery, none of which were resolved by the weight loss (total: 133 lbs). My a1c is better, though I still spike super high (200-300) if I have carbs (or surgery!) and even a small amount elevates my blood sugar all day. In my opinion, my a1c looks good because I'm eating so few calories, and zero carbs. In reality I will have diabetes for life and will need to watch that. I am still on blood pressure medication, still have migraines, still have intercranial hypertension, still take statins for my cholesterol, still take heartburn medication, etc. I am off of my diabetes medication for the time being. I did the weight loss surgery to resolve my health problems. So far I am very happy with the results, mostly because it's nice to be able to move around without getting hot and tired, and have people see me as a person and not immediately judge me for my weight. But it hasn't really made me healthier yet. Maybe it will eventually but either way it feels worth it.

I went to the ER last night, less than a day after being released after my surgery because I wasn’t peeing properly. Just a few drops come out when I knew my bladder was full. They put a catheter in me (it hurt so bad and still does that I’m afraid to move) and sent me home. I am stuck in bed, can’t move, can’t sit because it hurts so bad from the catheter pressure. I can’t take care of myself, and have to wait for my surgeon on Monday to see me. It’s not clear what he can even do, and may need to stay like this until a urologist can see me. The surgeon on call was no help just told me to go to the ER. I feel really abandoned and I am terrified that having a catheter in this long is going to make it really hard to pee by myself later. I don’t know how I got into this mess but I am so scared. I’m just focusing on pain management and staying hydrated. Also making sure the catheter doesn’t backflow, I don’t know what I’m doing and am so upset they wouldn’t re-admit me. I had a drug resistant kidney infection and almost died 2 years ago and none of this feels very safe to have to try to deal with without any training. Just like, pray for me please.

I am feeling well! My liver function tests are still way too high, AST ALT are like 380 and 160. I had a MRI of my liver to check for blockages and they didn’t find any. So the plan is to wait and hope they go down. surgeon said that just weight loss wouldn’t make it go this high so we don’t know what caused it.

I was taken off metformin but honestly I wish I could be back on it. I eat about 400-600 calories a day and my blood sugar runs higher than it should most of the day. I still use insulin, just bolus now when previous I was on both basal and bolus. My A1c is lower but again that’s due to food quantity. I’ve hit these same numbers before when my eating disorder was active. 🤷‍♀️ I have the same insulin sensitivity and carb ratios as before the surgery. So if I actually ate any carbs, I need insulin. Also when I had my second surgery to remove my gallbladder my blood sugar was very high for days. Basically everything is the same as it was before.

Are there compression garments that just cover your upper arms? My arm skin makes it impossible to wear anything but long sleeves. Even elbow length sleeves don’t work anymore. I’m hoping to get something that would prevent the skin from catching on my clothes without having to wear and entire shirt (too hot)

Every single one of my doctors encouraged me to get bariatric surgery because they said that it would cure all my comorbidities. I have type 2 diabetes, idiopathic intercranial hypertension, migraine, GERD, and hypertension all of which they said would go away. I think I should have realized that was super optimistic. These are the same doctors that said if I lost 10% of my body weight, all of these would get better and they didn't. Well I've had the surgery. I've lost 93lbs so far and ... I still have every single one of those problems. I feel a bit mislead or maybe just broken. I have other medical problems besides those, they were just the ones they blamed on my weight. I like losing weight but had gotten my hopes up about being less impacted by these other diseases and it didn't pan out. Did it work out for anyone else and they actually had other medical problems resolve after surgery?

Not really a "weird" victory but the constant little voice in my head is gone. I'm not screaming inside about how I need to lose weight and why do I keep doing things like ... eating. I'm not thinking about what I'm going to eat next, or what I just ate and why it was "bad". All the other destructive disordered eating thoughts have just gone away. It's nice and quiet in my head. I like it.

I feel like what my dietician pushes for really encourages eating a fixed amount, instead of going by what my body is telling me. My surgeon has been very direct that he only wants me to eat when I'm hungry, stop as soon as I may be full (even if it's after 2 bites), and that it's okay to get nowhere close to what the dietician wants. As long as I get enough water to not feel sick, and I take my vitamins, the amount of food I get is 100% up to my stomach, not a food schedule. Obviously his advice is different if I am never hungry or always feel sick, I do get hungry so this works for me. I still struggle with this because I was raise on the clean plate club but when I do it, don't force feed myself to reach some arbitrary goals, and just go by what my body is telling me, I feel better! Honestly I'm not sure why I'm still seeing the dietician who my surgeon tells me to ignore. 🤷‍♀️

I find that I get weird feelings in my stomach soon after a bite or two that feel the same as being full. I take my time and wait the 30 minutes and if I stop feeling that way, then I have a few more bites. This is the only way I get even close to eating an acceptable amount of food (I still can’t come close to my targets). So maybe consider taking the full 30 minutes for your meal and waiting to see if you are really done eating before stopping?

I have lost 107 lbs so far and I have to say that the extra skin is not a badge of honor for me. It is pinched every time I sit, the skin tears with the slightest of pressure, has uncomfortable skin fold rashes and infections, my batwings make it hard to put on a shirt, and constantly pinch, tear or push up my shirt sleeves to my armpits so can’t wear short sleeves anymore. It’s a real medical condition all on it’s own.

Ooh yeah good point @catwoman7! I also get really bad gas from Sucralose and inulin which has lots of funny names like chicory root, and sometimes just “fiber”.

In the beginning I would take a big mouthful of water and just hold it in my mouth to fix my dry mouth. Then either spit it out or slowly swallow the water in little bits until it was all gone.

I became lactose intolerant after my surgery and the way I figured that out was from all the tummy aches and gas. It got much better after I switched to lactose free and started taking lactaid pills before eating dairy.

@hope1020 Did you ever figure out what was wrong with your liver? Did your liver enzymes go down again? I am 3 months post op from a DS and mine are higher than I've ever seen them, AST 180, ALT 382. I'm waiting to hear back from the surgeon on the 28th to know if that's a problem

I have a half cup of sugar free chocolate jello pudding each day. I mix in protein powder and use fairlife milk so that it’s 15g of protein. It doesn’t mess with my weight loss and helps me get closer to eating enough.

I bought an air fryer and just heat up random things in it for 5 minutes. Usually a piece of chicken thigh, or fish. It’s not quite cooking but it’s better than take out.

I became so cold after surgery that I’d get the shakes. My solution was electric heated blankets, microwaved hot pads and a space heater. Also 4 layers of sweaters at once. And slippers. And fingerless gloves. I’m also not above wearing a knit cap! I went from sweating just sitting around all day to brutally cold even when I work out.

Recovering from gallbladder surgery took me about 2 days (just had mine out on Thursday) and isn’t a great cover story. If you are getting a hernia repaired that’s a)not lying and b) much more similar in terms of recovery since it’s a rougher surgery and affects what you can eat for weeks. I didn’t tell anyone at first and then had complications post surgery that made it really obvious it was a bigger surgery than I had let on. So now my family knows. But I’m still glad it kept it to myself at first. Arguing with me pre surgery is more fun than after I’ve already done it and lost 50 lbs. 😅

I feel great! It’s a relief to be able to eat and feel the new signals from my sleeve instead of feeling off constantly. Finally starting to figure out hungry vs full. I still can’t eat enough to get 80g of protein a day but I was able to drink an entire 8oz shake for the first time postop. Progress!

My dietitian doesn’t agree with my surgeon. When I brought up the conflicting info with the surgeon he hold me to smile and nod in my dietitian appointments and do what he suggests anyway. Since my surgeon is much more knowledgeable about what works with my messed up digestive system, I go with his advice.

My favorite site for low sugar baking is https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com.

Surgery went well, so much easier to recover from than my DS. I was immediately able to eat after waking up, they gave me crackers which was a fun treat since I normally don't eat them. No pain, no cramping, no nausea! 🎉 I feel much better and eating is less stressful now that I don't feel sick after one bite but have to keep eating. This should help a ton with telling when I'm full. My surgeon "reused" one of my existing incisions from the DS so instead of 5 new scars, I only have 4 "new" ones. 😅

My surgeon said the same thing. I even have a card to keep on me so that in an emergency they contact him if they need to scope my stomach or something.

Some protein shakes are “meal replacement shakes” and those are difficult to drink post op. I bought a different kind that is just the protein powder, without a lot of thickeners and I drink it with just water or almond milk instead of milk. That makes it much thinner and easier to drink more.

I’m getting my gallbladder removed tomorrow. Here’s hoping that I feel a lot better afterwards. It’s been difficult to eat lately because of the pain.