Synlee

Body dysmorphia is common I feel.. I have lost 133#s and I still looked in the mirror and see my 277# self. Others tell me wow you look great or comment on how small I am getting,, but it doesn't feel that way.. The only times I myself see a change is after i shower , when I wrap my towel around me. Then I feel that I lost inches, but it don't last long, soon as I get dressed, and look in the mirror is a fun house all over again. So I just try and tell myself, you look great, your are doing a great job and continue on this journey. So try not to let it get to you or discourage you from anything,, It will all work out.. Good luck on your new life.

Congrats on your new arms, I hope recovery is going well.. Take care!

I use 4 different ones.. stick them on every night just before bed.. then remove then sometime after I wake up.. 8 hrs is recommended but you can leave on longer. I get mine though patchaid.

I couldnt do pill vits or chewable. so doc told me to get the patches. So that is what i have been using for over a year now.

Hello, I'm still hanging in there, things are improving a lil each month. Still have days where I'm pretty sick, but overall I'm feeling alot better. My doc did ask if I would want to try a revision to see if it would help, but I don't think I wanna take that chance with how awful my first round was. I'm down almost 80#s overall. 47# since surgery. So my weighloss is very slow going. I'm finally averaging 500 Cals a day and 53 protein. Each month I able to increase it a lil bit. Slowly working my way up. They said my weightloss will increase as I'm able to get my intakes up. Congrats to you on your journey you're doing great. I'm sure you will hit all the goals you set. Take care.

Wow, sounds like we are in the same boat. it is so hard to find foods that I can tolerate. As far a protein plain chicken is what I can keep down, if food it has to many spices or flavors to it, it all comes up. anything tomato based is a huge NO, red meat, nope. most veggies are a nope. I can eat a egg, but only the white, the taste of the yolk is a nope. I do mange to get about 22 grams of protein a day, most comes from shakes Only vanilla ( 1 brand) , other flavors make my nausea kick into overdrive. Most protein shakes, protein powder make me sick. I have spent 100$s of dollars trying to find something that i can tolerate. Currant my fluid intake is about 24 ounces in 24 hours. I'm still sipping so it stays down, I also am not a sleeper, I have been a insomniac since i was 18 , so 32 years of getting at best 4 hrs a night/day. Feels like every day is different, the suspence of what is going to stay down, what smell makes me sick, or if today is the day i cant drink anything, There are times I wish i never had a surgery, but I know i needed it, to try and get healthier. but this all is just so much. Thank you for your reply, nice to feel that i am not totally alone and there are others that struggle like myself. and i would love to chat!

It's all I can eat.. I can eat maybe 3 oz of food at a sitting, and that pushing it. then it's 5-6 hrs before I can try to eat more. I was on central feeding tube for the first 5 months after surgery. Just couldn't keep anything down no matter what I tried.. now I take 3 different meds to help with stomach digestion and nausea. My stomach was non functioning. But it's getting better each month.

Hello, well I am doing a bit better, I was able to get my central feeding tube out in November. I'm stilling struggling with most foods, but i'm slowly getting there.. I can do about 400 or less calories a day, i get about half my protein and water goals daily. Doc said i was doing ok.. I have to take a hand full of stomach meds 3-4 times a day or help my stomach push the food though and ones so i don't throw up. said thing is, my weigh isn't dropping like i thought it would. but hopefully down the road it will change. I happy to hear that you're doing well. Keep up the good work.

Hello, I, 9 month post with VGS,, I am on a super strict calorie diet. 400 or less a day. ( Doc is ok with that) i do moderate exercise 3 days a weeks, and walking everyday. i have only lost 3# in 2 months. Doc said sometimes it happens, it not typical but can still happen, then he said one month i could loss 10# after my body catches up and get out of starvation mode or something along that line.. I just need to talk to someone who has experienced something similar. I had a rough start to this journey and I am just hoping that it starts going better,

Hello, still no real answers. I went today and had my TAC/Central removed, I am going to try and just fend for myself with nutrition and hydration.. ( i know it will be a fail, I still cant get in even 600 cals with real food, but I will try. So we will see. Still haven't had much for weight loss with being on TPN and Iv fluid. So hopefully that will start to happen. Happy to her you are doing so well.. Keep up the great job!

congrats and welcome!

Congrats, keep up the good work!

Well it has been close to 1 month since I last posted... My struggles continue.. I will give the short cliff notes;; had Endo done, they tell me all looks ok.. Same day I had endo I had to get my 2nd PIcc Line removed from the left arm, it failed just after 3 days of being placed. They now tell me I have multiple blood clots in my left arm and shoulder area. GREAT!!! Now I get to be on Blood thinners for who knows how long.. So I leave hospital after removal and getting dosed up on blood thinners , With no guidance on what I'm going to due about my nutrition and hydration, ( I still cant eat/drink more than 2.5 oz every 6ish hours... A week passed and I can tell my body is fighting. fatigue, dizzy, extremely tired. Sept 4th I get my self to the ER.. they know who I am, I have had to make muilt trips there over the course of all this.. they fill me up with saline and 8 hrs later sent home. I gets a call from my surgeon's office, a PA got my report from ER, and he tells me to get to Hospital ASAP.. doing a direct admit, and i will be having a Central Line put in my chest for my TPN and fluids. I follow doc order,, they inserted Central line into my chest. I I then spent the next 6 days in hospital in awful pain, vomiting uncontrollably, chronic nausea, still cant eat or drink. hooked to 6 different IV bags trying to get my system back on track.. I gained 7# during my stay, YUCK!! anyway I get discharged in same predicament as i was when this all start after my VGS.. So here it now Sept 14th I'm sitting here writing this while hooked to my TPN for the next 18 hours.. I have decided that I will give this nightmare 1 more month, and no matter what condition I am in, I am going to have my Central Line removed and fend for myself anyway I can to keep going, Evens if I fail I will NOT go back on TPN.. What a great life... NOT!!!!!!! I pray no one on here has to deal with the nightmare that I am in.

Hey Congrats to you all for your losses. @CarolineLittle thank you for thoughts. Makes me feel hopeful that some day I can post : hey I lost 20# !! This past week I was pretty good, I was able to eat a lil bit of food. Doc cut my TPN intake to half, and added 2 rounds a week of just saline. its still a crazy about of calories, fat, carbs ect in these bags.. So my weight loss is at a standstill , then 2 days ago everything went down hill, I'm not sure what happen internally ,but my stomach decided it had enough, I started to violently throwing up, I had empty stomach so it was just bright yellow bile, after 10 mins of that , i noticed small blood clots ( insert panic here) , I called doc, explained to them my currant condition.. They are going to do another Endo to get a look at what's going on.. so now it just a wait, for appointment.. I sure it will end up to be nothing, and I will just get.. " give your stomach some time" or "the hormonal changes of the stomach should regulate soon" ugg!! anyway I just take it day by day, I still try and eat and drink a little.. the max intake i can get is around 2 ounces at a time. Then I have to wait about 6 hrs before I can think about trying again.. So here to another week.. and good luck to you all on another successful week.