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Hi! November 30th bypass.

I had the gastric bypass and I still can't sleep on my left, either. So sad! I've found that I am really sensitive to chemical tastes and smells. Perfumes make me itch. If the scale is causing you distress, stay off of it for a while. I've heard to stay off of it for the first 5-6 weeks, because our bodies are changing so much.

Hello all. I thought I’d check in since I’m almost one week out from my surgery. My biggest impression is how different I feel today than i did at the beginning of the week. I was in a lot of pain, some of which I mistook for hunger which had me in a panic. I was really worried that I’d done the right thing, which seems to be a common theme in lots of posts about the early days after surgery! I also managed to get a dressing wet when trying to take my first shower after I got home, and flew into a full blown panic attack thinking I had really done something terrible. I know that probably seems like a massive overreaction (because, to be fair, it was!) but I think all of the worry and fear I’d been carrying around for weeks chose that moment to erupt. My partner was incredibly kind and patient and calmly replaced the bandage and let me cry. And that in some ways felt like a real turning point. A friend of mine who is a nurse and has also had the same bypass procedure suggested that I take my pain medication regularly for a few days whether I felt like I needed or not, and so I did like clockwork. That made a huge difference and I realised how much I had been trying to ‘tough it out’. By yesterday I was able to switch to plain paracetamol, and I’m feeling much much better - stiff and achey, no doubt, but on the whole pretty human. And I’m also excited to say that since the beginning of my two week pre op diet I have lost over 20 lbs - about a pound a day on average. I know it won’t continue at this rate forever, but it’s been pretty freaking motivating so far! And once I was able to differentiate between pain or gurgling, I realised that I wasn’t experiencing any hunger at all. Even when my partner eats around me, I feel pretty disinterested (annoyingly they’ve lost a stone as well in the past month through healthier eating, but I have to remind myself that they were 15 lbs overweight and I have over 100 to lose!) So far I’ve been sticking to clear whey protein isolate mixed with water, which means I am hitting my water and protein goals every day. I don’t love the taste, but I’m not particularly here for the taste. As far as I’m concerned, they are a nutritional supplement I have to take every day - just like my vitamins. With that mindset, it’s been pretty easy so far. In fact, I plan to speak to my team to see if it’s possible to carry on with them right through the puree stage, as I’m getting all the protein and vitamins and minerals I need and I’m not that fussed about tuna puree! 😂 And best moment of the week so far - this morning my partner told me that my KNEES looks skinnier! I have no idea what that means but I will take it!

Which surgery did you have? If you had the sleeve, a multi may be all you need. This is a question you really need to ask your Dietician or Nutritionist. Depending on what your blood work says, you may need something else, or you may not. I take a lot of supplements daily, but I had a bypass, am vegan, and have my Dietician guiding me. It can't hurt to take a hair and skin supplement though, to help your body through any upcoming hair loss. Won't stop it, but the extra supplements will help with the eventual regrowth. A good bariatric-multi should be covering most bases, though.

Your doctor, primary care or urgent care tho would be the ones to give you a good yes or no but i was never told to avoid antibiotics. Its pain killers typically like motrin (NSAIDS) are things we should be avoiding more so for gastric bypass people.

While many programs don't specify calories, early on or at all, my gut instinct is that your feelings are right and that is a bit high. I ran 1100 from about that time through maintenance and it did well, but I have a guy's metabolism that seemed to be working fairly normally (doc's RN was telling be to SLOW DOWN at about six months, which was a good call as goal weight was just around the corner. But many go much slower, and my gut feel is that as an average to shorter woman starting in the 50+ BMI range you will be slower losing and should keep the calories a bit lower, if for no other reason than it is much harder to cut back in a few months if you find yourself lagging on loss rate than it is to increase your intake. Presumably, you are still working through the diet progression and are still on liquids and mushy things, and it will be harder to consume as much as you get to firmer and more solid foods - take advantage of that and try to reduce your intake some as you progress - 800 or so seems to be a good range for many. Some programs, particularly some of the bypass oriented ones, do call for fairly high calories - 12-1500 calories sometimes - and many people get along ok and lose well on that. But those programs also tend to be the ones where many of their patients fall short of their goals, and the program considers 60% excess weight loss to be a good goal; other programs, and patients, strive for better. Points to consider.

Hey, its been a while since I've been on here. I'm a little different, as I recently had emergency ileostomy (my entire colon removed) surgery in March, in addition to VSG to bypass in 2018 (becuz of severe reflux) and I now have a bag of poop hanging from my belly. In 2009, I weighed in at 260. When I went home from the hospital after my ileostomy in March, I weighed in at a healthy 132 and in June, I weighed in at 99 lbs. They removed my colon and most of my 24 feet of lg intestines making the route to my stomach a lot quicker. So everything goes into me and into my bag within 15 mins and I can't seem to gain weight. The last 8 months since my surgery I've gained and lost the same 7 lbs back and forth. I now weigh 105 and I bounce within the same few lbs. It sucks cuz my reversal surgery (my surgeon plans on reconnecting my small intestine directly to my rectum) but only if I can gain a healthy amount of weight first. But it seems I can't do that. I eat alot more now than I did pre-colon removal. I'm eating alot of pasta, potatoes, rice, bread, avocado toast, even junk food. I even eat a snack when I get up to dump my ostomy bag in the middle of the nite. I still gain 1, lose 2. Gain 2, lose 1. I work with the VA RD (I get most of my medical care thru the VA, however my surgery was thru a civilian hospital cuz it was an emergency and it was the closest the ambulance took me to. It will also be where I have my follow up surgery will be. I see her once a month. She prescribes me a 480 cal meal replacement shake (it's called Kate Farms) but while I sip it it comes out into my bag so it's pointless. I have like 200 shakes in my walk in closet, not doing anything. And they don't taste very good. She wants me to eat something every 2 hrs. Sure. Not possible. I can maybe do every 5 hrs. Anyway, just wanted to let u know there's someone else out there thats struggling with gaining weight also. And I have something to obtain with a gain - my reversal surgery. If I don't gain, I hafta continue with a bag of poop hanging off my stomach. And it's no fun at parties! I wish u the best! If u want a hi calorie meal replacement, look into kate Farms - they have a TON of calories. Not the best tasting, but not the worst. U can doctor them up a bit! The ones that I have have 480 cals. I would give u mine but they r heavy and you'd hafta pay for shipping which would be pricey so it'd probly be cheaper for you to buy them from elsewhere. Otherwise they're yours! If you're local (I live in Dallas, Tx), pick em up! They're yours!) Good luck! Marci

I had Gastric Bypass Sept 2016. Started at around 330lb and was able to lose and roughly maintain 100lb weightloss. I also have Hypothyroidism, with new diagnosis of Hashimoto's, and PCOS. My weight has increased MAJORLY since having a Pannilectomy in November 2021. I've tried lowering calories even more, upping protein, engaging in more activity, weightloss medication to suppress appetite. Anything and everything I could think. Ended up consulting with my weight management doctor and we proceeded with a Partial Gastrectomy sinxlce they said there was a TINY sliver of stomach that they could still remove to maintain the pouch integrity. They confirmed my pouch was not stretched. So I had the Partial Gastrectomy on Monday. I didnt have any pain, just mild discomfort due to the laproscopic incisions. My stomach feels absolutely fine. I've not needed any pain medication outside of Tylenol. I've also been put back on the post-op diet. With all that being said... I feel suspicious of my lack of internal discomfort. My ability to handle 2 to 4 oz of fluids with absolute ease. More so that I am STILL getting hunger pains. It truly almost feels like they got in there and decided to not remove anything. My husband said that the status of "Moved to the OR", "Surgery in Progress", and "Moved to Recovery" was 25 to 30 minutes. This is supported by the board they post on and the texts. Just dont know if I am being crazy or not. Is this normal??? Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

Hi Everyone, I am still pre op but I will be having the bypass in hopefully Jan or Feb. I am practicing what I will eat afterwards. We go to the movies frequently and I have seen where it says you shouldn't eat popcorn after surgery. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can snack on ? I love popcorn so this is going to be difficult to not eat. Can I just eat a small amount? I have already figured out what to bring to drink. Thank you for any suggestions.

I believe if you have a pre-op time schedule to go by it will help. I've attached a copy of a sample schedule they provided me for Week 1 & 2. I was told that 4 oz will take about about 15 min. to drink. Maybe some of these folk who have alreay passed this phase can chirp in. How many vitamins do they have you taking the first 2 weeks? All I am required is the chewable Bariatrc multivitamin 4 times a day and a sublingual B12 over the counter 1 time a day. A November to Remember!

Oh a three day liquid diet sounds fantastic. I have to do a two week liquid diet and it starts soon, my surgery date in November 28, 2022.

Hi, I just got my surgery date yesterday. It will be November 28, 2022. I am having my surgery in my hometown of Las Vegas, NV. Dr. LaDuc at surgical weight control center is performing the surgery. I met with him yesterday and he was awesome, spent a good deal of time talking with me making sure I understood everything. I have another pre-op appointment in his office on 11-22-22, to make sure everything is in order and I have the right proteins and vitamins etc ready to go. This appointment is supposed to take about 3 hours so I think it will thorough and a big help. i have a friend who went to Mexico for her surgery and she is doing great, I can't even remember seeing her overweight. You will do great as well.

I am right behind you, scheduled for November 28, 2022.

Big day November 16th!!! Doing this for me and my health. I cant wait to go on longer hiking trails with my fur-baby! Sent from my SM-A125U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

8 week post opt gastric bypass yesterday I did have two small broccoli pieces and a half of a baby carrot .. chewed it wrr we kk and thankfully no problems at all it’s been a challenge but everything seems to be on a trial and error basis for myself.. good luck everyone

regular strictures occur in about 5% of bypass patients, and they're an easy fix. I've never heard of the issue you had before - but I'm glad they fixed it!

I don't have kids, so no c-section but I have my experience with surgeries. My bypass was by far the least painful and easiest recovery. It was also my only "internal" surgery. I don't know if that makes a difference for recovery. Through them all I am an easy patient, never complications, always healing up good, etc. I had ACL repair A leg osteotomy (google it, they cut my leg in half and realigned my bones) Surgery to pull impacted wisdom teeth -5 of them.. yes I had 5 I have extra wisdom! haha (yes, actual surgery under general anesthesia and 1 night in the hospital, it was a big ordeal) Surgery on my abdomen to clear out an severely poisonous brown recluse spider bite that was eating me from the inside out... PS also why I am TERRIFIED of spiders -legit arachnophobic here although I don't feel my fear is "irrational" This also happened in Elementary school, so I was super young! And lastly skin removal surgery. I had lost about 170 lbs years ago through basic starvation and had 17 lbs of skin removed. This was BY FAR the most painful surgery I ever had. The ONLY surgery I regularly took pain meds for. I am ANTI pain meds if I can help it! Too much addiction in my family and this world. If I can suffer through the pain, I will before taking pain meds.

Did you have sleeve or bypass? Apparently reflux is VERY common with sleeve patients. This is exactly why I went with bypass. I already had severe acid reflux (GERD) and I couldn't bare making it worse. There are a lot of times sleeve patients have revisions to bypass due to acid reflux alone. In addition, are you on any meds for it? I was on a pepcid for the first 3 months post op to cut the stomach acid and to prevent ulcers and allow my stomach to heal properly. I was told I could stop unless I had any acid symptoms and now 7 months post-op and I have ZERO acid related issues and off all meds. I was on 2 prescriptions and still eating tums/rolaids pre-op.

Oh that sounds rough! I hope you continue to feel better and don't need any other surgeries. I've had some minor issues since my bypass, mostly a stuck feeling in my throat that never goes away and it doesn't matter if I've eaten or not. I have a twisted esophagus, but GI explained at this point there's nothing to worry about since I can get food down. That leads to the 2nd problem, I am never hungry. I know that can happen and usually goes away, but my nutritionist and even neurologist are concerned that I'm losing weight too quickly. I'm also getting so full after taking my necessary medications in the morning (not counting supplements and vitamins) that I don't get to breakfast until 11 AM or so.

Hi all, I am writing this for the >1% of gastric bypass patients who have the unusual complications that I had and, like me, couldn't find any information about it online to ease your mind. I had my gastric bypass surgery on September 7, 2022. I chose gastric bypass over the gastric sleeve specifically after months of research because of the higher rate of successful weight loss, particularly in women. My first week post-op went great, but after day 8 or 9 when I tried progressing my food intake from full-liquids to pureed foods I began vomiting and feeling really nauseous at every meal. I let my surgeon and dietitian know immediately and stepped my food intake back down to full-liquids. Pretty soon, I couldn't even take in full-liquids and was limited to hydrating fluids and chicken broth. I could keep down hydrating fluids and broth about 80% of the time, full-liquids 50% of the time, and everything else came back up. My surgeon was very responsive and had me get an endoscopy. Under general anesthesia, the endoscopy explored my new stomach pouch and roux limb connections that make up my new tummy system. Typically, gastric bypasses can result in constriction of the connection between the stomach pouch and roux limb, and my gastroenterologist was prepared to use a balloon to inflate the area to ease that restriction. In my case, however, that area looked fine, but further down the roux limb there was a stricture that was almost impassable for the narrow scope. This is what was causing my problem. I had an external compression on my roux limb that was making it impossible for anything more viscous than water to pass through. My layman's understanding of what had happened is that my surgeon brought my small intestine / roux limb up to meet my new stomach pouch through the transverse mesocolon. This involved cutting a hole through the transverse mesocolon to put the roux limb through and then stitching it up a little on either side to make sure nothing else will slip through the hole and cause a hernia. Apparently, this is typically sufficient and there is space enough in the hole in the mesocolon for scar tissue to form but still allow the roux limb to operate appropriately. Not in my case! xD My body and over-active immune system saw a hole and decided that hole must. be. fixed! The scar tissue that formed to close the hole closed tight enough on the roux limb and it was tight enough that barely anything could get through. I had a second laparoscopic surgery on October 12, 2022 to remove the scar tissue and loosen the compression on the roux limb. My surgeon decided to remove the small stitches on either side of the hole in the transverse mesocolon to reduce the chance that any new scar tissue will close the hole up as completely again. Immediately after this second laparoscopic surgery, I felt tons better! I stayed overnight in the hospital and was put straight on full-liquids, which I was barely tolerating before! The reason I am writing all of this out is because, in the month-long interim between surgeries, I couldn't find anything in my online research to figure out what was wrong, or what I could try, or what the next steps looked like, or how long, or why this was happening. I went for more than a month on little to no substantial nutrition, and I found so little information on what to expect or how long I would have to live like this. I even looked in these forums to see if anyone had asked about symptoms that are similar to mine and I didn't find very much information. So, I'm writing about my experience and using as many of the keywords I can think of that I've been searching for over the past two months! So! If you had gastric bypass and you start experiencing nausea and vomiting after what seems like typical food progression, please speak to your surgeon. It could be an internal stricture of the roux limb or the connecting bits, or in my case an external compression of some sort. From the very few resources I could find online, my type of external compression of transverse mesocolon on the roux limb seemed to occur in 0.9% of gastric bypass patients and it seems to happen within the first month. My surgeon pretty much immediately knew what was wrong, and her PA said she had seen it before, but not often, and it was new for my insurance caseworker. The inability to eat made it very difficult to complete normal daily tasks like my job, housework, walking the dog, etc. I wasn't in pain, I just couldn't get enough energy to do anything! My doctors moved quickly to get me back in for surgery, but it still took 4-5 weeks from starting to vomit at each meal to waking up from my second surgery feeling much better. I am so thankful that my surgeon was able to fix what was wrong with the scar tissue compressing around the roux limb; it made a world of difference! I'm not out of the woods quite yet, however. Six days after the surgery to repair the hole in the transverse mesocolon, I had a bad food day and nothing stayed down. I immediately reached out to my surgeon's office and today went in for an upper GI in which I intake contrast dye while a doctor observes how it flows through my new gastrointestinal system with an X-ray. That doctor said it looks like the connection between my stomach pouch and roux limb looks stenosed now. I am grateful that they found something and that there is an explanation for why everything I put in my mouth makes me nauseous and that there's a reason why I don't want to eat anything. I will be having another endoscopy in the following couple of weeks and, as ever, I am hopeful that this will be the last surgery that I need for my gastric bypass.

November 8th

I am having sleeve surgery November 2nd. It’s about to get real!!

Hi! I am having my bypass on 11/4. Very nervous & very excited. Looking forward to a new, healthier life. I am one week into my liquid pre-op diet, and I have to admit, I am struggling. Food that I don't even like is looking real appetizing right now! Lol

November 8th, Gastric Bypass.

Possible surgery date!!!!! Just got a call from my doctors coordinator. There was a small hiccup in the approval process. Apparently I now don’t qualify by BMI… Missing it by like 6 pounds, but I do have Sleep Apnea. The insurance people did not see my sleep apnea diagnosis and the coordinator forgot to put the medical clearance info in, SOOOO, she has resubmitted and we should hear back in the next 5 days. She has tentatively given me a date of November 18th!