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I'm trying to reply but it doesn't seem to be working out.... [emoji58] The scale in using says I lost 20 pounds the first 10 days after surgery. I don't think that's possible. I just ordered a new scale. Sent from my SM-G935V using the BariatricPal App

What Protein Powder do you recommend? I'm overwhelmed with the choices and am starting to sample different shakes to see what I want to get for my 10 day preOP. Premier are okay, but even a little too sweet. I'm a fruity person. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

I was sleeved on 3/10. I sort of layes on my side in the hospital on night 2. The nurse pushed a pillow under my back. Last night was my first night home and I slept in my bed and started on my right side and middle of night switched to left side. It was sore at first to get in that position but once there it was great! I rolled up a blanket and put it under my belly.

I was also sleeved on 10/23 & was experiencing the same pain in chest after sipping until yesterday. Then something clicked & I can swallow pain free now. Mind you, they are still small sips...but I'll take it! As far as pain, I'm still dealing with gas pain & it was way worse than incision pain. I COULD NOT stay awake for anything the entire day of surgery. It's gradually gotten better. I'm sleepy but not exhausted. And I've had plenty of energy to run errands & stay active all week. Best of luck to you all!!

I had to take the caraface liquid for just 10 days. It is to keep your stomach coated while it is healing. My surgeon told me the only thing that I would have to continue to take "forever" is my Vitamins. I will have to take zegrid (acid reducer) for 6 months.

I ended up cutting my basals in half when I started my preop week of clears that was really helpful. My endo gave me "permission" to drop each basal by 10% if I was getting lows so I was able to resolve it pretty quickly. Glucose tabs as much as I hated them did the trick for me.

Hi, I'm late to the party but wanted to reply. I've had T1DM for 18 years, been pumping for 10. I'm having sleeve surgery on 8/21 and have the same fears about low bgs. Im doing my 2 week pre-op diet now and have had some lows, but nothing a little juice couldn't fix. Do you have a CGM? I do, and don't wear it frequently now due to site issues, but plan to more once I'm back at home after surgery, to help catch lows before they happen.

Following! I got pregnant after lap band but only after 4 years of fertility treatments and 2 IVFs later. Hoping to get sleeved in January and would like to try and conceive again in 2019!

I need some advice. I don't know if I'm imagining things or not. Sorry this is so long. I've been having a weird problem leading back some time. I just went to the doctor (my PCP) and had stellar reports. Part of the follow up was to schedule a colonoscopy. The doctors office did the referral call and within a few days I got a call telling me to expect a packet in the mail with the schedule and other information in it I would need. Well I got it yesterday and my colonoscopy is scheduled for 1/4/2013 - 8 FREAKIN' MONTHS OUT! I could see a month or two, maybe even 3 - but 8 MONTHS OUT? When I called THE gastroenterologist's office asking about it the woman in charge of scheduling hemmed and hawed and never gave me an answer as to why so long a wait. I directly asked her if ALL patients are asked to wait 8 months and she would NOT answer me. This is not the first referral I have had to wait and wait for either. I had kidney stones a few months back and my PCP recommend I go to a urologist to get to the bottom of this third stone attack. I waited and waited and a MONTH later the urologists office called and asked if I still wanted to see the doctor. I was told it would be a 1 to 2 month wait to get in. This seems a little absurd to me. Since the symptoms went away I just skipped it. A while back I had a bit of cancer removed from my chest skin, it was squamous cell carcinoma. I asked to see an oncologist as this is the cancer that killed my Dad (albeit lung cancer). The referred doctor NEVER called back. Is this just dumb luck? We are in NW Arkansas, believe it or not an area of the country that is prosperous and has remained pretty well off in the recent economic downturn and is literally PACKED full of medical professionals. Two fairly large hospitals are within 10 miles of my house and others just 20 or so miles. I mean, really, 8 months for a colonoscopy? Am I being "targeted"? I can't imagine why. I have great insurance and have always paid all my bills. It makes the 6 month wait some have had for the VSG like a walk in the park. This year I switched to a high deductible insurance with a medical savings plan. is that an issue? I DO have the money for the entire deductible all ready and we are already almost half way through our $4500 deductible.. My PCP DID have some legal problems with the largest medical group in the area, he ended up being sued and counter suing them and WON. Would they be low enough to put his patients at the BOTTOM of a "list" - or is it the TOP of a sh*t list? Who can help me figure this out? The PCP's office just sort of brushed me off. I wonder if the doctor actually knows this is going on. Short of setting up another appointment to speak to him what else can I do? Am I just impatient or do you all think something else is going on?

Someone the other day posted an article called The Fat Trap. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=all Very interesting.

I was scheduled for surgery tomorrow, but they canceled it Thursday. I was giving no information like when to retest or reschedule surgery. I got my approval on 9/10

Hi. I am 5' 0" tall. My start weight was 228, my surgery weight was 209 and my current weight is 177. I was sleeved on 03/01 by Dr. Almanza in Mexico. I have lost 51 lbs so far.

I am 10 days post op and I am having bad pains in my left, should/neck area. It started yesterday and I have taken Gas-x strips. Does this go away when I am able to eat solids? I have been on mushes for a few days and my stomach hurts from gas and when I eat, well it does not last long lol. Please let me know! Thanks!

I was required by my surgeon's office to lose 10% of my total weight during the 6-month lead-in to WLS. That should have been about 26lbs. I began the program at 256lbs on my 1st weigh-in. Surgery Wt was 222lbs. I lost 34lbs on their weight loss plan.

That is really awesome. I weighed in at 235 this morning. I was 242 day of surgery I am 10 days post op. I bet you feel great. That was inspiring thank you.

CNN REPORTS THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE PROOF THAT Gastric Bypass Lowers Risk of Death TIME MAGAZINE AUGUST 22, 2007 By Sora Song Whether one regards bariatric surgery — last-resort weight-loss operations such as gastric bypass and stomach stapling — as an essential treatment for obesity or as a failure of the fat person's will, the fact is, it works. Studies have shown that after surgery, patients often lose 50% or more of their excess weight — and keep it off — and symptoms of obesity-related conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and sleep apnea are improved or eliminated altogether. Now, two new studies in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) show another long-term benefit: a lower risk of death. The larger of the two studies — the largest of its kind — led by researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine, looked specifically at gastric bypass surgery, also known as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, which accounts for 80% of all bariatric surgeries in the U.S. The operation involves creating a small walnut-size pouch at the top of the stomach, which is then stapled off and connected to the small intestine lower down than usual; the result is that patients can eat only an ounce of food at a time, and the food bypasses most of the stomach and the top part of the intestine, limiting the number of calories the body absorbs. In the Utah study, researchers compiled data on 15,850 severely obese people, half of whom had undergone gastric bypass surgery between 1984 and 2002, and half who were from the general population and had had no surgical intervention for obesity. Overall, researchers found, the surgery patients were 40% less likely to die from any cause during a mean 7 years of follow-up, compared with the obese controls. What's more, the mortality rate attributable to obesity-related disease was 52% lower on the whole in the surgery group: after gastric bypass, patients were 92% less likely to die from diabetes, 59% less likely to die from coronary artery disease, and 60% less likely to be killed by cancer. Results like these have got some doctors intrigued enough to start thinking about bariatric surgery as a treatment for conditions other than obesity —especially diabetes. A growing body of research suggests that the surgery may reverse the disease, a potential solution that could help some 20 million American diabetics. Though the current NEJM study did not specifically study the impact of bariatric surgery on diabetes, it did reveal a 92% reduced risk of death from the disease in surgery patients —findings that support what has been emerging in other experiments. "In more than 80% of patients who are severely obese and have diabetes and then have gastric bypass surgery, the diabetes is cured," says Ted Adams, professor of cardiovascular genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine and lead author of the new study. "The interesting thing is that the resolution of diabetes happens within a few weeks following surgery, long before patients have lost their weight." Like some other researchers in the field, Adams believes that the surgery triggers other biological mechanisms, separate from weight loss — perhaps an interruption of a crucial biochemical pathway or a change in the release of certain hormones in the stomach or small intestine — that may have powerful effects on diabetes. "The gastric-bypass patient is really providing a source of intriguing research related to all kinds of disease treatment as well as weight gain and weight loss," says Adams. The second study, led by researchers at Gothenburg University in Sweden, involved 4,047 obese volunteers, 2,010 who underwent some form of bariatric surgery and 2,037 who received conventional obesity treatment, including lifestyle intervention, behavior modification or no treatment at all. Ten years after surgery, researchers report, the bariatric surgery patients had lost more weight and had a 24% lower risk of death than the comparison group. Though the overall number of subjects in this study is much smaller than the first, the results confirm general benefits of bariatric surgery, and gastric bypass in particular: after 10 years, bypass patients had maintained a 25% weight loss, compared to a 16% loss in patients who had stomach stapling, and 14% in those who underwent a banding procedure. In both studies, surgery patients had an overall lowered risk of death, but an interesting finding in the Utah study shows that these patients were 58% more likely to die from other causes, such as suicide and accidents. The authors speculate that as people lose weight and become more active, they also become more prone to accidents, which may up their risk of death. Surgery patients may also have pre-existing psychological problems — a history of abuse, perhaps — that can't be resolved by losing weight. "There have been some studies reporting that following bariatric surgery, some individuals may be more prone to chemical dependency, such as increased alcohol use," says Adams. "There's some speculation that certain addictive behaviors that are in place before the surgery — with food, for example — are transferred to alcohol or another addictive behavior." "Hopefully this research will stimulate additional evaluation of what the optimal approach is for evaluating candidates for this surgery," says Adams. "I think we should never lose track of the importance of individual evaluation of benefits and risks." Last year, an estimated 177,600 patients underwent bariatric surgery, a figure that's likely to grow as Americans get fatter and fatter. Though modern surgery techniques have become more sophisticated, less invasive and safer than in the past, the bariatric procedure still carries all the risks of any other operation. Patients have a .5% to 1% chance of death. The risk of gallstones goes up. Sometimes a second surgery is necessary. And all patients must be careful to make up for Vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The surgery isn't for everyone; current guidelines recommend it as a last resort, only for the morbidly obese who have a BMI of 40 and higher, or for the obese with a BMI of 35 and higher plus a serious weight-related illness like diabetes or hypertension. This should help. Gary Viscio Viscio Law and The Obesity Law Center - Welcome

I was just wondering how everyone has been doing myself. Got banded 3/23. Lost a bit over 50 pounds so far, had two fills. Third is scheduled for Sept. 11. Hit a giant plateau for the past month (seriously, the scale didn't budge, no matter how much or how little I ate or exercised or anything). FINALLY started moving again 2 days ago, thank goodness. Hoping to be down 10 by my fill appt (8 left). Hoping I can really drive it home right now since I'm apparently done plateauing for now. Can't eat at all before about noon. Just do a Protein shake or yogurt for Breakfast. I'm trying to get more fluids. I've always been a big drinker but for the past two weeks I have noticed that I've not been drinking much at all (mayyybe 60 oz a day, nowhere near enough for me). So I'm making a conscious effort this week to up my Fluid intake. Other than that, things are going well. I was getting really aggravated about not losing any weight, but at least I didn't gain. Have gotten stuck a few times via user error. I will decide that 11:30am is close enough to 12 to eat, and then get stuck. My body is on some weird time clock. Anyway, hope everyone else is doing well!

I am 10 days post op. Am I the only one who can have 8 oz of cream of wheat at one sitting? I am so worried that I may stretch my pouch. Please help. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

What was sugar content in the soup? I found at the very early weeks I had hardly any sugar tolerance--I'm 10 weeks now and it's better

I had a neurostimulator in my spine for 10 years and just had it removed in November. Mine was an older device that did not have rechargeable capability and given I had lost over 100lbs it was literally sticking out of my lower back, I got it stuck in the slats of a chair once didn't know it and tried to stand up. Ouch!!! Anyway, I wanted to respond because this device literally gave me back my life. I had severe nerve pain running down my leg following lumbar fusion surgery. We tried everything for 5 years and finally they offered me the neurostimulator solution. The first time we turned it on in the operating room it felt magical. The pain was gone and it felt like tiny littles champagne bubbles running up and down my spine and my leg. They work! It only makes sense that they could somehow use it to resolve the feelings of hunger. I do believe in order for long term success a person would still have to deal with head hunger, cravings and the underlying food addiction issues. I know even days or weeks after my RNY, I had head hunger that would make me want to go eat a cheeseburger. I had to learn how to deal with it. Obviously the same diet and exercise will be important as well right? Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

I like that Proudgrammy. I would love to seat with you. I am sure you will have me cracking up all the time. Losing 10 pounds in 2 weeks is awesome. That is a great accomplishment. My surgeon expext me to lose 10 pounds PER month by the time I see him in February. Your weight lose will slow down though. Enjoy it now. Later loser!

I've only lost 12 lb in the first two weeks, then stalled for 10 days. Then lost another 2 lb in a week. I think I'm a slow loser. I'm 63 and a low BMI to begin with.

If you're full at 15-20m, don't eat for 30m There's no need for the overfull feeling anymore.. When you get the signal to stop.. stop! Push the plate away, don't try to eat any more bites, and certainly don't say "Well I have 10 more minutes" and make yourself keep eating.

Hello Everyone! I have been snooping around here for a little while and figured I should post something! I went to the informational seminar in September, had my first meeting with the Doc on 10/31, and finished most of my pre-op testing in one week! I scheduled my surgery for Dec. 10, and I just got the confirmation from insurance that I have been approved. (Only 70% though). I have a blood test today, and the pre-op seminar Weds, and I'm done! I was very nervous in the beginging, but now I'm only excited. I'm worried about missing work and I'm hoping I'll be back in the office on Thurs. (Surgery is Monday) 12/10. What are your thoughts? Does this seem possible? I'm trying not to tell too many people I work with either. Anyways, I look forward to getting to know you all! -Michelle:clap2:

Hey Kaybug, I agree, it matters not what you're losing at this point. Try to get away from the old diet mentalities. The fact is, you have your band in and the weight loss will happen and it will continue past the first 10 pounds. Isn't that great?! No more stressing over every pound. Just relax and let the time go by. Now, be prepared.. it is possible that you will gain a few pounds prior to your first fill. As the swelling goes down in your tummy, there is less restriction and hunger will return, so you'll gradually eat more. This is very common but doesnt always have to be true. If you watch your calories and stick to your post-op diet, no cheating with ice cream and stuff, then you won't gain. If you do though, it's no great loss because once you start getting fills you will lose that weight. This is definitely the time to be thinking about healing, not losing weight. They won't tighten you down yet because you aren't even eating solid foods yet, and youre still swollen. How would they be able to tell what you can truly eat? Some people find they don't even need a fill once they are on solid foods. *hugs* I was scared to death to put anything new into my mouth. I'm gradually getting over that but there are some things I choose to keep a healthy fear of - breads and pastas of any kind being at the top of my fear list. If you take small bites, and really concentrate on chewing until the food is almost nothing before you swallow, then you'll be ok. If you start to chew something and find it stringy or worrisome, spit it out. One more thing, I was so scared to get that first fill that I almost got upset in the Dr's office. But once it was done I felt silly. It was completely painless. Not even a sting. Hope I've helped some. I sure do remember being where you are now. Try to relax, you're doing fine.