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I didn't have problems with actual sleeping - but getting in and out of bed could be challenging, and also, it was about three weeks before I could sleep on my side (my preferred position).

I was allowed scrambled eggs (& instant oats) in the purée stage but they had to be made with more milk & kept pretty runny. Would take me three days to eat two eggs. While plans have differences, 4 days seems too soon. (Two week stage cycles tend to be the most common.) You may struggle so don’t be afraid to go back to only liquids (including the cream soups) for a few more days. And yes, lots of people struggle with eggs - too rich I think.

Yes definitely go to your doctor or an emergency centre. Black, tarry stools aren’t uncommon the first time or two after surgery but not this far out. Constipation is very, very common. Add some soluble, non swelling fibre to your diet. Many of us follow a routine of taking stool softeners or similar. Some take something every day. I’d take a softener if I hadn’t been for three days. Are you taking a ppi? Many find dry mouth a side effect. Try Biotene which is a mouth spray which ‘moisturises’ your mouth. Not sure about the stuck feeling. I’ll get that if I eat something too dry or coarse as a precursor to the foamies. And before my reflux was diagnosed (decades ago) I actually would get a bit of food stuck in my throat that had come up from my tummy. But you said you’re at the purée stage so unless your purées aren’t moist & liquidy enough (should easily dollop off a spoon) … 🤷🏻‍♀️ Unless your history with Barrett’s, etc, are causing some swelling but again ???? Maybe worth an appointment with your gastroenterologist & more than just a barium meal test. Hope they can find some answers for you & you feel better soon. Hey @Tiffanyl1288 I’m a little confused. At ten days out you are usually only still on liquids & then would progress to purées, then soft foods then solid foods by about the 6 weeks mark (though plans are different). What are you ‘eating’? If you are eating you may be irritating (& potentially damaging) your healing esophagus & tummy. Remember for when you are eating that we’re advised to avoid drinking and eating at the same time. Usually we’re told to leave 30 minutes before & after eating before drinking (sipping).

Hey Y'all! Brand new to Bariatric Pal, and three days post op! I am already down 30.3 pounds since starting the pre op diet, which is super encouraging! Yesterday was probably the hardest pain wise after waking up in terrible pain, on top of acid reflux from hell! Thankfully, got on some antacids prescribed by doctor, and the pain meds helped with the pain immensely! Most of my pain isn't actually from my stomach, but from my biggest incision by my liver. Also trying to stay hydrated, which has been so much harder than I ever thought! So, I actually got the VSG for two completely different reasons. The first is the obvious, to lose weight and get back to a healthier lifestyle! The second... three weeks ago, I was told that I have precancerous and cancerous cells in my stomach. After talking through all of my options with my gastro doctor, my best move was to get the VSG as the cancer cells would be completely eradicated as they were in the portion of my stomach getting removed. Honestly, I had already been researching VSG anyways, so this was kinda a no brainer for me, two for one! This did move up my surgery date from mid September to this past Wednesday, and I am honestly completely okay with that! I didn't want to go through any sort of chemo or radiation, so time was a bit of the essence. Anyone else get/is going to get the VSG for medical reasons beyond weightloss/morbid obesity? HW: 293 SW(before pre op diet): 289.4 CW: 259.1

I took three weeks off but could have gone back after two. I felt fine, just tired. Re: FMLA - it was several years ago so I don't remember exactly, but I don't think I bothered with FMLA. I had a lot of sick leave built up, so I just used that.

some surgeons have you crush pills, but fortunately, mine was OK with me swallowing small pills right away (anything the size of a pencil eraser or smaller). I had to wait two or three weeks to manage bigger pills. One of them they said I could hold off on for a couple of weeks, so I did. The other I cut in half (I bought a pill cutter at a pharmacy), so I was able to take it (although not all pills can be cut in half - well, *physically* they can be, but you're not supposed to do it). Just check with your clinic and see what they suggest

Welcome Steve!! I am also a Northern Cali resident. Don't be too scared of the pre-op diet. First few days are rough, not gonna lie, but it does get easier. I ended up doing it twice because my surgery was cancelled the day before it was scheduled (wah wah) Not knowing what your pre-op diet consists of, it's hard to give detailed advice. Mine was three protein shakes, 4oz of chicken and some veggies. I actually started looking forward to the shakes! It was worth it though because my surgeon said my liver looked good and made the surgery easier. Good luck!! You'll do great!

I'm pretty open about my life so I told my husband and in-laws first, my close friends, my immediate family, my mother (she's judgmental AF so I waited until I was approved before saying anything), my boss (just that I would be out for three days for surgery but not what kind), and then my co-workers as the need arose. With my co-workers, I would tell them when we were at lunch events or at things with foods I'm not able to eat. I think my twitter friends knew before most people I know offline though.

I did a pre-pre-op diet where I basically weaned myself off of all my go-to foods so it made the diet more bearable. It wasn't fun, but I got through it (and lost 18 pounds in that 2 week time span). I hope everything goes well for you and as it was stated earlier... the first three or four days is definitely the most difficult.

Hi and welcome to the forums Steve 👋. Pre op diets vary. Some can only have liquids and others can have a small meal once a day on their pre op diets. I was allowed to have a small meal, so to me pre op diet wasn't so bad. I feel like my post op diet is harder because it's three weeks of liquids only. It's pretty extreme as far as post op diets go. So along with the weakness of recovering from surgery, only having liquids is tough imo. The struggle is worth it tho. You'll do fabulous! Best wishes on your surgery and journey!

Well, I didn't face any serious problems. But for me, it was a little bit complicated to do homework because I wanted just to have a rest and not to study, and I couldn't concentrate. But my professors were understandable, and I could send something a little later, after the deadline. And everyone helped me, especially my groupmates. When I was writing one paper about birth control ( it was a philosophy course, so you can understand that it was complicated), they even offered to write it for me. But as a result, a friend of mine sent me this source https://studydriver.com/birth-control-essay/ where I just read provided there birth control essay examples and managed to write my own one. And I think that was the most difficult day for me, and the rest were pretty fine. Aslo, maybe it was morally hard to go out with friends because of obvious reasons, but after two or three times, I got used to the new life.

I am making three months out but the protein I used to drink at first was the premier protein chocolate cause that’s the only one I liked but after a while I would throw it up. So I changed it to an organic chocolate protein which was way better. It didn’t have a diet taste to it like the premier protein did. 100% would recommend.

This is totally understandable. I couldn't do this diet if I had to do physical work. I'm struggling to do basic domestic stuff. I'm on day three and they say it gets easier from here. I sure hope so!

Shopping online for a ladder and NOT looking at the maximum weight with dread. They're all 100kg and up! I could carry three very large cats up those things and STILL be cruisin'! I could haul a child up some of them! I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU ANYMORE WEIGHT-LIMITS! COME AT ME! 💪

If it helps it took them almost a month to approve mine. Yeah. They told me two weeks and it took three and a half. I was anxious the entire time and thought they wouldn't approve it for some reason. I also had Medicaid, for reference.

There are lots of different pre surgery diets. Mine was 2 weeks keto. But generally they’re either two shakes & one meal or three shakes only. With these the first week (or there abouts) seems to be the most difficult. You’re breaking lots of habits, cravings & addictions (caffeine, sugar). Plus if food was a comfort for you this is also ‘taken away’ from you so it can be more challenging because of the emotional/psychological roller coaster. It’s all so very worth it though.

I was on the pill so periods were still regular but they were longer and I had breakthrough bleeding for the first three months.

I have Aetna Choice POS II and it paid for everything connected to my bypass three years ago (aside from my annual deductible). They did require six months of a structured weight loss program. I had finished one six months earlier (a last-ditch effort to lose weight), and they counted it even though it wasn't right before surgery. I would also note that Aetna turned me down the first time and my surgeon had to call them directly before they finally approved me. Good luck. It's worth it, no matter how long it takes to get approved!

So, here's the backstory... in 2016 I was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia (it's a condition that causes chronic facial pain that is so horrific that it's recognized as one the most painful conditions known to mankind and has garnered the nickname 'Suicide's Disease') and I have both 'Typical' and 'Atypical' TN and I had a flare that lasted 10 months and I was in so much pain that I had many moments where I would think of ending my life to escape the horrific pain. My family was the only reason that I held out. I tried to take it day by day, but it was horrific. It's like being dropped into hell while still being alive. Having to live every moment where every tooth in my mouth hurt from the inside out and it feels like needles were digging into my jaw. And THEN I would get stabbed in the face by a scalding hot poker that twists and twists and twists and twists and then pulls out and repeats endlessly. I was in excruciating pain every second of every single day for 10 MONTHS! I felt like I was slowly going insane. I would get 'power naps' of like 5-15 minutes when I would get a miraculous break in the stabbing pain, even though the tooth and jaw pain stayed, because I was so exhausted. On average the power naps would maybe equal 1-2 hours of sleep a day. Though there were days I didn't sleep at all. AND I had to sleep sitting up because laying down was a trigger. But finally after 10 months I had something called an MVD (Microvascular Decompression) in May 2017 which is a type of brain surgery and that was the end of that particular flare and the pain. However, Trigeminal Neuralgia doesn't have a cure. The brain surgery was basically putting a patch on it and hoping that it held out for years. The brain surgery was for the left side of my face, but I have Trigeminal Neuralgia on BOTH sides (just the right rarely flare and if it did it was usually only 3-5 days TOPS and then it wouldn't bother me for MONTHS. One time it didn't flare for 22 months which is almost two YEARS. For reference, I was officially diagnosed in 2016, but I've had TN since 2010). In September 2021 I started getting eye twitches (on both sides) and then other facial twitches and I KNEW it was coming back because the twitches are symptoms of an oncoming flare. I remarked to my family members in absolute fear and panic that I felt that it was going to come back. It's been my biggest fear of it coming back. Then in April of this year it hit. The right side started to flare (with random ass flares on the left as well) and at first I could withstand the pain, but it got worse and then I was put on Gabapentin and I gained 18 friggin' pounds! I couldn't stop taking it because I was in so much pain that the meds were keeping me sane. However, I kept having to increase the dose because the pain was getting worse and worse. I ended up taking the max dose and then one night the pain was so bad that I was sobbing on my bed and the thoughts of just taking a handful of the pills hit me and it scared me. I went to the ER the next day and they were so busy that I had to wait three hours in the waiting room while I was sobbing in pain in a chair while strangers kept staring at me because I was curled up in a fetal position in a chair sobbing my eyes out because I was in so much pain and it's breezy in there and that was making it WORSE! I knew from experience that I had to do the research myself because the doctors don't know crap about Trigeminal Neuralgia because it's rare and they don't know how to treat it (it's usually treated by a neurologist. But there are none in my county that take my insurance). So I gave the doctor my list of medications and told her that Oxcarbazepine worked well with Gabapentin and so she gave me enough to last me until I could get into see my PCP. And miraculously it WORKED! I was able to slowly lower my dosage of Gabapentin by HALF (I was taking 3600mg which is max dose. Now I take 1800mg) and take 900mg of Oxcarbazepine. And because I was able to drop my dosage of Gabapentin I've been able to drop 12 of the 18 pounds I gained, but the last 6 pounds just will not come off! I'm still having a flare. I still feel the pain in my face, but it's muted (mostly. Don't stick me in a breezy room or the pain worsens. And sometimes eating sets it off and makes it worse. And sometimes lying down sets it off too. Also, cold or hot things will sometimes set it off. Yeah, eating is not fun. At all. Also, I don't sleep at night because it flares worse at night). I'm supposed to be going to have acupuncture for my Trigeminal Neuralgia next week and my hope is that it'll fully take the flare away. I also FINALLY get to see a neurologist in three weeks though I have to drive two hours away to see one because no one near me takes my insurance. I have a sneaking suspicion that the flare is actually caused by my Mast Cell Activation Syndrome because I've been having more and more issues with rashes lately (though when my face originally started to flare in April my MCAS was fine. May and June too were fine, but this month my rashes have gotten bad and so has my joint pain which is caused by osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, which the fibromyalgia is suspected to be caused by the MCAS). To top it off I can't figure out why my face is so damn greasy. I mean I was using topical lidocaine on my face to help with pain management for my TN (in addition to the anticonvulsants, i.e the gabapentin and oxcarbazepine, I take over the counter stuff like Tylenol, Tumeric Curcumin, and Alpha Lipoic Acid to help with pain management) but I had an allergic reaction from overuse (I'm assuming) called Petechiae (which caused red spots on my eyelid) so I stopped using it, but my face has been super greasy every since. And I've been losing more hair lately almost like when I was in the weight loss phase of my surgery. I know it's one or both of the anticonvulsants, but I can't stop taking either one so I'm not sure what to do. So yeah. Just felt like venting my frustration. It's been a rough three months (almost four) and I just needed to unload. If you've read this far, thank you. If you have advice on the greasy face, hair loss, or how to lose the extra 6 pounds while taking two anticonvulsants that make it damn near impossible then please help! If you have any experience with Trigeminal Neuralgia or MCAS and have advice then please share that as well...

Ok, you ate something you probably shouldn’t at this stage but you realise this & that’s the positive. And yes, some people do slip at any time as they’re progressing so you’re not alone. The real question is what are you going to do next time? This is a great learning opportunity. Why couldn’t you resist the nachos? Was it something you wanted? Was it out of habit? Was it because others were eating? Did you need to eat? Was it your lunch or dinner time? Etc. Once you’ve worked out why you can start thinking about how you can manage this or similar situations in the future. Like, next time I go to the movies I’ll drink water or tea or I’ll sneak in a shake, some jerky or string cheese, etc. Eating nachos now while you’re losing isn’t a great idea but in the future sure you may be able to have some but you’ll work that out. PS - Actually you didn’t skip dinner. A shake is a meal replacement so you still had a meal. Just something to watch if you are on a three meal a day plan but plans are different.

I cannot believe that the we have such similar stories! I also went to Park Nicollet first. The dietician was overly focused on my previous eating disorder, even though I completed two years of intense therapy and group BED therapy. She wanted me to resume therapy and postpone surgery. I also went home crying. I scheduled a new consultation with Ridgeview Clinic three weeks later and successfully had sleeve surgery two months later. It’s crazy the amount of hoops some doctors make their patients jump through. I am so thankful that I ditched Park Nicollet, lol.

I had super bad constipation with my sleeve back in 2018! I had three horrible hemorrhoids! and yes like others said its worse than having the actual surgery. I would wake up and scream at my fiance that I needed to go to the ER, but he would tell me to relax and put cream on for me. I went to a rectal doctor once and they prescribed me pain medication and told me the next day the inflammation should go down and that I had a chance of it coming back which it did. Calcium chews is what made me constipated. I switched to pills.

I didn’t feel hunger for more than a year so I ate to a routine because I wanted to ensure I got in all the nutrients I needed. I didn’t want to rely in shakes, vitamins or supplements. Doing this didn’t affect my weight loss at all and it helped me refocus how I looked at food. Three years out & I still have times I’m not hungry. Actually been going through a hungry but not hungry stage for a good month now. I’m not eating all my usual portions &/or dropping snacks (I snack to add to my protein &/or calories). I always try to be close to my protein goal though during these times so eat protein first & will reduce vegetables, etc. If I’m not hungry at lunch I’ll have a high protein yoghurt which isn’t as heavy to digest as meat. I should explain I’m a do I need this next bite or want it eater. So I don’t eat until I feel full but until I’ve had enough & don’t need anymore. I don’t feel too full to eat but more I don’t want to eat but I know I have to have something. I also still eat slowly - like a tub of yoghurt takes about 45-60mins. As @The Greater Fool said it comes down to habits & these were the ones I established which carry me through.

You can develop gallstones for many reasons including high cholesterol, menopause, high bilirubin levels, diabetes, losing weight quickly. For many of us, losing weight also releases extra cholesterol into our bloodstream causing our levels to temporarily rise. Some also have gallstones before surgery which were never picked up. I had to have my gallbladder removed 25 months after my surgery. I had high bilirubin levels, am menopausal, & saw my cholesterol go up while I was losing & of course had lost weight. I had one stone which was discovered about 6 months after surgery during a liver scan. We don’t know how long it had been there. The stone never caused me a problem until one night & oh boy! I was maintaining when my gall was removed. After it was removed I stopped absorbing protein as well as I had been - it can happen. My nails became weak, started losing hair again, things were taking longer to heal, etc. & my three monthly blood test showed why. I had to up my protein intake (from 50-60g to 60-70g) which did result in a small gain of 2kgs in a month but I’ve maintained that for a good 7 months. (Also upped my HRT meds at the exact same time so both contributed to the gain.) I was also prescribed Creons, pancreatic enzymes, to help with protein absorption.

My insurance (Highmark Blue-shield, I am in Pennsylvania) has no program specific requirements for education/classes or pre-op weight-loss requirement. My program put me on a 3 month schedule - the shortest duration they offer… because of getting pre-op clearances. I had the intro meeting plus three classes where we went over their program material & requirements. My first intro class was May 16th. Classes were spaced about every two weeks. I had two in June and a final appointment and weigh in on July 7th (my program required I not gain weight after my initial weigh-in). I managed to get all my pre-op testing in fairly quickly, but it was not all reviewed and signed off on by the July 7th class, so I had to wait a few more days to schedule to meet the surgeon. First available appointment to meet the surgeon was July 21st. She scheduled me for her first available surgery for August 16th, 2022. So my whole program from first appointment to surgery will be exactly 3 months … that is not typical from what I understand. Most of the people in my intro class were on 6 month schedules or longer, which was dictated by their insurance.