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I have tried three different brands of multivitamins. No matter how I take it, I throw up some days. I bought some iron-free pills, but I will need to take iron, so I don't know what the point is if I take them separately vs together. I took iron with no issues prior to surgery. I just try to eat a big dinner late, or have a decent sized snack with fat before I take the pill, then go right to bed.

Hello, First time poster. I live with health anxiety and I worry all the time that I am going to get some kind of significant weight-related health condition. I decided to look in to weight loss surgery three weeks ago, found a doctor, got set up woth appointments next week. Then last week I had a mammogram that showed something suspicious, so then another mammogram and ultrasound and finally a biopsy on Friday. Perhaps it is nothing but googling the specific words in the ultrasound and mammogram report don’t sound great. I should get the results in the next two days. How ironic would it be to have something significant like this pop up immediately after I finally make the decision to change my health?! I’m so sad and mad. If this does turn out to be breast cancer then does that rule out weight loss surgery completely? Anyone have any knowledge or experience on that? I am trying to remain positive but emotionally I feel like I’ve ruined my life and officially missed the opportunity to get my weight under control and a healthy life back. Any words of advice or shared experiences are much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

So I’m in the beginning of week three and I have not lost any weight all week. I’m also constipated. I’m down a total of 28lbs since the preop liquid diet. I started at 249lbs and I’m now 221lbs. What are you taking for constipation? How long is the stall period?

Hello All! This might be a taboo topic, but this has always felt like a safe space to ask questions. I had VSG surgery three months ago, and I'm down 50 pounds which is very exciting. My question is, has anyone else experienced vaginal dryness after surgery?! It's dry as the Sahara desert down there, regardless of solo play or with my partner, which was the complete opposite pre-op! I don't know if I'm dehydrated, or maybe my hormones are just off right now. Any thoughts? Thank you 🙂

Did any of you experience vaginal dryness?! I'm three months post-op, and it'slike the Sahara desert down there. It's getting very worrisome because I never had this issue pre-op.

Just wanted to vent a little, I have been looking for support groups to see if I can talk to anyone about all of this, but haven't found anything. I got VSG on march 31st 2022. The first 5 days were terrible, not only did I throw up everything but also had a really annoying cough, that made my abdomen hurt and didn't let me sleep. Got prescribed antihistamines and it got better. Stayed at home for 6-7 days. Went back to work and felt dizzy, so I had to go half days for a while (I am a veterinarian, on my feet all day). Two weeks after surgery, I started coughing again, and this time literally felt excruciating pain around the area of the incisions. I got to the doctors office crying, I was in so much pain. They did an ultrasound, bloodwork and X-rays, and sent me to the pneumologist and apparently I had bronchitis, because of the pain I had to stay home again, for a couple of days. I started treatment for it and it started getting better about after 7 days, but then three days later I started coughing. Went back to the doctor, and now had an inflamed lung. He did PCR and D-DIMER, and they were both super elevated (tested negative for COVID), and had to be put on anticoagulants and everything. Started getting better after two weeks, and lo and behold, 5 days later I get a terrible cold. Fever, congestion, and throat ache. Started getting better 3-4 days ago. Now on top of everything, I broke a toe while walking around the house barefoot. Asked the nutritionist and she said it might be because my vitamin D is low, and im not absorbing calcium as I should. Now I had to stay home as well for a week on doctors orders to rest my feet. I used to be a healthy person before surgery, never got a cold or fractured anything (and definitely have bumped my feet into chairs before). I was morbidly obese, and had joint pains but apart from that I didn't get sick. I feel very frustrated in this aspect. I have lost 50 pounds, in 10 weeks, and don't have any gastrointestinal symptoms (can tolerate basically anything, no vomiting, barely dumping syndrome), but still. I have been eager to start working out but with all these respiratory complications and now a broken toe, it's been an uphill battle.

My date is August 1st! So excited to start this new journey. My required insurance visits were three months long as well.

I had the same path of band, sleeve, then conversion to bypass in March. I didn’t have any trouble with insurance, but I have Medicare and a supplement. I also had three different surgeons. The first two were in Mexico for the band and then Las Vegas for the sleeve so I had no follow up as well. I explained to my surgeon that I didn’t really use the sleeve properly due to stress in my life. I also had GERD which probably helped with the approval. Good luck to you, I hope that you are able to get your revision.

The variations in answers to your questions occurs because we all heal & recover differently. For example,e, some return to work after a week, others take two or three. I took four but my energy levels were very low as was my blood pressure but my recovery is always slow. Your surgeon may do things differently too. Like, some surgeons send their patients home that afternoon. Others say stay overnight. Mine had me stay two nights as I lived alone. I ended up staying three nights as my back went into spasm & apparently my colour was poor. Have to admit I’m glad I threw in an extra pair of pjs & knickers. Ask your surgeon about the length of the surgery, expected length of your hospital stay, what to expect when you get to the hospital, etc. The hospital may have different prep requirements too. I had an appointment at the hospital a couple of days before, weight, height & medical records checked & had an ECG, blood test, etc. They also gave me an antibacterial wash I had to use in the shower at home the morning of my surgery & had to wash my hair with it too. My surgeon (& his anaesthesiologist) were lovely. He always is. Joking with me as I waited outside theatre. They both saw me in recovery after surgery too. Time sort of moves weirdly because your nervous. I have no idea how long I was in the theatre waiting room but it didn’t seem long. Though it felt like ages when I was moved outside the theatre. Make sure you get all your over the counter meds (non steroidal pain meds, Imodium, non swelling soluble fibre like Benefibre, gas X, etc.), vitamins, a variety of shakes, broths, soups, etc, as per your plan, herbal or green tea, some electrolyte drinks or sachets, before you go to hospital. All the best.

Lol I know my phone sometimes does that when I comment. It says error and looks like it didn’t post and then before I know it, it’s on there twice-or like this time three times lol

I’m 9 days into a three week pre-op. I lost 5.4 pounds the first week, but I ate the post-op diet for five weeks prior. My mom started on the same day and lost 9lbs in the first few days. my husband isn’t unsupportive just clueless. Asks me to cook food that I can’t eat or bring food to him that smells good. I’m actually sitting in a movie theater with him right now and he’s eating a flatbread pizza while I sip water. I’ve had two protein shakes today. It can be frustrating.

Ugh, that's a pretty strict pre-op. Mine isn't quite as strict, but close. I can either do 3 protein shakes or two protein shakes and a lean meat and veg dinner. However, if hungry between meals I am allowed to eat some low carb veggies, sugar-free jello, sugar-free pudding, eggs, or fat free cottage cheese. So far today I've had two protein shakes and some sugar-free jello. I'm trying to be somewhat strict with myself, because I want my liver to shrink as much as possible, to avoid complications. So I will likely be sticking with three protein shakes a day, and sugar-free jello as a snack. If I get desperate for something more filling I might boil an egg. Does your plan not allow you to have any snacks at all?

a lot of people lose their hunger for a few months after surgery. It almost always returns sometime during the first year (mine came back at five months out). Take full advantage of that - it'll never in your life be easier to lose weight than it will be these next few months, when you're not dealing with hunger. I think it was about three weeks before I could sleep on my side again.

As you note, programs differ, (and sometimes wildly!) both in their progressions and also in how they define food types (what's a liquid, what's a puree, etc.) and also in how much they trust their patients and in their own communication with their patients. We had yogurt and scrambled eggs in the hospital - if we could tolerated them, that was great, but if not, liquids were fine too until we could do more. As to the OP, it is concerning that at three months there has not been more progress. A stricture does sound like a possibility - that's not uncommon with a bypass (scar tissue forming around the stoma overly restricting things) and from what I have seen, they're usually fairly quick to do an endoscopic dilation (or two) to open thing up - twenty years ago, this was so common that it ceased being considered a "complication". With a sleeve, it is less common, and more indicative of a surgeon who hasn't quite got the technique down yet, so they may be more reticent about correcting it (if they know how) and just seeing if it will fix itself. I would be a squeaky wheel and get after them to address the issue, as this isn't normal.

it's not all programs - they actually served me Jello in the hospital! In addition, she's three months out....not just out of surgery. At three months out, people are eating solid food.

It’s likely you need some more calories. Based on the more popular shakes you are getting 450-480 calories from those three shakes. I’d add one more to the routine. Four would let you drink every four hours for those 12 hours opposed to 5-6. Id also get something like propel that has some electrolytes to supplement. When I’ve done other low calorie/fat diets I’d have pickle juice shots to combat headaches.

I did take all of the advice I've gotten here into consideration, so thank you all for that. One thing I did do yesterday was to reach out to an acquaintance who had gastric sleeve three years ago in a neighboring country. Apparently, she did go through a local doctor who sent her to have surgery overseas but closer than Poland or other countries in Eastern Europe. And it was all paid by the national health insurance. This doctor is an obesity expert and runs one of the two programs in the country that's recognized as adequate preparation for weight loss surgery, if you want to try to get the national insurance to pay for your operation. It's not on an inpatient basis, which is a plus. When my acquaintance did it, the wait between the prep course and the surgery was only three months, but it may be longer now. I did email the doctor to ask for an appointment, but I have no idea if they're accepting new patients or if they have a long waiting list. If they're like other doctors, they'll be going on vacation soon and I may not get an appointment until the fall or later. And I may not qualify for surgery paid by the national health insurance, since their general rule is that they operate on people with BMI 40 or higher, and mine is 37. As I understand it, they may approve surgery for someone with a BMI under 40 if they have enough co-morbidities. I have high blood pressure and the slightly elevated blood sugar test. I don't know if that's enough, but I guess I'll find out. If I don't qualify I probably won't be able to go to the hospital in the neighboring country that my acquaintance went to, since It's not a private hospital. At least, that's what she thought.

Just know that it gets better! It helped me to be really organized tracking my water and protein shake intake, and having a little project to keep my mind off things in those first few days (I had a big kind of goofy paint by numbers poster I worked on). The first three days were the worst and then each day after that I felt a little better and a little better. Hang in there, you’ll get there.

I'm actually seriously considering doing a couple of test runs with the liquid diet to see what works and what doesn't. That way I can face it head-on and not get so anxious before August. Maybe start with three days and then take a break, then maybe add another day each time I attempt to do it. Not sure if this will work.... but it's worth a try!

I finally got my date! August 18th! It took three months to jump through all the hoops, but finally I got the call with the date I changed from the sleeve to the bypass due to a few minor complications with acid. I feel strong about my decision and I'm super excited to move forward.

"They think if you just diet harder & be more committed to exercising you’ll lose weight." I guess that's right, and what's more I kind of think that too, even though I know it's not necessarily true. It kind of feels like failure. Like I'm giving up and I should just try harder. Never mind that I've basically been on a diet since I was 15 or so. I was never overweight until I was thirty after an injury, when I couldn't exercise, so for the first 15 years I dieted without actually being overweight. I did mention the possibility of bariatric surgery to my mom today, and she was pretty negative too. An old classmate of from primary school mine shared the interview with the food addiction lady on social media, and wrote that "you couldn't cut the food addiction out of the addicted person, any more than you could cut alcoholitsm out of someone by cutting their liver in half." She went on to say that she weighed her three meals per day and abstained from xugar, dairy products and refined carbs. She has done this for 13 years and has lost 100 pounds and kept them off. I briefly thought about contacting the food addiction clinic, or Noom, since one of my friends lost 50 pounds least year with Noom. , But then I remember that I did try OA once, which I didn't like that much, and also I didn't lose any weight in spite of adhering to their program. I also tried Noom last year, but I didn't use it. Writing everything down and weighing is so annoying. Still, I feel like I'm failing and thinking of using a crutch when I should be doing this on my own.

I have read a lot of stalls between weeks 2 and 4. I watched a video that talked about the three week stall. The doctor explained at first we are losing a lot of water weight. Then as we get fluids we gain fluid but is losing pounds. So it does not show we really are losing. If you do measurements you can see that you lost inches during this time. If you will google the 3 week stall with weight loss surgery or sleeve .... you can fine a lot of videos from different doctors. I am in a stall going on 10 days. I have heard people talking about long stalls but started losing faster. If your exercising you might gain muscle but losing fat. I belong to several gastic sleeve support groups ob face book and learned alot.

I’d look into surgery in a neighbouring country. There are a few Europeans on the forum who may be able to make some recommendations. There are always negative stories & a friend of a friend stories. You can find them about anything. I recently read a story about the prevalence of fungal infections in people who to go to the large nail salons so … People who have good experiences don’t always shout it from the roof tops. We do here though. 🙂 Sure, there can be hiccups & things may not go perfectly to begin but generally everything settles & works out in the end or can be remedied rather easily. Some issues arise because of complications from pre existing conditions too. Talk to people who actually had the surgery (like on here) if you can. You also get negativity from people who think the surgery is an easy way out. It is so NOT easy. They think if you just diet harder & be more committed to exercising you’ll lose weight. If it was as easy as just dieting & exercising you’d be thin now. We all would have been. The negative comments from family &/or friends are why some of us don’t tell people we’ve had the surgery. The potential for developing a drinking addiction arises in response to people not being able to satisfy their food addiction anymore so they turn to alcohol (or sex apparently). I’ve seen stats of 16% after bypass in the first year of which 6% had existing issues with alcohol. Stating a 60% statistic would only benefit the woman in the article’s business by scaring people. If you deal with the issues behind your food addiction your chance for any addiction transfer is negated. It is important to do the ‘head work’ to understand, manage & deal with the issues behind your eating habits, behaviours, cravings, etc. Many people seek the support of a therapist after surgery which benefits their weight loss success & maintenance. The hair loss lasts about three months. Your natural hair loss cycle accelerates in response to the shock of the surgery & your change & reduced diet. So the hair you shed is hair you would be losing anyway - just not as quickly. Your new hair is still growing but just at its usual rate. How many wrinkles you have is much like how much loose skin you will have. It will depend on your age, gender, skin elasticity, genetics, how long you carried your weight, etc. Yes, you likely will look more drawn & have a few additional wrinkles at first but a lot of this reduces in maintenance as your body resettles & you’re eating more & a more nutritious & balanced diet. My uncle told my mother I looked like death when I was near my lowest weight. Now, he tells me I look fabulous. I had a lot of fine lines that developed under my chin while I was losing but they almost totally disappeared in my second year. Sure my marionette lines are deeper & that’s from the skin that stretched from having a fat face. I have the face that is mine now. I have a jawline, a longer neck, cheek bones, & my eyes aren’t as hooded. A few wrinkles are nothing. I’d rather have a few wrinkles or loose skin than be obese & be compromising my health. Besides a little Botox or filler can always help with the wrinkles 😉. Ultimately it is your decision. Keep asking questions so you’re as well informed as you can be. All the best whatever path you choose.

yea - not a good thing to be eating three weeks after surgery. But then, you know that!!

So i’ve been bugging Mr to grill me up a steak all week cuz i was terribly missing some good quality, well cooked MEAT since vacay (where the food was borderline terrible!) Tonight, Mr. came through and prepared THREE of these babies!! Its hard to tell in the pic, but this Porterhouse is GIGANTIC. It was almost 2 inches thick raw, and weighed 2.35 lbs cooked. 😳. Did i mention he made THREE of these?!?! Overkill is an understatement cuz I ate like 1 measly oz of it. Along with some roasted asparagus and portobello mushrooms. Cleaned my bowl: 345 calories, which included an espresso martini i drank beforehand (not shown). Totally hit the spot! Mr is gonna be rewarded for his efforts later (once my food is digested 😂😂😂😂)