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I started my bariatric journey in October 2023. In the picture I'll post is a recent picture @ 236 lbs. the other is me last July at 363+ lbs. From October to my surgery date Feb 7th 2024 I lost 79 lbs. Around 15 of that was after the two week liquid diet leading up to surgery day. I've lost 48 lbs. since surgery. Which doesn't seem like it, since I have had stalls. Despite having a torn meniscus since last June. I workout nearly everyday. Walking when tolerable, but usually on a stationary bike along with lifting light weights. Nothing crazy. I feel like I lose inches far better than I lose pounds. For the first time since 2003-04 I can wear a large shirt without all the XXXX's on it. This was definitely worth it. But, I also feel lucky. I've not had any big issues.

Detox is a fad. Our bodies have kidneys and a liver. They do all the detoxing we need. Now that we've had these surgeries, we have to be more mindful about what we do and don't eat. I would stay away from these fads, increase your fluids, stick to your bariatric diet, move your body and exercise (sweat is a good way to flush out your system, too) and leave the detox stuff alone. They don't provide a real benefit and they can actually do harm.

A bariatric therapist is absolutely worth any time and money invested. Also reach out to the nutritionist at your surgeon's office. Make sure you move your body everyday. Prioritize protein and fluids (try limiting slider foods and junk as much as possible). If you must snack (beyond the allotted ones in the diet your nutritionist gave you) make sure they are healthy but tasty. Look at the calories you're burning vs consuming. Watch your carbs and fats. Watch how much sugar and salt you consume. It's really all about getting back to basics. And there's no easy way to change your mindset, you kind of just have to really want the results more than you want to undo the progress you made. Then you have to retrain your brain.

Thank you I just knew that, no matter how many surgeries I had to have, this is a once in a lifetime shot to fix what was broken and undo the damage I did for decades. Ironically, having 10 surgeries in 2 years actually forced me to slow down, think about everything I eat and drink, don't overdo it but still make sure I move my body. I worked with both my nutritionist and a bariatric therapist for a long time (still working on my body dysmorphia, but that takes a lot longer to work through) to finally get here.

My brother had VSG 15 years ago. He lost over 100 pounds. The first few years his appetite was very small, like order an appetizer for dinner and only eat half. But as time has gone on, what he can eat now looks like what a "normal" person with a smaller appetite would eat. We sat next to each other at my cousin's wedding and he cleared his dinner plate over the course of 30 minutes, which was more than I could do and I was pre-op at the time. He had maybe a bite or two of the cake. I suggest you try the YouTube videos from Dr. John Pilcher and Dr. Matthew Weiner. They both give it to you straight and clear up myths and misconceptions about bariatric surgery, and neither of them are trying to sell you something or gain a bunch of followers like a lot of vloggers. It's just solid medical knowledge made easy to understand. I watched all the videos from both surgeons as I was preparing for my surgery and it really helped.

Ok so I saw my GP on Friday and mentioned to him that I'm getting weight loss surgery and he is ecstatic. He mentioned that the sleeve would be the best operation for me and I said that was the one my bariatric team was considering for me. After a while I started voicing my concerns about how the sleeve can't be reversed and he said that that was ok that I wouldn't want it reversed. He said at first I have so much fat that I actually don't need to eat very much (I weigh 425 pounds) and that over the years my stomach will get bigger and will be able to eventually hold a normal amount of food. Is this true? Maybe somebody who has has a gastric sleeve before can tell me if their stomach grew over thr course of time? I'm wondering if my doctor is full of it and is only telling me the things I want to hear or if he is correct. I'd like to know before I make the decision to permanently alter my body.

Hi, @AnyaC! I'm Andrea. I haven't been scheduled yet, but given the requirements of my insurance, I think I'll be having surgery in August or September. So if we're not exactly September surgery buddies, we're probably going to be close. Right now, I've had my surgeon consult, a zillion blood tests, and my first dietician visit. I have several other required pre-op appointments scheduled, including an endoscopy (tube down the throat to look at my esophagus and entrance of my stomach). Not looking forward to that, but it's my surgeon's standard and he's done about a million bariatric surgeries, so I guess he knows what he's doing. I've just gone from drinking tons of carbonated beverages to 2 cans a day. Thought it would be really hard since I get my caffeine from diet Coke (don't like coffee) but it's been easy so far. I'm reading everything I can get my hands on, trying to learn all I can. I'm about a month into my new exercise routine. I work from home so I got a treadmill and I walk during meetings. I'm doing 20 minutes, 3 times each workday, so it's a mile and a half currently. Monday I will go to 25 minutes. I want to be in the best shape I can for surgery! So what do you have to do pre-op? How are you feeling about it all?

I am currently almost 6 months post op for my original procedure and am writing this from my hospital bed. I am unable to tolerate oral intake of food or fluids of any kind and am being fed via a nasojejunal tube (NJT) and TPN via a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) My surgeon along with many others that have consulted on my case are at a complete loss for what is going on and why I can't tolerate anything. I'm reaching out to fellow people who have undergone bariatric surgery in the hopes of finding someone else with a similar experience to maybe get some opinions/answers. In order to do this I will start from the beginning and tell you all my entire story. I know it's long but I am desperate so please bear with me and read to the end. I will try to explain everything but also be as brief as possible to keep it as short as possible. I had surgery at the end of November 2023. It was a One Anastamosis Gastric Bypass or "mini" bypass. The surgery was routine and there were no issues whatsoever. I couldn't tolerate fluids and my intake was too poor to be released from hospital and progressed to vomiting every time I drank anything. Was diagnosed with a stricture and it was dilated and I finally started progressing. I was discharged from hospital finally almost 2 weeks post op (booked in for further dilatations at regular intervals to slowly stretch the stricture) and was home for less than 24hrs before it began again and my surgeon readmitted me and I underwent another dilatation. Upon getting back to my room I started violently vomiting and no amount of antiemetics would settle it. Emergency CT scan confirmed the stricture was perforated and my stomach contents were leaking into my abdominal cavity. I developed sepsis and had a nasogastric tube inserted for drainage. I underwent IV antibiotics and was later rushed to surgery to repair it, however due to the damage from the infection, it required a conversion to a Roux EN Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) and I needed my abdomen washed out and other infected tissue removed. It took about 5 hrs. I spent a further month in hospital recovering, initially on TPN to supplement my oral intake but was wraned off as my tolerance improved and was finally discharged. At this point in time I had progressed to a pureed diet. I was by no means meeting my requirements but the benefits of being home vs hospital given everything outweighed the negatives and my surgeon planned on seeing me weekly as well as my dietician. Now here is where is starts to get weird and my real troubles began. Just over a week later I woke up one morning and had a sip of water (with a few drops of cordial to break the surface tension) however as soon as it went down I experienced a wave of nausea. It was different from before, I can't really explain the difference but I just ignored it believing it would go away (Denial as I just wanted to get on with my life and get back to work and due to the conversion surgery, my surgeon had created an extra large opening to account for my body closing the join so that it would end up a normal size.) I started experimenting with foods and fluids, different textures, consistencies, temperatures, etc. I tried absolutely everything I could think of. About a week or so later and my intake was getting progressively worse and I was once again admitted and went straight for an endoscopy (My 3rd since 1st surgery) to dilate the suspected stricture but there wasn't one. I then underwent a barrage of tests and every general and GI surgeon/specialist in my town came and consulted on my case, as well as my surgeon consulting doctors from all over. A NGT was eventually inserted and enteral nutrition (EN) started but was not tolerated and the tube was advanced into my intestines to be a NJT, which was then tolerated but the focus was on trying to get my oral intake to be adequate. I spent weeks in hospital trying different medications, getting tests and ruling out different conditions. I was discharged on EN with the NJT on 16 hour feeds at a rate of 50ml/hr which was not enough to meet my nutrition requirements but was the Max rate I could tolerate and the belief at this stage was that the nausea would go away and I'd be able to eat again. On the 8th of May I was admitted for a gastronomy tube insertion into my remnant stomach via laparoscopy as it was finally decided that this problem was not going away and by this stage I had lost 38kg (84lbs) and was severely malnourished, despite increasing my feed rate to 60ml/hr (still not enough to meet nutritional requirements) The purpose of the gastronomy tube was not only to have a more discreet way of feeding and for comfort and whatnot but because the tube is in my remnant stomach, I should be able to tolerate a much higher rate to actually meet my nutritional requirements and spend less time attached to the feeding pump. Feeds were commenced at 20ml/hr the next day but I developed severe pain and discovered feed had soaked the dressing around the tube. I was yet again rushed into surgery as the tube was leaking. Another NJT was inserted along with a PICC line and both EN and TPN were started to maximise my nutritional status while we wait for my body to heal around the tube in order for that leak to stop happening again. I've been on IV antibiotics and whatnot since as well. I developed a fluid collection in my abdomen and needed a percutaneous drainage which failed as the fluid was too thick to aspirate and a minor infection at the insertion site and it was believed that there was a fistula however luckily that was not the case. However yesterday I had a fluroscopy in which contrasted was put into the tube to see what happens and whether it's now working correctly and that caused me to violently retch as my body tried to expel the fluid from my stomach but as its not connected to my oesophagus anymore, it was unable to do so. This has now lead me to start worrying about whether whatever issue is preventing me from tolerating anything going into my pouch is affecting my remnant stomach too. I'm now facing the prospect of permanent EN and TPN for the rest of my life and I'm not even 30. So if you or anyone you know has any ideas or similar experiences or literally anything, please let me know. Even if it's just a chat because I feel so incredibly alone in this. To anyone that made it this far, I appreciate you taking the time to read this and thank you in advance for any responses. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have as well.

I completely understand your frustration, in the last 8 weeks I've lost and regained the same two pounds. I'm 9 months in..so very close to your timeframe. I read in my bariatric clinic handbook to contact the clinic if weight loss stops longer than 4-5 weeks. I have an appointment next week at which time I will be asking for answers. Like you, I am always at a calorie deficit, I watch every single calorie, fat, sugar and carb gram sticking to my 800 calories a day, 80 protein grams, 50 net carbs a day. My labs are "perfect"... So yeah I do understand, I'm sorry you're going through this, especially for longer than I have. What did your doctor recommend/say? As far as being cold, there are numerous posts here on the forum with other WLS patients discussing being cold all the time - do a search to find them. In fact, as I type this I have a heating pad on my back and an electric blanket on in front - its 56°F here too cold!!! Before surgery I would have been fine, I kept my heat on during the winter at 55° and was comfortable where as everyone else was chilly. So, its completely normal. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt in 76° sunshine the other day and was still chilly. So rest assured your being cold is completely normal! Let us know what your doctor said and keep us updated!

@shawn524 Hello Shawn. I haven't heard anything like this in all the research I have done, but I'd suggest consulting your surgeon/Dr about it just to get their opinion! I am sure you are aware, but addiction transference can happen with a lot of bariatric patients - just something to be mindful of! I am really glad that you have come so far in your journey! Congratulations

Hello ShoppGirl, Yes, I have spoken with my Dr about my bloating and pain in my pouch from my bloating. My aim in my post was to find out from a typically helpful and supportive community if anyone else experienced the same results. The purpose of this community is to share experiences and to help each other. What you gave was ridicule which is in no way informative or helpful. If, you can't be polite, informative, supportive of those who simply wanted information from their extended bariatric family.....be silent. Your silence in these situations is more valuable than your opinion.

Stalls are very normal. I am a week ahead of you surgery-wise and stalled around the same time and around the same weight (bouncing between 201 and 203 for about 3 weeks). My highest weight was also similar to your, although I had lost quite a bit before surgery, so actually my post-op loss has been much smaller. I've read that somewhere in the 3-6 month range it's common to reach a stall. It generally has nothing to do with your eating or your exercise. It's just an internal metabolic thing. Remember, weight loss from surgery is not immediate. After the first several weeks of rapid loss, you will slow to 1-2 lbs per week, and it will take 1-2 years to stabilize. This calculator can help you figure out how many pounds you might lose at each month mark by inputting your starting weight, height, age, and other factors. https://riskcalculator.facs.org/bariatric/ And this one shows you the likely results for years 1-3: https://michiganbsc.org/DecisionTools/

As per my reply on another of your many posts today.... Are you actually having (or have you had) bariatric surgery?? I see that you post a lot of questions but never actually give any details about yourself, your journey etc even when specifically asked by some of us. We are all open here and share thoughts and feelings etc yet, and sorry if you feel I am being rude, but you just ask question after question like someone trying to get information for a report or article and without you answering back it does not come across as honest.

Rose are you actually having, or have you had, bariatric surgery?? I see that you post a lot of questions but never actually give any details about yourself, your journey etc even when specifically asked by some of us previously. We are all open here and share thoughts and feelings etc yet, and sorry if you feel I am being rude, but you just ask question after question like someone trying to get information for a report or article and without you answering back it does not come across as honest.

The choc sola bagels are a gift, has anyone tried their bagels and i just heard they came out with a cinnamon raisin one? not yet on the bariatric pal website but hopefully soon!!

B12 is extremely important for memory. For bariatric surgery, excluding the lap band, you need 12 weekly B12 injections.

Stumbled on an Australian bariatric surgeon who recommended multiplying your starting weight by 0.7 to find the weight you may end up at. Again based on averages & they said their patients’ stats & not depended upon your surgery. Easy way to check versus searching for the online calculators if you’re interested.

Hey Warren, I'm presuming because they would only look at fixing the opening if they did feel it was contributing to the pain and other issues I'm having 'downstream'. This would not be a true revision in the sense of reducing the size of the pouch. My insurance company also only pays for 1 bariatric surgery in your 'lifetime'. They would only pass for the revision of opening if it were medically necessitated, and they would not consider 'failure to lose weight' or a 'weight regain' as medically necessary. My GI wanted me to talk to the bariatric surgeon who specializes in revisions. The surgeon does not think what is happening to me is 'dumping due to widened opening'. He said it doesn't sound like dumping to him and if that happened to everyone whose opening widened, everyone would be having "dumping" issues after a couple of years. He did point out that both the upper and lower GI I had done do not look at the inside of the pouch so if there is a hernia that is causing the on again/off again pain and on rare occasions bleeding (looks like coffee grounds), then the GI doctor would not know as they never 'scope' the pouch for a routine upper/lower GI. He also indicated that depending on the scope size a GI doctor uses, it doesn't go through every single space that we have (due to us having been um "modified"?) so it would take a doctor who uses an extra long scope. That last part I must confess I do not understand at all. He does have me scheduled right now for a laparoscopic investigatory procedure to take a look inside my pouch and see if there is scar tissue or a hernia that needs to be addressed. He also gave me prescription acid reflux meds and said if i got better after 'taking' them, I could cancel the procedure in 2 weeks. What he fails to understand and I've tried telling his office, I can go a month with no pain. Then I go back to back days in extreme pain. Have not been able to tie it to specific food, time of day I'm eating, etc. My right side starts with a stabby/cramping pain (closest I can compare if it feels like the pain I used to get when I ovulated or that 'stitch in your side' type feeling. It often goes downhill from there. I have tried to get it figured out now for 2 years but taking ANY medicine and 'not having an episode in the next 2 weeks' does NOT give me a definitive answer as I do not have this pain all the time, it is just enough to be frustrating and has lasted LONG enough to be concerning. The 'coffee ground' type bleeding that I have observed is one and off for the past 3 months (maybe it started a while ago but now I know what to 'look for'. I don't like going under anesthesia but I'm probably going to keep that procedure scheduled as I have no guarantee that ANY medicine given for the next 2 weeks has 'fixed' any issue. I wonder if anyone else has ever had their opening revised but not their pouch out of curiosity.

Hi, please can I ask if you know anything more on anyone’s experience of sniffing cocaine after Bariatric surgery?

Funny you should mention Vraylar. I learned the hard way before I was put on Latuda that I couldn't take that. Why? It caused a 7 month long manic episode that was just terrible. It was one of the worst episodes I had ever had I nearly died from the experience and had I actually passed away from it my wife would have been able to sue the pants off of my psychiatrist for malpractice because she definitely was in the wrong. I was on Saphris beforehand and she took me off of Saphris cold turkey and then immediately stuck me on Vraylar. She later said she shouldn't have done that. Anyway, we're supposed to be talking about bariatric surgery not Psychiatric meds. I just figured I'd share my own personal story since we seem to have similar med history. The only reason I'm concerned about Latuda and getting bariatric surgery is you're right, it needs 350 calories to be absorbed properly and if im on a 1k calorie diet that's going to be problematic because thats almost half of my daily calories. But I do so well on Latuda (it really, really helps stabilize my moods and my psychotic symptoms) that it's really stupid to take me off of it and stick me on something else. So my surgeon and nurse practitioner/psychiatrist have to all work together and figure out how it's going to work. I'm not discouraged by your weight in fact, I wish I was your weight I weight almost 440 pounds lol. But I get what you mean you gained 4 pounds. But that's what happens when you don't follow the diet. I've heard lf many people regaining the weight because they got discouraged. I really hope that once I lose the 200-250 pounds I want to lose I'm able to keep it off!

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I see my psychiatrist again after the bariatric nurse goes over the test results in late June. I told my psychiatrist I was getting the sleeve and he didn't say much but I can ask him how it will affect my meds the next time I see him. And I just talked to my wife. Apparently both the surgeon and the nurse practitioner that we saw gave the ok on the sleeve operation and said that there was no malabsorbtion with it unlike the other two operations so as long as I'm given a clean bill of health and pass my Psych eval I should be good to go to start physical therapy and start seeing a bariatric nutritionist.

I’d be careful and talk to the provider you see for your mental health meds as well. When you have gastric sleeve and or bypass medication absorption is impaired. It’s a huge adjustment and one you should really research thoroughly and with your provider input, not just the bariatric team. It’s a life long commitment and all things should be considered for success. I know I had to be evaluated by a mental health provider and cleared by him for surgery. I hope it goes well for you!

So I'm considering getting the gastric sleeve surgery. I'm almost 40 years old and weight almost 440 pounds and have a BMI of 67 and ive tried literally everything to lose weight and nothing has worked. I've never lost more than 20-30 pounds at a time.Bariatric surgery is really the last option for me. So I'm in a bariatric program right now and we've decided that the gastric sleeve would be the safest operation for me. The problem my team including my surgeon is trying to address? I'm schizophrenic and Bipolar and take Antipsychotics. I've maybe gained 100 lbs over the course of trying meds since 2011 to find the right medicine combination. Right now I'm taking Latuda and Seroquel for antipsychotics. My GP has stated over and over again that Latuda might not be the greatest medicine for me to be on because it requires me to consume 350 calories in order for it to work properly. But reallym the medication does wonders with me. When/if I get bariatric surgery that's going to be a challenge for my bariatric team finding a meal or snack that I can fit those calories in. Not to mention my surgeon has mentioned that it will be an extra challenge for him to try to work around my anti psychotics. He didn't say it was impossible but he did call it a great challenge. I guess why I'm posting here is to ask is, is the gastric sleeve an option for me? Or should I consider the switch instead? My bariatric team pretty much flat out said that the bypass would be too risky of a surgery to do with me and they don't do the lap band anymore and my bmi is too risky for the lap band anyway. But before I go and permanently change my stomach I'd like to know what my options are. My team hasn't really been forthcoming and just seem to want to do the surgery as soon as possible. But, I'd like it to be a success as well. Especially when the sleeve is a permanent change to my body.

I went through similar for the first few months and couldn't keep them down. In the end my surgeon agreed that I could take 'normal' vitamins for a month, which I had been taking pre-op, and then to go on to a different format of the bariatric vitamins once my stomach was ready to accept them. I had been taking the hard ones that were so big, dry and tasted disgusting and couldn't keep them down, even the smell of them turned my stomach. Now I can take the capsule format as there is no taste or smell. I also tried a different brand of bariatric capsules but they were cherry tasting (hate) and couldn't keep them down and even putting into a smoothie turned the the taste of the smoothie vile. For the calcium I have to just buy generic ones on Amazon as the special bariatric ones I can get here can only be sold as a package with the horrible cherry capsules. I also had to take a daily dose of iron for a month or so when my levels got too low as I have pernicious anemia. Picture attached of the daily vitamin one I take. I also took their special hair capsule one in addition for three months to help when I was losing so much hair.