Sorry for my lousy nettiquite--I should be introducing myself, etc, but I'm just going to vent.

I was sleeved on June 30, 2010. I am just about a week out and not a happy camper. Some of it is the sleeve, some my work but I'm just freaking out today. Here's my litany:

1. I started feeling hunger 2 days post-op. Now it wasn't the same, intense hunger as before but it was a gnawing pain in my gut and rumblies. Maybe it's acid but the doc did proscribe protonix and I am taking it.

2. I ate my first soft food today. My doctor wanted me on Clear liquids for 2 weeks but I couldn't do it. So I feel guilty about that.

3. I ate about 3-4 T of brocccoli Soup at lunch and a 1/2 oz cheese at dinner and I'm freaked out that I can eat that much 6 days out. I probably could've eaten more cheese comfortably, but decided to quit

4. I'm terrified that I might have spent all this $$ out of pocket and I could fail

5. I had my surgery out of town (flew back today) and don't have a support group yet in town

6. And a lot of work stuff. I applied for 2 new jobs at my work these past two months and I didn't get either of them. So I'm feeling like a general loser on top of it all.

Yikes, that was a lot. Thanks for listening.

Lisalu

I am so sorry you are having a hard time. Those first few weeks can really stink. Just hang in there it does get better. I would call your doctor and see about increasing your dose of PPI to 2x/day. That is what I had to do after about a week out. After 2 months I then went back to 1x/day (hopefully will get off of it someday but I am not worrying about it now).

I can tell that you know you should be following your doctor's diet and not advancing early so I don't need to say much about that except pull yourself up and start following his/her guidelines as far as the diet goes. You do not want to risk that staple line.

As far as those jobs go - yes you WILL be a loser in the biggest sense of the word!!

Frankie

VSG 3/22/10

I am so sorry you are having a rough time. I felt like I was starving to death beginning on day 2 and I just realized yesterday (I will be 15 wks out tomorrow) that I don't get hungry anymore. It must have been acid but it seems to be over now. Things will look brighter soon, that first month can be so surreal.

I think that right after surgery you still have a lot of grehlin in your system and about a week after surgery it goes away. I guess it is already in your blood stream. So don't get discouraged. I kind of panicked after surgery myself and didn't follow the rules a little bit. I was quickly called into line here b/c I was really risking my health. Read about some people with complications and you will quickly understand you don't want to be in the hospital for weeks and weeks with nothing to eat or drink, which is what happens if you get a leak. It is a bit of suffering to get there, but you can do this without moving forward too fast. I always tell people homemade chicken broth got me through this - try it. After a while you can even grind up some of the chicken in the food processor and you'll get a lot of Protein while drinking that and it is very healing. I had a couple small shakes and a lot of chicken broth, Jello, etc. It works. Eventually I dropped the shakes and did other stuff, but it is just a process you have to advance through and some of us do better than others.

THe second thing is we all have been on diets that have failed. No question there. That is why we are here. So I think deep down there can be this worry that we are different and this might not work for us. I'm there too, still worrying I will regain everything I lost and look/feel ridiculous. Sometimes I gain a lb or even 2 and I worry, bc I'm at a point when things are moving slowly. But it usually is cyclical and comes right off after my cycle and eventually I start losing again - I have lost at least 5 lbs each month regardless of what I've done, actually an average of 11 lbs a month. And I don't do everything right at all. The fact is your sleeve is small enough that you simply cannot fall into your old eating patterns b/c there is not enough room to stuff in a great amount of food. It will be very uncomfortable when you overdo and it will re-teach you. There are days I definitely eat more than others, mostly when I'm at home and in the kitchen all day cooking and grazing. But then there are days I don't eat much b/c I'm busy and just get the basics in.

Be patient with yourself. Perhaps there is a bigger plan that is for good, and it doesn't include a job change yet. Right now would be a very tough time to do something new b/c you are not at your best. In a few months you will be so different. This will work, and you will be so glad you did it. I regretted it for a while, that is normal for some of us. I was sorta sad, depressed. A lot of that can be hormones and I just went with it and cried it out. After a week and a half I started perking up a little bit. After 4 weeks much better. At 6 weeks pretty good. Now at almost 5 mos the time has flown and I am smaller. It isn't perfect, that is for sure, but it is fun to lose the weight.

Hang in there.

You plan is bigger than you think right about now....Stay strong, better days are coming....God Bless

You guys rock!! I'm teary-eyed reading your responses. I'm feeling better today; a good night's sleep gives a lot of perspective. I'm getting in touch with my local support group asap. Thanks, again.

I'm sorry you were feeling so miserable. As the others said it will take a while. It's early days at the moment and you have just had a big op. Now whilst I don't want to adopt a bossy or bullying tone, you really must do as your doctor says and follow the diet guidelines. I saw another post on here last week where someone was 'testing' their restriction to see how far it would go, but you really do need to be very strong and do exactly as you are told or you may get yourself into real trouble.

When I had my band fitted 3 years ago I went for my second fill and despite knowing what I should do, which was stick to liquids for the first few days, I didn't and ate some prawns just to see if I could. Big big mistake. In fact it was a massively stupid thing to do as I ended up with a blockage and in horrendous pain, vomiting saliva all night and most of the next day until the hospital could get hold of the doctor to defill my band. Plus it slipped and that was at only 2 months out.

Now I know that the sleeve is very different to the band but the consequences of not doing as you are told are very similar whatever type of surgery you opt for. There will be people here who can tell you exactly what may happen in more detail.

As I said, I'm not being bullying, I wasn't an angel myself and curiosity and cravings got the better of me, but please please do as you are told. It won't be too long before you can have something nice to eat again plus you are going to lose lots and lots of weight and be healthy and beautiful.

Good luck,

Hels xxx