Mourning the loss of my post-op taste buds

[sarsar 824]

Oh how I wish I could have my post-op taste buds back. You know, the ones that make everything taste blah or even bad.

My family and I went to the state fair in our area over the weekend. I had a little bites of a bunch of different foods. The difference between this year and last year is that the food actually tasted good this year. Last year I would take a bite of something sweet or fried at the fair and it was just gross so I didn't bother. This year quite the opposite, it was all so yummy. Why can't this surgery change our taste buds forever?

I am still grateful for my sleeve. I was able to enjoy myself and eat like a thin person...a bite of this and that. BSL(before surgery life) I would have gone to the fair and eaten myself sick, it would have been all about food. This time, I was able to go and enjoy myself and my family. I could walk around without sweating like a pig. I could actually walk and walk without being uncomfortable.

Now, if those surgeons could just figure out a way to change those taste buds for good, and while they're at it our brains, too!

[No game 14,437]

I just read this.... My first thought? Lucky b***h!

girl, I never lost my taste for anything!

I've been behind the 8 ball since the beginning.

It's weird (not) how everyone is affected differently, I actually have found myself jealous of the ones that throw up or slime...

I've wanted to automatic emergency shut off valve some of the others got...

Oh well luck of the draw I guess.

You've done well and you sound like you ate like a normal weighted person, so that's a victory in my book!

[sarsar 824]

I just read this.... My first thought? Lucky b***h!

girl, I never lost my taste for anything!

I've been behind the 8 ball since the beginning.

It's weird (not) how everyone is affected differently, I actually have found myself jealous of the ones that throw up or slime...

I've wanted to automatic emergency shut off valve some of the others got...

Oh well luck of the draw I guess.

You've done well and you sound like you ate like a normal weighted person, so that's a victory in my book!

I'm sorry Laura! I wish you could have experienced those things...I can understand the jealousy.

Maybe it's a good thing though. When you go through those things at right after surgery it gives you a false sense of security thinking this is the way it will always be and as you know from reading on here that is just not the case. You have the real deal right from the get go! Trying to look at the positive with the hand that you were dealt.

It is interesting how everyone is different, kind of like being pregnant. I had awful pregnancies, I was sick for months, I would lose 25 or 30 pounds and had zero energy. I so wanted to be one of those people that felt great and loved being pregnant but I wasn't. I wanted to have one more but while I was pregnant with the third I told my husband I just couldn't do it again.

[swizzly 901]

I just read this.... My first thought? Lucky b***h!

girl, I never lost my taste for anything!

I've been behind the 8 ball since the beginning.

It's weird (not) how everyone is affected differently, I actually have found myself jealous of the ones that throw up or slime...

I've wanted to automatic emergency shut off valve some of the others got...

Oh well luck of the draw I guess.

You've done well and you sound like you ate like a normal weighted person, so that's a victory in my book!

Ha, me and you both LV!!! I never, seriously -- okay for one day when I had the dry heaves post-op -- ever lost my appetite, my sense of taste, my desire to eat yummy stuff. Not for a moment!! LOL. Figures!! That said, in my case it was absolutely perfect that it worked out like that, I feel really good to have a normal appetite and that things taste good and that I don't barf or slime or anything. This means I still enjoy my life!! And restricted food/eating too little is a bad place for me to be in, so I'm happy to have my appetite and taste buds!!

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I like having my taste buds back. Mine went wonky for awhile and while it really did help me with the weight loss, it was also a bit of a sadness. I can remember during that time that the world wasn't as brightly colored. It impacted my emotional state slightly.

Now, food tastes good, but, because i eat pretty clean most of the time, I feel like I really enjoy good food the most. Of course, i haven't been to the fair yet this year!

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Agree with you all (except Laura - sorry, you got taken big time!) My taste buds went in all sorts of directions for the first 6 months after surgery. Tastes I used to enjoy were unappealing. Tastes I did not enjoy became appealing. It was surprising for me to lose the appeal of peach and banana flavors after surgery. Now taste is pretty much back to pre surgery levels. Bananas taste good again. Peach ice tea is good again. However, I did not "lose" any new found tastes I acquired after surgery which is a "good thing" because it was mostly healthy foods. Plain Water is just about normal tasting again.

[No game 14,437]

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it I did lose the taste for coffee.. Before the sleeve I drank it everyday black. Since its just not tasted "right"

But being the trooper that I am, I powered through it with the help of stevia and a few drops of milk

It makes me wonder if other things tasted different, and I just ate them anyway? With my binging behaviors, I would often eat things just to eat them, not necessarily for the taste. Just to "fill the hole".

So I'm thinking I'm may not have been as in tune with my change in my taste buds?

[Oregondaisy 2,020]

My taste buds never changed. I kept reading about it and wondering what people were talking about.

[TES 858]

The only thing that changed with my tastes post-op is that freshly ground black pepper tastes way too strong. I used to love it, but now I eat it out of the shaker, which really doesn't taste like much at all. I never lost my taste for any food. Post-op I couldn't eat what I wanted of course, but I remember recovering from surgery in my room and dreaming of a baked potato with broccoli and cheese. Food wasn't appealing for a few days after, but for most of the 3 weeks that I was on full liquids, I was dreaming of food. I do like that I can have a few bites of something now and feel totally satisfied.

[Georgia 2,908]

My taste buds did change. The "thought" of food is still there but it doesn't taste like I think it will with the exception of a few things. I know exactly what you mean. Would love the true taste of things and have the ability to eat much less, though now, the only thing that doesn't taste "off" is junk food! Which, unfortunately, tastes good! .

I

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Oh yes - agree with the spicy comment TES. My tolerance of spicy food has gone way down and has not returned since surgery. That includes mild stuff like black pepper, chipotle or mild chili peppers. No way I could take on hot BBQ Sauce now like I used to be able to ( e.g. Dixie's in Redmond as fellow Seattleites would be familiar with). Whenever I order Thai now it is 1-2 star when I used to do 4-5 star. Not a big loss for me, just different.

[sarsar 824]

Yes, for me it was junk food that tasted bad at first, probably for the first 18 months. Cakes, Cookies and donuts had a terrible baking powder taste to them. I loved them before I was sleeved but after, yuck. I did, too, mourn the loss of them for a short time but then I was thankful that I didn't care for them anymore because I didn't desire them. bread, tortillas, Pasta and rice just tasted like it was pure flour in my mouth. I couldn't stand eating them.

Water took over a year before I could drink it plain again. That one was really hard for me. I loved Water bf my sleeve. Thankfully, that came back for me and it tastes great again.

One thing I find is that I now enjoy spicy foods. I didn't before my sleeve but now they taste so good to me.

So, I wish that the junk food still had a bad taste to it when I eat them then I wouldn't want any. I should have just left it alone, instead, I kept trying them to see if they had a better taste and eventually they did.

[Butterthebean 8,146]

I can see where that would be traumatic...losing the taste for certain bad foods, only to have it come back. A cruel joke by the sleeve gods. I never lost my tastes, or my appetite. I've always gotten hungry and no food has ever negatively affected my sleeve. Some days I'm not even sure I got sleeved....except when I look in the mirror. That's a new me.

[futureloser 190]

I am mourning my early weeks of not being hungry. I will be 5 mos tomorrow but I think I have the stomach of a 6-8 month post op person. I have found myself starting to graze and eat again 2 hrs after a meal. Up until now I had to push myself to eat because i really wasnt hungry at all and then my restriction really kicked in when i did eat. I am back to reality where I have to watch myself or I will be eating around the restriction and stop my weight loss!

[clk 3,519]

Everyone is so different!

It's amazing. I feel for the folks like Laura and Dee that never got to enjoy a break from the "bad stuff."

I taste everything now. I was always a bit of a super sniffer and taster. It's even more pronounced now that I'm post op.

I LOVE spicy and super flavorful foods now, when I used to avoid them. Cheeses of all varieties, too, of course. I still eat very little portions, so I make them as flavorful as possible.

And I can still taste any and all artificial flavors or sugars. The only "pass" on these fake foods is my nectar shake, which I do pretty well with. Other than that, yuck. I prefer homemade to everything else - I make my own bread, my own foods, my own pastries and baked goods. Everything I can - because I can taste how "fake" the processed stuff is now. Even canned veggies - I just talked about this on another thread, I think. I can taste the can even after rinsing the vegetables. Just yuck. Oreos taste like Oreos to me...I just think they're gross now. They leave a film in my mouth!

In a lot of ways, this improves my entire diet overall. I shop mostly the perimeter of the store and that's great. My family enjoys homemade food and we all feel better about that.

It's a drawback when I find myself with extra food. I hate throwing food away so I try to give it away. We just don't eat as much as we used to. So half a cake is all we can manage after a few days, or a dozen Cookies over a couple days. When I make everything myself, you just can't scale some recipes down to the one cookie I'm going to eat or the half slice of cake I'll enjoy, you know? So in that respect, it's sometimes a challenge.

I love the changes in my tastebuds, but mine have been overwhelmingly positive.

Except Peanut Butter. I have always, always, always hated Peanut Butter. And that PB & Co white chocolate peanut butter (White chocolate Wonderful) is so good I actually eat peanut butter again. And it's a food I could have lived without, because seriously, I still have mental issues with the fact that I'm eating peanut butter and also, it's so full of calories and fat and I don't avoid those things but OMG how easy would it be to eat an extra four hundred calories in peanut butter alone? And don't even suggest that I try PB2. This is an obsession with one particular peanut butter (okay, I like the Dark Chocolate Dreams, too) and I'd prefer not to transfer it to anything else.

So I wish my tastebuds still said, "eww, peanut butter."

But other than that I'm thankful that most of it has hung in there.

~Cheri