I am 6 days post op from RNY. I tried last night and the night before to take my normal RX Ambien to get a good night sleep. Both nights I was stunned to wake up only 90 minutes - two hours after I took my pill....wide awake and unable to go back to sleep.

Has this happened to anyone else?

I had made the wrong assumption that since it would not need to go through my old huge stomach for a long time, that it may work faster...and possibly be too strong now and that I would have to cut the dose in half. Now I'm wondering if it's the opposite...goes straight from the pouch to the small intestine and never gets in my blood system?? Is that possible??

works for me.

You mean your original Ambien still works the same way it did prior to bypass?? Maybe I need to give it more time. It's only been a week. I see your a fellow Washingtonian Where did you have your surgery? Looks like you have had great success!

thanks! i got mine done with Dr. Moazzez at Inova in Fairfax VA. can not possibly recommend him high enough.

yes, i feel the same effect of Ambien after surgery as i did before. not that i need to take it that often, i sleep fine. sometimes i just take it for fun... to get like CRAZY good sleep!

try crushing one up (mix it with a spoonful of applesauce or something). see if that works better.

You crack me up! We could become friends real fast

You had the best surgeon ever. I wanted him so bad!

My insurance for some odd reason approved me at Reston Hospital for 100% coverage, so I used a surgeon there, Dr. Matthew Fitzer. I'm only a week out, so too new to recommend him or not.

So I just noticed you have only been post op for 6 months and you've lost so much weight! What are you top recommendations for me to get through this first phase successfully? Any lessons learned? Like I couldn't get out and walk today as I have the other days....I was just wiped out...thought I should listen to my aching body for once and rest. Now I'm feeling guilty that perhaps I should have pushed myself. Did you walk every day post surgery that first week or two? Were their days you were unable to? Was it challenging when you were allowed to move on to soft foods for the first time?

I take it but I am 8 years post op. I would suggest taking half when you go to bed and the other half when you wake up in 90 minutes after falling asleep.

Just a thought!

17 hours ago, Miserable said:

I used a surgeon there, Dr. Matthew Fitzer. I'm only a week out, so too new to recommend him or not.

So I just noticed you have only been post op for 6 months and you've lost so much weight! What are you top recommendations for me to get through this first phase successfully? Any lessons learned? Like I couldn't get out and walk today as I have the other days....I was just wiped out...thought I should listen to my aching body for once and rest.

Fitzer is good. you will be fine.

my advice for the first month? be kind to yourself. listen to your body (this would be my main advice at month 1 or month 6, or in perpetuity actually). if your body wants to rest, rest! eventually, your energy will come back and you will literally feel compelled to get up and move. it won't be something you have to do, it will be something you'll be seeking to do! and yes, it's all about walking. don't get crazy with working out for the first year. but walk as much as you can. i usually walk about 3 miles a day. and am still hopping around the house on top of that!

as you progress in your eating, listen to your hunger signals. they have been "reset" by the surgery and are very true now. some days you will be hungry - so feed yourself as much healthy food as it's calling for. other days you won't have hunger at all - so focus on getting the minimum protein but don't force much on top of that.

i remember at about month 2 i had an entire Chipotle salad w/ chicken for dinner. finished it with ease! i was shocked! but then the next day, i sat down to eat a small bowl of chili and got the most overwhelming "full" sensation after about 3 spoonfuls, so i just put it down and walked away.

i personally do not agree with the typical bariatric dr's plan of "three meals a day". i understand why they do it, because a lot of obese people have food addiction issues and they are trying to form better habits. but i've never had food addiction issues. so i eat when hungry and don't when not. i have no desire for junk food or fast food. i only crave healthy vegetables and quality proteins. that's the honest to god truth.

the only "goal" i have everyday is getting at least 100g of protein. that's my floor. for most women i think the floor is 80g. i've been doing this since about Month 2-3. some days i'll eat a lot of food on top of that. other days i barely eat anything on top of that. it's worked out well for me. i just go by how i feel, what my body is telling me.

to get that "floor" amount of protein, i would suggest having a group of cheap, convenient, and easy-to-eat foods that you can eat every single day that is the basis for your diet. for me? every day i eat two eggs cooked in MCT oil (15g protein), an isopure zero-carb drink (40g), single serving skyr fat free yogurt (15g), and a can of black or pinto beans (30g). that's a built-in 100g of protein, with healthy carbs, fiber, and probiotics. that's about 700calories.

after that, sometimes i feel like having a big dinner. or a light dinner. or no dinner. i just follow my hunger signals for that. i think it's good for the body to switch it up like that. 1000 calories one day. 700 the next. 1400 the next. etc.

hope that helps.

but for you, right now a week after surgery... keep drinking that broth! chicken broth, beef bone broth, miso. it will give you hydration, much needed sodium, and will resemble "real food". all that fake sweet shakes and stuff got old for me real fast.

@Miserable I'm betting the issue with the Ambien is post-anesthesia related. Hope you get it sorted soon. I have to have totally black surroundings. Any light, and I wake during the night will mean I can't get back to sleep.

@JohnnyCakes This is ridiculously great advice. Thanks so much for clearly laying it out!

It's also an exact mirror of what my RD told me to do in my 5th appointment yesterday. Really wonderfully refreshing to have such affirmation! She just kept telling me, that it's physically impossible for me to understand or accept how my perspective and food relationship will change overnight after the surgery. That today as a "normie" I'm still subject to all the hormonal hunger cues and need to fill this big empty space, and after surgery, I will have little impetus or incentive to eat. She said, that's why my instructions are to get my fluid in, take my supplements, and concentrate on getting my protein in--she wants me optimally to be at 70g but gives my range of 60-80g daily.

We talked for a long time about hitting some caloric goal. She told me that pre-surgery, I'm absolutely on a diet with a set caloric goal--that's to ensure I don't gain and that I lose at a more "expected rate." But that after surgery, my pouch real estate will be at a premium. There will be no physical way for me to "make an artificial calorie target" and hit it. The pouch will hold what it holds, and want what it wants. And I'm to listen to it and eat when I need to, and not eat when I don't need to--but that each day, I must at least hit my protein limit. But she also said, in the early days right after surgery, that I just have to have set times to get my protein down within a scheduled time frame--even though I won't feel that hunger.

fluffychix - sounds like you have an excellent, progressive thinking dietician who is up to date on the latest research. lucky you! it seems that most of them, unfortunately, really suck.

i’m glad you are in good hands.

I take it and it works just fine.

Hw-273
Sw-226
CW-143
GW-130
Size- 4 or 6, Small in sweats. Small in shirts. depends on how it's cut or made.
Bra Size- 38D

Surgery Date- April 26th, 2017
RNY
"Only those who try will become" FFX

I take zopiclone and have the same issue, lasted about 2hrs then wake up.