I had the sleeve done in 2017. I suffered for years with GERD and pain. I had a hiatal hernia repair in April, 2024 and it returned in June 2024. This time my organs were in my chest near my heart. So on November 12th I had a hiatal hernia repair AND gastric bypass. I am sooo tired and run down. The smell of certain foods make me sick. I am so afraid to move to the soft food stage because I am afraid it will cause problems again. I’m taking the vitamins and drinking my fluids. Will all of this pass?

I think I am nervous because I wasn’t prepared 100% for the bypass. I knew it was a possibility but had not prepped as a planned bariatric surgery would have been.

does the smell of certain foods make sickness go away?

I plan to begin the soft diet very slowly . Does anyone have any suggestions?

how about the gruesome breath? Does that settle down?

thank you for your assistance.

So sorry you’ve experienced ongoing hernia problems. Hopefully they’ll be a thing of the past now.

Nothing wrong with going slowly as you progress through the stages. Try one or two things & see how you go. I loved mince dishes during the soft food stage: meat balls, bolognese meat sauce, savoury mince all with lots of sauces to keep things moist. Also I made chunkier soups with meat, vegetables, lentils, beans etc. Cook things long and slow to ensure everything is well cooked and soft.

The changes to your sense of smell &/or taste &/or textual aversions are temporary. Did you experience any of these when you had the sleeve? Certain textures bothered me and I became very sensitive to salty & sweet.

The bad breath is associated with Ketosis. You may even experience changes in your body odour too. It too will pass. I Just keep breath mints handy. I took a toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, body wipes & deodorant to work when I returned to help manage the Ketosis odours.

When the body odours & bad breath go and your sense of smell, taste, etc. ‘ normalises’ again differs person to person. It may be a couple of months, a little more or a little less.

All the best.

I had a sleeve and then had HORRENDOUS gerd. I was on 80mg of Nexium per day as well as Pepcid and TUMS and it still wasn't enough. I had a barium swallow and endoscopy and found I had gastritis, esophagitis, and the high levels of PPI daily caused polyps to completely cover my stomach. I had to have 5 endoscopies to remove all the polyps. Then I had the bypass and it completely took care of the gerd. I had to have a ventral hernia surgically repaired and the gerd briefly came back and I went on PPI again for about a month and then it went away again. And I've been fine ever since.

The smell sensitivity does die down, and mostly goes away, but I'm still sensitive to hamburger meat cooking, eggs cooking, and tuna fish. Other than that, the rest all went away.

Bad breath can be ketosis, and as your diet balances out, it'll pass. Most of the time the taste aversions go away, but sometimes they don't. I used to LOVE green olives, pickles, bacon, salt. But now I hate all of that. As soon as I had the bypass, it happened. And that was a year and a half ago.

Sounds like you are getting a crash course into all of this which I’m sure is very overwhelming but honestly there isn’t a whole lot they can do to prepare us for all of this anyways because we are all so different that it’s a bit of a whirlwind regardless. Taking the stages slow is probably your best bet honestly. I think many of us are itching to go faster because most of us love to eat and want to get back to “real food”. My book said it was always fine to go back to the previous stage. I kept them tiny bottles of mouthwash in my purse and just refilled them for the breath and like others mentioned used wipes and reapplied deodorant if I was out for a while although I did ask a couple trusted friends and they said they couldn’t smell it. I didn’t really Have any aversions to smells, but from what I have read on here over several years MOST aversions tend to be temporary. Hopefully this will be the case for you, and you are done with the hernias. Just take it one day at a time and check in with your team as they have requested. You should be surprised how fast the time goes.

You're only two weeks out, so it's absolutely fine to take things slow. It's also fine not to hit the targets that have been set for you this early on. Just do your best. I actually did okay for the first few weeks, but at one point around week 4, my stomach just didn't want certain solid foods and I started having vomiting. My doctor had me go back to liquids for another two weeks. It was no fun at the time, but it eventually went away. Your body will adjust over time and you'll go back to mostly normal. I really liked creamy tomato soup with plain protein powder mixed in during the soft phase. Also, refried beans with some melted cheese were delicious. Think of food as more of a "nice to have" thing right now, knowing you are getting what you need from your protein and vitamin supplements. It's okay just to have a bite or two, or to have the same things for a few days in a row and not get a lot of variety. The first few months you're retraining yourself with eating and your body is going to be doing all sorts of weird things until it recovers.