Failing at everything

[June66 4]

Hi everyone! Sorry for the information dump, I'm just incredibly overwhelmed right now and would love to hear any experiences you've had. I've been talking with my surgeon about all this. I just need to get some thoughts from other people who've been through it.

I'm in my 20s, autistic and ADHD, and got the SADI early May. It's been 5 weeks. I've basically failed almost every instruction (except to lose weight, I've done great with that! I've lost over 30 lbs post-op).

Like Protein Shakes. I'm very lactose intolerant, and intolerant to several fake sugars, AND allergic to yeast (which is in every Soup known to man). After surgery I became intolerant to every fake sugar, even stevia. The three shakes I had managed to tolerate became intolerable post op. Two have things that burn my insides now, and one just makes me puke because it tastes gross without too much sugar for me to tolerate.

So I tried a Bone Broth and then eventually foods (in line with the stages) to try and get Protein. Lactaid didn't work unfortunately so no cheese, creamy Soups, ECT. meats are hard to tolerate. eggs are ok, and vegan Greek yogurt, but after eating anything consistently (like every day) it makes me nauseous. I wasn't picky before surgery, and actually had a Protein Shake daily, so I wasn't prepared to find food I tolerate literally vomit inducing after a few meals of it.

I have massive food aversion now. I get nauseous anytime I think of food, or smell food, though I manage to find something to choke down with my pills so I don't get more nauseous. I've tried to force myself to eat/drink things, but it always ends in dry heaving at best. Its mental, I'm sure, but I liked eating the same foods pre-op so that's confusing for me.

Water was fine when I was in too much pain to sleep and had all that extra time, so the first week, but now I'm mentally and physically exhausted and want to sleep a lot. Or even just lay down, and with the GERD that means not drinking while laying down. With all the meals and the not drinking around them, I get 40-48 oz of water a day. I'm not exercising (another ding) so I don't actually seem to be too dehydrated? But once I hit the 40-48oz I stop being able to drink, even if I stay up 2 extra hours to get some more down much more slowly. It just makes me nauseous past the amt mentioned. I don't know what that's about.

Also intolerant to the anti-nausea pills btw. For some reason they make the nausea worse and give me stomach cramps to boot, yay.

There's more issues, but that's the gist. There's so much to juggle, and it seems like everything I try to fix my issues leads to nausea. How do you do all of this? And not go crazy? And please tell me it ends soon?

[Amandah123 1]

Have you tried the unflavored powder you mix into things. I will have my surgery in a week and have allergies already the powder is easer for me to mix into things even the Water if I can not stomach the flavored shakes. I like the Isopure Zero Carb 100% Pure whey isolate Protein Powder, Lactose Free, Gluten Free, With Vitamins, Unflavored.

[June66 4]

1 hour ago, Amandah123 said:

Have you tried the unflavored powder you mix into things. I will have my surgery in a week and have allergies already the powder is easer for me to mix into things even the Water if I can not stomach the flavored shakes. I like the Isopure Zero Carb 100% Pure whey isolate Protein Powder, Lactose Free, Gluten Free, With Vitamins, Unflavored.

Yeah I tried that powder in some super blended canned peaches and cherries for taste, but had a lot of trouble with the taste. You can drink it in just Water? I've heard people sprinkle it on things like Soup and mashed potatoes but I don't know how it can taste palatable enough to not vomit up? Or maybe I just vomit really easily 😓

That's super nice of you to suggest though, I really appreciate someone responding at all! I'm trying to convince my body it can tolerate sucralose so I could do that Frogfuel Protein shot. An oz is so much easier to get down than a whole shake.

[LoveLearning 1]

Have you tried adding ginger to meats?

[SpartanMaker 1,315]

So sorry you're going through this!

This does NOT seem normal to me at all. Yes, most of us have things early on that just don't seem to sit right in our guts. For example, I could not eat eggs in any form for the longest time. I also can relate to the mental side of things. I was probably about 3 months post surgery and had a work function where they catered lunch. I knew better, but wanted to "fit in", so I decided to just eat whatever was provided. It was sandwiches so I decided to just eat the deli turkey out of the sandwich. It made me horribly nauseated to the point I had to leave work. After that, it took me almost 2 years before I tried any sort of deli meat at all. I knew it probably wouldn't actually make me sick, but the fear that it would kept me from trying it.

Anyway, my point is a few changes and food aversions is quite normal. EVERYTHING making you sick is not normal. Regarding Fluid intake, lots of people have a little bit of a challenge drinking at first, but it's supposed to get easier and easier as you go. That does not sound like you're experience, though? At 5 weeks in, if you're still only getting 40-48 oz that's pretty low.

You mentioned that you're working with your surgeon. I'm curious what they are telling you? Have you really told them everything you explained above? I have found a lot of people (forgive me for stereotyping a bit), especially younger people are not good at advocating for themselves. Unless you really make your doctor fully understand what's going on, they may not realize just how big of an issue this is.

I would also recommend talking to your dietitian and your therapist about all this if you have not already started working with those other professionals. The dietitian should have more experience dealing with these sorts of dietary issues and may be able to help you find foods that can help. I would also agree with your assessment that at least some of your issues are mental, thus talking to your therapist would be a really good idea because they may be able to teach you some ways to overcome those issues.

With all that our of the way, I wanted to maybe suggest a few things for you to try to help you eat and hydrate:

• Your Water intake seems to be on the low side as I mentioned. I would think you really should be getting closer to 64 oz a day right now. (If your program told you a different amount, go with what they told you.) Be aware that dehydration can actually cause nausea, so could be making your issues worse. IMO, you really need to double-down on drinking, even if that means you have to change your meal schedule. Also, at 5 weeks you should be able to drink several ounces at a time, thus it really should not take hours to get in another 15-20 ounces. If it does, this is yet another thing to talk to your doctor about.
• You could also consider adding in an electrolyte drink to help with the dehydration, but please only do that with your doctor's blessing.
• Consider taking a broad spectrum probiotic. I know that then becomes one more pill to take, but I do think at least some of your digestive issues are due to an out of whack gut microbiota. If you can get your gut healthy again, it should really help.
• You mentioned you are not exercising. At 5 weeks, you really should not be doing any strenuous exercise anyway, but you do need to be walking. I don't know your current weight or how much you're capable of doing, but if all you can do is just 5 minutes to walk to the end of the block and back, that's what you should be doing. If you can do more than 5 minutes, great, do what you can do. I would strongly encourage you to do this outside if at all possible. There are lots of benefits mentally from that exposure to nature, so please don't just walk around the house or on a treadmill. I know this feels like just one more thing to do, but how about you take some water with you and drink some while you're walking? Believe it or not, walking can reduce stress and even improve gut health. In short, don't consider this a nice to have or somehow related to weight loss. Think of it as part of your treatment plan to get past this nausea and on the path to feeling better.
• Food-wise, you mentioned you're okay with yogurt, but getting burned out on it. You might try flavoring it? In other words, if you're just eating plain greek yogurt to avoid the fake sugars and other ingredients, you probably can add extracts to make whatever flavor you want. I love coconut for example, but vanilla, almond, etc. would also work well. Just check the labels carefully and make sure it doesn't have weird ingredients and that it's using natural flavorings.
• Fairlife Milk. This is lactose free and taste just like regular milk (at least to me). It also has a lot more Protein in it than regular milk, so will be a way to boost your protein intake.

Best of luck. I do hope you find solutions to your issues.