Res Ipsa

Wow. Lots of great insight and advice (as usual) from @BurgundyBoy @msmarymac @Jen581791 and @Cindy Lou Who . Just remember that your body and your brain will do all kinds of weird stuff to you in the first few months after weight loss surgery (for example, I was lactose intolerant for a few weeks and had hot flashes for the first time in my life (I’m a guy)). The odds are very high that what you cannot stand to smell now will be fine for you to eat in a few weeks or months.

I am so very sorry to hear of your latest problems. You are in our prayers and best thoughts. Hang in there.

Post op alcohol addition and abuse problems are not a personal fault or weakness, they are are a direct result of the fact that after a gastric bypass (or sleeve) alcohol hits much faster and harder, and thus is much more addictive. Thus, with the wonderful benefits of weight loss surgery comes the negative that alcohol problems are much more common. It is a physiological issue. We are here to support anyone with this very common problem.

Wow. Just wow. You are a real inspiration to us all.

I am not a doctor, but I cannot image why sleeping on your side a week after your surgery (as long as it not painful) would cause you any "internal damage."

I agree! Photos please!!

I am so vey sorry for your family's losses. I also am sorry to hear that you have had post op GERD problems. GERD seems to be a quite common and unpleasant long term side effect for sleeve patients and I wonder whether bariatric surgeons should do a better job of alerting potential sleeve patients of this post op risk (especially since GERD is very rare after a gastric bypass). We are here to support you on your weight loss surgery journey.

@Jen581791 Thank you for posting an update on your amazing trip along with so many photos! I am jealous of you, and hope to plan a similar trip for next year. It sounds like you had a wonderful time even with the heat and the injury. As your post shows, one of the great joys of reaching your goal weight is the ability to lead an active lifestyle. Your weight loss success continues to be an inspiration to us all.

To have pain when drinking liquids three weeks after gastric bypass surgery is not normal. Gas after surgery (some gas is injected into your body during surgery) can be uncomfortable and even painful, but this discomfort/pain usually goes after on its own in a few days after surgery. Although I am not a medical doctor, I find the prescription of an anti-GERD and an anti-ulcer mediation unusual and odd for a patient three weeks out from gastric bypass surgery. Obviously, if you had GERD or ulcers prior to surgery, then such medications appear to be more logical. In any case, you probably should go back to your surgeon for a checkup/testing (and perhaps a barium swallow test) to make sure that you do not have a problem with your gastric bypass. Although the complication rate for gastric bypass surgery is not high, some patients do have serious complications in the days, weeks or months after surgery.

The goal of the pre op diet is to lose 10-15 pounds or so. This weight loss helps the person get their body used to weight loss, speeds the post op time until the person reaches their goal weight, and (perhaps most importantly) "shrinks the liver" which makes the surgery easier and safer. Keep in mid that everyone loses weight both before and after surgery at a different rate. However, in general, people who weight more lose weight faster, people who have a gastric bypass lose weight faster than people who have the gastric sleeve, and men lose weight faster than women. We are here to support you.

Although it is not pinned, here is TTF’s very long and very inspiring NSV thread.

Everyone has trouble drinking normally after weight loss surgery, as our new stomachs (or pouches) are small and swollen. But you really need to keep on drinking with small sips all day long, as serious dehydration is a very real medical risk otherwise Most people who have gastric bypass surgery, including me, can return to being able to “gulp” liquids relatively normally after a couple of months. The liquids just flow directly through our stomach and into the intestines. I do not know if this is true for people who have sleeve surgery, since with the sleeve food and liquids do not flow rapidly from the stomach to the intestines. This difference in the two surgeries is also why GERD is much more common after weight losssurgery for people who have sleeve surgery as compared to people who have a gastric bypass.

Welcome Jennifer! You will meet lots of interesting and helpful people here at TTF, although almost all of the meetings are "virtual" since our active members are all over the world and the only in-person TTF get togethers that I know of occur in Boston (although there used to be get togethers in Minnesota as well). Since your mother had the RNY gastric bypass, what made you decide to have sleeve surgery? We are here to support you.

Please remember that you cannot lose your excess weight and keep it off long term without following a healthy post-op diet plan. There is excellent information on nutrition and what is a proper and healthy post op diet in the Tuft booklet that I posted a link for. Another excellent guide on this topic from Ohio State is here: https://patienteducation.osumc.edu/Documents/LifeAfterBariatric.pdf Note that this Ohio State guide lets you calculate how much weight you should expect to lose. However, as many people here at TTF have shown (including me), you absolutely can lose all of your excess weight, reach your goal weight, and then maintain at that goal weight for the rest of your life as long as you continue to follow a healthy diet, to take your vitamins, to lead an active lifestyle, and to drink lots of no (or very low) calorie liquids. Life after weight loss surgery as a thin, healthy and active person is wonderful. We are here to support you.

Welcome! We are here to support you on your weight loss surgery journey.