Bariatric surgery no.2 thread

[Seriouslyconfused3]

For everyone following from the last thread...

If you’re new please feel free to join in and share your experiences

@Neonplant

It's good you've found something you can tolerate and that it's a treat for you.

Your throat pain sounds awful!!! Is it related solely to the cold or could it be something like tonsillitis?

[quote RevisionSurgeryQ]@Neonplant

It's good you've found something you can tolerate and that it's a treat for you.

Your throat pain sounds awful!!! Is it related solely to the cold or could it be something like tonsillitis?[/quote]
I'm pretty sure it's just the cold as my sister had it exactly the same. To the point she thought she was getting tonsillitis.

Although I don't have loads of appetite I am still enjoying food and drinks. I know some people really feel like they aren't interested at all. How's everyone else feeling re food?

I am home and had the bypass on Wednesday. My goodness me what an ordeal afterwards. I couldn't stop being sick it was so bad. But no pain really at all. The sickness has passed now and I can tolerate fluids especially cold milk and ice lollies. Extremely tired but I can deal with that no problem. It is strange how we all get such different symptoms, I was dreading pain but got the sickness which was awful but I cannot fault BMI Alexandra in any way.
I hope you are all ok?

Hi everyone. Just a question- when I'm hungry I get really bad headaches and feel faint and sicky. I can't imagine how I wouldn't get those feelings but LOADS worse if I have the op... going from 2000+ calories a day to 500ish. Any opinions on this please?

@Neonplant what do you mean by frozen cup? Never heard of them and have been genuinely sad at the thought of no more Pepsi max!

www.argos.co.uk/product/1281378?clickSR=slp:term:slush%20maker:1:119:1

These things. Sorry my description was a bit rubbish! I didn't think they worked at first, you need the freezer turned up to the coldest setting. Then use a chilled drink.

Basically the cup has an iced liquid or gel in it and then you put the cold liquid in and scrunch it with your hand. I think there are videos if you look online at the cup brand. It doesn't make loads but it's a great portion for me.

I got 2 for £15 so there's always one in the freezer.

@MeredithMae

Hi everyone. Just a question- when I'm hungry I get really bad headaches and feel faint and sicky. I can't imagine how I wouldn't get those feelings but LOADS worse if I have the op... going from 2000+ calories a day to 500ish. Any opinions on this please?

I had issues with insulin resistance. Which was initially miss diagnosed as pre diabetes. Basically this means I wasn't processing the glycogen fromy food properly because of the insulin issue. This meant I was really hungry most of the time. I'd get shakey in between meals or if I left it too long to eat. So I totally get what you mean.

I found I had a few instances of feeling quite weak early on. But not many and I haven't had one since I was a week post op. I eat every 2.5 to 3.5 hours at the mo but can go longer. So I think the eating little and often prevents feeling weak.

But also it really does seem to have just reduced how much I need to eat. Not just how much I can eat. If I feel a bit empty I'll have something and I feel fine. Where as before I'd need to have sugar and quite a lot of food to deal with the shakes.

@Icecrown - good to hear from you . Sorry to hear about the sickness; it sounds very unpleasant and quite scary! I can relate re: tiredness. I'm 2 and a half weeks post op and often feel overwhelmed by fatigue.

I've recently been informed by the dietician that I have to increase my protein intake. The standard advice from Healthier Weight from their post op diet sheets is around 75-77g of protein per day, but I need to up my intake to 90g due to 'revision surgery'. I'm so thankful for the tip about 'My Protein' powder from @Neonplant as I can drink that throughout the day in place of sugar free cordial. The Peach Tea flavour is very refreshing, especially with lots of ice.

Glad it went well @Icecrown - So true what you say about everyone having different symptoms. I can't work out if I was in pain, felt sick, felt faint - just didn't feel good. My anaesthetist warned me that stomachs and bowels react with spasm when being f**ked about with. And I think that's probably what my symptoms were.

I'm currently taking 40 minutes to drink a flat white in Costa. First day of purée.

@Icecrown that sounds hard! Glad it's passed. It is so odd how we all react so differently I wonder what it is that makes this happen? I felt a bit sick when I came round in recovery but it went straight away with meds.

Lollies are amazing. I've got the little ice pops in the freezer and lots more in the cupboard. I know they're ultra processed. But right now that's not a concern for me.

I was absolutely exhausted the first 10 days. Especially first few. I think it's the anesthesia and then so few calories. Although I'm eating very little now, say 500cal. It's definitely better than when I had like 200 or so in the first few days.

Hope you are getting to rest and have enough time off work?

I have an ear infection on top of my cold. Woke up in lots of pain during the night. Even my tramadol from the op didn't really touch it! I knew something was wrong because I was in so much pain. So called 111 and saw a gp out of hours at 9 and he prescribed an antibiotic spray. Must say I'm impressed with the out of hours service on a Saturday morning. Still in pain but took some codine which was better than the tramadol. So reckon I'll do very little today.

Otherwise all good in terms of surgery recovery. L

@Jubilate how are you doing emotionally /mentally I know you were a bit low the other day.

I also had a flatwhite this morning,(still drinking it) as we got coffees when we went out for the prescription. So at least that's a reward for an early morning hospital trip!

What are your plans for puree? Hope you tolerate it well.

Thanks @Neonplant for both answers. I'm ordering a cup!

Feeling a bit better @Neonplant. I definitely need to stay away from social media (Instagram/Facebook) until things feel a bit more normal.

Purée feels a bit weird so far. I bought ingredients for a few nice dinners (fish pie, macaroni cheese and pulled pork) but now it's here I don't really feel like eating them! Food seems to sit in my chest before eventually moving, so I'm thinking I might be eating a bit too much. It's all a learning curve (and a curve that keeps moving!)

Wow the thread has really moved on since I was last on here. Well done to everyone who has had their surgery recently. There are really hard days at the beginning but they are few and far between once you pass those first few weeks.

I'm now 7 months post op and 6 stone 4lbs down. I'm eating small portions of whatever I fancy really but don't have any cravings for pasta/rice etc, maybe bread the very odd time but not often. One thing I cannot stomach any more though is protein drinks. The taste makes me sick so I am struggling with protein at the minute. All in all I'm very happy with how things are now and don't miss over indulging on crap all day every day. I'll still have treats but in tiny amounts now. Only about 1.5 stone til target although lots of people are saying I don't look like I've any more to lose.

@BorisTheBellendPM

Wow the thread has really moved on since I was last on here. Well done to everyone who has had their surgery recently. There are really hard days at the beginning but they are few and far between once you pass those first few weeks.

I'm now 7 months post op and 6 stone 4lbs down. I'm eating small portions of whatever I fancy really but don't have any cravings for pasta/rice etc, maybe bread the very odd time but not often. One thing I cannot stomach any more though is protein drinks. The taste makes me sick so I am struggling with protein at the minute. All in all I'm very happy with how things are now and don't miss over indulging on crap all day every day. I'll still have treats but in tiny amounts now. Only about 1.5 stone til target although lots of people are saying I don't look like I've any more to lose.

What is your calorie intake now?

Day 12 post op , I've switched protein drinks as it was still taking me hours to have one new one is a much thinner consistency and it took me 20 minutes !! Very happy

I don't calorie count at all but would guess an average of about 700cals if even that. If I stopped eating crisps (corn snacks) most days I'd eat even less. I can't eat much when I eat protein first, 4-5 mouthfuls so on a good day my cals are really low but then I eat crisps so it ups the calories.

Hi all I'm being disciplined and only weighing in weekly. Today is weigh in day and I've lost 1.4 kg or just over 3lb this week. I must admit I'd like to see the 4,5 or 6lb some people lose weekly but I don't want to be greedy!

I'm going to start introducing some soft foods later on this week. Which I'm looking forward to but also a bit scared! I hate feeling sick and have been really luck so far to have a very minimal nausea. So don't want to start now!

My ear infection is a lot less painful but I'm still feeling pretty rough. How is everyone else doing?

Hello, I had my pre op meeting today for my bypass. I stupidly forgot to ask what equipment I'd need at home - I have a big stick blender.

Is there anything else I need to order now? Thank you ☺️

I've been using a jug blender as I find them good for frozen fruits etc. I've got quite a pricy one that blends ice but you can get ones for £20 ish. But it's maybe worth thinking about what you will eat or like to eat. I love smoothies which are really thick and semi frozen so my jug works well for them. So it's up to you if you will eat this type of thing then it might be worth having.

@alldressedupinblue

Hello, I had my pre op meeting today for my bypass. I stupidly forgot to ask what equipment I'd need at home - I have a big stick blender.

Is there anything else I need to order now? Thank you ☺️

I bought this about a week before my bypass and have used it quite a lot since having surgery recently: www.lakeland.co.uk/61780/Lakeland-Personal-Blender-and-Smoothie-Maker

I'm on puree/mush stage and have put the base of a home made cottage pie in there and have just put minced chicken chilli con carne in it. I've also made smoothies and used it to puree chunky chicken and veg soup.

You can't put hot food in it though, the food has to be cold and heated up afterwards, which isn't a problem for me, but I thought it best to mention.

All the best with your surgery!

Please can I join? I'm thinking of having either a gastric sleeve or bypass and would to talk to other people in the same situation. My BMI is 46, I've lost weight before by all the usual methods but find I can't keep it off.

Hi @BirdsBirdsBird I've had my surgery but just 3 weeks ago. So I'm not in the same position right now but was in the position very recently. So would be happy to chat. I'm sure others would be too.

Are there any things in particular you have questions about? Or reservations about with each type of surgery?

I hope that the surgery would be an escape from either feeling embarassed about my weight or thinking about food all the time. I'm prepared to spend some of our saving to do this but would like to feel like I'm getting a reasonable deal.

I'm worried about being in pain and also feeling nauseous in the long term. I can cope with short term nausea I think but long term would be almost as bad as being overweight.

I've had an initial consulation with a surgeon who recommended Gastric Sleeve, and said it had the same success rate as Gastric Bypass. The cost he said was almost £9k, which was more than I expected.

I'm in Manchester, so was interested to see that some other people had recently had surgery at the BMI Alexandra and Spire Manchester. Would be great to hear more about their experiences, if they are able to share them.