Hungry Post-Op!

Hi everyone,I'm back home from my surgery on 9/13 and finally getting back online I'd like to thank everyone who took the time out to post good luck wishes,it meant alot to me! So,I'm being a good girl and sticking to my liquids,I've met my protein requirement everyday so far. I'm worried about something though. I was under the impression that I wasn't suppossed to be feeling any hunger this soon after surgery? My pouch is so small right now,I should be feeling very full just from drinking the liquids,but I swear there are times that I feel hungry,and I know it's not just the mental/emotional side of me feeling like I want to eat,I truly feel physically hungry. There was a problem during my surgery,so the next morning they looked at my pouch(I did something similar to a barium swallow) and Dr. A said he was impressed,that it was one of the smallest pouches he's made and everything looks good,so I know that it can't be that my pouch is too big. I'm really disturbed by this,I'm figuring this isn't normal,right? Did any other post-ops feel hunger at all in the first few weeks after surgery? I'm barely 2 weeks out! I wasn't a compulsive eater by any means before the surgery,so I can't figure this out. I'm seeing Dr. A next week,but I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this? Thanks! ~Katie

Hi Katie! Glad to see that you are home and everything went well with your surgery. I was in your pre-op class and just got home yesterday(surgery 9-21). I was surprised at how good food still looked to me. I can't say that I had physical hunger, but seeing food commercials or food at home looks good, but the usual pangs that come with that visual aren't there. I did experience a real hunger pang yesterday and I made some tomato soup with a scoop of beneprotein just to have a different taste than crystal lite or protein drinks. The tomato soup really helped. Have you tried strained soups or sf puddings? maybe you need a little more substance or a change of flavor. Keep up the good work, you are almost at stage 4!!! Terri

Katie: Don't be discouraged. Liquids will not keep you full for long since they run right out of your pouch. Once you move on to more solid or dense foods you will stay full longer. I would talk to your Dr. about this since it is concerning you but I think you will be just fine. Best of luck to you!!! Chryssie

Hi Katie, Welcome home! and welcome to the "losing side". I remember feeling that hungry feeling too...it turned out to be more of a gas thing that felt like hunger. Of course, there is the mental hunger thing that takes a long while to go away. I'm two months out, and still have mental hunger, thank goodness, my pouch won't allow me to give into it. Try to drink when you feel that way, it helps. Good luck. JA

Thanks for the replies! I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who's felt hungry post-op Terri,the tomato soup tasted SO good when I had it last week. I tried cream of chicken 2 days ago,and it tasted decadent,lol! I'm just surprized that I'm still interested in food,they keep advertising those new "chicken selects" at McDonald's every 5 minutes and they look SO good when you haven't eaten solids in more than a week I'm kinda bummed that I still feel like I want to eat these things,I thought I wouldn't be having cravings so soon,but I guess I'll be having to work on the mental side of eating as well as the physical. I can tell this is going to be hard I'd rather be sucking on a protein shake and know I'm going to be losing weight than to still be eating those chicken selects and wondering if I'll ever be happy. I know I made the right choice! ~Katie

You are xperincig head hunger more than anything. Once you can get on a more substantial diet, things will improve dramatically. Peter

I'm so glad for your successful surgery! COngrats and welcome to the loosing side! Try not to be too hard on yourself in the beginning. This realy is the beginning of a totally new life. You may think you feel hungry, but I want to assure you that your pouch is still healing and you no longer have the capacity to feel hunger in the exact same way you used to. So, if you're feeling the same hungry as before surgery...it most likely is not physical. Eventually, it's likely that you will develop the same feeling of hungry...or get a new one. But right now, what you're feeling is most likely a combination of physical things and mental things, believe it or not. Just hang in there, once you get on solid foods (not too long now) you'll be able to get a fuller feeling than with liquids. It will get better. Please DO talk to Dr. A about how you feel and get his advice as well. Good luck to you. Keep us all posted on your progress! Best, Lisa C