My Sugar & Carb Filled Post-Op Hell
Do you ever find yourself in LA, Sia... I could eat you up anyday Miss Delicious 
LoL... so I went to the store today and picked up a bunch of foods recommended by peeps in this post. So far beef jerky, crystal light, regular walnuts and string cheese are a go. I'll post an update in a few daze.
LoL... so I went to the store today and picked up a bunch of foods recommended by peeps in this post. So far beef jerky, crystal light, regular walnuts and string cheese are a go. I'll post an update in a few daze.
Frank
Hi Frank,
Your have gotten some tough love in this thread and I am glad to hear that you are taking steps to change your eating.
Some suggestions:
If you can eat walnuts have you tried cashews? They are also a softer gentlier nut like walnuts.
Fresca is sugar free and i mix it 1/4 fresca to 3/4 water and drink that all the time. Gives ithe water some taste with out the sugar and no crystal lite farts either!
I tried ricotta fluff and it was OK but didn't turn my crank. On the other hand cottage cheese fluff did. Here is my recipe.
one container of cottage cheese
2 - 3 oz of unsweetened chocolate (try baker;s chocolate)
2-4 envelopes of sweetener
Cream cottage cheese using a hand blender till it is totally smooth.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave (will probably take less then a min but stir it every 20 seconds to check)
once chocolate is melted, add one spoonfull of then cottage cheese into it and stir vigorously,
Put chocolate mixture into cottage and stir well.
Add some sweetener and stir. Taste test and adjust as needed.
I eat this while making my lunch to take to work in the AM. It gives me a good boost in the am.
It tasted just like chocolate cheese cake.
Enjoy
Catnip
Your have gotten some tough love in this thread and I am glad to hear that you are taking steps to change your eating.
Some suggestions:
If you can eat walnuts have you tried cashews? They are also a softer gentlier nut like walnuts.
Fresca is sugar free and i mix it 1/4 fresca to 3/4 water and drink that all the time. Gives ithe water some taste with out the sugar and no crystal lite farts either!
I tried ricotta fluff and it was OK but didn't turn my crank. On the other hand cottage cheese fluff did. Here is my recipe.
one container of cottage cheese
2 - 3 oz of unsweetened chocolate (try baker;s chocolate)
2-4 envelopes of sweetener
Cream cottage cheese using a hand blender till it is totally smooth.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave (will probably take less then a min but stir it every 20 seconds to check)
once chocolate is melted, add one spoonfull of then cottage cheese into it and stir vigorously,
Put chocolate mixture into cottage and stir well.
Add some sweetener and stir. Taste test and adjust as needed.
I eat this while making my lunch to take to work in the AM. It gives me a good boost in the am.
It tasted just like chocolate cheese cake.
Enjoy
Catnip
Citrate or Bust (a few bones) !
Hey, Frank,
I've traveled the road you seem to be lurching towards, so let me save you some time, and a lot of misery.....
After surgery, I wasn't hungry, wasn't thirsty, hadn't found a protein powder I liked, so I didn't drink much, didn't eat much, and didn't get much (read: any) extra protein in.
The less I ate, the less I wanted to eat. I did force myself to get some fluids in (still, no protein supplements), but some days the food intake was no more than 3 - 5 bites.
My feet and ankles started swelling up at 6 months (I'm a little surprised it took that long). I was completely listless, and, now, lacked the energy to prepare something that even sounded good to eat. By this time, I was also throwing up some things. It seemed that if I waited too long between meals, or ate too fast, or ate too much (which was darned little at this point, because my stomach had shrunk, I think), or for no discernible reason at all, I would throw up. Not deliberately, but I could feel the food starting to make it's way back up. I'd find a bathroom (or a trash can), and deposit what I'd just managed to choke down in to the toilet (or trash can). Believe me, this was not on purpose. I'd start crying when I could feel the food coming back up, because I'd really been trying at this point to get some food in. In the meantime, my legs were getting bigger and bigger, and the skin on them was getting tighter and tighter, and I was getting more and more tired. I would have to, with my hands, pick my legs up to get them in to the car. I would have to pick them up to get into bed. All I had the energy to do was sleep and go to work. Frequently, at the end of the day, I'd drive home, and have to summon up the energy to get out of my car and go inside my house. Actually fell asleep in the car a couple of times while waiting for the energy to get out of my car.
My PCP was trying to get me to get the protein in, and she had prescribed diuretics for the oedema, but nothing was changing, except that my legs were getting bigger. Also, the water was starting to settle in the belly area. It was at this point that the phrase, "congestive heart failure" escaped her lips. I ended up in the ER for dehydration and potassium deficiency (taking the diuretics, even though they weren't doing any good, was depleting me of potassium), and, of course, protein deficiency. Although my stomach was distended, and my legs looked like big trees, my face was grey and sunken, my shoulder blades were jutting out my back, and my ribs were showing on my chest. It wasn't a pretty sight.
So, the next day, after the ER visit, I started taking the protein bullets. Didn't like them, and, occasionally threw that up, but I kept taking them. Then, I found some powder I could stand (thanks to Lori and her recommendations about Vitalady's stuff). It was a start, at least.
Now, for me, what turned me around was a little on the "alternative" side. I'm not recommending it for you (or anybody else), but, for me, I think it's the reason I'm alive and typing this ridiculously long post.
I went to a Cranial-sacral therapist. Spent nearly 3 hours on my first visit. Still felt nauseous when I thought about food, at least in the beginning, but I've only thrown up once since that first visit (and I have a perfectly good excuse for that one. I was at my dad's house. long story. don't ask). Anyway, the more time passed, the less nauseous I felt around food, the more I was able to push myself to eat. It took 3 months for my body to be ready to let go of the fluids I had retained, but, finally, I lost 40 pounds of water. I got my legs back, and was finally able to get around and even THINK about exercising.
I feel so good now, it's not even funny.
But I came close to killing myself. I do know that now.
Please, Please, Please - do what it takes to start eating the right things, right now.
I do wish you much success with that.
I've traveled the road you seem to be lurching towards, so let me save you some time, and a lot of misery.....
After surgery, I wasn't hungry, wasn't thirsty, hadn't found a protein powder I liked, so I didn't drink much, didn't eat much, and didn't get much (read: any) extra protein in.
The less I ate, the less I wanted to eat. I did force myself to get some fluids in (still, no protein supplements), but some days the food intake was no more than 3 - 5 bites.
My feet and ankles started swelling up at 6 months (I'm a little surprised it took that long). I was completely listless, and, now, lacked the energy to prepare something that even sounded good to eat. By this time, I was also throwing up some things. It seemed that if I waited too long between meals, or ate too fast, or ate too much (which was darned little at this point, because my stomach had shrunk, I think), or for no discernible reason at all, I would throw up. Not deliberately, but I could feel the food starting to make it's way back up. I'd find a bathroom (or a trash can), and deposit what I'd just managed to choke down in to the toilet (or trash can). Believe me, this was not on purpose. I'd start crying when I could feel the food coming back up, because I'd really been trying at this point to get some food in. In the meantime, my legs were getting bigger and bigger, and the skin on them was getting tighter and tighter, and I was getting more and more tired. I would have to, with my hands, pick my legs up to get them in to the car. I would have to pick them up to get into bed. All I had the energy to do was sleep and go to work. Frequently, at the end of the day, I'd drive home, and have to summon up the energy to get out of my car and go inside my house. Actually fell asleep in the car a couple of times while waiting for the energy to get out of my car.
My PCP was trying to get me to get the protein in, and she had prescribed diuretics for the oedema, but nothing was changing, except that my legs were getting bigger. Also, the water was starting to settle in the belly area. It was at this point that the phrase, "congestive heart failure" escaped her lips. I ended up in the ER for dehydration and potassium deficiency (taking the diuretics, even though they weren't doing any good, was depleting me of potassium), and, of course, protein deficiency. Although my stomach was distended, and my legs looked like big trees, my face was grey and sunken, my shoulder blades were jutting out my back, and my ribs were showing on my chest. It wasn't a pretty sight.
So, the next day, after the ER visit, I started taking the protein bullets. Didn't like them, and, occasionally threw that up, but I kept taking them. Then, I found some powder I could stand (thanks to Lori and her recommendations about Vitalady's stuff). It was a start, at least.
Now, for me, what turned me around was a little on the "alternative" side. I'm not recommending it for you (or anybody else), but, for me, I think it's the reason I'm alive and typing this ridiculously long post.
I went to a Cranial-sacral therapist. Spent nearly 3 hours on my first visit. Still felt nauseous when I thought about food, at least in the beginning, but I've only thrown up once since that first visit (and I have a perfectly good excuse for that one. I was at my dad's house. long story. don't ask). Anyway, the more time passed, the less nauseous I felt around food, the more I was able to push myself to eat. It took 3 months for my body to be ready to let go of the fluids I had retained, but, finally, I lost 40 pounds of water. I got my legs back, and was finally able to get around and even THINK about exercising.
I feel so good now, it's not even funny.
But I came close to killing myself. I do know that now.
Please, Please, Please - do what it takes to start eating the right things, right now.
I do wish you much success with that.
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