Stress and the DS

It has been a stressful time for me.  Buying the house.  Rehabbing the house.  (I'm still not moved).  Meetiing a great new guy.  And then on Wednesday evening his friend and brother-in-law was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident and we have spent 2 days at the hospital.

I noticed that my size 4 Old Navy kaki pants are baggy.  I have no idea what the scale says becasue I haven't had time to even think about getting on it.

And please listen up if you are a newbie.  Managing your DS during times of intense stress is not a piece of cake.  I have had to work at getting my protein.  I have gone back to drinking ready to drink shakes because I have to have something fast.  I am NOT getting enough water or fat.  I am working on it and am aware of it but it is NOT always easy to take care of yourself post DS when your world gets turned upside down.

But it is simply not an option to skip your vites or skip your protein.  You have to figure out really fast how to manage your DS needs and the stress you are under.

And **** happens guys.  None of us are immune to bad stuff happening, and even good stress can get you off schedule or off kilter and make getting those vites/protein/fluid needs taken care of.

Forewarned is forearmed.  Have some plans in place and hope you never need them.

~Becky

Thanks for the reminder, I'm a pre-op so this helped.
I hope everything smoothes over soon and your house and your bf's brother get back up to snuff soon :)
Sounds like you and your man need a nice long bubblebath with candles.

DSers, how much fat do you try and take in per day?
what's the minimum?
what works for you?

I read that absorption rates are up to 80% for fat, but I can't seem to find anything about recommended miniumums.

Thanks!

How much fat? As much as I can! We (DSers) absorb somewhere between 5 and 30% of the fat we eat, which isn't much. I eat as much fat as I can (which is a lot)  and my total cholesterol is still; at three years out, only 114. Pre-DS, I ate all low or no fat and my cholesterol was 210.

How much fat you personally absorb is going to depend on your anatomy and how your DS is done; common channel length compared to your total intestine length is a major factor of this. And you wont know what your intestinal length is unless your surgeon measures yours. 

For example, my total small intestine was 730 cm long, it was divided into an alimentary limb of 175 cm and a common channel of 125 cm, leaving 430 cm bypassed and used as the biliary limb. If you don't find out what your anatomy was and how it's modified, you will not be able to really understand as much about how your digestive system is altered,

Talk to your surgeon about this before your surgery and make sure he knows you expect a copy of his  written surgical notes with all that information in them.

Kerry 

I get all the fat I can.  Full fat everything.  Extra mayo, extra butter, extra oil in everything. 

~Becky

Yea...I just read this after posting my post. I would NEVER have imagined a situation where I would neglect my health knowing where I have been till I have been through this.

I should have....should should should..sigh.

Yea Becky, we all have a different response to stress; I eat crap and candy when I get stressed or bored. If I don't keep myself busy with a project, I eat too much garbage and gain a few pounds. 

I can eat enough now that I have no problem getting 200 grams of protein a day, but it also means it's more difficult to keep the carbs down. It's all manageable, but you have to realize what your particular difficulties are and then do something about it.

The old saying that ignorance is bliss does not apply for us DSers, for us, ignorance = unhappiness and trouble.


Kerry

{{{{CYBER HUGS}}}}}, Becky.

 Yeah, I found this out when my dad passed and I moved to a new house in the last 6 months. I'm still working on getting back on track with my hydration and vites. My whole routine has been turned upside down.

Good luck.

Jules

Becky, I am sending positive vibes out to the accident folks.  I hope they are on the mend. 

Molly

I completely understand, I havent been around much lately because I suddenly found myself needing a place to stay until it's my turn to move into college dorms. Also applying for job after job and being rejected and having my car breakdown is no fun. Been like this for a couple months with little family support. My hydration and nutrition went to hell and I even caught a cold (I haven't been sick in two years) but luckily my wonderful partner's family has taken me in and I am finally able to focus on hydration and protein, not too easy to do being completely broke and homeless, but anything is possible.
I'm doing better now, and never once forgot about my health, it just had to take a spot on the back burner due to inability.
I wish you the best!! We can do this

-Jessy