Having Digestion Problems

I was wondering if i get get advice and maybe hear from people in my situation, I got my VSG last month and im on my 5th week post op. My problem is i'm having trouble with the water intake and eating the food amount. I don't even know what is wrong but i can't get the 64 ounces of liquid in. I also am feeling full very fast with pain. I feel like every time I try to force more liquids im going to burst. My protein is suppose to be 60 grams but i barely can eat or drink enough. Right now the best i can do is 1 egg at breakfast, it has to be poached the runnier the better i can handle it. Protein shakes fill me up for hours and it seems my body has a hard to pushing them through, has anyone ever tried watering them down or adding more milk to them. I seem to be able to do 8 ounces milk okay but not protein shakes.

I even tried soups to get protein and stay hydrated, still very painful to do and can't manage. I'm at a loss, I suffer from IBS, was born with it. So i have to drink lactose free milk, and i thinkt he protein shakes agrivate my stomach. I've tried powder and that makes it worse as it makes the milk curdle. I have to be careful about plant base products because high fodmap food causes bad gas for me. I do get backed up and have to take mirlax to help. I don't know im new to this and i've just been in tears to figure out what am I doing wrong. My friend had this same surgery and she could eat and drink 10 ounces fine. However i barely can even do an ounce. Sigh. My weight has stagnated because my body is just not getting the hydration it needs nor the energy. I think im averaging about 140 to 300 calories a day right now. I read that it's suppose to be 800 and i just can't. I contacted my doctors, but i wish they would keep in touch with me more to talk about things and my frustrations.

I recommend experimenting with different liquids.

What powder are you trying that's curdling milk? Have you tried mixing powder with almond milk or even water?

For the liquid side of things, that's your number 1 job. Try different fluids and different temperatures. Some people have better luck with hot tea, warm broth, luke warm crystal light, ice cold water.. so experiment until you figure out what your body will tolerate.

You might want to try other protein powders. Whey protein isolate has very low lactose and might work for you. There's also egg protein powder out there that might work for you.

That all sounds awful. I'd be very frustrated and upset if I was experiencing those problems. I'm going to offer some suggestions, but please discuss them with someone (ideally a dietician) on your health care team first. I am concerned about your health at this point; a wrong move could make you ill.

First, focus on getting enough fluids. Drop the protein drinks and anything else that you're having trouble with. Drop anything that fills you up for too long, since it might interfere with your ability to drink enough fluids. Don't worry about protein yet. If you're doing well with water and lactose free milk, stick to that. Don't go past this step until you can get the required amount of fluids.

Next, you can start adding in other foods, in the order recommended by whatever diet plan you were given, giving preference to foods with more protein. But I wouldn't bother with the protein shakes at all. Once you can eat a variety of foods, and can take in 600 to 800 calories, you should be able to get 60 grams protein in even without the shakes.

Perhaps you can find a different protein shake or powder that agrees with your new stomach, but experiment with caution. Try just a small amount one day, then a little more the next.

I had a lot of trouble with eggs at first, they never sat well in my stomach. I couldn't eat more than half of one for quite a while as well!

What types of foods are you cleared for right now? Could you try meat purees? Baby food chicken and turkey feel a bit weird to eat, but they might work well with your stomach.

What type of shakes are you using? There are many types of protein powder, so perhaps a different kind (soy vs whey vs others) might sit better.

Your weight is probably stagnating because of the "three week stall." Search the forums for it, it happens to pretty much EVERYBODY early on.

Hi sorry about the issues you are having. I'm just past 2 weeks VSG BUT I had a serious issue and my Medical Team pulled ALL milk totally. I mix my whey protein powder with WATER, I am allowed to use a water flavor add-in (like Crystal Light) and now I am much, MUCH better when I have my protein shake and yes you can add more water if you want. I do not get overfull or sickly feeling. AND if no one told you tha****er in the protein shake IS water/fluid so is milk and about everything else like broth. Maybe you are getting more water/fluid than you think? Just focus on getting your fluids in at this point and try foods you are allowed, if they don't work knock them off your list for now, if it ends up being ONE item that is OK too for now.

I know you can do this!

Hi, Arieanna! Like you, I am 5 weeks out.

I'm so sorry that you're experiencing all of this. It sounds extremely stressful.

First of all: You're not doing anything wrong. All of our bodies are reacting to a tremendous change and we all have diet and nutrition quirks. You should not be handing this alone, though: Your doc and nutritionist MUST help you with this!! Do you feel like they fully understand your IBS and have made any adjustments needed to their diet recommendations? Be a pest. Get your nut's email address. You have hired them to help you with this and it's horrible that they are not in good communication with you.

Agree that at least 64oz of hydration AND 60g protein are challenging to achieve. On days that I've had trouble, I've prioritized hydration (remember--all of your protein drinks count toward your 64oz). We can function without food a lot longer than we can function withou****er. My nut said for me to do "at least 600 calories a day"..I usually hit about 550 or so. Do what you can.

Have you tried clear protein drinks? Like Premier Protein Clear? There's also Syntrax Nectars--they use why isolate but they have a more "juice" texture than milk texture. Also, have you tried fairlife milk? It's high protein, and lactose-free. If you can tolerate milk, which it sounds like you can, 8oz of Fairlife skim milk will give you 13g of protein---that's not bad! https://fairlife.com/ultra-filtered-milks/skim-milk/

Finally, do NOT compare yourself to your friend! Like I said, I'm 5 weeks out and eating or drinking 10oz of ANYTHING would kill me right now. While I can sip pretty consistently without a lot of trouble, taking 10oz of water at once would flood me (and probably shoot out). Taking anything more than 3-4oz of food at any time would be absolutely painful and probably cause me to vomit (I ate a bite above 4oz once and felt like it was going to reflux right out of me).

Thank you for your advice and responding everyone. I've use bipro whey protein powerder and i have those protein shakes made by Premier. I've tried mixing the bipro in broth and water, and i've vomitted this up it's suppose to be lactose free but it feels like my tummy just doesn't like the bipro. I had problems coming out of surgery, i couldn't eat or drink for a long time and when i started eating it as very little. I went home only to find myself back at the hospital for dehydration. I tried pureed chicken and tuna and the pain from those are tremendous, my tummy really struggles. I haven't tried baby food yet. I can pick up a bit and see if i like this. 5 week post op and im suppose to be on soft solids, but i'm finding i can't move from pureed yets, might even have to go backwards to the liquids just to focus on that. I can't intake nearly enough food to move on yet.

My doctors said that my tummy did have a shock and that it stopped pumping food down so i went on a medication to get it active. However I think it is pumping now, but I also have ibs so the other end might be in shock a bit too and not pushing things through properly even with the mirlax. This is very frustrating, because my doctor say this is normal but i don't think this is normal at all. I think not being able to drink and eat properly is dangerous. I don't think just drinking should hurt as much or making me feel like im going to burst but i think they say this so I calm down and not get too upset.

I feel so badly for you; please do work on the fluids -- you know dehydration is very dangerous, and it will help the "go" as well. There are high protein soups available on some bariatric sites; Also chicken bone broth (I found some on Amazon); it has some protein and except for the one which has lemon grass (ew) it was all good.

I use Premier, but it has whey in it which is a milk product. I know there are some vegan protein drinks; maybe that would help?

I think asking your doctor firmly for help about the diet, nutrition and hydration is your first go to.

Please let us know how you are doing!

Hi Arieanna, I'm sorry you are having such a time. A couple of things:

1) On the food, and not being able to get the "soft solids". My surgeon didn't clear us for soft foods until week seven. We weren't given the go ahead for regular food until week nine. The point being that it's completely ok to slow down advancing your diet. We can go without food for a very long time as I believe someone already mentioned. Try not to worry.

2) The liquids. This is where I would worry. If it hurts that badly to drink your fluids you need to see a doc. Maybe a different one if yours doesn't seem to be paying attention. There is no way I could have ever slammed 10oz of liquid that first year and possibly not even into year two. But drinking an ounce or two at a time should not be painful at five weeks. You've already been hospitalized for dehydration; getting on top of this is imperative.

Try not to stress. But if you're really feeling something is wrong AND you're still having the pains you describe get to a different doc for a second opinion. Even telling your surgeon that you're going to find a second opinion may be enough for them to take notice of the severity of your pain. Pain when eating or drinking small amounts is not normal by week five, especially if it's not markedly decreasing.

It's good to come here and vent and ask questions and all of those things. But when it comes to unusual pain and/or other symptoms we can't help you. As tiring as it is, you need to do whatever it takes to get enough medical attention to get yourself fixed up. It's absolutely ok for you to be the squeaky wheel at your docs office. Keep squeaking until they either get things taken care of for you or they can give you a diagnosis that makes sense. Don't give up.

Good luck and keep us posted if you feel up to it.