New and Have Questions
Hello all. I'm Jamie. I found Jennifer's (doktorchic) blog and she recommended visiting this forum. I'm working on building my OH profile so that should be up soon.
Let me give you my stats:
I had Lap RNY on 6/9/08.
My BMI was 70.
I am currently 3 days away from my 6 week follow-up appointment.
I am having a lot of issues with my surgery and haven't asked anyone for help so please bear with me while I get through this. Here are the issues I'm having:
I feel terrible all the time - tired mostly.
I'm nauseous constantly.
I can't stand the thought of eating, yet I try my best to eat something but I'm not eating every few hours like I should be.
Drinking water HURTS. I have horrible pains after I take one sip of water. It makes me very sick.
Lemon water I can drink; also grape/apple juice is fine, but sometimes it hurts to drink those too.
I got my bloodwork back today and my liver function is very (very, very) high and out of range.
I'm sure it's a mixture of my body adjusting to the change, not getting enough protein in and not eating enough, but everything is counteracting each other.
Any suggestions/thoughts/wisdom is sincerely and deeply appreciated.
Let me give you my stats:
I had Lap RNY on 6/9/08.
My BMI was 70.
I am currently 3 days away from my 6 week follow-up appointment.
I am having a lot of issues with my surgery and haven't asked anyone for help so please bear with me while I get through this. Here are the issues I'm having:
I feel terrible all the time - tired mostly.
I'm nauseous constantly.
I can't stand the thought of eating, yet I try my best to eat something but I'm not eating every few hours like I should be.
Drinking water HURTS. I have horrible pains after I take one sip of water. It makes me very sick.
Lemon water I can drink; also grape/apple juice is fine, but sometimes it hurts to drink those too.
I got my bloodwork back today and my liver function is very (very, very) high and out of range.
I'm sure it's a mixture of my body adjusting to the change, not getting enough protein in and not eating enough, but everything is counteracting each other.
Any suggestions/thoughts/wisdom is sincerely and deeply appreciated.
Hi Jamie, welcome to you and congratulations on your surgery.
Sounds to me like most do what your going through is normal. Being tired is something that can last for a while. You've been through major surgery, had your insides re plumbed, and your body needs the rest.
Nausea is something some get more than others, you need to tell your DR about any of these issues and there are things they can give you to help.
I too had issues drinking water. I loved water before surgery but couldn't stomach it afterward. I also found if I drank cold things my newly formed pouch would not be happy, it hurt so much. My DR suggested I try room temperature drinks, that sometimes cold things caused the pouch to spasm. That really seemed to help while it was healing.
Honestly for me the first 4 months were pure hell, after that, things started getting better everyday. Hang in there this too shall pass. Please be sure to mention all your complaints to the DR they work for you, and should be there to help you.
Best wishes to you on your journey!
Sounds to me like most do what your going through is normal. Being tired is something that can last for a while. You've been through major surgery, had your insides re plumbed, and your body needs the rest.
Nausea is something some get more than others, you need to tell your DR about any of these issues and there are things they can give you to help.
I too had issues drinking water. I loved water before surgery but couldn't stomach it afterward. I also found if I drank cold things my newly formed pouch would not be happy, it hurt so much. My DR suggested I try room temperature drinks, that sometimes cold things caused the pouch to spasm. That really seemed to help while it was healing.
Honestly for me the first 4 months were pure hell, after that, things started getting better everyday. Hang in there this too shall pass. Please be sure to mention all your complaints to the DR they work for you, and should be there to help you.
Best wishes to you on your journey!
Jan
I know I can, I know I can
I know I can, I know I can
Yesterday made nine weeks for me and I just am starting to feel like my old self again. My body decided to revolt against me because it liked being fat. It has been one ache after another but the glympse I caught of myself in the mirror at Walmart yesterday makes it all worth it!
Hang in there relief is on it's way. I agree with Jandell - write all your questions down and ask ask ask away. You are allowed only one body and you likely had the surgery to take the best care you could of that body. Be proactive!
Hang in there relief is on it's way. I agree with Jandell - write all your questions down and ask ask ask away. You are allowed only one body and you likely had the surgery to take the best care you could of that body. Be proactive!
(deactivated member)
on 7/16/08 4:31 am - San Antonio, TX
on 7/16/08 4:31 am - San Antonio, TX
For the first two months at least, I could only drink water with lemon or lime in it. I would keep wedges in the fridge in bags with 6 - each glass of water got the juice from one wedge. I knew when I'd gotten through all 6 I'd reached my 64oz for the day. At first I could only drink water ICE cold, but then it changed and I could only drink it comfortably at room temperature or even warmer. Warm water with lemon always settled ok, even when I was nauseaus.
For the first two months at least I barely ate and only because I had to, not because I wanted to. I lived on avocado (with lemon), cheese, beans, soy milk, and milk. Peanut butter was also ok sometimes, and broth from soups usually settled ok. I didn't throw up much but I was nauseas a lot. I recommend once you find a few things you can stand, just stick to those for a while. It gets easier, but those first couple months can be really awful. My problem was smells. Every kind of strong smell, good or bad, left me sick to my stomach.
Liver function - this process really stresses your liver. Its responsible for filtering out all of the nasty ketone by-products that fat burning causes. Those ketones are toxic, and they are also most of what makes you feel like walking death for a while. WATER WATER WATER. Also, do you have your gall bladder? Liver enzymes can be off if your gall bladder is acting up. For some reason my cholesterol shot up after surgery, and I think it was just due to stress on the liver. Its slowly falling back down but it was kind of a weird side effect.
Hopefully your doctor will have some useful information for you and can help you feel better - there are medications for nausea, and you may need fluids or something. Early out I also bought some plain pedialyte and mixed it with water for electrolytes. Smar****er also has some electrolytes. I had issues with potassium and magnesium being low and that made me feel AWFUL. Tired, crampy, thirsty, nauseaus, sleepy, just poopy.
My only solution was to sleep a lot and drink a lot and make myself eat SOMETHING. Since you are in Texas, go to HEB and get some mootopia skim milk. Its higher in protein and calcium, lactose free, and really helps me and a lot of other people who can't stand most protein drinks to get enough protein. If you can't drink it cold, heat it up and add some nsa hot chocolate, some nsa carnation instant breakfast, or some sugar-free vanilla coffee syrup.
Other options to drink besides water - nsa hawaiian punch, herbal tea (caffeine free) hot or iced - the peach passion from celestial seasonings worked well for me iced early out, warm broth, soy milk, milk, protein drinks, crystal light (I hate it), very watered down low carb juices, tomato juice and V8 if they are allowed.
Also you'd mentioned to me (I think) that you throw up a lot after you eat. Once you throw up your pouch can get really irritated and sometimes its best to go back on liquids or very mushy foods for at least 24 hours afterwards to let it calm down. If you eat too fast or too much it will also often come back up, especially early out. If a food doesn't agree with you, try it again in another month or two - often things will settle better later on.
I hope this helps and I hope you feel better soon!!
For the first two months at least I barely ate and only because I had to, not because I wanted to. I lived on avocado (with lemon), cheese, beans, soy milk, and milk. Peanut butter was also ok sometimes, and broth from soups usually settled ok. I didn't throw up much but I was nauseas a lot. I recommend once you find a few things you can stand, just stick to those for a while. It gets easier, but those first couple months can be really awful. My problem was smells. Every kind of strong smell, good or bad, left me sick to my stomach.
Liver function - this process really stresses your liver. Its responsible for filtering out all of the nasty ketone by-products that fat burning causes. Those ketones are toxic, and they are also most of what makes you feel like walking death for a while. WATER WATER WATER. Also, do you have your gall bladder? Liver enzymes can be off if your gall bladder is acting up. For some reason my cholesterol shot up after surgery, and I think it was just due to stress on the liver. Its slowly falling back down but it was kind of a weird side effect.
Hopefully your doctor will have some useful information for you and can help you feel better - there are medications for nausea, and you may need fluids or something. Early out I also bought some plain pedialyte and mixed it with water for electrolytes. Smar****er also has some electrolytes. I had issues with potassium and magnesium being low and that made me feel AWFUL. Tired, crampy, thirsty, nauseaus, sleepy, just poopy.
My only solution was to sleep a lot and drink a lot and make myself eat SOMETHING. Since you are in Texas, go to HEB and get some mootopia skim milk. Its higher in protein and calcium, lactose free, and really helps me and a lot of other people who can't stand most protein drinks to get enough protein. If you can't drink it cold, heat it up and add some nsa hot chocolate, some nsa carnation instant breakfast, or some sugar-free vanilla coffee syrup.
Other options to drink besides water - nsa hawaiian punch, herbal tea (caffeine free) hot or iced - the peach passion from celestial seasonings worked well for me iced early out, warm broth, soy milk, milk, protein drinks, crystal light (I hate it), very watered down low carb juices, tomato juice and V8 if they are allowed.
Also you'd mentioned to me (I think) that you throw up a lot after you eat. Once you throw up your pouch can get really irritated and sometimes its best to go back on liquids or very mushy foods for at least 24 hours afterwards to let it calm down. If you eat too fast or too much it will also often come back up, especially early out. If a food doesn't agree with you, try it again in another month or two - often things will settle better later on.
I hope this helps and I hope you feel better soon!!
You all will never know how much you have helped me. As I've told a few people before I didn't tell anyone but my family I was having this done. In hindsight, that was completely ridiculous, but it is what it is now. So I really appreciate the advice and most of all just hearing that other people have went through the same thing is enormously helpful as well. So thanks again.
Welcome!!!
I echo what has already been said here. For me, the first three months were pretty miserable for me.
"I feel terrible all the time - tired mostly.
I'm nauseous constantly.
I can't stand the thought of eating, yet I try my best to eat something but I'm not eating every few hours like I should be."
Just to chime in on my experience, I had a very bad case of ketosis flu (Jenn mentions ketones in her post in relation to liver function.) I basically felt like warmed over poo that had been hit by a mack truck and propped up again to get hit again! My body hurt, I was soooo tired (like early pregnancy tired!), the thought of food made me gag, the thought of drinking made me gag, the smell of food would make me vomit - I was ready to die if this was post-op life! My doctor explained what it was and it's because my body was losing soooo much, sooooo fast, my body was in full revolt. It can last a few weeks to up to three months - mine lasted about 2 months. I just ate whatever I could, within limits and didn't worry about protein, with my doctor's blessings.
So yep, yep, yep...sounds normal (though I know nothing about liver function results, so I would have freaked out, too!) Welcome to post-op RNY. I remember posting about how badly I was feeling during this time and someone responded that it gets better and I wanted to kill her! But she was right....it really does get better; it doesn't feel like it now (I had forgotten what feeling better felt like!) but give yourself a few more weeks and you'll be amazed!!
Come back often! I LOVE this board - we talk about anything and everything and the genuine support is awesome.
Jana
This is really good info for me. Being pre-op I've mostly heard all the successes and great things about WLS.
No one had really talked about feeling bad after surgery at the seminar I went to, except one lady who said that "about two months out you'll wonder why you ever did this to your body".
It's good to hear the reality of WLS recovery, and other post op info on this board.
It doesn't discourage me, I still want to have surgery. But the devil you know is easier to deal with than the devil you don't.
No one had really talked about feeling bad after surgery at the seminar I went to, except one lady who said that "about two months out you'll wonder why you ever did this to your body".
It's good to hear the reality of WLS recovery, and other post op info on this board.
It doesn't discourage me, I still want to have surgery. But the devil you know is easier to deal with than the devil you don't.
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