Life in the bathroom

 Can someone reassure me that after my DS I won't be a slave to the toilet? I'm kinda afraid of having to poop ALL THE TIME. And if I happen to eat something fatty, will I make it to the toilet? And will I ever be able to eat a piece of white toast again? Or is all whole grains and no white starches?

Thanks guys

No one here can tell you exactly what your experience will be as a post-op.  All we can do is tell you that you need to read hundreds and hundreds of posts to see what others have experienced and how they dealt with it.  You also need to adjust your life based on YOUR experiences as a post -op.  If you have urgent ****ting then you do some trials to find out what helps.  If you have to **** all the time, same thing. 

Post op life is often adjusting the steering wheel a bit to get back on the right track.  Things change for the good and bad over time but you learn to adjust.  Just like life.  Someone dies and we grieve and cope and go on.  We lose a job and we do our resume and apply for new jobs.  You get gas and discover it's from the the glass of milk you have at dinner so you cut it out.  Does that make sense? 

I know that everyone has worries but you seem extra worried.  Are you sure you are mentally ready to have surgery?  Like I said up top.  Read 200 pages of posts here.  You will have your answers or you will know what to do when you cross a bridge.  We all roll the dice hoping for an easy recovery and post op life.  There are no guarantees so we weigh the pros and cons and decide whether it's worth the risk.  We also weigh the risks of obesity and find our answers.  Good luck to you on your decision. 

Thanks for your very truthful and to the point reply. I am doing as much reading as I can, and yes I am worried, but I assure I worry about everything....even my dog getting out of the yard when I let her out. But I like what you had to say, about just adjusting the steering wheel and weighing the options.

 I usually go once a day, unless I've done some stupid eating. Then it's usually a couple trips.

Take for example Super Bowl Sunday. I got my protein in, but managed to squeeze in some crunchy Cheetos, baby harvest cheddar Sun Chips, baby Doritos, pretzels (all previously mention items were in the "Munchies Snack Mix"), white cheddar popcorn, and butter tart ice cream. I swear the cheetos (we've had issues before) took their revenge the next day. 

I'm not a slave to the toilet and in fact, before my DS I sometimes had trouble making it there.  Now things are pretty predictable.  Twice in the morning and then ususally again in the evening. 

As far as the white toast, no I don't eat it and I don't miss it any more (and I really don't miss the 175 lbs I lost.)  But every one seems to come out a little different, I think most don't eat much white starch, but that would be my guess - don't have any certified poll.

I can honestly say I'm not a slave to the toilet.  I go once each morning (for some reason my body has settled on the 5am hour) and occasionally again in the afternoon/evening if I have indulged in my "forbidden" foods.

LIke everything else affecting the body, every single body is different and you really have to learn how your body reacts.  One thing I still believe is that however your body reacts to foods pre-op, it will react relatively the same way post-op, only magnified perhaps 100-fold.  For example, ice cream and brussel sprouts (among other things) always gave me gas.  Pre-op, it was just to annoyance level; but, post-op . . . thankfully I live alone and if that ever changes, I may need to add a "flatulence clause" to the pre-nup . . . I'm just sayin'.

Take it a day at a time, read as much as you can here and listen to your body.

Be well,
Jojo

Although I know a lot of DSers have very regular schedules as far as bowel movements go, I do not.  However, I don't have urgency issues and I usually go twice a day.  I'll be honest with you and say those two visits usually take awhile.  I am smply amazed at how much waste my body creates from the foods I eat, and I'll leave it at that  :)

Most go frequently until your body adjusts to it's new routing then you get into a routine.   I go normally 4 times a day ...  twice in the AM while getting ready for work .... then like clockwork when I get home from work twice again within a few mins of each other.   No biggie.  

BUT ... Nobody can "reassure" you anything other than what happens with MOST people.    You need to go into this knowing there are people who have problems with their new rerouted insides and go frequently based on diet and just what their body wants to do.   There are some rare cases of people "leaking" oil and not making it to the bathroom etc.    These are not the norm but as an adult you need to know it's always a possibility and only you can make the choice if the surgery and what great things it can do for you are worth the risk and gamble.  

I poop a couple times in the morning and that's it for the entire day. I enjoy two pieces of Italian bread toast with jelly or cinnamon and sugar every day with my yogurt, and sometimes in the evening, too. It took some time to work up to this, but I'd say I eat pretty normally. The first couple of years, you will be more cautious, but it takes time to learn how your body reacts to things, and the sensitivity lessens over time, too.

If I do anything reckless, though, I'll spend a few trips in the middle of the night in the bathroom, but I rarely go in the middle of the day.

I go once or twice first thing in the morning.  I eat white bread.  I eat donuts.   Pizza.  Desserts.  Ice-cream.  And normal portions of those.  Nothing is off limits for me.  You will figure out how your body responds.  I haven't gained back an once of weight... if I did, I would omit more carbs than I do.  My BMI is normal.  All with hardly any effort on my end.  I just take my vitamins and use common sense.