so much............

I had to get up 4 times last night in the middle of the night to go # 2! I know this can't be forever right????

On a more positive note, I've lost 11.5 in my first week :)

Yay for your loss but you are also correct this won't go on forever. The first couple of weeks after the DS (the switch part for you) are just a little unpredictable while your bosy does some healing and adjusting. Definitely gets better from here.

Since you already had your VSG are they having you phase in solids? I went through 4 phases starting with just liquids the first couple of weeks.

Pete

The DS is relatively new at my hospital so they gave me a Gastric Bypass eating plan. The plan had liquids for the first 6 days. For day 7-9 which is where I am now it suggests cream of wheat, strained fruit and or yogurt, milk, pureed chicken ,pureed fish , pureed vegtables, potatoes, gravy, carnation instant breakfast etc.

Yesterday I had coffee with cream, soft eggs scrambled with butter , tomato soup, and some creamy instant mashed potatoes with pureed chicken and instant gravy and a premier protein shake.

I can eat much more this stage because they did not touch my stomach so I guess that is probably different than most of your experiences on this site.

I searched a lot for 2nd stage DS post op eating plans and could not find anything to follow.

I know that the BM's are what is going to help me loose the weight but 4 times in the middle of the night sure surprised me!

This will be major learning curve for sure but I'm so glad that I made this choice.

As a post-op meal plan that doesn't seem bad for someone like you who only had the switch.

In my case where I had the VSG and the switch at the same time it went something like this:

Up to 2 weeks liquids, up to a week soft foods (yogurt, strained soup), up to a week pureed foods, and then transitioning to regular foods. I think a lot of that was more to not strain my new stomach as opposed to worried about the effect on the switch side.

The initial post-op eating plans are usually all from the surgeons. No one wants to do something that early on that would conflict with the surgeon. As time goes on you will probably find places that you see other people doing things differently than your surgeons office recommends. My take is that the surgeons are less invested in this than the staff so if you can show you are doing something different than the office plan surgeons are OK with it as long as the labs and results back you up, some staff not so much.

As for the BM's I that will get better. 4 times is surprising but you are eating more than most of us at this point and early on this is pretty unpredictable but a couple more weeks should see that mostly settle down.

I don't know for sure but you might want to do a week or two with a little lower fat. This isn't something a DS'r needs to do (and shouldn't) at any time except the first couple of weeks post-op and is not a criticism just a thought. The butter, gravy, and whatever made the mashed potatoes creamy (if anything) may have been a little much at this point. If you aren't bothered by it no harm - no foul.

You'll have a lot of questions along the lines of "is this normal" as time goes on, just ask. Given what you said about it being relatively new you might want to pass the vitamin regimen they eventually give you by a group or do some research since the DS needs are a little more intense and a little different than gastric bypass.

Congrats again,

Pete

I suggest eliminating the straight milk and the fruit, for those can throw many for a loop. Being nearly 12 years out, straight milk will give me an overnight experience just like yours. I'm fine with cheese, yogurt, etc. but milk is out of my life. Try swapping out Carnation (since it requires milk) for another protein drink. The potatoes and cream of wheat are useless for your stomach. Try some ricotta (add a little tomato sauce and cheese) or refried beans instead.

I had to get up 4 times last night in the middle of the night to go # 2! I know this can't be forever right????

what exactly are you eating? A lot of our stooling issues are directly related to what we eat.

Well, no wonder! That gastric bypass diet is totally unsuited for someone with a DS. Better be careful, they may also give you the same vitamin and mineral supplementation advice as for gastric bypass, and you'll end up with nutritional deficiencies. Which will be totally not your fault, and totally not the fault of the DS, but you and your DS will be blamed.

You would do better sticking with easily eaten forms of protein, like eggs, mild fish, shellfish, etc. Avoid milk and that Carnation stuff as most of us become lactose intolerant. You can eat things like tuna salad with full fat mayo because you are only absorbing about 20% of the fat you consume (very different from gastric bypass). You don't have to worry about food getting stuck at the stoma because you don't have one, you still have your normally functioning sleeve. You just need time for the rest of your intestines to recover and adjust.

I'll send you a pm with more info.

Larra

Thanks!