Does your DS run your life?

To what extent does having DS decide how your day goes? Do you experience abdominal pain? Dumping? How often does eating a normal meal cause you discomfort/other problems?

how many times a day do you take supplements? And how much a month do you spend on supplements? Are you physically able to take large pills? And can you drink carbonated drinks?

What about booze? Are you physically able to drink 2-3 glasses of wine over the course of an evening? Champagne?

When my lapband wasn't empty, every day was kind of a toss-up. I couldn't eat a number of healthy foods without getting stuck. Not even a single bite. Even with it empty, chicken breast gives me trouble if it's not super moist/fried. I couldn't take large pills. Having my life constantly interrupted by stuck episodes and such was so depressing. I don't want my life to be ruled by the hassles and discomforts of a surgery.

Lots of questions :). You came to the right place for answers.

I am almost 10 years out on my DS (December 2007). I have had no discomfort since the first month or two. The first month is like having a new digestive system. I pooped my pants half a dozen times. In the DS world, we say "Never trust a fart." That is especially true early on. And if you feel the need to go then GO! Your body will not wait.

I take supplements in the morning and after dinner. I spend roughly $3 per day on them and buy them on the internet. All your supplements will need to be "dry" as you cannot absorb anything encased in an oil pill. I take per day total: A (10,000 IU), B complex (3 nights per week), B12 (5000 once per week), Biotin (5000), C (1000), D3 (100,000), E (400), Selenium (400), Zinc (150), and others of my own choosing, i.e., glucosomine, activated charcoal. If you have the DS and don't supplement, you will go blind or maybe even die.

Some of the pills are quite large. The pills fill my palm and I take them in two gulps.

You are not supposed to drink carbonated drinks, as they can stretch out the stomach that was purposely made smaller. That said, I drink 5-6 cans of various diet sodas per day :)

All booze are possible. But those are empty carbs. I enjoy too much red wine nightly.

After the first month or two, there is no discomfort. One weird thing is I now cannot drink milk or eat ice cream. Gives me terrible gas and then runs right through me. Cheese and yogurt are fine.

This is very encouraging. I was compliant with the whole no carbonated drinks thing for a long time. That's not a big deal. But I don't like the idea of "never" being able to eat any certain thing ever again.

Do you experience dumping? I've been trying to figure out of dumping is a thing for DSers. I read it happens with the sleeve. I also read that it can happen with DS, but that wasn't from a DSer.

Dumping is not a thing for DSers because we have a fully functioning stomach with a pyloric valve. Some people with an RNY experience dumping because with a gastric bypass a small pouch replaces the larger stomach and its pyloric valve. (Lack of the valve causes dumping.)

It also shouldn't happen with the sleeve. Maybe the person just ate something that disagreed with them.

I haven't had any problems with dumping. The DS and Sleeve shouldn't have that issue.

I had my lap band removed a couple of years ago (I LOATHE that thing) and met last week with Dr. Keshishian about the DS. Pooping and farts was one of my main questions to him as I spend a lot of time at meetings and conferences around groups of people. My biggest fear was pooping my pants - he said that should never happen and was not a complication of DS. Now I see your comment so I'm hoping for a little more context (ugh I can't believe I'm asking this...).

I used to live in mortal fear of being at a business dinner and not being able to get to the bathroom in time to puke up what was coming up on its own. I don't want to worry about what's coming out the other end.

To add more scatalogical context, this only happened during the first 3 weeks. During that time I was at home recovering and telecommuting. It happened maybe 6 or 8 times. Hasn't happened in the 10 years since. At least not due to the DS. The first several weeks after the DS I had to relearn how to read the messages my body was sending. Previously if I had to poop, I could "hold it" and put it off for a more convenient time. During the "honeymoon" period of the first few weeks, this was not an option for me.

Now everything is normal. I can hold farts and poop like a champ. Both can sometimes cause hazmat units to appear. But there are whole chapters in this forum dedicated to lessening and/or covering those smells. My triggers are simple carbs -- white bread, rice, some pastas (anything but Dreamfields), pizza, and more. The triggers cause me to be gassy 3 hours after. So I only eat them when I know I will be alone then or with close friends or with people I hate. ?

When you are brand new the DS does take over your life. But I think that's OK because my number one job was to just lose the weight. It is very temporary. I could eat a small normal meal at 7 months postop.

At 15 years postop I can eat and drink anything I please. I take supplements twice a day, morning and evening. I spend a little more than a dollar a day. I can swallow any pill I could swallow preop. Booze and carbonation are not an issue. Never have been. I had my first diet soda in the hospital. I was eating steak 10 days postop. The DS does not limit your life. It gives you back your life as a normal size person.

The crapband does not give the patient decent weightloss or quality of life. I know several people who still have them. They are all still fat and if we go out to eat the first thing they do is find the restroom so they will know where to go to throw up. The DS is much easier to live with and it works.

Hi Katie - I'll try to answer your questions. I'm 14+ years postop of a DS (my one and only WLS):

Doesn't rule my day but it does affect my life. No pain at all - sometimes gas but that is dependent on what I may have eaten.

No dumping (per se). I have been know only a handful of times to have eaten way too much way too soon, which does cause sneezing, which is my trigger to put the fork down. If I don't listen...

I can eat "normal" and have for years.

I take supplements 3 times a day. I probably spend about $100 per month (give or take) for everything (vitamins, probiotic, fiber, etc.). I don't take any protein supplements -- this is all vitamins. No problem taking large pills (calcium I take are huge). Yes, I drink carbonated beverages - not alot but I do.

Alcohol isn't an issue except that I'm now a "cheap drunk) meaning 2 or 3 glasses of wine would send me to bed. I usually stick to 1 glass of wine - sometimes 2, but never more than that.

This did not happen overnight - probably over a 2-3 year period, but now my life is my life. I think about food all the time, eat what I want just making sure I get my protein in.

These are great questions, and I'm glad to join the other old-timers as a 12 year vet myself.

Like the others I admit that the DS is first on your mind the first year, but I'll bet that's the same as any wls and the changes you make yourself and that you start to see. After a while, the routine is one of many habits:

• Wake up and have your poop (I'm surprised you didn't ask about this). Many of us do this first thing in the morning and that's it for the day. For me, my body wants to do it at the same time every day, so if I wake up for work at 5am than guess what time I'm getting up on the weekend?
• Drink - constantly. The 64oz minimum has nothing on me. I get that in before lunch, and yes, it does include some diet coke (I drink more of that than I should), but also includes water and iced tea...because I'm in the south.
• Eat..and eat some more. I swear I feed my DS more than I ever starved myself. My dad once marveled about how obese I was despite how little I ate. Well, he now marvels at how much I'm always eating and snacking, and it's on all kinds of things, good and bad. I get my 100+g of protein daily with food (no drinks or bars) by nibbling on cheese, deviled eggs, nuts, bacon bites, and of course, meat. I eat a variety of foods daily. The key to DS is eating full-fat everything, which goes against all other diets, and it's quite liberating...and add extra butter, because we need fat. There are only a couple of things I'm shy about because they make me gassy, and that's milk, pasta and onions. I can count on one hand how often I ever got cramps, but bloating from carbs is pretty common when I indulge.
• Vitamins are taken 4 times a day. I can swallow a handful of pills at a time, so no problem there. I hoard vitamins when I see a good sale, so on average, I'd say I spend around $40/month.