Men with VSG..

Hey Guys.

well im 2 weeks post op with the VSG, and i notice there are not alot of men on the forums with this op? Just wondering from those that are, how are things going? MattMan is one i know of, but not sure of many others, im still in the puree stage, and struggling a little with that, food/puree seems to get stuck now and then, im sure its just swelling and will take time to get used to.

so for you VSG'ers a few questions.

How did you find the puree stage, and how did you progress to solid foods, i'm now allowed to eat rice crackers ( because the pretty much dissolve to nothing ). Wondering how you found the first 1 - 2 months.

How are things going now, is the weight dropping, or how long did it take to kick in? Im pretty happy im 17kg down since the start of this ( 2 weeks pre op and 2 weeks post op). Figure it will slow a bit now, but just wondering what to expect.

Did you loose any hair? if so when and how long for?

anything else you wanna share about your experience would be great I'm not sure if im liking this journey yet, i'm still in the fairly hard stage i guess, seeing friends eat and me having to live off half a cup of mush. I was however surprised how decent some things tasted even though they were pureed.

Thanks
Greg

I can't hel with answers but have you neen to the VSG forum or VSGFAQ.com they have helped me alot with all my questions. I am still not 100% sure but leaning towards VSG

Yup, i'm a regular on the VSG forums, but wanted to hear some mens perspectives .. Good luck with your decisions.

Greg, No matter what procedure you had Those first weeks SUK! Hang in there and keep healing. It does get easier each week. There are a handful of VSG men here. BigBubba Chunk FrankB KKortson Rodney76 Roy TonkaMike are the ones that come to mind who have posted in the past about their VSG. You are in the “international set.” Dave in Japan, S Miller at Antarctica, The hundred or so Canadians Alejandro in Mexico, there’s a Brit and a guy in Israel, and now Reggie T is off in Bagdad. The hairloss is similar for any who are experiencing rapid weight loss. It effects men less than the women. Keeping it cut short will help keep it from getting too thin. Hang in there and hope you are doing great soon. Best Wishes- Dx

The top portion of the DS is the VSG....so I can answer part of your questions.  Eating for the first month was very diffcult.  I was allowed soft solids at 2 weeks out, and I stayed with purees until a month out because my stomach was so swollen.  I have read other VSG/DSers eating regularly after a few weeks, I was not one of them.  I dont' think things started to get back to normal until I was about 3 months out. I hope this helps. Scott

Hi Greg, I'm a VSGer.  Had my surgery October of 2006.  I didn't have a hard time with the soft foods or puree stages.  My Dr told me at my 3 week post-op checkup that I could start "experimenting" to see what I could and could not eat but just to be careful, chew well, and use common sense.  I did, and only "spit up" a couple of times in the following months. I also learned to eat s.l.o.w.l.y. . . and chew well.  The few times I didn't correspond directly with the times I spit it back up or learned all about the foamies. The hardest thing for me the first few weeks post-op was not eating  popcorn. I don't know why either, as I have always liked popcorn, but I really CRAVED it for months after surgery.  Otherwise I was eating soft things like canned tuna, eggs, cottage cheese, chili,  and other soft things within 3 weeks.   I did make it a point to avoid going out to eat at restaurants or at anyones house for the first couple of months after surgery.  Guess I just wanted to experiment and find out what worked well before trying it in "public". I was worried a lot about hair loss but didn't experience any loss.  That appears to be something more women experience than men.  I have taken Propecia for years to stop male pattern baldness (it works too!) so that may be why I didn't lose any hair due to WLS.  Anyhow, welcome to the "losers bench" JP