Upset stomach!

I had my sleeve done on Dec 17. I have had diarrhea since I got home. I am now on soft foods but still have diarrhea. My surgeon wants me to get 100 gm of protein each day so I'm still having to supplement with protein shakes which I know are not helping or possibly causing the diarrhea. Did anyone else experience this? What did you do? I have to go back to work on Jan 4 and need to get this under control!!!!! 

Ms. Happy first of all congratulations on the choice to change your life! I also had surgery 12/17 so we're surgery twins. I actually had the same problem leading up to surgery because of my pre-op liquid diet. Honestly I had to ride it out. I understand it's a pain to deal with at work (I work in a call center so it was definitely not good for me being tied to a desk). Have you considered that you might be lactose intolerant since surgery (it's pretty normal for the surgery to cause this) or were you using the same shakes for your pre-op diet? You can try changing to a lactose free (vegetable or egg protein comes to mind) or lower lactose shake. Whey isolate protein has almost no lactose and that's what I use, and I was lactose intolerant before surgery. Or you can try calling the nurse line/question line for your surgical team or clinic. Like I said you might have to ride it out. Especially if you were not on shakes before surgery your body is simply not used to the amount of protein you're taking in. I would see if your surgeon would be willing to write you a note that you can take/send into your HR dept explaining your surgery and that you may need to break your breaks up into smaller chunks (four 7 or 8 minute breaks or five 6 minute breaks) instead of two 15 minute breaks. I'm really sorry you're having this issue but I promise the issue you're having is normal and at least you can go to the bathroom verses having to take milk of magnesia for days to finally be able to go to the bathroom.  Best of luck! 

You could be lactose intolerant.  It's a common problem after surgery.  Make sure to read your protein label.  If it contains whey concentrate, it contains lactose.  Whey isolate is 99% lactose free.  You may need to find a protein powder that has only whey isolate in it.  

If you are using protein powder, try mixing it with unsweetened almond milk, soy milk, or my favorite, cashew milk.  I also make protein coffee in the morning.  Just make sure you mix the protein powder with lukewarm water to form a paste before you add the hot coffee or it will curdle. I can still eat Greek yogurt and cheese but liquid dairy makes my run tho the bathroom.

It took me months to figure out that my protein powder was making me sick and I was lactose intolerant. 

The vast majority of people have the opposite problem -- constipation. 

It's just a guess, but I'm voting with lactose intolerance also. Can you go off the shakes for a couple of days and just do other, non lactose or whey foods? A couple of days at 40 or 50 geams of protein won't hurt anything, and might help you figure this out.

You can ask your surgeon for permission first, but a few Immodium pills can give instant relief.  Many of us use probiotics to keep us regular.  I also take fiber capsules everyday.  The fiber soaks up the fluid and make me more regular.

The bottom line is that your old system has been surgically altered and avoiding constipation and diarrhea has been part of my life since surgery.

Sounds like you might be short on the fiber, I had the same problem to some extent and I picked up some gummy fiber supplements at Costco and it helped considerably. Good luck.