[bebop]

I have spoken with Janniebug about asking her questions here on the forums and she is willing to answer questions about the surgery.

Jannie thanks hon.

first I have done a ton of research so far. my questions are mainly about post op diet. ie: I heard no sugar and no soft drinks or carbonated drinks. true or no?

[jbug]

Not true. I practically live on Diet Mt. Dew.

The no sugar thing is true for some people. It is advised not to eat it or it can cause you to dump as it gets passed through the stomach and intestines quickly and its ugly. It happened to me in the beginning but only sometimes now. I still try to limit my sugar intake though as I know I don't need it.

A good website for some FAQ's is:

www.obesity-surgery.net the surgeon that did my surgery this is his website.

Jbug

[bebop]

did they tell you that at the beginning? see I only drink diet cokes and when I heard that it turned me off. how soon did you start drinking the mtn dew?

[jbug]

It took me about 3 weeks to getting back to drinking sodas. Its not advised to drink them as there is no nutrional value to them but it makes me feel good LOL. There are times though that it seems that I have extra gas from them but it could be something else too.

I go to a support group for people that have had bariatric surgery and almost everyone comes in with soda in hand.

Jbug

[bebop]

ok thanks. so what other foods do the say not to eat? how about snacking attacks? I am a foodaholic

[bebop]

oh did you do the full bypass or lapband?

[jbug]

I had the full bypass.

As for the snacking its encouraged to be kept to a minimum and you will find that you aren't hungry anymore. I am back to having to remind myself to eat.

Jbug

[SeptemberMorn]

Ok, I'm gonna jump in here, too.

Jannie, can you tell me what your most negative after effects were? I heard that you pass a lot of stinky gas. How about the runs? How much weight have you lost in how much time? You can answer this one by PM if you want.

[bebop]

tomi jannie is so sweet. she agreed to answer all our questions! woo hoo! she is a wealth of information on this! hope she checks back in before next week!

[jbug]

The negative side effects I've had so far are a staph infection ( I think my body just normally produces staph because I've gotten it 2 other times from 2 different hospitals), a hernia, dumping syndrome (which is why sugar is highly discouraged but splenda and whatnot is ok) but the dumping went away with time and I only do that sometimes now. My Vitamin D level went low and I was having to take extra Vitamin D but I had that checked last week so we will see if I need to continue that tomorrow. You have to take vitamin supplements for the rest of your life. I take iron, calcium + D, and a multivitamin..the multivitamin I take are the kids gummy vitamins I take 2 and get the stuff I need and its like eating candy.

I have lost 152 in 2 1/2 years...I have about 80-90 left to go. When I saw my surgeon for a check up back in June he told me if I can lose 50 more pounds he will do my hernia repair and take off the extra skin at the same time. I am working on that.

My Aunt had Gastric Bypass in November of last year and has lost 104lbs. She looks awesome.

The rumor that you have to be on baby food for the rest of your life is a myth. This is what I have eaten today....1/2 slice of french toast and 1 sausage link from IHOP, 2 Diet Mt. Dews, 1 Hot Dog and a small portion of chicken helper. I didn't like the chicken helper so later on in the night made me a protein shake and drank that instead.

This would be an ideal menu for someone that has had the surgery....

Breakfast - 1 Milk, 1 Meat, 1 Fruit
Lunch - 1 Meat, 1 Grain, 1 Vegetable
Snack - 1 Milk
Dinner 1 Meat, 1 Grain, 1 Fruit

If you want to snack on other things during the day the 100 calorie packs of things are ok. Pretzels, Animal Crackers, Carrots, Sugar Snap Peas and stuff like that.

They discourage corn for the first year as your tummy is still healing and corn is hard on your tummy.

Hope this helps.

Jbug

[bebop]

jbug I am an emotional eater. that and boredom. do you think I would do ok with it? I don't want to have it done and not lose the weight. or rupture my stomach

[jbug]

You should ideally get therapy along with your surgery so that you can learn different coping skills.

I too am an emotional eater and have done fine on it but then again I had an awesome T that worked with me. Just because you comfort yourself with food doesn't mean you aren't a candidate for the surgery.

Jbug

[bebop]

that is my biggest worry. overeating! errrrrrrrr

[SeptemberMorn]

I'm on 8 different pills a day. Since the food doesn't stay in your small intestine, would that mean that I had to double my meds?

Can you explain "dumping"? Not sure what it is. Sounds gross, though! LOL

Do you have trouble with gas traveling south? LOL

[SeptemberMorn]

Be, I've heard that they counsel you for emtional eating before you go through the surgery. Otherwise, if you don't make yourself sick, you'd stretch your stomach out again and regain the weight. I've also heard that they put you on a diet before the surgery.

JBug, what do you say?

[bebop]

dumping is like major runs! explosive! hits all of a sudden I think.

I have been doing alot of research on it. wow there is alot to it really.

[SeptemberMorn]

EEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!! That is also a scary thought!!! What if it hits while you're out somewhere????

I've run across the term in my own research, but don't think I've read what it actually means.

[bebop]

I think I wouldn't be eating out! I had this happen when I first had my gallbladder out. if we were out eating I would have to rush home to get to the bathroom in time! I lost alot of weight too lol. nothing stayed in! dang wonder what happened to me now? hehehe
actually I think once you have it done you have to figure out what you can eat and what you can't.

[jbug]

Yes dumping is a very quick run to the bathroom.

There might be a minor med adjustment but I doubt it.

After dumping you learn what you can and can not eat. The bad thing is for me anyway is my tummy goes through stages that it refuses to eat certain foods...an example is last thanksgiving turkey made me dump. After a couple of days later I could eat it again. I think the real reason is my Grandma makes her turkey dry.

Jbug

[smiley1984]

I haven't had a gastric bypass for weight loss but had a similar thing because they needed to take bits out for medical reasons.
So maybe my take on the side-effects is a bit biased since I have them but don't have the beneift of losing excess weight (i'm severely underweight from my gut probs)
I only eat at night when I get home - because of dumping. and it does make you need to go to the toilet RIGHT NOW so I know where all the toilets are anywhere I am. But I think the worst part of dumping is when you eat something very sugary it gets dumped and because it is very concentrated in your bowel it sucks all the water out of your body - you get really dehydrated and pass out and get short of breath and it requires a trip to ED. but if I know that's going to happen. the food has to be yummy enough to be worth a hospital trip and at a time of day when I know the hospitals usually quiet.

I know many people have had gastric bypass and think it's wonderful but I always think I would never want to inflict my symptoms on someone else. I think gastric banding is ok - once you start doing things to small bowels, some are fine but some have big problems. But the side effects could be better than being obese and all the problems that come with that.

[bebop]

I have thought about the banding also but personally I don't think I would lose the weight with it like with the bypass. also you have a port for them to inject with saline to tighten it. I don't want to go thru that so many times! waaaaaaaaa

[SeptemberMorn]

It's a fact that you don't lose as much weight with the banding as you do with the bypass. Plus with the banding, you have this thing hanging out of your body!! Nah... I don't think so! Not if it's anything like a colonoscopy!! EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!! That opening gets so raw, sore and infected! NOOOOO THANKS!!

[bebop]

does it hang out? oh lordy! I thought it was under the skin!!!

[wickedwings]

dumping is like that???!? your description of the dumping is a total deja vu for me. it's exactly what my irritable bowel syndrome was like years ago. yeah, it hits ya like, "whaaaooooo!" sorry, didn't mean to be intense. but, yeah, even though i'm skinny as heck and never had these stomach bypass or lapband done, i had that dumping that you described. how weird. yeah, i was diagnosed as having irritable bowel syndrome. i had tests done to see if i had digestive disorder in term of nutrient absorption, but it was all normal (could they have been false positive all along?). lol. fortunately, i have this problem very rarely nowadays ever since i have moved. there's no change in the food, but possibly the water? interesting. boy i sure learned something. lol. sorry, i don't mean to hijack the thread. keep going as you needed to.

[bebop]

hey it is ok. maybe it was the water! for me when I have the problem it is from having my gallbladder taken out. certain foods I eat even now do that to me.