I’m a little over 13 months post op. I thought it might be a good time to share some of the harder stuff in this journey.
This isn’t a negative post. I want to be 100% clear: I would not trade this journey for anything! This is more of a “reality check” for understanding some things you MIGHT experience in this journey.
Also I am prefacing with the understanding that this is MY experience, and while some things may be similar in another person’s journey, each one is truly unique. Most of these points have been discussed elsewhere in my blog, I’m just gathering them all here.
So here are some of the harder things I’ve experienced since surgery:
- CONSTIPATION – This is one of the biggest struggles that I’ve had. I never dealt with this before pre-surgery. In fact, I was really, really regular. Since surgery this has been hard (pun intended) to deal with. Even 13 months out I have to stay completely on top of this or it can get bad. I’ve only had one REALLY bad time with this, but I almost constantly am dealing with this. As I type this, I just got over a bout of it. I have to take several steps daily to keep this in check, including stool softeners, probiotics, Miralax, fruit, etc. Even with all of that, it can be a problem. It’s super frustrating. I miss regular pooping.
- THE MYSTERY PAIN – Around month two or three I started having some weird pains. It was like a pulled muscle or pinched nerve and it was happening all over my body: neck, shoulders, legs, back, left side, right side, etc. These would last for almost about a week. Some were uncomfortable and many were really painful. One I had in my back was utterly excruciating for about 3 days. So bad, in fact, I could hardly walk. Only recently, around month 11, did it start dissipating some. The doctors didn’t give me a whole lot of explanation other than it was due to how I carried myself differently as I walked, sat, slept, etc.
- FOOD TOLERANCE – This varies wildly for everyone. After surgery, even once I got into the phase where I could eat anything, I found a real aversion to eggs. I never had this before and in fact I always loved eggs. I haven’t had them in a while to know if it’s still happening. I know just being averse to eggs is pretty minimal but as someone who’s never dealt with any food aversion, this was odd. They immediately make me nauseous. I can eat things with eggs in them no problem.
- FOOD ADDICTION – Just because you have this surgery and you physically can’t eat as much, doesn’t make your food addictions and patterns go away. I had sort of hoped that maybe I wouldn’t tolerate some “bad” foods like sweets, but that isn’t the case at all. I can still eat ice cream, cake, cookies, nachos, pizza, chips, etc. I eat far less and I do still try to regulate this but I still struggle with this a lot. I find when I’m bored I still want to reach to junk food. This just doesn’t go away and I have to really work on this all the time…and lately I haven’t done as well as in the past. Because of this I’m losing weight far less steadily than in the past.
- FOMO – There is a mental component to eating less. At thanksgiving I want to load up my plate with all the foods and all the desserts and 15 rolls…and I eat like 1/3 a plate of food and I’m full. This goes along with the food addiction. But it can be a real issue in your mind.
- CLOTHES – This is very double edged. I’m loving that I can now shop at normal stores. But I had some old clothes that I really loved that just got way too big on me. Even things I purchased six months ago are starting to get too big, and they are relatively new.
- FLAB – As I lose weight I never considered how flabby I would be. Granted I’m not a gym rat at all so I’m not gaining huge amounts of muscle, but I can’t believe how much flab I have. This flab can cause actual problems though. Thankfully I haven’t dealt with this, but for some they get rashes and infections under the stomach area. For me I have weird folds here and there that can get pinched…especially my butt crack!
- COLD – In the colder months I get and stay cold so much faster. It’s really rough!
- BODY CHEMISTRY – What I’m referring to here is that I think I’m easier to get dizzy. This is also due to changes in meds that constantly happen. Right now I think my blood pressure is dropping low sometimes.
- DUMPING – I’ve only dealt with some level of dumping 2 or 3 times, but it is ROUGH. For me I get to feeling really bad, I get sweaty, I get weak, I get flush, I get dizzy and I get super nauseous. It is NO BUENO.
This is all I can think of for now. I’m sure it isn’t exhaustive at all.
Again, this isn’t to diminish the process at all. DESPITE ALL OF THIS, AND MORE, I WOULD 100% DO IT AGAIN!