A bad start to Anzac Day

Thanks everyone who has posted for your advice. I have been taking it easy since the fainting, drinking gatorade and have purchased protein bars for my bag. It is a real shock when you get to the point I was at. I didn't want to go to hospital as it was my last day of holidays and wanted to be with my family.

The Ambulance Officer's initial concern was that I could possibly have a leak. That was the last thing on my mind. I knew that I am not in the clear of this happeneing for a while yet.

It is good to hear of other peoples experiences and how they coped and got past it.

Thanks again,

Hi lovelies!

Haven't had time to read anything on here but saw this one...
Lozza.. how scary, I get dizzy often and make sure I grab something small to eat or drink as soon as i feel it..

Michelle, I am throwing up most meals now :( especially if the meal is too dense.. I just happen to have that one bite too much (cos i'm a glutton and this is how I got to this stage). I feel so much better after getting rid of that one mouthful.. I have to learn to STOP! when i feel even remotely full.. although for me it's not until about 3 mins after I am full that it registers in my head.
I might have to buy some Greek Yoghurt as my protein isn't as much as it should be.
Doc said I can start swimming now too! wooooooooo...

The ambulance officer was spot on - too much too soon. You need to be especially gentle with yourself for the first 6 weeks. No strenuous exercise or risk of dehydration. It's difficult to drink very much - I also feel thirsty a lot too. All the best to you.

LOZZA - That is terrible. Gosh i hope you get better pretty soon!!!!! xxxx

If you can't take in a huge amount of water, try gatorade or something with some electrolytes. Wearing ted stockings or knee highs will definitely help squish some blood back to your head and heart. I keep some protein bars in my car and all my bags cos when I need food, I need food! I do eat a lot of greek yoghurt too - my fave!

Hi Lozza,
Sorry to hear of your experience. I have a very busy job as a nurse on my feet all day. A number of times i had felt very dizzy and thought i was going to become the patient instead of the nurse. I did go to my local GP and my Blood pressure was very low. I have been on BP medication for years and even as a nurse never thought by losing weight my BP could have dropped so quickly. was less than 2 months since surgery. My GP halved my medication and i am due to go again and have it checked. It is one of my goals to be able to go of medication to hopefully its coming up. Also i need to eat every morning or i feel sick, so i do religiously now, not worth not eating or i feel sick all morning.
I guess its a learning curve how to look after our new tummies and read the early signs.
Hope your feeling better and take care of yourself.
Kazzie

Hello, Lozza.

It takes a while to figure out the new stomach, and I am still finding out stuff almost a year out.

1. I learned in the two months afterwards that if I drank three cups of coffee before eating I would get the foamies, or saliva bubbles, all morning. So, max two cups, then I have to eat solids.
2. Dense protein takes time to eat and digest. In the early months I had to learn to STOP when I felt any fullness.
3. If I went too long without eating my blood sugar lets me know, I get sweats and chills and must get some protein in the tummy. I keep protein bars stashed where I work for that reason,if I have to stay late unexpectedly.
4. Sudden intake of sugar also gives me the sweats and chills. I found that out after drinking a sweetened ice tea in August; two swallows and it was obvious it was not going to work.
5. Easy to eat protein is still my best friend. That is greek yogurt and cottage cheese for me. Also, protein drinks, although I much prefer savory flavors.
6. Do you think ginger tea would help the nausea?

I'm sorry your Easter was not easy; things will get better.

Hope this helps,

Zoe

You poor thing - that would have scared the pants off me - but I am glad you are feeling better.

I guess it could be that you left home on an empty stomach and perhaps sleevers shouldn't. I am 4 weeks sleeved today, and am finding that I can eat mostly anything, although last night I had a few mouthfuls of creamy pasta and I felt 'queezy'. I was at a restaurant with my hubby, and said to him - I just need to go for a walk, which I did for about 10 minutes and this seemed to calm my tummy a bit, but I couldn't sit down for a while, and just wanted to go home. By the time I walked to the car I was fine and then by the time I got home, I was hungry again - go figure!! (sorry about the bold typing - not sure what key I have hit!!)

I have always drunk a lot of water, and was really worried I couldn't as so many had told me, it feels heavy but this has not happended to me and I can say that I am drinking at least 1 litre a day, but black tea as well. A great suggestion about the ice blocks.

I would also suggest carrying with you the pre-packaged protein drinks in the cardboard boxes, at least that way you will have something on hand. I must admit though, with being able to eat most things already, I have only lost 8kgs in 4 weeks and was hoping for a larger drop in the initial weeks!! Is my head in the clouds???

I am also taking iron, Vit D and Vit B tablets each morning, which I was doing prior to the sleeve, which might be helping me to feel quite well.

All in all, it is a 'huge' learning curve, but most importantly, take care of yourself, don't overdo it and rest when you need to. It was a major op and as our tummies don't hurt as such, we might tend to forget, there is a lot going on inside.

take care and big hugs and let us know how are you are feeling.

Thanks for your feedback Donna. I will definately be getting my blood pressure checked regularly and keeping a diary from now on to document when I have anything that feels different or just not good. I am just so over eating full stop. Once getting home from being away, I am going to try some of the recpies from on here and see how I go.

I hope that it doesn't last for long and was just a one time thing. I have been so good until coming to Sydney with my food. I have been so active with walking everwhere and felt so good for doing it. I may have been able to avoid it had I had my breakfast before going. Then again it still may have happened.

Just something that I will be very wary of from now on. The Ambo also said due to walking so far before getting there the blood flow would have stopped and then pooled back to my body. Had I worn my TED stockings this would not have happened. So one big learning experience that I will avoid at all costs.

Feeling so much better tonight after eating.
This was me before passing out.

I am a little over 4 months since my surgery and I had both these issues (vomiting after every meal and fainting/feeling light headed as well as feeling generally quite unwell). I am fairly sure the light headedness for me was low blood pressure (Dr took my pressure a day or so after one of my incidents and it was quite low).

Re. the vomiting - I have had a bit of a rough time with this - vomiting lots. It has finally started to settle down for me (maybe only a few times a week) although I still vomit when I eat too quickly, too much, or if I eat fried foods. You would think I would learn after this long but I still do all of these 3 things! I had a sleeve stretch about 4 weeks ago which did seem to fix it a bit but I dont think really that it was this that fixed me to the point I am at - I really think it is time.

Every week I feel a little better. I am usually a strong healthy person who recovers very quickly from anything, but it seems that my body didn't much like the sleeve surgery.

Definitely go back to your Dr to discuss but if you are like me, it will be a time thing.

Hope you both feel better soon.

Donna

I got some of the soups you told me about. I will try them tomorrow. Funny you mention about nobody responding to your posts. 54 people have looked at my post so far and the only person to comment is you. Either nobody else has had fainting or they don't know what to write or couldn't be bothered writing anything.

I will be resting up after my big week here in Sydney and will keep an eye on my protein intake as well as water. See you soon 8-)

Lozza! That's AWFUL!

I have been vomiting and feeling a bit seedy too...nobody has said anything about it on my diary, and I keep banging on about asking for help, so I am assuming either nobody has this problem or they have no idea what to say...it seems you and I are going through a rough patch with the sleeve.

I have gone back to soups to see if that fixes the problem, pea and ham, to get some protein in. I am worried that I am losing weight because I can't keep anything down!?

I also have problems drinking water, so I have started to suck ice blocks as well. It looks as if we are alone in this!
I am going to call the surgery on Wednesday. Why does this stuff happen when the holidays are in full swing and NOTHING is open? I hope you feel OK now.

I got up this morning at 3am to attend Dawn Service at Martin Place. Hubby and the eldest daughter came along, the 17 year old daughter stayed at the hotel as the 11 year old son did not want to walk anymore. We set off at 3:50am and got there at 4:15 as it was about to start. It had been raining during the night and still sprinkling when we got there. After 15 mins or so I told hubby that I was getting rather hot and starting to see stars. I needed to find somewhere to sit.

As it started to rain heavier I moved back behind some people in front of a building so I was covered and could take my jacket off to cool down. I can't recall exactly what happened next except that I had voices in my head telling me to breath deep, then I came to with lots of people fussing over me , I was on the ground.

Someone gave me a drink of water and they got an ambulance officer to come and check me over. I managed to get up and walk to the ambulance so they didn't have to bring all the gear to me. My blood pressure was low and it was hard for her to get a pulse. My BGL was 5.7 so that was fine. I was dehydrated though and had not had any breakfast before I left. I don't eat at 3am so it just did not occur to me to eat before going.

They wanted to take me to the hospital, but I told them I would be ok once I had something to eat. So hubby and daughter stayed for the rest of the service and I got a lift back to the hotel in the ambulance. I slept on and off from 5:15am to 1:30pm. I could not eat when I got back, so just slept and then had porridge @10:30am.

We have done a huge amount of walking since being in the city last Tueday. The ambulance officer said that she would put it down to too much to soon after my op and it has caused me to be dehydrated. So up my water to 2 litres plus with all the walking. I have been having trouble getting 1 litre down since being away from home. Also there are limited things to eat.

I am feeling much better now, although still feeling a little sickly. I am heading out to the shops around the corner to find something nice to eat. In saying that I have no idea what I feel like. Perhaps some soup will do the trick and settle my tummy.

I hope all of you are enjoying your day wherever you are.