Hi One, sl. These days there's a ramp-up to surgery, usually lasting about six months, during which time surgical candidates are given a new diet to follow. The more weight you lose before the surgery, the easier it is for the surgeon to revise the organs that are clustered in your abdomen. You also should be seeing a nutritionist/dietician before & after surgery & you'll be informed of the possible consequences of eating certain foods.
However, your body will tell you what you can & cannot eat. You won't be able to tolerate certain things, like items high in sugar, which cause dumping, or pastas, which don't digest properly. You have less stomach acid after surgery because you have less stomach organ to create gastric juices. So on one hand, heartburn is just a bad memory after, but on the other, there are foods you love that you can't eat anymore.
How you eat for the rest of your life is more guided by your own physiology than a strict diet. There's nothing I can't, or don't eat if I want to eat it. But if I eat certain things, my body might rebel quite violently.
I had RYGB & my gallbladder removed under general anesthesia & was in the hospital for three days. I was pretty nauseated & weak after getting home & ate more painkillers than food for a few days. Oh, & please, make a BIG note of this: start taking stool softener as soon as you get home. Believe me, you don't want to overwork your bowels after your plumbing has been rearranged, & especially if you're taking constipating pain meds. Take the capsules or pills. You can't get enough roughage post-op as you need to properly digest your foods, and you won't be eating that much food because you'll be too exhausted & frail. That won't happen if you have a laparoscopic procedure. The sleeve was not readily available to me 12 years ago when I had surgery, so this was a major surgery & I still have the 7-inch vertical scar to prove it.
Surprisingly, you'll probably realize that your restricted diet is the least of your worries. I remember being panicked at the thought of cheeseburgers & pizzas in my rear-view mirror, but over the years, I've learned how to eat those foods without getting sick to my stomach. It's a process. I don't know about your mom's friend, but I am guessing that story is not true. The mortality rate is something like -1%. That's less than one in 100 people. And it's just a statistic. I've never even heard of anyone who died from bariatric surgery. Even though your digestion is changed, any competent surgeon will make sure everything is going where it's supposed to go & everything is stitched up tight before you go home. Recovery varies from person to person, but in general, you'll be feeling just fine within 2 weeks or less.
I've only experienced dumping once & that was within a few months after surgery. For me it was just a very unpleasant feeling like impending diarrhea, cramps from the middle to the bottom, nausea & a huge emotional feeling that goes with it. I've had menstrual cramps that were worse, though. Maybe someone else can describe it better here.
Alphabetically, my responses are (a) you will have to be conscious of your diet & you always should have been. There's no order in which you need to eat things, but I think it's always stressed that you need to get 50 to 70 grams of protein in each day. The proteins have to be complete, with all amino acids intact, so you can feed your muscles & have energy without sugar & your fat stores can slough off because they aren't being fed. (b) I eat dainty little portions of pie & cake at parties & holidays with no ill effect. (c) Everyone has a different reaction to dumping. (d) I eat rice all the time. It's an essential part of my diet & good, enriched/natural rices contain proteins. (e) Portion control is essential. Try a food & see what your new body says to you. You're not being put on a diet. You're being given a diet for living. (f) Rare. (g) None.
It's not like a fun ride at an amusement park. It's a big deal & requires recovery & kind treatment of your stomach & bowels. Some people who have a lap procedure feel fine within a couple of days. Others take longer. Ask yourself how you heal. Do you get sick a lot? Do you have any chronic problems or disabilities that might get worse during recovery? You'll find your way back to your baseline just like you do when you get flu & then get over it.
You may be surprised at how easy it is. Or you may suddenly find a new problem, like feeling nauseated at the sight of a donut, or the smell of a pot of chili on the stove. You may be grossed out by a mental image of a big frosted birthday cake. You may crave all these things, but trying to eat them, you'll not be able to gag them down. Your body decides.
I think, in addition to reducing your gastric juices, in a big RYGB also literally removes the section of stomach that sends the big nasty cravings to your brain. That is a godsend. If we weren't enslaved by that compulsion, none of us would be here today. It was a huge fear of mine that I'd still have those incessant cravings, constantly hungry & going insane because I couldn't eat anything. Believe me, if you want to eat something, your eating disorder will find a way to make it happen, even if it kills you. Not having the assistance of a hormone to make your brain crave food incessantly is a huge relief.
You still may have diarrhea, constipation, nausea, vomiting, weakness & even some pain. But over time, you'll eat as normally as you want to because you will be in charge, not your stomach juices. Those symptoms will subside unless you dump.
Personally, I eat whatever I want whenever I want. But I love having a normal, height/weight proportional body so much, food is very little competition. I still cook & bake because I love it, but I can only eat a small amount because my stomach can't handle it. A lot of people get a lot of cookies from me! But if it doesn't go down right, my body will send it back up. I listen to my body, not the old tape running in my head.
I had a problem with nausea & vomiting that went on for about four years. I was having the problem when I signed up to join this group, hoping to find an answer from someone here. I was taking anti-nausea meds that were prescribed, but that is antithetical to my healthy life. After talking to my doctor a lot, I arranged for a bariatric endoscopy at the hospital where I had my surgery in 2007. I was given a verbal diagnosis of the results, but a few days ago, realized I had a printout with color images of what the endoscope recorded. Wow! the doctor told me he removed a staple he found & fixed a stitch in there, but I actually saw these things in the images! I'm so glad I went. This is not a normal outcome of surgery, but you can bust a stitch or staple just by vomiting, which is probably what happened to me.
I hope somewhere in all those words I answered your questions. Feel free to re-ask, or ask others, and one or more of us will have an answer to share with you. One more thing: if you've been torturing yourself for years with diets & yo-yo weight readings, have the surgery. For some people, there is no other option. Failing repeatedly messes with your self-esteem & makes you even more emotional, and your eating disorder only gets worse. Sometimes you just have to admit you need a nuclear option, because that pea-shooter isn't hacking it. Bariatric surgery will give you a break & you will have an opportunity to experience food like others do, without fear or compulsions. It's safe & it works when everything else fails.
