Is it okay to take Imodium 4 days post-op?

[writegirl]

@Settledownnow It's interesting that even in that one practice, the surgeons all prescribe different plans for their phases. Also interesting that they allow cream of wheat on their "liquid" diet--that is not offered on the liquid diet my surgeon recommends. And, also interesting that the steps state staying on the liquids for one week. We're sent to the liquid dungeon for 4 weeks. I'm not going to survive that.

 

[writegirl]

If I were you, I would go ahead and add yogurt, maybe cottage cheese, a bite of tuna mixed with full fat mayo. I know that our surgeon does NOT use a valtrac ring so the phases are not necessary but are advised.

You are always like the angel of wisdom for me when it comes to every question I've ever had, so I am going to do exactly that. I don't even know what a valtrac ring is...googling it...but I feel like my body is telling me it is time to introduce food. Thank you for always reassuring me, especially when it comes to our surgeon's protocols.

 

[Settledownnow]

@Settledownnow It's interesting that even in that one practice, the surgeons all prescribe different plans for their phases. Also interesting that they allow cream of wheat on their "liquid" diet--that is not offered on the liquid diet my surgeon recommends. And, also interesting that the steps state staying on the liquids for one week. We're sent to the liquid dungeon for 4 weeks. I'm not going to survive that.

Yes, they are all different and that particular booklet looks old. Notice the recommendation for Carnation Instant Breakfast! I was trying to remember what my surgeon recommended, but I do not recall. I'm sure I was drinking protein and eating yogurt, bites of mashed potato, and tuna mixed with mayo, deviled egg, etc., but I cannot recall for certain the time frame. Maybe at 7 days (?). Some people here eat or did eat Cream of Wheat, but I never chanced it. Mashed potatoes were awesome at the time. I do recall him telling me around 10 days to eat nuts and to just chew, chew, chew until everything is pureed in my mouth essentially.

The reason I said to call is that your surgeon and staff need the feedback about the diet progression. They need to know it is not working and you are hungry and have diarrhea.

One thing that really helped keep me from freaking out was to remember "liquid in, liquid out".

 

[writegirl]

Thank you! Scrambled eggs would probably be what I would try after the softer stuff--not because of texture but because I know that tolerances for them vary so widely. I've had jello and ice pops. I am going to try some yogurt. If that stays down (I haven't been sick yet) I am going to slowly incorporate other foods.

 

[writegirl]

Yes, they are all different and that particular booklet looks old. Notice the recommendation for Carnation Instant Breakfast! I was trying to remember what my surgeon recommended, but I do not recall. I'm sure I was drinking protein and eating yogurt, bites of mashed potato, and tuna mixed with mayo, deviled egg, etc., but I cannot recall for certain the time frame. Maybe at 7 days (?). Some people here eat or did eat Cream of Wheat, but I never chanced it. Mashed potatoes were awesome at the time. I do recall him telling me around 10 days to eat nuts and to just chew, chew, chew until everything is pureed in my mouth essentially.

The reason I said to call is that your surgeon and staff need the feedback about the diet progression. They need to know it is not working and you are hungry and have diarrhea.

One thing that really helped keep me from freaking out was to remember "liquid in, liquid out".

Wow, nuts? We have a specific "no nuts, no seeds" warning in our diet literature. I've seen lots of people eating the boxed mashed potato mixes, but they all have RnY or VSG. It surprises me that it doesn't make people feel ill. I'm not sure about the cream of wheat. That much fiber worries me on this new plumbing. I stopped having the diarrhea, so I guess that is an improvement. Jello helped with that, I think. To be honest, since my surgeon sells his own branded bariatric food products, I am not so sure it would even be heard if I told them that the full liquids for so long doesn't work well on my new DS system. I get the feeling that they have a system in place and they don't really want to know if you dissent. I'm more concerned that they would call me non-compliant and record that somewhere and, given the new world where insurance wields so much power over our lives, that if I have any future complication, that could be used by the insurance provider as a reason to not pay.

If I get sick, I will let them know that I am sick. I will tell them during my first post-op appointment that I had diarrhea from the oral medicine he prescribed to get me passing gas. I will let them know that it concerned me that my blood sugars were in the 60s in the hospital and I received no real instruction on how to manage that or improve it while on their prescribed liquid phase. I'm just not sure they're gonna care.

 

[southernlady]

The reason I said to call is that your surgeon and staff need the feedback about the diet progression. They need to know it is not working and you are hungry and have diarrhea.

Honestly the surgeon's office doesn't give a rats ass for wanting feedback. I know as I tried.

 

[Millie]

My "going rogue" a week or so post DS was sucking on a saltine. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

 

[writegirl]

Honestly the surgeon's office doesn't give a rats ass for wanting feedback. I know as I tried.

It's a sad reality when the few surgeons who take the time to become DS surgeons don't want to hear. Listening isn't lucrative, I guess.

 

[writegirl]

My "going rogue" a week or so post DS was sucking on a saltine. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

I was ready to suck on a buttered english muffin last night lol. I didn't, but I was so tempted.

 

[Munchkin]

Here's the real scoop. Provided your surgeon does NOT use the val-trac.

Intestinal mucosa heals incredibly fast. One of the research projects I worked on involved an intestinal anastomosis on rats. If I screwed it up and had to redo it, it actually had to be pulled apart because it was already healing. Gastric mucosa heals a little slower but still faster than you think.

The whole food progression thing is just surgeon preference. And of course a way to make money by requiring special bariatric foods that only HE can sell you. My surgeon had no food progression at all, just food as tolerated. My first meal at home was hamburger, cheese, and salsa. And back in the olden days when I had the DS, this was pretty common.

My surgeon later added a food progression to his postop protocol. I asked him why. He said his patients were driving him crazy asking for permission to eat this or that. He added the food progression because his patients expected a food progression.

There you go!!

 

[Clematis]

I followed the surgeon's rules (same surgeon as @Susan in Tennessee) of liquids for 10 days despite knowing there really are no consistent rules from surgeon to surgeon, since he was out of the country so I had no one to consult if things went wrong. I too felt like I was starving because I WAS with only getting <300 calories a day on liquids. But desire does not equal ability. When you do make the decision to progress, it's not what goes down but what stays down that matters. I would not have wanted to experience the violence of vomiting with still-healing guts and the belly soreness less than a week out. If you decide to go rogue, take it very very slowly and choose from foods many of us -- not just a couple of us -- tolerated early on.

Yogurt stayed down. I tried Dannon Greek Light & Fit Strawberry Cheesecake because it is completely smooth and has a good ratio of 9 carbs to 12 protein. My first "solid" was "approved" ripe honeydew melon which I chewed to a pulp but it sat like a brick at what felt like the base of my esophagus for 10 minutes, followed by pain like a grenade had gone off -- seriously thought I was dying -- then I vomited it up. Later I tried refried beans with a sprinkle of cheese. Tasted wonderful but I could only manage a tablespoon. Sometimes even that didn't stay down. I could not tolerate eggs for nearly 9 months -- the first time I tried one (about 2-3 weeks post-op) I was in agony and had to grab a grocery bag from the floor of my car with my toe to upchuck in it at the top of a freeway ramp. Milk gave me terrible gas and still does -- many of us develop post-surgery lactose intolerance. (Mine is only to milk, thankfully not yogurt, cheese, etc.) A tablespoon or two of cottage cheese also worked well. I confess I did eat a couple of saltines or melba toast about 2-3 weeks out.

Try to be patient. A year from now you won't remember any of this turmoil.

 

[Susan in Tennessee]

How far post op were you before you ate? I understand the caution my surgeon has during the first few days, but at six days post op if I can take the medications he prescribed (pills, a few are large) then I don't understand why I can't eat tiny amounts of super soft or pureed foods. This all liquid crap is making me feel like shit. My boyfriend told me this morning that my eyes "look dark" like my iron is low. Of course it's low! I am getting zero nutrition at all. They have us drinking crap like G2, or sugar free propel, chicken bouillon, broth, tomato soup, juices cut with water, sugar free low carb protein drinks. My DS is like screaming for something with actual fat in it. Can I ask what kinds of soups you found you could tolerate. I have a can of broccoli cheese but I'm afraid that it may be a bad choice. I have some refried beans in my cabinet and I have half a mind to rip that can open and try some. Even some cottage cheese would be like manna from heaven at this point.

The plans or "phases" of eating that the surgeon's offices now require are clearly designed with VSG and RnY patients in mind. They recommend fat free milk for pity's sake. So, yeah, my DS and my body are starving and it's making me feel and look horrible. I am considering going rogue. I just want to make sure I don't go rogue too early post-op. Is six days enough? That is the question lol.

Well, the pintos and cheese was day I came home so I guess day 5?? But please understand, I only had a few bites. I could only eat a really small amount. A few days later I remember ordering some mashed potatoes out because that was all I could find to have (small diner) and it was fried chicken Sunday! Soups I had were beef noodle, chicken noodle, I ate mostly only the broth, cream of potato, eating around the potatoes. Funny you or someone mentioned nuts. I found I could take a nut and chew it (picture a squirrel or a rabbit furiously munching something they hold in their little paws) into oblivion and easily swallow and it sat well on my stomach. Crackers also sat well. I made tuna with an ultra high ratio of mayo and would have a spoonful with a tiny little cracker to nibble on. I made a hobby of buying different yogurt types and flavors. I'd open, eat a couple bites, save for later...end up tossing. I must have thrown a lot of money away! When I gradually moved to meats I remember white meat didn't work, dark meat was easier. It's hard to know what to try. Only time or two I vomited was when I ate one bite too many and the slimes began and I barely made it to the restroom! More of a gag really, not a full out retch.

Oh, and I was also trying rtd protein drinks too, not always having good luck, finally settled on premier protein chocolate as my choice. I HAD to put lemon in my water or else it hurt so bad. I've read changing the ph of the water with the lemon helps. I sometimes would mix vanilla or plain protein powder in yogurt or pudding along with a splash of cream to get it mixed. Eggs didn't go down well for me which made me sad because I always loved egg. Deviled eggs were first type I could eat.

 

[hilary1617]

My favorite first foods very early out were mashed potatoes and tomato soup as melted cheddar cheese delivery vehicles.

 

[writegirl]

Here's the real scoop. Provided your surgeon does NOT use the val-trac.

Intestinal mucosa heals incredibly fast. One of the research projects I worked on involved an intestinal anastomosis on rats. If I screwed it up and had to redo it, it actually had to be pulled apart because it was already healing. Gastric mucosa heals a little slower but still faster than you think.

The whole food progression thing is just surgeon preference. And of course a way to make money by requiring special bariatric foods that only HE can sell you. My surgeon had no food progression at all, just food as tolerated. My first meal at home was hamburger, cheese, and salsa. And back in the olden days when I had the DS, this was pretty common.

My surgeon later added a food progression to his postop protocol. I asked him why. He said his patients were driving him crazy asking for permission to eat this or that. He added the food progression because his patients expected a food progression.

There you go!!

Thank you for explaining this all so clearly. It makes sense to me that some surgeons have created progressions of eating because patients were demanding guidelines. Unfortunately, the progressions seem to have all procedures lumped into the same exact progression guidelines. I mean, I can kind of get it for patients who have the "pouch" procedures, but DSers don't have pouches--we have fully functional stomachs. One would imagine that surgeons would respond to that key difference in providing guidelines more specific to DS patients. After googling it, I'm glad my surgeon doesn't use the val-trac. That thing looks terrifying!

 

[writegirl]

Rogue eating update:

Well, I did take the sound advice offered for safely integrating foods. I started with just yogurt, as @southernlady suggested and after eating that, I felt incredibly better--I had energy, the blood sugar issue seemed to improve greatly, and my stress level dropped significantly. When that stayed down with no problems and no pain, I waited a few hours and tried some cottage cheese. Both times all I ate was about a tablespoonful and I took at least 30 minutes to eat that amount. Later that day I ate about a teaspoonful of tuna with lots of full fat mayo, again taking a long time to eat that. Everything stayed down fine and I experienced no pain at all. I was on my 6th day post op (Sunday). Monday morning I had my first "normal" BM and had no issues with that (thankful!)

Yesterday, I started to slowly incorporated those same three foods in slightly larger amounts, always eating super slowly, taking my time and listening to my body. I have had zero ill-effects and, in fact, started recovering even quicker from the surgery than I already was. Color returned to my face, the dark circles around my eyes lightened quick substantially. Of course, some of this is because I am finally getting more calories. I was tracking at about 250-300 calories a day on the full liquids. Like @Clematis, I was starving on that. I've been able to get those numbers up to around the 550 calorie mark with just the small inclusions of those foods. This also upped my protein and fat intake enough to give my body some energy (I believe so, anyway). Another "normal" BM this morning. It's amazing when eating food results in BMs, or maybe that is just for us newbie DSers, but believe me, I am celebrating the "normal" morning BMs :-D

Today, I am 8 days post op and I tried a tiny amount of mashed banana with my cottage cheese this morning. I know banana isn't going to be on the menu as a regular item, but since it is on some of the pureed lists for DS patients, I figured it couldn't hurt and it has a small amount of potassium that I guess can't hurt. No issues so far.

I just tried a small amount (about a tablespoonful) of scrambled egg a few minutes ago. Egg is one of those items that has me a little skeptical because everyone seems to have widely different reactions to them. I'll let you know if it does cause some kind of issue or gastric upset.

Here's the thing: I belong to several groups where I know DSers who had surgery on my same date from different surgeons and some of them are not doing as well as I am. They are following their prescribed liquid diets. They're starving and easily exhausted, etc.

Since my energy has been improving every day while experimenting with "rogue eating," I am going to call this experiment a success, at least for me myself. I can't tell you all how much I appreciate your advice and chiming in on this because I was feeling so badly before I started rogue eating that it was actually scaring me.