First, sorry you are going through so much, and hope they get things cleared up soon.

I am NOT a medical professional, but did go through some similar swelling a few years ago before my VSG and weigh loss.

I was put on a different Blood pressure medicine which shut down my production of red blood cells giving me severe anemia.  Un-fortunately it took 6 months before a doc doing my colonoscopy had my blood drawn and tested for this during the colonoscopy.  The results came in just after he was done, and I was immediately checked into the hospital and given SIX pints of whole blood over the next day which just brought me up to the minimum red blood cell level to leave the hospital.  I stopped the Lisinopril and took ( and still take) and Iron pill, and six months later I was back to a normal iron level, and had my VSG surgery.  My levels are still normal a year plus after my VSG.

I had seen 3 specialists and had various blood tests, heart function tests, and even MRI and CT scans.  No one did the $20 red blood cell count, and I dragged around for months, and nearly died.  My point from all of this, is you have to keep after the medical people.  Look up your symptoms and become your own expert. And ask everyone just as you are doing.

My armature advice is to make sure you mention the back pain.  Your kidneys are there, and they are what get rid of the excess fluid from your body.  They also filter out the chemicals you were given, and they are probably worried about that, and will need to check their functioning.

Make sure they are checking your red and white blood cell counts as there are a bunch of types of anemia you could develop and could contribute to your symptoms.

Salt is probably the one biggest contributor to retained water and to blood pressure.  If you are not already taking your bp several times a day, I would recommend it highly.  The $50 relion brand at wallmart are actually good BP machines if you do not already have one. 

Docs are supposed to be scientists, and they need good data to make diagnosis and decisions.  I would suggest keeping a diary of everything you eat, and how you are feeling/notes on any symptoms, and you bp and weight and even temperature during the day.  These types of notes can really help you and the docs communicate, and follow what is going on with you.

My armature quick list of things would be:
-Salt in your diet,
-kidney functions not getting rid of liquids fast enough.
-Not drinking enough fluids to help was stuff out of your body (I know it seems backward).
-Possible blood clots as you mentioned
-Anemia
-out of balance blood electrolytes like magnesium/calcium/selenium/zinc
-you heart not beating right or enough to move the fluids through your body (this is the "congestive" part of congestive heart disease).  This can cause fluid build up. I had and early form of this that went away after my vsg, and is one of the reason many loose such a large amount of weight in the first week or two after VSG.  It is the initial fluid loss. I lost 15 pounds in 4 days after my VSG. Never lost more than 2 or 3 pounds a week after that of real fat loss.

I hope this gives you something positive to try, or at least discuss with your docs.

Good luck, Mack

It will get better! 

First, a recent study at UC San Francisco showed that coming off a high sugar diet like our "modern" society eats causes withdrawal symptoms just like withdrawing from many drugs or alcohol!  Your body has to reconfigure itself to burn stored fat instead of carbohydrates, but as long as you keep it supplied with protein and vitamins it will be all good in a few days.

It looks like you are in central Ohio.  You might try some of the Protein shake mixes at the Raisin Rack on Shrock near 270 and Cleveland Ave.  I get the "Essential Natural" brand there because it does not have artificial sweeteners, and I have a bad reaction to Splenda/sucralose.  The have some individual packets you can buy and try out to make sure you like it before buying a large container.  And be careful as sometimes you taste preferences change after surgery.  Don't buy too much ahead of time.

Try making your drinks with skim or 1% milk in a blender.  Also try adding ice as it really help the texture. You can also add a little sugar free pudding mix like a teaspoon full or so which can change or help the taste and texture also.  You can add Coco powder which has very little carbs, but you do have to add some additional sweetener.  I do use a little sweet&low, but mostly use Steevia Clear extract which you can get in the natural foods section of Kroger for about $12.  It is a little bottle, but does last for a long time. 

Some people like the premixed shakes in cans. I could not stand them, or they had splenda/sucralose in them. 

It will get better after surgery.  In a few weeks you will be amazed (and sometimes a bit disgusted)  at how much food everyone else eats. 

Getting through the refined Carbohydrate withdrawals is about as bad as it gets.  It is worth it though.

You will not believe how good you will feel two weeks after major surgery.

That is very important information.

Some kind of bacteria is going to live there, and you definitely want the friendly kind.

There is another reason to be on probiotics. There have been several studies that have found that bariatric patients have significantly quicker weight loss when they are taking pro-biotics.  I have seen posts here in the past where several of the surgeons are now recommending their patients take probiotics to improve their weight loss results.

I did very well with my home made keifer.

Acid can give you the feeling of being hungry.  Prilosec or the generic Omeprazole 20mg are available over the counter and are a good start.  Some people need more or a Rx for Nexium to help.

It's a good Idea to contact you Docs on this, but lots of surgeons just put all their patients on these at least for the first month or two.

I do the same: weighing everything except liquids.

This is an interesting mental exercise, but in reality for what we eat, the difference in whether we are measuring volume ounces or weight ounces is going to be so small that is will not have any major impact on our diet.

The important thing is to MEASURE it somehow, and be consistent.  I have found that as time goes by, I CAN eat more, and measuring out things before hand is the only sure way to not eat more.

I had a smooth recovery, and I could have done most of that at 3 weeks out.

You will probably need to take a nap in the afternoons, and you will need to arrange to keep track of you food and liquid intake during all of this. 

Like others have said, listen to your body, and don't over do it, but you should be fine.

Keep up with your exercise and diet pre-op, as the better shape your are in for the operation, the quicker your recovery.  I had MORE stamina at a month after my operation than I did a month before.

Good luck.

Omega3's are a huge help for evening out emotions. Look it up on google, but there have been dozens of studies that Omega3's have just as big an effect of emotions as Prozac or other SSRI drugs without all of the side effects.

Also, with our restricted diets, we do not get as much for regular food sources.

I take "Omega Red" Krill oil capsules now. They are about half the size of the fish oil tablets, and no "fish burps".  But the omega 3's do so much for me I would take the fish burps too, if i ran out of the Krill oil.

The two biggies are low blood pressure, and Anemia.

I developed anemia from a reaction to a BP med (lisinopril) and did have some of the blackout episodes you are describing.  This was before my VSG, and was one of the reasons I did the vsg was to reduce the BP meds.

Low blood pressure is the most likely in your case since you are still on your bp meds with you great weight loss.  Your PCP should have been monitoring your bp and adjusting you Rx as you are loosing weight, and you diet changes also have a great effect on your bp.  I am down to just two meds instead of three, and about a quarter the dose of those than before my vsg.  Un-fortunately I will still need to be on the low dose, but my bp is MUCH better than it was and i usually run about 120/70 which is near perfect.

You should probably call your PCP before dropping your meds all together.  Not a good idea to make that drastic a change without medical instructions on a prescription. 

I would highly recommend getting a BP meter to have a home.  They have some inexpensive ones at walmart for about $40 to $50 that have very good reports ("Relion" store brand).  I have had one for over a year, and take my BP and weigh in every morning and record it on a calender. I take the calender in to the Docs every time as you cannot beat having real reliable data for them to make decisions on.  I also take the bp meter in with me to the docs so we can compare its readings to theirs with the fancy one.  

Anyhow you cannot beat having your own meter to take real measurements when you have this kind of issue.

These blackouts can be very dangerous.  If you fully pass out you can fall on something an injure yourself.  I have an uncle who had to have stitches in his head from blacking out as he was standing up and hit the coffee table.  For now if you do not make any sudden movements and stand up slowly it will help.

One night for my VSG, Checked in on Thursday morning, and out on Friday afternoon.  Could have stayed longer if I needed, but I was ready to go "home" and did ju

Mixed in a blender with ice almost always helps with the texture and taste in my experience.

Some other quick variations:

Add a teaspoon of SF instant pudding to make a smoother texture.
You can add nearly any flavor to Vanilla shakes. 
I added cinnamon and apple slices to the blender with Vanilla to make an apple pie flavor.

Add about half a tsp of decaff instant coffee to the chocolate for a mocha flavor
Add a few drops of mint extract for a mint chocolate flavor

Add a couple of teaspoons of no-sugar added natural peanut butter (or almond butter) for a Reece's choc/PB flavor.

You can put your protein drink into a ice-cream freezer to make a protein ice cream. This especially works well if you have added some of the sf pudding powder to the mix.

You can also add SF instant pudding to plain Greek yogurt for a mouse like dessert.

I have an intolerance to Splenda/Sucralose.  If I consume anything containing it I loose so much strength in my legs I can barely walk up stairs.  I found out the hard way a few years ago when I switched to splenda for my iced tea an started having problems. Did a search on google and found someone talking about splenda causing this.  I got rid of the splenda (damned hard-they stick it in everything even if it is not "diet"). and within two weeks I had my strength back. 

Sorry for the hijack, but the leg strength thing jumped out at me.



"tastes like sugar because it is made from sugar" -- with a few chlorine atoms glomed onto it.  Wow a hydrocarbon with chlorine that makes-a "chlorocarbon" just like DDT and PCB.  That ought to be good.....

I personally have not heard of anyone getting a VBG recently.  The only people of the vsg section of the board who have VBG listed is because they chose the wrong surgery in their profile setup. They do not actually have the VBG they have a VSG.

The VBG seemed to have all of the disadvantages of the Lap band plus it was a more invasive procedure cutting a hole through the stomach. There is a very experimental procedure where they are installing "rings" to kind of stitch the stomach into a tube they are doing through the throat and esophagus, but it is pretty far out there, and VERY experimental.  It kind of works like the VBG without the big hole through your stomach for the band to go through. I can't see it working as well as a true sleeve though.

It depends on the surgeon.  Dr Pleatman recorded all of his surgeries on a usb disk drive, and he gave me a copy of my surgery video on a usb thumb drive I supplied.

I had watched several surgeries on-line before, but it is a little strange to watch one and know it is YOU being worked on.

It is worth asking the question.