PCP Advice

Okay so - I had no intention of discussing my dietary needs with my PCP. Dietary is for the bariatric office (althought they are doing a crappy job of it) and medical needs - PCP.  But, I was telling my PCP that I'm light headed and exhausted and of course he asked me how many calories I was eating.  I told him I'm only getting maybe 300 calories a day.  Long story short - he told me to start eating foods that didn't hurt my stomach (I have an ulcer), that were high in calories.  He suggested cheesecake and ice cream.

OMG,  cheesecake and ice cream?  talk about getting conflicting information  :o( sorry about the ulcer.  My father had ulcers back in 1950 and he had a gastrectomy to remove the part of the stomach that had the ulcers,  sorry that your surgery didn't get rid of it for you     well,  i don't think your surgeon or nut will agree with your pcp  altho 300 cals a day sounds very low.   Hope you are feeling better soon  :o) jeani 

Pretty sure I didn't have an ulcer before the surgery. I think the surgery did that for me. However, thank God it isn't the 1950's anymore.  The gastroenterologist is giving me meds that should get it to go away. Soon, I hope.

LOL!  I dont think I would get into that habit!

Why are you only eating 300 calories a day?  Are you getting in enough protein and taking vitamins?

I am taking my vitamins and all I eat is protein, really. Example:  Protein drink - 4 ozs for breakfast, grilled chicken strip and cottage cheese for lunch - I eat 4 bites chicken and 2 bites cheese.  Dinner:  grilled fish and green beans  - I eat 4 bites fish and 2 green beans.  Snack between  lunch and dinner - 4 bites protein bar.   However, with this ulcer, the pain starts grinding and burning and I just stop eating.  Even when that doesn't happen, I just get this feeling that I need to stop eating (almost a nausea feeling). I'm open for suggestions. I'm pretty desparate to feel better.

1st, I'd suggest drinking your quota of protein in a liquid form so you know that's covered.. it would also help with the calories (which are way too low, should be at least 600 by now.) You may want to look into a drink with moderate carbs, like 5-8g per serving, just to get your carbs somewhere around 25-30 a day, it really helps with weakness. 

Second- has your surgeon suggested taking a step back to easier to digest foods like cottage cheese, protein puddings and greek yogurt? It may give your lining of your stomach a chance to heal easier rather than putting a dense harder to breakdown protein in it like chicken (many folks have issues with chicken btw, it seems to be the harder of the proteins to break down..)

I think having a team of docs working in your favor is better than 1 ie bariatric surgeon~the VSG affects your whole body so your PCP should really be privy to that aspect of your life to treat you more effectively.

If you aren't comfortable with your office switch docs to get one who you can be comfy with and you will find you have another medical professional as your champion cheering you on who is also better able to treat your special needs (and let's face it..we do have special needs post VSG)..

IMHO of course...

Good luck!

Have you considered seeing a gastro ?  Even tho my Bariatric office thinks I should come there for things like stomach and gall bladder etc etc I see my gastro who has a better handle on all things internal.  He controls my meds etc.  If I left it up to the bariatrics they would have me on 250 mgs of UrsoForte a day instead of the 1500 mgs I NEED.  They also wanted me on 1 protonix a day which my gastro upped to 2 a day.  I had to fight to get the amounts I need while in the hospital actually.  I would go to the bariatric office about diet etc but to the gastro for your ulcers and anything else to do with your stomach, intestine, gallbladder, liver, etc etc. 

Thanks for the suggestions.  I am seeing a gastroenterologist about the ulcer, a PCP for the other medical issues and of course the bariatrics office about diet.  As my PCP suggested, softer foods (cheesecake and ice cream, LOL) the cottage cheese and protein drinks are softer foods as you suggest.  Unfortunately, I am a very picky eater and that morning protein drink is the best I can do and I can only get 4 oz of that down (very filling).  I am still working on finding soft foods that are higher in calories without being sabatoging to my weight loss.  I have found that string cheese sits nicely.  Honestly, I am seeing my NUT this coming Friday and I'm pretty sure she will be adding some carbs. I think that will help. If I could get some form of bread or cracker, I think that may be a big help. Those of you that are eating carbs, I hear folks say, "bread doesn't do well". What does that mean? vomiting? nausea? pain?

you know how you said string cheese sits well, well when you eat bread and arent that far out it goes down..and kind of sits there uncomfortably, a bit heavy...

it didnt feel ok in the stomach for about 3.5 months out, chicken took me longer, like 4 months out.

Toasted bread will sit better, untoasted tends to be gummy, but i do lean towards whole wheat flat bread because it feels the best doing down.

do you like milk? milk is a good "indirect" way to get protein and carbs in drink form. kills 2 birds with one stone. and not nasty like protein shakes can be. you can even add sugarfree hershey syrup or sugarfree straweberry quik syrup

if you eat mashed potatoes you can get carbs and add a little unflavored protein powder and milk to thin it out and up the protein content..