Ugh, Still struggling.

So I'm 3 weks post op now. Most of you know I've struggled from the beginning. Well, it's not getting much better. I had to call the nurse again today because I'm almost passing out. They are concerned about my blood sugars now, they seem to be too low. Great. I've now been told to drink only my protein shakes because I need the protein badly. So, no water, gatorade or anything until I get 60gms of protein from my shakes. This is SO FREAKING HARD. Why oh why is my journey such a clusterf#ck?!? I feel terrible all the time, I struggle just to get fluids and protein, I still can not take my vitamins. The nurse scared me into trying some other brand of vitamins saying if my bloodwork doesn't come back good next week I'm going to not only get vitamin injections but I could be doing interal damage to my organs. I just want to have the happy, normal recovery. I want to be excited about my decision instead of questioning it, I want to embrace my new sleeve instead of calling it dirty names. I just want to figure all this crap out and move on, but nothing seems to work.

I had a very frustrating, upsetting recovery, but after week 3, it got better. You'll get through it. Make sure your surgeon is addressing your concerns, though, ok? If you can't get anything down by the end of the week, demand some more answers.

Hang in there. :)

HUGS! You can do this! First...take a deep breath and relax...repeat that a few times with your eyes closed. This part will past. I PROMISE it gets easier! You are not alone. Many of us struggled early on. I was a mess that first couple of weeks. Listen to your dr and nutritionists and just keep plugging away and trying new things.

I had to force water at first and it was hard but I found that I felt so much better when I did. I think focusing on protein shakes is a great option for getting you through this. You will get your fluids and your protein. Eventually I didn't have to work so hard to get everything in. If this was easy, everyone would do it. There is no short cuts...just keep your eye on the big picture. You don't want to end up in the ER but if you do, you will not be the first. Landing in the ER is more common than you might think. I have read many many posts on here of those that struggled A LOT that first month and every one of them made it through and ultimately had no regrets about getting the surgery. Your Drs don't mean to scare you. They just want you to be healthy...whatever it takes.

Hang in there...I promise it gets easier!

You may have already addressed this, but can you drink Isopure? For me, it counted as protein AND water/fluid. It's thinner than most other shakes, and it still has a lot of protein (40 grams a bottle if memory serves).

I hope things get better for you really soon.

I've tried almost every flavor of IsoPure, no matter how much I want to get it down, I just can't it makes me sick. :(

Have you tried half Isopure and half water?  I had to thin it out for it to be tolerable.

Hang in there. I too had a frustrating time the first 4 weeks. Then just one day I woke up and I felt really good. I had a really hard time getting all the protein in (and still do at times). I just started getting vitamins in 2 weeks ago. There were times when I wondered what did I do to myself and now 9 weeks out I am so glad I did.

Lots of reasons why you might be feeling light-headed, and low blood sugar is only one.  Do you have a glucose meter?  Did they give or prescribe one for you?  The only way you can confirm low blood sugar is by testing at the time.

Are you on blood pressure meds?  It could just as easily be your blood pressure.  If you're not drinking enough, your pressure could drop.

Can you drink just plain old milk?  There's 8g of protein in a glass of milk.  Thin out the protein drinks with milk or water if that makes them easier to drink.  And hold your nose.  Most of our taste is really our sense of smell.  Protein drinks do NOT smell good!  Put the shakes in a cut with a straw if necessary.

Vitamins - it takes months before any deficiencies show up.  Lots of docs don't even start their patients on vitamins until they're weeks or months past surgery.  Don't know why the nurse is trying to scare you with that one.  Vitamins are important, but right now it's more important that you get your liquids and protein in.

The first month sucks, even when everything is going well.  When things are hard, it sucks even more.  But it gets better.  You will be able to drink, get your protein in, take your vitamins, and all those other things that you need to do.  Hugs!

Taking vitamins on an empty stomach can make you feel really sick so be careful with that. Do you like the protein shake that you're using- it helped me greatly to search until I found some that were dare I say good tasting Also, if you can find anything that goes down easy i.e SF pudding, reg milk, you can always boost up the protein amount with either unflavored protein or I used powdered milk in everything! I hope you get to feeling better, I feel terrible for you!