Once again I woke up at 1:30am after just a couple of hours of sleep to find myself with a stomach ache that kept me from falling back to sleep.
Fortunately I think it’s just one of those hunger aches. I had the smallest protein snack in the house and I’m feeling a little better. I think I can go back to bed now, after being up for about 40 minutes.
Wish me luck, oh internets.
I did some Googlin’ about dumping syndrome and I am not sure I had it. Apparently there are two types of dumping syndrome, early and late. I didn’t have early. That happens 10-30 minutes after eating so that’s out. Late happens 1-3 hours later so the timeline matches up. I’m not sure about the symptoms though.
Heart palpitations (Maybe?)
Sweating (Yes)
Hunger (No… unless the pain was from my stomach being empty, but it didn’t seem that way)
Confusion (No… at least I don’t think so)
Fatigue (Hard to say as I was dead tired to begin with)
Aggression (Definitely not)
Tremors (Yes, twice to be specific)
Fainting (No)
Another area of this particular article lists these as well, but they might be just for early, I’m not sure:
abdominal cramping (Is that another way to say stomach pain? If it is, then oh yes)
fast heartbeat (I don’t remember)
lightheadedness (No)
diarrhea (No… I almost wish there had been. I think it would have helped)
On an unrelated note, I am nearing the end of my first of three days in the office this week and it’s fricken freezing in here, Mr Bigglesworth.
This post is more of just a reminder to me to do some research when I get a chance… someday. I’m in the office today and the next two days and the schedule is jam packed with stuff. I don’t know when I’ll get a minute to myself. Well… another minute besides the one minute I’m spending on this.
When I first looked into gastric bypass I was warned of dumping syndrome. Think of it as a huge penalty for eating things your new stomach can’t handle. I am one day shy of 51 weeks since the surgery and I think I may have experienced it for the first time last night.
I ate a snack before bed then went to sleep. Three hours later I woke up to pee because I am old. When I got out of bed my stomach immediately starting hurting a lot. I mean, a lot. Like on a scale from 1-10 the pain was probably a 7-8. I tried to lie back down but it got worse. I tried to sit up straight but it also got worse. I tried to walk around but it got even worse. I couldn’t get any relief from it at all. It was brutal and it lasted for 2.5 hours without a break. I ended up in a fetal position on the living room floor begging my stomach to stop hurting me. It started at 2:30am and finally started to let up at 5:00am.
I don’t know if it was dumping syndrome (which is basically just your digestive system rejecting sugar) but I was told dumping felt like dying and that’s as good a description of how I felt last night as any. It was awful.
I need to poll the various support groups and find out what the individual symptoms are like. I need to know if that’s what I experienced last night or not. I also need it to never, ever happen again. I already threw out the snacks I had before bed last night. Never again, kids. Never again.
My father’s 81st birthday was last weekend. Next weekend we’re having a small get together at his place and my sister is bringing cupcakes. I can’t have sugar, so no cupcakes for me. She can’t have dairy, so no cupcakes for her either. It got me thinking about alternatives. Are there sugar free or dairy free cupcakes available anywhere? I Googled and had my world slightly rocked.
I knew there was a candy shop in Salem, NH that has a sugar free section. I remember going in there once and wishing I had known about it when my uncle was alive. He had type two diabetes and would have loved some candy now and then. I thought it might be a good thing for Harry and his type one diabetes. He can have sugar, he just has to account for it with insulin. I thought maybe sugar free stuff would make the math easier for him. He wasn’t interested. He likes the real thing. I don’t blame him.
What I didn’t know, until today, is that there is a sugar free bakery in Salem too! Now before you think I am getting all excited, I am not. I am sure that whatever they are using in place of sugar is probably less than wonderful for you and I am already WAY overdoing artificial sweeteners (they are in literally everything I eat these days besides chicken and French fries, and even those I’m not 100% sure of) and I am not looking to have more. Do not expect me to start placing regular cookie and cupcake orders at this joint. Okay? I don’t want to go there.
I do, however, have a birthday in May. I wonder if a single slice of birthday cake might be possible. A small, tiny piece of cake that would take me three or four sittings to finish.
I wonder. It would probably cost a fortune and therefore wouldn’t be worth it. I just fantasized a little, you know? Birthday cake shouldn’t be a big deal, but accepting that those days are over forever is, while not difficult, a little sad.
Not much to report today. I mostly just wanted to honor week #50 because 50 is a nice round number. Two weeks from now will be a bigger deal, but 50 is nice too.
My weight this morning at around 5:30am matched the lowest weight I’ve seen since this whole party started. On the 11 month weigh in on April 4th I was 209.6 pounds. I’ve yo-yo’d between about 210 and 214 since then. I saw that I dipped below 210 to 209.8 last Friday. Today I was back to 209.6. I’ll take it. 221.8 pounds since surgery, 242.4 pounds since day one, 25.5 BMI.
Nothing exciting, only because it’s a number I saw 15 days ago, but still nice. I had a bad morning food-wise yesterday but once it cleared up, a little after noon, I was able to get a full day’s worth of food and drink in. I hit all of my goals. I don’t think this is a case of having a good weigh in after a bad day. It started bad, but it didn’t end bad.
Two weeks and one day until the one year anniversary of the surgery. Doubtful I’ll get my BMI below 25 by then. I don’t want to “diet” or anything to manipulate the numbers so I won’t change anything.
I started writing this post about three hours ago. I don’t think it’s very readable but I’m still going on. In further health news, I just booked a CT scan and a second MRI, both of my brain. Say brains the way a zombie would say it… braaaaaainnnnnsssss. Fun, huh? We’re all reasonably sure there is nothing wrong with that little spot in the middle of my thinking cap, but we’re going to get a lot of looks at it to make sure. The MRI is this weekend. The CT is next month.
Please, oh please, let the window project be complete by the time I get home today. Also, please let it be completed at an acceptable level where we don’t have to file any complaints or bitch anyone out.
Also, please let me get through the day without having the season finale of The Mandalorian spoiled. I watched about half of the episode this morning, but I didn’t get through to the end. I need to avoid spoilers and it… is… so… difficult.
Okay. Week 50 is in the books. Here’s hoping weeks 51 and 52 are positive. BMI of less than 25 or bust. Here we come! Also, the Bruins play the Panthers in game two of their first round playoff series tonight. Go Bruins!
It’s 7:43am. My exercise goal has been nearly doubled. My calorie goal is almost reached. My liquid goal is at 50%. My protein goal is at a smidge over 25%. No stomach issues so far. Also, much less importantly, I am up to date on season two of Yellowjackets. As with the previous 13 episodes, I need to ask: WTF???
I have a doctors appointment this morning. I had that MRI on Easter Sunday (I posted about it once or 100 times) and there’s something in the image that requires some investigating. The radiologist and my primary care physician both expect that it’s nuttin, honey, but I’m going to see a neurosurgeon today to get another opinion.
Am I nervous? No. Not at all. I won’t be unless this doc gives me something to be nervous about, but I’m confident that he or she won’t. I’m hoping we might get a hint on how to stop the migraines. That would be nice, right?
Anyway, I gotta go feed the cats and get ready for my appointment. Here’s hoping that all continues to go well today, both in my tiny little brain and in my tiny little redesigned stomach. Wish me luck!
Oh yeah, and even though it’s Friday and not Wednesday I stepped on the scale this morning. I figured it was worth a shot given that I barely ate anything last night. 209.8. Back under 210 Can I stay there for a while? Not likely.
I followed my grape juice experiment with a 20 minute break, then followed that with a protein bar.
Protein bar eaten successfully without any issues.
I think whatever messed me up today is officially over. I’m going to miss almost all of my daily goals today. Liquid and protein are both going to miss by a mile. Here’s hoping tomorrow goes better than today.
Fingers crossed, folks. Finger, toes, eyes, if it can be crossed let’s cross ‘em.
While I was driving home from the hospital I sort of magically started feeling okay. Whatever was screwy in my stomach just sort of went away.
I waited an hour or so, maybe a little more, mostly because I was afraid that my stomach was just faking me out. Then I had a drink. Grape juice. There were 16 ounces in my water bottle. I was nervous taking the first sip. Nothing happened. I had a second sip. 30 minutes later the 16 ounces are in my belly where they belong and I still feel okay.
Sigh of relief, babie. Sigh. Of. Relief.
I might try to have something to eat. Cross your fingers, oh my readers and only friends.
11 months and nine days since gastric bypass surgery and today has been the most difficult day yet.
I’ve had 16 ounces of liquid and maybe five ounces of food. It’s been five hours since I’ve had anything and I’ve been spitting up loads of foam and I’ve puked three times since about 2:00.
How?
WTF, stomach?
My stomach is being an ass this morning (heh, biology puns… love ’em!). I took my pills and had a few ounces of water and that set off the nausea. It was mostly spitting up foam, but there was a little bit more included in the mess. Gross, with a capital Gross, right?
I waited about half an hour and then had a protein bar. It’s left me with some real gas and a little more foam. Here’s hoping this wraps up soon so that I can have a less annoying day.
Let’s also keep our fingers crossed that we remain migraine free for another day. I may have a little news on that front but there will be a couple more doctors appointments before we know for sure. It is likely nothing but let’s find out so that we can move on, okay?
Hooray for health!
Inside the Red Head's Head 