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6 years post op

Trace7474

Trace7474

Member
Hello everyone.. just curious.. I had gastric Bypass 6 years ago and still to this day I can’t drink milk. I can eat things that have little amount of milk but I can’t eat cereal or drink a glass of milk without immediately dumping. Is this common?
 
dianeseattle said:
HI Trace & welcome to the group. It's not necessarily common with milk, but it is common to find you can't consume something after surgery that you ate commonly before. I think this is because of your loss of gastric juices from your mostly absent stomach organ.

From 2015 to July of 2019 I had a problem with nausea & vomiting. It was horrible. I pretty much gagged or vomited after every meal. In March of 2019 I found this group & joined up, only hoping to find a cure here. Turned out, no one had the same problem I did. The problem was chronic for the four-year period I mentioned, but in looking back, I was already having trouble, like you, with milk, for two years before that. I lived in a boarding house with a bunch of characters. One of them was always buying ice cream & sharing it. Whenever he gave me some, I'd end up sitting on the edge of my bed, unable to move without gagging, afraid I wouldn't make it to the bathroom in time. I started keeping a "slop jar" next to my bed because it happened all the time.

And because it was ice cream, I started thinking I had become lactose intolerant. I just avoided dairy after that, though it's always been an important part of my life, & post-operatively, an important source of protein. I could still eat yogurt & cottage cheese without acute symptoms, but I felt sick on a very deep level. Lactose is a sugar, which explains why it would be a problem that caused dumping.

But it wasn't just dairy. I had a very severe problem with pasta of all kinds, but especially spaghetti & linguine. The macaroni pastas like shells & elbows didn't bother me as much, though I did throw them up occasionally. The long pastas just wouldn't digest & stayed in my esophagus, where they backed up until they were up by my tonsils. I couldn't digest them because I didn't have stomach acid. I had to dig them out of my throat with my finger until they were loose enough to vomit up.

Gross. Sorry about that. After suffering a long time, I told my doctor about it & she prescribed Omeprazole & Ondansetron. The Omeprazole was one capsule taken in the morning & the Ondansetron was for sudden onsets of nausea. They worked for me but I hated the fact that I was taking so many medications & supplements to live.

Finally I made an appointment with the bariatric clinic where I had my surgery. My doctor had already told me she wanted to send me for endoscopy within her network but I said it was important that I be diagnosed by specialists who knew the after-effects of RYGB surgery. I saw a doc at Virginia Mason Hospital & she sent me to a bariatric endoscopy, after first sending me for an upper GI, which revealed nothing to worry about.

The punchline is that the endo doc found a staple protruding into my esophagus and a stitch that had come undone. These things can happen from violent vomiting. My pouch was still a pouch, but he restitched me & pulled out the staple. I have been just fine ever since.

The surgery takes away up to 90 percent of your stomach, including parts that make gastric juices, which are necessary for digestion. There's probably a natural solution, an herb or potion, that would help with that, but I never found one. You might try a prescription of Omeprazole, which is Prilosec over the counter, but in half-strength. That doesn't mean you should get the OTC & double-dose. See your doc & get the Rx first.

It may not work, but if it doesn't, then you will know milk is not for you anymore. There may be a hormone or chemical element that exists in raw milke that goes away when it's cooked or baked out, which is why you can't take it straight. And if you do see a doc, I recommend a bariatric doc, & even a visit to a dietician or nutritionist. I stopped taking the Omeprazole and I have a slight problem with dairy, but nothing I can't handle. Still, ice cream, which is high in both fat & sugar, is a real problem for me. Sadly, it's something I crave.

I believe there's an answer for you, but it lies in your doctor's hands.
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OMG!!!! You seriously just described my life to a T... I can eat cheese and yogurt and things like that can even have small amount of ice cream just can’t do milk. Some gravy’s such as country gravy I can’t do either. I am seriously in the bathroom and it’s flowing out one or the other or both ends. Disgusting I know. Pasta I am the exact same as you I can’t do long and skinny I literally puke it out as well. This is really crazy to hear I am definitely going to discuss this with my doc. I violently vomited most the first 2 years over meat any sugar bread everything. Still can’t eat pork or really red meat except ground beef. I learned to like chicken and turkey really fast. Lol .. have you maintained your WL? I don’t want them messing with me I have managed to drop about 165 lbs and kept it off. My only issue besides the whole milk things is no matter what I do or which supplements I take I’m always have a vitamin def. or malnourished because of my absorption. Thank you so much for responding it’s nice to talk to someone who understands exactly what your experiencing.
 
dianeseattle said:
Yes, I've maintained my weight loss. Once in a while, when I'm very sedentary for a prolonged time, I'll gain between 5 and 20 pounds. Sounds awful, doesn't it? But it disappears as soon as I start moving again. There are not strong enough words to express how determined I am NEVER to be overweight again. I still have all my post-op clothes & none of my pre-ops. I hate being fat. I hate fat! I'm absolutely violent about it. Even on a subconscious level, my body defends against weight gain.

As to your malnourishment, get that taken care of, right away. If you have blood tests showing your numbers, go buy whatever supplements you need to buff them up. I was in a university research study for seven years after surgery. Once a year they did several blood panels & all kinds of weighing, measuring & diagnostic testing, including timing me as I walked up & down a hallway in the hospital. I was shocked and delighted to see how good my numbers were. My own doctor continues to do a metabolic panel at least once a year. Because of my complex medical history, which includes having had Graves' Disease, and having a hard time regulating my thyroid hormone, she sometimes tests me more often. My numbers are still always good. The only deficits of late have been liver & kidney levels, & those numbers were a side-effect of temporary medications (like antibiotics) that have dangerous effects on those organs. I stopped the meds & my levels went to normal.

And I've also been diagnosed with diverticulitis. I told that long agonizing story while I was in pain & wrote it all up in my posts. I think the thread is in June. Your digestive troubles could also be related to diverticulitis, which commonly comes on as we age. I've been having colonoscopies since I was 50, and I'm now 68, but those tests played down the few diverticuli they detected in my sigmoid colon. I have had to change my eating a little, adding high fiber foods, and taking a fiber laxative helps. I never want to have another flare-up. It was worse than giving birth.

I'm glad I could help, but do realize your problems are specific to your physiology. What works for me might be poison to you. But do see your doctor. Your symptoms are unacceptable and can be treated. Don't suffer. It's the Number One "rule" in this group. When there's a medical problem, advise the member to seek medical attention as soon as possible. Don't look to the group for an answer, even though you can get some guidance sometimes!;):D:cool:
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Thank you. I am also tested every 3 months to check all levels of everything and I do take my supplements most are prescribed such as 50,000 units of vit D once a week.. daily vit B12 and calcium along with my multi. I am going to address the milk situation and ask for a endoscopy just to make sure. Thank you so much for your advice and sharing your knowledge and experience with me!!
 
dianeseattle said:
Both of those women are equally Me, but when I look back at how disgusted I was with my obese self, I feel a little ashamed. I didn't have any serious comorbidities like diabetes, though it runs in my family. I had the surgery because I wanted to recover my self-esteem by being thin. And on the positive side, I wanted to be able to hike & walk & be active, which I did & do.

Love yourself, no matter what.
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Fake it till you make it if you must!!!
  • I am grateful to my body for all the things it has done and continues to do for me
  • I love and accept myself for who I am
 
dianeseattle said:
Oh, it's just one of my obese photos in my album online here. Don't know why you can't view it. I don't have a privacy setting that would prohibit people from seeing my pictures. But I will check it out. In the meantime the first picture is of me at a party with a party hat on and the second picture is of me at a campsite with a brace on my knee. You can go to my albums and look if you want. So sorry it didn't work from the post.
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