Oregondaisy

I second the idea of unflavored Protein powder. I put it in everything. Even when I moved to mushies, I sprinkled it on top of my food. There is a thread in the food section on where to get samples. That's what I would do, so you don't get stuck with a big tub of anything. A lot of people liked the nectar drinks who did not like the milky drinks.

My hair loss was the most between 4-9 months. I know I was not deficient in Protein, but I did find out I was anemic, which can also cause hair loss. I think I started to see tiny hairs coming in at 7 months and they are all over the place now. My hair loss slowed down at 9 months but I still lose a little bit even 1 yr post op . I sometimes wonder if it will ever stop falling out.

I am sorry you're having so much trouble. It's very strange that you would get an abcess on your liver.Do you know what the cause of it was? Hope you are better soon and will start loving your sleeve like the rest of us do!

Hey, I would love to have someone to talk to. I have the chat window open. It's early but I'll be gone later.

Maybe you all should start a new thread in the lounge, for all that play this game .

call them :1-888-344-3916

Please have your husband read the post I made regarding Dr. Aceves credentials. I put it in the doctor section after so many requests by email for this information. Dr. Aceves is very experienced and more experienced than some US surgeons doing sleeves.

I went alone and I didn't fly first class from Portland OR, so you will be flying almost the same distance. I did drive myself home from the airport which is a 2 hour drive back to the coast. I used Dr. Campos' lap top every day. I would have gone nuts without it. There was really nothing to do in my room. There are only a few channels on the TV in English. I spent a lot of time outside walking. I used the lap top to check in here, and generally just do my usual internet surfing. I didn't have an IV past the first 24 hours. I didn't need pain medication after the first 24 hours.

This is what Dr. Aceves emailed back to me: Hi Denise Not everyone has this problem but when they do.... the rebound effect lasts between one and three months so you will need to be patient Be especially careful about your diet during this period to avoid acid damage avoid foods known to trigger reflux (acidic juices, coffee, chocolate, high-fat foods) and and drinking plenty of water. You will substitute Nexium for Prilosec take Prilosec ( sold over the counter ) every day for 2 weeks then take Prilosec every other day for 2 weeks and then take Prilosec every 3 days for 2 more weeks and then take Prilosec every 4 days for 2 more weeks and then take Prilosec every 5 days for 2 more weeks and then take Prilosec every 6 days for 2 more weeks then you can stop taking it so a total of 3 months you will hopefully be able to leave the acid medication please keep track on the way you will be taking the Medication in order for this to work you will need to follow instructions closely

My pleasure. I get requests for this regularly, so now it will be in one place for everyone to see.

Are you going to AlAnon meetings? I have heard from many people that these support groups are very helpful to the families of alcoholics. I am glad your husband is getting the help he needs. I hope things go well and your family heals.

I had a desk job and I was out of work less than a week. Dr. Aceves is very skilled at doing revision surgery. He did many of the revisions of people on this board!

I posted a thread in the doctor section listing all of Dr. Aceves credentials for anyone doing their research.

I have posted a thread where it lists all of dr. aceves credentials for anyone doing their research.

I've been off mine for over a week now. sometimes my stomach is quite painful. I am going to call Dr. Aceves again and find out if it's really worth it to go through all this discomfort to get off of it. It's not only heartburn, but sometimes my stomach just aches.

I get emails all the time asking for these credentials so I am posting them for anyone to read: According to MSNBC.com last year 240,000 US citizens traveled to Mexico for some type of surgery. Anything from Lasik to joint replacement to Weight Loss Surgery. If that many people are crossing the border for surgery, and if there were that many bad outcomes we would be hearing about it on the news left and right. Instead the media has a tendency to exploit the horrors instead of the positives. We have good doctors and bad doctors in the US but when a bad US doctor does something to harm a patient we do not typically warn people not to go to anyone in the US but for some reason we do seem to do that to Mexico. It isn't right and it isn't fair, but it does appear that we all seem to do this. Documentaries such as 20/20 and 60 Minutes do not get ratings by talking about how Renee Kohlpath went to Mexicali, MX and due to her WLS she lost 138#. It just wouldn't get the ratings. But get some US doctor that lost his license and set up shop in MX unlicensed and he harms more people then it's newsworthy. I think if you look for balance you will see there really is none. If 240,000 people went to MX for surgery last year and if it really is a horror, we'd be hearing about it. Dr. Aceves is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. FACS.org) This means that the American College of Surgeons has done an extensive background check on the doctor. He has to exceed the same standards as a US surgeon. His background is completely verified, his licensing, credentials, certifications, absolutely everything. If he does not maintain his reputation and current standards he cannot maintain his affiliation with the FACS. FACS is a really impressive issue in the world of medicine. Not all US doctors can maintain the background and honesty necessary to be a Fellow of the ACS. But Dr. Aceves can. There is a doctor in MX that claims to have almost 600 VSG procedures completed. He claims to have been doing this procedure for 3.5 years. Yet according to his CV he was just trained in the procedure 2.5 years ago. We know full well he has not done as many VSG procedures as he claims but unless you know what to look for you won't know that his statistics are impossible. This is why going to an FACS surgeon is critical whether you are going to a US or MX surgeon. Surgeons from all over the world (including the US) inflate their stats so they appear more experienced than they are. If they told the truth about their inexperience they wouldn't get any business. So, they are less than honest. Dr. Aceves is the Vice President of the Mexican version of the American Bariatric Assn. This is a position that is voted, so the doctors of MX voted him into this position. They recently voted again and he will be President this year. There is another organization called the International Federation of Surgical Obesity. This is an organization where weight loss surgeons all over the world belong. A few years ago Dr. Aceves holds the position of Secretary for this organization so this means that even the US doctors voted him into this office. Dr. Aceves is a proctor surgeon meaning he trains other doctors in various bariatric procedures. He typically travels to one country a month and either attends lectures to further his own knowledge on the new advances in medicine or he trains other doctors in various surgical procedures. He recently returned from Chile and Argentina training their doctors in the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. He trains US surgeons in the various procedures as well. Mexico has been doing the sleeve longer than US doctors and there are simply very few doctors willing to train other US doctors because then they would have competition. Dr. Aceves believes competition in this procedure is good as patients have more surgeons to choose from. Dr. Aceves has done over 2200 Lap Bands, over 700 Gastric Sleeves, and over 700 Gastric Bypass procedures. This means he has over 900 staple lines, a technique that is critical in a safe surgery for a VSG procedure. When researching surgeons you want someone that has done at least 250 VSG and at least 250 Gastric Bypass procedures. The reason is that the Gastric Bypass procedure has a very difficult staple line. It is an interrupted staple line and quite difficult to do. If a surgeon can do the more difficult Gastric Bypass staple line, he can do the easier VSG staple line. There are only 50 VSG surgeon world-wide that have done at least 500 VSG procedures *and* have excellent stats. Dr. Aceves is the only doctor in Mexico that has done over 700 VSG and never had a major complication. Leaks are a potential problem with this procedure but he has a technique where he over sews the staple line and we believe this one of the many reasons he has never had a leak with a VSG. I think one big issue here to remember is that just because someone is practicing in the US, that does not make them a good or skilled surgeon. Just because someone is in MX does not mean they are not a skilled surgeon or a person without ethics. I had a choice to go to any surgeon I wanted for my own sleeve and the only doctor I wanted to go to was Dr. Aceves. He is the surgeon with the most skill, the best stats, the best reputation, and the safest location. I include US doctors in that assessment as well when it comes to the sleeve procedure. I am a nurse, I've been in his OR many times during surgery and after watching him operate I was quite certain he is the only surgeon I wanted operating on me. Another upside to going to Dr. Aceves. In the US if you have the VSG you will likely spend one night in the hospital. Dr. Aceves does not agree with this. He keeps you in a fully equipped hospital for three nights following surgery. He believes you need to be medically supervised, have a total of three leak tests to be 100% certain you have no leak upon returning home, and he wants someone monitoring your vital signs, drain tube, and he wants someone available to manage your pain should you have any. He does not believe in sending you home before three nights/four days. Keep in mind, we completely and totally depend on reputation for business. We have no insurance companies referring patients, we have to do it by reputation. Dr. Aceves has been operating on US citizens for many years. He wouldn't have the reputation he does if he didn't do the best possible job for each patient. He has a great rep because we all do the job the right way. He has another belief, he only hires educated people around him. I am his patient coordinator and I am an RN. Most in this position (US or MX) are merely patients that have had surgery, they do not necessarily have any medical training. His Office Manager (my boss) is an engineer by trade. Her Office Assistant is a Law student. His OR techs (OR techs are used in the US and typically have 9 months of training) are actually 4 year RNs. His hospital coordinator is a retired teacher that previously taught English in the MX school system. His Aftercare Specialist is a PhD. She is a licensed psychologist in MX and available to all Dr. Aceves patients by phone or email. .

I was sleeved by Dr.Aceves a year ago. He is a very skilled surgeon with much experience doing vertical sleeve surgery. If you would like, I could email you all of his credentials.

Went out to dinner last night. I had most of my salad. Lettuce chews down to nothing so I can eat a lot of salad. I ate all my veggies and about 2/3 of my teriaki (sp?) steak.

I am having more heartburn today.I took some gavescon, as Dr. Aceves recommended. I hope this only goes on another week. That is what he thought.

I can't eat anything really spicy right now. I am trying my best to get off my PPI which I was supposed to go off of at 6 months and I couldn't because of severe heartburn. I am doing pretty well after being off of it for a week, unless I eat something spicy.

Dr. Aceves recommended Nexium but Protonix is just as good and I took the generic cause it was so much cheaper. My PCP told me Protonix is comparable to Nexium.

Go to Dr. Aceves. You won't regret it. He is so wonderful and living with the sleeve is effortless compared to living with a band!

Wow, it's been a year since I started this thread. I have been at goal for over 6 months and I still love my sleeve. I can eat anything I want, just not a lot or big portions. I still crave sweets and my vit D did not come up when I was taking 2-4,000 mg per day. I am now taking 50,000 once a week and I am going to get it checked again. WasA told me that the 50,000 once a week was the best way to bring it up.

Zantac will get rid of acid once you get it. The ppis stop acid from forming. I was on protonix (a PPI) also and I've been off of it a week now.Like I said, the first few days were miserable, but I seem to be fine now.I am happy to be off of it.

I don't miss anything. I eat one piece of pizza once a week. One piece and I am stuffed and have no desire to eat anymore than that. I can eat ice cream again, if I choose to. There is no food that I can't eat and I eat whatever I want. I just can't eat very much of anything, but I'm full so it's pretty easy not to want more of anything. I love the Sleeve!