Rootman

I think it definatly deserves a call, after all if you paid cash then the hospital is double dipping. Do they say you still "owe" anything to the provider as a copay or part of a deductable? The provider may come back at YOU and triple dip the payment.

I too am cold and as I've discussed before I started feeling so IMMEDIATLY after surgery. I went from walking around San Diego in 60 degree weather wearing shorts sweating beads to waking up post surgery shivering, so it's from something other than just fat loss. This summer was brutally hot for weeks on end and I literally had to stop and think "Yeah it IS hot" whereas prior to WLS I was hot in virtually ANY temp, I used to actually LOVE to get cold occasionally. One issue I've have post op that I really hate is the consistant issues with kidney stones due to reduced Water intake immediatly post-op, unfortunatly I've had to go from drinking LOTS of water to drinking a rediculous amount of water just to prevent them. I have to urinate so often it's really annoying, especially getting up to go 2 or 3 times each night, my old issue of constipation is back with a vengance too, for some reason I just seem to pass most of the Fluid rather than adsorb it.

I had exactly opposite, my eczema started to clear right up and my skin is better than it has been in ages. The hormone release theory is certainly plausible but seem the derm. to make sure and get some relief if possible.

TLDR; Self pay in MX, took a few weeks from my first online inquiry to the surgery. DETAILS: I could of waited for insurance but did not want to wait - I had a LOT of bariatric attributed issues. Someone here in my office took 8 months to get approved then operated on and they would NOT do the sleeve, she had a bypass.

Yep Sunny the first one is rough, I had my surgery right AFTER Thanksgiving 2010 and had more time to acclimate. While I still ate too much this year 2011, the "too much" I ate was no where near what a normal portion should of been for me prior, let alone the mounds of food I used to shove in my pie hole. Remember, the sleeve is more like getting a divorce than a death. Good ol' food is still around but you now have to just be "friends" instead of intimate lovers the way we all were before. Go ahead an morn but just keep in mind the benefits you are reaping and the fact that NEXT year you'll be able to indulge just a tad more.

I am jealous, getting under 200 pounds might not be in the cards for me. Most guess my weight at about 180 as I am tall and lanky now but the scale knows the truth and I would just like to hop on one morning and get the same surprise you did. Congrats!

Once you hit the place that you no longer tire during walking adding more is just burning more calories, so my suggestion is to just keep going. If anything, set a TIME limit for yourself and walk the amount you can in that time. At first I swam X number of laps and got to the point where I could maintain a constant pace so I actually dropped the amount of time I was swimming from 90 minutes (mixed strokes with frequent rests) to 60 minutes of swimming a constant freestyle stroke (front crawl) and get in 110 laps. Net burnt calories is UP because the pace is higher and constant vs a lower pace with frequent rests. More calories burned and NOT replaced equals more weight loss and more potential muscle built and or retained.

Yehaw! Ride 'em cowgirl! I've been riding 4 times this summer. Would of been 5 but the last time out the horse sidled to the left towards me and I over compensated and laid over the saddle a bit too fast and caught the saddle horn right up under my left rib cage - ouch! I was sore for 3 weeks and could not exercise let alone ride. If we get some more fair weather I may just mount up again this year.

I was in pretty much the same boat as you with many of the same symptoms and a few different ones. I had (still have) real good insurance and was not wanting to wait the 6+ months for acceptance, I literally thought I would be dead in a few months, I was doing that poorly. I had some cash and decided to go ahead and go to Mexico. It saved my life. Now 11+ months later I am 170+ pounds down and feeling great. I swim 5 days a week and have more muscles than I have EVER had in my life. As of today I am bouncing around a weight of 205 and LOOK thin even though I am still 15 pounds overweight. A woman here at my work decided to have WLS after I had mine, she started the process in February. She just had her surgery last week, an almost 10 month waiting period while they jerked her around, "lost" her "paper work", changed her requirements and generally screwed the pooch consistently over and over. She was worried she'd have a stroke over the sheer aggravation and lies they told her over and over - when they suddenly just DROPPED her from the roster with NO explanation. She finally waited them out and had the surgery, she had a RNY bypass despite the fact that she wanted a VSG, they talked her into getting a full bypass instead or threatened to make her start all over again through the insurance waiting game. I told that horrible story above to let you know that others have done it in MX and survived and thrived. Whatever you choose IT IS WORTH WAITING FOR. It's also worth taking the risk and paying out of pocket for too.

Yes, my natural tendancy to get constipated was definatly WORSR post op. Like what daisy suggests I've found Mirilax to be the best for me - after DECADES of trying various remedies. Mirilax is basically a super Water adsorbant inert plastic material that passes straight through softening and bulking the stool making it easier to pass. AND as stated previosly drink LOTS AND LOTS of water. I've gotten kidney stones 3 times now post op and have found that I need to drink a rediculousamount of water - more - than a gallon a day - to keep me from getting constipated (even with Mirilax) and forming stones.

Mt. Zion is the same as Jerusalem clinic ( http://mtzionmedical.com/contact-us.php ) . I had my surgery 12/6/10 and have had a huge success with little to no issues, the only issue has been with kidney stones due to my not drinking enough water, but this cannot be attributed to the surgery, only my own issues with nausea post op and not keeping up with my liquids. I had a good experience with them. HOWEVER, and it's a BIG however - there are some posts in the forum here about issues with the place and the staff. There was also an armed robbery at the recovery house earlier this year. Due to these issues I will no longer recommend the center. Please use the search utility in the forum and dig up the post and make your own decision.

Nope.

Yeah, the old 'THAT'S NOT MY JOB" syndrome. I get real frustrated t my docs staff too for much the same reason, and don't get me started on MY workplace. It's pretty tough to get someone who will just take ownership of an issue and see it through - EVEN IF IT ISN'T "THEIR" JOB. I know, I know, there IS sometimes when a person just can't help, but dammit, they typically know more about the issue than I do and STILL won't take any initiative to do SOMETHING, even just ask or direct us to who DOES do it.

Yeah, I get the same, typically from those who, um, could stand to lose a few pounds themselves. It makes them look bad - or should I say WORSE

Congrats! I know, I'm a guy but I do know what you're going through. I am finding clothes hard to find sometimes. It seems that guys clothes start at Large or XL, I am just inside of a medium and depending on how it's cut sometimes go with a large. It's a GOOD problem to have.

There is SOME truth to this, but that's not the whole picture. When faced with a calorie deficit the body DOES start to shut down some systems, e.g. slow the metabolism. hair and nail growth are two obvious things that slow down or halt during the diet phase. Other metabolic processes slow and the person suffers from fatigue, general malaise and often times goes into a condition called ketosis. The REST of the truth is the fact that the body cannot maintain this lowered metabolic rate and after the initial "panic" wears off it resumes a somewhat more normal metabolic rate.resumes. This is where yo-yo dieters (like most if not all of us used to be pre-sleeve) get in trouble, a few pounds are shed, some weight lost and the hunger and energy comes back and we fall into the same old eating habits and the weight (plus some) comes back. TLDR: YES it does slow the metabolism down, but it can't stay that way, pretty soon the body accepts the lowered caloric rate and assumes business as usual again.

As Shae suggested be sure to check the obvious like Iron levels. After that it's a guessing game. I was your typical fat sweaty guy, well, scratch that - fat HYPER sweaty guy. I was ALWAYS hot, hardly EVER wore a jacket and had a fan blowing on me year round. Immediately, and I mean as soon as I came to from anesthetic after the VSG, I was cold and have been ever since. I know that one "cure" to hyper hydrosis (excessive sweat) is to cut the vegus nerve near the heart. This same nerve branches down and terminates in the stomach and a small piece of it IS cut during the VSG, but according to sources I've read it is far too low and not long enough to have made a difference in the sweating, let alone be responsible for the bone chilling cold I feel now-a-days. So while my "evidence" is circumstantial at best I am confident that there IS a link to the VSG and excessive sweating and sensitivity to cold and perceived cold feeling. So just bundle up, put on the long johns and get ready cause as you lose weight it gets worse.

Well this one's all over the map. A quick Google brought up these results: https://encrypted.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=how+much+protein+can+I+adsorb+in+one+sitting%3F&oq=how+much+protein+can+I+adsorb+in+one+sitting%3F&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=678l16545l0l16760l45l44l0l30l30l0l230l1921l2.11.1l14l0 While I don't think that there is really a limit per-se I would have to hazard a guess that the body can only adsorb so much before the natural result of passing the food causes it to travel beyond the area that the intestines can adsorb it from. How fast your metabolism is and how fast your intestines move are some of the variables involved.

Well, I'm not the best to ask cause my hair was already thinning with the typical age related male pattern but after 11 months I have NOT noticed any acceleration or increase in fallout.

Great post! I too rode the roller coaster of emotions after the sleeve. You gotta wonder just what's going on inside with everything changing so much and so rapidly - it's perfectly normal - even for us guys. The ill fitting clothes issue gets worse as you lose, now that extra inch of fabric that used to make those pants oh-so-comfy now make me look like I'm walkin' around with a loaded diaper on! I'm wearing like a medium and a half now - which doesn't exist, medium is just a tad too small and larges are too big, so I walk around with baggy clothes. I LIKE that problem :smile1:

Really makes your day doesn't it! Keep up the great loss!

How could a titanium staple reinforced clean cut across the stomach (VSG) lead to MORE leaks than cutting off the 95% of stomach to form a pouch AND severing the small intestine, rerouting the small intestine reattaching it to the pouch and then reattaching the tail of the small intestine with the rest of the stomach (RNY) produce MORE chance of a leak? Ummm, this doesn't make much sense. I'd keep shopping around. I'm not saying a VSG is the be-all and end-all of WLS's but it's worked wonders for a lot of people - me included.

12/6/10 and 173 pounds down as of 11/14/11.

I'm on Iron tabs too and still freeze. 2 blankets, a quilt and an afghan on the bed along with a heated mattress pad. I now sleep with underpants, undershirt and socks most of the time as well. A sweater is my uniform at work now almost everyday. I posed a possible reason as to why here: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/27063-is-getting-cold-after-weight-loss-result-of-more-blood-vessels/page__fromsearch__1 If this IS true then there is nothing we can do until and IF the body readjusts the blood vessels.

I was chatting with someone who is a physical therapist the other night, and while they aren't a doctor I was wondering if what they said could be true. He said that he had known a few people who had a large weight loss like I did and that they were all cold all the time. He claimed that as we get fatter and fatter the amount of skin also grows and with it the amount of blood vessels increase as new vessels are formed as the skin stretched out to service the new larger areas. When a person looses the weight the blood vessels do not quickly (or maybe not at all) get reabsorbed and what we are left with is an increased amount of blood vessels over a smaller area of skin and servicing a smaller mass of muscle and fat. He explained that besides perspiration the blood vessels near the surface of the skin also play a part in cooling the body, indeed it is the blood itself that delivers the moisture to the skin that collects and is expressed from the sweat glands. So the reason we are all cold is that we have a far more efficient "radiator" than most people of similar size that have NOT lost weight and NOT seen the increased amount of vessels. While this sounds pretty good I was wondering if there are any Drs or nurses out there that can confirm this? All I know is I used to be a sweaty guy ALL the time, as I got fatter it got worse, now since +170 lbs of weight are lost I am freezing all the time and rarely ever perspire enough to notice.