donna12

still losing hair like crazy here, my hair is so thin and it looks awful, no style whatsoever anymore. I'm very vain about my hair, always have been, my toenails and hair and I'm losing both, toenails and hair, luckily found a great podiatrist that is working with me but as far as the hair goes i'm at a loss. today's menu: protein shake for breakfast 26gs, lunch Wendy's jr cheeseburger (don't fuss I had to eat on the go and don't know the protein grms for that) and dinner a cup of chili. Maybe I'm not getting enough I dunno but what do know is i need help. i'm ready to purchase a wig.

Going out on a limb here and am scared at the same time. I was diagnosed in '07 as being bipolar, mild,not severe and given a cocktail of meds, along with this disease I suffer from severe insomnia so mostly my symptoms are that along with mild depression. I take Klonopin, Saphris and Zonisamide. All has been going great and no I don't have manic episodes everything was going great up until about a month ago I noticed my moods have changed. As some of you know I live with my mom since my divorce and well I have a tendancy to lash out at her, she knows I don't mean it and she understands completely and I'm even lashing out at my dog. I called my psych the other day and called in Depakote and the pharmacist said, do you know the side effects of this drug of course I said no, she proceeded to tell me that it caused hair loss which after lap band I am experiencing now, severe weight gain and I'm thinking great. Why in the world would my psych of 7 yrs put me on a drug that makes me gain weight? I guess I am jumping out here in hopes that someone with this disease will respond and tell me what they take and if they have any adverse effects from the meds they take. It's obvious I need a mood stabilizer but from all my research they all seem to have side effect of weight gain. I have been on my cocktail of drugs for quite some time and don't know if they have stopped working or what. Someone please have some answers. thanks...Donna

thanks all for the responses and for understanding. Yes this is an issue for my psychiatrist but I'm an hour and half away from him, he's in Nashville and I'm Ky so it's not like I can jump in the car and make an appt and go see him on a whim. I have to do these things by phone. His assistant called today to ck on me and to see if the Depakote was helping and my response was :::"why in the world would he prescribe me something that causes major weight gain knowing I'm a wight loss surgery patient and on top of that due to my surgery I already am losing hair and this med causes that so no I'm taking it". she said oh, well, let me talk to him and call you back. Well, the day went on and never heard back from her. This is not like my dr, I've been with him for 7 yrs, love him to pcs, he's been there with me thru ups/downs and my separation/divorce but right now I am kinda peeved no one called me back today. On the otherhand my medical doc mentioned Lithium in a low dose...torn between doctors here. All I know is I cannot continue being short fused with everyone including the freakin dog of all things, she doesn't know any better. Zingy, like you I don't take criticism very well either or I take it to heart or wear my emotions on my shoulder so to speak. Thank you for sharing your story, it was brave of you. At least I'm not alone. Donna

how do you know if you've stretched your pouch?

CG beautiful pic of you by the way! Here's the thing...my surgeon took 1cc out of me about 6 weeks ago because I was severely stuck on a bagel ok maybe 4 weeks ago and then my piece of bagel passed. Went back in about 2 weeks ago and he put .5cc in so I'm not quite up to where I was and I'm constantly hungry and eating more than a cup of food and gaining, I've gained 3 lbs in the last 7 days. I called and tried to get in but he is out of the office and I was told I would have to wait till the 10th till my appt for a fill. ugh. I did recently move over the weekend and have been super duper busy packing and unpacking and therefore not preparing food at home and eating out, not making good choices which I know can play a factor in gaining but I am constantly hungry about every 3 hrs and 1 cup just isn't getting it for me....thats why I asked. any help from you guys now you know the story???? thanks for ur help. Donna

Amen sista! In the beginning I told everyone and now I regret it because they constantly ask "how much weight have you lost" like its a contest or something. And I feel guilty if it has only been 3 or 4 weeks since I last saw them and I'm only down 3 or 4 lbs, I've lost slow. Makes me feel like a failure. Then I hear, you were always so pretty, then in the same breath, your face looks so different, hello am I ugly now. people can be so rude. I live with my 74 yr old mom and she polices my food, yes, I'm grateful for the accountability but on the otherhand I don't like the harping of every morsel that goes into my mouth. So what if I am at a plateau its my body and I can't do anything about it. sheesh i just wish everyone would leave me the h.... alone about my band

I am 15 mos post op and sometimes find myself craving old foods and yes giving in. Had 1cc taken out last month and .5cc put back in so not quite up to my full feeling yet so I'm still getting hungry now and find myself overeating or wanting to eat more. I cant or don't deal with the head hunger well. I'd like to know who or why type of therapist treats this issue? just a regular psychiatrist? I have a terrible sweet tooth, something fierce, no lie. It gets the best of me sometimes. I take meds for mild bipolar and I think one of the meds makes me crave sugar but I can't change it cause it helps me sleep at night and that is one of my symptoms of bipolar is insomnia. Just looking for suggestions on who to turn to for help with eating habits??? Thanks

I hate to tell ya Shasta I hate pickles, I pick them off of things if I happen to eat a Wendy's jr cheeseburger on occasion. Yes I'm able to eat bread sometimes, not in the mornings but afternoons I can. Let's just face it, I'm a sugarholic, I am. I literally grew up on pop-tarts and to this day would LOVE to eat one but choose not to. I love oatmeal but have to put sugar in it, love cream of wheat but have to put sugar in it. 99% of the time for breakfast I make my own protein shakes which are very satisfying, I feel like I'm cheating but at night if I have one I feel cheated on because I didn't actually chew on food, isn't that crazy. Like today I had to have a quick breakfast so I chose cereal, then at lunch I had Red Lobster, 3 shrimp and 1 small very small piece of flounder and 1/3 of baked potato and loe and behold tonight I was starving and made myself a PB&J cut off the crust so it was smaller of course but entire sandwich. For pete's sake I will be up 2 lbs tomorrow for sure. I'm telling ya'll I need that extra .5cc in my band back. I may call my dr in the morning and see if I can come in and get that .5cc before next month. Ya'll pray for me, Lord knows I need it.

thanks so much, I will search for one.

didn't mean to scare you but yes I'm still thinning to the point I had to change style of haircut, I hate it. I hate my hair now. I take 5000 mcgs of biotin, take my vitamins daily and get plenty of protein so beats me what is going on. Like you my surgeon shrugged it off too. All my bloodwork comes back normal, so I don't know. My hair is healthy and soft but thin and sparse like you said.

I'm not going to lie to ya, the pre op diet was horrible on me, I thought I was going to die, but as you see 15 mos post op I'm still here and 73 lbs lighter. Those 2 weeks pre op are hard on all liquids or at least for me it was but we all get thru it, just keep in mind why you are doing this. You can do this. We are here for you! As for binge eating, well I had one yesterday, it was like I couldn't get enough or well how do I say this, I just kept eating and eating the wrong foods, it was just an off day for me. I ate 5 Cookies and cheese and 3 meals and candy, yes I ate all that. It didn't affect the scale this morning but I didn't lose either. Guess it was something I had to get out of my system. We all have our off days but keep in mind this is a tool to help us no overeat so this keeps me in track. Good luck Donna

Right after surgery last year I experienced brittle dry hair, I mean my hair looked fried. Several girls on here swore by this product and I bought it and it saved my hair. It's pricey but worth it. Moroccan oil from Isreal. www.moroccanoil.com Hydration mask. As far as the hair loss I'm 15 mos out and still losing hair, my hair is so thin now, I just try and get enough Protein in. Hope this helps with your dry hair. Donna

does it dissolve well and tasteless? not gritty? I get one from GNC choc flavored that I absolutely love and 1 scoop has something like 23 or 26 grs of Protein and I mix with light vanilla soy milk and half frozen banana and blend but would like other options to use in other foods???

this morning I ate a scrambled egg with cheese, couldn't finish it, not sure if I was stuck or full, couldn't tell the difference as I didn't slime but I did salivate a lot. Then tonight I made myself a low fat cheese quesadilla and couldn't finish it and I usually do, again, not sure if I was stuck, full or what was going on. With all this said, I usually 99% of the time I make a Protein shake every morning instead of eating so this morning was rare with food intake so I may have been tight, hm? But tonight I don't know what was going on. How do you know when you are full or too full and the difference of being stuck. I mean I know when I'm stuck, I usually slime and PB and sometimes throw up but today was really off with symptoms, I'm confused. All you veteran's out there please help. My stopping point when I've had enough is a hiccup then I know that's when to stop eating. That never happened on either occasion. Help please.] Thx Donna

I'm 15 mos post op and 73 lbs down. Has it been easy, yes and no. As some of you know I've had my share of probs. The first six months I was sickly with bouts of nausea and vomiting due to a sick and diseased gallbladder so my lap band surgeon is also a gen surgeon admitted me and did gallbladder surgery this past December. Well, got that behind me, then I started losing my hair and toenails, couldn't walk because my toes were bandaged up and couldn't wear shoes, so that put a damper on exercising for 4 months. To this day I'm still losing hair and nails and still don't know what is causing it, lots of blood work has been done all is normal. I do my best to get Protein in, I drink a shake every morning and other 2 meals I have at least fish or meat or cottage cheese. Now, for the last couple of weeks I've been battling inner ear probs that landed me in the hospital in Nashville thinking it was a TIA because I couldn't walk and was falling but all tests showed negative for stroke, thank goodness and turned out it is inner ear. Now I'm on Meclizine 3x a day and that in itself zones me out and makes me sleep 24/7 and as if I weren't dizzy and lightheaded enough the Meclizine causes this too. I'm nauseated along with this and this medicine is suppose to help with that and its not. I called my ENT today and he said to continue to take the Meclizine for 2 weeks and since I've only been on it for 4 days I won't see results yet. I was so upset with that answer that I turned around and called my PCP and he said the same thing, well okie dokie, I will do that then. But in the meantime am I suppose to just sleep 24/7 and stay nauseated and dizzy and swimmy head. It's a good thing I live with my mom because I am unable to drive anywhere, I'm still staggering around. I'm at the end of my rope. Will I ever feel normal again... Seems like ever since lap band surgery I've gone downhill Healthwise, yes I am sooooo happy I've lost the weight and would do it all over again but I sure do feel yucky all of the time. Went to Walmart tonight and had to hang onto the buggy even to walk, I looked like an idiot because my 74 yr old mom needed it to balance her to walk and here I was hanging on it too, sheesh. Laugh I know, its funny. I will be glad when I can wake up one morning and say boy do I feel great today. Sorry for the vent.

catfish I will def try the soup,sounds good and yes I will soon be watching some UK basketball for us both, go big blue...lol It will soon be that time of year won't it. Debbie, I am going to walmart tomorrow and hope to pk up a few Protein bars, I like the cliff ones but will ck the sugars since I read that article on inner ear causes. Thought I'd be brave this morning and eat 2 pcs of cinnamon toast, well it didn't get toasted enough and got stuck and puked it back up, and boy do I mean puked it back up,, went soft for the next 2 meals today. I should have known better but it sounded good to me. live and learn. Still learning here... Donna

thank you all so very much, this touches my heart. Yes Debbie, I wanted to use the phrase "Debbie downer" but didn't...lol, I am still taking my meds for inner ear, missed church this morning because it makes me sleepy and I couldn't get up. Luckily the sermons are on the church's website and I can listen after tomorrow, Lord knows I need it! Still battling the nausea and dizziness with this inner ear mess. Only thing that sounds good to me is Soup and I know I'm not taking in a lot of cals or enough so my body is going into starvation mode and I'm not losing any but nothing sounds good to eat. Also have been reading that salt and sugar and any processed or canned foods or cheese and bananas are not good for you while having symptoms. Well, I'm bummed because I've been eating canned Soups, cottage cheese and I make my own Protein shakes every morning with Protein powder, 1/2 frozen banana and vanilla light soy milk. I'm at my witts end as to what to do about eating now because in order to get my protein in that is why i do a Protein shake every morning and the powder is choc flavor and it isn't really good with berries. Heck I don't know what to do. I see my PCP Friday for a 3 month ck up maybe he can shed some light on the situation. Thank you all again for suggestions and concerns. Much appreciated.

Debbie thank you for the suggestions, I will ck into prenatal vit. I do take Biotin daily. I didn't mean to sound like ho hum downer its just I wish for one day I could literally get up and feel great for once since surgery last yr.

Had an emergency unfill last Friday because I was stuck on a piece of food that wouldn't pass so my dr took 1cc out and instantly I felt relief. Today was my monthly visit and he didn't want to put the entire 1cc back in because I was sick with inner ear probs and on medication so we came to an agreement that he would do .5cc because I told him I was getting hungry between meals, thank goodness for half cc. This inner ear stuff is for the birds I tell ya. I can't drive, I can't walk, I'm on Meclizine and it makes me sleepy 24/7 so I'm drugged up on that, one thing is, I sleep good at night...lol. All in all, today's visit went well, of course the entire office staff was cutting up with each other including my surgeon, they are all clowns and make the patients feel right at home and feel like family.

Sort of going thru what you are. My brother has cancer is undergoing extensive treatment but we aren't sure how long he has. He has had cancer for 2 yrs now and was in remission then about a month ago they found a tumor behind his belly button. I'm deeply religious so prayer is my salvation and I trust that God will heal him or if it is His will take him home, I'm not to question. You will be in my prayers and I wish you peace during this difficult time. Cherish these times with her, make every moment last and remember her and be there for her in good and bad, she will need you for comfort. Make her last days memorable. Lots of hugs to you.

Missy I have found my booby salvation in Wacoal of course I'm used to underwire so that is what I get, I went from a 44DD and now I'm in a 38D right now and oh my poor boobies, they sag so bad, right down to my waist, just pure skin hanging, no breast tissue whatsoever. Wacoal make a padded bra also. They are pricey but to me are so worth it. Good luck.

Anna girl you crack me up. I can honestly say all over for me but my boobs first yay however on my part as they were in my way. As far as my belly, I do hang, probably always will as Missy said but you exercise constantly so you may not have that problem. Even my feet shrunk.

I'm gona suggest this to my surgeon next week when I get a fill. thx

I'm not going to lie so here goes: HELL, worse night of my life. With that said, I have bad insomnia and take meds to sleep, usually don't get to sleep until around 1 or 2:00 am so I arrive at hospital to the sleep clinic and the lady goes "here is your room", I'm thinking oh great it's right next to the wall that butts up against the hallway, lovely. The bed, well if you want to call it that, was like sleeping on a freaking cot, of course this was my hospital, I should have gone to Nashville to have this done where my sister-in-law had hers done, they have tempur pedic mattresses. Anyway, they hooked me up, awkward, told me to watch a little tv, and then around 11 or so she came in and said are you ready to go to sleep? Uh, NO, I litterally layed there till 2 am then promply at 5:45 she came in to get me up and unhook me. Oh if you could have seen my goopy messy hair, I looked like a freak. They rushed me outta there like ok you're done and oh by the way you stopped breathing 47 times out of a minute. Wow, shocking news to hear. Needless to say I ended up with CPAP machine, got home with it tried it out, could not sleep with it, was up for several nights. Now a yr and 3 months later and 73.5 lbs lighter I hope and pray my breathing is better because I do not use a machine. There, there you have my horror story of only 1 night you have to endure, just remember why you are doing this and it's only for 1 night. You can do it...

I looked at your profile and read your story, wow, what an inspiration you are to others. Not only did you lose weight before lap band but then to make a life long decision to have lap band and lose more to keep it off. Hats off to you my friend.