Sansa

bypassing any of the intestines just seems unnecessary to me for the simple reason that it causes malabsorption that leads to malnutrition. Now that the sleeve is available, why is rny even still approved? Is the rny really any more beneficial than the sleeve? I studied psychology in school during which I learned that a primary cause of schizophrenia can be malnutrition. In fact, some of the new treatments that are being developed rely a great deal on just ensuring that schizophrenics receive proper nutrition. Also, excessive consumption of caffeine can increase cortisol levels which can also cause mental problems. Jr seemed to be experiencing a lot of stress at the time...maybe he was consuming too much caffeine and not enough vegetables. looks like his sister has lost 200 lbs!

hmmm...you're right, it doesn't say that...I must have read it somewhere else although I can't find it now...can self pays just choose any operation that they want?

apparently, Jr was 100 pounds overweight before the surgery. I was given the option of what kind of surgery that I wanted. Do you have a duodenal switch? I also found this article that suggests that weight loss surgery increases the level of suicides and heart disease. I wonder if they are nutrition related: http://archsurg.jama...rticleid=400707 This is a q & a regarding depression following weight loss surgery: http://bariatrictime...and-prevention/

Having spent almost my entire life dieting, I learned that dairy products are not really good for losing weight. I noticed that a lot of people on this forum who have stalls or trouble losing weight seem to eat a lot of yogurt, pudding, cheese, and cottage cheese. Also, bread, crackers, rice and oatmeal keep me from losing weight although my system seems to be more sensitive than others. It seems to be ok to eat dairy but if you find that you aren't losing weight like you want to then you may want to consider cutting out the dairy altogether. You can buy high protein powders that can be turned into puddings with water though, for example Wonderslim puddings are pretty good.

I have found myself wondering whether models have been sleeved. I imagine that it must be difficult to be skin and bones without some kind of intervention whether it be surgery and/or drugs. I also wonder if Victoria Beckham is sleeved. She is always pictured looking miserable but maybe that's because she doesn't consume enough calories since she is sleeved?

The liquid diets work but they are, of course, difficult to maintain for extended amounts of time. I managed to lose 20+ lbs a month on liquid diets in the past. One time, I only drank wonderslim shakes and another time, I lived on juiced fruits and vegetables. The Atkins and Scarsdale diets are also effective.

My magnesium deficiency never showed up in any tests and doctors never told me about it. I discovered it on my own after several years.

I experienced heart palpitations and fatigue when I was younger. I discovered that my heart palpitations occured as a result of a magnesium deficiency. I no longer experience the palpitations as long as I take an extra magnesium supplement with my multivitamin. My doctor also told me that chocolate and caffeine can cause palpitations. Your shortness of breath could be caused by the anxiety that results from the palpitations, however, it would be a good idea to get it checked out by a doctor. I have also been diagnosed with insulin resistance and cyclical hypothyroidism which causes my fatigue. However, other people on this board are healed of their insulin resistance after the operation in which case I wonder if your fatigue could be caused by the low calorie diet. Have you tried increasing your calories?

I believe that the dry mouth may be caused by ketosis which occurs when the body is burning a lot of fat. Biotene Dry Mouth Mouthwash has helped me in the past with ketosis. Act also offers a dry mouth mouthwash but it doesn't seem to work as well as the Biotene in my opinion, although the Biotene is more expensive.

I haven't had my surgery yet but am wondering what psychological issues those of you who have had the surgery experience? I understand that a lot of people struggle with learning how to tell the difference between real, mental, and emotional hunger. What other issues does the surgery force you to deal with? What is it about the surgery that causes some insurance companies to require psych tests?

I'm sorry to hear that you are having a rough time. I am hoping that my estrogen levels will go down by losing weight but it seems as though the process of ridding our bodies of estrogen is difficult. Have you had a chance to talk to your GYN about it yet? Do you mind sharing with us what your doctor said about it? Its interesting how this surgery changes our relationships with our families. What other things have you found to do instead of eating or to deal with not eating? I'll keep OA in mind in case I have mental and emotional hunger to deal with after the operation. I imagine that OA must attract a lot of bariatric patients these days. What ways does OA suggest for dealing with mental and emotional hunger?

I actually tried to use the Wonderslim shakes on a liquid diet. I lost 20 lbs but the liquid diet was difficult to maintain because I was starving most of the time. However, I'm hoping that the liquid diet will be easier to live with after my surgery. I tried them for awhile specifically because they are offered in low calorie, asparatame-free, soy-free, and dairy-free versions. My favorites were mocha and cheesecake but all of the flavors that I tried tasted pretty good. I believe that the Wonderslim shakes are supposed to provide adequate nutrition for people on liquid diets. I'm planning on getting some to use after my surgery. I'm thinking about also getting some unflavored unjury to add to the Wonderslim in order to increase the Protein and calories a little bit. The Wonderslim shakes run around 100 calories each packet which means that I will try to drink at least 6 a day after my surgery.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6 I am hoping that this operation helps me to learn how to nourish my soul more than my body. Always trying to satisfy my body with material things like food just isn't working for me. The food and the clothes and the house and the car just don't fill the emptiness. Reading the Bible does fill the emptiness for me though. If I am feeling emotional about something but then read the Bible, the words in the Bible really do soothe me. It's amazing to me how reading uplifting and encouraging words satisfies my soul in a way that food and other things just can't. I have also found that giving stuff away makes my soul feel good. Sometimes when I am feeling particularly bad then I seek out something to give away and then all of my bad feelings will just go away. I don't know why that works for me but it does. Giving stuff away makes my soul feel better than having or attaining stuff does. Violin music also soothes me in a way that food never has. I guess that this operation is about finding new ways of filling our emptiness for a lot of us. What ways have everyone else found to fill the void since your operation? Seems as though a lot of people have turned to exercise and marathons.

I am still waiting to be approved for surgery but in case I'm not approved, do you happen to have a website for Dr. Aceves? He seems to receive a lot of recommendations from people on this site.

Infections seem to be a leading cause of problems with the surgery which led me to start looking at what kind of foods that I can eat that can help prevent infection. I have used raw garlic and echinacea tea for years to fight off sinus infections. I also like to eat raw ginger when my stomach is nauseous. However, a lot of people can't seem to eat spicy food following the surgery so I'm wondering if those spicy foods include garlic and ginger? I have also found out that drinking chamomile and goldenseal teas help fight infections. Honey is also supposed to be antiseptic, however, I imagine that it must be too sweet after the surgery? Has anyone else used natural foods and herbs following the surgery?

I craved vinegar when I was pregnant but the doctor told me it was because I was anemic. I wonder if it is the vinegar in the pickle juice that you crave. Vinegar is a sugar that has the reputation of balancing body ph by reducing acid levels in the blood. I'm wondering if the surgery increases acidity in some way...perhaps the anesthesia or the healing process causes ph imbalances?

how is your energy level since the surgery? weak, tired?

I think that a lot of us here can relate to that. Thank you for sharing with us. I tend to think that our society doesn’t appreciate character as much as it does appearances. Women, in particular, are judged almost solely on their appearances. Just to prove my point, next time that you are sitting around talking about another female, take notice of how the conversation almost always includes how the woman looks. People can be talking about a genius but if she is unattractrive or overweight then her value is often diminished in the conversation. Likewise, we can all sit around and talk about all of the celebrities that receive massive amounts of respect and money/value simply because they look attractive. People almost always judge a woman on her appearance regardless of her abilities. For example, Angelina Jolie is worshipped because of her appearance and is a standard of beauty that many aspire to meanwhile she is/was a heroin addict. Her lack of character and ability is almost completely disregarded in the light of her beauty. On the other hand, men are judged more on their abilities. Conversations about men rarely include their attractiveness or lack thereof but more about their strength, or sense of humor, or intelligence. Society tends to bond over food. We Celebrate most everything using food: birthday cake, Halloween candy, Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas Cookies, Memorial Day and Fourth of July bbq, etc. I can see how not being able to share and partake of food together on those occasions may cause us not to feel as close to others as we used to. We share food in order to, subconsciously, nourish each other so then I suppose that we have to figure out how to nourish and care for each other without food... I’m looking forward to the day when a 1/4 cup of blueberries will satisfy me. Now that you mention it, I guess that sitting around watching others eat probably makes them feel uncomfortable too. We then have to figure out ways to make others feel comfortable about eating in front of us. That’s interesting because here I was thinking about my psychological issues but meanwhile the surgery causes us to also have to deal with other people’s eating issues too.

no, I'm not. I'm just the kind of person that likes to be as prepared as possible. I'm not concerned about he physical aspect of the surgery as much as I am the mental and emotional aspects. I hadn't thought about the estrogen factor though. Losing so much weight so quickly must leave a lot of excess estrogen in the system.

What was it about the attention that influenced you to gain your weight back? Was it the pressure from the men or the jealousy of the women? Is it different now since you were sleeved? I received attention when I was younger. I think the difficult part about it for me was that people expected more of me or overestimated me and my abilities simply because of my appearance. However, now that I am overweight, people tend to underestimate me and my abilities. Life for me is definitely less complicated now that I am overweight simply because people don't expect anything from me.

I went to a wls seminar during which I learned that the doctor that performs the sleeve surgery charges $14k for self pay. I am going to try to use my insurance but was just curious about what other good, safe, competent doctors charge for the sleeve in the VA area?

I thought that the doctors might be concerned that some people may just flip out or experience major anxiety after the surgery. However, dorrie's post seems to indicate that doctors are just trying to make sure that we are making educated decisions about having the surgery. It seems as though some people on this forum get really depressed and/or have a difficult time emotionally right after the surgery and I was wondering why. Do you feel weak or vulnerable right after the surgery? what other kind of thoughts cause post surgery depression? or are those emotions due solely to hormonal fluctuations?

Self-medicating is an interesting term to use for describing our relationship with food. If you don't mind sharing with us, what new ways other than food have you found to soothe your feelings since the surgery? I wouldn't have thought that caring less about other people's drama would be a consequence of the surgery...that's interesting. Is that because you feel more self confident now? how liberating that must be...

What is it about head hunger that bothers so many people? Is it the fact that it just can't be satisfied or is it something else? How have some of you learned to deal with mental and emotional hunger?

I noticed that most people seem to live on water and protein with very few if any carbs following the surgery. I don't understand how anyone has any energy to function and heal without any carbs. I generally struggle with lack of energy anyways but I'm concerned about how I will feel after the surgery when I'm not able to eat carbs for energy. From what I have read on this forum, the surgery ends up healing most cases of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. I'm just concerned about how the surgery is going to affect my energy levels up until my insulin resistance is healed. The diet seems so carb restrictive that I just don't understand how anyone has enough energy to even function after the surgery.