mistysj

Out of surgery and all good. Thanks for the good thoughts, everyone!

I'm doing fine everyone. Thanks for the good juju!

6 months ago. Not a single problem and I'm down 65 lbs.

Oh and hypoglycemia and dumping are completely different things. Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar. It is related to diabetes. Dumping is a symptom of partially undigested food entering the intestine. It has to so with faster transit time between the stomach and intestines. It is rare. Very few RNY patients dump, and a vanishingly small number of Sleevers do.

Stomach stapling is. It the same as the sleeve or bypass. Stomach stapling is a very old bariatric surgery that is not performed anymore. Staples in and of themselves are not the problem. For the sleeve, some surgeons don't even use staples. Some use dissolvable sutures. Some use staples for the initial closure, but suture over the staple line, completely covering it. This is to protect against leaks for the first 6-8 weeks until the suture line is totally healed. This is bet sleeve patients have a graduated diet from liquid back to solid, and this is why the (very small) risk of leaks goes down to nearly zero at the 6-week mark. Please don't mix up your bariatric procedures when you are making decisions regarding surgery. You need all the facts.

Alex, several of us have seen this with the app (I'm on iOS and have seen it with the iPhone and iPad). It looks like the post is going to time out. If you wait for it to actually time out (takes a couple minutes) it has usually posted the same thing 2-3 times. It's the callback routine that isn't working right. This doesn't happen all the time but has happened to me on wifi and 3G. I assume it's the same thing the OP is experiencing.

In my opinion, the sleeve is the "cleanest". Nothing left behind, no major anatomical changes. Just less capacity. No limitation on what meds you can take later and your whole GI tract can be examined. No risk of scarring, slipping or port infection. And the sleeve is based on a surgical procedure, gastrectomy, that has been around and used for more than 50 years. (Maybe much longer, in fact). But all surgeries (even non-WLS ones) have risks. Weigh that with the fact that in the general population, people with problems are going to be the ones who are more vocal on the Internet and elsewhere. That's why you shouldn't only rely on personal anecdotes or stories about a friend of a friend, but actually read the research and the literature that is available from scientific and medical journals, read books, and talk to your surgeon. Even (especially?) on this website, there is a great amount of good info, along with a huge amount of rumor, speculation, and false misleading information, about each one of the surgeries. Alex, the founder of this site, has published informational books about the gastric sleeve, lap band, and RNY. Maybe more. They are available from amazon.com, as well as tons of other booms about bariatric surgery. I recommend reading them. Before you buy a book look at the publication date because books that are more than 5 years old will be less useful. And what matters the absolute most is the path you take after surgery, after the gradual reintroduction of food. At that point, our journeys become remarkably similar. We all need to eat high Protein, low carb healthy foods. We all need to drink enough Water. We all need to exercise. All of our procedures help us limit our intake. All procedures can he successful and all procedures can fail, because the procedure doesn't do all the work. You do. I think Alex combined the sites to show us all our similarities.

And now that I've spewed enough psychobabble for the day, I'll go and get ready to have my fucked gallbladder removed in a couple of hours! Please say a prayer or chant a mantra or sacrifice a goat that this stops the 6-month run of the runs, or at the very least, that I never have a 14-hour gallstone attack again.

I "liked" your post because you are overcoming things. Let me tell you, you don't have bad habits and you aren't bad. You have coping strategies that are out of date for your current life. You are finding new, more appropriate ones.

Thank you for the courage it took you to share that. Facing your reality is such a big step.

Damn double post

Double post

Thank you so much for that support. You are not alone. And we are so strong.

I was/am a big-time closet eater. I'm the one who nobody can figure out why I was fat because they never saw me eat. I'd open a package and eat the whole thing so I could toss the bag and hide the evidence. I'd eat a whole pizza or a whole pie or 6 cupcakes or a pint (or a quart) of ice cream. The worst was when I was all alone, in my dorm room or after I got married, when my husband was away for the day or (much worse) traveling for work for a few days. I'd eat the whole time. I may nit have finished it all in a sitting but I'd get it done. I used to go to mcdonalds and order: 1 quarter pounder meal, large, and 1 double cheeseburger. The quarter pounder just wasn't enough! But I was in huge denial especially to my husband, who had no idea about my binges. I lost weight on programs like Weight Watchers, but my food journals never showed my binges. They showed me eating perfectly. It was an exercise in self-delusion. I know why I did it and I've had lots of therapy. I was a physically and sexually abused child and food was a comfort as a kid. Also my parents had me on diets from a very young age (and I wasn't even fat) and my bone-thin brother was allowed (even forced, also abusively) to eat to the point of vomiting. He got pop tarts for Breakfast and I got fruit. Of course I snuck treats into my room and ate them in the middle of the night. Of course I binged when I went to friends' houses, or on birthdays/holidays/special occasions when I was allowed to eat as much as I could hold. On pizza nights my brother and I were praised for how many pieces of pizza we could get down. Then I was put into foster care at age 12. Age 14 my foster parents decided we were all vegetarian. Loss of choice around food again. I ate meat and junk whenever I could get it. They also sent me signals that I was fat and limited my food. I was in so much pain and turmoil and food was the only thing I felt like I was choosing in my life. I'm an adult now and I have control of all my choices. Knowing this wasn't enough to break the cycle. Therapy helped me understand but didn't break my food patterns. The sleeve has (so far) been that extra push and given me that control. It has also been enough of a disruption to give me a chance to think and to breathe. I have been working on myself, hard, since before surgery, knowing that there will come a time (probably soon) when the restriction doesn't keep me on the straight and narrow anymore. I've already done food misdeeds in small ways and I can feel that it would be so easy to go for the sliders to feel that temporary comfort. I'm well aware of my issues. Thanks for this thread. It's important to check in with the demons and look them in the eye on a regular basis.

Nauseous means "sickening" or "disgusting" as in "that huge pile of vomit on the sidewalk is nauseous," Nauseating means "making you feel like vomiting" as in "that vomit is nauseating to me." http://www.grammarerrors.com/word-choice/nauseousnauseated/

The last couple runs have been a lot better. The 1% incline feels good and I've shortened my stride I think. I feel good after 7 km. I haven't been able to make myself run further than that since I finished the Couch to 10k. I just don't feel like I need to run longer than 50 minutes at a shot for exercise. Gallbladder surgery tomorrow so yesterday was probably my last run for the next week or two.

Fluffster, has your husband considered self-pay in Mexico?

I love it that I can eat just a little of something and be satisfied. We had a thanksgiving celebration here on the weekend (no official thanksgiving in Australia and I miss it so we have a big party every year) and I had my 50 grams of turkey and a spoonful each of stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, and cranberry sauce. For dessert I had a bite of my husband's pie. And it was lovely. Even better, I enjoyed the cooking, the socializing, and was able to really take the time to count my blessings. Plus all the compliments from those who have not seen me in a while! I didn't stress about what I would and wouldn't eat. I knew my sleeve would take care of the quantity I could fit in so I made sure I had enough Protein and a taste of everything I cared for. It was an utterly refreshing and affirming experience.

I handle it by my husband being the main cook in my family. Maybe your husband can cook some. Are the kids old enough to learn? Maybe sometimes you have sandwich night or a salad with cold meat on it? Or slow cooker meals you can start in the morning? It's really normal for you to not be interested in cooking food you can't or won't eat. Why was your husband denied? Not heavy enough? I bet he is crazy envious of you because it probably seems to him like you are on easy street now. I wish my husband would do something about his weight besides complain. He isn't heavy enough for surgery but I've never actually seen him lose significant weight. He is probably 15 kg overweight (30 lb or so). He started running but seems to snack enough to maintain equilibrium. When he complains I have to bite my tongue so I won't say "So do something about it!" I would have hated it if he said that to me. I know this, because he did sometimes. It's weird being smaller than him (I don't think my BMI is less yet).

The app double-posted.

Um I am only 4'11".

I have the sleeve. I'm not insecure in the least. I wanted to post about a ban in NZ because someone asked which surgery they should get, and I thought that was important info. But I couldn't find proof of it, so I didn't post it. I didn't expect to be attacked for looking for proof of a statement?

You would get more answers if you posted on the Forum for general questions as it is higher traffic than this one. But stalls are very normal. You don't need to anything but follow your plan and the stall will break. Hang in there!

I tried to find proof that the lap band is no longer offered in NZ because I wanted to post it on another thread and I can't find any reference to it. The following website is still up and you would think they would take it down, wouldn't you? http://www.lapband.co.nz/

In Australia, and I believe in Europe too, the band and bypass are hardly done anymore. The band used to be extremely popular in Australia. I believe we were #1 in the world. Also, though VSG for weight loss is a new surgery, gastrectomy for stomach cancer or other stomach problems is a very old surgery, much older than any of the other bariatric procedures. It is possible to live a relatively normal life with no stomach at all. Of course, those old gastrectomy surgeries were all laparotic (open surgeries, not laparoscopic), so the fact that it is laparoscopic adds even more reassurance to me. But for me, the sleeve seemed the least invasive and lowest maintenance over time. No fills and fewer possible Vitamin and mineral deficiencies (though you do still need to supplement with the sleeve). No limitations on medications I can take when I get old. No limitations on endoscopes or feeding tubes if I am sick later in my life. Also, I CAN eat anything. (It doesn't mean I choose to). Quantity is the main thing affected (though there is emerging evidence of some malabsorption and decreased transit time with the sleeve as well). Also, the sleeve can be modified into the bypass or DS if medically needed, but you can't go the other way.