jsd2

I did the same thing and was only getting around 4-600 calories for most of my time on the high protein diet although it was recomended to get 8-900 calories. It was tough to get much more in for me even tho I was getting in more than the recomended grams of protein- around 100 each day when 80 was the target. I spent sooooo much money on the food I was determined not to cheat and make it all be for nothing, but there were several times I just couldn't take it anymore! My worst offenses in my opinion were 2 or 3 sweet potato tater tots from sonic one night, a can of diet coke on the third of my nine days, a huge slice of greasy pepperoni pizza the Friday before my Monday surgery and a piece of sugar free gum the morning of surgery. I felt so awful and guilty for failing the diet and talked to the doc, he said more people cheat worse than that and that he only had to cancel 1 surgery for a patient who had a full meal the night before surgery. He also said they can tell while they're inside whether you've cheated or not- 2 weeks of super high protein and low cal and carb cleans out your intestines, bowel and decreases the fat in your liver- patients who cheat tend to have "greasy" intestines per the doc, gross! So many of us have food issues, that's why we're here! Losing 12 or 19 lbs on the diet is great, they're looking for weight loss so there is more room to work in your tummy and the size of your liver decreases making surgery easier and safer.

That was my thinking too! If weight loss= hair loss the weight loss was a bigger improvement! Then I lost my hair and only lost 47 lbs, not the trade off I was looking for! My hair loss started right after surgery and has continued to about 5 months, it's slowed considerably in the last few weeks. When I was fatter, I had long gorgeous super thick hair that I thought was my best asset...hopefully it will grow back the same eventually but my bigger concern is getting the rest of the weight off and keeping off!

Good for you that you've got that desire! Walking helps prevent blood clots in the legs which is a big risk after surgery. My doc suggested waiting for real exercise-exercise (weights, heavy cardio etc) until the 6 week appointment when they had us meet with an exercise physiologist. I had it done laproscopically and they said to use the same rule as sex- do it when you're comfortable. By 6 weeks alot of healing has taken place and you should be able to rock on that eliptical!

I'm so sorry you had that experience. I was claustrophobic during my sleep study and the anxiety had me feeling the same way! When you've been beaten down by people telling you you're fat or talking to you negatively it's easy to think that's what everyone will do. I hope you have a positive experience with the nutritionist, psychologist etc... I think most of them are working in this field because they really want to help overweight people (or were one themselves) and not because they are fat haters. I tried several times to get approval for the surgery and couldn't get it past insurance. Each time I was denied I got knocked further and further down emotionally, got more depressed and gained more weight. I was not strong enough to go self-pay and I honestly was shocked when I actually got the approval. There was no way I would have been able to save or set aside the money even if it meant losing weight to save my life. I didn't think I would be strong enough to go through the entire process another time or that I would be able to lose any weight, let alone 15 pounds before the surgery- I thought I would be the one person who forced them to cancel due to weight gain. Most of us are emotional eaters and when you take away our coping mechanism we get frustrated and scared and feel like we have failed or will fail. For what it's worth, you aren't alone, other people have felt or are feeling this way right now. You aren't alone, even though we don't always admit it, alot of us are scared, depressed, feel fat and worthless. You aren't alone, people will read this post and identify with it like I did, they will feel compassion for you and send you good wishes and prayer. You aren't alone, support may come in the strangest of places, even if it's on a message board, you deserve it, it's being given by people who know, who've been fat, who understand. You are not alone, you don't have to stand unsupported and without cheerleaders, let us support you, cheer you on and rejoice with you in your triumphs. You are not alone! Your feelings and emotions are valid and even if you feel like giving up, continue to reach out for support, there are lots of us here to provide it!

Aww, so sorry about your wait! It is totally frustrating when you feel like you have everything lined up and are soooo ready just to have wait or worse- get denied. I first applied back in 2008, I called my carrier and asked all the right questions about BMI, proof of failed diets and whether co-morbidities had to be present. The rep I talked to for the insurance carrier told me (incorrectly) that the benefit was available at 100% with no requirements. I went to a sleep doc, did a psych eval, was poked and prodded, tested and re-tested and assured I was a perfect candidate. When we submitted to the insurance carrier they promptly denied it, I tried to appeal but was denied again. The next time was 09 and I went tthrough the same process, this time I was denied and found out the reason was I didn't have 5 consecutive years of documented weights and BMI from my PCP- literally the only requirement! Well what fat girl goes to the doctor every year to be weighed??? In 2011 I had all the documentation needed so I waited until the 2012 plan year started to apply and put enough into my flex spending account to pay the deductible and co-insurance. I had my "first" doctors appointment in February again and the paperwork was sent to my insurance carrier with the explanation that it would take 4 weeks to 3 months to get a response and then I would have to schedule all of my other doctors appointments and then try to get a date for surgery. Well 4 years of waiting was enough for me, I explained the situation to the office staff at the surgeons office who were unsympathetic and negative about whether I could speed the procees up but I didn't let that deter me! I called my carrier at the one week mark and was able to get the claim escalated for review and was told I would get an answer within 5 business days- great! but not good enough! I was anxious after doing years of research, trying WW 2 more times, buying tons of slimfast, atkins and off-brand diet bars and drinks. I wasn't losing weight but gaining it with every year that passed. I called back after 2 days and spoke to the supervisor of the person doing the escalated review and they gave me a verbal authorization for surgery! I called and spoke to the office staff who actually put me on the schedule without the paper confirmation- from first doc appointment to approval it was 2 weeks, a week later were my final appointments and I started the Protein diet, 9 days later I had surgery- start to finish 1 month, or 4 years, depends on how you look at it! I have UHC which many people told me was an easy carrier to get approved through, not my initial experiences. I think the only reason it moved fast for me the last time was because I told literally everyone my sob story of trying for 4 years to get it approved and they begrudgingly listened and actually were able to do something about it. I hope things work out for you and you get an answer quickly, but hey, if they don't call you, you keep calling until you talk to that one person who listens!

I still feel that way and I am almost 6 months out! I have asked myself the same question- why did I do this to myself? and I can't stand when my daughter tries to be sympathetic because I often feel like it's all my own fault and I shouldn't get sympathy! Due to complications I'm not getting in my protein and just recently have been able to get in close to 48 oz of fluid a day. I'm also all out of protein stores and vitamin and nutrient deficient which makes it worse. If you feel like you're having trouble and feeling worse rather than better- don't be afraid to speak up and talk to your doctor! If you are having complications or just need some dietary advice it's better to get things checked out or fixed before you get ill. Maybe it's just a taste thing or you need a thiamine or niacin supplement, things like that are easy to correct and make a huge difference. Hope you're feeling better soon!

You didn't fail and shouldn't feel bad about what's happened, the procedure failed you and not the other way around. :-) I've had a rough experience with the sleeve, started out @ 347, was down to 331 the day of surgery and couldn't get under 314 for months. Even now I can't manage to break 300 and it's been almost 6 months since surgery. I didn't tell anyone I was having WLS except my daughter and a very few close friends- 2. Even so, I've been embarressed by the miserable failure I feel my surgery has been and wish nobody knew. Who wants to have weight loss surgery and still be fat?! lol Because of complications with the sleeve, it has been recommended to me to have gastric bypass as a second step or even duodenal switch. My head is still swimming and I haven't made a decision but I can tell you this much- if I decided to go through another procedure, I wouldn't tell anyone. When you feel like a failure the first time after all the hard work, positivity and high expectations, it can make you super wary to talk about it the second time. Good for you for making the right decision for you and taking control back of your weight loss journey!

That is awesome! The constant blowing of mine was always too much and made me feel like I was a dog with my head out the car window and couldn't catch my breath!

I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea and told by the specialist to use CPAP if I slept on my back, otherwise no issues when sleeping side or tummy. That was 4 years ago and truthfully, I used the CPAP 4 times since then. It was cumbersome and made me sick because the pressure forced it into my stomach just like you described. I also would get panicky with the full face mask so I switched to just a nose one but really, it did the same thing to me. Based on the other posts it makes sense that maybe the pressure was too high. The anesthesia and pain meds will cause your heart rate and resperations to go down and if you're anywhere other than PACU they tend to panic about it- not that they shouldn't. Hopefully your heart rate and O2 sats have remained normal since you've been out of the hospital! Please advise if a drop in the pressure helps you out, maybe it will encourage me to get mine out and call the doc!

I always feel my nausea deep in my stomach followed by my mouth watering like crazy until I can get everything back up...it's an awful pre-cursor! I've thought the exact same thing, as my doctor tells me to get more and more protein in, first 60 then 80 now 120 grams a day (what a joke!) every time you vomit you lose that precious precious protein!

I was worried about that per-surgery but talked to my doc and didn't have to go through it. Good luck with drinking all that! One good thing- a friend lost 14lbs when she did it right before surgery. Keep your head up :-)

God bless insurance out of pocket maximums. I know many of you are self pay and I think about all the years I was without any health insurance and I know I could never have been as strong or dedicated as you and save the money to pay for any of this on my own, it shames me to know how much has been spent on my surgery and post-op care already. My out of pocket was supposed to be around $12-1500.00 for food and miscellaneous fees and tests that weren't covered. So far I've cleared my flex spending account of $3500.00 and pulled another grand from my 401k just to cover the meds and all the food and supplements i've tried. A complication with my last PICC line left me with several vericose veins in my upper arm and clusters of blood clots, i'm on Coumadin/Warfarin but not therapeutic still so I go daily to the lab for them to draw a blue top tube which holds around 10-20ccs of my blood, not even an ounce but more than my body can give them. Each day I slink into the lab, sweatshirt on, infant heel warmers strapped to my arms to keep them warm and the blood flowing for the next attempted blood draw. I look like a freak, an addict, a victim, my left arm is still swollen from the blood clots and you can see black and deep blue veins gnarled along it from my elbow to my shoulder. My left arm is a kaleidiscope, a rainbow of colrs from yellow to green, purple, brown, red. Bumps on my forearm indicate perforated veins and subque blood collecting and pooling. A couple sites look infected, raised and red, itchy and sore. I have scar tissue build up in my anti-cubital from 3 PICC lines and too many blown IVs to count. I've had blood taken from neck, shoulder, fingers, hands, groin, feet, IVs placed in such bizarre areas that each nurse kind of looks at me like "how long have you been an IV drug user?" and I chuckle to myself when I think about it. I've found a lab tech who knows me now, I don't have to tell her my story every day when I come in, she says "oh Jennifer, I see your name and I knew I should have passed it up for the next person!" and we laugh, only I just try to smile and make a kind of grunting noise and she feigns a smile and pretends to laugh like its a joke but we both know its not. The sweet spot is my wrist now, yesterday she blew the deep one on my forearm, its swollen and rock hard, venous phlebitis they call it- an infection or inflamation of your vein, I hate venous-phlebitis but I love to say it, try it....venous-phlebitis. So my wrist is still sore from yesterday but its warm from the precious little infant heel warmers, the blood is flowing temporarily to the right place, a surface vein that usually gives close to enough to fill the damn blue top tube, she sticks me with the butterfly and theres blood return but not for long, it clots off. She tries again at my thumb now and I want to hit her, she says she knows it hurts but shes a liar, if she knew she would never poke another person there on their thumb, she grazes the cartilage and the bone, I sit there but the whole time i'm thinking what she would do if I just opened my mouth and started screaming at the top of my lungs, there are other patients walking in and out, a half dozen lab techs, nurses, I could just scream, louder and louder, keep my face straight and just scream, then she would know how bad it hurts, they all would know, and none of them would do that again, no one would allow them to stick them on their thumb, its inhumane and just mean. My daughter brings me home, I slump back into bed, check my phone- its always on vibrate now, no one calls me but doctors and I don't want to talk to them. I have a voicemail from my doctors office- go up 2 more on Coumadin, great, thanks. There's another call from someone at Phillips but she talks fast leaves an 800 number and extension and I wait to call her back. I try to sleep but toss and turn and realize she called from Phillips! Phillips something about cardiology and home monitoring, Phillips who makes the home PT/INR tester that would save me the daily misery of lab trips, the pain of the blood draws and the dreaded venous-phlebitis. I bolt up and call her immediately. My tester is approved, it's around $2000 but insurance will buy me one! I have to buy the strips which are around $100 every 3 months but they're sending it to me, free! It's coming FedEx ground, If i'm lucky I can keep this site on my thumb going until Tuesday! Please share your DVT, Coumadin, PICC line or other complication stories with me. :-)

I may be in the minority but I think you were justified and correct to ask that of co-workers, friends or not. Post surgery I have been so sensitive to everything, smells, heat, cold...I don't even need to ask my daughter anymore she just closes my door when she cooks, or wears perfume, hairspray, you name it. The fact that you were in the workplace makes it more important that others be sensitive. I know it was just the idea of the smelly food and the deprivation but these concessions are made and allowed for by law every day in the workplace. Someone sensitive to strong smells or allergic to perfumes has every right to ask for and expect a workplace that is safe for them.....maybe the other end of the spectrum, but same idea in my opinion.

C-Diff or Clostridium Difficile is a bacterium that attacks your digestive system when you have a depressed immune system like with a surgery or hospital stay and often after IV antibiotic use and is rampant in nursing homes. What happens is it gets in and grows and then releases toxins into your gut and GI tract that eat up the mucous lining. Often the first sign is gut wrenching diarhea, not a little, but like you expect to see your intestines in the toilet when you're done. It is common for patients after WLS for multiple reasons and sux to have. Another fun illnesss that tends to go with it is oral thrush and candida on the skin. The yeast grows after the antibiotics mess up your system and it goes nuts, I've had it my mouth, on my incisions , vaginally and in my GI tract. Funny that what makes delicous bread can grow on/in you and drive you insane!