Daydra

If you think that you might be able to afford the monthly payment of an additional, individual policy (I've heard rumors that individual policies rarely cover bariatrics, I have no idea if this is true), what about just financing the procedure in the US? Mexico is an option, but you have to remember that you have to add all travel expenses to your total cost, though many still find that cost effective. There are some companies that finance medical procedures. My clinic uses Bliss and Care Credit. They recommended I try Bliss because they had better rates in general. My clinic also offers, through Bliss, 90 days of insurance against complications in the cash price (I bought up to a year, it was only about $150 out of my pocket for the buy-up). I financed about $18,000, didn't get the lowest rate, and my payment is under $400/mo, which depending on your age and individual insurance plan options is pretty comparable to a premium. And I don't really have to worry about complications, because I'm backed by insurance on that. Another note... When they do things like the upper endoscopy, they code it for GERD, so insurance often covers it. That brought my cash price down almost $3000. As the insurance billings come in, we're finding that they are paying for some of the items we didn't expect them to pay for, so I anticipate getting some money back after all is said and done. There are definitely options. All is not lost. You just have to sit down, think really hard about the possibilities, and figure out a solution. Best of luck to you!

Posters so far have given you some really great comments, so I won't add my 2 cents on what they've already addressed. I noticed that you mentioned that you were barely getting in 400 cal/day. I just wanted to remind you to be really careful to get enough. I don't know where that line is for you, but I just spent a couple weeks with some nausea, thought I was dehydrated, and neglected getting in calories in favor of trying to push more fluids. I just found out that my bloodwork showed that I was never dehydrated in the first place, but have spent the last couple weeks getting less than 400 cal/day. I developed some pretty significant fatigue that I thought was just another symptom of dehydration until my surgeon told me last night that it wasn't . Her determination is that the fatigue is because I was basically starving, since I burn about 5 times that number of calories in an average day. The fatigue isn't fun... So just be aware and be careful. And our parents sometimes really screw with our heads. I know they usually don't mean to, but still... You are definitely not a failure and this will work if you make the appropriate adjustments, which the sleeve will make easier to do. Best of luck to you and congratulations on your hard work so far!

Interesting update: Turns out my labs showed that I was never dehydrated. Surgeon thinks nausea is caused my me taking too large of sips and my stomach refluxing because of that. I am flabbergasted that my labs didn't show dehydration. I've had significant thirst and dry, sticky cesspool mouth since the surgery, but whatever, I guess. She recommended I go back on the anti-nausea med, go back to using a sippy cup, and focus more on food. This week, I started experiencing some of the worst fatigue I've ever had, very similar to when I became anemic several years ago. She said that kind of fatigue wasn't normal at 6 weeks and it's likely happening because I'm not eating enough (have been eating very little in an effort to spend more time/effort getting fluid) once I told her that over the last 10 - 14 days, I probably only averaged about 400 cal/day at the most, usually, more like 300. So, basically, I'm starving. Good thing I know what to do for that! I gotta say, though... I would make a horrible anorexic! So... my marching orders are eat, sip, and take my zofran! Marching on...

You mentioned pushing yourself beyond tired, so I'll share my experience (I've posted this in another thread, so sorry to those that have already seen it). A couple weeks ago, I started to experience nausea. This made it really hard to get a reasonable amount of Fluid in, which in turn caused me to eat less so I could spend more time and effort getting my fluid. Over the weekend before last, I felt like I had fallen over the edge into some real dehydration: increased nausea, headache, orthostatic hypotension. I called the doc and we did a swallow test, which revealed that I had a kink in my stomach. I got 2 liters of fluids as my lab results hadn't been received yet. We scheduled an endoscopy the next day to straighten it out. Doc was able to straighten out the kink, but also found torsion, that may need a balloon dilation or something after I'm completely healed. At any rate, felt way better for a couple days, but the nausea started again, accompanied by some (in my opinion) pretty severe fatigue. The best I can describe it is it is similar to how I felt when I became significantly anemic several years ago... weak, out of breath after completing simple tasks, light headed. I called my surgeon today. For now, I'll just take anti-nausea meds for awhile so I can get a reasonable amount of fluid and food until it's time to decide what, if anything, to do next. But here's the kicker... My labs showed that I was not actually dehydrated. Not even borderline dehydrated (a complete mystery to me, considering thirst and dry, sticky mouth, even if we don't consider other symptoms to be due to dehydration). After discussing this with my surgeon, she feels that the fatigue is due to not getting enough Protein and calories. I averaged about 800 cal for weeks 2-4, but then dropped to around 400 cal for the last 10 days or so. She said that at this stage (I'm 6 weeks out), fatigue is not normal. So... to make a long story longer... Go too low, fatigue is inevitable and that is only going to play against your efforts. If you're experiencing fatigue, my advice would be to eat more (appropriately), not less. Best of luck! I know that you'll totally get this worked out.

Speaking of lettuce... Why would we, as bariatric surgery patients with teeny tiny tummies that still need to manage to consume enough nutrients for an adult even consider eating it as any component of a meal (other than maybe to wrap a sandwich or something)? Lettuce has almost no nutrition, particularly iceberg. It's basically a filler only, which most of us absolutely do not need, particularly in the early stages (up to a year, maybe?).

And... I should have included that the first month, you are healing. They shouldn't really even be considering critiquing your weight loss at this point. And... You lost 23 pounds in about a month! Congratulations! Screw what your PA says! And... At my 1 month followup I started to poo poo myself because I had only lost 16 pounds. The nurse about had a fit and told me I was being way too hard on myself and that they were expecting a 1-2 pound loss/week, so not to even stress over it, that I was doing great.

800 calories too much?! For your height/weight?!?! Your PA isn't doing you any favors. I would like to bash some of these "professionals" over the head with a cast Iron frying pan. I'm only an inch taller and a year younger than you and weigh less. My nutritionist wants me to fall in the 900-1350cal/day range. Many will say that we can't expect to have the same loss results as a "normal weight" person on a similar number of calories, but I believe that that's a-not true for all of us and b-at least partially because having this surgery is basically just a physical alteration that allows us to maintain a VLCD ("starvation diet"), which can decimate our metabolism without significant care and effort regarding nutrition and muscle retention. I do not consider telling a 5'7" woman at your weight to only eat 500 cal/day to be good advice. I would consider finding another PA or doing your own research and going your own way. My most successful experience with weight loss prior to surgery was a 115lb loss, primarily relying on calorie counting/macronutrient distribution using a bodybugg to measure my daily calorie usage. Through that experience and using that same technology while I lose weight now, I have learned that my resting metabolic rate is about 1900 cal at my current weight and that my average calorie burn right now is about 2500 cal. I believe dropping to 500 cal/day would not benefit you in the least... Best of luck to you. The stalls do pass, as long as your are focusing on the things your need for your health.

I've been struggling with dehydration for the last few weeks. I had a kink (fixed with endoscopy last week) and some torsion in my sleeve (can't really do much else about that until I'm fully healed, so I need to wait it out a little longer). This is creating difficulty getting enough fluids to prevent dehydration. I got 4 liters of iv fluid last week. I'm refluxing when I swallow and my sleeve is taking it's sweet time to empty of fluid after drinking, causing some mild to moderate nausea when I drink (though I have so far been able to breathe through it and haven't actually vomited). The last couple days, I have managed to get about 40oz of fluid. I periodically watch the clock, trying to determine the time between a drink and when I feel like I can take the next drink without nausea. Sometimes this is as much 10 minutes or more between drinks (which aren't much bigger than the sips I started with right after surgery). I'm wondering if anyone has some strategies to suggest that I haven't thought of. Right now, it is taking me about 2 hours to finish an 8-11oz protein shake/meal replacement. I've thought about setting an alarm, but I frequently don't feel ready to drink when it goes off. I'm drinking a combination of regular water, diluted juices, diluted G2 or Pedialyte, Crystal lite, etc. At this point, I'm trying to drink whenever I feel like I can, even during and shortly after eating, which I know I'm not supposed to do. I did try to take to zofran again to control the nauseous sensation, but it doesn't seem to be effective with this. Anyone have any better ideas? I do have a followup with my surgeon scheduled for next Monday. As far as complications go, this really isn't that bad, but I am so tired of thirst, sticky mouth, and fatigue and am way past ready to get this worked out.

Thank you! I'll give it all a try. I have a case of the citrus diet lipton (and don't like it that much...), but haven't seen the berry one.

I am so sorry that you have to deal with this. I don't have any experience with spironolactone. I did ask my doctor for it at one point, but she didn't want to prescribe it for me. I do take Yasmin, which is a birth control pill that has drospirenone in it, which helps with hair growth. I also have a perscription for Vaniqa, a cream that inhibits hair growth. Both are somewhat effective and I have noticed a significant reduction in growth. Vaniqa, unfortunately isn't covered by insurance and is about $100 per tube, which lasts me about 3 months, but might not last you that long. I have actually stopped using it because I've changed my mechanical management of facial hair growth, which has been a vast improvement. Instead of plucking each hair, which could take 30-60minutes morning and night, or shaving, which left uncomfortable stubble, I switched to using an epilator. I had avoided this switch for a long time, thinking it would be painful, but I actually think it creates less discomfort overall than plucking and takes way less time. I still pluck any dark, course hairs that are too short to get plucked by the epilator. I wish you the best of luck. This is one of the most demoralizing symptoms of PCOS. No one has to know that we may not ovulate and/or are infertile. 60% or more of the population is overweight these days, so we've got lots of company there. But the hair is so hard to hide and people are so judgmental about it. I really hope that you find the solution you need.

Shopping for clothes without having to find the "womens" section and Finding out what my new race potential will be when I return to doing triathlon next year.

Thanks for posting this. I'll look into it.

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

Thank you both. I will give the slushy idea a try. I do tolerate popsicles pretty well, they just take forever to consume (and let's face it, no sugar free popsicle is as good as an Otter Pop :-( ) I bought some sugar free jelly belly syrups and some silicone ice pop molds that I have working in the freezer right now, can certainly use those. I haven't noticed that warm drinks are any better than room temp, and it seems to be variable as to whether cold vs room temp liquids are better tolerated. Sometimes it's one, sometimes it's the other. Bizarre... Thanks for the support. While this is definitely a complication to be addressed, I certainly don't want to give anyone the impression that it's a horrible experience or an insurmountable problem. I'm able to eat solids and drink fluids (just not as much as I need). I read the posts about complications with leaks, etc. and the misery they cause, and this just isn't even in the same ballpark...

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk

It's pretty typical for anyone that loses weight. It takes awhile for our brains to catch up. Just keep reminding yourself of all the scale and non scale victories and literally reminding yourself that you're not the old you anymore. You have a lot of years of the old pattern of thinking to change, but it will happen eventually. Take every opportunity to pat yourself on the back!

Nothing to say, except Awesome!

Is it just mentally repulsed or are there any physical symptoms? Do you get any unpleasant sensations (not necessarily painful or uncomfortable) when whatever you swallow moves toward your stomach? Any nausea? Either way, you should call your surgeons office. Seriously. There could be something that's off just a little bit that could be addressed and make you feel so much better. Also, serious nutrient deficiencies/dehydration is nothing to play with. If you haven't had your gallbladder out, that might be something to investigate as well. And really? 110 pounds in 5 months is "pretty good"? You need to give yourself more credit. That is freaking awesome! Congratulations and good luck! I hope that you are able to get it figured out soon. You certainly can't safely go along as described for very long.

Uh oh... you might have a "family secret"! :-)

Yep, totally possible, actually likely. So many others seem to feel that they don't seem to have problems getting in fluids. My recovery went so easy and well that I feel like I "should" expect to be more in that boat, save my scar tissue not playing fair. I expect that as my kink and twist (shouldn't there be a 50's dance move named after that???) resolves, my need to adjust to it should be eliminated.

Bah! I had a physical therapist that told me that as well. He said that it wasn't so much red hair, but Scottish/Irish heritage, which he referred to as "Reds". I thought he was freaking cracked! (He was trained in Denmark, which I guess is neither here nor there, but he had some funky ideas about physical therapy. My doc pulled me from care after several months.) He actually sent me home with an article about it. Probably long trashed by now... But it totally explained my experiences. Even as a kid, codeine didn't even work for me for a simple ear infection. Morphine was worthless, Toradol worked for me in the ER when my neck seized on me (along with some Valium), but Tramadol was a complete joke. All the fuzzy, stupid head side effects with none of the pain relief. I only accepted that after I had a doc refuse to prescribe the Percocet I requested. (For reasonably minor pain. I broke my tailbone about a decade ago and it still hurts like hell when I have to cram my arse into an airplane seat.) Perc works for me for fairly minor pain, but it doesn't work as well or nearly as long as it's supposed to. They gave me dilaudid while I was in the clinic and I had liquid perc for when I went home (at my request, they usually prescribe liquid vicodin). Fortunately, I didn't experience much pain and didn't bother taking it after the first couple days. Good luck! Hopefully you will have an easy surgery and very little pain afterward!

Yep, I agree with Lulubee and Vegasme... normal normal normal. Just hang in there, the scale will move (in it's own sweet time, of course...). Just pull a Bobby McFerrin and "Don't worry, be happy!" Good work and good luck!

I'm feeling in the same boat. I'm uncomfortable with the idea of going too low in calories and protein for too long, so I've been breaking some of the rules, knowing that I need to think of it as a temporary action to address a difficulty until I can consume appropriate amounts. I tend to serve myself an appropriate serving size for a meal and it just takes however long it takes. I'm hoping not to feel like I need to do this for more than a few more weeks. We'll just have to see. I am doing it in a planned and conscious way, with the full understanding that it won't be appropriate behavior as I progress, so I'm not terribly concerned that it's going to turn into uncontrolled, unconscious eating. It is something I will have to carefully monitor, however.