blackfalls

I am 27 years old with no previous health problems except being diagnosed with hypothyroidism 2 weeks prior to surgery which I had on September 10. I was doing great post-op. I was ready to go back to work after two weeks. I was very excited for September 25th. That was the day I got to start pureed foods. I had been so sick of Protein Shakes. Life was great. Then came September 25th. I woke up with back, abdominal, and chest pain. I thought it would go away so I ignored it and started pureed foods. The next morning I woke up around 2am in horrible pain. My back hurt so much that I could not lie flat. I spent the entire rest of the morning sitting in a chair rocking back and forth. And it happened again the following morning. I was so tired. I went to a walk-in clinic. The doctor worrie about sepsis although I did not have a fever. He ordered bloodwork an abdominal and chest x-rays. I went home after the testing and threw up the Protein Shake I had been trying to get down all morning. Everything came back normal. I continued the sleep deprivation routine until the 28th. Then I decided to go to the ER. Spent several hours in the hospital for tests and morphine but ended up being misdiagnosed with Constipation despite my D-Dimer and Lipase being high. They did a CT of my chest to rule out pulmonary embolism (which was negative) but did not do a CT of my abdomen which they really should have because of the combination of D-Dimer and Lipase. I was sent home with Tylenol 3s (which cause constipation) and a nightly oral laxative and told I would be called for an abdominal ultrasound in a day or two. The Tylenol 3s did not work very well. My pain was horrible. I dutifully took the nightly laxative. Two days later I went in for the ultrasound. They found nothing. The ER doctor followed up with me to give me the results and then gave me an enema kit to take home. The constipation diagnosis stood. I went home and used it. It did not do anything. That week I began to have horrible 10 out of 10 painful abdominal attacks followed by diarrhea. I was in so much pain that death was preferable. I wanted to go back to the ER but I felt I would not get anywhere. They would just give me morphine. I decided to go to my family doctor instead and try to get referred to a GI specialist but she brushed off my concerns and said there was nothing wrong with me (I live in Canada where the health system is such that you cannot just go see a specialist. You must be referred. And your family doctor, walk-in clinic doctor, or ER doctor are the gatekeepers). She took me off the Tylenol 3s (which were not working anyway) and off the oral laxative which she said was causing my abdominal cramping. I followed her instructions. The abdominal attacks subsided in the following days but the constant abdominal pain remained. During the whole ordeal of 2 weeks I had not been eating and had been barely drinking. I would get at most 4-5 cups of Water a day. It was difficult. I was worried I would just cause more constipation. But I decided I needed to push through and start eating. I began with a Protein shake. After having half of it I had to stop. An hour later I dryheaved several times. Later that day I tried a tablespoon of hummus. I had pain almost immediately after eating slowly. I was fed up. I was in pain, I could not eat, I could barely drink. Despite all these doctors telling me I was fine, I was most assuredly NOT fine. I decided it was time to get a second opinion. I ended up driving 1.5 hours to a newer hospital in a large city where I used to live. That was 5 days ago. They took me seriously in the ER and did the test (CT abdomen) that the previous hospital failed spectacularly to do (I am very upset about this still because of what could have happened if I hadn't sought a second opinion). Turns out I have many clots in my portal vein, splenic vein, and mesenteric vein. Finally, FINALLY, I got a surgical consult. So now I am in hospital attached to a heparin drip. Today is my 5th day in hospital. If they had not found out my real diagnosis, my bowel could have infarcted meaning parts of my bowel could have died. I would have had to have surgery to remove the dead bowel. I may have ended up with a colostomy bag to collect feces on the outside of my body. I could have stroked. I could have had a brain aneurysm. I could have thrown a pulmonary embolism. I could have had a heart attack. I COULD HAVE DIED. All these possibilities had I not listened to my gut feeling and fought for myself. These clots are a very rare complication of any laparoscopic surgery. I was just lucky enough to get it. I did some research about my condition. I may be only the 3rd person to get these type of clots following uneventful laparoscopic sleeve surgery. I will be in the hospital for another couple of days. Never been hospitalized before (excluding the sleeve surgery). Q6H bloodwork is cruel and unusual punishment and should be outlawed. My poor elbow is a mess from all the pokes.

I am 27 years old with no previous health problems except being diagnosed with hypothyroidism 2 weeks prior to surgery which I had on September 10. I was doing great post-op. I was ready to go back to work after two weeks. I was very excited for September 25th. That was the day I got to start pureed foods. I had been so sick of Protein Shakes. Life was great. Then came September 25th. I woke up with back, abdominal, and chest pain. I thought it would go away so I ignored it and started pureed foods. The next morning I woke up around 2am in horrible pain. My back hurt so much that I could not lie flat. I spent the entire rest of the morning sitting in a chair rocking back and forth. And it happened again the following morning. I was so tired. I went to a walk-in clinic. The doctor worrie about sepsis although I did not have a fever. He ordered bloodwork an abdominal and chest x-rays. I went home after the testing and threw up the Protein Shake I had been trying to get down all morning. Everything came back normal. I continued the sleep deprivation routine until the 28th. Then I decided to go to the ER. Spent several hours in the hospital for tests and morphine but ended up being misdiagnosed with Constipation despite my D-Dimer and Lipase being high. They did a CT of my chest to rule out pulmonary embolism (which was negative) but did not do a CT of my abdomen which they really should have because of the combination of D-Dimer and Lipase. I was sent home with Tylenol 3s (which cause constipation) and a nightly oral laxative and told I would be called for an abdominal ultrasound in a day or two. The Tylenol 3s did not work very well. My pain was horrible. I dutifully took the nightly laxative. Two days later I went in for the ultrasound. They found nothing. The ER doctor followed up with me to give me the results and then gave me an enema kit to take home. The constipation diagnosis stood. I went home and used it. It did not do anything. That week I began to have horrible 10 out of 10 painful abdominal attacks followed by diarrhea. I was in so much pain that death was preferable. I wanted to go back to the ER but I felt I would not get anywhere. They would just give me morphine. I decided to go to my family doctor instead and try to get referred to a GI specialist but she brushed off my concerns and said there was nothing wrong with me (I live in Canada where the health system is such that you cannot just go see a specialist. You must be referred. And your family doctor, walk-in clinic doctor, or ER doctor are the gatekeepers). She took me off the Tylenol 3s (which were not working anyway) and off the oral laxative which she said was causing my abdominal cramping. I followed her instructions. The abdominal attacks subsided in the following days but the constant abdominal pain remained. During the whole ordeal of 2 weeks I had not been eating and had been barely drinking. I would get at most 4-5 cups of Water a day. It was difficult. I was worried I would just cause more constipation. But I decided I needed to push through and start eating. I began with a Protein shake. After having half of it I had to stop. An hour later I dryheaved several times. Later that day I tried a tablespoon of hummus. I had pain almost immediately after eating slowly. I was fed up. I was in pain, I could not eat, I could barely drink. Despite all these doctors telling me I was fine, I was most assuredly NOT fine. I decided it was time to get a second opinion. I ended up driving 1.5 hours to a newer hospital in a large city where I used to live. That was 5 days ago. They took me seriously in the ER and did the test (CT abdomen) that the previous hospital failed spectacularly to do (I am very upset about this still because of what could have happened if I hadn't sought a second opinion). Turns out I have many clots in my portal vein, splenic vein, and mesenteric vein. Finally, FINALLY, I got a surgical consult. So now I am in hospital attached to a heparin drip. Today is my 5th day in hospital. If they had not found out my real diagnosis, my bowel could have infarcted meaning parts of my bowel could have died. I would have had to have surgery to remove the dead bowel. I may have ended up with a colostomy bag to collect feces on the outside of my body. I could have stroked. I could have had a brain aneurysm. I could have thrown a pulmonary embolism. I could have had a heart attack. I COULD HAVE DIED. All these possibilities had I not listened to my gut feeling and fought for myself. These clots are a very rare complication of any laparoscopic surgery. I was just lucky enough to get it. I did some research about my condition. I may be only the 3rd person to get these type of clots following uneventful laparoscopic sleeve surgery. I will be in the hospital for another couple of days. Never been hospitalized before (excluding the sleeve surgery). Q6H bloodwork is cruel and unusual punishment and should be outlawed. My poor elbow is a mess from all the pokes.

I went out of country because of the length of waiting lists. Getting the surgery in Alberta is like winning the lottery. I didn't want to spend years waiting (possibly getting bigger and bigger) when I could have it done in Mexico for peanuts.
However, I was denied aftercare by the bariatric clinic in Alberta due to the fact I had my surgery out of the country. If this is a concern for you then I would advise you to stay on the waiting list (if you can get on it in the first place, that is.)

Having a couple thoughts on this. Disclaimer: You should always check with your doc if you are experiencing anything you're not sure about. You never know what might be indicative of something that needs to be checked out.
Having said that... I had some similar experiences. #1, if 500 cal is causing you to experience fatigue, that # of calories isn't sufficient to support you and you should consult with your doc on increasing your calories. We weigh about the same and I cannot function on 500 calories.
Are you experiencing any nausea? Getting a handle on that can help you get enough calories and Fluid to keep you going and reduce fatigue if that's the case.
Has the fatigue been causing you to spend more time in bed? I went about three weeks at that level or a little lower due to nausea and had so little energy that I was in bed every minute I could manage. The fatigue also got to the point where I very nearly passed out in the shower. Even on better days, I had to lay down for a little bit between my shower and getting dressed so I could rest.
Spending so much time in bed caused a backache for me that hurt more with deep breaths. My abdomen/torso also began to hurt with any deep breath. Mostly along my sides towards the front and around my diaphragm.
Are you having regular bowel movements? For me, whatever combination of circumstances were, it seemed like the backache was from being in bed so much, but I was also constipated. Once I managed to have a bowel movement (I was impacted. It took exlax, a suppository, an attempt at self digital extraction (that wasn't a good time...), and an enema to have a bowel movement and it was horrible...) the ache in my abdomen was gone, so I think for me that part of it was just being backed up and the discomfort of gas behind the blockage.
If you are having problems with gas, I read somewhere that the simethicone in the gasx or mylanta gas can't really help. They can only address gas in your upper digestive tract. Once the gas is in your intestines, it's a bit of a different game. My mother in law swears by this gas relief tea. I believe it's made by Traditional Medicinals. Might be worth a try.
At any rate, anytime it seems something is going sideways, you should definitely call your doc and ask the question. They would vastly prefer spending 5 minutes on the phone with you to you sitting at home suffering or worrying what might be wrong.
Best of luck!

Pimping out my blog post: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/blog/2630/entry-6709-100-of-people-with-bmi-30-who-lose-weight-with-diet-and-exercise-gain-it-back-and-more-within-3-years/
After I read those quotes I stopped feeling sorry for myself and thinking I should be able to do it with dieting and exercise. I feel no guilt over taking the surgical way. And I will never let anyone guilt or shame me either. I'm only 13 days post-op but this has already changed my life so much. I am so grateful I had the money to self-pay in Mexico. I had a serious, out of control weight management problem and I chose to do a drastic surgery to fix the problem.
Screw those who think they know better than yourself. They have NO idea and never will.

I'm 8 days post-op so I have no experience with this but I am going to following this poster's advice as closely as possible:
http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/79304-for-those-wanting-to-keep-their-hair-after-surgery/

Pimping out my blog post: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/blog/2630/entry-6709-100-of-people-with-bmi-30-who-lose-weight-with-diet-and-exercise-gain-it-back-and-more-within-3-years/
After I read those quotes I stopped feeling sorry for myself and thinking I should be able to do it with dieting and exercise. I feel no guilt over taking the surgical way. And I will never let anyone guilt or shame me either. I'm only 13 days post-op but this has already changed my life so much. I am so grateful I had the money to self-pay in Mexico. I had a serious, out of control weight management problem and I chose to do a drastic surgery to fix the problem.
Screw those who think they know better than yourself. They have NO idea and never will.

Pimping out my blog post: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/blog/2630/entry-6709-100-of-people-with-bmi-30-who-lose-weight-with-diet-and-exercise-gain-it-back-and-more-within-3-years/
After I read those quotes I stopped feeling sorry for myself and thinking I should be able to do it with dieting and exercise. I feel no guilt over taking the surgical way. And I will never let anyone guilt or shame me either. I'm only 13 days post-op but this has already changed my life so much. I am so grateful I had the money to self-pay in Mexico. I had a serious, out of control weight management problem and I chose to do a drastic surgery to fix the problem.
Screw those who think they know better than yourself. They have NO idea and never will.

Pimping out my blog post: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/blog/2630/entry-6709-100-of-people-with-bmi-30-who-lose-weight-with-diet-and-exercise-gain-it-back-and-more-within-3-years/
After I read those quotes I stopped feeling sorry for myself and thinking I should be able to do it with dieting and exercise. I feel no guilt over taking the surgical way. And I will never let anyone guilt or shame me either. I'm only 13 days post-op but this has already changed my life so much. I am so grateful I had the money to self-pay in Mexico. I had a serious, out of control weight management problem and I chose to do a drastic surgery to fix the problem.
Screw those who think they know better than yourself. They have NO idea and never will.

Thank you all so much! I can SO relate to what you are saying. blackfalls, I know what you are talking about! I have probably spent $5000 in diets, if not more! And RebeccaSparkles, my addiction to sodas is out of control crazy, especially with Coke... And I know how bad it is for me, but just the thought of having to give it up forever makes me kinda cringe. But on the other hand, I'm battling myself, because while cringing at the thought of giving up my soda (amongst other things), I look at myself and feel that it isn't worth doing this to myself and then feeling depressed... It's all such a viscous cycle!! On a different note, I took a leap today and made the appointment for my surgery; My surgery is in 8 days! I'm starting my pre-op tomorrow. I'm so excited and happy to have decided this, but also scared of life after surgery. By the way, on an off topic note, how do you guys write at the next line? I can't seem to press enter, or tab, or anything to write another paragraph lol; what am I missing here?

Oh honey.
Do not listen to your friends about this. They mean well but they cannot understand.
I am 2 years older than you. I weighed 200 lbs when I graduated from high school. After hundreds of pounds lost and gained and $5000+ spent, I ended up at 285 lbs 10 years after graduation. I wish I had known of WLS when I was 200 lbs. I probably wouldn't have been able to afford it but at least I would have known about the option. I recently learned I have hypothyroidism (2 weeks before surgery!) and that's probably why it's been difficult for me to lose weight but oh so easy for me to put it back on.
Read about my yo-yo dieting here and whether it's possible to lose weight permanently if you have a BMI of >30: 100% of people with a BMI>30...
Good luck!

Thank you so much Bea!

Okay...For those of you that wanted a copy of my spreadsheet, I've cleaned it up and put a handful of instructions (see the "Instructions" tab) to get you started. I'm going to try and attach the link to the file below, but if it doesn't work, I'll try something else. While I won't have time for a major re-design, I certainly have time to help you thorough any little difficulties you might have (I haven't really tested this cleaned up version). Just drop me a line here, so everyone can see the question, and I'll see what I can do to help.
GOOD LUCK!
https://dl.dropboxus...suresBlank.xlsx
P.S. Don't forget to "enable editing" after the file downloads and before you try to make changes.

Calicojack, definitely take the word of your surgeon (or respiratory therapist who set you up with the cpap machine). If it's not a leak it definitely could be too much pressure (centimetres of Water pressure, not pounds per square inch though). You would suffocate or maybe your head would come off with 20 PSI. lol
If you're losing weight in your neck area then the pressure to keep your tongue off the back of your throat/airway needs to be lessened.
I hope you are able to come off it completely within a few months!

this thread is awesome! it was really helpful. i'm going to be at mi doctor september 10th so it really great of you to do a play by play for us.
any updates? how are you feeling now?

I want surgery to make my body hot.
Yep! I'm flying into San Diego one week from today and get picked up from there to go to Tijuana for surgery the next day.

I want surgery to make my body hot.
Yep! I'm flying into San Diego one week from today and get picked up from there to go to Tijuana for surgery the next day.

I don't know if it will work but I plan to do it when I'm post-op.
I used to do oil-pulling before bed (basically you take a tbsp of sesame seed oil, sunflower oil or coconut oil into your mouth and swirl it around for 20 minutes). It helps to whiten your teeth and it really improved my morning breath. I haven't done it for a few weeks but I'm definitely going to do it after post-op if I get bad breath!

I suggest you either find a new PCP or show your current PCP the research sourced by this article I quoted in my blog:
http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/blog/2630/entry-6709-100-of-people-with-bmi-30-who-lose-weight-with-diet-and-exercise-gain-it-back-and-more-within-3-years/

I suggest you either find a new PCP or show your current PCP the research sourced by this article I quoted in my blog:
http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/blog/2630/entry-6709-100-of-people-with-bmi-30-who-lose-weight-with-diet-and-exercise-gain-it-back-and-more-within-3-years/

Thank you. Your're reply really helped me. If that is the worse that can happen, I can handle it.

Thanks everyone for the words of advice-kick in the pants or not..harsh or not...whatever..that doesnt matter to me.. What matters is that i found support in a small group of people who were willing to honestly weigh in on a question...that helps.
I did go ahead and have a pickle..did i like it? Not really...Did it help to take a bite and chew? YEP. Did i feel guilty knowing it was still a cheat regardless..Yep. Will i do it again? No..is the answer i want to give but i cant make a promise because im human and its hard being 100 percent.. BUT ... next time i will attempt to find a different coping method when i feel very tempted.
Thanks for your help AND ditto to what Lauren said... chewing and spitting out food is begging for an eating disorder..trust me..i have a lot of experience with eating disorders..it explains half the reason why i am fat today.

These only have 9g of Protein per serving. That's pretty low.

Hey all! Just wanted to let you know I received payment from AB Health (out of country) for revision surgery. I was really surprised that they would pay for it (they paid me for a portion of my lapband surgery back in 2008)!
Every little bit helps so happy to see a check for just over $2000! Back on the line of credit (although I could use a new ikea kitchen!!)! . Nina (Dr. Aceves office) was awesome in getting everything to me for being itemized for a bill!
Now to remember claim it on my income tax time!!

I will PM you my name. I think we should create our own because then we can follow up with each other's success stories!