elfnow

285!

Your brain is reacting to a cocktail of hormones that were triggered by the surgery.... Mostly stress hormones, but also the hormones that promote healing and tissue regeneration. Your brain isn't used to this stuff!! Your stomach is sending out SOS calls, and your brain doesn't know what to make of it all.

Night terrors are actually different - they aren't dreams at all, they happen in a different phase of sleep.... But nightmares (bad dreams) can be really unsettling!! My stress-dreams usually involve me covered in spiders/spider webs because cortisol makes my skin crawly. Lovely huh?

Remember it's your liver that breaks down poisons and toxins in your blood stream, like anesthetic drugs!! Liver problems + anesthesia is no joke.

One thing to be VERY conscious of is to treat this medication with respect - do NOT just go off of it once you've taken it for 2 weeks or so. It builds up in your system and you can't just go cold-turkey off of psychotropic meds. Even if you feel like "it's not working" (for your life situation), remember that it IS still affecting you and going off cold-turkey can be harmful to your moods and well-being. Taper your dose carefully. I was on Zoloft a while when I was younger. For me, the sexual side effects and "gray feelings" made it the wrong med choice for my life.... I am now on 150mg Effexor and have been for 9+ years.

Please just be cautious, don't swap meds in one day, taper one down as you taper a new one up, that kind of thing. work with your doc also - there are LOTS of SSRI/SNRI choices out there and where one formulation doesn't quite work, another might be perfect. Give each one a good month or two to see how it goes, and remember that no medication can solve a bad situation... It can just help you be strong enough to face the troubles and solve them.

One thing that kept me on track during the first month (2 weeks pre-surgery and two weeks liquid post-surgery) was to remind myself "it is a privilege to not eat".

This may or may not work for you.... It helped me stay humble about it, because the surgery IS expensive and it's such a first-world problem to have so much food available that obesity is a problem....

Another thing to try is to just remove yourself from the temptation ... If you're feeling snacky / head hungry, get a bottle of Water (or broth if you prefer) and take a 20-minute walk outside. This will help you "break up" with food cravings.

You're fine. I did the same thing. The first two weeks is hell, because not only are you sick to death of sweet liquids, your body and brain are telling you how HUNGRY you are!!

What you just did was shift to "soft food" a little early. You may get chastised a little for eating a pretzel but you were mindful and chewed it to paste. You're fine. You're gonna live. heck the first "soft foods" are usually mashed potatoes and shredded chicken and such....

Now.. It IS important that you try to not eat anything solid or even too lumpy for the first 2 weeks, because your poor stomach has to heal. But are two pretzels going to undo your surgeon's work? No.

Try thicker fluids if you're having a hard time with hunger ... sugar free Jello, add Protein powder to your (decaf) coffee, etc.

To actually gain a whole pound it takes eating 3500 calories more than you burn, which is basically impossible in my body right now... But that doesn't mean I don't have Water gain!!

When I flex "up", it's because of carbs and hormones. Your body has to retain more Water to balance out carbs, so eating a lot of carbs means retaining more water. I am also breastfeeding (STILL...) - so some days I have more milk than others. I usually retain some weight right after my cycle ends (and my chest measures a little bigger), and then lose like crazy for a week or 2 right after I ovulate, then stabilize or flex up a little for a week, then lose again.....

It's very very hard to actually put fat back onto your frame. You'll have to eat too many calories over the course of a week or more to add up to a pound "gained". But you "flex" a little throughout the day/week based on hormones and water intake and carbs and such.

Go back to basics and take a half-hour walk.

Why does it say it doesn't contain stimulants when it does, in fact, contain caffeine? Wtf. Stay the hell clear of crap like that.

If you want to break out of a stall, go back to basics: liquid for a week, then purée, etc. The whole point to spending the time and effort and money on surgery is to avoid crappy pills and "quick fix" schemes.

Also, remember these pills are made for people who have ACTUAL STOMACHS. You no longer do. So don't do it; if it passes straight through to your intestines, it could do damage.

CALL YOUR DIETICIAN if you want dietary advice to break a stall. You're in a whole different league here.

I've always had "deep veins" and I've always been pretty sure this is nurse-code for "fat". I used to squick and squirm about getting IVs or doing blood draws, but eventually I learned to just calm the f* down and everyone's life is easier.

I have coached people through which veins might hold, which veins blow easier, where to try looking, and a lot of "no it's ok you can keep poking." I've stopped having to ask for a pediatric needle as I've gotten better at telling people where to look, but it's still a chore. Can't ever find the one in my elbow - always gotta go with my hand....

My surgeon sent me for my 100-lbs-lost blood work (85+ since pre-surgery diet but 104 since my first visit!) and I went to the lab, took a deep breath and said, "I'm pretty patient about getting stuck, so if you can't find a vein right away, it's OK. My veins are hard to find."

"No, I see it, it's right there," said the tech. I looked. Sure enough I saw a little glint of blue in the fossa! "Your veins are great," she said.

"Great veins"?!? I have NEVER had "great veins"!!! But losing some of the thick fat in my arms.... Now I have great veins. WHO KNEW.

I will say that even in the first 20 lbs my back and legs started to feel better.. BUT I had not had long-term joint issues... I was mostly around 300-330 lbs before getting pregnant, and then pregnancy and postpartum eating took me up past 380 (my first appt with the surgeon in June 2013, I was 392). I didn't take NSAIDs regularly or anything like that.... But I just FELT huge. And I ached all over. And felt like walking was a tremendous amount of trouble.

I lost ~20 lbs on my own (down to 375 on Jan 27 2014) and then when I did my pre-surgery diet (2 weeks) I lost another 20, so I had my surgery on 2/10 at 355 lbs. it's been 3 months and I'm at 285 now... And YES my whole body feels much much better... But I have actually STARTED regular NSAIDs to help me with exercise.

So there's that, too.

--E

Dang, girl!! You look fantastic!!!

Sounds like he was trying to be "funny" and failed horribly.

If the NSAIDs are a big part of your life, that basically means SLEEVE all the way! The RNY isn't "reversible" either, and if something goes awfully completely wrong, you can still change sleeve to RNY. You can't really change RNY to sleeve, especially not with insurance coverage and a LOT of really dramatic issues.

Most people say they only wished they'd gotten surgery sooner - for me, I am so glad I got the sleeve. I love this thing... I hate the idea of my guts being rearranged, can't stand the idea of a permanent plastic doohickey inside me.... But sleeve was like "oh, that's perfect!"

I'd leave it up to your NSAID use. If you can switch to another type of painkiller, that's one thing, but if NSAIDs are a big part of your world, definitely go with the sleeve.

When I was pregnant, I had to go for weekly Biometric scans at the perinatal center at the hospital. I had gestational diabetes and learned to get an NRGize meal-replacement shake - "PBJ" from the cafe. It's 520 calories, 48g Protein, and I could suck one down VERY easily while waiting to be called in.

Today, my mate is in hospital for cardiac testing and I stopped by the cafe, knowing I could get a good healthy shake. I figured I'd drink it slowly.

I got maybe 6-7oz into it (it's ~24 oz) and decided... UGH I AM SO DONE.

YAAAYYY!!!

288!!!! *dance dance*

Between the liquid pre-surgery diet for two weeks, and the two weeks of liquid diet post-surgery... I was so sick of sweet things!!! I craved turkey and cheese. It was so much easier to stick with savory food once I'd had 4 weeks of Everything Is Artificially Sweet. Just thinking of *another damn Protein shake* made me want to gag. I craved proper food!

I used to mix vanilla Protein Powder with flavored Decaf coffee.

You can always say no - but would your pain be resolved ANY other way? You've been to four doctors with PLENTY of experience.... What could we tell you?

i have been having some small food celebrations and i plan a last food funeral the day or two prior to starting the 2 wk pre-op. even though i KNOW i can have most foods again, i am really approaching this as a NEW START and don't want to just resume eating junk, even in small amounts. i really plan to try and walk away from a lot of the stuff i eat now and start new, with eating real, whole foods as much as possible. so for me, a food funeral is hopefully really that and i am hopeful that i will be saying goodbye for good to most of the stuff that got me to where i am right now....and hello to healthy good nutrients, whole foods, fuel for my new body!

This was my approach, too. Most of my funerals were for fast-food, junk-food, buffet places, and Desserts.

I said good-bye to McDonalds, Dunkin' Donuts, pizza, churrescaria (sp?) restaurants, key lime pie, sushi....

I realized that eating McDonalds is a lot like bad sex.... You don't even want half of what you get, the part you DO want is overdone and poorly executed, and in the end you're just left sticky and alone and a little confused.

--Em

I love this info!! Thank you!

I was on Prilosec for a while also for asthma - you probably DID actually have some acid reflux if it helped... Just not very bad. acid reflux is a HUGE issue for asthmatic lungs!!

Do I have to let you know every Monday how much I weigh? Or just on Memorial day?

"Have to"? No. "Commonly done?" Yes.

Sw179 Cw184 I wasn't going to post my failure but I need to be accountable. Easter awoke the sugar monster inside me and I ate everything I wanted and didn't exercise. I feel good today ran 6 miles in the last two days I think I got my sh*t together and am ready to start losing again.

Hang in there, Hatters!!! You can do this!!

Happy rebirthday!!

Week 1 checkin: 295