Daisee68

Congrats! Such great news! Can't wait to find out my A1C! Can't say I have ever said that before! ????

That is helpful! Thanks!

Yes! All too often in my opinion! Seems to be with tougher foods - fish, meats, etc. I was telling my counselor about it today and she told me to stop worrying about not progressing with foods (only 7 weeks out) and maybe my stomach just isn't ready for tough foods. Hope that is true and going to try that for another week. I will say that the best solution is once you do vomit, you need to go back to fluids for at least 24 hours and let your system calm down and then do pureed for 24 hours and then try again with denser food (at least that is what I have been told

Unfortunately bthis is very common with all insurance. Most of us here had to meet with a nutritionist for 3 to 6 months before we could get approval. Your surgeon is generally able to help you with those appointments. My insurance (Cigna) said it would accept Weight Watchers with Dr supervision but it had to be documented within the last 12 months (or something) which I didn't have. The visits with the nutritionist were very helpful in preparing for the surgery / post-op life.

Congrats! What a great day to celebrate!

Congrats!!

For what it's worth, I don't think the band caused the autoimmune disorder. It may have made the effects show up more obviously or rapidly, but it wouldn't cause it. Autoimmune is something that lives in your system. It just chooses when to show up - spoken by a Graves Disease (and likely Hashimoto's) patient t whose autoimmune did not show up until mid-40's)

Yep me too but it was stomach acid. Zantac stopped it.

Assuming you are still pre-op? Trust me. Depression is real. You grieve food like you grieve the loss of a friend. You get frustrated that you can't eat how you want / when you want. You wake up thinking "what the heck I have done". Sometimes you still have to cook but can't eat what your family is eating. And likely worst of all, you will read these boards and wonder why on earth you aren't losing like everyone else is. The depression comes and goes sometimes all in one day. I am told it improves over time....

Ok, I have had a rough few days - again. Vomited Saturday from 3 bites of deli turkey (didn't do anything to keep it moist). Vomited Sunday after eating chicken breast cooked in crockpot (again, wasn't moist enough I guess) and again tonight from deli ham. This time I did have the ham pretty moist with some Laughing Cow cheese, but honestly I knew 2 bites in that it wasn't going to work. Did I stop though? No. I had 2 more bites and then threw it away and tried some hummus because I couldn't possibly have had enough food, but after only a bite I knew it was too late. The thing is, I keep seeing I need to be increasing my calories (still getting in only 500-600 each day) and I just don't have any idea how to do that if I can't keep solid foods down. (Thursday will be 7 weeks post-op.) Combined with some crazy abdomen pain last night, I googled it (bad idea I know) and scared myself deciding I could have an internal hernia. So, I don't need to be scared into seeing the dr. I know I can do that (though my doc is out of town, her partner is great) - and trust me if I ever get that kind of abdomen pain again, I will absolutely go to the ER. But I guess what I am trying to figure out is how normal this vomiting thing is after eating meat at this stage? I am hoping you all say it is totally normal at 7 weeks and it will get better but in the meantime, any suggestions to get more food in? I have been successful with slider foods (yogurt, pudding, hummus, etc.) and oddly pimento cheese goes down very well (essentially a pureed food really). And I can do shakes but just feel like I should be progressing with foods by now. Help!

OK so I have had two friends ask me this question and I realized I don't know either. Why is soup (especially broth soups like tortilla soup) OK to eat/drink the broth when we cannot drink other fluids with our meals? How is the broth different and/or should we be limiting the broth as we eat the other parts of the soup?

Well it was uncomfortable all night but able to sleep through it. At times I couldn't even turn over but I remember waking up at 4 and thinking there was no pain. Then when I got up at 6 it was back. Craziest thing though - it disappeared by 8. I mean completely. After all that I am pretty sure it was severe gas. I don't know how it why the ice chewing would have caused that but it's the only thing I can think of. Nurse said she is not convinced it is just gas so play it by ear today and call if it comes back. I'm drinking a shake now and it seems to be going fine for now. So weird!! Thank you for your concern!

So I am not sure this is gas pain. It came on very suddenly at 5:00 p.m. and has barely, if at all, subsided and it is now 10 p.m. I took a lot of Gas-X and a hyrdrocodone and it got a little better so I drank a shake and then the pain hit again about an hour or more later. Severe abdominal cramping - like I cannot stand up straight. I called the on call dr and she didn't seemed too concerned - as far as she said it didn't sound life threatening but if I couldn't stand it I could go to ER and get CT scan. I don't want to go to ER so I have now taken another hydrocodone and praying the pain subsides. I think it is either kidney stone or gallstones. I am hoping kidney stone since I know how those are treated. If it isn't better in the morning (or I cannot take it anymore overnight), I will have to go get the CT scan. Hey good news is at least I am not nauseous like I have been for the last few weeks (and no fever so that is why she said it doesn't sound life threatening). Ugh...

@@Sharon1964 - A1C is an average over the past 2 to 3 months of your blood sugar levels so while the numbers you may have seen say fasting or after a meal seem "normal", your A1C wouldn't be high if your blood sugar levels were not high at some points during the day (say immediately following a meal).

Mine is generally 104 morning fasting post surgery without med. Ur reading is good (better than mine was with med). I am sure they will start tapering it down soon. Keep track of it and be sure to call Dr if u have sugar lows.

I waited 3 or 4 weeks. Dr said when scabbed over and glue had come off.

Hmm. They also took me off before I left the hospital. Where r your sugars running - with the med?

@@The Candidate - LOL! Me too! Though I hadn't thought about that before!!

OK weird but I am having the same issue! I have a long history with kidney stones (and have passed several since surgery) but your explanation makes a lot more sense. Luckily I have a great urologist so I will follow up wit her in a few weeks and see what she thinks. Meantime I need to get on a schedule like u! I'm terrible to only go once it twice a day!

I am afraid I don't have any great advice other than just keep your eye on the prize. The cravings are tough but each time you overcome one is a step closer to healthier life. What can you have? liquids only? I could only have liquids but it was only 7 days and I was craving savory foods desperately. The Swansons Tortilla Soup broth saved me (though it was a little too spicy).

I know I haven't had enough to drink. I am trying but Water is causing nausea suddenly (I'm 6 1/2 weeks post-op RNY). So I had a brilliant idea to chew on some ice on my drive home. About 30 minutes and 5 ounces of ice in, I got very sudden severe stomach cramps. I mean severe. I made it home and took Gas-X but I was literally doubled over. I am finally able to lie down now with a heating pad and feeling a little better. I also have pain in my back on the left which could be kidney stone (long history of this). I was ready to go to the ER! Worse pain than I have had AT ALL since the surgery. I think since it is finally waning (about 30 minutes after taking Gas-x) that I am going to be ok. If it happens again, I will go to ER. Any thoughts?

Mine seems to be related to begin hypothyroid. Anytime I start getting the and I get my thyroid checked, it turns out I need to adjust my thyroid med

So I don't have BCBS but out of pocket Max should mean same everywhere. And you are correct or well you only have $2248.66 left (2900 less 651 credited). Yes you will have to pay this most likely to either the hospital or the Dr before they will do surgery. Don't pay both of them or you will have to get money back. (That's the boat I am in now.). Typically you have a coincidence after u meet deductible and before you reach out if pocket. So for example my confidence was 20%. So after my deductible. If I had a covered Dr visit of $1000, then I would pay $200 of that and insurance would pay $800. Then that $200 gets added to your out of pocket costs so u would then only have $2048.66 left to pay. Make sense? On your first question, I am going to let someone else answer for sure but my understanding is you have to do a lot of those visits before being approved - ie how else will Dr document that you have been educated in all those areas listed?

Can you tolerate milk? Fairlife milk is pretty good and higher in Protein and lower in carbs. You could mix a little Protein powder with it or if you cannot take that maybe some sugar free syrups? I would recommend as @@ShrinkingPeach suggested and getting something with higher protein in it. If haven't tried Premier Protein ready to drink shakes, you should give them a try. They are pretty good - thin like milk and 30 g protein in 11 ounces.

I have been told you should stop eating after 30 minutes max or you can overeat. At 6 1/2 weeks I still cannot eat enough food to get in my Protein, so I have to supplement with shakes. Sometimes I can eat 15 to 20 small bites, but it really depends on what it is and if I last 30 minutes, then I just get rid of what is left.