staceymeaux

I would love to hear from anyone who went through the Heads Up program at Pennington Biomedical. I start the process tomorrow and would love to hear your thoughts.

I struggle too with trying to still eat to fast, but my sleeve kindly lets me know that it does not like it. But overall doing very well. 25 pounds down today, surgery was the 8/25. I had a 5 day stall last week. That was tough, but the scale seems to be moving again.

I have this problem too. Still trying to teach myself to slow down and chew....

August 25th for me. Down 23 pounds. Really no pain except if I eat too fast. On soft foods. My favorite recipe is Ricotta cheese bake (ricotta mixed with egg, seasonings and parm cheese and topped with marinara and baked) No complaints so far.

25 minutes.

I am 6 days post-op from VSG. I have had a great experience so far. The surgery and recovery were really unremarkable. Some pain from the gas and bloating the first evening, but by the next day I was much better. I had some leg cramping for a couple of days but some gatorade g2 fixed that right up and I have had some nausea, but nothing that Zofran has not been able to handle. The diet has been very bearable since I am not really hungry at all. I am back at work today full-time and feeling good. I am down 14 pounds so far. I am really still in shock that I finally had the surgery that I have been praying about for several years now. It feels like a dream come true. Can't wait to see how my body changes over this next few months and years and can't wait to experience things I have been putting off because of my weight. Feeling determined.

Was sleeved yesterday at 2pm. So far so good. I have some abdominal pain and nausea, but it is all manageable so far. I have been getting up to walk around every few hours. How are other August 25thers doing!

I am having bad leg cramps 4 days post op. I took a potassium supplement and will try to drink some more today. Hoping these go away so i can get some sleep.

I got my surgery date, August 25th. I can't wait to start my new journey.

Me....getting nervous and excited. Bad headache right now.

Thank you everyone. Getting nervous and excited.

I am getting nervous and excited.

Great. Keep me posted.

Yes, I feel so much better since I finally surrendered to wearing the machine. I do have the adjustable respironics machine and I use the nasal pillow mask (which is the first one I have been able to tolerate). A couple of suggestions that worked for me are that I use nose spray (flonase) each night before I put on the mask and I take 2 benadryl. When I first got the machine I actually would take a xanex at night because it made me so anxious. But I don't need that anymore I only use the nose spray and flonase. I sleep like a baby. I hope this helps.

OMG, I can hardly hold back the excitement and fear that today's news of final approval brings. I will be scheduling my surgeon appointment in the next week and will have the surgery within the next month. I know so many things need to change in my life for the surgery to be a success. I plan to start decluttering my life in the next few weeks to prepare my home for my new life. I need to freshen things up so that mentally I am prepared for this journey. I am so thankful that I have the support of my family and friends. I know that with their help, my determination and God on my side I can do this. I have been struggling so much these past few years with my self-esteem and am truly praying that loosing some weight will help me to regain some self worth while also allowing me to do more of the things I love. Feeling hopeful.

I am in Louisiana. Dr. Hargroder is my diet. How was your surgery?

I can relate to your feelings. I have not had the surgery yet, but recently approved. I do question myself all of the time if this is the right thing. I know that if I could just eat less on my own and follow the same diet plan as the one post-op I could lose weight. So why am I going to have the surgery. I have beat myself up over it. But I have finally come to the conclusion that if it was that easy to do on my own without the tool of the surgery I would have done it a long time ago. I am fearful of many of your same concerns, but I know that I have to do it. I have tried many times before and been successful for short periods of time, but not sustained any lasting weight loss. My prayer is that the surgery will be a tool to help me get the weight off quicker, but not too quickly and that I will learn some lasting new healthy eating behaviors to keep it off the rest of my life. I have so much I want to do, but my weight holds me back. Just think of all of the things losing weight will allow you to do that you could not do before. Stay positive. I know it will be worth it for you and for me and for all of us who are going down this path.

I have been approved for the sleeve. No surgery date yet, but just getting the approval feels good. I am very excited and can't wait to start this journey. I have contemplated this option for several years now, but it was not an option on our insurance until this year. I am feeling very blessed. I love bariatric pal and plan to use it alot through this journey to learn from others and find support.

I did a 2 week liquid diet as part of the process for approval to have the surgery. It was hard and definitely a wake up call about how much food is part of our lives. I did it. You can too. I have since been approved, now just waiting on a surgery date. Keep us posted. Good luck.

I would be interested in joining a support group. I am awaiting approval.

I am in the final approval phase. I should find out by mid-May if I am approved. I find myself eating everything in site. My nerves are terrible. Has anyone else experienced this? I feel like a total nut.

Great thread. I too have had some of the same feelings. I am still waiting for approval.

Well yesterday was the last day of my liquid diet required as part of the approval process for bariatric surgery. The first few days were really rough. Not so much feeling hungry, but mentally exhausting. I never realized just how much I depended on food for every emotion and occasion. I am very proud of myself though for sticking to it. This process really gave me hope that when I have the surgery I can commit to the life style changes necessary to lose weight. Heck, I even spent 7 days in Las Vegas while on this liquid stuff. It is still amazing me that I could do it. Now a few more medical tests (an x-ray and sleep study) and then my case goes up for approval. I am excited an nervous at the same time. My goal for now is to stay as committed to losing weight as I can until I have the surgery and not sabotage myself. I just keep telling myself, It is just food. I only need food to live, that's it! Nothing more. So for now, I wait.