BrandonKea

Don't feel bad about taking the time off if you have it. I burned through 120+ hours of sick time, but I needed every hour of it, and then some.

Odd, I had an Upper GI (Swallow Study), but no EGD until post-op when I got my stricture (I've had two now.)

Hopefully your surgery goes well! 8 months is a long time to wait, you don't want to know how long I was in the process...

Hi all,
Wanted to drop an update on here.
I've run in to some more complications post-op than I'd like. I'm that low percentage of patients who apparently have issues.
When I actually had my operation, my stomach pouch leaked, so they did a revision on the spot, which basically just means they stapled more off. This resulted in an even smaller pouch than the standard RnY patient. It also meant some very deep stitches to keep everything from moving around. So, post-op, the stitches (which were sealed in place on the surface with staples) were the source of tremendous amounts of pain. I have a high pain tolerance, and hydrocodone wasn't even touching my pain.
I ended up going back in, they ran some labs, gave me IV fluids, took the staples out, and told me to continue to lie low, it should heal on its own. After a few more days of my pain being at a 12 on a 10 scale, it did finally get better.
Then, earlier this week, I started having an issue with the pureed food I was eating just sitting in my stomach. The only way I could move it was to throw it up. This was happening with food and liquid/water. So I went back in again, and after an upper GI, they determined my stomach was very, very slow to empty. Now I'm waiting for 2 weeks to have them go in with a scope and balloon open my connection from my pouch to my intestine. In the meantime, I'm back on a liquid diet.
So, I guess my update isn't really that positive, but there it is. My weight continues to fall off. I'm down 36 pounds from surgery just over 4 weeks ago, and soooo close to being below 300 for the first time in I don't know how long. Those are positive. But I'd really like to be semi-normal now...

Hello!

I actually just stumbled upon this page tonight looking for general information, and I'm happy I did. I can already tell this is a wealth of information.
I'm 28 years old, married with a 2 year old daughter. I've been overweight for most of my adult life, but only within the last few years has it really gotten out of control. I had been successful with many efforts to lose weight, such as basic calorie counting and Portion Control, exercise, and (especially) the Atkins Diet. I say successful but with that caveat, it was only at losing weight. Eventually, the pounds came back, and they usually brought friends.
Almost 2 years ago, I went to the doctor for a routine check-up. Not news to me was that I was overweight, what was news is that I was in a range of "morbid obesity" that also came with high blood pressure (likely the cause of my ongoing, near-daily headaches.) I immediately started lisinopril to manage the HBP, and basically didn't change much.
A few months later, I noticed simple tasks were getting more and more difficult to accomplish. Trying my shoes, zipping up my pants, getting in and out of bed. It was time for me to jump on the scale and see how bad I really had it. That was the second alarm; 390 pounds. As recently as 2008, I was only 300 pounds, relatively in shape, and considering a career as a Police Officer or serving on the Border Patrol. Now, I was carrying around an entire extra person.
One of my bosses at work had recently had success in meeting with a dietician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Bariatrics Center. Seeing how much weight he had lost, I immediately made an appointment. Rather than see a dietician, however, I went right for the medically supervised weight loss program. After a brief assessment, I was prescribed Qsymia, a relatively new (and thus, expensive) drug that combines phentermine and topiramate. Starting with the low dose, I progressed to gradually more potent combinations of the same drugs, but eventually quit because the side effects were very challenging to cope with on top of a lot of work stress at the time.
Did I mention work stress? I'm a 911 Dispatcher, a job not noted for its low levels of stress. I do suffer from PTSD due to some calls that I wish no human being would ever have to listen to again. You name it, I've heard it. The worst part about this job is that you aren't there to witness anything, so your brain has a tendency to fill in the blanks with the most graphic visualizations you can imagine.
So, after the stress of work and some very drastic side effects from my medications became too much for me to handle, I slipped back into my old routine of eating bad food and lots of it. Working the afternoon shift means no time for a nice sit-down dinner, it means a cold dinner at your desk scarfing down take-out between phone calls and radio traffic.
Fast forward to the summer of 2015, and I noticed my weight was creeping back to unhealthy ranges. I had actually lost almost 40 pounds fairly quickly, but by now had put all but 9 pounds back on. I went back to my doctor and asked what it would take to be a candidate for gastric bypass. Surprisingly, I didn't have much left to do.
I had completed a new sleep study, quickly got back into eating well and losing weight, and was on a semi-regular workout routine (just walking, nothing crazy like P90X which I was doing before.) My doctor told me at the end of August that surgery before the end of the year was completely possible. I wouldn't have believed it, but as I'm writing this, it's the 28th of November, and I had surgery a few days ago.
Opting for the Gastric Bypass over a sleeve or Lap Band, I knew that if I was going to resort to surgery, I wanted the tried and true method that would offer me the most results. Despite some mild complications during surgery, I survived, spent a few days in the hospital, and am now home recovering. I'm looking forward to learning from others on here as I go, and can't wait to see how much healthier I will be post-surgery.

Prior to surgery, I tried to get into weightlifting, but found that I was too heavy to even really do a bodyweight squat, let alone anything with added weight. Now that I'm post-op, I'm looking forward to eventually trying that again, but I'm worried about how my body will do with not having as much fuel to draw from since, you know, tiny stomach and what not. Anyone have any advice in this department?

Hello!

I actually just stumbled upon this page tonight looking for general information, and I'm happy I did. I can already tell this is a wealth of information.
I'm 28 years old, married with a 2 year old daughter. I've been overweight for most of my adult life, but only within the last few years has it really gotten out of control. I had been successful with many efforts to lose weight, such as basic calorie counting and Portion Control, exercise, and (especially) the Atkins Diet. I say successful but with that caveat, it was only at losing weight. Eventually, the pounds came back, and they usually brought friends.
Almost 2 years ago, I went to the doctor for a routine check-up. Not news to me was that I was overweight, what was news is that I was in a range of "morbid obesity" that also came with high blood pressure (likely the cause of my ongoing, near-daily headaches.) I immediately started lisinopril to manage the HBP, and basically didn't change much.
A few months later, I noticed simple tasks were getting more and more difficult to accomplish. Trying my shoes, zipping up my pants, getting in and out of bed. It was time for me to jump on the scale and see how bad I really had it. That was the second alarm; 390 pounds. As recently as 2008, I was only 300 pounds, relatively in shape, and considering a career as a Police Officer or serving on the Border Patrol. Now, I was carrying around an entire extra person.
One of my bosses at work had recently had success in meeting with a dietician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Bariatrics Center. Seeing how much weight he had lost, I immediately made an appointment. Rather than see a dietician, however, I went right for the medically supervised weight loss program. After a brief assessment, I was prescribed Qsymia, a relatively new (and thus, expensive) drug that combines phentermine and topiramate. Starting with the low dose, I progressed to gradually more potent combinations of the same drugs, but eventually quit because the side effects were very challenging to cope with on top of a lot of work stress at the time.
Did I mention work stress? I'm a 911 Dispatcher, a job not noted for its low levels of stress. I do suffer from PTSD due to some calls that I wish no human being would ever have to listen to again. You name it, I've heard it. The worst part about this job is that you aren't there to witness anything, so your brain has a tendency to fill in the blanks with the most graphic visualizations you can imagine.
So, after the stress of work and some very drastic side effects from my medications became too much for me to handle, I slipped back into my old routine of eating bad food and lots of it. Working the afternoon shift means no time for a nice sit-down dinner, it means a cold dinner at your desk scarfing down take-out between phone calls and radio traffic.
Fast forward to the summer of 2015, and I noticed my weight was creeping back to unhealthy ranges. I had actually lost almost 40 pounds fairly quickly, but by now had put all but 9 pounds back on. I went back to my doctor and asked what it would take to be a candidate for gastric bypass. Surprisingly, I didn't have much left to do.
I had completed a new sleep study, quickly got back into eating well and losing weight, and was on a semi-regular workout routine (just walking, nothing crazy like P90X which I was doing before.) My doctor told me at the end of August that surgery before the end of the year was completely possible. I wouldn't have believed it, but as I'm writing this, it's the 28th of November, and I had surgery a few days ago.
Opting for the Gastric Bypass over a sleeve or Lap Band, I knew that if I was going to resort to surgery, I wanted the tried and true method that would offer me the most results. Despite some mild complications during surgery, I survived, spent a few days in the hospital, and am now home recovering. I'm looking forward to learning from others on here as I go, and can't wait to see how much healthier I will be post-surgery.

@@dlappjr Thanks for that information. (It's also nice to read the stuff under your name and see we've got similar starting points and goals.) I have a feeling I won't get the clear for a little bit just because I had some minor complications and I'm still rocking some pretty healthy abdominal pain from some deep stitches they put in, but as soon as I'm able, I'm ready to get in there and start accelerating my weight loss.

I got the all clear 4 weeks post op. I started with some easy lifting. I found this article and it helped me make a routine that was both physically challenging, yet safe in a way that allowed me to gain strength and stability without much risk for injury. The Ultimate Weight Training Workout Routine After reading through a lot of this, I realized that there were a few things I needed to do to ensure I wouldn't over exert myself. I landed on doing two different workouts and alternating them. Workout A on Monday, Workout B on Wednesday, Workout A again on Friday. B the next Monday and so on. Each workout was what could be considered full body, as I didm;t focus specifically on legs or arms or shoulders, etc. I downloaded a cool little app on my iPhone called Fitlist. It allowed me to make routines and add the number of reps and weight for each rep so I could pick up where I left off from the previous workout, and allowed me to bump up the weight and/or number of reps once that became easier to do. Within a couple weeks I upped the weight a little and a couple weeks after that I upped the reps from 8 to 10. I now do most exercises at 3 sets of 10 reps. I figured out how much weight to do by doing a set of 8 and making sure the weight was just right so that I could only do those 8 reps. Meaning I didm;t have any additional strength to do another rep, but I wasn't failing at 7 reps either. The only thing I did to my diet was make sure I was taking in enough Protein. I was already up to 1000 calories per day and went from 80g Protein to about 100g protein. I take in about 200 cal and 20g protein before my workout in the AM and another 150-200cal and 15-20g protein within a half hour after working out. Then Breakfast which is usually eggs around 1 1/2 hr after my workout. I also started doing the elliptical at the same time as the weights. I went from 8 minutes to 10 minutes in a couple weeks and now do over 2 miles in 20 minutes before my sets of weights. I also have started trying yoga. Its amazing how out of shape my core is. Just a simple plank for 30 seconds makes me want to throw up sometimes. I found a cool app for that too called Swork It. It has stretching, exercises and yoga instructional videos. Now that I have longer endurance and am down some significant weight, my next endeavor is going to be 9round. I think that will help me burn a lot of fat. Best of luck @@BrandonKea, it is a huge game changer once you start working out. I stalled for 3 weeks but still dropped size. I went from 5xl to now shopping for 2, sometimes 3xl. Take it easy and only do what you can. Your body will adjust quickly and soon you will be amazed at what you can do. My gym has an assisted pull up/dip machine. I have never done pull ups before. I can do 5 pull ups on that machine because it helps offset your weight. Huge confidence booster and big time motivator!

I'll definitely ask my surgeon what his guidelines are. I don't plan on packing on Schwarzenegger levels of muscle and lifting small cars, but I'd like to do some small level of resistance training.

I also started lifting about eight weeks out

I started cardio at about one month but waited to start doing lifting at about 8 weeks. Just like anything start out light and work your way up. I do crossfit 3x a week no problems. I ran 11.5 miles on Sunday. You will be fine with lower calories once your body is healed. Take your supplements, drink your Water, and eat your Protein. It works
~LA

This is excellent advice.

Prior to surgery, I tried to get into weightlifting, but found that I was too heavy to even really do a bodyweight squat, let alone anything with added weight. Now that I'm post-op, I'm looking forward to eventually trying that again, but I'm worried about how my body will do with not having as much fuel to draw from since, you know, tiny stomach and what not. Anyone have any advice in this department?

I think you already know the answer here. He cheated, you more or less caught him, and while he may have wanted that, he's making you feel like garbage until you give him what he wants, which is likely a divorce.
You're getting zero support from this man, and he's treating you like a non-partner.
At least, that's what I'm getting from this side.

I think you already know the answer here. He cheated, you more or less caught him, and while he may have wanted that, he's making you feel like garbage until you give him what he wants, which is likely a divorce.
You're getting zero support from this man, and he's treating you like a non-partner.
At least, that's what I'm getting from this side.

Ask him whether he thinks you should get a divorce (or a trial separation). If he says yes, that's an easy one.
If he says no, ask him to explain why. If he explains, you have something to work with. Even if he's happy and thinks things are great, you clearly have different ideas about what makes a happy marriage.
If he doesn't want to talk about it but actually doesn't want to divorce, and gives a shit, it may prompt him to realise the way he's treating you has made you consider it, and you may notice a change in his behaviour.
If he doesn't want to talk about it and truly doesn't care, he'll just continue on as always, and you'll have to decide whether you're ok with this life forever.

I think you already know the answer here. He cheated, you more or less caught him, and while he may have wanted that, he's making you feel like garbage until you give him what he wants, which is likely a divorce.
You're getting zero support from this man, and he's treating you like a non-partner.
At least, that's what I'm getting from this side.

nieuwevis, that's some very good advice. I used to tell people "I've lost xx pounds, but I don't know where because I still look fat," but I always seem to forget about how well my shirts/pants were fitting. It's very motivating to have outgrown (in the good way) some shorts that I bought at the beginning of summer that barely fit me. Hopefully, I'll keep having those non-scale victories.

I think you already know the answer here. He cheated, you more or less caught him, and while he may have wanted that, he's making you feel like garbage until you give him what he wants, which is likely a divorce.
You're getting zero support from this man, and he's treating you like a non-partner.
At least, that's what I'm getting from this side.

I think you already know the answer here. He cheated, you more or less caught him, and while he may have wanted that, he's making you feel like garbage until you give him what he wants, which is likely a divorce.
You're getting zero support from this man, and he's treating you like a non-partner.
At least, that's what I'm getting from this side.

Hello!

I actually just stumbled upon this page tonight looking for general information, and I'm happy I did. I can already tell this is a wealth of information.
I'm 28 years old, married with a 2 year old daughter. I've been overweight for most of my adult life, but only within the last few years has it really gotten out of control. I had been successful with many efforts to lose weight, such as basic calorie counting and Portion Control, exercise, and (especially) the Atkins Diet. I say successful but with that caveat, it was only at losing weight. Eventually, the pounds came back, and they usually brought friends.
Almost 2 years ago, I went to the doctor for a routine check-up. Not news to me was that I was overweight, what was news is that I was in a range of "morbid obesity" that also came with high blood pressure (likely the cause of my ongoing, near-daily headaches.) I immediately started lisinopril to manage the HBP, and basically didn't change much.
A few months later, I noticed simple tasks were getting more and more difficult to accomplish. Trying my shoes, zipping up my pants, getting in and out of bed. It was time for me to jump on the scale and see how bad I really had it. That was the second alarm; 390 pounds. As recently as 2008, I was only 300 pounds, relatively in shape, and considering a career as a Police Officer or serving on the Border Patrol. Now, I was carrying around an entire extra person.
One of my bosses at work had recently had success in meeting with a dietician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Bariatrics Center. Seeing how much weight he had lost, I immediately made an appointment. Rather than see a dietician, however, I went right for the medically supervised weight loss program. After a brief assessment, I was prescribed Qsymia, a relatively new (and thus, expensive) drug that combines phentermine and topiramate. Starting with the low dose, I progressed to gradually more potent combinations of the same drugs, but eventually quit because the side effects were very challenging to cope with on top of a lot of work stress at the time.
Did I mention work stress? I'm a 911 Dispatcher, a job not noted for its low levels of stress. I do suffer from PTSD due to some calls that I wish no human being would ever have to listen to again. You name it, I've heard it. The worst part about this job is that you aren't there to witness anything, so your brain has a tendency to fill in the blanks with the most graphic visualizations you can imagine.
So, after the stress of work and some very drastic side effects from my medications became too much for me to handle, I slipped back into my old routine of eating bad food and lots of it. Working the afternoon shift means no time for a nice sit-down dinner, it means a cold dinner at your desk scarfing down take-out between phone calls and radio traffic.
Fast forward to the summer of 2015, and I noticed my weight was creeping back to unhealthy ranges. I had actually lost almost 40 pounds fairly quickly, but by now had put all but 9 pounds back on. I went back to my doctor and asked what it would take to be a candidate for gastric bypass. Surprisingly, I didn't have much left to do.
I had completed a new sleep study, quickly got back into eating well and losing weight, and was on a semi-regular workout routine (just walking, nothing crazy like P90X which I was doing before.) My doctor told me at the end of August that surgery before the end of the year was completely possible. I wouldn't have believed it, but as I'm writing this, it's the 28th of November, and I had surgery a few days ago.
Opting for the Gastric Bypass over a sleeve or Lap Band, I knew that if I was going to resort to surgery, I wanted the tried and true method that would offer me the most results. Despite some mild complications during surgery, I survived, spent a few days in the hospital, and am now home recovering. I'm looking forward to learning from others on here as I go, and can't wait to see how much healthier I will be post-surgery.

Hello!

I actually just stumbled upon this page tonight looking for general information, and I'm happy I did. I can already tell this is a wealth of information.
I'm 28 years old, married with a 2 year old daughter. I've been overweight for most of my adult life, but only within the last few years has it really gotten out of control. I had been successful with many efforts to lose weight, such as basic calorie counting and Portion Control, exercise, and (especially) the Atkins Diet. I say successful but with that caveat, it was only at losing weight. Eventually, the pounds came back, and they usually brought friends.
Almost 2 years ago, I went to the doctor for a routine check-up. Not news to me was that I was overweight, what was news is that I was in a range of "morbid obesity" that also came with high blood pressure (likely the cause of my ongoing, near-daily headaches.) I immediately started lisinopril to manage the HBP, and basically didn't change much.
A few months later, I noticed simple tasks were getting more and more difficult to accomplish. Trying my shoes, zipping up my pants, getting in and out of bed. It was time for me to jump on the scale and see how bad I really had it. That was the second alarm; 390 pounds. As recently as 2008, I was only 300 pounds, relatively in shape, and considering a career as a Police Officer or serving on the Border Patrol. Now, I was carrying around an entire extra person.
One of my bosses at work had recently had success in meeting with a dietician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Bariatrics Center. Seeing how much weight he had lost, I immediately made an appointment. Rather than see a dietician, however, I went right for the medically supervised weight loss program. After a brief assessment, I was prescribed Qsymia, a relatively new (and thus, expensive) drug that combines phentermine and topiramate. Starting with the low dose, I progressed to gradually more potent combinations of the same drugs, but eventually quit because the side effects were very challenging to cope with on top of a lot of work stress at the time.
Did I mention work stress? I'm a 911 Dispatcher, a job not noted for its low levels of stress. I do suffer from PTSD due to some calls that I wish no human being would ever have to listen to again. You name it, I've heard it. The worst part about this job is that you aren't there to witness anything, so your brain has a tendency to fill in the blanks with the most graphic visualizations you can imagine.
So, after the stress of work and some very drastic side effects from my medications became too much for me to handle, I slipped back into my old routine of eating bad food and lots of it. Working the afternoon shift means no time for a nice sit-down dinner, it means a cold dinner at your desk scarfing down take-out between phone calls and radio traffic.
Fast forward to the summer of 2015, and I noticed my weight was creeping back to unhealthy ranges. I had actually lost almost 40 pounds fairly quickly, but by now had put all but 9 pounds back on. I went back to my doctor and asked what it would take to be a candidate for gastric bypass. Surprisingly, I didn't have much left to do.
I had completed a new sleep study, quickly got back into eating well and losing weight, and was on a semi-regular workout routine (just walking, nothing crazy like P90X which I was doing before.) My doctor told me at the end of August that surgery before the end of the year was completely possible. I wouldn't have believed it, but as I'm writing this, it's the 28th of November, and I had surgery a few days ago.
Opting for the Gastric Bypass over a sleeve or Lap Band, I knew that if I was going to resort to surgery, I wanted the tried and true method that would offer me the most results. Despite some mild complications during surgery, I survived, spent a few days in the hospital, and am now home recovering. I'm looking forward to learning from others on here as I go, and can't wait to see how much healthier I will be post-surgery.

Hello!

I actually just stumbled upon this page tonight looking for general information, and I'm happy I did. I can already tell this is a wealth of information.
I'm 28 years old, married with a 2 year old daughter. I've been overweight for most of my adult life, but only within the last few years has it really gotten out of control. I had been successful with many efforts to lose weight, such as basic calorie counting and Portion Control, exercise, and (especially) the Atkins Diet. I say successful but with that caveat, it was only at losing weight. Eventually, the pounds came back, and they usually brought friends.
Almost 2 years ago, I went to the doctor for a routine check-up. Not news to me was that I was overweight, what was news is that I was in a range of "morbid obesity" that also came with high blood pressure (likely the cause of my ongoing, near-daily headaches.) I immediately started lisinopril to manage the HBP, and basically didn't change much.
A few months later, I noticed simple tasks were getting more and more difficult to accomplish. Trying my shoes, zipping up my pants, getting in and out of bed. It was time for me to jump on the scale and see how bad I really had it. That was the second alarm; 390 pounds. As recently as 2008, I was only 300 pounds, relatively in shape, and considering a career as a Police Officer or serving on the Border Patrol. Now, I was carrying around an entire extra person.
One of my bosses at work had recently had success in meeting with a dietician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Bariatrics Center. Seeing how much weight he had lost, I immediately made an appointment. Rather than see a dietician, however, I went right for the medically supervised weight loss program. After a brief assessment, I was prescribed Qsymia, a relatively new (and thus, expensive) drug that combines phentermine and topiramate. Starting with the low dose, I progressed to gradually more potent combinations of the same drugs, but eventually quit because the side effects were very challenging to cope with on top of a lot of work stress at the time.
Did I mention work stress? I'm a 911 Dispatcher, a job not noted for its low levels of stress. I do suffer from PTSD due to some calls that I wish no human being would ever have to listen to again. You name it, I've heard it. The worst part about this job is that you aren't there to witness anything, so your brain has a tendency to fill in the blanks with the most graphic visualizations you can imagine.
So, after the stress of work and some very drastic side effects from my medications became too much for me to handle, I slipped back into my old routine of eating bad food and lots of it. Working the afternoon shift means no time for a nice sit-down dinner, it means a cold dinner at your desk scarfing down take-out between phone calls and radio traffic.
Fast forward to the summer of 2015, and I noticed my weight was creeping back to unhealthy ranges. I had actually lost almost 40 pounds fairly quickly, but by now had put all but 9 pounds back on. I went back to my doctor and asked what it would take to be a candidate for gastric bypass. Surprisingly, I didn't have much left to do.
I had completed a new sleep study, quickly got back into eating well and losing weight, and was on a semi-regular workout routine (just walking, nothing crazy like P90X which I was doing before.) My doctor told me at the end of August that surgery before the end of the year was completely possible. I wouldn't have believed it, but as I'm writing this, it's the 28th of November, and I had surgery a few days ago.
Opting for the Gastric Bypass over a sleeve or Lap Band, I knew that if I was going to resort to surgery, I wanted the tried and true method that would offer me the most results. Despite some mild complications during surgery, I survived, spent a few days in the hospital, and am now home recovering. I'm looking forward to learning from others on here as I go, and can't wait to see how much healthier I will be post-surgery.

Hello!

I actually just stumbled upon this page tonight looking for general information, and I'm happy I did. I can already tell this is a wealth of information.
I'm 28 years old, married with a 2 year old daughter. I've been overweight for most of my adult life, but only within the last few years has it really gotten out of control. I had been successful with many efforts to lose weight, such as basic calorie counting and Portion Control, exercise, and (especially) the Atkins Diet. I say successful but with that caveat, it was only at losing weight. Eventually, the pounds came back, and they usually brought friends.
Almost 2 years ago, I went to the doctor for a routine check-up. Not news to me was that I was overweight, what was news is that I was in a range of "morbid obesity" that also came with high blood pressure (likely the cause of my ongoing, near-daily headaches.) I immediately started lisinopril to manage the HBP, and basically didn't change much.
A few months later, I noticed simple tasks were getting more and more difficult to accomplish. Trying my shoes, zipping up my pants, getting in and out of bed. It was time for me to jump on the scale and see how bad I really had it. That was the second alarm; 390 pounds. As recently as 2008, I was only 300 pounds, relatively in shape, and considering a career as a Police Officer or serving on the Border Patrol. Now, I was carrying around an entire extra person.
One of my bosses at work had recently had success in meeting with a dietician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Bariatrics Center. Seeing how much weight he had lost, I immediately made an appointment. Rather than see a dietician, however, I went right for the medically supervised weight loss program. After a brief assessment, I was prescribed Qsymia, a relatively new (and thus, expensive) drug that combines phentermine and topiramate. Starting with the low dose, I progressed to gradually more potent combinations of the same drugs, but eventually quit because the side effects were very challenging to cope with on top of a lot of work stress at the time.
Did I mention work stress? I'm a 911 Dispatcher, a job not noted for its low levels of stress. I do suffer from PTSD due to some calls that I wish no human being would ever have to listen to again. You name it, I've heard it. The worst part about this job is that you aren't there to witness anything, so your brain has a tendency to fill in the blanks with the most graphic visualizations you can imagine.
So, after the stress of work and some very drastic side effects from my medications became too much for me to handle, I slipped back into my old routine of eating bad food and lots of it. Working the afternoon shift means no time for a nice sit-down dinner, it means a cold dinner at your desk scarfing down take-out between phone calls and radio traffic.
Fast forward to the summer of 2015, and I noticed my weight was creeping back to unhealthy ranges. I had actually lost almost 40 pounds fairly quickly, but by now had put all but 9 pounds back on. I went back to my doctor and asked what it would take to be a candidate for gastric bypass. Surprisingly, I didn't have much left to do.
I had completed a new sleep study, quickly got back into eating well and losing weight, and was on a semi-regular workout routine (just walking, nothing crazy like P90X which I was doing before.) My doctor told me at the end of August that surgery before the end of the year was completely possible. I wouldn't have believed it, but as I'm writing this, it's the 28th of November, and I had surgery a few days ago.
Opting for the Gastric Bypass over a sleeve or Lap Band, I knew that if I was going to resort to surgery, I wanted the tried and true method that would offer me the most results. Despite some mild complications during surgery, I survived, spent a few days in the hospital, and am now home recovering. I'm looking forward to learning from others on here as I go, and can't wait to see how much healthier I will be post-surgery.