theantichick

Yeah, a few months ago they linked Benadryl and other antihistamines of that generation to dementia. I don't think they know, and with a 24 hour news cycle, stuff hits the news and it's not really news. One study doesn't have enough weight for me to pay attention to it.

Going back to belly dance. I don't like "exercise" but I love to dance. I'm so out of shape now my heart rate maxes out just walking for a few minutes. In the same vein, I want to drag my husband to swing dance lessons.

Other than that, many of the same things other people have said - fit in "normal" chairs and airline seats, shop at "regular" clothes stores, less pain in joints.

My PCP has been harping on my weight for years, and generally advocating diet/lifestyle. Her latest kick started after I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease, so now she's harping on going gluten free, and all my problems will go away. Yeah, bite me. I love her otherwise, and she and I have had some head butting over side effects to meds and stuff, and I finally have her trained to work with me instead of dictating to me what to do. Part of that was my becoming an RN. I can go head-to-head with any general practitioner with studies and peer reviewed journals.

My Rheumatologist was actually the one that pushed me off the fence about the sleeve. We thought I had rheumatoid arthritis, but a couple of symptoms came to light this week that changed the diagnosis to psoriatic arthritis. She hasn't been harping on my weight, but had expressed some concern. I said 'what do you think about...' and she said "DO IT!!!" There's hormones and stuff from all the extra fat that have a direct impact on my auto-immune condition. Surgery won't cure it, but besides taking stress of joints from extra weight, the hormonal changes can make the meds work better.

I'm not even discussing it with my PCP. She'll find out next time I go in for my annual or the next upper respiratory thing I need antibiotics for.

Family practitioners/general practitioners simply cannot keep up with the sheer volume of medical information, just looking at peer reviewed journals. They'd have to read some 400 articles a month just to try and keep up. So most are woefully uninformed. Many times patients come in with more information than the docs. But they shouldn't be tacky about it if you give them information. If they are, move along.

LOL. I read this a while back, and thought it was terribly interesting.

This is my favorite quote:

Yes, we exhale lost fat. There it helps plants photosynthesize (if you're feeling noble) and contributes to global warming (if you're feeling guilty).

@@theantichick ... that was an awesome post about the interplay of fat cells, estrogen, autoimmune diseases, etc.

I never knew ANY of that stuff!

Thank you.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using the BariatricPal App

I have people in my life who run the gamut. My sister had the surgery several years ago, and has been harping on me since that I just *HAVE* to have it. I was on the fence about it until an appointment with a specialist yesterday who said unequivocally, the surgery would have a direct positive impact on my health. Won't cure my situation, but will make it a lot more likely that the meds can work. My mother sees some of the complications my sis had (mostly related to the skin surgery later) and is worried about complications, and thinks I can do it by myself if I just work at it. Like I haven't' been for 30 years, Mom? One of my best friends is anti-surgery and argues against it with reasonable arguments, but doesn't go so far as to criticize me for the decision, and will support me in it. Most of my other close friends are super-supportive, some have already had bypass and are grateful for it, others probably need surgery but aren't in a place to really consider it yet. The one that surprised me is my boss who I talked to about it this morning. She's a very fit person, runs marathons and such. She's sorry I'm having to deal with this, but is super supportive of whatever I need to get healthier. Just telling her what my pulse rate was at the doc's office yesterday after walking less than 5 minutes was enough for her to realize how serious this has gotten for me.

I'm a super open person, and will likely disclose to everyone. Bottom line is they aren't in my position. They don't know the months of research I've put in, or what advice my doctors have given me. They don't know all the pros and cons. They can judge all they want. Sometimes it will be hurtful, I know. But this won't be the first controversial decision I've made in some of their minds, and it won't be the last. They're welcome to their opinion, and if they make it too uncomfortable for me, they lose the benefit of my presence.

I do wish people could be more supportive and understanding in general, though.

Hi, everyone, I've been on the fence about the surgery for a few months now, and a visit with my rheumatologist yesterday tipped the scales.

I kept thinking "heck, if I followed the post-op diet, I'd lose weight and wouldn't need the surgery". But I'm 46, and I've been dieting some 30 years. Obviously, it doesn't work long-term for me.

Back when I was 230-ish (I'm 5'9") I was able to take off 20 or 30 lbs and keep it off almost a year, but it always crept back on. The last truly successful time was when I was 200-ish and dropped to about 175 and maintained for a couple of years. But the last 5-6 years have been a huge struggle with going back to school (nursing school) while working full time after a divorce and numerous health issues with both me and my kiddo. I pushed over 300 for the first time this last fall. If I were still in the 230 range, I'd keep slugging away with diet/exercise.

But as nurse and a research fiend, I've been looking at the research, studies, and statistics. While it's not impossible for someone with 130-ish lbs to lose and keep it off, the statistics are not even close to promising. And the last year has given me a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis (was rheumatoid until yesterday, new symptoms clarified the diagnosis) which has made it very hard for me to exercise. Nursing school combined with inactivity due to pain caused the last 40-50 lb gain, which has resulted in my cardio conditioning to be completely awful. Walking less than 5 minutes yesterday from the cab to my doctor's office and back to the exam room saw my heart rate at 157 and I was winded.

Something has to give. Like I said, I was on the fence until I mentioned the possibility to my rheumatologist. She is enthusiastically for the surgery in my case. Apparently fat cells secrete leptin (which I knew) that *directly* affects the disease activity for psoriatic arthritis (this I did not know). Most hormones involved in auto-immune disorders are estrogen-modulated, and fat cells secrete estrogen. While the surgery will not cure my arthritis, it can render the treatments much more effective on top of reducing the load on my joints through weight loss. That pushed me over, and I'm going to a seminar tonight to talk to the surgeon my rheumatologist recommends.

I was worried about dealing with the auto-immune with surgery recovery, but my sis (who had the surgery a couple of years ago) put me on a Facebook support group where a bunch of people with auto-immune talked to me about the benefits to their condition with the surgery, and I'm feeling much better about it.

I'm sorry this is long-winded, but I saw the question in the post, and writing it all down helps me process. I'm not sure I'm ready for all of this, but I know it will help my health, and I guess the time is now.