futurefeatherweight

I am a hospital pharmacist so I manage this issue regularly for patients. Personally, my doctor had me get a pill crusher to use for the first few weeks after surgery. Some of the medications are really nasty tasting when you powder them though (especially metformin- since you mentioned that you are diabetic, I figured you might be on this one.) You can add your crushed medications to a little applesauce or pudding to try to make them a little more palatable. If you have drugs in capsules, many capsules can be opened and added to applesauce or pudding. My only caution would be that if you take extended release forms of drugs (anything that has SA- slow acting, LA- long acting, or XR- extended release in the name) check with your doctor or pharmacist before crushing or splitting the medication because it can cause you to receive the entire dose of medication all at once instead of slowly releasing it throughout the day which with some medications can be a very dangerous thing. If the taste of your crushed medications is too awful to tolerate, try using a pill splitter and just split them to as small as you need.

I was very close to your size when I had my surgery. My surgery was covered completely by my insurance because I had very difficult to control type 2 diabetes in addition to HTN, and dyslipidemia. For diabetes prior to surgery, I was taking metformin, Bydureon, 80 units of Levemir insulin twice daily and 20 units of Novolog with each meal & snack. If you are familiar with insulin, you know these are really high doses so we are talking extreme insulin resistance. After the surgery, I was immediately off of insulin and rapidly lost weight for the first 3-4 months and then stalled out after losing 50lbs. I stayed stuck between 160-170 for about 3 years and then when the Covid pandemic started, my husband was diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer. My stress levels went through the roof (I work in a hospital and was watching people die left and right thinking that at any time, my husband would be next). Anyway, I wound up regaining back up to 185 and started requiring insulin again at low doses. Then last year, I started on Ozempic and wound up starting to lose weight again and came off of the insulin again. After several months of Ozempic, I am now below my goal weight. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised to find that you will initially lose weight very easily. The weight loss should help reduce but may not resolve your insulin resistance. Keeping the weight off long term may be more difficult but is still quite doable.

There are some antidepressants that can cause weight gain (for example, tricyclic antidepressants are notorious for it). Surely your doctor didn't prescribe an antidepressant that can cause weight gain since they know that you are trying to lose weight. IMO, the best antidepressant for overweight patients is Wellbutrin (burpopion) because it can actually promote weight loss. Sorry, I am a pharmacist so I can't stop myself from making drug recommendations. I know everyone pushes the "reset diet" but I have to say that what made it easy for me to get rid of my regain and not feel hungry doing it was my doctor prescribing me Ozempic. I am a type 2 diabetic and I had been taking Bydureon in the past without weight loss effect then my insurance removed Bydureon from their formulary and I was switched to Ozempic. Weight started coming off within a month of starting the Ozempic and just kept coming off. I have currently lost around 30lbs. If you are not a diabetic, Wegovy has the same drug in it as Ozempic (semaglutide) just at a different dosage for weight loss. I have been taking Ozempic for almost a year now and I no longer have cravings and rarely ever even feel hungry. It is funny how Ozempic, Bydureon, and Saxenda are all in the same drug class but I only experienced weight loss with Ozempic. I just flat out couldn't tolerate Saxenda. Slowed my gastric emptying to an unbearable level. Bydureon worked for my diabetes but didn't have any effect on my weight. Of course, these are all injectable drugs (Ozempic/Wegovy/Bydureon are only once a week though vs daily for Saxenda). Contrave is an oral weight loss drug that contains wellbutrin (bupropion) as one of the ingredients. It seems like it would be a good option for those who can't stand the thought of using an injectable medication but honestly, I. Rybelsus is the oral equivalent of Ozempic. Phentermine is probably the most popular weight loss drug but I have known of people with poorly controlled hypertension to have strokes while on phentermine so I don't recommend it unless I know that the person either does not have hypertension or they take their BP meds and check their blood pressure frequently. Best of Luck

I always feel bad for my waiter when I go out to eat because they will usually come over and ask me if there is anything wrong with my meal. I just tell them that I had a stomach surgery and don't feel like eating and then I take my meal to go. When I am out with people outside of my family, I usually order something small and cut it up and use my fork to mix everything on the plate together and move it around to try to make it look like I ate more than I actually did. (This is a technique that small children often use to try to convince Mom that they have eaten enough dinner. I have often wondered how many other bariatric surgery patients have done this in an effort to not offend a host. ) You can also just box up half of your meal before you even start eating and just say that you are trying new eating habits if anyone asks. Buffets are just a no go for me unless they have to go options (pay by weight of meal). Even though I am several years out from surgery, after my doctor started me on Ozempic last year (for diabetes, not weight loss), I have been unable to eat more than a few bites of food at a time. My stomach literally feels just like it did a few weeks after surgery. Consequently, I have lost more weight which is great but I have to say that the daily nausea is getting old at this point.