Mattymatt

I would just to be sure. How can the doctor be so sure it's just the stomach lining without any diagnostic medical imaging to rule out other problems. I am not impressed with this surgeon.

There are horror stories for the sleeve, bypass, lap-band, douodenal switch, etc. The bottom line is that the horror story is usually only telling one side. Do not let anyone bully you into any one of these options. You have to do it because you want to do it: that is the only way it will work. Your best chance of success is to follow the post-surgery prescription to a 'T'. There may be an adjustment period and you may feel like less than yourself for a while afterwards but these are adjustments, not complications. If you follow the advice of your surgeon, the chances of serious complications are a mere fraction of a percent, or statistically insignificant. The bottom line is this is a serious undertaking and you should be mentally prepared for it. Of the surgeries out there, I believe the lap band is really the one that has the most serious of potential complications - this is why it is not done so much and falling out of favor.

I use Crystal Light and Mio. If you go with Mio, avoid the caffeinated and energy versions. I don't like water unless it's ice cold. Even though I'm still pre-surgery, I've gotten myself down to about one can of soda every couple of days. I don't even crave it like I used to. Next step needs to be off of that altogether. My surgeon emphasized the importance of no fizzy drinks. Not only could they cause pain but they could cause the staples to rupture.

I'm on an antidepressant as well. I take 30mg of Remeron. My psychiatrist has me on a really cool form of it too. I take the medicine in salt tab form. It dissolves right on the tongue and its effects can be felt in seconds. I wonder if, with significant weight loss and regular physical activity, I could actually get off it.

I chose a normal BMI as a goal but it might not be possible due to extra skin. My optional BMI puts me at about 190.

I wish this were a problem that I have. Right now my libido is like -1. I got no desire for sex right now.

@James Marusek My surgeon said to use chewable vitamins. I wonder if they work as well. He just said not the gummy variety. Flint stones chewables....

I cannot emphasize this enough: get your mom to the hospital! If you can see little black specs in the vomitus, then that is an indicator of partially digested blood. It almost looks like coffee grounds. This is indicative of a serious, potentially life threatening condition. I was a volunteer EMT and this was drilled into us. The best thing to do is to get your mom to professional medical care post haste.

Start tracking what you're eating again. Tracking helps you remain accountable. In the past, when I had some success losing weight, the common denominator had always been because I tracked everything I ate very carefully. Tracking is a pain in the azz but it does work. I use loseit and before any food goes in my mouth, it gets tracked. This way I can see what it is that I am about to eat and can ask myself if this is what I really want to eat. Often seeing the bad numbers on the unhealthy food is enough to stop me.

Today I am just feeling overwhelmed by this whole process of qualifying for bariatric surgery. I'm also feeling sorry for myself and down in the dumps which is aggravated by the fact that I cannot turn to food for some comfort. My brain wants to eat a large pizza but I steadfastly refuse. I'm also physically hurting so I don't feel like walking - my feet hurt something fierce. So, I am down 10 pounds since starting the process at the end of October and I was hoping that the scale would move a little bit more at my weigh in today. Nope, stuck strongly at 356 and this is despite cutting back calories appropriately so I guess this is also part of blood sugar not being as well controlled as it should be. The psych eval was exhausting, particularly because it is revisiting a sad, lonely, and ostracized past. Normally, I don't cry easily but all I feel like doing is breaking down. Time is something not easily recaptured and when I see the time and health that I lost due to obesity, I just feel a whole lot of emotional pain. At least the psychologist concurs with everyone else's thinking that bariatric surgery is a good option. At least that hurdle is cleared. One week until the 2nd nutrition appointment.....

Nice dude! Keep it up

The latest thinking is that this whole "starvation mode" may not be accurate thinking. I wish I could remember the article but it was a good one.

Agreed, @James Marusek. If healthcare really cared about people instead of profits, they would do as you suggest.

I am pretty much forced to make changes and this is really a good thing. I have to get my A1C below 8% and my blood sugar was not well controlled. As of my last test, it was 10%. When I first got the news, I moped around. Then, I got my butt in gear. At the beginning of this month, I began carefully tracking sugars and eating the right carb to protein ratio. Now my average reading on the meter is 129 which puts me well below the 8% threshold. If I can maintain this momentum through December, I think I can meet my goal. I'm glad that I have to do this. Otherwise, I might have continued to gain weight and just said to hell with it.

You look fantastic! Keep it up!

Well, I am not a fan of making healthcare HARDER to access. I think the point that @James Marusek was trying to make is that the changes coming are not good ones and run antithetical to better health. The changes in the British NHS have 0 to deal with health and everything to do with politics and money. If I had to hazard a guess, this is actually a play to begin to lower taxes for the wealthy and shift the burden onto the working class. By spending less money, the NHS would naturally need less money from the tax base so tax cuts can strategically happen for the wealthy. I'll bet England's wealthy elite have their eyes on what is going on in the States and they want some of those same tax advantages. Yes, I am more than a little cynical.

Call me callous, but I do not understand why people would cheat during this phase. I mean I understand that there is temptation but the surgery is so close. For those getting covered by insurance, many of us have to wait 3-6 months. To me, cheating would seem like too much of a risk of having to start the entire process over again because the surgeon cannot operate due to the liver size. My wait is only 3 months and even that seems like an eternity. I am not about to let 2 weeks potentially get in the way of having the surgery done. When I first started the journey back on Oct. 23rd, it felt like late January - early February might as well be 10 years away. Now that I am about to have my second nutrition appointment and the psychological, be damned if anything that is under my control is going to derail this.

Humor is the best way to deal with this! Thanks for the laugh. My moobs are perhaps the only thing that I am really self conscious about. The rest of my body, well, I could give less of a ****. But those man titties need to go.

Yeah, I'm not well controlled right now. I'm just trying to get A1C at or below 8%. If I can just achieve that much, I'll be so much better off.

Well, I think I discovered something very interesting this morning. On the advice of one of the people in this bariatric support group that I attended over the weekend, I tried a low carb breakfast at only 7 grams of carbs. This morning I woke up with a blood sugar of 121 and 2.5 hours post-breakfast, my blood sugar is 90. My insulin resistance must be pretty bad. Well, I now see that this journey is about a permanent lifestyle alteration. I am so over pricking my finger 3x per day to check my blood sugar. Also, I am done swallowing those Metformin horse pills. I am going to have to start collecting some food ideas.

I'm on insulin and hoping for the same result as you. My endocrinologist said that after surgery, I would be sent home with nothing. I would be told to stop Metformin and Glipizide as well. I cannot wait!!! Type 2 Diabetes sucks.

I went to a support group for bariatric surgery this past Saturday. I learned so much that now I'm sold on the idea. Even though I'm still quite a ways from a surgery date, the learning has been invaluable. One thing I really struggle with is breakfast because most breakfast foods are carbohydrate rich. Someone recommended taking some canned chicken and mixing it with mustard. Made quite a delicious and filling breakfast. I added some pecans to the mix as well. Sometimes we get so ingrained in our habits that we forget that we can go outside the box. Hearing other people make recommendations was so helpful. I learned of another great idea. Take a premiere protein shake, caramel flavor, and mix PB2 with it. I never heard of PB2 but the person's description of this protein shake made my mouth water.

Funny, my Vitamin D was low too. Even though I'm not even one month into this journey I'm learning so much.

I'm in West Chester. I'm going through Penn Medicine's program.

My doctors recommended RNY for the same reason. It was their opinion that RNY would be better for type 2 diabetics. They all said the chances of reversing diabetes is better through RNY.