batty_vsg

1 hour ago, kjuno said:

My dietician said the caffeinated coffee can cause ulcers more easily to form in the stomach lining.

If you are prone to acid, or already have an ulcer, then that would be a case as well that you'd want to either not drink coffee, or maybe switch to cold brew (which is not really acidic at all.) It would kind of be treated the same way someone would deal with Tomato products (since tomatoes can also increase acid production.) I'm sensitive to tomato products (or so I think, my acid production prior to the surgery could have been a result of my weight and poor eating), so I try to reduce what I can. Right now my stomach is handling chili very well, but I'm also taking an acid reducer.

1 hour ago, SteveT74 said:

As for the hydration issue, that's true. Caffeine is a diuretic But if you're getting plenty of Water (more than 64oz a day), hydration is not going to be an issue for you. You just don't count coffee towards your hydration amount and you might want to add extra Water 8-16oz of water per day for 8oz cup of coffee you consume. Personally, I have been having issues with Constipation, so I added one 8oz cup of coffee to my diet per day (with some premier shake in it instead of milk). It has definitely helped get things moving to the point where I am not taking stool softeners!

As for your doctor's advice regarding caffeine stimulating hunger, that's absolute NOT true. In fact, it may be just the opposite. At best, caffeine is hunger neutral. In particular, at least one study was conducted to determine whether hot caffeinated coffee reduces hunger. In that study, the study, the subjects were given hot beverages and asked to rate their hunger. Each group was given coffee, tea, Decaf coffee, decaf tea or just plain hot water. The study found that any hot beverage reduces feelings of hunger--regardless of caffeine content. In short, caffeine does not increase hunger and the debate is open as to whether it helps reduce hunger. It's ok, my surgeon did a great job for me, but I know some of the info his office gives his patients is pure BS. For example, the crap about never drinking from a straw and never drinking carbonated beverages against because they stretch your sleeve is total BS. You don't drink with a straw or drink a carbonated beverage because you will probably major gas pains if you do. Not a good thing!! However, later on neither a carbonated beverage or a straw is going to hurt you. Nevertheless, for many people carbonated beverages are trigger for drinking sugary drinks or diet chemical drinks loaded with artificial sweeteners that are bad for you. If you're going to have sparkling water one year post-op, you'll be just fine.

I was cleared to have coffee as long as it didn't contain awful sweeteners (so just regular coffee was a-okay.) While it is a mild (emphasis on mild) diuretic and will cause you to urinate more often, the idea that it dehydrates you is a bit of a myth. Your body is still able to intake enough fluids to hydrate you. If you're interested in reading up on it, you can take a look at this article: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/01/13/262175623/coffee-myth-busting-cup-of-joe-may-help-hydration-and-memory

The headaches you often feel associated with caffeine intake is generally due to a sensitivity to caffeine, or your system lacking caffeine. There are other issues with coffee, but they are generally surrounded by issues directly affected by caffeine, or the sugar that people throw into their coffee.

A daily cup of coffee is really no issue unless you have a high sensitivity to caffeine. I actually have found (like Steve said) that a cup of coffee has helped me offset constipation. I pretty much have a regular bowel movement at this point. It isn't exactly the same as pre-op, but I'm happy that we're on a pretty regular basis now.

Just a heads up, I am NOT a doctor or nurse, but I do like to research and find out new information on the medical field.

I finally had an appointment with my gyno today and we both decided on the Kyleena IUD. I have to wait until my next period (which could be whenever) and I'll go ahead and get it scheduled. Very excited!

My NP advised against the Depo-Provera as the progestrin can sometimes be an appetite stimulant, but was very encouraging towards the IUD.

I feel like you are in a really good place right now because you've gotten past a really first important step - you know an issue that could be causing your weight gain! A glass a wine is not going to untie everything you've done, but if you're like me - some things are not acceptable in moderation and should just stay away from.

You still are reaping the benefits of the decision you made, you still look really good! So, do what you can and manage the alcohol consumption. If you're still having issues, that can be dealt with too!

Herbalife is far from a proper diet. They over-charge you on shakes and supplements that you could easily supply yourself from the grocery store for a fraction of the cost.

If you're struggling with alcohol consumption, then I feel that is something you should tackle versus going onto a fad diet. Talk with your doctor, or your team from when you first had the surgery! Alcohol dependency is a very real thing post-wls surgery! Like I mentioned, focus on lessening your alcohol consumption and then the next step (if you don't see any weight loss, which I highly doubt) can be your diet and exercise.

10 hours ago, Myhorseisfattoo said:

Yes, my Batty love! I am entering semester 2 of my master's program next week. I had surgery mid-December so that it would fall between semesters! I can't wait for my classmates to see me again in awhile!

Yeah, I had my surgery on the same exact day for that reason too! It's been really nice not having to deal with schoolwork when we're this tired, right?

23 hours ago, KT1981 said:

I'm currently smack-dab in the middle of my master's program and have a FT career (and a husband and 2 girls, 11 and almost 9). (Sleeved 10/17/18). I am still struggling a bit with fatigue and mental fog, but I can't quit now!!

Yeah, I was sleeved on 12/12 and I am a little worried about fatigue. I do not have any kids, but I have a FT job with a house and a bunch of animals. I've been needing to sleep more and more - I just don't feel like I am going to have any energy or time.

First of all, congratulations on your first steps into weight loss surgery! Everyone's journey is a little different, but I'll try to answer what questions I can:

How much weight can you lose pre-op?
You are a bit above the 40 BMI required for surgery without a comorbidity, so I wouldn't worry too much about being less than a 40 BMI by the time insurance checks your weight progress pre-op. My program advised that I could not gain any weight, but a weight loss of 10-15lbs (even 20) is pretty acceptable (especially during the infamous pre-op diet.) Weight loss wasn't a huge focus during my nutritionist classes, it was more about starting to learn the tools that I would need to be successful post-op. It wasn't a weight management class, you know?

Scheduling Evaluations:
I was lucky in that I did not need a whole bunch of evaluations. I had a psychological evaluation that I scheduled myself. However, if you ask your team (surgeon, or nurse), they can recommend specialists that work with them (just make sure they are in-network for you! the evaluation was expensive for me, even though my provider was in-network.) That one, once the evaluation is done, they send over the information and know WHO to send the information to. I would assume the same goes to any cardiac, or sleep specialist. You will have to schedule these own appointments, but it helps if it a practice that works alongside your program.

My nutritionist appointments were through the hospital themselves and those were scheduled with the dietitian herself.

How long did it take?
I talked about WLS with my PCP around the middle of April. My first appointment with the surgeon was 4/30/18. My surgery was scheduled for 12/12/2018 (though it could have been a week sooner - I had exams so I rescheduled.) My insurance only required 3 months of nutrition classes (though I actually went to 4 because it had to be a total of 90 days.)

Any tips?
Be your own advocate! Realize that most medical professionals work M-F, but don't allow anyone to drag their feet on getting information back to you, or to others. Also, follow up on people! If someone was supposed to receive paperwork, call them the next business day and make sure they received what they needed and ask if there is anything else that they need. I did this and I sincerely feel that it helped make things SO much easier.

Get your work FMLA and short term filed as soon as possible. FMLA was possibly the most difficult aspect of paperwork during the entire ordeal, my supervisor dragged his feet and I ended up nearly close to the deadline.

Hope this helped.

Woohoo, what an amazing job!

I signed up for classes this semester and I was wondering if anyone else is attending the Spring 2019 Semester? I am working towards a degree in Radiology; I have a very high interest in the medical field and I worked on pinpointing exactly what I wanted to do. So Radiology it is! I have a very dense class coming up, A&P I (Human Anatomy and Physiology I) so I am a little nervous. I am still suffering from mild to moderate fatigue, so I am hoping I can juggle work and school.

But let us use this as a place to rant and vent about school!

2 minutes ago, Jeelena2019 said:

The incision my stomach was taken out of hasn’t hurt at all, actually none of my incisions have hurt at all. My surgeons protocol is Prilosec daily for the first six months then reassess.

The actual incision doesn't hurt at all for me either, but it's more about what's on the inside of that area that could be sore. They do have to go through the abdominal wall in order to access your stomach, which could be achy for some.

Is the pain in your ribs also a little achy, or is it more like quick jabs of pain? I experienced post-op late stomach spasms the other day which were mildly painful (around in the area you're describing.) For reassurance, just shoot your team a message, or give them a call.

Just now, MrClasik said:

Oh hey, you're in Virginia too! We're only two days apart for our surgery! What doctor did you go through? I will say that out of all of my incisions, the one where they took the stomach out is definitely the last to close up and is still kind of healing.

Dr. Nathan Lee in Richmond did my surgery. He wasn't my initial surgeon, but I am happy that fate brought us together on this journey. The whole team for the Bon Secours Bariatric Program is F A N T A S T I C. I absolutely love my Nurse Practitioner (who I have my follow ups with.) And take it as slow as your body needs you to be; you need to push a little, but not over exert yourself.

Honestly, with the weather in Virginia (and you know what I am talking about) it could be allergy related. I am on two different allergy medications to handle post-nasal drip from the weather.

Just now, MrClasik said:

3 minutes ago, batty_vsg said:

So one of the scars that I have on my stomach, near the belly button, is where they took out the excess stomach. I was told that there would likely be pain in this area for awhile and even now (almost four weeks out), it still aches sometimes. As long as the pain isn't paired with a symptom like a fever, intense nausea or diarrhea, then I believe it is just pain from your body having gone through surgery. Now as far as your upper ribs. Were you prescribed an acid reducer at all? Can you describe the pain near your ribs?

I’m just about 4 weeks out and that same incision you speak of is opening back up for me. I go to doc on Tue. Will see what they have to say about it. I have no pain, but it just don’t want to close. Scan came and went and now, opening. Good luck with yours.

Oh hey, you're in Virginia too! We're only two days apart for our surgery! What doctor did you go through? I will say that out of all of my incisions, the one where they took the stomach out is definitely the last to close up and is still kind of healing.

6 hours ago, KitKatC1 said:

I had my surgery 12/10/2018. I'm new to the forum thing. I had to visit the doctor 6 consecutive months for weigh-ins and to turn my food diary. Does anyone know of a good Protein Powder? Also is anyone else having pain in your lower abdomen around the belly button and also under your ribs in upper abdomen?

So one of the scars that I have on my stomach, near the belly button, is where they took out the excess stomach. I was told that there would likely be pain in this area for awhile and even now (almost four weeks out), it still aches sometimes. As long as the pain isn't paired with a symptom like a fever, intense nausea or diarrhea, then I believe it is just pain from your body having gone through surgery. Now as far as your upper ribs. Were you prescribed an acid reducer at all? Can you describe the pain near your ribs?

11 hours ago, Lolo 2020 said:

Wow, I was sleeved 12/20 and had full energy within 5 says , I am drinking almost 70g of Protein though and probably eating another 10g. Try upping ur Protein . I’ve been walking 5 miles a day and did my first spin class today !

I am trying to get as much protein in as I can! I am getting the min. amount set by my team (60g), but anything more than that is a challenge right now.

16 minutes ago, Lolo 2020 said:

When were u sleeved ?

12/12!

I am constantly cold as well. Not only are you dropping weight, but your caloric intake isn't really high either. Eating can warm you up (definitely upon the foods you're eating.)

The only thing that I am dealing with right now is fatigue. I am getting between 600-700 calories a day (most of the time.) I'll have a day that I feel really good and energetic - I'll spend a good chunk of the day cleaning or catching up on household stuff - and then the next day I'm out for the count. Today I am REALLY tired. I am hoping that I will see an increase in energy over the next couple of weeks.

I thought I wasn't going to remember anything, but my body didn't react as quickly to the "calming" medication as the team thought.

Not to hijack this post, but I was also wondering if there were other people that remembered nearly EVERYTHING.

I remember being wheeled into the OR and pretty amazed on how it looked "behind the scenes." Very gray! I remember the actual room being a lot smaller than I thought and there were already people in there. They had me move from the gurney I was on to the actual table and then I was chatting with the nurse anesthetist that had visited me before. I don't remember the conversation, but she told me I was going to be closing my eyes in a second and next thing I know - I woke up in Recovery.

Recovery was A W F U L. I had been laying on my back for awhile and the pain was worse than anything else. I remember it took them FOREVER to get my room ready (it felt like forever) and I also recall the trip up to my room when it was ready (and my husband was waiting for me.)

If people wish to ask me about it, I am pretty honest about the surgery. I have a lot of responsibility at work and I'm close to the people in my department, so when they found out I was going out for surgery - there were a lot of questions and concerns. Thankfully, they've been very supportive (even if they had a lot of questions about the surgery itself.)

I am a very private person and I know that what I do is no one's business but my own. . . but I feel that honesty in this situation is the best course of action for me. My office is full of gossip and I'd rather be straight forward versus leaving people to wonder. If they are negative about the surgery, well that's definitely on them.

Even if you're having a stall, you could be losing inches!

13 minutes ago, lzucks said:

I was told to hold Calcium till my follow up appt which was 2 weeks post-op

Wow, isn't that kind of interesting! I was told to start taking Vitamins as soon as I could!

I have an email sent to my team, but I was wondering if anyone else was told to not have the calcium chews until 6 weeks post-op? I forgot to ask and have been working on Citracal's Petites (but I have to take two pills, three times a day due to the size and the dosage - it's getting annoying!) I don't like the chewables AT ALL, so I'm kind of stuck with the petites (and they are still huge as hell pills!)

Wait, so instead of spending thousands, I could have spent less than $50.00!!!!

12 hours ago, Myhorseisfattoo said:

Yes, Batty me gal, I think that's the ticket. I have started weighing twice per week. Today was weigh day and I'm down 2 more, so 15 since surgery. I guess that's faster than I've ever lost 15 pounds before in my life!!!!! And known it wasn't coming back!

Exactly! When was the last time we lost this amount of weight so quickly? My NP also said that we need to remove ourselves from "results driven activities." Of course we want to lose weight and it's so easily to feel lost inside the idea that we need to do this, do that in order to achieve these specific results. What happens when we achieve our results? Well, we stop trying. And we all know that our weight journey is going to be for the rest of our lives. So she wanted me to focus on just following the program and going with the flow. I don't think I'm explaining it well, so I'm sorry!

22 minutes ago, notmyname said:

It will be based on the 2018 amount

Thank you! I know it was a strange question, but I just needed some reassurance.

I had my surgery on December 12. The claim for my hospital stay has been pending since that date and I've been waiting for the ultimate bill. My insurance stands that it pays 80% and I pay 20% up until my out-of-pocket max is met (which is $5,000.) After that, the rest is covered. I have a general idea what my bill will be and that's fine.

The question is that it is now near the end of the year and soon my insurance will roll over and I will stand at $5,000 out of pocket maximum (throughout the year I've been working on reducing it.) Since the surgery was in 2018, will they be basing the amount I owed on what out-of-pocket deductible that I have left in 2018? Or will I have to deal with the brand new, never been touched, $5,000 of 2019. I was really hoping that the final bill would have been settled, but alas I'm still waiting.

TIA, sorry for the weird question!

My NP told me to put the scale away. ;______;

She felt (through my words and overall tone of the discussion) that I was becoming obsessive about the number and was regulating the happiness of my day through what the number was. I can understand where her concern was, so I'm going to go to once a week weigh-ins