CyndieRI

I know this is an old post, but I wanted to thank you for sharing. I really REALLY needed to hear this right now in my journey. I was sleeved almost exactly 3 years ago. Everything was awesome for the first 18 months. I felt amazing, I got within 9 lbs of my goal weight by 12 months out. I was training for a 10K... then a lot of major life changes, as well. I'm a single mom. Have been for 11 years, so that part wasn't new, but I had my heart broken again in early 2017 (devastated, really), 2 changes of job/career in less than 10 months following that, problems with my teenagers, and a pretty major depression brought on by another heartbreak that I fought for the better part of 6 months recently. I turned to alcohol to numb myself since I couldn't turn to food and, as you can imagine, that did not go well for me. Tons of empty liquid calories and no motivation to exercise or eat right... when I did eat, it was small portions but I was losing the battle to get enough Protein and Water.
I don't list this as excuses, because I know I need to own my poor choices. And I want to start over.
I initially lost over 115 lbs and maintained in that range for nearly a year before it fell apart. I've gained back about 85 now.
I have been beating myself over it and hoping that its not too late to turn the ship around. I still have the tools... Thank you for letting me know its not out of my reach.
I'm trying to get back to basics this week with protein and water... and also am 1 day alcohol free (which doesn't sound like much yet, but I'm motivated to keep going)

I'm so sorry OP, that you have no confidence in your surgical team and ancillary providers. You must be scared to death. Complications suck, even when we know they are possible. I hope, since you don't have a great relationship with your team, that you will be very careful with yourself, and be diligent in doing what YOU can do to be OK. Some advice was harsh-ish, but it isn't wrong. If you were my patient, I'd likely have told you exactly what you heard above, not to be a biatch, but to endorse the severity of the situation.
I hope you have every success and get through this rough patch without too much more trouble! I hope you'll post later down the line and look back and laugh at this period in time!

Ditto. There are people here who have a softer approach and who really want to offer support. I hope things get better for you.

I consider myself a newbie around here, and in the six or so months I’ve been a member this is the first drama I’ve noticed and it sucks. I hope you get resolution to your issues but I wouldn’t throw in the towel on the forum because a couple people who don’t know you started whining on your thread and ruined it for you.

Everyone can just stop talking about me now. I still have major complications and both drs are like “that’s ur issue” ..”no that’s ur issue”... got to love being passed around and no one helping! You don’t know me to past judgment on me! You don’t know the complications I have. I was venting...it’s over! Let it go! I’m glad all your surgeons are awesome! Mine suck!!

I did not go to the ER. I am NOT feeling sorry for myself. I was talked into this surgery by my surgeon because it “would not give me the complications my lapband did”! That was a lie! AND I HAD to have all the scar tissue and lesions cleaned up that were created by the band anyway. I am still having trouble. I can drink ice tea so I’m fine. Thanks for the support...

I'm excited and nervous about my upcoming gastric bypass on Dec 5th. Any suggestions for preparing myself for this. 😁
of course my doctor and nutritionist have gone over things, however, they have not gone through the surgery
Thanks!

I hit first goal in 8.5 months. Now I'm working on 2nd Goal and am about 9lbs from it. My first two months were the fastest weight loss. You can see my weight loss progression in my signature bar.

Hi everyone,

I just scheduled my surgery for December 26th and I’m a self pay patient. After I scheduled surgery I was bombarded with all the things I need to do in the next 7 weeks to prepare for surgery, including dividing my time and a full school schedule with my surgery requirements. I feel completely overwhelmed and was on the verge of a panic attack on the drive home! All of the appointments, nutrition visits, etc. as well as dealing with the reality that this is now a tangible thing in the very very near future that I’m investing a lot of money in. Did anyone have this feeling of dread and panic right after scheduling surgery? Luckily I was able to get into my local hospital rather than going out of the country, which eases my anxiety. Any words of advice to deal with this panic and severe anxiety? Thanks so much.

I would be LIVID if this happened to me and I didn’t want my coworkers to know!!! What did you say to the HR person! And definitely your doctor’s office should not have said where they were calling from. I’m so sorry this happened to you! 😰

See, if like you were able to eat actual foods. HEALTHY foods. I think I would have done better on your pre-op diet. Hehe
I will try my best from here and on to stick to the diet.
Wow, you did amazing !!! Congrats !!!
And thank u for replying

Conversations here are too often turned into a debate and someone "winning". That's why at times I step back and get out for awhile. Everyone chiming in about the original poster. Where Is she? I don't see her posting. I just hope she feels better. Thats what counts.


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You and matt are hard core, blunt to the point. You are both right. But sometimes people just need to vent and know they are not alone. Thats why they came here. I was a crazy dramatic and I'm so thankful for those that listened and were supportive. Everyone have a great day!


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Good post! I’m avoiding alcohol for a while bc I was warned that it is easy to become dependent after sleeve. It is not mentioned much probably bc there are some really hardcore and super judgmental folks on here that call themselves veterans and shame anyone that they see as weak or not conforming to their brand of advice. I encourage you to keep reaching out. This isn’t something I struggle
With right now but I’m very aware of it and am taking precautions because I do not want to become an alcoholic. Thanks for sharing the info. Keep going to your meetings and hang in there! I have seen this discussed maybe on here but maybe elsewhere. Best to you!

You can play with texture during the liquid phase. I just mentioned this in another post, but I grabbed the Protein waters, froze them into ice cubes, threw them into a blender and had a slush. I also used to freeze Premier Protein RTD drinks and ate them kind of like ice cream.
Whenever I got too much into my head and started daydreaming about food, I'd grab something to do. I'd window browse for clothes for when I was skinny and hot. I'd plan a vacation for when I hit goal. I'd do something to focus on the positive impacts to distract myself from running down to the store and sucking the chocolate off a kit kat... LOL

That’s awesome! Congratulations!

Oh gosh no. That stuff feels like you stuffed a chilli up your lady parts!

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**Update!!!

1) Leg cramps are gone! Feeling great again. Loaded up on black Beans & nuts this wknd & they totally went away within 24 hours!?! Wow that was fast!
2)My bariatrics office called me, they got my labs back and they looked good the Dr said! Just a little short on magnesium! So, yes that was the leg cramps. I’m otherwise doing well there. Wheew!
Thank you all!!🙏🏼🙏🏼😍 Jen

I only told my Dad and 2 girls at work to begin with, I told my sisters the Saturday before my Monday surgery and my son somewhere in between them. Now I tell everyone! I chose to do this for me and so far everyone has been very supportive of me. I am very happy that I haven't had to listen to any snide remarks because at this point in my life I would probably tell them to jump off a bridge!
I see so many unhappy people many due to their weight that I want them to know that there are options

It's been awhile since i've posted, but here to give a brief update. I have finally made it to Onederland! I was shocked when I saw the scale with numbers below 200. I am overjoyed though, because it means i'm progressing and that I made the right decision. It hasn't been an easy road, but I can say it's been well worth it. I now have about 31 pounds left to lose, to be at my goal weight. My weight has come off faster than I expected, but I am coping with it pretty well so far. I can say it feels good to be able to fit into a size 12 again (although I don't think I will be in them for long).
RNYGB: 6/25/2018
HW: 297 LBS.
SW: 246 LBS.
CW: 196 LBS.
GW: 165 LBS.

This is quite interesting. I was a nightly drinker before surgery and expected to have major cravings after. I've always been able to quit drinking when I needed to (like when I was pregnant/nursing) but have been a regular drinker most of my life. I've been pleasantly surprised that I haven't experienced much in the way of cravings since the surgery, but honestly, I'm taking way more Vitamins than I ever have before. You may have something there!

"transference" in an interesting notion, but based on my current experience, I've become convinced that there's a brain chemical explanation for my alcohol increase post-bariatric......
First off, let's acknowledge that heredity has a lot to do with addiction. Some of us are just born wired to fall prey to over drinking. Study: If neither of your parents were alcoholics, you have a 1 in 10 chance of developing alcohol issues. If one parent was an alcoholic, your odds move to 1 in 2, and if both parent were alcoholics, your odds move to 4 in 5. ack!! Guess who drew that last lucky straw! AA calls it being born 'allergic' to alcohol.
Second, alcoholism is a scientifically provable brain chemical disorder; not some kind of moral failing or weakness of will-power. Here's a snippet from a great video that really helps explain.

Third: There have been studies which link Vitamin deficiency with an increase in alcohol abuse. I'm describing this study from memory, but it goes something like this: Back in the 50s, they did a study where they placed rats in a cage with a bowl of Water and a bowl of alcohol and then fed them Puppy Chow. About 10% of the rats turned into alcoholics, which is in line with the general US population. Next they re-ran the experiment with a new set of rats, except this time, they extracted all the vitamin nutrients out of the food. About %85 of the rats turned into alcoholics. Finally, the re-ran a third time, but with Puppy Chow mega fortified with Vitamins, specifically B and C. None of the rats turned to the alcohol.
When I read this study - true or not - I was inspired. It made a connection in my head. What is one of the major issues facing post-bariatric patients? Vitamin deficiency. And who hasn't been a very good boy about taking his bariatric vitamins for the last two years.... the exact time frame where my drinking went from the occasional bender, to daily drinking? Me!!
So two weeks ago I started getting really serious about my vitamin intake, including getting B-12 injections every two days.
Wow! what a difference! My craving went from a scream to a whisper. This last 12 days of sobriety has been a piece of cake compared to all my other attempts (none of which lasted more than seven days before giving in to the cravings).
Your milage may vary, but if you are struggling with managing your alcohol cravings, give B12 injections a try. Hopefully it makes the same difference as I've experienced the last two weeks (knock on wood)
I'll keep this post updated and honest.

Hey guys,
This may be a tough subject, but if it can't be discussed on an anonymous forum where we regularly discuss our bowel movements and farts, were else can it be discussed? I've kind of hinted at this in a couple of my previous posts, but four weeks ago, my issues with alcohol had gotten to the point that I finally had no choice but to start attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, as well as various addiction treatment options provided through my health plan. For background on what I'm talking about, see:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/popular-weight-loss-surgery-roux-en-y-gastric-bypass-linked-to-alcohol-problems/
According to some studies, the odds of a post-bariatric patient having alcohol struggles goes up 28%. Wow.
I've done a couple of searches on this board for alcoholism, and come up with basically zilch. Given the increased odds, how can that be? I can't possibly be the only one on here who can directly correlate my increased drinking to the date of my surgery.

I bring this up, mostly because it's what I'm living right now, and I have a lot of information to share and well as unanswered questions. NOTE: I'm 13 days sober since making a few key changes in my Vitamin intake, which has me very excited. Would love to start a discussion and share with anyone out there who is struggling. PM is fine as well.
-ds

I’m 3 1/2 weeks out from sleeve surgery (10/10/18). My nutritionist and diet allow chicken salad with lite mayo and it allows avocado too. Other than the bread I don’t see what’s wrong with what you ate (depending on your nutritionist’s recommendation). I’m glad it went down well! I have tried chicken but it didn’t agree with me. I’ll try again in a few weeks.

I work in a call center so we have to maintain stats. I knew I would not be able to maintain them on the liquid diet so I took a week and a half before my surgery and then four and a half weeks half weeks after for a total of 6 weeks and I started back to work on a Wednesday so I only worked a half of a week and then I had a weekend off and now I am on my first full week back at work.