ouroborous

For all who responded: fortunately, this has passed. I guess it was just my body being a little shocked at the utter change in diet!

Thanks for the responses! So it sounds like there is a bit of cold sensitivity, especially at first. That might make things a bit more challenging for me; I can drink lots of Water -- if it's cold. I really like the Protein shakes -- if they're cold. Oh well, I'm sure I'll survive!

Hey all you sleeve veterans, I have a question. Is there any problem with drinking cold liquids after the sleeve? I really like my beverages ice cold, for the most part, and I was wondering if there is any temperature sensitivity after the op.

That was timely. Just as I was starting to get cold feet and think "eek, less than two weeks, am I doing the right thing?" I see that... Thank you!

Well, I'm going to be 40 in June. Does that mean it's too late to feel alive?

Yeesh... you did much better than I'm doing. I'm sticking with my 40g or less of carb, but even that is hard, and I'm not having to count calories or anything else. I can't figure out what's up with me; I don't know if it's dehydration or I have a mild bug of some kind or maybe allergies. I've been feeling low-grade ick for a little while now, and actually it pre-dated my low carb diet. It's probably allergies (I get allergies which trigger sinus infections... I'm a mess!)

Indeed! Not breathing is a major drag.

By depleting the free blood sugar (which eating a low-carb diet does), you force the body to burn glycogen from your liver to keep you going. Glycogen is stored bound to a lot of water; going low-carb causes your liver to shrink and become less "slippery" through, essentially, dehydrating it. This is very, very important before your surgery, so you must follow your doctor's advice to the letter. It may be hard, but it's only for two weeks, right? You really do NOT want surgical complications (or, god forbid, liver damage) due to not following instructions. If you're unwilling to follow the pre-op diet, you might want to reconsider the surgery. It might be difficult for you to live with how restricted your diet will be post-op.

Interesting responses, thanks for sharing that! I think that my tie to food has never been as emotional as most. I DO, sometimes, eat to soothe myself emotionally, but it's usually due to anxiety, and my anxiety is almost ALL body-centered. In other words, my anxiety is based upon feelings of impending death or sickness. I'm hoping that losing the weight will make a lot of that go away so that I don't NEED to soothe the anxiety with food. Other than that, I don't really have an emotional connection to food. I definitely overeat (or I wouldn't be obese), and I definitely eat too fast, but I rarely care too much about food on an emotional level. As long as it's not something that repulses me, I don't really care much what I'm eating or WHEN I'm eating; my girlfriend has commented that in some ways I'm like a camel: I can eat a VAST quantity of food and then go without for many hours. And yes, I know that that will have to change after surgery. So, I suspect that my depression will improve after surgery, since my main reason for anxiety (fear that I'm going to die unexpectedly due to some hidden illness, usually exacerbated by obesity) will be gone. Also, sleep is so important, and I know for a fact that almost all of my actual depression was intimately tied to my sleep. Thanks again for sharing.

Well technically hypoglycemia is below 75 mg/dl of fasting sugar. Mine was 85 at its lowest last night. However, I tend to run around 105-110 mg/dl, so maybe it was just the relative levels? I really think dehydration might be more likely, though, since when I went for my final appointment before surgery today (*gulp*) the doctor said that my blood work showed that I might be a little dehydrated. I thought I was drinking enough Fluid, between my Water and Crystal Lite and diet soda, but I'll try to drink more...

During normal procedures, it's uncommon to lose much if any blood, but it's definitely a good idea to think these things through beforehand!

Congratulations on your success, brother! I notice that you're still doing the "baggy black T-shirt." I betcha that if you wore something that was a bit more tailored to your new, slimmer physique, the change would even be more apparent, but I can definitely see it in your arms and face and the fact that you don't have anywhere near as much visible abdominal fat. In short, you're looking good! I hope that my results are anywhere near as good as yours!

New stage of joy: a PROFUSELY runny nose.

I'm skeptical of the blood sugar idea (even though I was thinking that too) because my blood sugar per my home test unit was still within "normal" range (95 mg/dl, normally I range about 100-110 mg/dl between meals). Still, I don't seem to be passing out or anything, and I've consumed like 32 oz of Water in an hour, so I'll try not to stress out.

Thanks... I've been trying to pound as much water as I can tonight, to make up for any possible dehydration.

Hey folks, I was wondering if anyone else had odd experiences when doing a low carb pre-op diet? I've been on the diet for two days now. Aside from a little hunger, it's felt okay. However, I've been noticing that when I stand up after sitting down for a while, I tend to get kinda woozy and dizzy. Some times I hear my pulse pounding in my ears for a minute or so. I'm not diabetic but I'm wondering if I'm hypoglycemic or have low blood pressure or something -- if that's normal for the low carb diet. I checked my blood sugar with a home monitor, and it was 95mg/dl which from what I understand is still fairly normal (if not even a tad high) for 2 hours after a mean. Also apparently the low carb diet can dehydrate you, and I'm not sure I've been drinking enough Water. Apparently one symptom of dehydration is dizziness. I didn't really consider this because I haven't felt thirsty, and my urine is normal color. Anyone got any thoughts? I don't want to go rushing off to the doc for something that's normal and minor.

Well, I'm now officially two weeks out from surgery. I've been on the low carb diet for a couple days now, and it's going pretty smoothly. I didn't feel like I was the kind of guy who needed lots of sweets, but I have to say that the (zero carb) Crystal Lite is really helping me not obsess over things like the (low calorie, but still high carb) desserts in the fridge. I wonder if this pre-op diet will affect my weight? I'm not counting on it, but I wouldn't mind! On the plus side, due to figuring out some issues with my CPAP, my sleep has been a little better for a couple nights running. That's nice!

Well, FWIK about melatonin, it's sometimes used to treat anxiety, not supposed to cause it. I suspect that your anxiety about the surgery is just good old fashioned, normal human fear. Everyone receives solace differently. For me, I did a LOT of research about the lap sleeve surgery, to the point where both the surgeon and nutritionist commented on my level of knowledge. I even emailed my surgeon a link to the five year studies that just came out. The point is that by educating myself about all of the alternatives, and by looking at the real success rates of people trying to drop weight and keep it off the "old fashioned way" (which are not good), I came to the following conclusions: 1. Obesity is a killer. It will shorten your lifespan as much as a pack a day smoking habit will. Not only that, but it will make your quality of life -- which is, in some ways, more important than your quantity of life -- horrible. 2. Almost nobody is successful at losing weight through diet and exercise and keeping it off long term. Everyone knows someone who is able to drop a tremendous amount of weight -- if that weren't the case, then shows like The Biggest Loser wouldn't exist. But KEEPING the weight off that way is very, very rare -- like 1 in 20 people are successful at it. 3. The lap sleeve SEEMS to have the most successful, healthy, and (importantly) DURABLE weight loss results around. There might be a better option in ten years, but in ten years who knows how much damage obesity will do to your body? 4. The lap sleeve, despite the fact that it is invasive, seems to have relatively mild and minor complications rates; the death rate from lap sleeve (about 0.1%, or one in one thousand) is far lower than the long-term mortality rate from obesity (which is, IIRC, about 50% per decade... so 1 in 2 chance of dying from obesity vs. 1 in 1000 chance of dying from lap sleeve). Your husband is right in one respect; you probably shouldn't rush the surgery. If you still really aren't sure, I personally don't think it's a good idea to rush into it. Don't delay it just because you're anxious about the surgery -- the surgery is a big deal, and you WILL be anxious, regardless. But that's different from real doubts and misgivings; THOSE you really should process before rushing into it. For me, I pushed my surgery date out almost a month from what it could have been, to give me time to make sure I was making the right choice. So, while I'm not as good at emotional support as Tiffykins is, I like to think that I come armed with all the facts and figures that show why, for me, at least, the lap sleeve is the only rational choice to make. I know I'll be anxious as my surgery date draws near; that's normal, and they have wonderful drugs for that! But from the perspective of "is this the right choice?" I've made my peace -- it is, absolutely, the right thing to do, for me. I hope there's some help for you in there somewhere!

Start here: Weight Loss - Diet Ticker

I'm grateful that I shave my head!

Thank you for saying that. I get SO frustrated at people who treat weight loss as a moral issue; showing people that weight loss surgery is (as you say) a great tool, and nothing to be ashamed of, is very important! Everyone at my work knows that I'm scheduled for weight loss surgery on May 6th. My immediate team even knows what KIND of surgery. So far everyone has been from neutral to very supportive.

I think you don't even have to act upon it to want the attention. I'm happily involved, and I wouldn't mind it if gals were willing to chat and flirt with me. It won't go anywhere, but it would be such a tremendous boost to my self-esteem to no longer be the "smart, funny fat guy" that women like to chat with, but who never makes their hearts go pitter patter (etc.)

Actually, there's one more Seattle sleever: my girlfriend, who was sleeved in November and is doing great (she says it was the best choice she's ever made) and doesn't post on this board. We live in North Seattle, just south of the border with Shoreline. Over in the Northgate/Wallingford area.

I can't say this enough: the best thing in the world to help you get to sleep, and stay asleep, is regular, vigorous exercise. Not right before bed, and it's not a 100% cure-all, but in general exercise is the BEST thing for sleep.

Well, ok, this isn't really a list of demands. Rather, it's a list of complaints. I wanted to list all of my complaints and issues BEFORE surgery that I think that losing the weight might improve. This will sound like whining -- so if that annoys you, skip this post. But it's not, really. My memory is poor (a complaint!), so I wanted to have a concrete list to look back on after the surgery and after I lose the weight, and see how far I've come. My sleep is almost ALWAYS poor. It's the rare exception when I sleep deeply, with dreams, through the night. Usually I'm struggling with my CPAP mask, or pressure. Or, I'm dealing with cramps and aches and pains from being so heavy -- just lying on my side for too long makes my shoulder ache from my own weight. As a result of this, I'm always tired and use too much caffeine. I always have some sort of aches and pains. Whether it's the shoulder I just mentioned, or my back, or (lately, worryingly) my knees, or my elbows. Or, I have a headache, or muscle cramps, or whatever. I know that some of this is just "getting older," but I also know that being obese is a big, big part of it (pun semi-intended). My sex-life is almost nonexistent. My partner is very patient with me, but it's still a source of some friction. I have almost no libido, and the few times that I do, I rarely have the energy to DO anything about it. My skin is very poor. I get constant rashes and dermatitis. This is very embarrassing, and it's one more thing that I use prescription medication to control. A portion of this is genetic, but it is modulated by bodily stress, and obesity (with its constant low-grade inflammation state) is a major bodily stress. I feel like I complain too much, but the reality is that I DO have a lot of physical complaints. I don't like being a "complainer" -- I'm hoping that losing weight and getting healthier will result in having less to complain about! I struggle a lot with anxiety. I chalk this up to exhaustion (see my first point) and my excessive caffeine use. I have very poor body self-esteem. I tend to avoid social situations because I am nervous about being so obese and having people mock or insult me for it. A portion of this is just stuff I'll have to work through, but not being obese will help me to not have to worry so much about it! I have low energy -- I rarely have the energy to go do "fun" stuff with my girlfriend, so weekends are just sitting around at home. It seems to me like I get sick a lot considering that I'm still relatively young and in relatively good health (aside from my obesity). There are all sorts of things I either can't do (skydiving) or don't feel safe doing (bicycling, kayaking) due to my weight and size. I have to wear giant, ill-fitting clothes to either hide or accomodate my flab. It's just a matter of time before I develop serious health problems, at this weight, and that knowledge at the back of my mind makes me anxious. My memory is very poor. I forget names and facts and figures very quickly. It's embarrassing and further limits me socially. Er... wait. Did I mention this already?