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Well i lost my way for the past year and need help badly... i will provide the background of my story & why im at a point where i really need help getting back on track. . I had my Gastric sleeve surgery in jan 2013. At the time i had been struggling with multiple autoimmune diseases ( sjnogrens syndrome, SLE or lupus, RA, fibrimyalgia) about 4 months post op my marriage was falling apart & the nasty 27 months of a horrid divorce started. I was doing well til i was diagnosed wirh cervical cancer in march 2014. That is when it really went down hill. sfter treatment i ended up back on more steroids and balooned. .. let me explain why...its a little long sorry. I hope you can follow and someone can help even if its just words of wisdom. i moved to New Mexico in 2007 from Michigan . When i was pregnant with my daughter that year is when i got sick.No one down in those small communities could figure out why! After she was born in nov 2007 i got worse & worse. On a visit back to my hometown in Michigan i fot extremely ill and decided enough was enough & went in to see the dr i had most of my life! After lots of tests he discovered i had multiple auto immune diseases. Upon returning to NM he had set me up with a rhuematologist in Lubbock texas which was 2 hrs away from our home in NM. This dr put me on such high doses of steroids & methotrexate( it looks like yellowgreen toxic waste & is used for cancer trestment as chemo therapy & also used on auto immune patients to eipe out their immune systems) injections that in Dec 2009 i had been hospitalized for weeks and my family had enough and moved me back to michigan. My ( now ex) husband went back and forth as he was a oilfield supervisor for halliburton. After moving back i got a good rhuematologist and internest. i was on 85 mg of prednisone a day at that point & it was killing me. I ballooned over 300pds. After i got pregnant with our son in 2011. Things got really bad weight wise. I was at 380ish at the time of his birth in april 2012. That is when my drs snd i decided gastric sleeve surgery was the only way that i was going to loose weight after several failed diets that they suoervised. Unlnowingly the stress i was under was not going to make things wasy. My son was born with a rare type of spina bifida called lypomeleomeningicle. He had surgery in sept 2012 at 5 months. They found things that they were not expecting when they opened my 5 month old baby up. Long story short we were at U of M for almost 3 weeks. Got home and within 45 min wrre rushing back & he had another 2 week stay. In Nov my body just gave out. I was hospitalized for 3 weeks. My drs said thsts it. Your approved for this surgery. They weened me off the prednisone which i was down to 35 mg a fay at that point. So end of dec 2012 and beginning of january 2013 i did preop. Lost about 38 pounds. I did well post op as well. But then my diseases slowed my healing process & progress had a few hospital stays. In April my marriage had gotten to its boiling point and began the process of one of the ugliest nastiest divorces i could have imagined. But i still was doing better and loosing weight everyday. I was ginalky able to participate in life again with my children etc. Instead of sitting on sidelines or canceling olans because i was sick. In the end of August 2013 i went out eoth some girlfriends ( i was under 300 pds by this time.) And met the most wonderful man. I wasnt looking at all it judt happened. We ended up habing one of those " holy cow what a small world" conversations. And how wed never cross pathsbor met before then was amazing. I was updront about my situstion, disease & gadtric skeeve surgerybupfront. And i wasnt looking to date. But from that night on we were inseperable. By Dec 2013 my divorce was in full swing but my soon to be ex husband was not happy that i was happy ( even though he never had been home even when he had weeks off and stayed 1500 miles away from us. whichbi found out he was having affairs when i decided i wanted a divorce because of a text my daughter whom was 5 at the time showed me. and when he was home he slept the whole time & never wanted to participate with our children or myself. even when i begged) he got a secret bank account & all our joint accts he closed and left me with NO money. Mind u he kept me a stay at home mom. He was very sbusive and controlling. Things were getting worse every day. My grandmother passed on dec 12th which is my oldest sons birthday. It was such a huge loss. In january 2014 i had alot of pain and called my gynocologist. I had a paps and check up in Nov previous and was all clear. They did biopsies. Long story short after 2 round of biopsies on my cervix and uterus. I was diagnosed with the end of stage 1 A cervical cancer. Jeffs ex was also a psycho. They had been divorced for a few years before i met him. He had one child with her.she had began withholding his son because we were dating. She knew many people i did and it got ugly. I was in no shape to handle all of the things thst were entering my life from his ex wife. but i had fallen so in love with him unlike id ever fallen in love with someone before. We ended up breaking up for oh.. a week.lol. and it was one of the hardest weeks in my life when it came to a break up. he still texted and called me daily. But he called begging for me to forgive him at day 8 & we got back together. I needed him. He hadd become my best friend & a huge support system. my divorce had gotten so ugly. My ex cut off the medical flex card i used for myself and the kids for copays on drs visits, medication etc. Mind u our son needed this as much as i did. He also came up unannounced and threw all of my things put. When i came home thst day after picking up kids he called the police and i was told i had to sleep somewhere else while he was home as he has no family etc of his own in michigan. This is when i had no choice but to move in with jeff. which was his idea. Its not how we wanted to do things. But my still husband was becomming increasingly physically , emotionally etc abusive and would show up unnannounced often. But i was fighting cervical cancer. Going through surgery & treatment. I needed almost 24 hr care or someone to be there. As i said things just kept getting worse. my treatment was done by august 2014. I tried working again. But ended up passing out at my job. friend of the court finally ordered child support to be paid to me that Oct. Things escalated to peak after that. Including me finally calling thebpolice after he assaulted me when we were doing kiddo drop off in dec. He fles the state when he foun out i called and filed charges. He decided he didnt want to pay 1800 a month in c.s mind u he was making about 260,000/ a year at thisnpoint. So in feb 2015 he wuit his job. By august 2015. He was behind thousands of dollars. I was in and out of the hospital and my drs snd lawyer felt this divorce would kill me before it was finished if it wasnt over soon. So i settled just to have it done. my kids & i had lost our amazing medical insurance when he quit Halliburton. Jeff and i had gotten engaged. For the first time in my life i was truely happydidnt say yes because i felt obligated because of my kids. ON Dec 16th 2015 my Jeff was at work and dell aprox 37 1/2 feet at work. His back explodednon impact as well as his spinal sac holding his spinal cord. It was by far the biggest trama of my life. So here is where i am worh my post op that i need help with. In feb 2015 i got shingles again asbi fo almost every year at that time. But i needed to be back on prednisone and lots of it for about 4 months. And have been on & off it til january this year. Between the steroids, stress etc i ate bad as well. but also stopped eating toom so when i did eat it was something fast. Especially since jeffs fall. Between taking care of him bow, my kids, my sons special needs which hes facing 2 surgeries one next month. My body breaking down. The fact i havent seen my surgeon for my sleeve since my ex quit his job snd we lodt thst medical insurance. I had gotten down to 170 pds. I began my sleeve preop journey at 396 pds. So that is 226 pounds and i felt i had reached my goal. But a month later is when the steroids started again and the climax of my divorce and then jeffs accident. Jeff and i did get married in january. Its not whst we had olanned. We had a wedding olanned, dress bought etc for October 1 2016. But for legal reasons etc and the fact i had almost lost the love of my life we decided to get married on jan 15th. So i know this is a long post and basically i laid my life out for all to see. But i need help. Im back to 240 pds. Jeff is also going on the diet with me. We began today. I don't have my diet book that i got when i had the surgery. If anyone has a copy of one they could maybe email me if love one. My husband has gained weight but has alot of muscle atrophy. Can anyone give any advice how i can get back on track. I know mh stomach didnt stretch out huge as it still only allows me to eat so much and i get full very fast. Im off the prednisone. But have been put on a new short term steroid. And i am not sure ifnit will hinder my diet. But weather it does or not i need to get back to my lifestyle. Yes it was a life style chsnge for me. Thank you for taking the time to read or give advice in advance. Again so sorry for the long post and kinda vent session. Lord knows i have alot to vent these days. Lol. Mrs.Krish Sent from my SM-G900P using the BariatricPal App

Yay you and yes sleeve due to autoimmune disease here too. Congratulations!! I'm getting sleeved Monday!!

I'm so sorry you've been diagnosed with shingles! They are agonizing, but hopefully you will recover from them soon. I had shingles a few years ago, during one of the calmer, less stressful times of my 20s, before becoming obese or having weight loss surgery. I have autoimmune issues that made me more susceptible, but another contributing factor was having a severe vitamin D deficiency. Many people are deficient in vitamin D, and it's even more common in those who are overweight due to how the body stores this vitamin. I definitely recommend that everyone have their levels checked and treat the issue if necessary before undergoing WLS or anything else that could be stressful. A new vaccine with a fantastic rate of efficacy has been developed, but most insurance companies will only cover it if you're older. It's possible they'd be willing to provide the coverage if your doctor could argue that you have an underlying condition that would put you more at risk. The vaccine that is currently available isn't as effective, though it does still help. My dad had shingles last November on his eye, and his doctors said it could have been severely damaging. He'd had the old vaccine, and though it didn't prevent shingles, it greatly diminished the severity of it. I hadn't realized I had shingles until the blisters had erupted, and started the antivirals late. Ice packs helped reduce the pain and itchiness a lot. I also got a cream from Whole Foods that was pricy but worth it for how it helped. I actually still have it in our medicine cabinet and can get the name when I'm home tonight if you think it might be of use.

Hello, Everything you have said sounds similar to my story. I have learned so much here on the forum from all the posters. I also had my mind set on only the Lap-Band, but after reading all the information on here, and finding out that I had an autoimmune disorder, my plans are to have the Sleeve. I found out that sometimes problems arise from having a foriegn object in your body such as the band, if you have an autoimmune disorder. I don't understand how the staples are any different, but I have not been told about any problems which might occur with them. I had surgery on my knee last year and the knee replacement involved having a metal device put in my knee and it has done ok so far, but at the time I was not aware that I had an autoimmune disorder. Also the other thing I did not like hearing about the band was the need to have to go back all the time to be stuck in the port for any adjustments. It sounded like there would be alot of aftercare. That right there was enough to change my mind to have a VSG instead of a Band. I wish you the best on your upcoming surgery.

By BMI I most likely qualified for bypass, however, I recently had some autoimmune issues and was put on Prednisone. With bypass prednisone is not allowed ever so I ended up with the sleeve.

I had my band placed in 2005. In 2009 i was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis which is an autoimmune disease. I have never been able to get my thyroid regulated completely. Finally a month ago I saw an endocrinologist who told me that the band was probably causing absorption issues. I am having my band removed next month.

@@TammyDTM hi there..I still take plaquinil. I have only used the pred maybe less then 2 wks in the last 11 months (if my memory is correct) I have been scared to take it bc of the weight issue. thats just me. so I use alternative methods of pain management. the plaquinil helps termendously. Im no hurry to stop it bc I went thru a few months recently (within 4 months) that I was doing well to remember to get my second dose in. I was only getting 1 in its 200mg and man I was in soo much pain I couldnt hardly move got like the tin man! I thought geezzz I am in a bad flair! well it was bc I was only getting in half of my dose. I had to put them both out where I could see what I needed to take thru the day and I started feeling much better! I also changed from pill form on the D3 to organic liquid it has made a TOTAL differance! my swallowing solids is getting harder and harder. but the liquid is doing so much better. Iv been on pill form D for yrs but there was too many fillers and it wasnt affective..now its doing wonders! I stopped the pill form magnesium those are horse pills lol! they were impossible to swallow! I ordered pure magnesium oil and spray that on my muscles or feet or where ever and OMGoodness! what a differance! I have soo much more stamina energy yet at the same time I still pace myself...I do get really fatigued on exertion and I mean when I have my really good days I go and go and go and then I it hits me I have to recover. thats just the life of autoimmune..ugh..but over all I feel the best now despite some of the diseases. I feel more in remission now or milder in symptoms then I have in 15 yrs! I do keep pred and robaxin (muscle relaxer) on hand for emergency if I get desperate but I haven't used them. I see my kinesiologist 2 to 3 x a month get a message the same day total diet change organic as much as possible and grass fed meats if all possible. I have stopped my nexium few months back only need a rolaids occassionally I took nexium for yrs! I do take folic acid and biotin there really tiny so I can swallow them pill form still. I do take armour thyroid I will for life. I am glad you found me! this has been the decision I ever did (except for breast reduction 15 yrs ago) lol...your on the right road. but I believe some things can be controlled with the right foods and I mean by eating a non flammatory diet. night shade veggies promote inflammation as well. google. when you get to the point where you have more options of foods and can tolerate you will be able to see a differance. I am 8 months PO and my treat has been a piece of the 70% organic chocolate with coconut. thats my thing. I break off a square which is tiny and Im good! I have lost consistantly 1.5 to 3 pds a wk...you do have something to look forward to! although us lupies are at differant disease degrees. I do have kidney involvment , and several other organ issues but Im stable and really feeling so much better and I know the plaquinil is helping. I dont care to stay on it. but my meds have went down indeed! taking more then alternative route now days as much as possible. hang in there!!

I posted on another forum on this site a few days ago. I was trying to get a support group together for RA and other autoimmune disorders. I'm pre-op and am very happy to see that you seem to be doing better post-op. I typically take about 1800mg of ibuprofen daily (I know, I know), and it terrifies me how disabled I might become if I can't take NSAIDs post-op. Any advice, encouragement will be greatly appreciated. I have decided to have faith that as my obesity decreases, my inflammatory levels will decrease, and my hands and feet will not be as swollen and painful.

I have fibro as well. Aquacize is a great work out for anyone with an autoimmune disease.

Cyndi, Hope you are feeling much better! I am feeling much better but am very sluggish still. Saw surgeon and he says that is normal and will feel better soon. I'm autoimmune, so it took a tole on my body. Still have terrible acid-reflux. Hoping that will go eventually. Sorry to hear you had issues as well. Just hang in there! :-) Good luck and let me know you're doing. Thank God I'm not the only one! Not that I'd want anyone else to have this issue. It's just that I felt, "of course I'd be the only one!" lol I had surgery last Wednesday, with complications, came home Saturday. Woohoo! :-) And now I am starving! Jello hits like a rock! As does water. So no help there. Hoping it will subside soon. :-)

Considering there are a multitude of thyroid disorders, without a specific confirmed medical diagnosis, it would be impossible to offer an opinion as to how WLS could affect your prognosis. As someone who has dealt with the extreme swing from stroke-level hyperthyroidism cause by the autoimmune disorder of Grave's Disease to a partial thyroidectomy during the early weeks of an unknown pregnancy which placed addition stress on my remaining thyroid causing the destruction of all thyroid function; I have run the gambit of thyroid crisis scenarios including a couple of life threatening emergencies with myxedema comas. I am closely monitored by a team of endocrinologists who specialize in unique cases. How WLS could affect your particular thyroid issue would be best answered by an endocrinologist who specialize in thyroid disorders. As far as my 40 years of experience dealing with the thyroid roller coaster, my tsh, uptake, t3 levels and thyroid medication dosage were never affected by my weight. Good luck to you!

Can you- anyone please answer? ... or tell me where I can find the answer? I've searched & looked & SEARCHED. I get different answers. 1) What causes band erosion? Does anyone really know? Is it related to immune tolerance? 2) Why is there a contraindication for : You or someone in your family has an autoimmune connective tissue disease.... The same is true if you have symptoms of one of these diseases. (this taken from the inamed site: http://www.allerganandinamed.com/products/obesity/us/patient/lapband/risk.html Thank you to anyone who replies. Feel free to PM or email at evanesce@rcn.com Amy

My surgeon required an upper endoscopy both for the imagery and pathology it provided as well as the h pylori test. I also did a breath test for h pylori. FWIW - my endoscopy revealed I had celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that I'm now treating while recovering from sleeve surgery. So the endoscopy was hugely important to me.

I am not sure the surgery is going to help my metabolism, but I am hoping that if I can get some pounds off, I will have more energy. My energy levels are so low given my age (42). Also, I found out only in the past year (after having it for 10 years) that I have Hashimoto's. It's an autoimmune thyroid disease. Most long-term hypothyroidism is Hashimoto's. In any case, I've been trying to give up gluten and when they removed my stomach, part of what they removed was irritated. I am thinking it was gluten damage. My former endocrinologist did not think telling me I had Hashimoto's was significant because to him it was synonymous with hypothyroidism. However, my primary care physician said that in many auto-immune disorders, giving up gluten and possibly dairy and sugar improve the condition. I knew I would not be able to give up dairy, especially now. They say you can drink soy milk, but it's not as much Protein. Prior to surgery, when after many months of not eating gluten, I would have something (pasta, etc), I DID notice that it made me crampy and I was more prone to diarrhea. But, giving up gluten did not help with my energy and that has been the main thing bugging me.

I'm currently on a medication that I take with a subcutaneous injection which I self administer. It's a biologic for autoimmune conditions (not sure if anyone is familiar with Humira). I know some diabetes medications are similarly taken. Basically you stick a needle into that fatty tissue under your skin. I usually take it around my midsection (hips, lower stomach). However, lately I am struggling because I've got more loose skin and the fat isn't packed in tightly anymore. It's been super painful lately. Tonight I really messed up my injection though. I've basically injected it under my skin, I can see a little bubble under the skin. Not sure how it will absorb or what will happen (will see doctor tomorrow). I'm just wondering if anyone has a better solution. My stomach is messed up from weight loss. I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips or suggestions for future injections. Is there some fat grabbing technique I'm not aware of? Should I find another area to stick the needle (I have a flat bum and similar loose skin issues on my thighs). It's not common to have this much loose skin and I'm honestly not sure what to do.

I have a few autoimmune diseases as well as gastroparesis. I was told before my surgery that I would get better if I proceeded. Since, I am unable to eat or drink anything without vomiting. I've now learned from one doctor that I should have NEVER had the surgery with my gastroparesis. Anyone else with gastroparesis? How are you able to manage your symptoms? Sent from my LGMS550 using the BariatricPal App

I had gastric sleeve oct 29 2014 and still have about 50 pds to loose. I have an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and weakness in muscles. Anyway had a bad flare up and have been on 40 mg of prednisone for past month. I haven't gained any weight according to scale but I can tell in my clothes I have gained ... Very discouraged. I am praying that when I get off prednisone it will help. Has anyone experienced this ? Thanks Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Yes I ate most of the bread Pn the sub. I am making good choices nothing fried or too high in carbs. My doctor did testing and said everything was normal. My only vice would be pizza and I had one piece last week but could have eaten more that. I limit myself on calories and even if I am hungry dont eat most days. I tell myself this is a tool and I can't be crazy about it. So I write out my calories daily with a food journal. If I have enough calories to eat a slice and it is around I have it. I don't have pizza in my house often and cook 95% of the time so this will work for me. If I was around it more I could see it as my down fall and asked my family to not bring it home. I am short 5 foot 2. So I assumed my sleeve would be short. I also am a type 1 diabetic and have a few other auto immune disorders. I am wondering if that matters. My doctor have done thousands of sleeves but has never had a patient who is a type 1 diabetic and had all my autoimmune issues. I just wonder if that us somehow playing a role in my sleeve if steel. It just seems too good to be true so I am trying to be careful.

first be warned this is detailed and graphic..... so through out this my surgery date was 12/17/12 and with all the complications have had the flu, have had flare ups of my autoimmune disorder and now a severe infection in my jp tube where I such a high fever was projectile vomiting, foamies, because there is nothing in my pouch every 5 min and lethargic , sorry for being so graphic, so I could not eat or drink anything in my plan everything was too rich , well after god love my pcp finally gives me a suppository for nausea and sleep , I broke the rules yes yes I know but I became desperate... it is the only thing I knew from before that might work crackers and ginger ale. I'm not speaking bags of crackers and bottles , just a few here and there and a few sips, than worked up to broccoli cheese Soup and toast, and diffrent teas , tried a chicken veg soup and came back up chicken is a no no for my poor pouch right now even chicken stock!! so my question to you guys what do you do on your sick days? have you gone to "old" measures and if not how do you cope? the first time I just did Water and lemon and teas that did not help calm things as fast as the crackers and ginger ale and teas and this was day two and three but I am open to suggestions thanks everyone Cyn-shakiraa-*12/17/12*Sent from my mobile Rnytalk.

3 years out and I still have plenty of no-gos, however I have turned that to my advantage and whenever I feel that I am eating a little too wontonly, I eat a sticker food . Potato anything is a losing bet, more than a single bite and it's like feeding white rice to a pidgeon Dense greens in a salad are wonderful, but I can only eat 4 bites before having to stop for at least 30 minutes. It has been known to take me 6 hours to finish a nutritious salad :/ And during that time it just sits in my chest, ummph. As for queasies/slimes, eggs are a real gamble, sometimes they slide right down delicious and nutritious, other times the mere smell has my mouth watering in the bad way. Hot dogs are my favorite junk food but more than 2 bites and I'm courting danger, painful embarrassing, slimy danger. And hamburger patties are a great source of protein, delicious, but one bite and it's sitting in my chest the rest of the night. I have had beautiful organic delicious cheeseburgers take me 36 hours to finish! My workaround for that is to make cheeseburger salad, but alas, see above regarding dense greens. With my new autoimmune protocol diet I'm adhering to right now, the big issue of course are the greens.

Hi all, I've been lurking for some months, and want to share how I came to my decision to have VSG surgery. My life the last few months has been pretty awful, but it did make my decision to get VSG a no brainer. April 26th of this year, three days after my 35th birth day, I was the sickest I have ever been. It had been going on for about a week and I just thought I had food poisoning. I was nauseous, vomiting, and had really bad headaches. I was so sick that I decided to skip crossfit that week. I had recently started again, and I LOVE it. I decided to tough it out, and went into work. Later on in the day, I was just finishing up with a meeting in my manager's office when I noticed a REALLY strong ammonia smell. It was like someone had opened a bottle right in front of me. I leave the meeting in my manager's office, take a deep breath, and lo and behold I'm the source of ammonia. I'm a scientist, so I immediately knew it was my kidneys. I rushed home to let my dogs out, and drove myself to the hospital. I didn't really know what to think about how long I'd be there, but I told my mom who flew in the next morning to make sure I was ok. I'll save a lot of the drama (there was a lot). Funny story, they admitted me into the ICU and assured me I WAS NOT dying. I was. My BP at one point was 227/160, so I'm very lucky I didn't have a stroke. I still can't believe they tried to assure me I wasn't dying. I guess they were being nice. After days of trying to figure out why I went from perfectly healthy (other than being a professional fat girl) to nearly in the ground, they diagnosed me with an ultrarare autoimmune disorder called atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. I had never heard of this. My mom had never heard of this, and I had to be moved to a different hospital for them to treat me accordingly. Atypical HUS is a disorder that can attack any major organ system, but its favorite target are the kidneys. Before 2011, the treatment was very unsafe plasma exchanges. Now there's a new drug that shows a lot of promise. So I lost my kidneys this summer. I have been on dialysis since May. I won't go into all the psychological stuff that accompanies being on dialysis or having kidney failure, but I no longer have to go in center. That is a blessing. I am able to do it at home. So I was 35. Always fat. Still healthy and active, and then this happens. Now I'm faced with the possibility that one day I'll need a kidney. Well, my BMI disqualifies me from being listed for a transplant. I had a friend come to visit me earlier this summer and she was having the sleeve, and trying to convince me to do it. I'm stubborn. I've always wanted to do everything on my own and have done everything on my own, so I resisted when she said I should get it. My plan was to start crossfit again and just do that. Well even doing crossfit 3x a week, I don't lose a ton of weight, I easily put on muscle though and saw my body contours change. I'm already one of the stronger females in my gym. But once this happened, and I wanted to get my life back, I decided that the best insurance would be for me to get the sleeve. My nephrologists are all supportive and very behind me. So I just wanted to share what happened. I have stories about being in the hospital for nearly a month. Once nurse was convinced I was there with malignant hypertension (she didn't read my chart and I have never had high BP before this) and therefore a diabetic, and tried to give me insulin. This was my first night out of the ICU and I was on a lot of pain killers, and I still managed to set her straight. So don't let people tell you fat shaming in health care doesn't exist. She was the exception, and my doctors never brought up my weight except in the context of a transplant which I thought was fair game. They've all been really really great. I might be off dialysis soon, things are looking up and my kidneys seem to be recovering in their own time. I have a lot of emotions about what's left to come this year, but I'm excited. I may never need a new kidney, but I think I made the right choice in deciding to have the surgery. I'll post more as December approaches. This is a great forum with great people, and I'm glad I'm apart of this community now. -Broove

Hello Everyone! I started my journey to get the gastric sleeve. I have to do 4 months of classes. My questions is I have RA and fibro and scared of the possible complications due to my conditions has anyone had any complications and not able to take meds? I'm on a fb support group and get freaked out. I was sure this is what I wanted until I started reading some of the complains. Horrible acid reflux, nausea,vomiting, losing teeth and so on. So I'm a bit freaked out at the moment. Lol, any info from anyone with a autoimmune disease will be helpful. Thanks everyone!

Get some gas x Jenni. I am 10 days out and I'm still suffering gas pains. Not all surgeries are a like and not all bodies are a like. I have no problem admitting, this has been extremely hard on me. I still hurt horribly. The gas pains are hard on me, I can barely stand anything chewable (like the vitamins) I can drink Water all day long, but the Protein shakes cause pain. I had a 5 hour surgery with complications. That's my reality, it's not everyones though. Do what you think you can and don't base what you can do on others or it will drive you crazy. I lost 70 pounds before surgery during the 6 month pre-approval period. Day of surgery i weighted 229 - I came home at 235 - I am now 224.6. That's not a huge loss, but I know in the end - when I'm healed, I will excel and I will do a great job. Having an autoimmune disorder Lupus and neurological issues (brain tumor) i'm not going to heal as fast as others, and I can get down about it, but I'm not going to. Make sure you keep taking the gas x and watch any gassy producing Soups (a few teaspoons of broccoli cheddar Soup with no broccoli pieces caused me serious tears and I swear I felt like I was having a heart attack). I walked a few hours a day and still have gas issues. I honestly thought I was going to breeze through this surgery because I'm a pretty tough cookie, but it's just a set back. I got my drain out yesterday and my pain was cut in 1/2. The drain was up against my diaphragm and causing breathing difficulties. I'm still coughing a bit, but that's getting better now too. I am so happy that so many are doing good so soon. I don't feel jealous, I just figure it's my lot, and I can take it, and in the end it will equal out.

I have had lupus for over 30 years. I am over 50 years old and I am considered high risk. My surgery went well and I am losing weight. I was wondering if anyone here has lupus or any other autoimmune disease to deal with while going through this sleeve process. How are you doing with taking your medications and dealing with the fatigue and pain that comes along with the disease? I have never had trouble with my meds until after the surgery (Feb 25, 2015). I always took my bedtime meds on an empty stomach, but find that now, I must have a few bites of food or some thick Protein drink on my stomach before I take them or my stomach hurts and spasms all night. I am wondering how someone who is maybe a year or so out from surgery is feeling now and have your lupus symptoms lessened.

Holy crap judgmental much? I was never an overeater and have had on and off bad head hunger. I gained weight because of various psych meds and autoimmune disease. Sounds like you need to get your judgmental ass into therapy more than the rest of us.