Rootman

Yep, what he said. Age has EVERYTHING to do with it, and if, like me, you're a low producer from the start it gets WORSE with age. I'm 50 and will probably have to take it the rest of my life.

Sorry, I could not take the time to read all the preceding posts, so I hope I am in line with what they are saying. SHE IS NUTS! You are doing fine, perhaps a little slower than some but IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION NONE THE LESS. Keep at it and keep losing, it's not a race, it's a lifestyle.

We ALL feel this way. I am one year out today and it scares the living sh*t outta me that I will gain it back. I feel guilty eating most anything and really have to step back take a look and tell myself YOU'RE EATING HEALTHY, THE RIGHT PORTIONS AND YOUR WEIGHT IS STABLE, I look in the mirror and acknowledge that I am THIN and don't look at the little bit of sag and flap I have. It WORKED and I SUCCEEDED and I WILL stay this way.

I have NEVER been able to do this and STILL drink a lot with each meal. I DO eat only measured portions and don't (usually :blush2: ) eat more than that regardless of drinks or NO drinks. With my constant battle with kidney stones I absolutely positively need to drink a LOT and NOT doing so during a meal just isn't practical. See my ticker for the results I've had WITH drinking at each meal since about 1 month post-op.

The previous posts are chocked full of good ideas, I would also suggest adding mild exercise to list. Walking and some slow stretching along with your Tylenol and hating pad (perhaps alternating with ice packs?) should help ease the pain. It MAY be that you are experiencing some irritation of the nerves running through the abdomen due to the CO2 they pumped you with during the surgery, this usually lasts only a few days to the unusual maximum of a few weeks though. I try NOT to be pedantic but here's the lowdown on the gas: "Gas pains" are sometimes attributed to the CO2 gas being present in the abdomen but this is NOT the case, most all the gas is sucked out afterwards and what is left is adsorbed back into the body within hours, the irritation from the gas being there during the operation and the stretching of the abdomen can linger as "gas pains" though. It sometimes can even seem to radiate from the shoulder or even the elbow, sometimes the neck and back are affected too. Since this is not "real" pain the only remedy is to wait it out.

The clothes thing is a bear too. I'm in my 3rd and 4th sets of clothes post op. I try not to buy a lot but instead of the dumpy old fat guy, now I'm a lean trim guy who looks good in so many outfits. Size is still an issue, but not "finding the 3X" - I seem to be a medium and half in tops - which doesn't exist. A medium fits me in the chest but the sleeves and body are always too short and finding a medium - tall is pret' near impossible. Again about the cold: for the first time in my LIFE I am wearing long sleeves by CHOICE. I was a short sleeve guy 365 day s a year. Even wearing a jacket in all but the coldest bitterest weather was optional - not any more! "Layers" is the new ME!

We eat out a lot, last Friday we split an entree and took half home and split the half again for a total of 4 meals off ONE entree. We are saving a bundle on restaurant bills!

I think it definatly deserves a call, after all if you paid cash then the hospital is double dipping. Do they say you still "owe" anything to the provider as a copay or part of a deductable? The provider may come back at YOU and triple dip the payment.

I too am cold and as I've discussed before I started feeling so IMMEDIATLY after surgery. I went from walking around San Diego in 60 degree weather wearing shorts sweating beads to waking up post surgery shivering, so it's from something other than just fat loss. This summer was brutally hot for weeks on end and I literally had to stop and think "Yeah it IS hot" whereas prior to WLS I was hot in virtually ANY temp, I used to actually LOVE to get cold occasionally. One issue I've have post op that I really hate is the consistant issues with kidney stones due to reduced Water intake immediatly post-op, unfortunatly I've had to go from drinking LOTS of water to drinking a rediculous amount of water just to prevent them. I have to urinate so often it's really annoying, especially getting up to go 2 or 3 times each night, my old issue of constipation is back with a vengance too, for some reason I just seem to pass most of the Fluid rather than adsorb it.

I had exactly opposite, my eczema started to clear right up and my skin is better than it has been in ages. The hormone release theory is certainly plausible but seem the derm. to make sure and get some relief if possible.

TLDR; Self pay in MX, took a few weeks from my first online inquiry to the surgery. DETAILS: I could of waited for insurance but did not want to wait - I had a LOT of bariatric attributed issues. Someone here in my office took 8 months to get approved then operated on and they would NOT do the sleeve, she had a bypass.

Yep Sunny the first one is rough, I had my surgery right AFTER Thanksgiving 2010 and had more time to acclimate. While I still ate too much this year 2011, the "too much" I ate was no where near what a normal portion should of been for me prior, let alone the mounds of food I used to shove in my pie hole. Remember, the sleeve is more like getting a divorce than a death. Good ol' food is still around but you now have to just be "friends" instead of intimate lovers the way we all were before. Go ahead an morn but just keep in mind the benefits you are reaping and the fact that NEXT year you'll be able to indulge just a tad more.

I am jealous, getting under 200 pounds might not be in the cards for me. Most guess my weight at about 180 as I am tall and lanky now but the scale knows the truth and I would just like to hop on one morning and get the same surprise you did. Congrats!

Once you hit the place that you no longer tire during walking adding more is just burning more calories, so my suggestion is to just keep going. If anything, set a TIME limit for yourself and walk the amount you can in that time. At first I swam X number of laps and got to the point where I could maintain a constant pace so I actually dropped the amount of time I was swimming from 90 minutes (mixed strokes with frequent rests) to 60 minutes of swimming a constant freestyle stroke (front crawl) and get in 110 laps. Net burnt calories is UP because the pace is higher and constant vs a lower pace with frequent rests. More calories burned and NOT replaced equals more weight loss and more potential muscle built and or retained.

Yehaw! Ride 'em cowgirl! I've been riding 4 times this summer. Would of been 5 but the last time out the horse sidled to the left towards me and I over compensated and laid over the saddle a bit too fast and caught the saddle horn right up under my left rib cage - ouch! I was sore for 3 weeks and could not exercise let alone ride. If we get some more fair weather I may just mount up again this year.

I was in pretty much the same boat as you with many of the same symptoms and a few different ones. I had (still have) real good insurance and was not wanting to wait the 6+ months for acceptance, I literally thought I would be dead in a few months, I was doing that poorly. I had some cash and decided to go ahead and go to Mexico. It saved my life. Now 11+ months later I am 170+ pounds down and feeling great. I swim 5 days a week and have more muscles than I have EVER had in my life. As of today I am bouncing around a weight of 205 and LOOK thin even though I am still 15 pounds overweight. A woman here at my work decided to have WLS after I had mine, she started the process in February. She just had her surgery last week, an almost 10 month waiting period while they jerked her around, "lost" her "paper work", changed her requirements and generally screwed the pooch consistently over and over. She was worried she'd have a stroke over the sheer aggravation and lies they told her over and over - when they suddenly just DROPPED her from the roster with NO explanation. She finally waited them out and had the surgery, she had a RNY bypass despite the fact that she wanted a VSG, they talked her into getting a full bypass instead or threatened to make her start all over again through the insurance waiting game. I told that horrible story above to let you know that others have done it in MX and survived and thrived. Whatever you choose IT IS WORTH WAITING FOR. It's also worth taking the risk and paying out of pocket for too.

Yes, my natural tendancy to get constipated was definatly WORSR post op. Like what daisy suggests I've found Mirilax to be the best for me - after DECADES of trying various remedies. Mirilax is basically a super Water adsorbant inert plastic material that passes straight through softening and bulking the stool making it easier to pass. AND as stated previosly drink LOTS AND LOTS of water. I've gotten kidney stones 3 times now post op and have found that I need to drink a rediculousamount of water - more - than a gallon a day - to keep me from getting constipated (even with Mirilax) and forming stones.

Mt. Zion is the same as Jerusalem clinic ( http://mtzionmedical.com/contact-us.php ) . I had my surgery 12/6/10 and have had a huge success with little to no issues, the only issue has been with kidney stones due to my not drinking enough water, but this cannot be attributed to the surgery, only my own issues with nausea post op and not keeping up with my liquids. I had a good experience with them. HOWEVER, and it's a BIG however - there are some posts in the forum here about issues with the place and the staff. There was also an armed robbery at the recovery house earlier this year. Due to these issues I will no longer recommend the center. Please use the search utility in the forum and dig up the post and make your own decision.

My ears are enormous!!! Without the big pads of fat on my cheeks and around my ears to "hide" them my ears look huge! Like Carl Fredricksen in the Disney move UP. It's also cool that my sun and eye glasses don't plow a groove into my temples either, I actually have space between them and the ear pieces. This sleeve is the bomb!

I am really enjoying some things I have not enjoyed in years. I've lost 50 lbs since the start of my dieting a few months ago, most of which after I got the sleeve Dec 6th. Getting out of the van without having to put the seat all the way back - and not forcing my belly past the steering wheel. Not getting winded putting on my socks! Not brushing against the shower door when I am exiting the shower. Not strangling my junk when I sit - my pant legs aren't tight any more. Sitting with the dog, he actually lies on the recliners cushion rather than half on my leg. The actual TASTE of food rather than the AFTER taste of what's left after I half chew it and swallow as much as possible. Actually seeing Mr Peter without having to hunch forward and crane my neck. Being able to tuck in my shirt and not have it come out and let my muffin top show My boxer / briefs actually have length in the legs now! They go down my thigh rather than bunch up against my crotch and hips. SAD FACT - being able to wipe properly My skin is actually clearing up! Nasty little bumps along my forehead and crusty scales are gone on my back! So what are your little pleasures that are coming back?

Nope.

A friend of mine at work is going through the process of getting approved for bariatric surgery. She's already had her initial surgical consult and just called a psych office to set up an appointment for her psych eval. She was told the evaluation will take - are you ready for this - TWO AND A HALF HOURS! WTH do they "evaluate" for two and a half hours? What's everyone else's experience? BTW: I had surgery in Mexico and my "psych eval" consisted in filling out a form online of maybe 20 questions. Shebang! I was "qualified" and got a call the next day asking when I wanted to have the surgery.

Yeah, the old 'THAT'S NOT MY JOB" syndrome. I get real frustrated t my docs staff too for much the same reason, and don't get me started on MY workplace. It's pretty tough to get someone who will just take ownership of an issue and see it through - EVEN IF IT ISN'T "THEIR" JOB. I know, I know, there IS sometimes when a person just can't help, but dammit, they typically know more about the issue than I do and STILL won't take any initiative to do SOMETHING, even just ask or direct us to who DOES do it.

Yeah, I get the same, typically from those who, um, could stand to lose a few pounds themselves. It makes them look bad - or should I say WORSE

Congrats! I know, I'm a guy but I do know what you're going through. I am finding clothes hard to find sometimes. It seems that guys clothes start at Large or XL, I am just inside of a medium and depending on how it's cut sometimes go with a large. It's a GOOD problem to have.