kyethra

Today I saw the surgeon about my nausea problem. He too suspects my gall bladder. I have a HIDA scan scheduled. We'll see what that says. Right now I'm actually starting to hope it is my gall bladder because then they can take it out and that would solve the problems... Better to have a fixable problem than a mystery one. I'm still taking the zofran though and it is still helping.

Right now I have been having nausea for the past ten days and every suspects my gall bladder. I went to the ER about a week ago because the nausea was just getting worse and I was retching and I know that is bad for the band and mine is fairly new and all. My ultra sound came back just fine. So I now have a HIDA scan scheduled. My symptoms: Nausea. Pretty much there is persistant nausea, but it gets much worse after I eat something, about 20 or 30 minutes I would say if I had to guess. I'm talking agonizing... I could be in the bathroom trying to figure out if anything would help, throwing up, bowel movement, gas, etc. Nothing helps but time. Also gas and indigestion. Some lower back pain on the right side. Also it hurts on the right side of my upper abdomen, around the bottom of my rib cage, if someone presses on it. At first I just thought it hurt because it was being pressed on but when the surgeon pressed on the left side to compare, that felt fine, it didn't hurt. Then he pressed on the right side again. Why is it that when doctors find where it hurts, they always want to press on it again? I always want to say, "knock it off, that hurts". Usually i hold my toungue, but didn't we establish that pressing equals hurting the first time around? My last bowel movement, a few days ago, was greenish. I haven't had one since so I have this laxative my PCP prescribed me the other day because she said the zofran I am on for the nausea can be constipating. I don't feel constipated though, but I don't know. My bowels haven't been consistent since the surgery. If it is the gall bladder, I get to be cut open yet again... At this point though I am getting a little more anxious that it isn't my gall bladder. We know its not my band cause that looks good on the x ray and it feels just fine and normal to me. So what would it be? I don't want to be nauseated forever. The surgeon said it was likely either my gall bladder or something mysterious that would randomly clear up and never come back. The last time I had stomach problems it was my ovary, but I don't have abdominal pain this time like I did then, so I know its not that. Whatever it is I just want it fixed! Right now everybody seems inclined to think its probably my gall bladder. My liver enzymes were also elevated, but mine go up whenever I get sick.

Once upon a time, when I was healthy, (before I become narcoleptic and all that stuff) I used to do cardio kickboxing aerobics. I loved that stuff because it was such a great stress reliever and it made me feel like I was jackie chan and could really kick some major ass. Now I like the eliptical.

Actually, that is one of my pet peeves, when people say that you can do and be anything you want. I hate that. Its not true. Telling kids that just sets them up for disapointment. I certainly cannot do or be anything I want. I lack the abilities. I want to do well in math beyond basic calculus, but that doesn't mean I can. I am not going to be able to either, not matter how hard I work at it unless someone discoveres a cure for learning disabilities or finds a way to give me a higher IQ or something.

I'm actually able to get bread down with no problems (and everything else I have tried so far, which isn't much since today is my first day on solids). I do have restriction because if I take too big of a bite or don't chew well enough I feel it go down uncomfortably and I think "geeze, why did I do that, I know better" and then I take a sip of water and it goes down and I burp and its all good. But as long as I take smaller bites and chew, I can eat anything. I just stop when I am full. Then I sort of notice my pouch emptying over time because this usually involves some burping for me. Ever since I got banded I've been quite the burper. I don't mind! Right now I am trying to go by hunger. Once I felt silly because I had a small frozen meal and I got full and there was only a few bites left. I did a bad thing and cheated by waiting for a while to get those last bites in even though I really just should have stopped. I'm not going to kick myself too hard over it though-- its a learning process. I see my surgeon tomorrow to see if there might be something wrong with my band or port or a complication from the surgery thats causing the nausea. Personally, I doubt it. But what do I know? I don't have any of the slip signs I have read about. My GERD isn't worse or acting up (if anything its been a little better since banding). The nausea doesn't really start until after the food is all eaten and down, until its being digested. With the zofran its either mangeable or gone, its a range. DH asks me how it is compared to before and I explain that I don't know, once it starts after I wake up I take the medicine because I'm not waiting for it to get bad! No way! He wants me to try it out as an experiment, to see if I am getting better. I think he is crazy. I want to go to the movies somtime soon and see Blades of Glory because it looks funny to me. And I want to try eating some popcorn. Not a whole lot, but some. Though I would probably cheat with popcorn and drink something with it because the salt would make my mouth dry. We'll see. I don't want to get into bad habits already. But I normally only have popcorn a few times a year, so it wouldn't be like a big bad habit, like eating ice cream at midnight. I am still doing well with keeping to my ice cream rations. I'm proud of myself for that. Its hard for me. I've slipped maybe once or twice, but overall I've been really controlled on that. I do find that I have to battle the head hunger sometimes though. I have to tell myself that no, I can't eat a lot of junk food. That everyday counts, etc. So far the "good me" is winning (with the band).

Should definitely see a doc ASAP. But purging will only make things worse. No eating near bed time for hours. Elevate the head of the bed by six inches. And/or get a wedge to sleep on. Keep a bowl or cup by the bed to spit into. Get the allergies treated. Clairitin is over the counter. So is sudafed. So is mucanex. I would try all three. A nasal rinse and a nasal spray might also help. One of my nasal sprays, astelin (prescription) I got started on because of post nasal drip. For reflux, try ginger. Ginger is some good stuff for the stomach. Use it with a proton pump inhibitor, etc.

sometimes if there is an irritation, then another muscle will contract (one near the spot that is irritated). Its sort of the way the body tries to relieve the pressure off of the initial hurt spot. I have an entrapped nerve ending in my abdominal wall. Now I got this a long time ago, but it took forever to diagnose. Ask your doctor if they have ruled that out. Many times if it is that it can be treated with injections. Lower abdominal pain and nausea and heartburn... also reminds me of when I had a big old ovarian cyst. That thing made me very very sick. I'm sure there are other things it could also be, I just thought I would share my experience with those two things since they were things Drs overlooked. Good luck!

At my psych eval when I said that I expected it would probably take a couple of years, maybe even a bit longer, for all my excess weight to come off the psychologist told me that it was entirely possible for me to lose all of my excess weight in just one year and so forth. Well, we'll see. Thursday is my 24th birthday. My goal is to be as healthy as possible on my 25th birthday (or at least working steadily toward better health. I also want to have an organized house). Now if only I could figure out what the secret is to keeping one's figure during a pregnancy (or at least getting it back soon after), because I'll probably one of those cute little money drains (aka children) in a couple of years. I love reading threads like this! They are such an inspiration for me!

I remember when I was a teenager in highschool. I felt horrible about my body (what girl doesn't). I wouldn't ever wear anything without sleeves because if I did then people would see how fat my arms were, etc. Whats sort of funny is that back then I only weighed about 180 pounds! Maybe a little more. So if I had lost twenty or thirty pounds, it would have been perfect for my frame. But I thought I was supposed to weigh 120 pounds because I was a stupid teenager and I thought thats what a girl like me should weigh (I would have been crazy underweight at 120 pounds). So I was always thinking that I needed to loose 60 pounds. Thats a lot of pounds. So of course I was always starting a new diet and then failing at it and setting myself up for failure and then I would gain more and feel even worse about how I looked. Then I got over it. It didn't just happen one day, it was a process. I decided that there wasn't anything wrong with my arms. So what if they were bigger? All of me was bigger. If someone was going to be offended by my flabby upper arms then they were going to have to deal with it. I started to wear thing without sleeves. Not often. But everyonce in a while. usually with a shawl handy. I wore a greater variety of clothes than I had before-- including things that were more feminine. And no one was digusted. No one was shocked that I dared to expose my flabby arms. Some people even told me I looked nice! I knew I had to lose weight but I stopped worrying about it. I would even flirt with guys on rare occasions. apparently they didn't all find me distgusting. Then I would focus on things I liked about myself. Like my eye color (grey) because monochromatic is easy for eye makeup or other things. I also noticed that the beautiful girls weren't always so beautiful. Sure they might be pretty, but not anything special usually. Some of them looked plain wierd if you looked at them close up. So I learned to look for the things I liked when I looked in the mirror and not look so much at the things I didn't like. It took a while. But it worked. I'm not happy to say that my self esteem is probably too high! I know that I'll probably frown over overly flabby thighs and other body parts as I get closer to goal. Or wonder why I don't notice the weight loss except in the way clothes fit. But I already feel sexy. I think its important to feel good about myself no matter where I am physically.

congrats on your first PB! Its not a happy thing. Or a pleasant one. But now that it is over you no longer need to fear the PB beastie.

Every which way. Clothed. Naked. In light wieght robe. With things in my pockets. Without them in there. I find it fascinating how much of a difference this stuff makes. It really is about three pounds worth for me in just a pair of jeans and a t shirt with no shoes on and no cell phone or wallet. More like two pounds for the light robe. Of course I don't weigh myself after a shower anymore-- that water is just wieght! And it has to be in the morning. Before I eat or drink any substantial amount. I can weigh in at other times too, but thats the best time. And naturally, I use the toilet first (and wash my hands). My scale is accurate- it either always agrees with or is just a little bit heavier than doctor's scales. And the booklet I got from the dietician at my bariatric center says to weigh myself naked in the mornings. Its in the instructions. At first I felt guilty about it cause its illegal to go around naked outside and all so most of the time I'm clothed. But then I got over it. Now I'm wondering if my long, thick hair doesn't add a pound or something and maybe I should mentally subtract for that or schedule a haircut for cute summer do...

Today I saw my PCP. She ordered another blood test to look at my liver levels and I peep in a cup and I need to schedule a HIDA scan so we can determine the state of my gall bladder (even if it is stone free). She also gave me more Zofran. I see the surgeon on Thursday. PCP gave me a couple of her cards, I need to have my surgeon send her some info about the band and complications that she should keep an eye out for, that sort of thing. I am behind on school work and stuff so I need to hit the books the next few days, go to office hours, etc. As far as being tired, well I can certainly emphacise with that one. I'm tired an awful lot! But that is nothing new for me. I'm going to be starting xyrem soon to see if it helps with that, and I'm a little nervous about that and the sodium levels in it (its a high sodium med) but I've heard taking a magnesium supplement and eating a bannana every day and staying well hydrated will help with that.

I don't know if you could get approved. Your best best is to ask your insurance what their requirments are for approval for the procedure. Then you can see a surgeon about it. I don't know if the hip would count as a complication or not. According to a study I read fairly recently-- no I don't remember the name, people who had lower body joint pain had their quality of like improve the most from the band. I too have a hip injury (SI alignment issue) that is mostly healed from can come back if I change shoes or something and it is very disabling. And I know the amount of extra weight we put on our joints does make a difference. Also, if your insurance won't pay, are you willing to be self pay?

As far as missing class goes, just explain that you had minor surgery and needed to recover, but you are feeling better now Then ask what you can do to get caught up. As far as wearing sweat pants-- don't even worry about it. Just say you are in a laundry avoidance phase. Or feeling lazy. Or bloated due to menstrual issues. Or nothing at all. Nobody would notice if I just started wearing sweats! I just tell people that they should be happy I bother to get dressed at all in the mornings :confused: I too had to miss one week of class for the surgery. Then I missed two more weeks due to illness right after that. I feel fine from the surgery by now! Its this stomach flu or my gallbladder or whatever thats killing me! Since I've missed oh so much class I'm going to tell my instructor a little more than just minor surgery. But if I had just missed the one week I would have left it at that.

You have to work all of the core muscles in order to get the best support and shape and definition. That includes the back and sides and all that. Anything that works the core muscles overall is going to help I think. Pilates is supposed to have some good moves. And I hear working with a bosu ball or balance ball can get at some of them. When I was in physical therapy I worked with bands and that was pretty interesting. (And a lot of my physical therapy work was on my abdominals).

I haven't started to exercise yet. I'm going to ask about it at my six week post op and see what it includes in no abdominals and if I can start abdominals yet, etc. As far as feeling old... My body is probably 20 years or so older than I am (I have fibromyalgia). I was thinking the other day that I remembered when I was young and I could do my thing on the stair stepper and I fenced and stuff. Back when I was young? I'm only 23 now! I'm hoping losing this weight helps.

I was a vegetarian for nine years. After I became one I had to tell people to stop worrying about it because I'd manage to find a way to eat and not starve to death. I managed just fine... Of course some people did worry more than others. When DH and I started dating he would look for food for me before himself. I figure the band is similar. I just have to tell people to stop worrying. I went out pretty recently after I got banded to a restaurant. I ordered milk and mixed in some unjury. No one cared. If YOU can handle eating differently then everyone else needs to get over it too.

Half a frozen meal is pretty low in calories esp if it is already a low calorie meal to begin with. One frozen meal is equal to two meals. Just make sure it is a healthy one. Light yoghurt is pretty low cal yet sweet.

Those are good ideas. One thing that helps me out when I have weak moments, like at grocery stores, or when looking at DH's box of honey buns (he needs a better diet) and so forth is for me to suck on a piece of sugar free gum or a ginger altoid (I love ginger) or something. Those things are sweet or strong flavored so they give me what I want in terms of instant oral satisfaction and help me remind myself that will power is in there somewhere. Pictures don't work so well for me but I'm wierd. I did find virtual model helpful though. I just love my band. I've lost about thirty pounds now (my ticker is always a bit behind these days). I think I'm starting to notice a bit of a difference. I know for sure that my clothes are bigger. That alone is great. Pre banding I could get advice from a dietician or other well meaning person. And I could know something but still it might not work for me. Mostly because I would get hungry. Sure I might know that I was supposed to eat veggies. But I would get hungry, like feed me seymour hungry and then I tell myself that I am supposed to eat veggies and myself says back "are you kidding me? I'm Hungry here. I'd like a hamburger, fries, and a milkshake. Veggies aren't going to do it." Now I look in the freezer. I think about getting in Protein and then veggies and stuff. Then I might take out a frozen meal thats apropriate. I can't even finish one. And when I do eat junk food like ice cream I can stop after one serving like I'm supposed to. (But I do have remind myself to stop) So good luck. Fill your head with those happy and healthy visions... You can do it!

I love zofran. Thats the anti nausea medicine I got. The tablets disolve on my toungue so I don't even have to swallow them and they work pretty fast and last six hours. And they work great! With the medicine I've been able to take my regular prescription meds finally and actually eat! So today I got protein in. Its been all week since I have... my poor hair and nails. I can tell that I'm not all better because I still get dizzy if I stand up for too long and so forth, but its nice being able to take my meds and eat and the whole not being in agony afterward is definitely a plus. I even had a little bit of chocolate. I'm out of town monday for an apointment with my neurologist but I can still call my surgeon and also make an apointment with my PCP. After the ultrasound my port is sticking out! I can feel it even under clothes and its odd. I'm not sure if it is because it got irritated being pressed on or what. But it doesn't hurt unless I push on it so I just don't push on it. I have this dream of one day not seeing doctors routinely... Of going months and months between doctors visits. Crazy? Perhaps. But its still a nice dream...

For those of you who didn't have stones but did have troubles, what were your symptoms? In case this lingering stomach flu I have doesn't turn out to be stomach flu I'm supposed to get more gall bladder tests I guess, HIDA most likely since my ultrasound was fine. So I'm curious...

Doctors love to test my thryoid. I'm fine with it. They figure its going to fail eventually (my grandmother and mother hypothyroid) and they want to catch it in the act. I think I have my thyroid tested more than any other girl I know (except for those who actually have thyroid problems). It used to be at least every few months. I would have to explain that no, my thyroid was fine. But I did have an estrogen deficiancy a while back due to birth control issues. And estrogen deficiancy can look surprisingly like hypothyroid. The women's clinic I had gone two twice with related issues completely overlooked it and I think my PCP picked up on because she said she had had the same problem.

Yup been there. Well not that weight-- I got the band before I got that high. But close. Last year I was put on Lyrica for my fibromyalgia. It was a distaster for me (the culmination of which was the blackout sort of car accident I had). In the few short months I was on it I gained 40 pounds. Now 20 pounds I could easily have done on my own in that time. But 40 even I needed help for. When I did step on a scale at last I was shocked. I also have a graduation picture or two from them and I don't really recognize myself. Who is the girl in the blue tent (aka graduation robe)? Its me. Same hair maybe but fatter face and much bigger body... Different proportions too (it seems that weight likes to accumulate around the middle). It sure is nice now to see the scale move downward to places it hasn't been for quite a while.

I am positive my port is on my right side because 1) I requested it specifically of my surgeon because I have an entrapped nerve ending in my abdominal wall on the left side. It can be overly sensitive at times (and will throw temper tantrums). So I had my port put on the right to avoid complications with the nerve ending. and 2) That was the spot that hurt the most by far when I was healing. My other incisions didn't hurt much at all. I figure the port would have hurt some. No heat or redness. No problems except for the terrible nausea and indigestion I have been having lately. While I don't think that it is band related I can't really know until I follw up with my surgeon and he tells me its not. I mean its mostly good if it is my port. It means it is not my gall bladder or something else sticking out. My port being palpable under clothing... little freaky. Other unknown things being palpable under clothing... super freaky.

At the moment I am eating around 500 calories a day. I'm not trying to eat that little. I just haven't been hungry since I got banded. And I'm dropping weight like crazy. It sort of freaks me out actually. While my dietician didn't tell me I should have a minimum daily caloric intake, I think that if my rate of weight loss doesn't slow after I go on solids next week, I will try for about 800 or 1000 minimum.