Matt Z

I'm dealing with back pain as well. For me, it's spinal arthritis, I had it for a while but I wasn't aware that I had it, this is because the visceral fat (the fat that surrounds your bones, joints, ligaments, organs etc was protecting the nerves from the arthritis, now that I've dropped so much weight, those spiky little growths are able to impact the nerves and it sucks. Working with a PT for stretching and other exercises to help... but it might never go away without surgery. Have you gone to a massage therapist? physical therapist? chiropractor? yet to see if they can adjust or work through the issue? If not, I suggest you reach out to your PCP and see if they can figure out what you can do moving forward to resolve that pain issue.

Every doctor gives out different information. It's a bit frustrating. You will be able to drink more than just a sip of water at a time down the road, you really should be trying to get to 128 oz of water a day, as per current medical research. You'll be able to down all your pills at once with water at some point (more than likely). Pretty much post op you'll want to keep things small and limited to prevent issues with healing, once healed you are working to try to limit how much you stretch your pouch, I say limit and not prevent, because never stretching the pouch/sleeve is almost impossible. Once you are healed, you'll find that a LOT of what they told you that you'd never be able to do... you can. This is where the will power is going to step in over all the restriction you had while healing. Things will start to feel "normal" and you'll be able to eat more and certainly drink a lot more. So, up front, follow your doctors orders, just understand that, down the road you'll be able to change things up, you *will not* be sipping slowly for the rest of your life. That's pretty much a given.

Sadly, there was zero "birthday or anniversary anything" of that nature... Someone's monthly "friend" decided it was going to make an appearance early just to screw with our weekend. I think it was all the flights of stairs honestly.

Thank you! I'm starting to feel like I'm hitting my lower limit, Been stuck around 209 - 211 for a bit now... hopefully things break and I can hit Onederland... but I'm happy where I am if that never does actually happen. I'm right around where I was (less the extra weight from the extra skin) now as I was when I was 20. Which is cool.

My PCP told me limited use *shouldn't* cause issues. I've got spinal arthritis and some nerve issues right now, and I was told it was ok to use if need be. I haven't used them even with that clearance because I really don't want to risk the ulcer issue. There are some supplements that mimic anti-inflammatory meds that could be useful (Like Turmeric for instance).

This surgery can drastically change your life. I took 2 months off from work (for both my WLS's) coming back here has been so totally different after dropping so much weight than it did before hand. Folks I interacted with when I was heavy, are treating me differently now, they don't even realize they are doing it because some of them don't realize I'm the same person they interacted with previously. Those that do recognize me are really nice about it, and even they treat me differently than before. It's been a very interesting "experiment" in the social realities of overweight people. I legit would get ignored by some some of the resident and nursing staff, now they acknowledge me in some way, the female staff say hi and smile or smile and do the hair brush over the ear thing. Some of the male residents posture now, puffing up and whatnot, I love watching the subconscious actions we have play out. It's sad, but overweight people get an unfair (sometimes unconsciously, sometimes not) break when it comes to employment. However, once that weight comes off, if you wanted to do so, you'd be able to get into something new with much more ease than before hand.

No worries! I knew going into this that I was looking at an uphill battle against everyone that was against the patches for whatever reason. ***AND*** I went into this open minded, if they worked, they worked. If they didn't work, they didn't work. I did not start this little experiment biased one way or another. I read all the positives and negatives so I was aware, but I started this with zero expectations other than *something* would happen. I'm happy that my labs are all coming back good, I'll update anyone that wants to know when I get my 9 month labs done early / mid - December. I've always been a "reality over perception" person... ESP being overweight.

Intermittent Fasting has really helped me push lower than I thought I could. Lets not forget too that there is weight that will "never" come off without surgical intervention (Excess skin).

First off, you don't know the surrounding circumstances to the patient that didn't get the meds. We all go through a pre-op screening, if that patient was flagged for previous abuse issues, that would be just 1 reason why they would not be given opioids. As someone in the medical field myself, there are a few issues here. That nurse disclosing another patients care, pain and prescriptions is a major violation of their HIPAA rights. There is no way to know or verify without reviewing that patients medical chart to know if there were other reasons why they were not given opioids. There are quite a few reasons why someone would not be prescribed opioids. This whole ordeal is hearsay and rumor spread illegally about another patients private, protected information.

PatchMD patches are about 1 inch by 1 inch, they look like some of the nicotine patches. The "hype" is that I don't have to take a handful of vitamins and supplements by mouth, I just slap my patches on in the morning and just forget them.

See, I avoided thinking about it as "Buyers Remorse" and more "Growing pains" or really, "Losing pains". I knew the transition from where I was, to where I am now was going to be rough, and it was, but damn was it worth it! The trick is to avoid thinking about it in an overly negative way with no positive spin or potential. I took all the negatives and thought of them as little things to beat. I stood in front of all the candy in the store, hungry and sad, knowing every thing on that wall was bad. I stood there and thought to myself "Screw you candy, sure you are tasty, but you are part of why I'm fat, you've had a hand in attempting to reduce my lifespan, I'm done with you" I did not shy away from anything I loved before the surgery that I may or may not ever be able to have again. This is where I came away with the "swaps". There are plenty of things you can eat, to satisfy a craving that are anywhere from "eh, it's better than that" to "this is actually a healthy option". Rather than candies or fake sweets, I go for fruits. A bowl of chilled fresh cut strawberries and a banana... so tasty and "good" for you. I used to down pints of ice cream without thinking about it. Those Ben and Jerry's would net me 1200 - 1600 calories mindlessly watching TV. I found Halo Top ice cream, they take a little bit to get used to, but they are a max of like 320 calories a pint and have a decent amount of protein in them as well, so they would be a "eh it's better than that" category, It's a lot less calories and junk... but it's still not really a "healthy" option, but 320 is sure a lot better than 1600!

Well, what's a lot? And what's a lot left? What surgery did you have? When did you have that surgery? What was your starting weight? What is your current weight? What is your height? Do you know what your BMI is? Are you tracking your caloric intake? Are you tracking your water intake? Is your Caloric Intake lower than your BMI and Caloric burn each day? Are you getting upwards of 128 oz of water? Also, check into Intermittent Fasting. I got stalled out really hard at around 230-240 (I started at 370, lost a bit, gained a bit, then had a revision from band to bypass when I was 310.) and Intermittent Fasting was the white horse I needed to get me through that stall down to my current weight of 209.

If my levels were low.... then my team would have said the patches aren't working. But since my levels are all where they are supposed to be... then they are working. The **ONLY** 2 things I take in addition to the patches are 1 10,000 Vitamin D a week, because I live in New England and we don't get enough sun to make enough of the vitamin. And I take a once a week B12, my levels were normal before being placed on this extra supplement, and it was done simply for precautionary reasons, it was not necessary, in fact if my 9 month labs are high in the B12, they are going to have me stop taking it. I do not take **ANY** other required supplements because the patches are performing the way they are advertised. Your logic is odd. I can take your arguments against the patches, replace them with "chewables" and your idea still sticks, "you are eating food so therefore the chewables aren't doing anything" My Dollar amount per day isn't much higher than if I was using chewables. I wake up, slap on my patches and I'm done, I don't have to worry about "supplement burp" upset stomachs, flavors (or lack there off) I don't even have to worry about the pile of pills I'd have to take to get all the supplements I'm getting from the patches. I went into this knowing that the clinical results are still pending, I discussed my choice with my surgeon, nutritionist, head nutritionist, head nurse, head pharmacy tech. They all agreed that on paper, the patches look great and they agreed to allow me to "test" them, to the point where there is a paper planned revolving around my tests and results and the hospital is looking at my results to help them push the patches into the elderly patient community given the elderly can have issues with not only taking pills, but remembering to take all of them. I researched the living hell out of the patches, found reports and results from early testing, I've reached out to the manufacturer etc. I read every slam piece out there and **ALL** negative reports are from people that haven't used them, haven't spoken with anyone that actually has, they base their information on unconfirmed stories and a lack of research about the product. The problem with using a lack of information as a reason not to use something is, there is no evidence they don't work. But, every single user that's had their blood drawn and had their doctors tell them their levels were good, are all the success stories proving the patches *do* in fact work. Now, I did state "For me" I will not pretend that things like skin density, composition, hydration levels, oil production, hair density, and patch placement location are not going to have an effect on efficacy. But reduced efficacy still doesn't equate to the patches "not working".

That profile photo... damn girl Statuesque!

Good Luck! But if the pain continues, I'd suggest calling and seeing about getting that appointment bumped up to someone sooner... just in case it's something more pressing.

THANK YOU! Not belated though, Upcoming this Thursday.

Except my blood labs are data supporting the patches working. And it's Reebok.

Had a 3 day "Stayaction" with the wife this past weekend for our 20th Anniversary (today) and my 40th Birthday (Thursday). I clocked 56 flights of stairs and 14.39 miles. I also did not IF, nor did I follow *any* diet other than "I can't eat any more" / "I'm full". I drank a decent amount and ate things I shouldn't. Actually had 1 episode of dumping, which sucked but... I was sort of thankful for, the fact that it's still there. The dumping came with the consumption of a large butternut donut. I drank beer, Japanese whiskey, Soju, Sake and some amazing mixed drinks. The hotel we stayed at had 3 bars, a upscale pseudo Japanese fusion restaurant http://www.foodbynorth.com/ . A really cool speakeasy inspired bar, behind a non-descript door and all that had some amazing cocktails and this awesome "Star wars" canteena sort of vibe (in that it was dark and lit with only candles and it had a earthy color pallet. Then there was the Japanese inspired Karaoke bar Boombox, with imported snacks and booze. It was so cool to be able to eat and drink and not have to worry about anything other than a few flights of stairs. Overall, I had a very good weekend. And I lost a little bit over the weekend to by some means of magic! I am having a hard time getting back into the swing of things again though, my stomach is NOT happy with me today.

I had my band installed before thanksgiving. I just pureed up some turkey, corn and potatoes with some gravy and it was good to go. Given your situation where you haven't told your family... you'll need to get creative. Good luck!

Been using them for over 9 months total, all labs are normal. I have my 9 month post op next month, I don't suspect anything other than normal levels. If we are going to take some unproven hearsay story over actual lab results, well, then do what you want. But if you want to take some advice from someone actually using the product, that's got 3 and 6 month post op lab results to prove that the patches are working, well, then, they are working as reported (for me at least).

I've been on the patches for almost 9 months total now, my 3 month and 6 month labs were all good. I'm on supplemental Vitamin D (once a week) because I live in New England and we don't get enough sunlight to generate the vitamin naturally, and they put me on a once a week B12 just in case, my levels had dropped slightly, but were still well within the normal range, they just wanted to be cautious with the B12. But literally every single other test came back normal and I'm **ONLY** using the Patches (aside from the D and B12) I'll have my 9 month post op labs drawn next month. I'm suspecting more of the same, all good levels.

As someone using the patches, and having my levels tracked closely, and those levels all being within norms... The patches are working, at least for me. But, blindly saying something doesn't work... is just daft. I understand the clinical trials are still pending results, but, there are PLENTY of folks using them, and having the blood work show they are working just fine.

Hunger is an odd thing, I was getting hungry a lot more, then I started with the Intermittent Fasting (IF) and the hunger went away. This weekend I stopped with the IF because it's a celebratory weekend for my wife and I, and today, trying to get back into my typical routine, I'm hungry already when I'm usually not. Look for things to swap, that creamer, is it sugar free and low cal? If not, that's something to swap out for a better option. Chips... find the veggie chips, again not "good" for you, but "better" than corn and potato chips. If your protein levels are high, it doesn't matter where you are getting them from. What I don't see here, is your water intake. Water is super important. The human body will not process fat correctly or efficiently if it does not have enough to perform it's normal day to day. If you aren't getting upwards of 128 oz of water a day, I highly suggest doing so.

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*ACTUALLY* this diet is more than likely shrinking your liver... Did your doc tell you it was for shrinking your liver or is it just the pre-op diet? Not all pre-op diets are for shrinking the liver.