Deevah

So, I started my journey for wls over four years ago. My journey started with my mom's diagnosis of end-stage renal failure due to diabetic complications. At that moment, I knew I had to lose this weight. The day my mom got her kidney disease diagnosis, I went to my doctor and requested wls. She told me no and that I could just exercise it off. Well, one year later and 20 pounds heavier, I tried again. Still no luck. My mom lost her battle in 2009, and my life went into a tailspin. I grabbed a hold of the reigns in 2010 and decided it was time to take charge of my weight issue. I had been researching wls the entire time, so, I gathered all of my research and headed into my doctor's office ready to state my case. Over the last four years, I had changed doctors three times, and each doctor said no to giving me a recommendation. So, imagine my surprise when my fourth doctor said yes! When I asked the new doctor about wls, she was very supportive and started me in the bariatric program that day! Fast forward to today, I am five months into my six-month nutrition program and, up until the holidays, everything was going great! At about the four month mark (which coincided with that Turkey, Christmas, New Year stretch) I gained 7 lbs!! On my fifth month appointment, I managed to lose 2 pounds, so I have to lose 2 pounds by February 24th in order for my nutritionist to approve me and send my paperwork on to the approving board of my insurance company, I am with Kaiser of the Greater-DC area, and, according to their program, I can either have my surgery done at Holy Cross Hospital with Dr. Brain Cantor or some hospital in Virginia with some surgeon I do not know. As of my last nutritionist appointment, my nutritionist did not have this information available to me, so I guess, as for right now, I'm going with Dr. Brian Cantor. I have attended a couple of his pre-op informational sessions, and I do adore his straight-forward style. I don't, however, like the fact that his surgery waiting list is four months long from the initial appointment (which is another month, at least, from your approval with Kaiser, which, takes about two weeks after the board receives your paperwork). Anyway, on this journey I have found out a lot of interesting information about myself. I am pre-diabetic, I have mild sleep apnea, and my blood pressure is erratic, but, not, at this point in time, continuously high without medication. I also found out that I have mild arthritis in both knees and elbows and possibly in my left shoulder. Without medical intervention and bariatric surgery, I am on the same path as my mom and I don't like the destination of that trip. I don't really post often, but will try to update this posting with my journey updates. I'll probably get more detailed as I get closer (and get comfortable with the site and the members). Here's to the last two pounds melting away and staying gone (doing three days a week of all liquids until my approval so that the switch into the all liquid diet is not that drastic) ~Deevah~

Hi Chell, I also had Dr. Cantor. I saw him in March 2011 and had my surgery in August 2011. I was shocked when I heard they were saying the wait was 4 months, because when I was going through the process we were told at LEAST a six month wait. When you call Jeanie Ferber, ask her about the list of people who can go at a moment's notice. A lot of times, people will cancel at the last minute and Kathy Coleman (the scheduler) will pull people from the any moment list to fill those spaces. As an FYI, I heard at a Kaiser support group meeting that Dr. Cantor will not be doing any WLS surgeries in February. You may want to check with Jeanie about the validity of that because, if true, it could push the wait a little longer. Hang in there, though, because it is definately worth the wait!

Wow! I thought it was just me! I was sleeved on 8/31. At first, I was sleeping well. But, pretty soon after I started feeling physically healed (about a month out) I started suffering with insomnia. I, too, have sleep apnea. Even with the CPAP, I am literally up and down all night. I can go to bed at 10pm and I'm back up at 2 or 3am almost every night. Then, I'm trying to force myself to get back to sleep until I have to get up at 5am for work. I've been exhausted for months! If anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears.

Hi, I'm almost 3 months post-op and I was wondering if anyone else experienced nasea after drinking water. It started with Splenda and Crystal light, so I switched to Stevia and dropped all Crystal lights and now I'm fine. I can drink my tea with Stevia and have no nausea. But, today, I tried to drink plain water and got nauseaous. Anyone else experience this?

I thought of using Mio, but sucrulose in any form makes me naseausous and Mio is sweetened with sucralose.

This happened to me last month and this month. I think it is definately related to your TOM. I gained 5 lbs a week before my TOM last month. Then, when my cycle started, I lost the 5 lbs and an additional 2 lbs. Last week, I gained 7 lbs! I started to get upset, but I remembered what happened last month and decided to ride it out. Sure enough, Sunday morning, I was back down. Give it a week before you drive yourself crazy. If it hasn't fallen off by the end of the week, then you can look into other possibilities. Good luck to you.

Add me into the adult acne circle! I also never had acne before, even through 4 pregnacies. Now, however, my face is breaking out like nobody's business. It's mainly on my cheeks, but it's very frustrating. I had heard that when you lose a lot of weight at a fast pace, the fat cells release extra hormones in your body and that could cause acne. I guess we're living proof that this is true?

This happened to me at a Halloween party too! I was sleeved n 8/31, and, even though I'm down 50 total pounds (30 since surgery), in my mind, I was much skinnier than the picture showed. It was my eye opener that I still have much work to do.

DreamLife, We must be psychicly linked or something! I had some sort of bug over the weekend. I pushed the chicken noodle soup Unjury for my protein and fluids and ate a few saltine crackers. Today was the first time I ate any substantive food in 24 hours and it feels like a brick is in my stomach (I think I ate too soon). I would suggest you contact your doctor to make sure it's a stomach flu and nothing else, but after that, I would suggest a few crackers and liquid protein until it passes. Hope you feel better.

Suez, I was sleeved on 8/31, and I have not lost a pound since 9/23. That puts me at being stalled for 3 weeks as of tomorrow, so I definately understand your frustration. I don't know what to do either, but I was going to ask my surgeon next Friday during my appointment. I have increased my Protein on my own (added another 2 shakes during the day, two days ago) so hopefully I will see the scale move soon. I feel like such a failure sometimes as well, so you are not alone there, either. I have increased my exercise and changed up my routine, so hopefully all of these will help. I will also reduce my PPI to one a day and see if that helps. Hopefully they will help you as well and we will both see scale movement soon.

I noticed the other day (when all of my steristrips finally fell off - I had surgery on 8-31) that some of my incisions sites are raised. I've never really experienced large keloids, but, now, after seeing my scars, I am going to ask my surgeon about this next week when I see him.

DreamLife, We were both sleeved on the same day. I have only lost 20lbs since surgery. I see my surgeon next week and I am sure he will not like my results. During my pre-op stage, and before I crossed into diabetic numbers, my regular doctor put me on Metformin as a weight loss method and to help keep my pre-diabetic numbers down. I haven't lost a pound since week 4, so I'm wondering if Metformin will be something my doctor tries to reintroduce. Before surgery, I was on 1400mg/day. I haven't taken it since 4 days before my surgery. After my surgery, my glucose readings have been coming in between 90-100 before meals, so I wonder if that will even be an option for me. I am very concerned, though, because I have not seen the scale move. I have noticed the inches are coming off and I am regaining a shape, but I wish the pounds would start to fall again. Anyway, as to your original question (sorry for the rant), if your glucose numbers are normal, I would get a second opinion. Talk to your regular doctor and see what he/she thinks. Ask your surgeon to order blood work. If you are insulin resistant, your A1C number will be higher than normal. That could be the reason for the Metformin suggestion. Good luck to you.

Sunny, I am a little over 4 weeks out and my doctor has yet to allow veggies to my diet so you are not alone. I am eating eggs, cheese, chicken and seafood (minus shrimp), and I eat about 1-2 oz about 4-5 times a day. I thought I was eating too much and stretched my sleeve until this post. Thank you everyone, I feel better now (I love this site!)

I am 4 weeks out and have GERD. My doctor just kept me on my omeprazole. For the first three weeks, I was instructed to open the pills and swallow the little white balls. I am now taking the capsules. My GERD has been under control throughout the process. I had one minor issue when the doctor tried to change the dose from two pills/day to one, but, once he moved me back to two, it was fine and I am fine. Hope this helps.

Meeee tooooo!!!!! I am now at my four week mark and I have GAINED 2 punds!! Talk about irate!! I'm staying at 30g of carbs a day and walking every day. I can't wait to break this thing!

Wow, so many 8-31 sleevers! I see I'm in great company! :-)

Sylvia, I drink chamomile tea with vanilla. It's a decaf tea that I get from my area Giant grocery store. I just drank a cup to settle my stomach after dinner. I ate too fast. :-)

Hey Sylvia, we're sleeve buddies (I was sleeved on 8/31, too). My doc had me on fluids for the first 3 weeks, but as soon as I felt I could do it (thus past Saturday) I introduced eggs to my diet. I also ate a steamed crab. I go to the doc on Friday to officially be moved to solids. I can't wait. I hope you are better able to tolerate food soon. Have you tried drinking a cup of warm tea 1/2 hour before and after eating? For some reason, tea helps ease my stomach. Hope it helps you.

Wow! What brand is that? The ones I saw in the stores near me were between 15-19 carbs.

Cinderella - the almond milk has.about 15 carbs per serving. My doc only allows 30 carbs per day. If you add the carbs from the Unjury, your mix would put me over the carb limit. It sounds delicious, though.

I'm going through that now. I had a friend for over 30years and now she's not speaking to me. The bottom line, I saw my mom die from carrying extra weight for 15 years (she got diabetes, hbp and heart issues brought on by excess weight) and I refuse to go down that pay. If you can't get with it, get out of my way. I like the comment about jealousy being like a bad cold. I will have to borrow that one!

Hi. I was sleeved 8/31. I am down 15 pounds since the day of surgery, 35 since pre-op and 45 pounds total. I have only had the foamies once, and that was due to vitamins, so I haven't been getting in my vitamins like I should. My protein shakes are only last nerve, so I am not getting in as much as I should of those either. I am, however, getting in my fluids and I feel fine...well, except for the left incision discomfort. I am still on liquids. Im hoping my doc transitions me to food on my next appointment (Friday). I have cheated, though, and had the insides of two deviled eggs and one blue crab and tolerated both perfectly. I love my sleeve and am glad I made this choice!

Patti, What is the name of the Vitamin?

I am two weeks post-op and, today, the Celebrate Vitamins that I had been taking made me sick to the point of almost puking. I also tried Bariatric Advantage and they made me nauseated. Can anyone give me suggestions of vitamins that I can buy from Wal-Mart, Walgreens, GNC or the Vitamin Shoppe that I can take? Thanks

Sylvia, this is no reason to be depressed. Everyone's sleeve is different and we all will have things that will disagree with our sleeve. The key to fight the depression is to accept the things we can't change and work to find a solution. Try some of the suggestions in this post as a remedy or talk to your surgeon about vitamin alternatives. Good luck to you.