rosehips

This is a really good question. My surgeon would not involve himself w/ my meds. I was unable to get an appt w/ my MD prior to the surgery & this was a large stressor the first 2 weeks postop. I opened my Effexor XR & drank the tiny little balls in one tbls milk. The drug worked fine, I did not feel any difference. I take Lamictal 200 mg daily, I crushed this & again drank the powder down in 1 oz of milk, when I did get into my MD, she wanted the Lamictal to be liquid form so she wrote a new prescription for the duration of my liquid/purée diet. Crushing those pills and drinking down the powder was the 2nd thing I dreaded each day. I tried putting them in 1 oz of milk or more but then I would have to get all that awful tasting liquid down & I had no more room, I was happier when I started doing each pill in one ounce. While in the hospital they would not give me my pills, I thought they would supply the liquid or crush them. I thought they would help. This was not the case, they just said don't take them. I get dizzy, can start crying the same day if I miss a dose so again, this was the 2nd most stressful part. In hindsight, I guess I should have just bucked up and faced not taking them for the 2 days I was in the hospital. I hope my learning curve on how to get the pills down during the liquid/purée phase helps you. Nothing can mask the taste so my only trick was the tiny one tablespoon & doing this in a small shot glass. GOOD LUCK

I would do this surgery again because I was unable to lose the weight any other way. I had tried and tried and tried. On my 2nd PRE op appt w/ my doctor I discussed w/ my doctor that I should maybe go home and try for another year to lose the weight. He told me to go ahead, do that if I wanted BUT he said I would be back in 2 years with another 50 lbs on. The part that gave me enough nerve to get it was he said "the reason diets fail is we become too hungry & can't sustain the restricted food plan for as long as needed to get 100+ lb's off. It took me 5 yrs to go from "no, I am not ready to give up my food, I will just regain if I have WLS".....to "OK, I am now at my wits end, I am now ready to fight this addiction." If I could have avoided WLS & been a happy person as I was, that is what I would have done. I was not happy, my world was getting smaller & smaller. I actually was not aware how small it had become until my world started blossoming. I am so sorry to the people who have had the horrible physical complications. I am thankful you have the nerve to speak out. Information is power.

Your honesty is to be commended.

For me, I agree. A secret loses its power after it is no longer a secret bottled up inside me. I have been fairly open about my WLS, especially with people who are large. I don't want them to think I have been able to accomplish this "on my own" because I don't want them beating themselves up of they are trying to lose weight without this tool. The people I have told have had a reaction that surprises me. A common response is "good for you". "congradulations, that took courage". You have made an investment in yourself, so far this investment is not paying off for you, I hope you are able to get some therapy, this change takes more than working w/ your nut & doctor....my eating is/was mental not for hunger. I don't know you but I sure do care about me. What you are going thru could have been me. It took me 5 yrs to become willing to give up my food. I did a lot of counseling to get to this point.

I am sorry you are feeling as you do. I hear your reality & it sounds tough. I hope as the weight continues to come off your thoughts/feelings will change. I want to comment on the hair part. My hair started thinning after 5 months. I had not been religious with my Vitamins the prior 2 months. I started doing my vitamins every day and started taking Biotin supp., 5mg. At 8 months my hair is back to normal. I hope things change for you.

OMG, you said my words, I wanted to stop, I could not, it was like Jerry Springer, but even that I could change the channel on it....I sort of want a snickers too.

Your stomach looks fabulous & your thighs too, I know it is very personal but did you post a before photo of your tummy? I wonder how much smaller the surgery made you? Thanks

Yep, you are going to love post surgury. I had quit walking the dog, my knee hurt too much. Now I am out there walking the dog double the length & doing running intervals. Incredible for me. Riding my bike, my friends are laughing as they try to keep up with me, I have been putting the months in at water aerobics & now the weather is good and I am biking around zoom zoom. Kayaking, I use to judge if I was "OK" if I still fit in the seat of my kayak. Last year I still fit but I was too weak to carry it & just felt unsteady. It is going to be so much easier this year. Snowshoeing, oh God, it use to be hell to bend over in my tight snow pants & get in those snow shoes. And then when I fell, arrggh, will I ever be able to get up? This year my pants were falling off, I could almost dance in my snowshoes. Telling you all this will encourage me to walk even farther tomorrow. I want to be ready to do a 5 mile hike in rocky terrain w/ as much ease as possible. I have been practicing walking on small boulders, never was good at it, now I am 80% good. YOU ARE GONNA LOVE LIFE.

I have been doing water aerobics for 9 months and it is so much easier in the pool than on land. I have now added land exercises and there is a machine that works the inner thighs & a 2nd machine that works the outher thigh. You sit and do it so it is easy so far w/ 50 lbs on it. I will find out the real name, my friend says it is the Gump machine. I thought my thighs were never going to reduce, but they are improving a lot as I get closer to goal, can't wait to see what the next 20 lbs will accomplish

This thread has been great for me. I have one knee replaced and the other one got 2 meniscus clean outs after doing squats and what not at crossfit w/ 100 xtra lbs on me. My legs are stronger now & squatting is so important to me. I take photos & I want to and have been squatting like a crazy woman. But w/ the help of all of you I am going to work on keeping my upper body straighter. It was a learning process to stick my butt out like I was gonna sit on a toilet, what girl wants to stick their big butt out, but I am thankful I have that part down. Here's to having fun with squatting, easier to do hard work too

Wow, that is scary!!!!

I have a land rider & love it. You can google it, the bike shifts for itself, I am shift deficient so my husband found this & we both have our own, year in & year out it is great. You sit up fairly straight, the seat is awesome, you measure yourself from feet to groin for the right size. The bike weights more than my friends but I don't care, the comfort and ease of use is what makes me happy

I had canned chicken w / sourcream & rotel tomatoes, I was livin!!

Each group is different, it is suggested we go 5 times before we decidehat meeting is not working for us, there are some you can do over the phone. I live in a small town w/ no OA so occasionally I drive 1 hr for a meeting. The AA thing, some like it & it works for them, some people just don't like "meetings & other things about it.

Oh my, he is big, great photo. Sounds like you are having a great time

A healthy fear is a good thing. This is my 2nd addiction I am arresting, I am fortunate to be enjoying my gym and getting all those endorphins, it seems funny to say I am addicted to the gym but I guess I am. I recently got a cold & could not workout & I realized that my exercise & the people I do it with deliver the best fun in my life right now. I see some shopping/spending addiction trying to break out of me. I am thankful I am aware & can see this. There have been times where I have been real uncomfortable & was aching to buy something, anything. And there have been times I have eagle back to my old habits & ate food I like when I was not hungry. I try real hard not to be mad at myself & not do it the next day. You are smart to be thinking & concerned about the long haul. Have you ever gone to an OA meeting?

These NSV are awesome, I have them regularly too. A girlfriend stayed at my house for 2 nights, in the day time we went to the gym, shopped, just goofed off around town. I had no problem keeping up her. We were in and out of the car a million times, I noticed just the way I bend and slide into the car seat is different. It's my core holding me better. My body use to hurt all the time. Now it just keeps going. Yea Susie 1226......here's to us KEEPING the good life going.

This whole thing is a journey. I have had too much icecream at a time occasionally. I can go to the beat myself up world or I can go to, OK I did that today, don't do it tomorrow & the next & next. You probably know we can lose this weight easier in the first 8-12 months......with that in mind I do my best to stay on the straight and narrow. I am at 8 months and my sleeve truly is helping me gain some new habits that are positive. Like when I am full, stopping, even if I could eat the other part. Good luck, keep up the good work & honesty.

Has anyone noticed another addition coming on? I guess that would be another topic. I think a large % of people who do not think they are addicted are just not "educated, ready to admit, are in denial". Also a persons ego can prevent them from accepting they could possibly be addicted to something. I think Lauren-vats gut is right in the first place. All of us who know we are addicted are one step ahead of the game in keeping it off. (I pray)

Thanks

Thank you, next time I have this feeling I am going to power through it. I want goal, heck, now is not the time for me to dillydally. Summer is coming, when we hit goal we are going to stay there or drop more. THAT'S IT!!!! I know Maintance is going to be the hardest part so my silly brain is like, stay away from Maintance (I guess). I am going to work on shifting this. Thanks again for your reply

Oh yea, I love leaving food on my plate. I think it is part of the new mentality we are striving for. Because I feel awful if I eat too much, I watch for the feeling & stop. No more clean plate club for me. it has definitely been a journey on this. Four months into this I was out to dinner, real expensive & w/ family. I took 2 appetizers but after one I knew I needed to wait for my "real entree" to come. I literally had to whisper to my husband "is it OK if I don't eat the 2nd one?". I had never not ate everything I put on my plate.

I was sleeved 8/27 & am down 100 plus a few. I have having this odd reaction to this weight loss. When I started getting close to 200, I wanted it to slow down, I got like scared but I don't consciously feel scared, I am happy, thrilled, loving life. OK, so the scale goes to 195, all is good, goes to 190, all is good, now it is falling below 190, I am at 25 lbs to goal and my head is screaming, wait, not so fast, help, I'm not ready. Ready for what? I don't know? Is anyone else experiencing any of these CRAZY FEELINGS?

I have been doing water aerobics since 9-12, sleeved 8-24. In December I increased from 2 days a week to 5 days a week. I have lost 100 lb.'s since 8-1-12. I LOVE WATER AEROBICS TOO. Recently the weather has changed and I am out taking photos and biking. Everything is so much easier. I need to squat for photos and I can real nice now. I can ride standing up. Have not done that in 30 yrs. I am now lifting weights in addition to water aerobics. Water is more fun but I am being told "if I want to live on land I must exercise on land". I can go up and down steps real well now. ALL THANKS TO WATER AEROBICS,