katikati

Hey, geeks! Is anyone in this group still active on the forums at all? I was kind of stoked to see an actual gamer group on here. I'm getting sleeved on February 6th. I play mostly WoW, D3, and a pile of games on Steam. Let me know if any of you would like to trade battletags or be added on Steam.

That is absurd that they will only pay for it as a revision. They're just costing themselves more money, and obviously not acknowledging the facts about the lap band.

You also have the baby to consider. It's good for your weight loss to wait, but you also need to be able to consume the nutrients and calories needed to support another life, and early out from surgery, that's much more difficult.

I bought this little gem and have loved it, plus it comes in a ton of cute colors (highly important, of couse). http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WIZ976/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

As previously stated, it really is a documentation thing. You really can't fudge that one. As to whether you should try to lie or not, that's really something only you can decide. Leaving out any thoughts about whether it's right or not, I would caution that it could come with a penalty if you were to try and lie and it was discovered by your insurance company.

Call your surgeon immediately AND go to the ER.

I hate to tell you this, but there's a good chance the headache is from dehydration if you're having trouble getting your liquid in. If you really can't get the water in no matter how much you try, and the headache persists, then it may be time to call your surgeon's office. The main symptoms I had when I got dangerously dehydrated for a bit after surgery were headache, nausea, fatigue, dark urine (sorry, gross, I know.), and rapid heartbeat. Don't let it go too far. Dehydration is a real and serious dangerous for us post-op. We can survive for weeks without food, but water is of utmost importance.

I had to use Crystal Light too. I use the powder packets because I think the Crystal Light liquid drops are terribad. I actually still have to use them. I've been trying recently to just drink plain water, but I find at almost three months out, it still just goes down kind of rough.

I did have wacky dreams, but I honestly can't remember now what they were. The first few days, I think my crazy dreams were anesthesia induced. I still get crazy dreams regarding my surgery here and there, but they're always some kind of nightmare where I have eaten something completely off my plan and absolutely horrible for my sleeve, and then I start to panic about what to do. It actually takes me a few minutes after I wake up to realize I didn't do that and that I can let go of the feeling.

I can tell you that for me, I considered the carb content high. It has 12 carbs in it. Comparing this to what I settled on as best tasting, and best for my body, Premier protein drinks have only 5 carbs in them. The Muscle Milk light only has 5 carbs, but it also only has 15 protein, as compared to the 30 in Premier, which tops both of them. There is more sugar in Muscle Milk as well. No matter how miniscule, and I like to avoid sugar as much as possible. Also, Muscle Milk has 230 calories, and Premier only has 160. The calorie content alone may not be a concern as many of us have to fight to get our calories up to goal, but I would rather get my calories from protein that carbs.

I wondered myself about the connection between being cold and protein intake. When I was in my first few weeks post-op, I was freezing cold all the time. I had pajamas, heating pad, space heater by me, and a blanket at all times. Given my starting weight, it wasn't realistic that this early out I was just carrying around less insulation. I noticed, though, once I was able to get nearer to goal on my daily protein intake that the constant freezing began to subside. I do feel cold more often now than I used to, so I'm thinking this really could be a nutrient intake thing. Please note, I have no research or facts to back this up. Just personal observation.

Best. Fiance. Ever.

Your work outs sound intense and amazing. It seems like it's possible that you're building muscle at the same time that you're losing. Or, and I'm a newbie, so please defer to the opinions of more experienced VSGers and your surgeon/nutritionist, but with work outs that intense, I wonder if you need to up your calorie intake. It could be a combination of those things.

I totally understand. I've had horribly irregular periods since the moment I started. I would have one about once a year, and when I did... ugh. Two weeks of flooding misery. I couldn't do anything. When I lost weight the old-fashioned way a couple of years ago, my periods became regular and much easier to deal with. I used to think I didn't want regular periods either, but knowing when it was going to happen each month, and having it be only about three days of light to moderate... I would much rather have that. They started getting wonky again after I gained my weight back, but are still kind of regular, though heavier. I'm looking forward to them lightening up again as I lose more weight.

It sounds like she had Gastroesophageal Reflux Surgery. This is a surgery to treat GERD. It can cause weight loss after surgery because of being on a liquid diet and necessary dietary changes to treat GERD, but to my knowledge, it is not used as a weight loss surgery. (http://www.webmd.com/heartburn-gerd/fundoplication-surgery-for-gastroesophageal-reflux-disease-gerd)

You could try Bio Oil scar treatment. You should be able to find it near the band-aids at the pharmacy, or in the pharmacy section of the grocery store. It might help keep it moisturized, and not so dry and itchy.

Oh, I know, and I wasn't really suggesting that that was what you would have to do. I just have had the same feelings on the topic you posted. I have so much more to lose than you do, plus I'm 13 years older than you, so I was saying that that's what I know may happen for me. Believe me, I want to feel good about my body too. More than anything, and I constantly pray my heart out that my body will be forgiving and become a pleasant shape and have nothing grotesque after my weight loss. I'm older than you, but I still have so much life ahead of me that I want to live too. You just pointed out a really big question and concern I've had in my heart too, so I was using your topic to share my own feelings and fears about it.

I can't help but wonder if a tendency to have deficiencies and be dehydrated more often when one has WLS leads to less skin elasticity as well. I've definitely struggled to keep my Water intake up, and I notice how dry my skin gets, and I've never in my life had a problem with dry skin. I have heard too, for the most part, that age is on your side if you're younger when you have surgery. What age range do you suppose is considered young enough to hold out this hope? I'm hoping that since I had this surgery at age 33 (turned 34 right after) that I'm still at the tail end of being young enough to have at least a little youth left on my side. : / Also, I know that if you haven't been a yo-yo dieter, and lost and gained repeatedly, that this can help as well. I'm with you, Ashlie, I'm one of those people that won't be able to afford skin removal surgery. However, I have so much more to lose than your average WLSer, so I know I have to maintain the reality that I will more than likely have to accept massive quantities of extra skin. I just try to hold on to the up side of the whole thing that I will still be much healthier, will feel better, and will at least be able to look great with my clothes on.

Can you share your current food intake? What does your typical day's menu look like?

I have to be honest, I was sleeved on 2/6, and I only starting feeling better about 2 weeks ago. I stayed extremely weak and run down until about 2 months post-op. That being said, I am larger than your average VSG patient, so that could have something to do with it. I've read many people who say it took them about 6 weeks to have their energy back, so hang in there. As for taste, that comes with the territory. I posted about it recently because I experienced this with liquids immediately post-op, and it reoccurred for me recently with anything I ate. I was told that can happen when your body goes into ketosis. Since it's a signal that my body is burning fat, I've decided to try and be grateful for it any time it happens.

I'm in West Tennessee, but I did have my surgery in Nashville.

Are you getting enough water?

Yep, you count each ingredient. I use myfitnesspal.com for that. You can enter the recipe ingredients, being sure to enter how many servings it is, and it does all of the calculating for you. If you then use myfitnesspal to log your food each day, you can just put in that recipe when you eat it, and it'll enter your intake numbers for you.

Well, I'm nearly a foot taller than you, but I am in TN. Welcome to the community!

I went through the typical phase immediately after surgery where it was hard to want to eat or drink anything because it all tasted bad, and then it passed. Since then, I've felt pretty normal with food. However, in the last week, everything has started tasting strange to me again. Food tastes bland, or abhorrent. There's no in between. Even my beloved Crystal Light which has seriously helped me maintain my water intake suddenly just tastes bad. I don't recall ever reading any posts about food taste issues coming back. I'm still eating, and I'm trying mightily to choke the water down. Just wondering, has anyone else experienced this, and does it go away again? It's interesting, it seems to coincide with my weight finally beginning to drop again after a monstrous 3+ week stall. I've been back to dropping about a pound a day, after levitating between the same three pounds for those three weeks.