NMJG

Best of luck to you. If you get worried about anything after surgery, come back and ask questions, your friends here will make you feel so much better.

Mine was really long, too. We had to do the standard psych eval exam, the MMI-2 is pretty common if you want to look up some of the questions in advance. You can ask them what they use. All the clinics are different. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Multiphasic_Personality_Inventory If they use a written assessment, it will likely include these types of questions.

Great accomplishment. You have every right to be proud. Good job!

Good for you, you tiny little thing!

Honey, you do what you need to do. Screw 'em. I have kept it a secret from everyone except my husband and kids. Told people early on I was on a diet, so when I lost weight they were expecting it. No one suspects I have had WLS and I plan to keep it that way. However, when the weight starts coming off, be prepared for all sorts of cr@p from your folks. I can hear it now... "You are losing too much weight, you look awful" and "It's not healthy" and lots of that sort of thing I bet. You'll have to be strong, but I am betting you can do it. They will be so jealous of your success. During your first month and maybe even until you are on solid food you'll be better off staying away from them if you can, or at least avoiding any meals. You'll feel poorly enough anyway, so you really won't need the added aggravation.

Hi Billie, My thoughts on your situation: You may well be starting the 3 week stall. Don't sweat it, just wait it out. Don't push yourself into the next food phase. Move on when it feels comfortable. Can you find any sort of puree that you like? As others suggested, only weigh weekly or even less. For sleeping, try sleeping on your back with a lot of pillow support. I use up to 6 pillows under my back and it's quite comfy now. Started this right after surgery. Also, try some Sleepy Time tea before bed. Hope you feel better.

A lot of people are idiots and have no clue about WLS. It never even occurred to me to tell anyone outside of DH and my grown kids. Doubt I ever will. That's just me. My medical history is private. I have no patience for morons who say stupid things like "have you ever tried diet and exercise." Sheesh.

I had to do the h. pylori test, but it is a breath test at my doctor's office, not a stool sample (eeewww).

It was around 50 lbs for me, too, even though I was dropping sizes before then.

That's great Good for you!

I used corecidan. The pills were not a problem.

blecchhh, those are so gross. I take Trader Joe's High Potency Chewable Multivitamins.

That is just so weird. The insurance companies are so absurd when it comes to WLS. I don't know how you managed to keep exactly the same BMI, good for you. They put you on a diet then say you can't lose anything.

Well, just a suggestion, but you might try the Atkins Induction phase for 2 weeks. That is super low carb (20 g max daily) and will supposedly wipe out your carb cravings. Keep some laxatives on hand, though It is basically no fruit, no carby veggies, no starch, and of course no Pasta, rice, bread, tortillas, etc. Just meat, cheese, fish, and Proteins with no carbs (fats are fine).

Not weird at all. It's very common. I'm sure the community will give you lots of suggestions on what to drink. I still don't drink cold water.

The first weigh in is the one that counts towards getting approved, because you are often expected to lose some before surgery (not always, but it is common). There may be insurances that consider a second weigh in after that to look at your BMI, but I have not heard of any. If someone knows of any, pipe up.... Regarding the BMI required, every insurance is different. However, some common guidelines are: BMI 40 and above BMI above 35 with comorbidities (high blood pressure, sleep apnea, diabetes type II, etc.) Not that it doesn't exist, but I haven't heard of an insurance that approves BMI below 35 yet. Anyone else know of any?

Take some pix, Jane, so we can see your progress with this. I have little to no butt and pretty much nonexistent glutes. Would be interested to know which exercises you do for glutes.

wow! just...wow! congratulations on a tremendous achievement

so what exactly is a "normal thin person?" and how do they eat? I don't know what that is anymore. Normal today isn't the normal it was 50 years ago, before obesity became an epidemic. I think "normal" is a very subjective term, depending on where you live, how you live, where you work, etc.

Well, I'm almost 7 months out and have something similar going on. It started maybe 3 weeks ago with incredible pain that ran from my stomach through to my back. Went to the ER, they did a CT scan, which showed stomach inflammation. Talked to my bariatric doctor's office about it and they recommended liquid diet for a few days. The ER doc gave me a prescription for Zofran, which helped a lot. I don't have a gallbladder, so we know that isn't it. After that I went back on PPI's for acid for 2 weeks and it was fine. Last week it hit me again, and then again yesterday. I am pretty sure it is an ulcer, although I don't know why it didn't show up on the CT scan. I probably should do a scope. For the moment I am self treating with a longer term on Prilosec (8 weeks instead of 2), and using Ranitidine and Mylanta in the short term untilthe Prilosec kicks in. I've also altered my diet to avoid acid and high fat foods until I'm better. I did not have the black stools or bloody vomit, though. I am sending good thoughts your way. Let us know what happens.

It's hard, I know. My anniversary was a couple of weeks after surgery last year and we went away for a romantic weekend. My dear hubby kept trying to feed me all sorts of things like cheese Soups (not Campbell's, ones with real cream) and creamed spinach and stuff like that. It's a wonder I survived that weekend LOL.

Hi there, Great thread. Well, my biggest fear is that I would gain the weight back. I'm still losing (very slowly but it is coming off), so I'm don't have my final answer yet. I am working hard to put good habits into place so that the weight will not come back.

Sweetpea, I am sending hugs your way. This is such a hard time, but it does get better. The suggestions here are all good: antacids help a lot, yogurt if your doc allows it. I was able to have cottage cheese fairly early and that helped a lot.

Well, it's taken me months but I am actually getting better at stopping right before full. Full for me is gross feeling, like I'm going to explode, barf, and poop simultaneously. I'll also sneeze and hiccup. I have to walk after a meal like this for 30 minutes or more before I feel better. Now the funny thing is that ONE bite can push me over the edge. How weird is that? So now I shoot for not full, but where I'm losing interest in my meal. If I particularly like what I am eating, that's where it gets difficult to tell when to stop. I now use a timer app on my phone, set to 1 minute between bites. It's helped a lot.

I just checked my records from MFP and I was 650-750 at 3 months, averaging around 700 a day. As to the volume of food, heck, I still can only get a half cup down at a meal. Have you moved to firmer foods yet? Poultry, fish, pork will fill you up (beef may be too much for now unless ground). Cottage cheese and other soft foods, that you could probably eat a lot of. Maybe time to move off of the softer foods if your doc OK's it?