Sydney Susan

I will try to be there - city is a bit more tricky for me than the burbs but I realise it's nice and central so best all round. I'm coming from Northern suburbs (North Ryde) - if it's only me going ill take the train but if anyone wants a lift and is happy to share parking costs I'll drive. Just PM me.

Seems good to me - pencilled in for either day.

I'm relieved to have found this thread - I've lost more than 25% of my body weight (most of it some months ago now), and am having a shocking time with hot flushes/flashes. Many each day. I've also got a chronic (slow growing) cancer, and hot flushes can be a sign the cancer is getting more active, and I came back to this thread in the hope of finding posts like these.... As I too had heard fat cells store oestrogen, so it seems to me a lessening of my fat deposits would further reduce my post-menopausal hormone levels (and I had a lot of hot flushes when I first went through menopause 7 years ago, following a radical hysterectomy). Once again you folks have helped me hang on to the thin thread of my sanity... Thank you! PS: I will mention it to my Dr too.

Sueoco said: I think it is nearly time for another Sydney Siders get together - Kelli - when did you say you would be in Sydney? Hope you can make it Aussie girl and Susan? All welcome of course! Count me in Sue!

This is your 5th day post-op, right? Don't try to run before you can walk! I was still on Clear liquids then with not a thought of Protein in my head. scale back a bit, focus on keeping your fluids up and let your swollen tummy heal. Dumping syndrome - to me at least - is a shakey and nauseous feeling that comes from eating certain sweet tasting foods - choc Protein shakes do it to me every time, but so far nothing else has. I'm sure you can get "natural" or unflavoured Protein powder to add to Soups and shakes, but I'd leave that for a week and focus on clear soups for now. Good luck.

They help with rectal problems rather than the whole of your gut, so may not give full relief. But girls of a certain age (read post-partum and post menopausal) need to take care of that part of their body, so it's a good investment.

I was sleeved in April. You really will feel a little better each and every day and before you know it, all is "normal" again. Have faith in your own resilience and that thousands have trod this same road before you. Good luck.

Interesting article in my local paper today DECEMBER 03, 2013 - Sydney Morning Herald Are slim people happier? Dr George Blair-West. Slim people are happier people. Moreover, their happiness is more profound. Despite the eternal stereotypes of the ever-smiling, rotund, fairy godmother, and the paunchy, ho-hoing Santa Claus, the research supports a rather different reality. This, however, is not a story of causality. This is a story of association. Losing weight will not make you happy, but happy people are generally slimmer. So, what is the relationship between happiness and weight loss? The link is the elusive word ‘meaning’. As a doctor and psychiatrist, I subspecialise in only three areas of psychiatry: the psychotherapy of weight loss, trauma therapy and relationship therapy. The most difficult of these three areas, not by a little way, but by a very long way, is obesity. If only losing weight was a simple as ‘just eating less and exercising more.’ Of course, if it was, we would not have the obesity plague that we’re faced with currently. The truth is that most people know precisely what healthy eating looks like. Moreover, they want to lose weight, but something sabotages the process. While we continue to think of obesity as a condition in its own right, rather than as a symptom of an underlying problem, our abject failure in treating it will continue to haunt those of us in the medical and related health professions. You do not need to be Freud to know that a significant amount of overeating is self-medicating unhappiness in all its forms – stress, anxiety, depression. (‘Comfort Eating’ should go down in history as one of the greatest over-simplifications of all time.) chocolate (the other major food group) is the most widely used antidepressant on the planet. The first step in therapy then, is helping people to develop alternative and more effective ways of managing these emotions – this is ‘Treating Obesity Psych 101’ – it is also just the tip of an iceberg of considerable complexity. Over more than a decade, as I have drilled deeper into the minds of my obese patients, another issue emerged. For many people food and eating was the most meaningful part of their day-to-day life. If you are going to put somebody, for whom food is the high point of their day, on a diet, please do not be surprised by the inevitable failure that follows. (Mind you, this does not stop health professionals from making this mistake over and over again. The unfortunate cost is the creation of confusion and a failure mindset in our hard done by patients.) My intrigue with what I was seeing clinically took me to the profound research, spanning the last 20 years, of Professor Carol Ryff at the University of Wisconsin, USA. In one particular, well-designed study she looked closely at two groups of women. With 135 in total, members of both groups rated themselves as ‘happy’. This was no airy-fairy investigation of warm fuzzy feelings. Ryff was interested in the correlation between hard biological markers like cortisol (an immune system marker), HDL cholesterol and body weight, with two different forms of happiness. One group were defined by being satisfied with their life, enjoying its pleasures and generally having a subjective sense of well-being. The other group had a deeper sense of well-being built around the desire for personal growth, meaningful experiences and relationships, along with a sense of purpose in their life. Ryff found statistically significant differences when she looked at those who lived with meaning and purpose in their life. Not only did they have lower weight, but their good cholesterol levels were higher and their cortisol levels were better. In short, happiness built around meaning and purpose is not a luxury in life – your weight and your health depend on it. I was surprised to find that, much more than most challenges in therapy, my patients really struggled with trying to find what was meaningful in their life – let alone the purpose this would guide them to. Too often they would make the challenge more problematic by adding the ‘ion’ to what is fundamentally a ‘quest’ - making it a ‘question’ – a question they could not answer. At school, a question without an answer equalled ‘idiot’. Like most of us, when faced with a question we do not know the answer to, my patients pushed it away. Once they understood it was a journey, a Quest, they needed to pursue over time, they settled into the process. Slowly but surely as my patients found more meaningful pursuits in their life than eating, they began losing weight. More importantly they lost the weight and kept it off, while at the same time saying to me, ‘This is strange, because I don’t feel like I’m on a diet at all.’ Finding meaning is not about quitting your day job and going in search of your soul in a third world country. This journey begins at home. It begins with a detailed examination of what you found meaningful in your past and which aspects of your life and work now are meaningful. I also get my patients to look at their dreams for the future, some of which they have held since they were children. Once we have found what is meaningful we look at what purpose this guides us to. This all takes time, self-exploration and regular reflection. Managing the powerful physiological and psychological forces that drive overeating, requires us to bring out the big guns. There are no bigger guns than meaning and purpose. Dr George Blair-West is the author of the internationally acclaimed, award-winning The Way of The Quest that explains the ‘how to’ of finding meaning and purpose. His first book, the best selling Weight Loss for Food Lovers: Understanding our minds and why we sabotage our weight loss has been translated into Dutch and Chinese. For more information about his latest work into the motivation and mindset of weight loss visit www.weightlossforfoodlovers.com

Great news Niki. Addisons is known for causing digestive problems (as it impacts on muscle tissue it affects peristalsis that moves food through your intestinal tract AND as it affects Fluid balance it affects the make up of digestive enzymes), so you probably had a few things going on there. Did you realise your Addison's puts you in interesting company? JFK, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Helen Reddy and Osama Bin Laden are either confirmed or believed to have had it.

I was never given any restrictions on coffee. I'd kiss goodbye to all carbonated drinks - 9 months since I had any and except on the hottest of days I don't miss them at all now. Super cold water and low cal iced tea or cordial do the trick.

Hi folks. I haven't been posting so much lately but read this thread every day. Welcome to the newbies and congrats to all on their weight loss. Sue, you look b#%^*y fantastic! I'm still struggling with the same last 5 kilos - I could do more and need to get to it. My thyroid is still all over the place and that's frustrating. On my birthday earlier this month it was confirmed that I have a chronic leukemia - chronic means I'm not about to pop off anytime soon but still the thought of tough times ahead greatly depressed me and I'm only just coming out of that particular funk now. I also have 4 liver lesions that have been under investigation for a while and drs at last concluded these are benign (hooray) with possible pre-cancerous potential (boo!) and need to be cut out (double boo!). But they are deep in my liver and the op would be horrendous so for now I'm having 6 monthly scans and "watching and waiting". What a few months its been! So here I am staring down my possible third cancer in 7 years and thinking that all those diet soft drinks I indulged in over the years may not have been the best for me. Anyway, I'm in a treatment lull for now and looking forward to going away to the beach soon WITH my swimsuit, for a change. I'll try to attach a couple of photos - the first is not me at my highest by any means (and it's a horrible pic). I can't locate one of me at my worst. The second is me last Friday, going out to dinner. See how I go...

I too think your intake (calories) is a little high - I need to be 800 or less to lose weight and a lot on these forums have said similar low amounts. Also, you should be feeling restriction, particularly with dense protein - roast chicken breast is a good example. Some foods go down more easily, which is why most drs and nutritionists say protein first and make jt the lean, dense kind. Sadly some foods do need to be avoided - starchy carbs - sleeve or no sleeve. There are folks who want to eat the "same as before but smaller portion size"... While I certainly get that, my own experience has been greater/quicker hunger, higher calorie intake and less weight loss with breads and cereals in my diet. Record what you're eating and make your 60g plus protein only of the lean, dense kind and see how that affects you. Good luck.

It sounds like you have a few issues to address. Firstly, you seem to have doubts about how well your op was done - NO food restrictions! Wow. I would be getting an independent medical review that ends with confirming your sleeve was done appropriately - or not - in regard to size/volume. Once that is confirmed, get an endocrine system full check - I'm particularly thinking of your thyroid function. Underactive thyroid is very common, and should be excluded. Even "subclinical" results (normal, but only just) can cause many symptoms like full blown thyroid dysfunction, including weight gain. Finally (or perhaps first), are you recording your diet? Many, many people on this forum will tell you they need to eat less than 1000 cal per day, low fat, low carb and zero alcohol in order to lose weight. With such a limited outcome over a year (unless you didn't have much to lose in the first place) you need to be systematic - and diligent - to get to the bottom of this. Good luck.

I've never heard of an epidural being used for VSG, and I would think that anything that is likely to induce violent vomitting is to be avoided. Never had a catheter either... was up quite quickly, used a commode chair once and then walked to the loo with a little help.

Some days my reflux is worse than prior, some days better. Other than this, it has been easier than I dared to imagine. All feels very "natural" to me (small portions, slower eating, less carbs). Also, my thyroid packed in after 2 months but is was dodgy before... If you have anything like that monitor closely as surgery is a stress on your body - I waited 3 months to get tests done, and that was a silly waste of time. Even so, I've lost 27 kg and am 5kg from my goal... And I feel soooo much better.

Reflux can do this, I agree. An over the counter product will let you work out if you respond to anti reflux meds, but a prescription med is best.

That's great news Niki. I didn't want to say earlier but Addison's can cause great anxiety, as in hormonal changes that increase stress levels. I thought you had quite enough reason to be stressed anyway, and getting stressed about being stressed would hardly help. Now the treatment is kicking in you sound like a "new woman". Congrats.

Ice chips?

Immediately post sleeve it won't be "true" hunger as all your hunger hormones have gone along with most of your stomach... Head hunger or your body misreading thirst, most likely. You have a LOT of healing to do - don't cheat. It is so not worth the risk. Every dr is different but mine didn't even allow Water till day 4 (on IV fluids till then) - solids were weeks away. He is v cautious but has v few complications too. There's a lot wisdom in the threads on this site - follow it and with a teensy bit of luck you'll do very well. Good luck.

I take thyroxine - synthetic thyroid hormone - you might know it as synthroid, I think. Thyroid is easy to treat - as in, just a tablet - but it can be hard to get it "just right". The most important thing to remember is that the "reference range" applies to the population - no individual can move across the full ref range and feel good. As an example, the ref range for T4 in Australia is 11 to 20 (most labs). At 11 I am technically normal but feel awful. At 19 I am still technically normal but have severe heart palpitations. After having this condition for the whole 30 plus years of my adult life, i know I feel best around 15/16. Doctors often just "go by the numbers", to which you need to challenge fiercely to get what you need! Good luck.

Get your thyroid checked - I lost 20+ kg in two months and then stopped dead - took me three months to get around to a thyroid function test - I have Hashimoto's - and sure enough it was "stuffed". What a stupid waste of time that was - if you are sure you are eating 800 cal or less, get your doc to run some tests.

Most of us seem to be told to eat low carb, low (or moderate) fat, high protein. Atkins is quite high in fat.

Reflux can make you feel "hungry" (or pain), and is more common with sleeve than bypass, so dr may not have mentioned it to you (?). Might be worth checking out if it could be related to that. And definitely small bites, slow eating - teaspoon and cocktail fork, half or quarter cup bowl and small plate really help. Also, drink before but not during or after meal for a good while. I find dense foods the easiest to "overeat" on - I've only once had real pain and that was a couple of days ago (in over 7 months). That was baked Beans that I was gobbling down while walking around, in a hurry to get out and with one eye on the evening news. Recipe for disaster!

Do you wake up with a dry mouth? If so you may be opening your mouth in your sleep - all the air will rush out of your mouth, not get into your lungs and cause you to wake up feeling like you are suffocating. I haven't used nasal pillows but I don't think you should be experiencing that noise. My husband is a very light sleeper and he tells me that when my machine is set up right both I and the machine are v quiet. Can you exchange your mask for the nasal type (not pillows)? Or buy one? Do you have access to a sleep technician? I am a firm believer that we can all get CPAP to work for us - and I've benefited so much from mine.

My pressure is 15 or 16, so pretty high. I don't use the nasal pillows, just a mask that goes over my nose only. If I wake up in the night and turn off my machine the ramp up restarts - perhaps try to set it for a longer/slower ramp up. I have heaps of trouble going to sleep and try to avoid laying there with my mask on, but my ramp up is set for 40 mins. I have the Resmed S6 and the temp can be set separately to the humidifier - perhaps that can be sorted out on yours? Re smell, yes or can be horrible. I am perhaps somewhat "blessed" with a poor sense of smell, so not such an issue for me. However cleaners can really get to me, so I confess I don't clean as much as recommended. Re noise, a new, high spec machine should be pretty quiet, but somedays the noise just gets to me. I throw a pillow over the machine, just making sure the inlet area (mine is at the back) is kept clear. I find it makes a huge difference. Clogged filters will make the machine noisier, and in a dusty environment they need to be changed frequently. A mask should be quiet (not silent, but v quiet). If its not there may be a leak. Remember that you shouldn't be breathing out your mouth. I do have trouble using CPAP if I have sinus issues or a cold - as you can't use the machine with your mouth open, if you need to breathe through your mouth it's best not to try to use the machine. Lastly, sleep apnoea is always worse on your back so try to sleep on your side - you should be able to go to sleep on your side. Perhaps a smaller pillow will stop the mask being pushed to the side (I'm assuming that is what is happening). We should start a thread of tips for using CPAP/APAP machines. But as you can see by this thread, it's complicated and a good sleep technician is well worth his/her weight in gold! Once you get it sorted you will wake so refreshed that it will become a real security blanket. Good luck with it.