LumpySpacePrincess

My mom (who hasn't had WLS and is super skinny) has the exact same reaction to KFC. I don't think you damaged anything, it just sounds like all the grease in the chicken did not make your stomach happy and it needs a day or two to recuperate.

Thanks for this! I often forget to drink during the day, and this is the kind of reminder I need to drink more often. Kidney stones definitely do not sound fun!

I have been on this medication twice in my life, and for a good year I was on the over-the-counter Ephedrine. They all work. However, the drawback is you become tolerant of them very, very quickly; sometimes to the point that a dose that will keep you from getting hungry may be beyond what is safe. That being said, I do still take it occasionally. It has great anti-anxiety properties and kills my appetite when I need it to. This last time I was prescribed Phentermine by my OB/GYN who also does weight management for women. I have ED-NOS (eating disorder-not otherwise specified) with bingeing components and the Phentermine is sometimes the only thing that prevents me from going into binge mode. I use it just as that: a preventative tool when I feel my brain is working against me and I need help taking a step backward. To be clear, however, I also go to therapy for my eating issues several times per month; the Phentermine is just a backup when I feel really out of control. Currently, I only take half of a dose and that usually does what I need it to do: temporarily puts my cravings on hold and my hunger at bay so I can work through whatever issue is driving me to eat. If you are looking for something that will create massive, permanent weight loss, however, Phentermine is not your drug. At most you'll lose about 40-50 pounds, and then when you become tolerant you'll have to either go through detox and most likely gain all the weight back, or keep upping your dose to the drug's safety ceiling, at which point you'll have to detox and probably gain the weight back. Phentermine is not permanent, it is temporary. I do think for some of us, using Phentermine and other drugs like it to occasionally (and always under doctor and therapist supervision!!) have relief from psychological eating patterns in conjunction with weight loss surgery is not a problem. What is a problem is when you start expecting to see results from Phentermine alone. In that case, you will most likely be highly disappointed and possibly even addicted to a controlled substance.

3 weeks out seems to be a very common time to worry about if we will lose or not. Almost everyone is afraid of that. I was, too, but at 8 months out I'm down 130ish pounds. It goes by really fast, so don't worry, you will lose! Because you have less to lose than others, your losses may not be as dramatic, but as long as you follow your surgeon's eating plan, the losses will come!

Ice pack reduces swelling better than heat. I used one of those cooler inserts that looks like blue gel inside bubble wrap. It was big enough to lay over my belly and it was the best feeling in the world!

It should ease your mind to know that after I got home from the hospital (24 hour stay) I didn't need the Lortab. The visiting nurse told me children's liquid Tylenol is better for us anyway as it doesn't slow down the gut and it really did just fine. You might look into group therapies for people with addictions and eating disorders. While its not bariatric specific, that demographic of people will also be looking to stay sober while conquering food issues. It might be helpful to contact one of the Renfrew centers here in New Jersey and ask if they know of any of those groups; they may even hold them at their centers. Hope this helps.

I remember having terrible itching around my incisions, too. I didn't scratch, but I just kind of ran my fingernail in a circle around the incisions (maybe about 1/4" away from the actual cut) and that seemed to help. Not too much pressure. The itching goes away after about a week or so.

Rules from my surgeon were that I had to be off the pain medication and I could forcefully push the brake pedal without pain. I also do not recommend putting anything between you and the seatbelt while driving. Mentioned this to a friend of mine back when I had my surgery (she is an EMT) and says it has the possibility of reducing the effectiveness of your seatbelt.

Try Dr. Joseph Capella in Ramsey, NJ if you can get here. I've read on various plastic surgery review forums that he charges $20,000 for an entire body lift, and I think much less for just a tummy tuck. Plus he's pretty much the top doctor in the country for post-bariatric body contouring so you'll get good results.

I think almost everyone feels this way. Just wait until you eat solid food. You'll be amazed at how little actually fits in your stomach. Just keep your portion volume in line with what your surgeon recommends for your stage and you'll do fine.

I was instructed to take them daily for the first two weeks, then start skipping days after that as long as I didn't notice my GERD reoccurring. I was able to wean off them completely by about a month and a half out, and now I only need the occasional one if I eat something too spicy or acidic.

Celexa is notorious for causing weight gain. Your surgeon's office should be able to appeal successfully showing that your weight gain coincided with the start of the Celexa. That being said, it might be worth it to look into other medications that are less likely to cause weight gain so you're not struggling after surgery. I'd also avoid Zyprexa for the same reason, but you might try Paxil if you are taking the medication for anxiety/panic attacks. If you need medication for depression, try Wellbutrin or Luvox but I'd stay away from Effexor (very strong and hard to get off of), Zoloft and Lexapro. All of those are known to cause a lot of weight gain. I hope this helps and you get approved soon!

Like others have said, you don't owe anyone an answer to those kinds of questions. I also can't imagine that people would even ask about it! My philosophy is, if they're close enough to see my scar, they need to back up a few feet anyway. Most people are also too busy with themselves to notice small things like that.

Get some Miralax. Its a powder that you can mix with Protein shakes that will keep you regular. Its what they give to patients in chemotherapy and radiation treatment because chemo is notorious for making them constipated. You have to take it every day, though, and it will be a few days before it works. The reason you're not having a bm more regularly could be for a few reasons. First, at two weeks out you probably haven't eaten enough solid food to produce one. Second, if you're not getting enough Water (and more is needed in the first month than in subsequent months), it can slow things down. Third, the liquid pain medication they send us home with can slow down our bowels. The visiting nurse I had just after surgery told me this; those meds can be very constipating. For what it's worth, I'm 7 months out and I only have a bm about once a week, and even then its really small. You'll be fine.

At this stage, you should not just be eating an unspecified portion until you are full. You have to start distinguishing between being satisfied nutritionally and being full. I know you probably want that Thanksgiving full feeling, but pushing that boundary is going to make your sleeve dilate in later months when you can eat solids. You must must must measure all your food at this stage, and for as far out as you are that is no more than 3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup per meal at the very most. This standard will hold true until you are at least 3 or 4 months post-op. Serve only this amount and eat very slowly (I know its hard!) and stop when you begin to feel restriction, not when you feel full.

I had United Healthcare when I first started looking into surgery. My surgical coordinator told me it is very difficult to get approved for WLS through them. Some plans will cover it, but you have to do these supervised nursing calls and if you miss even one, you get denied. So I dropped United and shopped around. I found BCBS was the best plan that covered the most, including the surgery. Their only criteria for approval were that you had to follow your surgeon's pre-op regimine (set by the surgeon, not BCBS, so that's all your pre-op testing and one nutritionist visit), six months of doctor supervised weight loss attempts, a letter of medical necessity from said doctor and weight history for the last two years from any source (ER, PCP or OB/GYN). The only other exclusion would be if you'd had WLS in the previous two years. That said, I paid about $4000 out of pocket for the policy for the few months I needed it, then switched to a lower plan. It is a little less than what some pay to go to Mexico, and though it was expensive initially I had the assurance that my surgeon was just around the corner if I need something or something goes wrong. Honestly, it was the best $4000 I've ever spent.

Could I recommend not chewing gum? When you chew gum, your salivary glands start working which sends a chemical signal to your brain that food is coming. When no food arrives in the stomach, the stomach will send a signal back to your brain as a reminder that it hasn't received food yet, which will make you think you need to eat. I agree with JeanZ to not snack at all. Once you kick the snacking habit it gets easier to avoid. I also agree with other posters that drinking more Water would be ideal. You could also try decaf iced tea either plain with an alternative sweetener if your mouth is just looking for flavor. Better than chewing gum since you are hydrating yourself and your stomach knows something is going in. On days when you really need a snack, avoid fruit or anything with more than 5 net carbs per serving. The carbohydrates will make you hungry again before your next meal. Like others have suggested, beef Jerky would be great for this. Really chewy, full of Protein (just get the kind with no added sugars!), and low carbs. The only reason I say to avoid nuts is that they tend to be slider foods and you can easily eat 200 or more calories worth of nuts in a very short amount of time without feeling full at all. Good luck!

There were a few reasons I went with the sleeve over the band. The main one was that, when explaining my surgery options, my surgeon told me about the band and then crossed it off the possibility list. She told me the reported percentage of body weight lost due to the band was too low for the weight I was at when I started and I'd need a more aggressive option. Second, I read that a lot of surgeons are dropping the band from their surgical practice so it might be harder in future years to find surgeons who can help you maintain the band with fills, etc. Third, I know six people who had the band, lost weight, then they all had to have it removed for various reasons. One of my mom's friends had the band and it kicked her bulimia into overdrive and now she is incredibly underweight. Another friend had the band eat right through the tissue where it was sitting and it went missing. I know these are rare complications but not one I wanted to deal with. Fourth, the sleeve is a true metabolic surgery which would help to reduce or eliminate my co-occurring disorders (insulin resistance and PCOS). Something about the removal of part of your stomach does something to your metabolism to help you reverse these issues. I needed this fairly bad, because I was one of the unfortunate people that could gain weight taking metformin while eating low carb/low fat. Basically, I could gain weight eating plain lettuce! I needed something to repair that broken mechanism, which my sleeve did within two weeks of surgery. Lastly, I wanted something permanent. I have been struggling with binge eating my entire life, and like any psychological disorder it can mess with your judgment. I felt as if with the band, I could have the Fluid taken out around holidays so I could eat more, or around vacation, etc. I wanted something that would make bingeing fairly uncomfortable so I could start to control it. It also helps that the sleeve removes the gland that produces the hunger hormone (ghrelin) so I have a vastly reduced appetite and for the first time in my entire life I couldn't care less about not eating what I think I want. It is liberating in a way I could never have imagined. But those were MY factors. Every situation is unique in its own way, so the band might be perfect for you. Take some time to really examine your options and I can't stress enough how important it is to seek counseling for food issues if you have them. Sometimes the type of surgery matters less than how well we follow through with our nutritional guidelines post-op.

I love my Vitamin D supplement. I'm on 50,000IU once per week and I can definitely tell the difference when I don't take it. My mom had been on intensive Vitamin D therapy a few years ago when she hit menopause and told me it was a great anti-depressant and anti-anxiety. I didn't believe her until my third week at that dose when I suddenly felt so much better. I don't know what anyone else has been told, but my NUT told me that unless you live someplace tropical and are outside all the time, you're probably deficient in vitamin D, so its probably something almost everyone should be taking extra of.

My surgeon told me unless the gain is over 3 pounds, its not actually a gain at all because there are so many more factors involved as to what could make your scale show a higher weight. If you are worried about stalling, lower your calories by 100 per day for a week and see what happens. It really doesn't take much of a drop to kick your body into gear again. I also find that calorie trackers and nutrition labels are fairly inaccurate, so I set a calorie goal and then try to stay about 50-100 below that goal in my calorie tracker, and I find that is a much more accurate daily count for me. Hope this helps!

I had two different health insurances when I first went in for a consult and my coordinator told me the same thing. She said it is basically because if you have two health insurances they'll essentially fight over who has to cover it because neither of them really want to and you get caught up in all the red tape. Your primary will want the secondary to cover a certain percentage and the secondary will want the primary to cover it all. Plus if you have different waiting periods (4 months and 7 months like you stated) it can get fairly complicated. Its not as simple as just submitting to one insurance because they check to see what other health insurance you have by looking up through your SSN. That said, 7 months seems like a long time but it took me about that long to prepare for surgery both psychologically and with all the pre-op requirements. I had to wait 2 months just to get an END consult, and then I had to wait another month just for an open appointment. The psych eval takes a little while to track down as well. To be honest, 7 months for nutritional counseling will prepare you much better than 4 in the long run. You'll be more knowledgable about what you should be doing post-op and how different types of food affect your body. I know it sucks to wait that long, but a longer prep period before this major, life changing surgery will benefit you so much more in the long run.

So much easier than I imagined! The weight has just melted off with very little effort aside from just keeping my portions and calories in check. I eat very, very little, a lot less than most (average 650 calories per day since surgery 7 months ago), so that might be why I've not stalled out and my losses are much faster than others. The hardest part for most people is keeping the psychological urges to eat at bay. I'm in therapy which makes an enormous difference, and its something I recommend to everyone. Just follow your plan and you will be amazed how quickly things happen!

The surgical coordinator that I had to deal with was a temp while the regular coordinator was on maternity leave. I loved the girl who was out on leave, but her replacement was anything but helpful. Didn't seem to really know what she was doing. The reason I stayed with my surgeon, however, was because I believed in her surgical skills and her policy of care. She is an outstanding surgeon, and I had to remind myself that once I was approved by the insurance, I wouldn't have to deal with the coordinator anymore. She may have been annoyingly inefficient, but she wasn't the one doing my surgery. If you believe in the surgeon himself, stick with him. The other coordinator sounds like she might know what she's doing so try to only deal with her from now on. I think trying to find another surgeon might just draw the process out at this point. Keeping my fingers crossed for approval for you!

I felt like death for the first few days home. I felt great, even practically ran out of the hospital. Then the drugs wore off about two minutes into the car ride home. Rest assured by day 3 things will be more tolerable, and by day 5 it will be almost unnoticeable. My one piece of advice for every new post-op is to make a bed wedge by creating a pyramid of pillows and covering it with a blanket to prop yourself up with for the first few days. Every night, remove one pillow so you're a little lower and you should be able to sleep on your back and roll over within a week.

Today is 7 months since my surgery and I got a huge surprise when I weighed in today. I've been losing slower and slower over the last two months, going from 3lbs per week loss to 1, so I reduced my calories again and started being more diligent about what I eat. Last time I weighed in was two weeks ago at 196, and today I stepped on the scale expecting to see maybe 194 at the lowest...but it was 189!!! 72% of the way to my ultimate goal of 140. My mini goal was to be down to 175 by 1 year out and I think I'm going to surpass that. PLUS...I'm only 4 pounds away from not being considered obese anymore!! What a happy, happy, happy gift to give to myself! Just wanted to share my happiness!