SKNYMEBY47

I agree with the others Krystal, you have got to find yourself a new doctor, someone more qualified to handle by-pass surgery patients. Do you live in a rural area, I can see how that might make it harder for you to find someone but even if you have to go further away, now that your surgery part is over you might be able stretch out your appointments as long as you can find someone who knows how to properly take care of you.

It's funny you say that because I've been on Effexor for years but I was originally put on it for fibromyalgia, not actually depression, but once on it you can never come off it which I learned the hard way after surgery. I ended up stopping all meds on my own and within a month or so it started to show, my attitude, depression, mental state, everything went haywire and so my doctor said of course I should never have stopped it on my own, so I explained I didn't feel the old ones were working anyway (I use to take 35mg 1x per day), so she upped my dose to the 75mg ER 1x pr day. I presume it is working because I don't feel as out of control as I was but as you all have mentioned there are still moments, usually when I think about my lack of progress at the moment because of scheduling constraints that I'm not where I should weight wise or could be weight wise, and I get so angry, upset and depressed even though I've lost 110 lbs which is a huge accomplishment for me because I started at 375 lbs (that's almost 400 lbs) so I do feel good ANC proud of what I've already lost but I too feel like I am slipping into some old bad eating habits I still don't eat nearly as must as I did before surgery but at the same time I'm thinking sometimes it's more than I believe I should be after surgery and I have they really bad cravings like graham crackers I can't stop eating those stupid things. I seriously don't know what to do with myself sometimes, I find myself watching that show "my 600 lbs life" just to remind myself these are the things your not suppose to be doing or see if these people can lose all that weight you have no excuse... The whole process gives me a headache some times.

Wow, it's been forever it seems since I've had the the time to come out to check on my fellow April surgery mates it has been 9 months for me on Jan 8 and so far only have lost between 105-110 lbs, my life schedule as well as the winter weather here in the Northeast has put a huge dent in my exercising. I work a full time job (9-5) and now am going back to school nights (online so that's from 6pm-12 or 1am sometimes) and then as many of you guys mentioned it has been colder than usual this winter, and I thought I was the only one experiencing this but I too am always freezing now since my surgery (people don't understand how drastic a change that is for me) as like several of you mentioned that you use to love the cold or winter, for me it wasn't about loving it, it was I was always hot and sweating really bad I use to turn on my a/c in the winter or a fan that's how bad it was for me but now I'm always so cold and the worse part is we can't turn the heat on in the house because we put a new roof on the house (mobile home I should say) and we haven't found the right pipe to extend furnace/chimney pipe up above the new roof so we can't turn the furnace on or we will cause a fire or cause the exhaust to backup into he house so we have been trying to survive with small heaters but those are no match for literally an ice box. But I of have an electric blanket that my best friend told me to buy and that has been my saving grace a lot so far when it gets so bad I can't take it, but through all that crap the thing I hate the most is I am stuck bouncing around up and down the same weight for several weeks to months now and it's making me crazy, I had to quit the gym because I didn't have the time with work and school but I just found something that I want to try out and see if it might help me, it's called Daily Burn, I don't know if anyone has seen those commercials but you can do the video workouts anywhere, cause you can stream them on your TV, game consoles, iPhone, etc. so I thought I might try that so maybe I can squeeze some kind of exercising in my routine somewhere. I just can't wait for warmer weather to get here....

My surgery was April 8, 2013.

Hey Monique, I think right now Tasha sticks with the USA, but if you need a pen pal and friend allow me to be of service... My email is Jensbuddy9766@verizon.net, drop me an email so we can connect and talk. RobinH

Anyone else have the issue of losing pounds but it seems by my measuring that the inches have stopped coming off, I don't get that part. I've lost several inches as I can tell by my clothes not fitting and having to buy some smaller sizes but for over a week or so I've measured and the numbers seem to be standing still if not going up a bit... I don't get it.

I keep forgetttin got get out here and post what I got from my wonderful Pen Pal for June. Demtra (not sure what her screen name is) sent me an awesome gift, a Ninja chopper/food processor. Thank you again Demtra, I've already started using it and it worked great. I think that was a great idea and a great helper that some might not think about. This was a great month Pen Pal wise I mean because I've been in this Pen Pal group since it began in February and this was my first box received inside the program. I also received a great box of goodies in April I belive it was but that was done by another great Pen Pal Barbara, who went above and beyond. She felt bad that I had been (pardon my language here) but I got screwed every month by the person(s) who were suppose to send to me (as I wasn't getting boxes) so she was kind enough to send me a beautiful box of goodies where she took the time to gift wrap each item individually. That was truly the sweetest thing. I know I thanked her personally but I never did come out here and thank her publically. I've met was really great new friends from this program, and I want to seriously thank each of my new Pen Pals for being such wonderful people. Also, as a side note I just want to remind people, that for some of us these boxes are great up lifters when you're really struggling with the surgery or in our personal lifes, to get a box of goodies sent to you from a once complete stranger and now a good friend that is a great feeling for anyone. But I know there are some people (cause it happened to me several times) that get invovled in this program and don't hold up there end of the bargin, whether it be not contacting their pen pal, or not sending out a box for whatever reason, that is not fair to the part expecting to recieve something. No one says you have to spend a lot of money or you don't have to spend money at all if you use your imagination I'm sure you can come up with some great items like letters, or home made cards and gifts (if you can't afford to spend all kinds of money on a goodies box) send the person some personal notes or ideas or suggestions, anything wrapped up in that box is better than not getting a box at all. We get to make new friends and new people we can talk to about what were going through, what we've experienced, etc. most of the people around us in our lives don't fully understand what we are going through or will go through but your pen pal will, becuase they have had the surgery too (no matter what version of the surgery anyone has had) your pen pal will understand. Anyway, sorry for the rambling, I just still think this is one the greates ideas in a long time. Thanks Tasha, for sometimes putting your own life on hold to get this program up and running. Thanks for listening, RobinH.

So with all the trouble I've had in my first 6 weeks post-op (I've had really bad trouble with constantly throwing up) they originally put me omeprazole and said that should help with not throwing up and it started to work but then it stopped and the throwing up got worse, I was throwing everything up (except liquids) so I called the doctors again and they believe I actually have an Ulcer caused by the throwing up and that is why they think I'm now throwing everything up. So they are increasing the omeprazole and also putting me on some other med that suppose to coat the pouch to prevent foods from irritating the Ulcer and therefore causing me to throw up..... Let's hope this works or I'm going to go insane if I can't eat anything or if I have to go back to liquids yet again..... Please, Please let this work, I can't tell you how many times I regret my choice to have the surgery but I try to convince myself that it will all be worth it when I look at the scale or look in the mirror and see how much weight I've lost already (75 lbs total, and 45 lbs since the actual surgery).

OMG, I get that same line from my husband whenever I complain about not feeling good or if I can't eat something, it pisses me off... Most times he tries to be supportive but I hate when he uses that line....

Wow, I've been away from this post for a while but as I'm reading some of the posts I'm seeing so many of the problems I've had along the way. I had major issues with throwing up constantly, there were some items I could get down and they would stay down but so many things my pouch did not like and came right back up. It got to the point where I was worried I was cause major damage to my pouch. So they put me on Omeprazole (prescription strength Prilosec) and since then it has been working out so far pretty good, except I did accidently forget to take the meds before I ate one night and paid the price for that mistake but generally speaking with the meds it's much better now. I too have had the "blocked" issue for a couple days recently so I did the Milk of Magnesium (my instructions tell me I can due 1 tbls) so I did that and it work better than I expected the very next morning.... so that seems to be a bit better for now anyway. The only issue I now have is I don't feel like I'm at the eating point I should be at, mainly because of the constant throwing up issue I was having I think it set me back on my schedule, because I'm going in for my 6 week post op appointment next week and I would think that would be when I would be told I could advance to the next stage (stage 4 for me) but I don't think I can because I still don't eat a lot of thing yet that would help me advance... I still only eat, tuna fish mash potatoes, hamburger, white fish, chicken, etc. what they call the mushy proteins.... but I still haven't had veggies yet (because I was constantly throwing those up) the whole thing was making me crazy for a while there, the only thing I could do was concentrate on the fact that I was still losing the weight and that was a positive.

Stay safe, I have several family and friends who are also caught in that lockdown either in their homes or some of the are stuck at work in lockdown it is so scary and crazy I live about 30 mins south of Boston but I was having my surgery in there just a week ago and I'm so glad I timed that just right as rumor has it my hospital had a bomb threat just the other day on Wednesday, had I had my surgery one week later I would have been caught up in that whole bomb threat crap.... This whole world has gone crazy.... And it's so dam scary.

Thanks everyone for your comments... you're right I need to hang in there but Wendilou you're right too others have suffered this road too and have survived, but Lord it's hard. I also started to notice that whenever I drink water it hurts in my pouch... and I'm only sipping the water not gulping it or anything... but I can do my shakes no problem and they don't bother me, and those I always use milk with my shakes (I tried water once... nasty) so I thought if anything I would have trouble with the milk, or at least that is what most people have the trouble with but I do fine with that... I'm having trouble with the water... how strange is that its just water and like I said I only sip it not gulp or anything... but it hurts every time... does that not sound weird to anyone else?

First off I want to say Congrats to all the new losers on the bench (I landed on the Bench on April 8), but now I find my happiness for the future is now overshadowed by the recent local events.... I'm sure by now most if not all of you must have heard about the recent bombings at the Boston Marathon (if you have not heard about it yet, you must live in a rural area and I'm sure you'll hear about it at some point as it is all over social media everywhere). Well, I live about 30 mins. south of Boston and I have family that both works in Boston and also lives just outside of Boston but often attends such events, so I can tell you that my heart dropped that day when I turned on the news and heard about the bombing and then panicked thinking OMG was anyone I know in that blast.... Thankfully, I can say as far as I know, so far no one I know directly was in those blasts... but then I heard today that both a Boston Court House had a bomb threat today and a Boston Hospital also had a Bomb threat today so both places had to be evacuated... Now the hospital is one of the biggest hospitals in Boston (Brigham & Women's Hospital)... talk about your heart sinking... That is the Hospital where I had my surgery one week ago... so in other words had my surgery been this week instead of last week, not only would I have been just out of surgery when the original bombing happened (with all that chaos and the tons of medical staff that ran to the location to help).... I still would have been in that hospital today when that bomb threat happened and most likely would have had to be one of the patients evacuated (as I didn't go home until last Wednesday because I was in the hospital for three days counting my surgery day).... I keep thinking OMG talk about not being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I have such mixed feelings my heart goes out to all those injured and those that died at the hands of these animals. At the same time lately I've been feeling either frustrated or I don't know, down or something thinking maybe I made a mistake because although the healing part is coming along okay, I'm still having a lot of trouble with eating, taking my meds, pain, a couple of my stitches got infected... it just seems like I'm having more trouble than I imagined I would, I knew it was going to take time to heal and get back to "normal" but the "liquids" phase is driving me crazy I'm so sick of just shakes and water and broth (I feel like I'm constantly hungry) I can't go onto soft foods until next week but I have cheated once or twice but some things didn't go well when I tried them but I see food everywhere and its driving me crazy cause I want so bad to move onto soft foods so I can have something different than just the liquids.... I swear its like being a prisoner of war and they only give you bread and water after a while you would literally kill for something different....

I have recently discovered an issue I started having with my teeth. I am currently still pre-op, but I've had to lose, at the request of my surgeon, 25lbs before surgery. I've noticed that as I've been losing this pre-op weight it seems like my teeth are getting too big for my mouth, I know that sounds kind of weird but the reason I say that is because I have a couple of canker sores in my mouth that won't go away because my teeth keep cutting into my cheeks and this only started as I began losing so much weight. So I was wondering if anyone out there has experienced the same type of thing after they started losing weight after surgery? And what did you do about it? I don't have dental insurance and don't have a ton of money to spend on all kinds of dental work (that stuff is so expensive) so I'm trying to figure out of it is just a "phase" I'm going through or will I continue to have trouble after surgery when I start losing more weight? Thanks.

I thought the same thing about the jello in the hospital it seemed suddenly too sweet for me, but I've been home for about 4 days now and although I haven't had any problems doing the Protein shakes or water, I started craving something more substantial it was driving me crazy having to wait another week before I could do soft foods, so I took the crazy plunge today and tried mashed potatoes... they tasted good going down but once I got them down I felt like I was going to be sick and I was mad at myself for doing it, but I just layed down for about an hour or so and I managed to keep it down without getting sick but it did feel kind of heavy in my pouch. I don't know if it was more because the potatoes were kind of dry (not moist enough) or whether it was just too soon to do soft foods. Lesson learned I don't think I will be pulling a stunt like that again. I also ran into the situation where two of my incisions became infected and I had to go to the ER and have them checked out so now I have to take antibiotics for a while and put antibiotic cream on the stitches too for a few days until I'm in the clear again but the antibiotic pills are pretty big and I tried braking them open and putting in applesauce (cause they are a powder pill) but I couldn't brake them open so I had to just take them whole and hope they didn't get stuck... that was kind of scary at first... but they seem to have gone down okay. As far as pain I'm still kind of sore here and there but most of the pain I get is right about where my pouch sits it hurts when I wake up in the morning sometimes and through the day every now and again it gets kind of painful so I just take my pain meds and it usually calms the pain right down. The other thing that has been happening and I don't know if this has happened to anyone else but I get sort of like the hiccups or I should say hiccup every few moments and when it happens it hurts the doctors say its just air or gas trapped at the bottom of my pouch, I don't know if I totally buy that theory. And lately my stomach (the outside where the stitches are) has been itching like crazy, now I know they say if its itchy that means its healing (at least that is what Mom use to say when we were kids) but I'm so afraid I will accidentally itch one of the stitches I try to be careful but dang they itch so much.... that is normal too right?

This might sound a bit crazy but I'm 4 days post-op (April 8) and this new thing seems to be starting. I get the whole gas part and I haven't had much trouble with (pardon my straight forwardness) but burping and passing gas hasn't really been a problem ever since I started drinking the protein shakes but now I get these moments where pressure builds up almost as if I need to burp but it just build and the pressure starts to hurt and then all of a sudden I get like this hiccup that hurts throughout my stomach. I know I need to call the Doctors office but I have to wait until tomorrow but I was wondering if anyone out there has ever experienced the same thing and had any suggestions, I bought some GasX to try to help not sure if its working or not but I don't know what else to try for now.

I know how you feel I'm only 3 days post op and I have the issue having enough hours in a day to get the protein shakes they expect me too and the amount of water too it's crazy my schedule is still out of whack so I'm still not making the 5 shakes per day and the 64oz of water specially if they take an hour at least each to get them down... It feels impossible.

Woohoo, I had my surgery yesterday morning (April 8 @ 7:30am). Surgery went very well no complications at all, they had me up and walking by 7pm no water allowed yet except for these lollipop looking sponge things that I could suck a bit of water out of. I couldn't sleep too well the first night not because I was just in a hospital or anything, I kept falling asleep and when I'd wake it felt like a few hours but it would only be like 40 mins, it drove me crazy then around midnight I had a little chest pain scare but the doctor prescribed some other meds and upped my pain killers and I was finally able to sleep for a few hours. Other than that I'm doing great up walking got my water finally and looking forward to going home and start this new life.....

I love filling up the boxes and sending them off, it was really a joy for me to put all that stuff in the box and think about the person getting that and the excitement and joy of them getting the box and opening up and being excited to see what was in there.... and also meeting new people and making new friends was what I thought this was all about but I guess for some it really wasn't that important to them....