WhoKnows

I had my six week check up on Friday. I asked about Actigal and was told no. Maybe it's a thing in Germany? None of the doctors here seem concerned. I know in the US we over medicate, but I feel like here they can really under medicate.

I had the impression that it's not so much that the pill won't work, as that it's not as much of a sure thing. Still, probably better than nothing.

@@Skinnyana, to be fair, I haven't had any issues with water, but I do find water with lemon or iced herbal tea to be easier to drink in large amounts. Probably not new info, but maybe helpful

I have always been mega paranoid about heart problems, despite the fact that other than being obese, I have literally no other risk factors. (I even had an EKG done a few years ago just to be sure I could smoke weed safely.) I had an EKG done while on a bike for the weight loss program I had to complete pre-surgery as well (this was maybe 6 months ago), and both times everything was fine. But the past few days my chest has been feeling... weird. It doesn't hurt, there's no major squeezing or anything. I just feel hyper aware of my heart, and I sometimes feel something I can sort of describe as a poking (?)... I really don't know; just a "sensation." I mentioned it to a doctor friend. She told me it was probably nothing. I see my surgeon on the 11th for my first post-op check up and I'll definitely mention it to him, but in the mean time I'm wrestling with whether or not I should see my PCP. I think I saw her with very similar "symptoms" when I had the weed related EKG, and I'm a known hypochondriac in her office. But then when I google "heart attack symptoms in women," everything always says, "If you suspect anything, call 911 IMMEDIATELY!!!" Ugh, I'm 99% sure I'm being totally ridiculous... but what if? Another reason though why I'm pretty sure I'm freaking out over nothing, is that when I'm doing something or with people, I totally forget about it. I did all my normal stuff today and was totally fine. I only notice it when I'm by myself and get caught in a sort of solipsistic loop. Anyway, did anyone else feel anything like this post-op? A sort of weird feeling in the middle of the chest? I'm 5 weeks out and have just started exercising again. Or did anyone who actually had a heart attack have something that sounds similar beforehand? Ugh, even posting this is making nervous because I'm afraid of people freaking me out more! I'd be so embarrassed to go to them emergency room and just try to muddle through in my broken German that my heart/chest maybe feels kinda "weird?" I can't even describe it in English!

@@BitterSweet* that's all excellent to know! I definitely can point to the paint with one finger (and on a scale of 1-10, the pain is only like a 1, it's just that when we think of our chests, it's easy to freak out!). Anyway, I've been fine the past few days, and I see my surgeon on Friday. I will indeed bring it up, but I don't think I need to see anyone asap.

@@Skinnyana, if you're not drinking Water, what are you drinking? Anyway, my weekly weigh in: as of today I am 230lb, which means I've lost 22lb since surgery, and 35lb overall. This week I started going to the gym and I actually lost 3.5lb, which was more than my slow and steady pace of roughly 1.5-2lb had been, so I'm quite pleased!

Yeah, I think unless you're a smoker, walking three miles a day should have you covered. Like someone else said in one of the above posts, you can also take half an aspirin twice a day to put your mind at ease, or use it as a chance to up your walk to four miles Best of luck!

Just out of curiosity, can you explain what this is?

I've heard good things about hempseed Protein, though it was from a friend who hasn't had the surgery.

I think you're far enough out from surgery that the risk of blood clotting should be much lower. If you're feeling well enough for sex, I'm assuming you're also feeling well enough to be walking a lot and drinking lots of Water, etc. If I were you, I'd go to the pharmacy right away, be totally up front with the pharmacist and ask if she/he thinks it's ok to take the pill (my guess would be yes), and then do what the others have said about calling your surgeon/ripping the guy who answered the phone service a new one. As has already been stated, the sooner you take the pill, the more affective it is! Don't wait for your surgeon; take the pill sooner, rather than later. I think the blessing of the pharmacist is enough.

First of all, as you'll learn while getting nutrition help pre- and post-op (hopefully) fat-free food is a load of BS, so don't bother. Anyway, that being said, I personally found having food funerals helpful. I didn't go overboard or binge or anything, but I didn't police myself, I ate certain things "one last time," and enjoyed being a foodie, knowing that the meaning of food in my life would soon change forever. I did gain about 5 pounds, but I lost that within the first four days of the pre-op low carb diet, and I found that having the food funerals gave me closure. Not everyone needs that or finds it helpful. Not everyone is planning to be as strict post-op as I am and hope to continue to be. So it's a personal choice, but whatever you choose, don't feel guilty about it. You've already made amazing progress by deciding to have surgery.

The only starchy carbs I've had so far (so carbs not from veggies, fruit or legumes) has been quinoa (in small amounts) and yesterday at my 5th of July party (the 4th wasn't a holiday here, obviously, so I waited til the weekend) where I had three noodles from a friend's Pasta salad to be polite. It's not that I don't think other people can have bites of cake or bread or whatever and keep it at that, it's that I know I can't. Starch is basically my crack. I need to continue using the honeymoon period to detox and "get sober," so to speak. I'm doing well so far. When there's food around I would normally have wanted, I'm doing much better at controlling myself. So far I've always had some healthy alternative, so that's been good. I'm losing slowly, but it's mostly been steady. I haven't had anything that counts as a real stall, so fingers crossed! Now I just gotta worry about that hair loss that's gonna be creeping up...

I had some fruit at a friend's house the other day. I didn't get sick or anything, but OH MY GOD! That was the first fruit I've had since my pre-op diet and that stuff tasted like crack candy! So amazing! I need to be careful or my carbs will skyrocket from mellon and strawberries. Also, as I mentioned a while ago, I've been working with a trainer this past week. It's been amazing! I can really feel my confidence building up and I'm so sore, but in a good way! Plus, this morning when I weighed myself, I'd lost half a kilo overnight!

That all sounds ok, other than the potatoes. But again, you should really seek out nutritional help in person. You need someone to be guiding you. Are you using Protein powder at all? Do you know how many grams of protein you're getting? My surgeon has said to aim for 70-90 grams a day.

Do you have nutritional support through your surgeons office? What kind of a diet does she or he have you on? But to answer your first question: usually after surgery it's recommended we go very low carb, which would absolutely mean no noodles (or rice, potatoes, corn products, sugar, etc). You want to be focussing on eating Protein and then if you're healed enough and room in your stomach after the protein, vegetables (non-starchy). What have you been eating so far?

I have to say, I've actually been feeling a lot better since I've been working out this week. I'm still having weird fleeting pains in odd places, but since I can survive a workout, I'm not so worried about dropping dead all of a sudden. I'll mention it to my surgeon when I see him next week though, along with the weird headaches I've been having.

So, to answer @@lylabelle 's questions: I'm sticking low carb. For the last week I've averaged 680 calories (though this is increasing to more like 800 on days when I work out), 83g Protein, 32g fat and 15g carbs (closer to 30 on the days I work out). Speaking of which, as of this week I'm working out! I joined a fitness club and I'm really excited! Though after my workout today I have some concerns about and old shoulder injury, which I'll have to voice to my trainer. Favorite meal. Hm. I guess Tofurky deli slices, cheddar cheese, avocado and mustard on a thin gluten free knäckerbrot (like Wasa crackers, but not that brand). Also hummus of course. I'm gonna make a quinoa/chickpea salad for a grill party this weekend. Not so low carb, but good for a picnic I think. Plus a friend will make some nice vegan black bean burgers with guacamole! Pills: a bariatric multi Vitamin (I wanna switch to a chewable one though, since this one makes me feel ill), chewable calcium/vit D3, sublingual B12, omega3 (from algae), a probiotic, and occasionally magnesium. I wonder though if I should be taking extra: Iron, potassium, zinc, omega6, and Biotin.

For me, I made my decision based on age. Now, of course we sleevers should take our Vitamins and all, but our dependance on them isn't nearly as high as it is for RNY patients. I realize this will sound paranoid, but since I'm relatively young (27), I don't want to gamble on always having ready access to supplements for the next (hopefully!) sixty years. I have no idea how the world will look when I'm 60 or 70. Unemployment? No health care? Complete economic collapse? Who knows! If I were 50, it would be a different story. But I have too many years left to cover to risk dying because something happens to my access to supplements. Paranoid? Yes. Within the realm of possibility during my lifetime? Also yes.

I completely understand! I wouldn't want to do it in competitions or anything, but I'd love to be really strong and have a very athletic/boyish figure (think Noomi Repace in the original Swedish film of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). I joined a fitness club yesterday. They have a strong emphasis on lifting (and on lifting safely!), and I was thrilled when the trainer told me I have the perfect proportions for it.

So, here are my current stats: HW: 265 SW: 252 CW: 233 Still a relatively slow loser, I guess, but with the PCOS I suppose that's to be expected. And I joined a fitness club today, so hopefully that'll get things moving!

Aren't we supposed to steer clear of beer due to the carbonation?

@@devint I've been moisturizing so much that I haven't experienced much in the way of dry skin. How much healthy fats are you eating though? I know we're supposed to be low carb and that's all well and good, but we shouldn't be skimping too much on healthy for a variety of reasons, one of which being that good fats are good for skin.

Holy cow! Your skin situation appears to be pretty good! Well done!

I agree with @Kindle. If it's a healthy soup that's not full of cream, salt and artificial ickiness, I don't see the problem. Plus, it counts towards our liquid goals.

I don't know why American (and Mexican?) doctors say no coffee. I don't really drink coffee anyway, but my surgeon explicitly listed coffee as among the liquids I could be drinking to get my 1.5 liters (at the very least!!) a day.