AWAS1999

Okay...I'm not too sure about this journey that I've started. The logical side of my brain knows I need to lose at least 150 pounds and I've battled my weight all my life. I know that if I'm starving..it isn't going to happen. Add to that my battle with hypothyroidism and I want to be healthier. I gave weight loss surgery serious consideration and researched doctors. A month ago I went to a seminar. They had us fill out information and the very next day the wonderful lady at the seminar calls to tell me that my insurance plan is one of the easiest to get approved with and would I ask my PCP for a letter supporting me. I did that and here I am two weeks later with an approval. Don't get me wrong..I know I should be very grateful but somehow I feel this is too fast. I felt confident until my first consult with the doctor today. You know the one where they tell you all the things that could go wrong. My husband was with me and he is beginning to think this approach may be too aggressive. At this point I feel like I am in a state of complete information overload, I have a surgery date scheduled for the 15th of July, and I'm having second thoughts. So if any of you could read some of the questions below and give me honest answers it would mean a lot. 1. Anyone out there with hypothyroidism? They are still trying to get mine under control with medication and I'm wondering if this will be more difficult to do after surgery? 2. I heard all about the diet today and all I could do was die. Yes I'm fat but believe it or not fruits, veggies and nuts are my favorite foods. The thought of having to center my eating around a piece of meat or fish with none of the above for a long time (my center recommends until you hit maintenance) is making me cringe. I'm not a big meat fan...but at the same time I don't want to end up malnourished... 3. Heartburn - does everyone have to take acid medication after surgery or only some people? I'm not overly fond of taking medications for anything and the thought of making a choice that would require medications is scary for me. I'm reading about people who are suffering from massive heartburn after surgery. I've only had heartburn when I was pregnant and I still have nightmares about it... 4. I am already battling anemia...will this surgery make that battle even harder? 5. Vitamins...the whole Vitamin taking sounds a little daunting. Does this get easier? Will I have to crush stuff up forever? I read some places where it says no..but then my doctor says he recommends it from here on out... 6. Recovery- how long did it take most of you? I'm a teacher...and that is 3 weeks before the kids hit the classroom again. Not being ready is not an option and the thought of managing all that at the beginning of the school year with the liquid diet and all is scary. Are there any teachers out there who have managed? Help! I know if I go digging I could probably find some of these answers but like I said earlier...I'm completely on information overload right now and the more I read the worse it gets. So to hear first hand some answers would be great... Thanks....

Hi smiley! My humana info said the same..but when I went for the seminar the finance people there told me nope..not anymore...just get my medical support letters..and they were right...the whole process took about three weeks for me. I dropped almost 30lbs following that pre surgery diet but the question is keeping it off. I'm only a month postoperative right now but its a relief not to be hungry......its so much easier to do what you are supposed to when you arent hungry all the time.... But I think it is an individual decision...

I have Humana...on their website they said you have to diet for six months before but the insurance lady in my surgeons office told me they didn't require it any longer...and she was right...they approved it without.

Hi Everyone! I went through with it..and I'm at peace with my choice. ( I better be huh? :-) ) The first week was kind of rough..there was more pain than I thought there would be and a drain..which I didn't really care for but it was removed at my one week follow up and life is MUCH better now. The post diet stinks...I don't like the fruit Protein drinks, the Isopure was horrible and I'm really fighting with how to get my protein in. Some of you asked some questions about things I wrote in my posts so I'll answer them here. I was sure about my doctor's diet. I've read through a lot on the web and I've come to realize that his post-op diet is a LOT stricter than most of them that are posted. I asked him about it and he explained in a number of ways. He said first of all the no fruit comes because he finds a lot of his patients are addicted to sugar. He said if you introduce it back into the diet early on then that sugar sets off a trigger and the body wants more. He said that leads to more of an urge to cheat..have a little bite here..a little bite there. Whereas cutting out sugar in all forms for a significant amount of time tends to break that addiction and patients find they don't need it anymore. As for nuts etc..he said almost every call from the emergency room has involved nuts etc and his patients being in extreme pain. He said it takes a while for people to really get used to chewing everything really really well. He said those calls were usually people who had eaten nuts etc and accidentally didn't chew well enough. He said now he says hold off on nuts so patients are really trained to chew properly. And he told me most importantly that fruits, nuts, etc don't provide enough protein for the amount you eat. He said I should live and breathe protein and the fact is that it will probably be tough for me just to get that in. Snacking on nuts, fruits etc is taking valuable space and reducing my protein intake. Some other doctors may agree / disagree with it but over 95 percent of his patients have reached their goal weight so for now I'm going to suck it up and tow the line. He did say if I didn't have any problem getting all my protein in and was still losing weight then let him know and they would certainly work in some fruit etc. Right now I can barely get in what I'm supposed to so I think that talk is a way off! As for my pre-op diet..it was 2 weeks of liquids only...when I went for my pre-op bloodwork at the hospital the nurse informed me that the other docs in the practice only require a three day diet. I was like WHAT? (I was starving by then). But then she told me that she has never seen this docs patients return for any surgical complications and she's never seen him be unable to complete the surgery laproscopically. So I sucked it up and continued to drink. Funny thing was after day 4...I just wasn't hungry anymore. I want to say thanks to all of you. I had some long talks with my hubbie, I looked at my extended family (almost all my family is overweight and with medical problems) and I decided I wanted off that train ride. I don't want to be them in a few years. I had excellent health except for my thyroid before surgery and I thought it would be dumb to sit around and wait until medical problems developed before I do this. My husband was terrified at the 1% death rate but I told him...that is 1% from a population where many are going into surgery with multiple medical issues anyway...I am healthy..the chances are slim to none. He's very happy now that all is said and done. When we got back from the hospital I had a letter from my employer...they are changing our insurance carrier come January. I looked up our new carrier and they have a VERY lengthy process to getting approved. So I'm even happier I carried through. I went back for my one week follow up and I've lost 26 pounds...but that covers the two week pre-op diet of Clear Liquids as well. I'm sure I'll be back in need of help...but you guys were great! Thanks!!!

Hi there! I'm looking for someone to help me through this journey! We are new to our area where we live and I'm far from friends and family. So I'm looking for someone that is willing to stay in contact through this journey with me and give me advice / help! I have lots of questions and there are lots of forums here but searching them is time consuming and I don't always have that time. I'd love to have someone who has reached their goal and more so someone who was close to my size when they began. (350lbs) I know my journey is going to be longer than a lot of people and I'd like someone who has been there! If you have the time let me know! Thanks!

Thank you so much! I'm hoping I will do fine. I think if I can just get past the 4 week liquid stage after surgery I'll be okay. Do you have any tips for different drinks to get the Protein in. I've been on a 2 week liquid diet beforehand and to be honest I'm already sick of it...really sick of it. I think I just need some different things. Sad thing is that I'm a somewhat picky eater so it makes it challenging. So if you have any tips I'm all ears!

Hi there! I'm looking for someone to help me through this journey! We are new to our area where we live and I'm far from friends and family. So I'm looking for someone that is willing to stay in contact through this journey with me and give me advice / help! I have lots of questions and there are lots of forums here but searching them is time consuming and I don't always have that time. I'd love to have someone who has reached their goal and more so someone who was close to my size when they began. (350lbs) I know my journey is going to be longer than a lot of people and I'd like someone who has been there! If you have the time let me know! Thanks!

Thank you for this!!! It gives me so much more confidence to hear that!! How did you manage the preop diet. Any tips on things to get your Protein in. I'm already sick of liquid forms but I guess I need variety. Any recommendations for things to mix etc to make this easier??

Hi there! Thanks for your reply! Looks like we will be close to the same place at the same time. My surgery is tomorrow morning and I'm scared to death to be honest but at the same time I'm really hopeful! For me it feels lonely...I have my husband and son (only 10) who have been great but that is about all the support I have right now. I haven't known my colleagues and all here long enough to feel comfortable sharing this with them..I might in the future. How is your preop diet going? I personally thought it was horrible. I'm already sick of Protein shakes and broth and the idea of 4 more weeks of them is a little daunting. But I will say this...the first four days were horrible and after that it wasn't so bad. I've lost 15 pds in 13 days so I guess that isn't anything to feel bad about. I'm not really hungry anymore which is strange. I did get a ride home with a friend the other day though and she stopped at McDonalds and bought a snack wrap and I almost died. It wasn't so much hunger as just the need to actually eat something rather than drink it. The sound of her over there crunching on lettuce was a killer. I've seen that a lot of people had different preop diets. My doctor's was liquid only. I cut out sugar and carbohydrates on my own just because it said I would have to after surgery and I figured why add that misery to the pile...better to go through that withdraw now. To be honest my worst fear is going back to school. I have to be back exactly 2 weeks later and I'm not sure how this is going to work. I know I have to sip all day but those drinks are nasty when they get warm so I guess I'll be investing in a fridge. I have a feeling managing to get all the fluids in is going to be a major challenge for me because I already don't want to drink them. I'll let you know how that goes. Let me know how you are doing. We can't exactly answer each other questions but we are definitely able to motivate one another! :-)

I want to first say thank you to all of you for your kind words! I woke up this morning feeling much better about my decision. I had given this a lot of thought and read about it and deep down I knew what I wanted to do. I realize now that bringing my husband with me yesterday (we did the upper GI, pre-admission blood and EKG, and the pre-op conference with the doctor all in one day) might have been too much for him. He hates doctors offices anyway and I think that was exposure to too many things in one day. His being able to accompany me during everything was a little too much of an eye opener I think. The most he’s ever had done is blood drawn for a yearly physical and he’s not fond of that. He was nervous when he saw the amount of blood they drew and then I informed him it was the same amount they drew every two weeks during my pregnancy. He started apologizing that I had to go through that. He’s super healthy and I’m not. If I had sense I would have remembered how he handled the surgery form for my c-section. I just signed it…I knew it basically said other organs etc could be damaged and I could die..that’s what they all say…but the baby was in distress and at that point there was no choice. He caught the nurse leaving and asked to read it and almost freaked out over what it said. I think the same happened yesterday and his fear was contagious because I was nervous, hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before and was tired. Add to that the fact that the centers preop included different information than what I’ve read in a lot of places regarding post-op diet and I was becoming confused. Today I emailed my doctor and asked lots of questions and he put my mind at ease. His after surgery diet is different (longer periods of liquids etc before pureed food….) but he said he preferred to be cautious since healing time varied so much in individuals. He said he preferred to give the body plenty of time to heal and reduce the chances of problems before introducing “real” food again in any form. I can respect that though I’m sure it’s not going to be fun in any sense. I talked with my husband today and distance has calmed him down. I reminded him that as of right now I have absolutely no illnesses associated with my weight and I want to do this before that happens. I want to be healthy for our son and for him. There are so many things in life I used to enjoy that I can’t do anymore and it’s depressing. I think if I don’t do this I’ll end up like my siblings who are already battling illnesses. So I just wanted to let all of you know that I’m going to go ahead…I’m sure I’ll be back with more questions but all of you are so supportive I’m sure you will make it much easier! Thank you!!!