NikkiDoc
-
Content Count
820 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by NikkiDoc
-
-
I am willing to do some low fat products such as cheese, milk, yogurt, sour cream, mayo, ground beef. I will not eat no fat things that should have fat such as sour cream, cheese, yogurt. I am fine with skim milk.
I will eat dark meat chicken rather than breast meat. Sometimes breast meat is too dry.
I find that for certain things I will eat the no fat version and it leaves me unsatisfied so I graze on "healthy" things looking for that taste. I would rather eat a 1/4 cup of ice cream than a 1/2 cup of ice milk or one slice of real cheese versus 3 of fat free cheese.
-
I have been pretty open. I have told family, co-workers, friends, work clients that I visit. I have only one person express concern. I understand where she is coming from. She unexpectedly lost her husband a couple of months before. She was concerned about the surgery risks. She also knew 2 people that ate around their by-passes. But she was the first to offer to go walking with me as part of my post-op exercise program.
Everybody else has been supportive.
-
I already have short hair that is thin. I have it almost like Myley Cyrus.
My top is a bit longer so it doesn't really form bangs
The sides and back are clipped. The top is longer and flipped to one side. Currently the long side comes to the bottom of my ear. It is symetrical in that I can flip it to either side. In the summer the short hair is my dark brown/almost black natural color and the long hair is bleached pretty blonde.
In the winter the long part is caramel with red highlights.
-
I ordered Matrix and Nectars from Bariatric Pal. For long term I bought the Matrix Peanut Butter Cookie and their vanilla. I add thawed frozen fruit to the Vanilla for variety. I am going to order some SF DaVinci or Torani syrups this weekend so I can change up the Vanilla.
I really like the Matrix and Nectars.
-
The last couple of times I flew I was 245 pounds and did not need an extender. I carry most of my weight in my belly.
IMO it will be a little tight in most seats since I swear they are sized for short very small people. You can always lean towards your husband. I prefer the window seat myself. I like to look out and lean on the window away from people.
Have fun in Disney.
Congrats on the weight loss.
-
Do not cut the Metformin ER without checking with your surgeon. Actually for any extended release you need to check with a doctor or pharmacist. Those types of pills/capsules are not designed to be cut or crushed due to the extnded release properties.
My surgeon said I can swallow pills smaller than an M&M. For the Actigall, which is a capsule, I take it with warm Water to soften it and with dairy such as yogurt, pudding, cottage cheese so it stays in the stomach longer and acts as a buffer.
-
Hope you are ok.
Many surgeons in the US prescribe ursodiol 500 or 600mg per day for 6 months give or take to reduce the incidence of gallstones. The clinical study results were quite impressive comparing the non Ursodiol vs Ursodiol groups.
My surgeon in Mexico said I should take it for 3-6 months post op. Two more capsules to sprinkle in Apple sauce.
I take it twice a day. My surgeon lets me swallow the capsule with warm Water and take with a little dairy such as cottage cheese or yogurt. The warm Water softens the capsule and the dairy keeps in the stomach longer and buffers stomach. I only eat about 2 bites of the cottage cheese.< /p>
-
My doctor prescribes Actigall even if you have no history. He gives the script at the 2 week visit.
-
All you can do is ask the insurance company as to if it counts. Each insurance company is different. I would think going to the doctor for the weight loss and getting weight loss pills would count as physician supervised diet.
I had to do a 6 month supervised one. I did it as a combination dietician and PCP. They are in the same practice. I had to have a visit at least monthly. There was a grid that showed date of visit, weight at visit and how was patient trying to lose? Diet, exercise, RX?
My insurance company would have also accepted Weight Watchers, LA Weight Loss, medifast, etc... as long as I had proof that I tried it for at least 6 consecutive months in the last 2 years prior to approval.
-
I had GERD pre-op that was mostly controlled with Nexium. I still went sleeve since the surgeon was fixing my hiatal hernia at the same time. Still on Nexium but have had no reflux at all since surgery. So it is definately better post-op.
-
A friend of mine had the band 6 years ago. She was successful with it. She fluctuates a little. She is always withing 5 or 10 pounds of goal. However she would not recommend the band to anybody. She still has problems with things getting "stuck" and throwing up. This is even if she eats slowly and chews well. Sometimes she will have her chicken thigh for lunch on Monday and it is fine. The next day she can't eat the thigh. Same pack of chicken, cooked at the same time. Nope not happening.
Both her daughter and niece failed miserably with the band. The niece had the band removed.
Her surgeon no longer does bands. He is doing lots of band to sleeve conversions.
My surgeon will still perform bands but only if the patient absolutely insists on one. He prefers the sleeve.
The other surgeon at the same facility no longer does bands. Both surgeons have been exclusively bariatric surgeons for over 15 years each.
When I went in for my first surgeon appointment the intake PA asked what I was here about. I told her I was interested in the band or sleeve. Her immediate response was "You don't want the band".
The above is why I chose the sleeve over the band.
-
My doctor gave me a 4 month script for Actigal to prevent the gallstones. He said he would give somebody with more weight to lose a 6 month script. He may update it depending on how much I have lost by 4 months.
The two surgeons at my practice do not remove the gallbladder at the time of surgery. They prefer to prescribe Actigal. My surgeon said it is basically impossible to not have a little leak of bile when removing the gallbladder. He feels that in conjuction with a new band or sleeve is too high of a risk of infection.
-
I was craving everything under the son! food commercials were killing me! Once I was able to start eating soft foods, that craving started to go away
Funny you should say that about the food commercials, my bariatric "bible" suggests not sitting and watching lots of TV during recovery due to the many food commercials.
-
I did not feel hungry for a couple of weeks after surgery. Frequently the hunger early on is head hunger or reflux. Are you on a PPI or antacid?
My bariatric "bible" suggested not sitting and watching TV with all the food commercials on. Try to keep busy mentally to distract from head hunger. Walk as much as you can. If you like to read then find a good book or magazine. I would skip Bon Appetite or the like.
My stomach is frequently grumbly. That is just the nature of the sleeve. It grumbles and gurgles especially after I eat or drink.
-
With my anti-gall stone pill and Nexium pill I eat 2 bites of cottage cheese. Per surgeon I need to take with dairy.
Morning snack: eggs with canned ham, Rotel (canned diced tomatoes/green chilis), tiny bit of cheese. (I made a batch and portioned out a few days worth)
Lunch: Deli ham, 1 slice provolone
Afternoon snack: Ground beef with Rotel and taco seasoning
Dinner: probably left over Rotisserie chicken and broccoli
Earlier in the week DH and I went to Outback. I had the Ahi-Tuna appetizer and mixed veggies (broccoli, snow peas, carrots.) I stole 2 of his croutons and nibbled on them.
During a snow day this week I had an Avocado baked with an egg in it. Didn't care for the taste. But it went down fine.
Last Friday I made Shrimp Alfredo with Linguine. I use low-carb Pasta. I had a few shrimp, 3 noodles and some broccoli.
I like egg salad or chicken salad. I mix the salad using Hellman's light mayo and fat free yogurt to keep the fat grams down. I add a tiny bit of Gulden's mustard to the egg salad. I just cannot stand fat free mayo. I also only like Hellman's.
I have had chicken breast but it has to be pretty moist or it is tough to get down. Rotisserie tends to be good for that. It is harder to not get grilled breast to be too "dry".
I have had crackers a few times over the last week. At most I will have 2 club crackers at a time with either the deli meat or the egg salad/chicken salad.
I had salmon a few weeks ago. I have some tilapia in the freezer that I will eat some of this weekend. I had some fresh fruit this past week- strawberries, blue berries, orange wedge. I avoided the apple as it had peels on and was finely diced so no way to avoid the peels.
I have not ventured into trying lettuce or raw veggies yet.
-
Hello. I was sleeved 2/10. I lost 12 lbs at first but now I am not loosing any. On week 3. Eating purée and can't get enough Protein.< /p>
I was sleeved 2/2/2015. I stalled for week 3 and week 4. Totally normal. Frustrating but normal. During that time I lost lots of inches. Week 5 I have lost 3 pounds.
I still get at least half my protein from one Protein Shake a day.
During the puree stage I added unflavored Protein Powder to the Soup, chicken salad and egg salad. I used a mixture of light mayo and fat free greek yogurt in the chicken/egg salad plus salt, pepper and a touch of Gulden's mustard to the egg. I couldn't even taste the protein powder in the salad. I could taste it a little in the soup and you need to be careful to not overheat the soup.
-
I did not have a drain for the sleeve. I had one in my knee for my ACL reconstruction. No big deal. Well taped in place and no pain when they pulled it.
-
I don't know how expensive they are but I have seen Vitamin Patches. Like a nicotine patch but for Vitamins. It might be a good stop gap until your sleeve decides to not mind oral Vitamins. Lots of Patches seem to be available for B12.< /p>
Here is the first website I came across.
They have a live chat and are 100% USA made, located in Southern California. (Per the CS rep on Chat)
-
I had VSG and hiatal hernia repair at the same time. Not gallbladder removal. I am on Actigal as a preventative. But I didn't have gallbladder issues prior to surgery. My surgeon will not do VSG and gallbladder removal at the same time. He feels that a little bile is always released when you remove the gallbladder and that increases the risk of infection at the stomach stitches.
I have a horse. My horse is currently boarded out but I have worked a horse farm in the past and kept a prior horse self care.
My weight restrictions for the first 2 weeks was 7-10 pounds. I could groom. I could take off the blankets and put it on but was not comfortable bending under the belly to do up the belly straps. DH had to do that. I could not pick feet. Another boarder was kind enought to do that.
My weight restrictions went to 25 pounds for weeks 3-4. I would say starting at week 4 I could have cleaned stalls, groomed, turn-out, pick feet. I would not have been able to pick up a full muck tub or a bag of feed. I was fine with moving a full Water bucket of Water a short distance.
Today is exactly week 5 for me. I have no restrictions as of today from the surgeon for weight. He said just whatever is comfortable. I would be fine picking up the 40/50 pounds of feed, small bales of hay, a muck tub, pushing a wheel barrow, full buckets of water etc.... I would not be trying to pick up 100 pound bags of feed or three string compressed bales for a few more weeks even if it feels fine. I want to make sure my stomach is well healed. I also only rarely move stuff is in excess of 50 pounds so it isn't like I am used to it.
This past weekend I helped roll a 500 pound roundbale from the hay wagon to the truck. I just pushed sideways and used my hip so I wasn't using my core. Just used my weight to get it rolling.
Hope that helps.
-
I had a history of GERD. Had an endoscopy 5 years prior to surgery and was on Nexium off and on for those 5 years. I was using Nexium at the time of surgery. I had an updated endoscopy and an upper GI right before surgery. Both showed a hiatal hernia that I did not have 5 years before. The hernia got repaired at time of surgery. I am still on Nexium and will be for 3 to 4 months. I have had no reflux problems after surgery. Even on the Nexium I would occassionally have reflux. The doctor felt that repairing the hernia should help the reflux. I think it has.
My surgeon didn't even blink about the history of GERD. He did want to see the images from the Upper GI so he knew how big the hernia was prior to surgery.
-
I take a generic capsule to prevent gallstones. It has a fairly thick plastic capsule. My surgeon recommended taking with warm liquid to soften the plastic and with food such as cottage cheese, pudding etc... to further slow it down so it dissolves. (I was just starting the pureed food stage when this was prescribed so the food consistency recommendations reflect that). I am sure if I ate a slice of cheese with it now that would be fine.
Therefore if you take large capsules of any kind you may want to consider taking with warm water/hot tea and with food preferably with dairy.
-
-
For my ACL scar, which was much longer than any of my WLS incisions, I used a silicone scar pad. You put it on at night and it physically flattens the area. You cut the pads to shape. I think I bought them at Walmart or CVS. There are kits that come with the scar cream and the pads.
I may use it for my 3 larger ones from the sleeve. If you do were a bikini you absolutely MUST use sunscreen to help prevent the scar from discoloring.
-
Apparently my doctor is not worried about the carbonation stretching my stomach. I am allowed it after 6 months. Same with alcohol.
How Closely Do You Stick to the Program?
in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Posted
I am really good about taking my M-F AM pills. I forget on the weekends and my PM pills. I just set a recurring alarm on my cell phone. One labeled PM meds and one labeled AM meds. I am taking Actigall at night so really don't want to miss that too much. I would like to avoid gallstones. I am going to throw a few pills in my purse in case I am not home when my alarms go off.