theantichick

I'm mainly referring to the phenomenon where doctors give completely different treatment plans for the same malady, with the heavy person being told to lose weight. There are stories out there about a woman who went to her doctor and her strep screen was positive. Instead of prescribing an antibiotic, he told her she needed to lose weight. Weight has nothing to do with ear infections or strep throat, and shouldn't affect the treatment. But for some doctors, no matter what the complaint, if the patient is large, that's all they can focus on. Even when it comes to things like knee injuries - one lady tore an ACL while exercising you know, doing what all "good fatties" do, and there's only one treatment for a completely torn ACL and that's surgery. Doctor said the only thing she could do was lose weight. Another lady was having severe pain with her periods. Doc said lose weight. Turns out she had ovarian cancer, and i she hadn't changed doctors after that, she'd be dead. Those are the things that have to stop in the medical community. I don't expect my doc to quit including weight management in the treatment plan, but I do expect her to give me real, science based, evidence based treatment plans. Diets don't meet the standard for evidence based. If a cancer treatment only worked 5% of the time, and made 50% of the people worse, it would never get approved for use. But diets are still being prescribed, and they are awful medicine. I'm one of those liberals too, go figure. LOL

I've read that we start sitting differently as we gain weight, and the trick is to learn to sit with your weight on your thighs and not on your tailbone as you lose weight. Not working for me so far, I keep forgetting and sitting back. My knees won't take a standing desk unfortunately.

I would advise you to speak to your PCP. If you're having to take headache medicine almost every day, you need to find out why, and find better ways to prevent/treat the headaches. As a migraineur, I know a lot about headaches and treatments. If caffeine is the only reason you're taking Excedrin, switch to No-Doz or something for caffeine without the NSAIDs. With the VSG, NSAIDs aren't particularly off limits, depends on your doc... but it's still not good to be taking them every day.

I got popsicle sleeves (narrow, long ziploc type bags) and mixed up Syntrax lemonade flavor to put in them and freeze. Yummy popsicles with Protein. Got me through the first couple of days when it was so hard to get anything down.

This is my response to people who want to nay-say me: Seriously, when it's someone you care about, smile, wave, and move on. It's not worth getting in a tussle, and they aren't the ones in my shoes making my decisions. If they are, then they need to pony up for rent and groceries!! LOL

It definitely gets better. Your new sleeve gets used to getting fluids and figures out what to do with it, and the swelling goes down as it heals. I could only sip about an ounce (sometimes less) to start, and the bubble sensation was way weird. I'd sip sip sip for hours and barely make a dent in my bottle. Every day my tolerance got better. Now at 3 weeks, I can drink fluids normally, though I still have to go a little slow. I can take two full swallows in a row with no problem, but if I don't wait a couple of minutes before taking the next, I'll get really uncomfortable. Soft foods are going down fine, but again I'm having to REALLY slow down. It gets better, and it gets better pretty quickly. I'm in love with my sleeve. Can't quit gushing over it. Good luck!!

I hadn't seen my therapist (food issues) since a week or so before the surgery, so we caught up in our session last night. She is not a proponent of WLS, but doesn't push her own agenda and is supportive to me. Here's my spare change on the matter (and pretty much what I shared with her): We are learning so much about weight gain and loss, and I hope that for my daughter's generation they have non-surgical options that work. Surgery is certainly a drastic treatment, especially when it involves removing a large part of a working organ. BUT. Right now, we know surgery does some very specific things that provide a better place for getting to and staying at a healthy weight, and it's not duplicatable by other means. Especially with my comorbidities and auto-immune arthritis, I have less than the statistical 5% chance of losing the weight through non-surgical means and keeping it off long term. I have been dieting for over 30 years, and I'm heavier now than I ever was, and with the auto-immune disorder, I no longer have the stamina to diet, period (which was probably the best thing I ever did, but I'd already topped 300 lbs before I stopped dieting). My life and relationship with food is SO much different now than it was 3 weeks ago. While I'm still struggling to get enough food in because of the restriction (but I'm only 3 weeks out, and I see it getting better every day, so it's fine), it's so much more than the restriction. I used to binge eat comfort foods: honey buns and chocolate fudge poptarts were my nemisis, but anything with loads of sugar, salt, and fat were game. I didn't think it was that unhealthy because they weren't HUGE binges, and I've never purged. Just overeating to a way unhealthy point. Looking back, it absolutely was bingeing behavior. And if I went shopping, it was pulling teeth to make myself NOT put those things in the cart. Went shopping the day I got cleared for soft foods with hubby. Walked past the Little Debbie display. Part of my brain went "ooooh, Little Debbies counts as 'soft' I want honey buns". Then the part of my brain that imagined eating a honey bun went "eh. doesn't sound that good, actually. I want Peanut Butter." Walked away, easy peasy. Repeat experience in the Breakfast aisle with poptarts. Though the fruit poptarts had a bit of appeal, I easily recognized that my body might want some fruit, and I have many ways to get that without all the sugar and fat that goes with poptarts, and that actually sounded better. It's like a switch went off in my brain and while I'm still having the disordered eating thoughts, it's incredibly clear to me that those thoughts don't fit. And with those thoughts calming down and shutting up, it's like I can hear what my body really wants for the first time. Combine that with the fact I'm forced to slow down my eating and chew food thoroughly (I used to wolf it down), and eat several small meals a day.... this feels like the way I should have been eating my whole life. In fact, when I was the healthiest I was pregnant and had to eat small Protein meals every 3-3.5 hours to avoid nausea. I was sharing this with my therapist, and said "I know it was a really drastic way to get to this point, but I really feel like this is the right place for me to be in with food" and she had to admit that where I'm at right now is the goal of therapy around food issues, though she also agreed with the "very drastic" comment as well. LOL. I don't know if this will last forever. But if it can last long enough for me to establish healthy eating patterns and learn to really listen to my body, it's SO worth it. So for my case... drastic? Yep. And I think I'd have gotten here eventually through therapy - but it could easily have taken YEARS. This way? 3 weeks. I'm already seeing improvements in my medical conditions as well. Small, but definitely there. I'm a nurse, and one of the things that is hammered home to us about medical treatments - every treatment has benefits and risks/side effects. If the benefits don't outweigh the risks/side effects, then the treatment is not the best choice. Here, besides some of the complications that may or may not happen, the risk/side effect is losing part of a functioning organ. But the benefits for many of us far, far outweigh the risks/side effects. Ultimately, you have to make that evaluation for yourself and your situation. For me, there's just no question. It's premature to say "best thing I ever did for my health" at only 3 weeks out, but that's seriously how I feel.

I've had what I consider to be physical hunger pains, but it's a hollow feeling just below the breastbone. A little research told me that it could be from acid if I've forgotten my PPI pills, but also if the sleeve gets completely empty it can cause an uncomfortable feeling. I see it as a reminder to keep drinking if it's not mealtime, because getting anything down makes it go away. I also feel it when I wake up in the morning until I start drinking my Breakfast Protein shake.

I haven't lost anyone, and there have been other WLS in my group of friends so I'm not expecting to. But it's interesting to see what other people think. My sister had VSG a few years ago. My parents were very apprehensive about me getting the surgery. Finally had them over for a chat and found out what was behind it. My sister lectures everyone about what they should do and should eat during meals and get-togethers, and talks constantly about what she can and cannot eat and why. (All the while drinking Coke... but that's another rant.) She has set the expectation that if I have this surgery, I won't be any fun to go out to dinner with or have family get-togethers with anymore. I assured them that it was just my sister... if I don't call attention to what I'm eating or not eating, it shouldn't matter to anyone. After the first couple of months, I don't need special food or accommodation, so it really doesn't need to be a topic of conversation, and I'm certainly not the food police for anyone buy myself. I don't know your friends, but it could be as your therapist suggests. Having someone around them who has been successful with weight loss may make them feel bad. Or they may have had a bad experience with another WLS person that's carrying over. If they're close friends, reach out to them privately and ask them to lunch or something one on one and ask. If they're not close friends, do as others suggest and un-follow them on FB and move on.

Oh, my gosh... I'm post-op, but yes, when I was pre-op all of a sudden all of my f'list seemed to be posting recipes and pictures of the most yummy things. It was torture. Though I will let you know, at least for me, once I had the surgery, it didn't matter anymore. I am not craving the same foods I was pre-op, at all. Part of my brain will see something I used to want to binge on, and think... oh, {fill in the blank} would count as soft food, let's get it. But then the part of my brain that imagines eating the food goes... eh, doesn't sound so great. And I walk away, no stress at all. I love it. Even if the effect doesn't last forever, if it lasts long enough to get some healthier eating habits in place, it'll be completely worth it!! Good luck!!

This is a horrible habit for me as well. I used to be a Paramedic, and you had to eat fast if you wanted to eat before the next call came out. My husband is ex-Navy and he wolfs his food down too. I've been working on slowing down, but it's hard. Especially when this inevitably means that the food gets cold. I'm 3 weeks out, so I have a VERY uncomfortable 15-20 min when I eat too fast because it invariably means that I go one or two bites past where I should have stopped. I'm hoping I get better at this.

I hesitate to jump in on discussions about carbs because I feel like I'm swimming against the current. Ketosis makes me really, really sick. I can't function in ketosis. My blood sugar drops to dangerous levels and that whole "carb flu" thing people talk about when first going into ketosis that's only supposed to last a few days? Doesn't ever go away for me. I'm also a nurse, and my training taught me that ketosis is a compensatory mechanism. I have a holistic approach to medicine, and do not believe that keeping your body indefinitely in a compensatory state is a good idea. I am happy that my surgeon and my NUT agree with me, so I don't have to fight a battle on that front. That being said, refined carbs and refined sugars are problematic, without a doubt. I got to my highest weight eating lots of sugary, carby sweets that didn't hold any real nutritional value. I have to re-adjust my thinking around food choices in terms of nutritional value. "Slow" or complex carbs and some fruit are "good" carbs in my book. I also don't think that sugar and other sweeteners are evil or anything, just things that need to be had in moderation. If I can't handle sugar in moderation, like many here, then I need to cut it out. But cutting out carbs isn't in my plan, never will be. I will always work to keep enough carbs in my diet to keep me out of ketosis, now that I'm past the liquid diet phase where I found ketosis to be impossible to avoid without adding sugar, which I wasn't going to do. (And yes, while I've had a fairly easy experience, I've been incredibly weak and fatigued for 3 weeks proving that my body still can't handle ketosis.) So there's my spare change, FWIW. I only jump into the fray because while I am definitely in the minority, I know I'm likely not alone.

Gag. Running is so not my thing but I'll applaud those who do it. I'm amazed by people who can run/walk that far! You're awesome and she's a synonym for a female dog. No offense to the dogs. sent from mobile device

Ditto mixing it with warm Water and adding it to your soup our other hot liquids. Messed it up a few times myself before someone clued me in. Putting it in before heating it up made it horribly gritty. sent from mobile device

I grew up there! sent from mobile device

It shouldn't really take that long, but yes a side effect of the scopolamine patch is blurred vision. If you haven't already, take it off. Let your doc know if your vision doesn't clear in a couple of days.

I'm so sorry for your struggles. It makes it so much harder to deal with the question. As an ex ER nurse, I can unfortunately attest to the sheer numbers of women who can't tell you when their last period is, or if they did or didn't use bc with their sexual encounters. Women months pregnant with no clue. So unfortunately, women like you who know without a doubt still have to pee in a cup before surgery or any radiology testing. I'm glad some places are being more progressive with the waivers, but the medical personnel have to protect the lowest denominator. I have an iud, my husband has a vasectomy. We laughed at the pre op preg test, because it would be a true miracle for it to be positive. For me it's easier to just give the pee. My 19 year old daughter with the implant and no sex for months had to pee before they'd run her CT scan the other day. She didn't think it should be necessary so I told her ER stories. It's a pain but they haven't found a better way yet. sent from mobile device

Did you have a patch behind your ear for nausea? sent from mobile device

I don't know how long the effect will last, but here's my experience shopping last night at just over 2 weeks post-op: Walked in the produce section and was drawn to the smell of the nectarines. Mind you, I have SERIOUS food issues (Dad physically force fed me veggies when I was very young) and in the past would have serious anxiety about eating anything outside my comfort zone. I can't tell you if I've ever even tried a nectarine. But damn they smelled awesome. So hubby said he likes nectarines, and we grabbed a couple. (Tried them at home, they're good but not really by themselves, needs to be in a cobbler or Cereal or something.) Walked by the Little Debbie display - one of my old binge foods. Part of my brain went "oooohhhhh, Little Debbies, that would count as soft food". (Don't worry, I didn't get them.) But then the part of my brain that was imagining eating them, went "eh." Walked through the Breakfast section - PopTarts are another one of my old binge foods. Used to be I only loved the chocolate fudge ones. Those had no appeal. The cherry ones had more appeal, but there's better ways to get cherry tastes like fruit in yogurt. Walked on by, no cravings no nothing. Even if this effect doesn't last forever, if it lasts long enough for me to establish some healthier eating patterns, it'll be good enough. And, I'm 30 lbs down from my highest weight. Jeans I haven't been able to wear since last fall are comfortable on the verge of being loose, and my wedding band which I haven't been able to wear for months is finally back on my hand. Just getting the boost of that 30 lbs gone is exhilarating and making me very excited about the future.

Part of the problem is that many of the antibiotics used, especially the strong ones for c. diff can cause diarrhea on their own. People have differing degrees of side effects from meds. It's good that you're following up, but the vanc won't make the c. diff itself worse. It might be ineffective, but it won't make it worse. Good luck! I know c. diff is a tough row to hoe.