MacMadame

LapSF has a support group out there. I'm pretty sure Dr. C runs it and I love his support group in SJ.

I can do frozen yogurt but ice cream bothers me sometimes. I can do cheese and regular yogurt though.

My surgeon says we can drink right up until we eat. I did a little reading on it and haven't found anything to contradict him. But we are also told to wait 45 min. after because the stomach doesn't empty very much in the first 20-30 minutes. I find that if i don't wait at least 30 min. but preferably 45 - 60, that I do get hungry again sooner. That wasn't true in the beginning when I wasn't very hungry at all, but it became true the farther out I got.

You aren't going to need to take something to control your hunger. The sleeve does that for you. Your ghrelin will be close to zero and every time you eat, your vagus nerve will send a signal to your brain saying you are full. So you'll have two methods of hunger control going for you.

I became lactose intolerant after surgery. It's fairly common and not just with the sleeve.

I have had hunger off and on since the beginning. But it's not like it was before. Pre-op, I'd have this voice SCREAMING in my head to eat and I'd spend a lot of energy fighting it... YOU'RE HUNGRY. I can't be hungry, I just ate. BUT YOU ARE. I'm sure I'm not really. YOU ARE AND YOU'LL DIE IF YOU DON'T EAT SOMETHING RIGHT NOW!! My hunger that I have now is nothing like that. It's just a realization that my body needs fuel. In the early days, it was a weak and empty feeling. These days it's more like regular hunger but it's easy to ignore, if it's not convenient to eat.

When I was self-employeed, I had to pay $400 a month for my health insurance. I was able to get both kids for around that and dh was covered at work. So we were paying about $800 a month for health insurance and crappy insurance at that. I couldn't qualify for the BCBS policy that my kids were under either because of my weight. I had to be on dh's group plan and $400 was the company's cost for a spouse. It was a very tough time and I'm glad now that I have group plan coverage that my company mostly pays for. I don't know how people who don't get insurance on the job can do it.

Also, make sure it won't be a problem if you lose weight during the 6 months and drop below a 40 BMI. Usually it isn't, but a few insurance companies will then tell you that you aren't qualified any more!

Yes, Dr. C mentioned that once too. I think this is part of why they don't *require* weight loss prior to surgery. They recommend it and it really is better for you if you can lose, say, 10 lb. They also have patients that they *strongly* recommend lose as much as 25 lb. But, if the patient tries and doesn't lose all they recommend, they do the surgery anyway. They said that their experience has shown them that, after a certain amount of time has passed, if the weight isn't lost, it's not going to be lost and insisting the patient lose it is just saying "we'll never give you surgery." I've read lots of news stories about people who are SMO trying to get surgery and being told to lose 70 to 100 lb. and dying before they can do so. It makes me mad!

I think illegal immigrants should be allowed to buy health coverage because it costs us less in the long run if they pay into the system and don't just take out. I'm practical like that. I also think our system is very obviously broken and therefore I'm willing to try something different.

We just talked about this at my support meeting tonight! This newsletter has an article about it: http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/170003/876c7b0b84/141361/3cf3c3cf63/

I don't have personal experience with it, but my understanding is that they put in the stent and then take it out when you are healed. Once you are healed, you are healed... it can take a while though.

Protein, protein, protein! :drool5:

I think the problem is that she came in complaining of "not feeling right" and she was dehydrated and had symptoms of that so they didn't look further. When I didn't feel right, I demanded they check for a blood clot even though I had vague symptoms. (I was passing a kidney stone.) But I went to an ER at a hospital that had a bariatric department.

Suzy - it really depends on your insurance and lots of doctors have no idea what the requirements are so you can't trust their judgment.

Yes, it was upseting for those of us who knew her. The symptoms are pain at the site of the clot and it often feels hot (if it's in a leg). When I had mine, it was in my lung and I felt like someone was scraping it with sandpaper when I moved.

Not for more than 5 years though. (Show hasn't been on that long.) Studies show the chances of keeping off a large weight loss like that are somewhere in the 1-5% range. But shows like this makes it seems like it is attainable for anyone if they are dedicated enough. We know it's not about dedication or willpower or learning stuff from personal experience. If it was, most of us wouldn't be here!

The Couch to 5K program! Couch to 5k - C25K Running Program

I was never athletic as a kid either, but now I am a triathlete with less than 17% body fat.

Hey, the one season I watched was the one right after my surgery! When you read interviews with former contestants, they often complain that much of what goes on behind the scenes is unhealthy and that they weren't given much advice on how to cook and eat healthy. It seems like what we see on the show is not the tip of the iceberg, but the actual iceberg. What really bugs me though is that these guys are being set up for failure. We know that diet and exercise alone doesn't work for the MO in the long run. But the show really reinforces society's view that the obese are that way because they have no willpower and are lazy and all you have to do is try harder and you will lose weight. When we hear about contestants who have gained back all their weight (which studies and personal experience show us is inevitable for most of them), you get quotes from the trainers how "Eric clearly didn't learn anything from being on the show". It's a bunch of hooey and it makes me mad.

That patient had a blood clot and did not return to LapSF for treatment. Anyone can get a blood clot at any time (I had one in the Fall of '80), but having surgery really ups your chances and you need to be vigilant about the symptoms. Plus, it's not unusual for the ER to dismiss your concerns. The symptoms can be nebulous and similar to other, less serious, problems. For example, there was a gal on OH who had a blood clot and went to the ER and they just hooked her up to an IV because she was dehydrated and sent her home. She was worse the next day, so her husband drove her back to the ER but she died on the way there. So all you pre-ops and recent post-ops: do your walking immediately after surgery like they tell you, stay hydrated, and, if you aren't getting better every day, make your surgeon/PCP/the ER take your symptoms seriously!!

A lot of WLS people get food intolerances early out, but over time they lessen or go away. The theory is that surgery irritates your tummy and makes it more sensitive. That said, I feel like my lactose intolerance is getting worse, not better. I guess we'll see what happens long term.

I'm still losing a bit... I suspect I'm getting new growth though as my hair is now a bit wavy, which it wasn't before. Everyone I know whose had surgery ahead of me has had their hair come back. There really isn't any reason it wouldn't. It falls out mostly because of the shock of surgery followed by rapid weight loss and maybe the hormones that are swirling around as you lose fat. All that stuff eventually goes away so then the hair starts growing again.

I hate to vomit too. But sleeve vomiting isn't that bad. And you can avoid it by not eating fast and chewing really well.

I have an iPhone and I love it! I bought it when my phone, iPod and Palm were all either failing or about to and I haven't looked back.