myfanwymoi

I had Petersens hernias 2 years out - the membrane that holds in your guts is pulled apart by the weight loss and the intestines slide in and out and loops can get trapped. It never shows on X-rays and not always on ct as it moves about. General emergency docs in uk missed diagnosis and it was finally seen by bariatric department and repaired- more than half my gut out of place when they sewed it back up! thing is because it moves around the scans don’t always catch it. I spent ages trying to figure out what foods caused it. If I got on hands and knees and rolled hips/back I could often soothe it which we realise now may well have helped move things back. it needs exploratory surgery to be entirely sure/ rule it out. Make a fuss. Make sure you see bariatric surgeon, use name Petersens xx

Robert Lustig says it’s not what you eat it’s what’s been done to what you eat. Look at his book metabolical and Chris van tulkes ultra processed people. Sugar is as harmful to me as cocaine only difference being coke is hard to get, expensive and illegal. If they sold it in sweet shops … the psychological part is huge - dr Nicole perrera on insta shares lots of free stuff and has a great workbook which is cheaper than therapy. You can nip this in it’s fatty little bud (or butt!) right now!!! To borrow a phrase from an eighties cartoon “I [you] have the power!”

Getting really bad cramps! I supplement with magnesium and have also developed mild heart block which worsens if I don’t supplement. I’m wondering if anyone has similar issues and how they manage them… have ordered a magnesium cream which I hope will help.

I’m in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Had surgery in Dec 2016. Lowest weight about 8 stone currently hover around 10 - would like to go back to 9.5 but keep succumbing to carb craving/sugar addiction. Overall ok though as just keep going back to what works… nice to see some uk posts. Early on Id have loved to have known more uk people. good luck in your journeys …

Nothing as severe as yours but I get horrible hypoglycaemia when I eat carbs/sugar. But it’s addictive and the world is full of it so October succumb - sometimes accidentally but often just through weariness! Anyhoo - for me low carb works. If I’m eating Keto I’m fine apart from cramps and palpitations. banana’s definitely spike my sugar and set off cravings - I try to stick to berries and yogurt. hope you get some help with this - hypo can be terrifying and feeling ill all the time is what we wanted to leave behind!!!

When I had the Petersens hernias (which create blockage because loops of intestine have slipped through a hole in the sac that keeps your guts in place / sorry forgot name of it!) I had intermittent pain. It was hard to describe- crampy mainly, pressure a bit - I’d get relief from going on hands and knees and rocking my hips- looking back that may have helped loops to slip back in. anyway I went to emergency departs twice or three times - showing a text from my wls surgeon which said Petersens hernias likely please do a cti. They did x/rays which won’t show the issue - or the tear which causes it and sent me home. Another time they said why wasn’t surgeon seeing me himself - was past date when he had to under the private contract- they said he’s a rich man he should see you. (He’d just retired as senior consultant at that hospital which is a bariatric centre) my pain had gone by this time as I’d not attempted to eat or drink in 24 hours (I’d told them that too) and they sent me home insisting I did it properly with a go referral. which I did. got an appointment at same hospital -told will re it’s d be in touch within six weeks. Call next day - oh we have a cti cancellation can you pop in. Did so and they then had another magic cancellation to schedule repair op. Turns out half my small intestines had migrated through this tear. Shiny new doc told me this and older once shushed it down as they were obvs worried I’d litigate. I was just pleased not to have died. Petersens used to happen after peptic ulcer ops and were common- changes in treatment of ulcers made them more rare - they’re increasingly common again as post wls issue. so - point of this long post - intermittent issues- and this happened over a six month period- need checking out too. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out which foods caused it and it was actually just the food moving - or intermittently not, through my small intestines…

This gave me a few unhappy hours too! My father died of a small bowel obstruction related to bowel cancer surgery. Unfortunately he wasn’t strong enough for an op at 92 so it’s different but related. I had Peterson’s hernias two years after surgery which nearly did for me (nhs docs refused to do cti scan which may have diagnosed it, partly due to prejudice over my having wls privately. I was out of warranty on that though! anyway, this history makes me more worried about adhesions than I might otherwise be and I had some serious operation remorse yesterday. But, as has been pointed out, Lisa Marie took opiates which may have helped create a blockage and had ignored some symptoms. I am sure the wls surgery has improved my quality of life in the 6.5 years since I had it and I can only hope that I haven’t robbed myself of some old age years I might have had - had I dealt with my weight issues in another way. That’s the rub isn’t it - if I’d stayed obese I’d have had worse quality of life and who knows how much less… so - all in all - I’m very sad for Lisa Marie and her family, but I think I’m ok!

You’ve described my behaviour around sugar and processed carbs. I’m a recovering alcoholic- 10 years this time round and 22 years before with a miserable 4 year relapse in between. my thought processes, constant internal arguments, obsessive behaviour, reaction to relapse are identical to how I was with alcohol. But sugar is harder to avoid than alcohol. So I hear you: I knew wls would not cure these issues but I hoped the break from processed food/sugar would make it easier. It didn’t. I do intermittent fasting now - as much to rest my poor pancreas as for any other reason. Fasting is easy for me. I wish I could give up food altogether and take a tablet! I’m on a wait list for help with my disorders eating- I’m hopeful! cw: 140lbs lw - 1 year post wls 120lb, goal weight 130lbs. surgery Dec 16. and all my friends say my cw is fine. It’s only me who thinks I’m fat. A friend told me that at 120lbs I looked like an hiv or cancer patient. I’m sick enough to feel secretly pleased I got that thin…

I’m four, nearly five years out and had out some weight on because I rediscovered sugar. I’m now involved in a running battle with sugar and eating. intermittent fasting really helps, low carb helps but I now have this intense reaction to carbs and I’m at a loss. the extra weight - just a few pounds now, goes if I fast. The obsession with food goes too. But I get cramps and am sure I’m not eating enough when I do fast. feel a bit stuck! Had chips last night and my blood sugar shot up to 20 just after then down to four within 3 hours. But, if I do intermittent fasting, blood sugar stays constant at around 6. anyone dealing with similar?

The amount I can eat (four years out) varies hugely. I fast 22/24 three days a week and 16/8 or 18/6 the other four days and I’m v low carb/Keto and absolutely no damn sugar at all! Sugar been gone about six weeks this time. Lowest weight 8 stone 2, highest 10 stone 10 about 6 weeks ago! Dropped 12lbs so now 9 stone 12 (137llbs) feel so good! Sugar is the devil for me! food pics are air fried thighs and aubergine/courgette mix and a chaffles (pancake made from egg and cheese) with fried pek (Keto friendly chopped pork) and mushroom and a slice of emmenthal. I have a ninja foodi 9 in one - pressure, air, steam, bake, sauté, grill etc! And I use it most days. In love with ma foodi!

I paid privately for my op in the uk: there was post op support but no therapist. There was a group but it was weird times and I kept missing it! when I had petersens hernias (potentially life threatening complication) I was past a year post op so couldn’t see surgeon. Went to nhs a&e and told was private so needed to go back to him, he’d sent me there. Attitude to me was really shitty because I’d paid for treatment from a surgeon who actually had been consultant at the nhs place I went to! Like I got into debt and saved the tax payer from comorbidity effects and they’re mad at me?!! point is the aftercare is needed psychologically and it’s hard when it’s not there. Glad you have it though x

I was 234 at heaviest 118 at lightest and am now (4 and a quarter years post op) 149. Yes - lockdown but more than that it’s sugar addiction. At 114 I had no bum or tits or shape and people said I looked gaunt and old but I LOVED being skinny. I’m now a size 8-10 uk - up from a low 6 and definitely not fat or even really overweight. My bmi is maybe a tad over but I’ve always been solid - short legs long back- great build for a hod carrier an ex once told me!!! so I need to deal but it’s sugar I need to deal with. I go in and off IF and Keto but constantly relapse with sugar. I’m weaning off just now and am going to aim for IF on work days (my tummy is v hair trigger so that helps avoid leaving a classroom mid lesson. the struggle is real. I’m a recovering alcoholic and sugar hits the same button. I’m depressed, sedentary, lonely but I’m not giving up. It’s great to hear from people who’ve kept weight off and I’d like too to hear how you get it off again befor it’s all back... on a positive note I have boobs and a bum again!

I'm two and a half years out - went down to about 114 but was really too thin. Then went up to 140 and definitely wasn't happy. My problem is very definitely sugar and carbohydrates. I'm a sober alcoholic (8 years this time out, and before the four year break (divorce + stupidity = relapse) was 22 years. Bu the point is that for me sugar is a drug and the insulin response I get from any processed carb works in pretty much the same way. So I've been working on killing sugar and processed carbs, plus grains and simple starches like potatoes, along with most fruit apart from small amounts of low GI berries over the last six months or so, trying various things. What have I learned: I can't do anything in moderation that isn't real food (by which I mean protein and fat and small amounts of carb appearing in leafy veg etc. This, alongside intermittent fasting (Dr Jason Fung is great on this) has begun to make a real change. Because it's not really about the losing weight for me now, although I want to lose about 15lbs still and it's beginning, It's about the need to be healthy, not to be constantly sickened by food, not to be constantly obsessed with food and to find a long term sustainable solution that allows me to get on with my life. Still hoping to cross addict onto exercise but that hasn't happened yet! Funnily, the post op diet which led with protein and allowed the veg and carbs in if there was room is closest to where I am now. I fast 16/8 - it varies but the average seems to be about 17/7. This is comfortable and I have loads of energy. Only been doing it a week properly and the keto for about a month but I was struggling with the macros and counting. Keeping it simple now. Be interested to hear if anyone is doing similar. What I would say is that my level of trust for something that doesn't involve someone trying to sell me special foods, vits, supplements, meal plans, exercise regimes is naturally quite high! Everything I need to do IF successfully if available for free. I like free! Actually - and again I'd be interested in people's thoughts here, I wish I'd discovered this and worked it pre-op. But hey, can't turn back time! Thanks all - this was a bit lonnnggg - sorry!

I went from 40C to 36AA. Tragic! Not the whole pitta bread thing going on but definitely lacking in tone and dimension. And although I haven't got obvious droops of skin, it's definitely baggier than it ought to be. Would love to have the op but just can't afford it. I comfort myself with the thought that it could have been a lot worse. I just look like I'm wearing skin a size too big! (rather than the seven dress sizes I actually lost!)

I recall jumping off a stile on a walk a few months in. There was no earthquake, my bones didn’t jar and I was like omg!!!! enjoy. It’s all worth it xxx

My BMI was 39 when I had my consultation. I self paid (in the uk) and it's now 22. (It had gone down to 19 at its lowest and people tell me I was too thin. I'd argue but I'd probably agree it's ok now :)) Anyway, I had no real co-morbidity, but my twin had type 2 and had had a stroke and I just felt enough already with losing and gaining the same stone over and over - like sisyphus running the boulder up a hill! So my weight loss has been around the 100lbs all told and it's enough. But it's your body, your weight and your choice. I would also say that I have cause, daily, to feel glad about my size. I LOVE my clothes, my skin isn't too bad (yeah I'd love a lift but I'm 56 and I'm not sure I can be bothered!), I'm fit and healthy and my confidence has increased. What's not to love. Go for it. We''re worth it!

I read a book (or finished reading it) on Nov 1st. It's 'How to stop eating bad sugar' by Allen Carr. Since I stopped I've kicked my sugar habit which was wreaking havoc in my life. Not huge weight gain, but there was a slide upwards. It was just the mental nastiness - the feeling of constantly losing a battle and it made me sick and I'd started getting really bad reactive hypoglycaemia. So since then: no sugar, potatoes, sweeteners, honey, syrups and no processed food made with sugar. I still eat a lot of fruit but mainly apples (loads of fibre) and tangerines. Bananas are a slight problem - I note they increase sweet cravings and give me muscle cramps, but I'm recently bereaved and so allowing myself to skate that one for now. Dried fruit is also a big no. I eat meat, fish, veggies (often oven roasted), small amounts of organic proper wholewheat bread - have only found one brand - Cranks- which doesn't have a load of other nonsense in. I snack on nuts and fruit as above. I've lost 6lbs of my slide up from my lowest, but I think I might be at what is a healthy weight for me. (Need to get back to the gym really). I don't log or do macros but I aim to eat whole food, lots of veg and fibrous fruit. It's working in that I've only had the reactive hypoglycaemia a couple of times since Nov 1st (I think it was banana that did it!) and the cravings are generally gone. The evening hunger is fixed by eating a big apple very slowly and I sometimes have a bed time snack of a little fruit and cheese, or nuts, but the urge to do that is passing slowly. I do occasionally use Stevia in my posh hot milk and pure cacao/ashwaganda type drinks, but I try also to not make it a regular thing. I suppose my point will be, that having taken these steps, the obsession, and the compulsion have faded and now I'm free to deal with all my other problems!!! Good luck to you - your exercise regime is awesome. I so want exercise to be my next addiction!!

I'd echo the poster who said your recognition of it not being a magic bullet is a very positive thing. It isn't. And when you succeed you understand it's the beginning of a longer journey, I went down to 8 stone 2 (114lbs) and now 9stone 9 (134lbs). I'm 5"4. I was too thin at the lower weight, but went up to 140 and felt worried about the creeping gain. Then I realised I was playing stupid games with sugar and that sugar was as dangerous to me as booze or drugs are (I'm in recovery most of my adult life)l The point is we eat, use, whatever it is, for a reason. And the more of our behaviours we strip away, the more we're left facing our essential selves, and that is not fun. So, invest in your mind too: do therapy if you can afford it, research other ways of reflection if you can't. I'm in the uk and paid for my op. I'm still paying for it but it's ok. I LOVE being slim. It gives me at least one smile every day, but the trick is learning there are other things to smile about. So yes, feel your fear, excitement, anticipation, terror even. Feel it all. And throw yourself into a fabulous journey into the unknown - you!

Laladee sorry got your name wrong!

Thanks ladeedee - like you I wish there was more for vets. I have a horror of being where I was and am so aware that it's psychology as much as physiology. I get reactive hypoglycemia if I overeat sugar. It's happened more than once. That statement tells me all I need to know about sugar but I struggle to act on it. Well done you for your own stats. And maybe the key is gradually changing behaviour rather than back to the see saw. I can do 7lbs in a week intermittent fasting. But I can't sustain it. I need something for everyday that I can comfortably do! Anyway. We get to give ourselves back pat's. We're doing okay !

I'm 2 1/2 years out or close to. Lost 8 stone - down to 8 stone 2 at lowest. People felt I was too thin but I didn't! Now 9 stone 4lbs and still slim (128lbs don't do metrics really!) But aware that I have a very toxic relationship with food. Can lose it quickly - as you've described but then return to bad habits. I've upped exercise now instead and an going to deal with the sugar next. To me it's just another drug - I'm a recovering alchie and cross addict at the drop of a chocolate bar! I think it's a long term job so I'm trying not to beat myself up and to observe the unpleasantness sugar causes. I think about the bucket of dirty water conundrum - how do you get rid of the dirty water without tipping, syphoning, dipping etc... You do it by adding clean water and slowly the water clears. So I'm concentrating on adding good things just now. Although I'm also aware I might just have to abstain from processed sugar and products containing it! Anyway, that may or may not help. Look also at how far you've come. It's a great view isn't it!

Was a 40c at surgery. Now a 34AA! Struggle to get brasat all: tend to use sports bras and cotton type ones aimed at teenagers! On the plus side as I wasn't huge ever, they're not saggy: still boob shaped! And I actually don't even need to wear a bra 😀😀

I'm two years out and have had some problems with intermittent loose stools over the last few months, and I had a Petersen's hernia fixed last summer. I've had explosive watery diarreah now since Fri/Saturday -5 full days and went to the doctor Mon - unable to work, feeling ill, weak some abdo pain. They've taken blood and I did the fun stool sample (tiny spoon) liquid nasty), waiting til Friday for results. But still have a tap in my bum, can't safely fart or go more than a few feet from a toilet - when it's ready there's no holding back... I'm scared, feel ill, cross about getting yet more dude effects. Have lost 9lbs in less than a week and not enjoying weight loss for first time ever! Any relating, advice on foods, general support be much appreciated. Thanks Edit: Leaving dude effects cos it's funny in an ironic way - but of course should read 'side effects'.

And frustr8... So sorry to hear about your terrible journey... Many similarities with mine when I tried to explain to et doctors that I had a Petersen's hernia because x-rays, which don't show it, strangely didn't show it! I was also in the middle of beef betweymy private surgeon who'd just retired as NHS bariatric consultant, and his replacement. The response to surgeons request that I have emergency diagnostic laparoscopy was she's not in pain anymore - no food or drink for 48 hours by then! And I needed to be referred in the correct way, through gp. The junior doc told me my surgeon was a millionaire he should treat me for free (I was past the year by then!) By the time mine was diagnosed and fixed it was huge! So gastro problems make me anxious too! Anyway, I hope you get some help with yours. On balance I have a BMI of 20 2 1/2 years post op, am generally fit and have faith that's what's wrong is fixable. It can only get better - fewer chins to keep up!

Thanks James - I'm hoping that's what it is have been doing banana soup dry toast (though just had some Greek yogurt with banana and blueberries it as a bit of an experiment. We'll see!