PatientEleventyBillion

Have you been clinically diagnosed as fine? Sidestep for a second: I used to take Omeprazole (Prilosec OTC) but it had many negative side effects on me so I switched to Lansoprazole (Prevacid) and have been fine using that. So, relevantly, I stopped taking Lansoprazole every day (like you doing it every other day and every third day) and found I'd not "feel" any reflux or that nasty taste of bile, however, I found out through scope and barium swallow that the reflux was still very much prevalent. It doesn't take burning and regurgitation for it to do damage either. Might be a good idea to make 100% sure there's substantiation for going off the PPI.

If you understand what small portions and good healthy diet is, you don't need to track. Of course, most of us are in this situation because of our difficulty/refusal doing so, but it's not as if it can't be acquired. I've used MyFitnessPal for food tracking and find it a pain in the arse, only using it to appease my dietitian whos approval I needed to get to this point of surgery. I don't plan on using tracking apps, just keeping an extremely close eye on everything I buy and it's nutritional values + serving size. That and everything I eat will be extremely small in size anyways. For me self-restraint and nutrition tracking > tracking apps.

Yep, and depending on if you're really fat restricted a normal can of chicken noodle Soup might be fine. I'll only have one a day and Water it down quite a lot so as not to go crazy on fat.

Personally I just buy low sodium chicken noodle Soup and drain the broth from that, giving my daughter the noodles/chicken and some broth. (she loves chicken noodle soup)

Agreed so much with this. Fast food companies are increasingly required to give nutritional information about their food. It should empower someone to use that info to make an educated decision. Though my plan post-op is any fast food I get, I remove anything high in carbs (i.e. buns) or just flat out useless nutritionally, and I plan to share it with my wife, daughter, or others. There's no fast food I've seen yet that has the portions I intend on sticking to. Plus, I have a trip back to California I've been planning with a long time buddy of mine back in my home state. I've promised myself for years when I go back to visit I'd have some In-N-Out, Round Table, Jamba Juice, Premier Pizza, Tacos El Grullense, etc.

My wife who's 5ft3 and 206lbs (normal weight 115'ish) with PCOS recently applied to weight management but she's not fat enough, nor has enough life threatening conditions like diabetes or advanced liver disease. So she was denied. I'm working with her to get her weight down by having her diet like I am. Certainly before we have any more kids want her weight down -- kinda paranoid about gestational diabetes and other issues.

Yes, that, and.. I honestly think people tend to get worked up about trivial things. Valentine's Day is just another day, just because corporations push you to buy chocolates, stuffed animals, candy, etc., doesn't mean you need to. We have 365-66 days a year, those are the days to show your appreciation for your loved one.

Ensure you have a barium swallow/endoscopy done. Can't really suggest for you that the sleeve would negatively or positively affect you without even knowing how severe/what it's caused by. For many sleeve patients a better diet (meaning a logical diet, not just eating things low in X or high in Y -- paying attention to the affect that certain food has on you) and weight loss tends to resolve the reflux problem by itself. For others, there's a different problem. Neither VSG or RNY is for everyone, that's why you're supposed to see a myriad of medical professionals before having such a major surgery.

That poster typed this on the 19th: So probably in the hospital or just been discharged, perhaps.

I liked your entire post, but this part right here I think helps especially, if you can have a partner that's supportive, even better, if they're going through what you are. My wife has been going through weight gain herself. I see her diet is quite high in carbs, and she also has PCOS plus another allergy issue that stems from her pregnancy (was supposed to go away after giving birth but it didn't). She actually tried to get into weight management but they said she's not fat enough (5ft3 208 lbs, up from 115 lbs), though we both thought the PCOS would have pushed that over the top. Her support during this time is invaluable and it would have made life much tougher had she not been supportive or if I had been doing this alone. She's certainly going to need me in a similar way to be supportive when she goes through her weight loss, and I'll be in a much better position to help, besides kicking her in the ass to quit drinking soda and eating so many carbs per day.

You can definitely be both excited and nervous. Personally, I'm excited because of the changes that come with the surgery that will aid my dietary and fitness changes. Getting back to my normal weight is going to be good, but I'm excited too because I've finally learned what I did wrong to get to the weight I got to in the first place. There are those of us who sometimes need a harder lesson than others. *raises hand* I'm nervous because as with all surgeries there's inherent risks to it. The odds of something drastic are ridiculously small of course. There's nothing wrong though with mind-screwing yourself into thinking positive, assuming your decision is informed, you're physically/mentally able to have the surgery done, and the pre-op and post-op commitment is already there. Adding stress to yourself can actually make things worse. As someone who is a hypochondriac, I most certainly have done my best to perfect this art of (logically) BSing myself.

I really don't understand how anyone could possibly go into this thinking they can literally have their cake and eat it too. I feel bad if you weren't informed that this is a life-long, life-changing process & commitment, but chances are, you likely were. There's absolutely no point in going through with the surgery if one isn't committed. This lack of commitment is why so many fail. So I agree in the sense that if people want to have the surgery and go back to eating like they were, don't bother with it. It would be a waste of time and money for everyone.

Just do your best, eat healthy, limit portion intake, exercise, be happy with yourself and your efforts. The forums are rife with stories, great and bad, of countless experiences from others just like you, whether other women, or other women with PCOS. I think doing your best is all anyone can ask of you. I hope the surgery goes well and helps treat your condition. Try and keep a positive outlook, the amount of benefit this has I think is cannot be quantified nor understated.

Agree entirely with this.

Many times NO. This is not a miracle. It's a tool. Like any tool it depends on how a person uses it. It has many benefits when used correctly, but without lifestyle changes this tool is useless, as so many who've "beat" the surgery have found out. I think putting the surgery up on a pedestal like this greatly diminishes the overall effort required to make this tool work properly. That effort, I feel, is what's really praise worthy.

Lifestyle changes matter more than the surgery. If you don't make the necessary changes to diet and exercise then you're going to pull a Roseanne, have a bypass, and you beat it. And that's not a good thing.

Many times in the sense of deviating from what my dietitian planned out. However, I fully understand the point of a ketosis (ketogenic) diet so I'm not deviating from the point of a low carb, low calorie, high protein diet.. still well under even the reduced amount of carbs and cals my dietitian wanted.. still dropping weight like mad and surgeon said if I'm dumping weight then liver is likely shrinking. Just got liver function results back from 2 days ago and they're the best I've had in 3 years.. lowered dramatically along with HBA1c. Both in perfectly normal range for the first time in a while. When it comes to the last few weeks I'll stick straight to liquid but by then I'll have lost like 60-85 pounds on the pre op diet alone.

If you make the changes adequate to fit the lifestyle of someone who wants to lose weight, you should never experience dumping syndrome. The way the RNY surgery routing is done will slightly affect it too.

Being extremely busy, knowing the other side is even better, etc.

My goal was based on what it was a few years ago. This was 180. Ideally I'd like 150-180. However, with the lifestyle implementations I've already started, it could well get below that. Or maybe it gets stuck at 200. What really matters is the changes applied and the overall improvements to quality of life + lifespan.

get back to biking, skating, racquetball, etc, all the stuff I did all the way up to a few years ago

Drinking during meals is my big one too. I've done my best to stop. While it hasn't been 30 mins before/after, it's been usually at least 15.

Cardiovascular health and maintaining bone strength. Bone density changes with weight loss (and of course gain) so it requires thorough exercise, Calcium, and Vitamin D, the cells within recycle themselves every year or less.

In Canada people should be taking Vitamin D by default -- not enough sun. If you aren't someone who's out in the sun a lot, regardless of where you are, you should be taking it by default. If you aren't someone who's out in the sun a lot and don't have any dairy rife with Vitamin D (or other foods like oily fish/Maitake or Portabello mushrooms/cod liver oil/Raisin Bran), you should most certainly be taking Vitamin D. Post-op you should assuredly be taking some type of Vitamins (I believe prenatal-like vitamins), it's important to get enough nutrients now so you don't get behind post-op. That's when it will really hurt you, and you'd find that out a year or two down the road.

What does dirty feet taste like?