GotProlactinoma

Forgive me for even giving advice because I have not had surgery yet (July 19) but I did find a way to avoid or change my cravings for carbs or sweets. Long term: learn what the good gut bugs in you want to eat. Add more probiotic FOODS to your diet like fermented veggies, kefir, etc. And feed the good bacteria what they like to eat which is natural fibers. Roasted root veggies, seeds, all kinds of resistant starches. That is long term. For immediate help with a sugar craving, what works for me is cooked greens. With garlic and sea salt. I don't know why greens works but it does for me. Hope I helped.

This is day 5 for me, forgot to say.

I'm on two shakes (i choose unflavored, unsweetened because I hate drinking sweet things) and a meal of meat and veggies. I save one shake for night time before bed because it is just such a wonderful way to end the day not starving. I hold off on the first shake til noon, but after eating it 1.5 hours later I start "starving" until say 6 pm dinner. The whole afternoon I can't function, just weak and hungry and growling stomach. It's awful. I would never do this except that it shrinks the liver, making surgery easier for the surgeon. That is the only reason I am sticking to it. I can't have anything else, no yogurt or broth, or all those sugar free treats you guys have, apparently. This sucks.

This is all great to hear. The c section pain became very familiar after the first two, the last two, I never even took pain meds post recovery room, even though they were offered. But you are distracted with a brand new baby so maybe that makes your own pain not so pressing? Its nice to hear it will be less. I intend to get one of those tummy wraps for the sleeve even though I never used them for c sections. The c section wound is so low, bikini line, I can't imagine a wrap wouldn't hit right in the wrong spot. It might do some good for post sleeve.

You're looking good! I only have 2 weeks, now almost only one, before surgery so I don't have actual goal for this except to get through it. It's really like starvation! I couldn't imagine months of it.

This is only the third day of my pre op diet. Two protein drinks and a meal of protein and veggies. I had to see a doctor yesterday and got on the scale and it was the lowest I've been in years. And then I thought what everyone else probably thinks. Hey. Why do I need surgery if I can just STARVE myself into the proper weight loss (because I am literally hungry all day now)? And then a little lightbulb floated over my head with the answer. It's like the dawn, for me. I am a night owl. The dawn is beautiful and special. Yet I only see it if I have to be up for a trip or something. I COULD theoretically see it every day, but I WONT. I literally will not get up that early unless forced. Even, I would like to take my kids to the rose parade BUT I DONT. Because EARLY. Starving ourselves like on this pre op diet is something we simply would never do. It makes me feel better about the surgery. Maybe if it helps anyone else, I'll share my lightbulb moment.

Hell yes! Like my name says, my prolactinoma would never let me do this for long. I haven't tried. I love seeing your success. I'd love to have similar stabilization at a healthy weight one day. That's why I am here. For health. Great quote from that doc!

Good luck to you!

Good luck, hope all goes Well tomorrow, and yeah, we can't wait to hear about it! No matter how drugged out you may be! Lol.

I will probably tell strangers too. And all the family and friends who are rea family and friends. But I do not wish to share this info with Facebook acquaintances who are not really friends. I will just tell whom I tell. And I'm glad I don't work in an environment where people could tell and start gossiping about me daily. I agree, it's just a choice for each person to make. No wrong answers. It's nobody's business.

Now that I have started my pre op diet (day 1), I am finding that I have less "shaky reaction" after the protein drink if I try and make it last a long time. Guzzling it down gave me more reaction to it. Which is also good practice for us, since we will be taking a long time after surgery to drink one.

I am going to tell people around me, but I don't want all of the Facebook acquaintances in my business! So I'm not joining a FB group either. I hope people still will share how it's going here too. A few July sleevers must have had surgery by now?. How are you doing? I just had my endoscopy today. Propofol is not bad. Just feeling a bit tired is all. Good day to start my preop diet, anyway, having to fast for the first part of the day. And 4th of July was my last "old normal" eating day. In forever? Here's a funny for all my hungry friends out there. I had to laugh. I am on an iPad and I was typing fast and apple autocorrected "preop" to "Oreo" diet. Ha!!

While we recover we are to try and get enough water. Is it water only? For how many days? Can we add unsalted homemade clear strained bone broth in those days? What happens to the gut biome as we recover? Don't they need fiber or probiotics to stay alive (and help us)? Is there a way to avoid total die off of our good bugs? Ex. Adding 1/8 tsp of a fiber powder like inulin to a bit of our water? Or how long can they go hungry and not hurt us physically and psychologically?

Uh oh, this sounds like me and I still have two weeks to go! How neurotic will I be in a week?? Start my 2 protein drinks plus one simple meal a day diet tomorrow. Today I say goodbye to "any food" but I feel I already said goodbye because I've been paying attention in kind of a sad way to each bite already. Got to mourn the freedom of not paying attention... by paying attention. I have zero desire to pig out. I am excited and scared. I just want to be like those ones who have no serious pains or nausea post surgery. I want to be among those whose recovery goes smoothly. Please!

I don't see why you would need to wait too long. When I return from my surgery trip, 3-4 days after surgery, I will renew putting my CBD oil (made with small amount of thc) under my tongue at bedtime. Not crossing state lines carrying. I would take this this time to give up smoking forever if I were you and switch to vaping because smoking is bad for you, but you already know that. I take it for pain prevention so I have to take it nightly to keep away the migraines. So I don't plan on taking more than a week off. If you get impaired from cannabis, make sure you're not already impaired from your pst surg pain meds. You don't want to be dizzy or fall etc. Be smart. You will be fine.

Pretty lady! Your happiness is infectious; I'm nervous about getting sleeved in 2 weeks, and you remind me why!! Smiling for you.

Good layman explanation of how this is good for you not bad here (found this on bulletproof.com) Mother nature isnt stupid jason Miller July 2013 Don't confuse this with blood sugar spikes, the insulinogenic properties you speak of are for the amino acid uptake (insulin=storage), which is then followed by glucagon (glucagon= release) to create a balance in the system. The better/higher quality the protein source is the better the effect, if you aren't looking to efficiently utilize the protein you are ingesting then choose one with a low insulinogenic effect. Nature's pretty smart eh? If it only caused an insulin effect you would die from lowering a non elevated blood sugar, this is also why protein ingestion (by itself) can help with fat loss as the glucagon effect releases stored energy to create this balance in case there is blood sugar removed during the amino uptake process. Insulin- prevents death by lowering blood sugar Glucagon- prevents death by raising blood sugar

I start my pre op diet Thursday and I've been trying out the protein drinks. I too feel these shaky "low blood sugar" feelings 20 mins after drinking one. Mine have no sugar or fake sugar, just plain grassfed whey. ive been searching on google and it's a thing: whey is insulinogenic. I don't know what this means but here is a study. https://nutritionandmetabolism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-7075-9-48

I know that sugary sweet stuff is out forever more or it will cause dumping. Anything else? I'm ok with saying goodbye to say candy bars or sweet cakes and cookies. But what about other things? Two things that keep worrying me are: 85% dark chocolate, which I like to nibble on like others drink coffee. It gives me a little wake up boost. Also, spicy foods. Can we add chopped jalapeño to anything, ever? Little things like that I just don't want to say goodbye to. Anything you can never eat again because it causes dumping or pain or vomiting? Give it to me straight.

First off, fake sugars like sucralose and aspartame to me are actually poison and not food. Fake colors, neurotoxins as well. So those are out. So when after surgery I will be allowed sugar free popsicles, I was thinking I could maybe have a frozen fruit bar, natural, no fake stuff. But fruit is sugar. And a lot of these commercial natural fruit bars have some added sugar but the total sugars on the nutritional info are low . It is hard to find one without added sugar, but one brand I found with "juice only" advertised, has more sugar per nutritional analysis than other natural bars that add a bit of sugar. So what is acceptable? Thanks.

Fat free milk has more carbs per cup than milk with fat. Plus the brain and skin etc need some fat. I hope small amounts of fat milk will be ok after sleeve.

I am so glad I re-read this wonderful post again today. When I first read it, I was still choosing doctors, getting the list of tests, worried about other stuff. Now that I'm being sleeved in 2.5 weeks, and I have my date as well as getting ready for pre op diet, it's a whole new perspective. I have only DAYS to eat how I have been eating. I eat very healthily, but in generous portions. And last night I was almost crying at dinner. I made beautiful roast chicken, a salad and rice. I put 1/2 c or so of rice on my plate. I may never do that again. I am starting to mourn food the way I know it. It's sad, it's a huge change, but I'm also excited for new health, being able to do more things, looking better. But just now I am really feeling the feels, because I know that accepting the emotions helps you get through them. I have absolutely no desire to "pig out" but I am making corn on the cob for my family tonight and I plan on eating a whole ear. And my last day of eating will be July 4 and I might make a cherry pie. My goal is still to cook well for my big family and just not eat it or very tiny bit. Your post made me see my goal as possible. Thanks (I cry over hockey so why shouldn't I cry over dinner? LOL)

You guys are right before me. I will be looking for updates. My surgery is Weds.

Hi, I am officially a July sleever, just got the deposit in (I am doing cash pay) and finally sealed my surgery date. July 19th. I have to now get ready for the 2 weeks of protein drinks for 2 meals. Right after July 4, if I calculated correctly. Im trying really hard to notice every bite of food, every automatic thing I take for granted (even today, I popped a sandwich crust from my daughter's lunch box into my mouth... whaaat? Into the trash, not me! I've been so busy getting all the tests done etc, that only now am I starting to feel fear. But I have a prolactinoma and I will never be normal weight if I don't do this. And I've started to get the high BP and edema and such, Andy I'm old but my kids are young so I have to be healthy for a long time. Glad to be joining you all.

It's really very simple. When it was just looks, being fat, it was my problem. And I was supposed to diet and exercise it off. It was never going to happen because I've never found anyone online with a prolactinoma, in my case a larger one, a macro tumor in my pituitary that secretes the hormone prolactin which MAKES you fat (always hungry, changes your metabolism to try and make fat out of everything you eat, for the 20 newborns your body thinks you are mursing with that much prolactin in your system) who had success losing weight. Ever. But when I got very high blood pressure, and edema on one side, that was IT. I have little kids who need me. I want at least 10 years of normal weight. Even if the prolactinoma eventually wins again, if I have ten years of normal weight I should live longer and healthier than if the next 10 years I stay obese. And maybe it will work and keep excess weight off me. im more important to my kids than I am to myself, so even though I had fears, I made myself find a doctor and get started.