Katt 2002

I know that most drugs hit me harder than they used to as does alcohol so maybe that's it.

I gained about 60 pounds back about 7 years out. It didn't happen all at once, but gradually over time. I had a couple of knee surgeries and I stopped exercising as much. Over the last 2 years my lifestyle changed again and I started moving more in general and walking with friends. I lost the 60 pounds I had put back and another ten pounds as well without really trying to lose weight. You have to be gentle with yourself and forgive yourself if your weight fluctuates. We can be our own worst enemy if we beat ourselves up too much.

I thought about ketamine for depression. Was it working for you? What is the issue with using it after bariatric surgery?

It's been a long time now since I had the gastric bypass. I've lost 187 pounds. I lost most of the weight in the first couple of years. I slowly regained some (70 pounds) beginning about 5 years out because I had trouble with my knees and couldn't exercise. I've lost the regained weight in the past couple of years by just gentle walking several times a week. I'm no longer obsessed with eating and just eat for nourishment. I weigh myself about once a month. I stopped going to my support group because of the distance after the first couple of years. I lived about 4 hours away from where I had the surgery done. There was a 2 years wait list to see a surgeon closer to home. One thing I regret about not going to the support group is that I became complacent about keeping up with my mineral supplements. Now my kidneys are damaged and I need a transplant. The transplant surgeon tells me I need a panniculectomy before I get the kidney transplant. I couldn't afford the plastic surgery and didn't want to jump through all the hoops to get it covered. But now, since I've been told there's a medical reason for doing it, I'm starting to look into it.

I had surgery to create a fistula in March. This was done on purpose in preparation for dialysis. I don't think that's the same as getting a fistula accidentally and needing it corrected.

Had my gastric bypass in San Francisco in 2002 but I live in RI now.

I'm not sure if the calcium deficiency was the cause of my kidney troubles or just happened concurrently with them. But both problems are connected to oxalate nephropathy which is rare. When I got the diagnosis, I did research and learned that oxalate nephropathy can be caused by fat malabsorption which is the main feature of the Duodenal Switch gastric bypass I had 20 years ago.

Through painful experience, I have learned to stop before I get full. I can eat a couple of spoonfuls of anything I want. It wasn't easy to learn this. I had to consciously stop, put my fork down, wait a few moments and see how I felt. Eventually this became a habit. I can't eat a whole sandwich. A half sandwich satisfies me just fine. I'm very careful with foods that swell in your stomach like bread or pasta. I always pick out the protein and eat it first, then wait, then anything else if I still feel like it.

I think the chewable vs non-chewable issue is overblown. I started with all chewables 20 years ago. I went even further and used liquids. I wound up with a calcium deficiency because I trusted supplements I ordered by mail that were not USP or USDA approved. Now I get my vitamins and supplements from the pharmacy so I know that the pills I am swallowing actually contain what they say they contain. According to my blood tests I'm absorbing the pills just fine.

I have a calcium deficiency so I take more than the average needed. I take 3,500 mg daily. But according to my endocrinologist, you can only absorb about 750 mg at a time. If you take more than that, it just flushes away. So I take it every 4 hours, 5 times a day. You should ask your doctor how much to take.

Before my surgery I dreaded getting on the scale. After my surgery I weighed myself every day to see what I had lost. When I stopped losing, I stopped looking. Some of the weight came back about 5 years out when I stopped exercising because I had trouble with my knees. Then I became very stable and my weight just stayed the same for about 15 years. I relaxed about it and just got weighed whenever I went to the doctor's office. I retired 2 years ago and moved back to where I grew up. I reconnected with old friends and because of Covid, we'd meet outside and go for walks. The change in my lifestyle from extremely sedentary to moderately active made the weight I had gained back drop off again. Now I weigh myself about once a month.

I'm not sure exactly what caused the kidney damage. But I had been very lax with taking my calcium supplement. I have something called oxalate nephropathy. I had calcium oxalate kidney stones about 5 years after my surgery. Then last year I had a very bad UTI which took over a month and 3 different antibiotics to cure. That might have been the thing that really caused my kidneys to fail. Or it might have been the fact that I switched brands of the liquid calcium I was taking and the new brand was not good. Anyway, I wound up in the hospital with a severe calcium deficiency and had to have IV calcium. And my kidney disease went from stage 3 to stage 5 in 6 months. Anyway, I gave up on the liquid calcium supplement and now I take calcium in pill form from the pharmacy to make sure I'm getting the amount I need. I mistakenly believed that the liquid form would be better for me because of the D/S but I learned that it's more important to get your supplements from a USP approved source. There is a study that shows that oxalate nephropathy, which is rare, can be caused by fat malabsorption, I think ultimately, that is why my kidneys failed.

Well apparently all the skin is in the way of the kidneys. So it would complicate the kidney surgery.

This will pass. I used to keep a spray in my bag but I don't need to anymore. Another thing that helps is to flush while you're going which seems to whisk the odors down the drain instead of lingering around you. I keep matches in the bathroom at home but don't need to use them every time.