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I have been overweight my whole life as well. I had jaw surgery 14 years ago and lost 60 pounds because my jaw was wired shut. So of course I gained that back. Lol. I guess most recently it has been a couple of things. I have an autoimmune disorder which I know would get better with weight loss. I also have worked with a LOT of celebrities and I like my work and don't wanna be the awkward fat girl at the party. And finally, my daughter. My 18 year old daughter is a model. A real life, gets paid to take pictures, has an agent, stops traffic Model. And I don't wanna be following her at an event bringing up the rear her fat, dumpy mom. I did that through childhood as my gorgeous moms fat, dumpy daughter. People tell me all the time that my daughter looks just like me, how could she? How could she? I don't see my beauty like I used to. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I will hopefully be sleeved first week of May 2014.

Hi, pretty Juli - Thanks for your response. I should know better than to make ambiguous, melodramatic statements like I did, as if everyone here knows my story. Let me explain a bit. I hope this doesn't come across as defensive or even more melodramatic! I moved home from FL eight years ago, which was 6 months after my Dad's heart attack. He had heart bypass surgery just a few months after I moved to Columbus. Since that time, I've witnessed my precious Dad be diagnosed with one obesity-related disease after another, and observe as he suffers through each day and is hospitalized about once per month. My Dad has heart disease, type-2 diabetes, inflammed/fatty liver, obstructive sleep apnea, congestive heart failure, hypertension, high cholesterol, and depression/anxiety. My Dad is only 61 years old. As for me, my body has already failed me once. I have (had?!) Graves Disease, which is autoimmune hyperthryoidism (dx Nov 2002.) I went through three years of roller-coaster riding on meds (cycling back and forth between hyper and hypo, with occassional moments of bliss in a 'euthyroid'/normal state.) When I started to experience the eye symptoms that often accompany Graves (e.g., they started to bug out of my head), I elected to have a total thyroidectomy. Well, it's a good thing I had the surgery because there were two little secret microcarcinomas that only God knew were there. I had thyroid cancer, but it was stage 1 and the thyroidectomy is the treatment for that. Thyroid disease has been a real strike against me in the weight management department. I've gained about 10# every year since I was first diagnosed with Graves. I can very clearly see my future in my Father's struggles. I have hypertension, anxiety/depression, high cholesterol, and a fatty liver already... and as of last week I have added obstructive sleep apnea to my resume'. I don't want to have to continue living with this burden... with this daily fear of what comes next for me health-wise. I am only 38 years old, and I long to be as active -- and as 'at peace' with my health -- as I was before Graves. (I ran a 5k race every weekend when I lived in Orlando!) I view the LB as the tool that will help me to regain my health and avoid 'the family curse.' I don't feel like I'm viewing it as 'the diet of the month,' but I'll talk to my LB program psychologist about that just in case. I know that life will always throw me curve balls, like you said. I long for the day when I can confront them without the added burden of being 'a sick person.' Thanks again for your response and for the opportunity to explain my melodramatic statements a little better. Y'all will probably be hearing a lot more from me in the weeks to come. I've failed my first month of the pre-op program miserably, but I'm renewing my focus now and 'using my resources' to stay focused. I really think/hope that starting to use the CPAP machine will help improve my frame of mind and this dark spiral of anxiety/depression that I've found myself in lately. :thumbup:

Searc here for a thread called "Things to ask your surgeon" or something like that. There's LOTS of really great suggestions on questions you might want to ask. I don't have autoimmune so I can't comment. Oh, BTW - I had pretty much made up my mind to do this, knew my insurance would cover it, and then got a job offer with another company that I couldn't refuse. I didn't let the operation stop me from taking it, so here's what I did: ASAP look over the insurance options you have (I had like 13 to choose from, it was a nightmare!) and write them down. Then search here and OH for insurance companies known to be "band friendly". (If the other options don't make it too attractive, in my case I could have just hopped on to DH's policy, which did NOT cover the band, but would have given me everything else and the measly amount I pay for insurance would have been sooo worth it for the band alone). Cross off the others, leaving me with 3 or 4 possibilities. Bring those back in to work and review the SPD for each looking for any exclusions around bariatrics, bariatric surgery, gastric banding, etc. One had an exclusion listed so I crossed it off, leaving me with 2 or 3 choices. Called my HR rep and asked if the company had bariatric exclusions on the policies for either of those carriers, found out they did not. Called a rep from each insurance company and asked them, specifically, if the lap-band was covered for my potential policy. (I had to ask about "adjustable gastric banding" or something, b/c "Lap-Band" isn't in their literature). So in the end I had 2 or 3 choices that I was 95% sure would pay for it, so then I picked my policy based on the overall features I preferred, out of pocket for surgical costs, etc. So changing jobs didn't impact me in the slightest. This was all in June of last year, and I went to my seminar in November. The one caveat I'll add is that the company I'm at is huge, so I felt confident that I'd have my choice of carriers. If I had been going to a small place, I may have done things differently, so that I didn't end up going some place only to find out they only offered 1 policy and it didn't cover WLS. And we had the means to pay out of pocket, too, as a back-up plan so it didn't "matter" if insurance covered it or not, but heck - that little bit of work & research was SOOO worth $16k. Hope this helps.

Just wanted to introduce myself. I am now the proud owner of a " sleeve". My surgeon Dr. Anthony Maffei did a wonderful job!! It's an exciting journey each day...and also tiring I can't wait until next week when I can have a soft Protein. It's so worth it, after only 1 week I lost 10 pounds!!!!!!! It is taking adjustment but my daughter had it when she was 28 , she's two years out amd her entire life changed around....so she is my role model:) she tells me how proud she is of me ...I have had a lot of health issues including autoimmune disease....I know that won't go away but I will have a healthier body to take anything on...this was an early birthday gift to myself. ???? Surgery was February 17 ...Wed....I will cherish Starting weight 308 Pre op dieting and surgery weight loss to date ...286!!! I'm happy to have found this support group!

You just don't know until you get to see a band surgeon. The liver is very close to where they will be working, both with the lapband or gastric bypass. They may want you to go on a pretty strict diet immediately prior to the surgery to help 'shrink' the liver and get it in a healthy state. This makes your surgery much less risky. As far as health concerns. I have had several episodes of DVT(deep vein thrombosis - blood clots in the extremeties) and one episode of Pulmonary Embolism (blood clot in the lung). I also have Systemic Lupus which is a chronic autoimmune disease. Luckily, I don't have severe symptoms with that, but it's always a concern. You can go from healthy to dying before you can blink an eye, so I hear. I was the first ever to have a vena cava filter implanted at the same time as I had my lapband done in order to prevent any possible clots from moving to my heart or head or lungs. I was turned down by the first doctor I chose because he didn't want to take the risks with my health concerns and the fact that I had to take blood thinning drugs for the rest of my life. Luckily, I did find someone who had already banded someone else with the exact same problems as me and my surgery was successful. Will I ever have complications due to these issues? Maybe. Will I be better off having lost my excess weight if I do? You betcha! We can only live for today, right? Today, I choose to be banded and to fight the good fight where my health is concerned. Tomorrow, I may have to change my focus. Good luck!

My daughter is celiac and I have 3 autoimmunes myself. It is amazing at the things that contain wheat you would never think. Like you can't lick envelopes and certain toothpastes. I buy the gluten free bisquick also and we like that. Walmart carries a ton more gluten free products. I will say for us it was trial and error with consistency and taste. Not everything you make tastes good. When baking you will have to try and see what tastes best to you. Gluten free is definitely a lot less moist usually. It took us years to find bread she would eat but schar makes a good bread but she always toasts it. As far as food you can make almost any meal gluten free pretty easily now a days. Feel free to ask any questions you need to.

Figgered I'd nip in and drop a post... I got banded by Dr. Woody Denham at Evanston Northwestern on July 16 2007. Incidentally, very nice of him to do Medicaid work. I'm a bit a-typical here... frankly, I've been told (and tend to believe) that I would have been reverting down to my 'natural' weight with time (and was already on my way, prior to surgery). That said, enough was enough, and I'm perfectly ecstatic that I had it done. There's a bit of a story there... and it smacks of 'vicious circle' coupled with quack doctors ... this is long (just feel like writing it down right now Essentially, I was born (or acquired soon after) the autoimmune disease Celiac Sprue. That's a nasty little thing whereby the body's immune system ends up attacking glutens (wheat (flour), rye and barley) - and any organs in contact with the glutens. In hindsight, the first symptom was a 'rash' on my right ankle at around age 5. Over the years it was usually diagnosed as psoriasis, though the penultimate diagnoses (from a specialist, no less!) was something along the lines of "well, the morbidly obese often have skin problems" - thanks, doc! Doctors would also blame 'allergies' in general (like to doggies)... finally had my pediatrist tell me I'd be dead in 10 years, at which point I just stopped going to doctors (was offered no answers - just 'lose weight). The celiac hit overdrive right out of high school (all of the following started within a 2 week period): heart palpitations, nightly; acid reflux (had never experienced that before - went from 0 to the value sized tagamet and tums bottles overnight); bad sleep and nightmares; kidney stones (omg, those are fun!)... to name but a few things. Perhaps 8 years ago the celiac ratcheted up again - so, that was about 8 years w/o a solid bowl movement (and I went from once a day to 10-20 times a day near the end). Well, I just figured (depending on my mood) that I'd either gone nuts, was dying, had cancer, had a dicky heart, had a brain tumor... but I slogged on, nonetheless. Eventually the sleep became a serious problem (starting about 10 years ago). I've _always_ had trouble *falling* asleep, but up until the 'right out of high school' period I quite enjoyed sleeping A recent revelation I've had, though, is that I was -always- yawning for as long as my memory went back (yes, a bit of hyperbole... but only a bit). Gradually, my 'sleep' went up from 7-9 hours per night to 10-14 per night near the end (and ANY less than 10 hours and I'd feel like I was hit by a mack truck). I'd also wake up seemingly constantly because of back pain (I took to sleeping in bizarre positions - the worst was the last one I utilized: face firmly planted in the pillow, legs on a pile of pillows raised up a good 9" to 1 foot higher than where my head was). Ah, weights, as I remember them... 180 in 5th grade. 250 in 9th. 300 by the end of high school. Around 330-350 for quite awhile... then it shot up to 425 three years ago. At a guess, it was 625 1 year ago (wow!). OK! Now, onto the punchline... I had really gone 'down hill' starting maybe 6 years ago. See all of the above but I'd also taken a huge hit to my mental faculties, and I'd get horribly winded from walking a block or so. Ended up moving back in with my parents and started working for my father, but it became harder and harder to do even the simplest mental or physical activities. About 3 years ago I started getting real bad tooth pains; went in to a dentist and he found an impacted wisdom tooth. Ok - I figured I might as well get them all out. He yoinked 3 (was awake for it) but couldn't do the impacted one, so he gave me some pennicyllin and I scheduled for 2 weeks later with a dental surgeon. Got the last one yanked (awake for that one too... bits of tooth flying everywhere!) and got some more pennicyllin. That second course of antibiotics got me - I went into anaphalactic shock. I actually tried to wait it out, but after 5 hours I went to the hospital. Hit me with Benadryl and that fixed that. BUT... enzymes came back - I'd had a mild heart attack, They found a 100% blockage on some minor artery; stint didn't take and they just loaded me up with heart meds and sent me on my way. About 3 months later I had an arrythmia (conginital heart defect - another missed diagnosis). I was born with a misfiring node (literally a short circuit) that would occassionally fire off and produce a tachycardia (I think... extremely rapid (~200 beats per minute) and irregular. In the past it had always corrected itself w/i 10 minutes or less (it's happened probably 2x a year since birth). WELL.. this one lasted 6 hours (no shit - 200 BPM when I hit the hospital). They hit me with some drug - instant fix. 'Course, another mild heart attack (from the enzymes) showed up. Now, I didn't have insurance then... and the docs certainly knew it. There was alot of discussion - I was assured that the problem was fixable and that they'd do it... but as the time got closer they suddenly had a change of heart (insurance, I'm sure) and tried to talk me into medicating the problem. I fought that, and they did it... kept me awake for that one as well. Jeez - it was supposed to be an hour long procedure (cardiac ablation - they burn out the misfining node)... but the node was in a dangerous place (or the doc was drunk) and it took 8 hours and a total of 18 burns... and I felt each one BUT they got it! By this time they had me on 300mg Hyzaar, 10mg Norvasc and 400(!!! was reduced to 300 though) of Metoprolol... That's like triple the max dosages for the hyzaar and Metoprolol. So, 2 years later (January of 2006) I was like a zombie. I'd fall over, had tremors (heh! I told that to the doctor... he upped my dosages!), had trouble seeing... well, it was bad. Parents finally made me go to their doctor... And that's where it all got fixed! I walked in and he took my bp... 50 over unreadable. It took monthly visits for ~6 months for him to ween me off of the stuff - at the end I was taking no heart meds, other than an aspirin a day (he added in 25mg of Cozaar, just as a precaution). Next he tackled the sleep apnea. I went in for a sleep study in May of '06 and had an apnea index of 180 (anything over 30 is 'severe', and that's the highest rating the scale goes). 99% of them were hypopneas (meaning I didn't completely stop breathing, but came very close)... 180 "events" per minute (one every 20 seconds!) - I was told that they'd never seen anything that high SO, gotta mask, have used it EVERY single time I've slept... and the apnea index is at 2. Anything under 5 is "ok", so... well, it's made an unbelieveable difference! I do NOT yawn anymore - and that's shocking to me. Then, right after the sleep apnea diagnoses, my doctor pinned the Celiac down. It was my ankle - I showed it to him as an afterthought (hey, with a list *this* big...). He got it right away (amazingly, he has Celiac as well - serendipity!). Ugh, I still dream about pizza... but I got on the diet right away. Unfortunately, the celiac had progressed to Apocalyptic mode... it had ulcerated my intestines (many, many years ago) and the glutens were being carried throughout by bloodstream. And wherever my antibodys would find them... well, brain damage was confirmed (enough to get me declared disabled) and who knows what else (my heart would get it as well, I believe - I'd get (and will still get) funny and pounding beats if I get "glutened"). Also, unfortunately, it took until Feb of this year for the doc to piece together the rest. No matter how careful I was I'd still get reactions - twice they were bad enough (think kidney stones, but pain centered in the intestines) that I could have gone to the hospital (didn't, though). Apparently, other intolerances had latched onto the Celiac (he explained it, but I'll demure) and were replicating the symptoms (he called it a 'neat trick'). He gave me a neat analogy, though - people can be allergic to Benadryl/antihistimines! Said that some people who have gotten terrible cases of poison ivy/poison oak have rubbed topical benadryl all over it. The body, attacking the poison ivy/oak can 'mistake' the benadryl for the poison ivy/oak... and it then proceeds to "remember" the benadryl as bad. Upshot is that I can't eat gluten, dairy (lactaid is useless), tomatoes, citrus/citric acid, artificial sweeteners. SO... hehe, gastric bypass was NOT something I wanted! We're talking ZERO amounts of those foods - zero meaning zero, naught, zilch, zed, bupkiss. So, there it is... mu ticker's just dandy - had a chemical stress test before the banding surgery (chisticles, that was BAD... i had a violent reaction with one of the chemicals. I felt like I was in Gitmo in an interrogation room).The 'heart attacks' I had kind of make me chuckle - my doc assures me that I had many, many per night before I got the sleep apnea treated, along with many, many mini strokes (and, at a best guess, this was going on for 10+ years). Apparently, any heart attack (infarction), no matter how "small", will show up in the enzyme tests they gave me. My EKGs are perfect too. My eyesight's returned (in fact, a few weeks ago I removed my glasses and found that I had 20/20 vision, which hasn't been the case since 6th grade at the earliest! But it changes from day to day...). I've been abdominal pain free (minus the surgery) for couple or 3 months - that's a first since "right out of high school". Mental facuties are creeping back as well (in high school I could do square roots in my head... I 'used' to be able to visualize words and numbers... and it's starting to happen again). Still have to get the whole kidney stone thing sorted out - I'm on allopurinol (for gout) for 4 years now and still get 'em... and my diet is great now (as are my blood tests). Doc wants to wait for the weight to drop to some extent before dealing with that. Also just diagnosed me with peripheral nerve disease (now, that one ISN'T weight related, so far as I've read... seems like it's celiac related... and it definitely will flare up horribly bad if I have a celiac reaction). The celiac definitely prepped me for the lap-band, diet wise... but what has _astounded_ me is that, once we got the celiac diagnosed and 'in check'... I'm -just not hungry-! After the lapband I've gone a few stretches where I don't eat for 24-36 hours... and, yah, I'm hungry (starving, really)... but it's controllable. The celiac, in comparison... not only was it worse (there was pain, nausea and _intense_ craving)... BUT, what made it 'hellish' was that it would (get ready for it) kick in (with attitude) AFTER a meal! Talk about 'never feeling full' - ultimately, and that's where the weight really piled on - I compensated by eating one meal, right before bed (else I'd just get hungry again) - and at a 'fit to bursting' amount. If I ate during the day (to the point of feeling painfully stuffed) I'd be ravenous not 3 hours later. Amazing.... and it feels real good not to experience that any more! Though.... ugh... I just have to live in chicago, pizza and hot dog capital of the world. I _dream_ about pizza... my last one (with gluten free dough) was for Christmas (re: 36 hours of utter, violent pain). Sigh, maybe the dairy and tomato intolerance will go away! Welp, end of story... large chunks left out, probably. Feel free to zap me an email if you have any Celiac or sleep apnea related questions 8^)

thank you everyone for all your kind words of wisdom and suggestions. This decision was made by me and talking it over with my mom. My problems all started when I had my band put in. I'm not sure if my body doesn't like that its a foreign object in there or if I'm Vitamin deficient which I've had loads of blood work done recently. My surgeon is against NSAIDs and besides I would have to live on them all of the time, seriously. He is also concerned about if I truly have lupus and the connective tissue that the band is is around and affiliated with. I have toenails falling off weekly and toenail infections and having to deal with that and podiatrist said that is related to autoimmune compromised ppl so I feel that by me having the band surgery either flared up an autoimmune disease for me and like I said I live in daily and nightly pain, constant pain. As I type this I cannot sleep cause I hurt so bad, I've had 2 Tramadol's, 2 Tylenol's and some liquid motrin and nothing is knocking the pain. It is too late in the night for me to take anything stronger or I will be asleep till tomorrow afternoon. I just think this is the best decision for me right now is to get my health back.

@@UalreadyKnow I'm sorry to hear about your struggles with these illnesses. I've fallen down the stairs in my home, in the grocery store--just randomly when my knees give out. My eyelashes fell out. All autoimmune related. I find that autoimmune diseases can and do overlap. I understand the need to feel normal: a normal weight and, in my case anyway, as able-bodied as possible. Good luck to you in your battle! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Lisa: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/lung/other/sarcoidosis/sarcoid.pdf Here is an article that describes Sarcoidosis and how it affects the body and what organs it can attack. In the article it does not mention the Gastrointestinal system as one of the systems it affects. On page 8 of the document it states: "Some organs are affected more often than others. Sarcoidosis occurs most often n the lungs. It also most commonly affects the skin, eyes, lymph nodes, and liver. Less commonly, it affects the spleen, brain, nerves, heart, tear glands, salivary glands, and bones and joints. Rarely, it affects other organs, such as the thyroid gland, breasts, kidneys, and male and female reproductive organs." I can only speculate that Lopez banded you knowing about your autoimmune disease thinking that it would not affect your recovery since it does not attack the G.I. system. Other autoimmune diseases would be a major concern in that respect. Again this is only speculation on my part. The person to ask of course is Dr. Lopez or your current doc. Hope this helped.

Hi Seminole, Mayflower and Tess! Welcome to the post! Seiminole - you seem to be doing great! Keep up the good work. Mayflower - sorry to hear about the autoimmune disease. That is tough. Steroids do wreak havoc on your body. But keep at it. You'll get there! Tess - I'm only a few days out but I can already see that this is not going to be a walk in the park. You've done great so far and are only 30lbs from goal. You can do it!!

I've got RA, Lupus and Fibromyalgia. My surgeon has said that it shouldn't be a problem, but that he'd want me to stop taking the NSAIDS. I'm okay with that, because of all the pills I take, I think those work the least. He also said that because of the autoimmune disorders, there is the potential for my body to react to the band itself, in which case they would have to remove it. Being that I have had 2 cesarean sections and never had a reaction to those surgeries, I'm not concerned. Losing the extra weight will immensely help my health conditions, so I was very happy to hear him say that it wasn't going to prevent me from surgery.

Wishing you all the best Donna. I understand chronic pain...was on all of that stuff as well...Tramadol, Percocet, Oxycodone... I had to have both hips replaced because of osteo-necrosis and the rheumatologist feels it also is autoimmune based though he cannot diagnose the exact type of disease. I will need both knees replaced at some point and now I have to get xrays and MRIs for all my major joints to monitor them in the hopes that I don't get as bad as I was. As others have said, please keep in touch with us so we can help you with your journey no matter where it takes you.

Hi All! I've been thinking about this for 3 yrs. I finally cleared all the tests (for the last 2 yrs, i was unable to do it because i had bowel problems. We now know i have an autoimmune disorder). Now, i put my deposit down and have a date (one month out). I came to this site to find people like me. People who can understand what i'm going through. I know there are a lot of you out there who have been through this! I'm a 40 yr old mom of 3. I'm so scared that me not being able to control my weight has lead to the surgery and now im putting myself at risk. Negativity begets negativity - so i desperately want to get to that positive place where i don't go online to read about blood clots, horror stories! GOsh, not to mention friends & doctors who think i'm nutz. Have any of you felt like this? Should i go to a therapist? Do yoga? Find local support groups? Thank you for listening to me. Thank you to whoever responds. I appreciate you!

Well, they have thought for quite some time that I may have an autoimmune disorder... starting prednisone today. My lungs sound bad. I thought having this surgery I would get healthier lol

Yeah same here, it was still newish. And I wasn't crazy about having part of my stomach sent to the incinerator. And I was against RNY for years because I didn't think I would be a candidate for it due to autoimmune disease, but now my Rheumy says oh no go for it. So I'm diving in head first soon.

I had some underlying medical stuff going on so I am sure a pounds (5 or more) were just long term fluid built up. I had a hysterectomy a few years ago that was a complete nightmare and my hormones have been off the hook ever since. The surgeon told me today that my stomach that was sent in to pathology was nightmare. I should feel better just having that out of me, I had/ have, will have (still trying to figure this out) an autoimmune disorder of the stomach lining (autoimmune atrophic gastritis). So hopefully getting that diseased tissue out of me and getting my vitamins and electrolytes back in balance the rest of the numbers will fall back in place again. I got so depressed when nobody could figure out what was wrong with me all I did was eat and that just made everything ten times worse! I am so grateful that they were willing to go this procedure on me and give me a life back I am willing to do anything to start living again. Now to get my husband through the liquid phase of everything so he can lose all the weight we gained together !!!!

I wish they had the delete option for those who made a post and want to remove it. For awhile you could hit edit and erase the info and put in "double post" but now the edit works weird too. You do not have access to the original post just that you can add onto the information. Flygirl congrats on the 70 lbs lost. Lucky they found your autoimmune disorder and now you are receiving treatment.

I found out from the test of the pancreatitus that it caused by my bad gullbladder, I have a "low functiouning" Gallbladder and it's full of stones from the rapid weight loss.. I really wish he would have taken out when I got the sleeve, My autoimmune disorder is just genetic and that along with the pancraititus is was cause the 3 clots I feel SO much better, healthier, more energy. I smile more! I'm not the fattest person in the room YAY! I'm looking forward to the next few months I hope to meet goal by my 1 year anniversay I had the sleeve done at Miami Valley Hopsital in Dayton, OH - Premeier Metabolic- DR. Teel. Most wonderful doctor! I trust him enought that I feel fine with my mom getting it done by him. She is just starting her process now.

I decided to use Bluepoint group and Fair Oaks Hospital. Main reasons are the hospital is a bariatric center of exelence. Realizing surgeon is important but pre during and after support very important to success. I have an autoimmune problem and appreciated that Dr Moazzez knew about my issues and is addressing some special issues I have. No date yet but hoping for end of June or early July. Happy so far with my initial consults and their info seminar.

HELLO EVERYONE, WELL AS IV'E SAID BEFORE I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH LUPUS AND MANY OTHER AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES SO I NEED CLEARANCE FROM CERTAIN SPECIALIST TO HAVE SURGERY. I'VE GOTTEN CLEARANCE FROM MY PRIMARY, HEMATOLOGY, AND RHEUMATOLOGIST. NOW I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT MY GASTROENTEROLOGY SPECIALIST WAS ON BOARD AFTER MY CONSULT APPT LAST WEEK AND NOW I CALL THE SURGEON'S OFFICE TO CONFIRM PAPER WORK AND SHE TELLS ME THAT HE SENT A LONG LETTER STATING THAT HE WILL NOT SIGN OFF UNLESS I GO THROUGH TWO MONTHS OF TAKING MIRALAX AND METAMUCIL FOR CONSTIPATION. THIS IS SOMETHING I'VE DELT WITH ALL MY LIFE.. SO MY QUESTION IS.. HAS ANYONE HAD TO DO THIS? CAUSE I FEEL THAT HE'S DELAYING PROGRESS FOR TWO MONTHS FOR NOTHING!! JUST A LIL FUSTRATED.. THANKS FOR LISTENING TO MY RANT! LOL

You’ll do great @la.nena! Five kids and births, and it sounds like you are prioritizing your health. Like you, I have had autoimmune issues and I didn’t want diabetes to become the fourth. Envision how great you will feel and be after and why you are doing this. Good luck!

I think what I most worried about is the keeping track and reminders to take stuff and when to take it. I have 5 kids and work for the school district at a high school. I stay busy. I’m getting this surgery because I have an autoimmune disease and they made it a medical necessity. I’m currently 260 and 5’4.

This is a touchy subject... In was sleeved because it have an autoimmune disease and have to take nsaids... Now my surgeon says I can never take them. I didn't meet with my surgeon before preop and that was for another 45 seconds. The 6 month preop diet I saw apns... When she told me no nsaids ever I told her I wouldn't be able to have the surgery... She then told me about the sleeve and Medicare just started paying for it... They sent me to my rheumatologist and he approved sleeve only, because you CAN take nsaids after surgery... Funny if you Google it, it shows taking nsaids as a pro of this surgery! Frustrating!

While "fantastic" wasn't the first word that came to mind, I am still appreciative that they are both treatable! My doctors did test me for thyroid but not the Addison's until I went to a cardiac doctor then got referred to an endocrine doctor. But I also didn't know that with one usually comes another, so thanks for that. Hopefully things will turn around for me soon. Niki, I too have thyroid issues. I have been diagnosed with "Graves Disease". In 2007 I had my thyroid ablated because of hyperthyroidism. Now I take synthroid to regulate things. They can give you synthroid and your blood pressure and heart rate will rise and you will feel so much better. I was hyper so I my BP and HR were too high and that is why they had to kill it. So now I have a dead gland in my throat! lol You having hypothyroidism, it is easily fixed and with meds. I hope that is the case. Graves Disease is a autoimmune issue as well. Wishing you the best. I know you are on the road to recovery. You will feel better once they start giving you meds. Did the Dr. say they would start you on synthroid?