But Seriously Folks - Nic...

The other thing I forgot to mention in my last post - this has to do with what recently happened to Nic. Folks, according to researching this, WLS really does mess up the ability for two critical organs - our liver and our pancreas - to function properly. The pancreas is most affected by severe shifts in our blood sugar (glucose) levels. In the simplest of terms, that function is hindered by malabsorption, and is further compromised when we start messing around with what we eat. Sugar will not only cause us to gain weight, if not managed, it will cause new and dangerous health problems. NIC - I hope you are having a comprehensive blood workup done to take at look at how your system is functioning. I sincerely hope your PCP is not just merely handing this matter over to a neurologist - sure, you had a grand mal seizure, but that's the symptom of what CAUSED the seizure. Taking a look at your blood work, which is the indicator of how your system - your WLS plumbing - is functioning should point to what's going on. Folks, I suggest we all get our bloodwork done right now - a comprehensive profile - and share notes. We all had this surgery at the same time, we're all nearly 5 years past the surgery, and many of us are struggling with sugar (eating crap food) and reporting that we are having serious blood sugar episodes. Remember, our bodies recognize all refined carbohydrates - foods made from white processed flour - as sugar! Cake, cookies, pretzels, white rice, my coveted "lite" english muffins, any muffins, most commercial cereals, bagels, pasta, all of this - the minute it enters the bloodstream is recognized as SUGAR by our bodies. To be eating these kinds of foods on a regular basis is to be playing russian rulette with our health and longevity. Did we go through everything we've gone through to do this to ourselves??? I'm going to make an appontment, and I strongly encouarge you all to do so as well. This is a way we can really help each other! Love you, Maureen

I actually have a blood work write up from my pcp. I haven't gone yet and am afraid I lost it. SOOO much was happening I was sick, my daughter was sick, my mom was sick... but I have no excuse now. Did you happen to find out how sugar affects our pancreas and liver? Does it damage it? You know what I am terrified of...pancreatic cancer!!! I have heard of a higher rate of proabability in wls patients. It's scary! I'm glad you mentioned this because it just makes me want to cut out sugar all the more! I haven't had a low blood sugar episode in some time. Once in a while I'll have a very small one and can tell. Just FYI Milk Thistle is an amazing help to the liver. I bought the liquid type from the vitamin shoppe. Just to warn you... one dropper and you WILL gag! its sooo nasty, but all that I read up on Milk Thistle suggests that it is VERY VERY good for the liver. I'll have to start taking it more often. The taste discourages! Thanks for this. I'm gonna dig around for my paperwork to have my blood tested. I am very curious about my levels anyway. I even told her that I wanted a dexa scan done. She gave me the slip to have it done. stilll have that, but she told me to wait to see what the blood levels tell her before doing the dexa scan. This was good to know!!! You rock Maureen. Thanks! Love ya! Elizabeth M

Elizabeth, I'm no expert but the role of the pancreas is to digest our food properly so that we get the biggest nutritional bang for our buck; if overstimulated it pushes way too much insulin too fast through our systems. The condition that is happening for Nic (and I suspect for many of us, myself included although I haven't progressed to blacking out - yet) is called "Nesidioblastosis" - basically, this condition is acute hyperinsulinism, defined as "... a disorder in which the insulin cells of the pancreas (beta cells) secrete too much insulin and at the wrong time. Excess insulin causes low blood sugar. Ordinarily, beta cells secrete just enough insulin to keep the blood sugar normal. With hyperinsulinsim, the secretion of insulin is not properly regulated, causing excess insulin secretion and low blood sugar." (This taken from the blog of Melting Mama, a RNY post-op who is suffering with severe bouts of these kinds of episodes.) She goes on to say: "Normal blood sugar is 70 - 100 mg/dL. Anything less than 60 mg/dL is low, although severe symptoms due to hypoglycemia are not likely unless the blood sugar is below 50 mg/dL. PROLONGED OR SEVERE LOW BLOOD SUGAR CAN CAUSE SEIZURES AND BRAIN DAMAGE." Sometimes, the disease is genetic and babies are born with it (it is classified as a rare disease). Adults are not typically diagnosed with nestisdioblastosis BUT a sufficiently alarming number of WLS post-ops are being diagnosed - and I've read of a couple of instances where the pancreas had to be partially removed. We simply MUST be extremely pro-active in our post-surgery lives and work with our PCPs - doctors who still have very little understanding of gastric bypass surgery and its long-term effects on our physiology - on making sure we are healthy! Now I understand why, when I saw my surgeon for my 4 year check up, his first question to me was whether or not I was having low blood sugar episodes, how frequently, and whether I had ever blacked out. He pushed the 6-small-meals a day strategy and insisted I eat complex carbs with every meal. He did NOT, however, explain his concerns. Hope this helps. To arms, Marchers, to arms!!!! GET YOUR BLOOKWORK DONE! Elizabeth, what is the scan your talking about? Maureen

liver---cirrhosis--sugar all related- alcoholics develop cirrhosis as do ppl who just eat lotsa sugar..... elizabeth- how old are you? it's not a bad thing to still get the dexa if you can-as a benchmark for future......

Dexa is the bone scan. Make sure my bones aren't turning all brittle. I know the docs really don't know much at all about wls and they don't seem to be going out of their ways to look into it. Personally I really think it IS up to us. To arms is right! Elizabeth M

Ah, that's right - I had my bone scan done about a year ago; came back as my being peri (pre-)osteoporosis. I have not been absorbing calcium efficiently since my surgery. Doc put me on this new drug, Evista for bone loss - don't get on this drug! I started having extreme leg cramps (I was screaming and in spasms) about 5 days after I started taking it - turns out this drug can cause blood clots, strokes and aneurisms!!! My doc just threw me on it because research suggests it will reduce the incidences of breast cancer - which won't be an issue if you're DEAD from a stroke! I called him and told him what was going on and he said get off of it immediately. Haven't had a leg cramp since...Love, Maureen

i would desperatley love to have my labs done and add a check for thyroid-but reenie- i have no ins and no money ...so---am just praying--i've been in good shape each time prior to this year and have no reason to think otherwise meantime i think my gall bladder is trying to go bad on me and me one of the 47 million Americans hillary referred to !!!!! i had a dexa scan pre wls-actually in 1999--and used it as a benchmark post wls--and am still in good shape-dunno why.... not challenging it-just glad!!!!!

All there reason I'm for universal health care!!!! I don't mind paying higher taxes for medical coverage! If anyone is interested check out the movie Sicko, its a documentary about Americas health care system compared to the universal health care ssystem and how well it works for other countries. I was shocked! well not really. It's not as though I'm oblivious to the prices medical coverage costs and the dealings of turning down sick people for insurance coverage. Some people had to move to France to get coverage because they had cancer...and since it was a pre-existing condition they were turned down for coverage!!! its dispicable. I am in debt because of it AND i have insurance. Go figure! ok off my soap box. Elizabeth M

Hi Reenie and everyone, There is a good article about WLS and blood sugar and the "Other Dumping" syndrome that happens 1-4 hours after eating in the Beyond Change issue that I just received in the mail yesterday. The article was fascinating. I have a friend who has experience exactly these symptoms and her "regular" doctors have not been able to pinpoint what the cause of her fainting spells are coming from. There are some blood test that can be done (a 24 hour blood sugar monitoring that doesn't involve drinking sugar) and some other tests. Also, eating protein every 2 hours and avoiding simple carbs. But if in the middle of a low blood sugar attack, eating pretzels or graham crackers will bring one out of the attack without too much of a shock to the body. Other causes, according to the article, can be tumors on the pancreas, as Maureen noted. These can possibly be removed but it is iffy. The good news is that diet can usually correct the problem. The author recommends seeing the bariatric surgeon's dietician first and then asking them for a referral to an endocronologist who has experience with bariatric patients. If you don't subscribe to Beyond Change, it is a monthly publication that only costs about $30 a year and is one of the most comprehensive of it's kind. My surgeon suggested it to me and I have subscribed since I had surgery. It is better than WLS or Obesity Help. I like them, too, but this one is really special. There is always an article EVERY month by a bariatric dietician, a psycholigist, a patient article, a LCSW, and surgeons. I still have my lab work done every four months because my insurance pays for it (we have the obesity rider on our BCBS policy at work). Praise God for that! The only issues I have had have been in the Vitamin D/parathyroid/calcium area and they didn't crop up until two years post op and they are now corrected once we found the right ****tail (maintenance dosages once the optimum level was achieved). The only way I was able to get that level figured out was through blood work. I now get dexa scans every two years. Fortunately my bones are in good shape and I attribute that to getting the Vitamin D level to the right point where my calcuim was absorbing and not leaching off my bones (raised parathyroid levels will show this). I now take 50,000 units of Vitamin D (prescription Rx) twice a month to maintain my levels of calcuim. I take 1200 mg chewable calcuim citrate daily, broken up into two doses - not when taking my iron. I am post menapausal and have been since two months post op. I still take 2 chewable Flintstone Complete vitamins with lunch, along with an iron tablet and 500 mg chewable Vitamin C to absorb the iron. I take one sublingual Vitamin B12 (1000 mg) a week. These are the same vitamins I have taken since I had my surgery. I didn't change anything because they worked and my labs were always okay. Why tamper with success, right? My doctor told me that the chewables would dissolve in water within 30 minutes and that all my vitamins needed to do that to get maximum absorption so I still use the chewables. They are cheap at COSTCO, too! I do order my calcium citrate from Bariatric Advantage. The stuff in the stores isn't chewable and I'm too afraid I won't absorb it (like Citrical). Just a thought, Karen

Good to hear from you, girlfriend. And as always, a walking talking wealth of important information! I've not heard of the Beyond Change magazine; I am a contributing writing to the WLSLifestyles magazine so have kept in my little bubble of reference I suppose. Will look into subscribing to this one. Karen, you sound upbeat, on top of your game, happy...I am so proud of you. Love, Maureen