wow that sounds terrible. i will be sure to stay away from that stuff now that i've heard both of you have had problems with it.
isn't it funny almost 5 years out and we are still discovering stuff about our pouches that no one had ever told us. i wish sometimes that the people that are 10 years out wrote things on their boards. they are so silent you wonder what happeend to them.....ut oh i don't even want to think about that!
yet again anotehr reason to keep in touch though our very chatting marchers 2004!

Hi Elizabeth, I really hear your anguish and sense a sort of desperation setting in; this is what is driving post-ops toward finding the "revision solution" and while I don't believe one exists without a major overhaul to the original surgery (such as the gastric sleeve), you should definitiely have your system looked at via endoscope. You need to know what's going on in there - what is the size of your pouch and is it within normal range at this stage post-operatively? Also, what is the circumferance of your stoma; if it is very dialated, the food you are eating is bypassing the pouch and going directly into the altered intestinal system, which is causing two very significant results: (1) you are almost always hungry, an insatiable hunger that makes you want to eat all of the time; (2) you are being almost completely deprived of the nutrients in the food you are eating (doesn't stay in your pouch long enough to be absorbed) BUT you ARE absorbing the calories from whatever you eat. If you have medical insurance, get yourself an appointment with your doctor, tell him/her what's going on and include any other reason for an endoscopy view procedure - pain in the pouch is a good reason for insurance to pick this up! Find out what's going on PHYSICALLY so that you can stop beating yourself up EMOTIONALLY and PSYCHOLOGICALLY. That's your first step. You need to do this. In terms of friendship and support (which you have in spades from me, darlin') - for what it's worth I know the pain you're in. I gained 5 lbs. in Florida - in 4 days. I am the heaviest I've been since I lost the weight. I am so scared that I can't get my eating under control. Terrified. I'm with you - if there's anything I can do, I'm here for you. Take care, sweetie. Maureen

Hi Nic,

so Sorry to hear you are feeling so down. My heart goes out to you.  It has to be sooo hard! I can't imagine. Don't want to imagine! I'm sure your mom would want you to be happy though, and be happy for your kids. She's in a wonderful place and smiling down on you probably trying to tell you to get your butt up!     I know my mom would. I can't imagine when that day comes. It will be so hard to deal with. Hold onto your kids for strength and try to take comfort in knowing that we dont die, we move on and our loved ones are still with us, we just can't see them, but they can definitely see and hear us. ((BIG HUGS NIC!!!)) and lots of love!

I've seen Einstein! We (my son and my husband) have watched him quite a few times on you tube. My son just loves him. I love african greys. they are soooo darned smart!! now where did he get I DONT WORK HERE? lol! thats funny!  Too cute!!!

For those of us this far out of surgery, I have to share something that happened in FL that reminded me just how delicate our pouches remain - and how vigilent we have to stay in knowing what to put in the pouch - I have this nasty cold and so asked my father if he had anything I could take to alleviate the symptoms. He had this nightime liquid oof-brand cold medicine - a Tussin something-or-other for diabetics, so I figured hey, SF, it should be fine. I took the stuff at about 9pm and went to bed; at around midnight I was in excruciating pain, my pouch felt like it had been set on fire and was a raging inferno. I paced and paced the house for nearly two hours before it finally started to subside - broke out in a horrible sweat and was shaking violently, but the pain was unlike anything I've experienced since surgery. I almost woke Jim up to take me to the ER - but it finally went away. Has anyone had anything like this? I wonder if I did any damage to the pouch, maybe ulcerated it or something? M.