Does Dr. Roller perform the Lap Band/Gastric Plication Combo procedure? I had it done in March, and now my wife is wanting one. Her insurance dictates that she has to go to a COE, so I am searching in Little Rock and Fayettville trying to find someone who offers this new surgery.

Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well.  I just spent 4 days in the hospital with my liver enzymes 20x greater than normal and still not down yet.  They looked at my prescription meds and took me off of Savella, cut my trammadol to 50mg 3xday, cut my celexa to 20mg/day, took me off clonopin and put me on Xanax.  Still take lasix 40mg/day, KCL 20meq/day.  I'm wondering if I'm getting too much of something in my supplements.  This is what I take:  Calcium Citrate plus with magnesium 1 dose (2 tabs 4xday)  Each serving has D3 250iu, B6 10mg, Ca citrate 500mg, magnesium oxide 80mg, zinc oxide 10mg, copper 1mg, and manganese gluconate 1mg.  Fish oil 1400mg 1 x day, Prenatal vitamin 1 x day, Vit. C 1000mg 1xday, ducosate sodium 200mg/day, Vit. B-12 sub lingual 2500 mcg 2 x day.  I went to get labs drawn again today due to feeling nauseated and bloated in my upper abdomen.  I am not having the stabbing pain that sent me to the er in the first place last friday.  Enzymes are still elevated as of Wednesday but were on the way down.  At that time I was not taking any Celexa or trammadol.  I just started back on them at 1/2 dose yesterday and started the Xanax.  Taken off clonopin and sevella completely.  Any thoughts or suggestions?  Am I taking too many supplements.  My eating habits are 2 scoops of protein powder in coffee in am (I use a battery operated frother that mixes the powder without any problem at all) and also one scoop of whey protein powder usually in the evening.  I'll eat a protein bar once or twice a day, usually a ham and swiss cheese lunchable with the crackers.  Sometimes I eat real chicken or beef about 4 oz.  I know it's not a balanced diet and that's probably why I stay so constipated all the time, lol.

 I had surgery 15 Aug 2007.  2 years prior I quit smoking at the drop of a hat (went for surgery in 2005 and sent home from Pre-OP for elevated carbon dioxide levels, due to Medicare I had to wait almost 2 years for a Centers of Excellence).  
The first 2 years were fine.  Then one day camping I had a few mixed drinks.  Then a few months later at a concert I had some watered down Smirnoff drinks.  A while later a watered down beer.  Next thing I knew I had spent a year or so drinking every weekend and once in a while on weekdays.  (I live in a dry county but had a friend that worked in Little Rock on fridays).  One bottle (a fifth) a weekend, then led to 2 bottles, which by the end of it (a few months ago) I had topped out at 6 bottles (fifths) in a week.  Now in therapy and attending NA (AA is in another city and I don't drive) I can't help but wonder, what happened to me?  

I had, pre-op, a few addictions that I never considered to be addictions until now.  In 1998 my partner committed suicide and I drank for a few months to "cope" but I quit that without a problem and it was atleast 8 years before I ever had a drink again.  In 2001-2002 I dealt with a small meth addiction, but I chocked it up to working 12 hr shifts 4-6 days a week, and when I stopped working (due to going on disability for lung disease which meth brought on) I quit that as well at a drop of a hat.  Either of those things I never looked back on, I did them because at the time I needed to, or so I thought.  Was this a precursor to what I am going through now?  How did I not see this coming?  Alcoholism hit me like a runaway train.  I tried to quit a few times without success, then thinking I was being sneaky and my room mate of almost 8 years didn't have a clue, I drank more and more.  Each time I tried to quit on my own, when I relapsed it got worse.  Recent bloodwork told me that my liver and kidney survived.  But what of the rest of me? 

I finally reached bottom, so I think, when one night my room mate begged me to stop drinking.  He said I was the reason he was on blood pressure medicine and was causing him stomach problems, from worrying all night.  I had no idea he was getting hardly any sleep at night because every few hours he was checking to see if I was breathing.  That night he said if I didn't stop, he was leaving me to live with either his mother (who is a drug addict - pot - and has severe health problems and has an alcoholic husband) or his sister (who is a meth addict and pregnant with her 5th child and is still doing drugs and runs a drug house).  I know he would be unhappy in either home and it just kills me that I drove him to this.  

I feel like the spider who has woven this web and I have dragged everyone around me into it.  It was one thing that I was "hurting" myself, but to be putting other people, people I love, through this hell.  

I never considered myself to have a food addition post-op either.  I rarely ate, eating 1 big meal a day.  I thought I just ate the wrong foods and at 400lbs I couldn't walk so it didn't matter if all I ate was rabbit food, I was going to keep getting bigger.  But now I have re-evaluated all these "little" things in my past and wonder if I was doomed to addiction problems regardless??  

The positive thing is that I know I have a problem, I am seeing a therapist, I am going to meetings and my room mate and I have talked almost daily about this, bringing us closer together and hopefully I will stop sleeping on the couch and move back into the bedroom where I belong.  

As for now, I am not looking to not drink next week or next month, I am looking to not drinking TODAY and tomorrow I will wake up and look forward to not drinking that day either.  

This is my story and I pray daily that it ends well.  Because I and my health and body and my room mate, can not risk going through this again.  Just because I got lucky this time, does not mean the next drink won't destroy me or even kill me.

Just the other side of Memphis from you.

 Each day, those of us in the ObesityHelp.com Member Services Department receive phone calls from OH members and visitors who are seeking help in finding a bariatric or plastic surgeon. Sometimes, it is really easy to help the person on the other side of the phone.  The person might have great insurance and knows exactly which surgery type they want, and everything falls into place.  However, many times it isn't that easy. As a matter of fact, sometimes it is a heartbreaking struggle. There are so many people that call us in tears and who are desperate for help. They tell us about their mobility issues, their life-threatening co-morbidities, and sometimes they share about the losses they have endured in their life.     

While all of the above is hard...sometimes, it gets even harder. 

They might tell us they are under-insured or not insured at all. One of the reasons ObesityHelp.com decided to have an OH Event in New Orleans (NOLA) this year is because, since 2005, we have faced an increase in calls from that region.  All of the calls have had a common theme: Medicaid and difficulties finding a surgeon to accept them as patients. The devastation of the Gulf Coast from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have had a direct impact on the lives of OH community members from this area.  Even though it has been years since these storms occurred, the lives affected and the rebuilding efforts continue on.  

We invite you to come to NOLA to join us for the FUN , as well as to embrace this community. 

Our mutual solidarity is needed. 
Join Us: September 9th & 10th  Click Here for more info on how you can help & join in on the fun!  


Don't miss out on:   * Chad Soileau's Inspirational Story * Bo McCoy's Conga Line * Dr. Dennis Eschete, Slamming the Door on Regain  * Erin Akey, The Bariatric Journey to Health and Fitness * Kristy Kuna, OAC and Its Mission * Dr. Connie Stapleton, Recovering from Obesity * WLSFA, How the WLSFA Pays it Forward * Sarah, Navigating the Insurance Process: Pre, Post, Plastic and Beyond * Chef Dave, Packing Your Food Traveling After WLS * Many more speakers (topics still being put up on our events page) *  Q & A Panel, * A Fashion Show * A Clothing Exchange * Exhibit Tables * Samples * Photos * Prize Drawings & lots of SUPPORT!