Five year Plus

I haven't posted here for a while, but thought with all the newbies, maybe I should put in an appearance.

I had RNY in May 2004.  I lost 115 pounds in about 16 months, 5 pounds from my personal goal.  At 2 years, I developed severe hypoglycemia.  It took a year to be diagnosed, finally at Mayo Clinic, that I had developed nesidioblastosis.  The beta cells of my pancreas were making insulin at an alarming rate, hence the hypoglycemia.  Ended up having 60% of my pancreas removed.  The hypoglycemia has improved but having to eat every few hours to keep my blood sugar up, hasn't done much for my wt loss.

Right now, I'm up 20 pounds.  A lot of it is my head.  The surgeon can fix our tummies, but not our heads.  That's up to us.  And right now I'm struggling.  I'm currently (as of yesterday) desperately trying to get back on the right path.  I do exercise, but am trying to step that up.  However, I have to be careful as I have fibromyalgia and don't want to get that really riled up. 

I did have some vitamin issues but finally got a handle on that. 

This is a life long process.  I knew that going in but didn't really get it.  The first year is really a honeymoon period.  No matter what you do, you will lose wt.  It will come off at an amazing rate if you follow the program. 

Then it gets hard.  It's back to watching what you eat and not straying from the program.  I found that I didn't really dump much and the further out I get, the less it happens.  So don't count on dumping as a way to control what you eat.  So people will dump, some will not.  I read somewhere that your new plumbing gets used to it's new route and will eventually return to somewhat normal.  I don't know if that's true for everyone or not.

My advice to anyone considering RNY or anyone who is less than a year out, is to be sure that you adjust your thought processes.  You will never be able to eat like you did.  If you do, you may gain weight.  For me, I'm addicted to food.  I can't eat just a bite of something.  Like chips, if the bag is open, it's gone.  For me, it's better to not even have one bite. 

That said, this is NOT an easy path.  You have to be very vigilant 100% of the time.  Never think "Oh, I can eat that today".  You may open the flood gates and not be able to get them shut easily.

Lyn

Hello Lyn!

I am newbie that is awaiting a surgery date - hoping for early September.  I am focusing on my thought processes now as I do not want "head hunger" to sabotage my efforts.  I am trying to ensure that I have covered all of the bases to be 100% committed to the lifestyle and behavioral changes that will help me to achieve long-term success.

Do you have any advice in terms of what foods to focus on OR foods to avoid to lessen my chances of having the types of side effects you have had?

What kind of vitamin issues did you experience?  And how did you resolve them?

I really appreciate your sharing your experiences with all of us!

Thank you!

Lyn,
I am being checked right now for nesidioblastosis. My sugars have been all over the place and my abdomen where my remnit stomach has been painful for the past 2 months. I think that it is all related. I have been scoped, CT'd, X-ray and everything comes back normal. So my dr. is doing some blood work to check the c-peptide levels and some other things that are tied to that.

Please email me so we can chat about this. I am really scared at this point.

My email is [email protected]

Thanks

Stephanie

Hey Stephanie,

I tried emailing you but it came back.  Why don't you email me at [email protected].