Tuesday Roll Call

Good Morning.

Steven, congrats on 3 months out.

Crystal, keep it up,

Jules, you will get your home sold.

Dawn, have a great night tonight.

Monica, and I get Morgan next week :)

I am at work. It is quiet. Only 3 more full days until freedom for the summer.

I went to Wallmart on my way to work this morning. Had to get frabric for my youngest daughters  rug.

It looks to be a nice day, so go out and enjoy it.

Hugs,
LISA

Got my lab results yesterday. They all came out OK. I have been suffering from exhaustion and muscle pain for a while now and was sort of hoping the reason would be picked up by the labs.  I dont get to see my surgeon till the 3rd of June. I scheduled an appoint w my primary for tomorrow so I can get some pain meds. Ran out of the vicodin I had been using for the past week.

I am bit excited to see the personal trainer again tomorrow. As long as I am on pain meds, I can do it !! And no, the pain is not from working out or anything. It has been plaguing me for months. I thought it was due to my abnormal sleep patterns. But I seriously think something is going on other than that.

enuff bout me.

As for cooling down on the elliptical... I hear you . I used to have that problem as well. Instead of pedalling forward on the elliptical during cool down, go backwards. It feels a bit awkward but you automatically do slower when pedaling backwards. Tell me if that works for you :)

I was so happy to hear about your cats "cat lady " :P  Thanks for sharing your story. It was so touching and you are a very sweet person.


I really hope you feel better soon Raven. I can kind of relate to poor aftercare. Although my surgeion is awesome but the people that work in his office are so rude. Its so hard to get em to answer my questions. And when they finally do, I get the wrong advice !!! Aaaargh !  If it werent for this forum there would be so many things I would have been doing wrong.

Alright folks.. have a wonderful day. Will see ya tommorrow :)

Good Afternoon everyone

Sorry I have been MIA lately.  But nothing much has changed with me right now.  On June 9th is my first appt with my surgery to see what all I need to have done testing wise.  

 Good Afternoon Everyone!

I looked at the calendar today and it is hard to believe that I have been home almost 2 months!  Surgery was April 8th.  Time has flown.  Yesterday I went to physical therapy and realized as I was getting into the pool that I had not taken any pain meds since midnight the night before.  I did fine.  So the pain is gradually going away and is not as horrible as it once was.  I am so happy for that.  

Steven:  Happy 3 month Anniversary!  You have a lot to be proud of in your accomplishments these 3 months.  

Jules:  I hope the tips from the stager help your house sell like magic! 

Raven:  I am so sorry to hear your diagnosis.  I understand how painful that can be.  I have been tested for rheumatoid arthritis but it is negative.  I have all the symptoms of it.  Good luck in managing this disease.  

Crystal, I hope your doctor's appt goes well.  

Monica, good luck on schools winding down.  That can be a hectic time. 

Dawn, you will be one proud mom tonight!  Congratulations to David.  Enjoy that graduation!  YOU have earned it! 

Lisa, enjoy your last few days of work and the time coming up with Morgan!

Ahmer, I hope the doctor has some answers for you as well.  It is tough to have things going on and taking forever to come up with a diagnosis!  I am glad that your labs came out ok!  That is always a relief.  

Vickie:  It has taken awhile for you but hang in there, it sometimes does.  It took me over a year to get a surgery date.  I know how frustrating that can be.  Just dont give up!.  It WILL happen.  

Everyone have a great day! 

Nancy

alright... spoke w the surgeons office and he gave me a clear on everything.He said my pain and fatigue is not related to the surgery. He thinks i am having side effects from my psyche meds I take for being bipolar. My only argument to that is that I have been taking these meds for years now and no side effects. My dosage has not changed in years as well. So why the side effects outta the blue.

I have z feeling I am gonna have to grin and bear it. It is a relief that its not surgery related. But of course a great source of irritation that there is apparent no real reason for me to be feeling this way.

I just started flexing my muscles and I will gradually incorporate a total body workout in the next month or so. Hopefully once I "wake up" my muscles, they wont hurt so much and perhaps I will have more energy that way ???

sorry about the rant. Thanks for listening.

Take a really good look at your labs.  Just because the doctor says, "they're fine" does not make it so.  "Fine" in doctor's language means they are not below the reference ranges.

You should be shooting for mid to high range on all labs.  Closer to the high is best. 

B12 should actually be above 1000 although many reference ranges show 800 as the high.  B12 deficiency can cause pain, fatigue and memory issues.

Low iron and vitamin D (which is very common) BOTH cause fatigue.  You want you Ferritin to be no lower than 100.

Also, make sure you are getting enough protein, especially with how hard you work out.

Just a few tips I hope might help.

Good luck!

It look slike the surgeon didnt do any of my vitamins  !!  I got really upset so I called the office and requested they fax me the order for all the vitamins and stuff.  I do a shake in the morning. One pre workout and one post workout and finally one at night.  over 100g of  protein a day. Do you think thats enough ???

I am anxiously looking forward to getting the lab orders and getting the tests done.

I want to thank you so much for your advice. I really appreciate it :)

The protein sounds good.  You need AT LEAST 100 g per day.  Pre and post workout is great!

Here is a list that I got from the Yahoo Grads page for suggested tests.  (My doc doesn't do all of these, but most):

LAB TESTS

-Not to be construed as medical advice-

-This list includes labs suggested regularly for gastric bypass patients-

 

Regularly (every 3-6 months depending on your previous results)

 

Keep track of any levels that are declining from one set of tests to the next, even if not yet in the low range.  Make any corrections necessary in your diet and vitamin regimen before the levels get too low. 

 

*10231  - COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC PROFILE (sodium, potassium, chloride, glucose, BUN,         creatinine, calcium, total protein, albumin, total bilirubin,alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase)    (Nc,K,C1,CO2,Glu,BUN,Cr,Ca,TP,Alb,Tbili,AP,AST,ALT)

 

*84134 - PRE-ALBUMIN

 

*7600   - LIPID PROFILE (cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, chol/HDL ratio)

((Fasting specimen) , Tchol,Trig,HDL,Calc,LDL)

 

*10256  - Hep panel - ALT (SPGT) & GGT

 

*593     - LDH                                                                            

 

*718     - PHOSPHORUS - INORGANIC

 

*905     - URIC ACID

 

*1759   - CBC (HEMOGRAM/PLT/DIFF)                                             

 

*7065   - B-12 & FOLATE

 

*7573   - IRON, TIBC, % SAT (Transferrin)

 

*31789  - HOMOCYSTEINE, CARDIO  

 

*457     - FERRITIN

 

*4052   - Vitamin B-1 (Thiamin)

 

*84207  - VITAMIN B-6 (Pyradoxine)

*921     - VITAMIN A

 

*680     - VITAMIN D (25-hydroxy)

 

*7444   - THYROID PANEL (T3U, T4, FTI, TSH)

*945     - ZINC

 

*83735  - MAGNESIUM

 

*83970  - SERUM INTACT PTH                   

 

*367     - CORTISOL

 

*496     - HEMOGLOBIN A1C

 

 

SUGGESTED YEARLY -  DEXA SCAN for bone density.

Also, here is what is the suggested "target" of where you would want to be in these labs:  (From VitaLady):

Protein:           7's

Albumin:        4's

Pre-Albumin: 20-30's

 

Iron:             80-100

Ferritin:        200-300

HGB:            12+

HCT:            36+

 

Vit A:            60- 80

Vit D:            80-12 0 

 

Calcium:       9.0-9.4

PTH:             20-40

 

Vit B1:                    Mid to top of range

Vit B6:           Mid to top of range

Magnesium:  Mid range  (but also go by if we have leg/foot cramping)

Zinc:              Mid range

 

Vit B12:        1000 +

Folate:          Top of range

 

AST (sgot):   Below 40

ALT (sgpt):   Below 40

 

We usually want to "meet or beat" pre-op levels.  In some cases, higher is better, and in other cases (Cholesterol, PTH for example), lower is better.