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Topic: RE: ANY DS REGRETS?
I know you posted this a while ago but I hope it is useful info for someone.
I had the DS in Oct 2005. I was around 350lbs. It took two years to reach my goal weight of 185-190.
For the next 3 years I maintained my goal. Then last year all my GI problems started and I am at this very moment in the hospital. First I started fainting for no apparent reason. Then the stomach pain started. I have been hospitalized 8 times since Oct 2010. I have been told I had everything from pancreatitis/chrons/celiac/e-coli/c-diff but even the GI docs I've seen are at a loss. I weigh a whopping 98lbs now. Its hard to believe that I have gone from a size 30-32 to a 4.... and still losing no mater how often I eat and what supplements I take.
I had the DS in Oct 2005. I was around 350lbs. It took two years to reach my goal weight of 185-190.
For the next 3 years I maintained my goal. Then last year all my GI problems started and I am at this very moment in the hospital. First I started fainting for no apparent reason. Then the stomach pain started. I have been hospitalized 8 times since Oct 2010. I have been told I had everything from pancreatitis/chrons/celiac/e-coli/c-diff but even the GI docs I've seen are at a loss. I weigh a whopping 98lbs now. Its hard to believe that I have gone from a size 30-32 to a 4.... and still losing no mater how often I eat and what supplements I take.
Topic: RE: enlarged stoma
HI Deedee-
I can understand the depression and weight gain...its all a circle. Tomorrow I go back in for a hernia repair to help with the left side stabbing pain. I hope this helps! They will not fix my stoma opening which bugs me...one obstacle at a time!
Good luckk
Dana
I can understand the depression and weight gain...its all a circle. Tomorrow I go back in for a hernia repair to help with the left side stabbing pain. I hope this helps! They will not fix my stoma opening which bugs me...one obstacle at a time!
Good luckk
Dana
Topic: RE: Any VSG Regrets????
I just had mine on Aug 17 and I yes I regret doing the surgery.. I am still thinking what have I done? I am 34 .. I am still on liquids .. bad nausea and food or liquid hard to stay down..
Topic: RE: Does anyone wish they had never gone through WLS?
I wish I would have heard the real stories prior to me getting it.. I just had it done on Aug 17 and cry every day ..
Topic: RE: Does anyone wish they had never gone through WLS?
I can not lie I am having the regret problem now.. I have had complicaitons and keep thinking I could or should have tried one more time to do it on my own. Now I am stuck in this life.
Topic: RE: Help!! Need to hear from post op Panniculectomy patients.1 mo after little relief!!
Hello Marlene and Congrats,
Well I have been Blogging alot about a tummy tuck and from what i am told this procedure is everything but hte cosmetic. So I have learned you have plenty of swelling and it almost takes some too months before full recovery from the swelling. Now did you have drains or not I know alot of women I hhave talk to say they feel like a balloon and some time they have extra liquid that need to be removed. I am in Ca too. The Riverside area! No salt I heard I also blog on realself.com about procedures,,, Good luck on your Journey!
Well I have been Blogging alot about a tummy tuck and from what i am told this procedure is everything but hte cosmetic. So I have learned you have plenty of swelling and it almost takes some too months before full recovery from the swelling. Now did you have drains or not I know alot of women I hhave talk to say they feel like a balloon and some time they have extra liquid that need to be removed. I am in Ca too. The Riverside area! No salt I heard I also blog on realself.com about procedures,,, Good luck on your Journey!
Topic: RE: As there doesn't seem to be a "beat yourself up" forum..(long)
Thank you both so much! I will get on those thing ASAP! Now that I have been taking my suppliments again, I am feeling a bit better. (I still have a long way to go).
The big new for me is that I have found a local support group that I will start attending on the 15th of this month.
Thanks again!
The big new for me is that I have found a local support group that I will start attending on the 15th of this month.
Thanks again!
Topic: RE: As there doesn't seem to be a "beat yourself up" forum..(long)
You took the first step coming here and admitting that you have a problem.
Have you applied for Medicaid in your state? If you have no income and no health insurance, then you should qualify. It isn't the best insurance out there and not all doctors take it but it is a start and you can get your labs covered that way. Please look into it. If you have some type of income and dont'qualify, check into if there are other programs. I know in NYS there is medicaid and then I forgot what it is called but there is another program for people that make a little too much for medicaid. There are programs out there, you just have to research them..Also, if you have to self pay for them once and make arrangements to pay them $20 a month until they are paid off, then that is an option too.
You got back on your supplements which aren't too bad but could use some tweeking. For your multi - you are best off with centrum silver chewables - they taste good and have no iron in them.
The iron just interferes with the calcium and is the wrong iron anyway. Take the multi 2 times per day like you are. They also have selenium in them which is very important and many other multis don't.
Your calcium - make sure they calcium citrate with D - citrical is great inexpensive option. You can get the maximums which are 630mg per 2 tablets and take then 3 times per day giving you 1890mg which is good dose to make up for what you were missing.
Sublingual B12 - you want to take just B12 and not complex. The complex tends to have too much B6 in it making many toxic. YOu get enough of the b vitamins in your multi except for B12 and B1. For your B12, since you are probably pretty low from not taking it for awhile, I would recommend taking 2500mcg daily until you get your labs done. There is no danger in taking too much but too little can cause nerve damage. the B1 you need 100mg per day - this can be in a regular tablet.
Your iron is the biggest concern for me. Any iron with ferrous in the name is not good for us, we cant' absorb it and especially since you were anemic before, you need a really good iron supplement. The cheapest and best iron that I can suggest ( I take and works great) is called Tender Irons - they carbonyl iron with the vitamin C already in the capsules - the C needs to be taken at the same as the iron, not 30 minutes before. You can get these at vitalady.com - they are 60mg per bottle and the bottle has 400 capsules, so it can last for quite some time depending on how many per day you need to take. Being you are known anemic and have been taking the wrong iron, I suspect your iron and ferritin are really low. I would start with 3 capsules per day (this is what my NUT starts all patients with) You can take them all together in one dose. If needed you can take up to 5 of these. Some people need to take Heme iron but that is very expensive and the Tender Irons usually work really well. They also are easy on your stomach and dont' cause constipation.
Ideally you should take some vitamin D as well, I was in the pharmacy the other day and they had bottles of D3 -10,000 units - I would start with 1 per day and see how that goes. You probably need alot more than that but it is a start. Make sure it is D3 and in a tablet or capsule, no gelcaps.
There is a good chance that you might need more but without labs, you won't know. Here is a list of labs you should get. Hopefully you can get them covered by someone. Some deficiencies that are common are vitamin B1, B12, folate, vitamin A, selenium, zinc and a few others.
Here is a list of what you should get tested.
CBC, Comprehesive Metabolic Panel, Iron, TIBC, Iron Sat %, Ferritin, B12, Folate, Vitamin D ( 25 Hydroxy), Phosporus, Calcium, PTH, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Lipid Panel, Zinc, Magnesium, Selenium, Copper, Vitamin B1 (Whole Blood), B6, TSH T4and T3, HemA1C
I hope this helps
You took the first step coming here and admitting that you have a problem.
Have you applied for Medicaid in your state? If you have no income and no health insurance, then you should qualify. It isn't the best insurance out there and not all doctors take it but it is a start and you can get your labs covered that way. Please look into it. If you have some type of income and dont'qualify, check into if there are other programs. I know in NYS there is medicaid and then I forgot what it is called but there is another program for people that make a little too much for medicaid. There are programs out there, you just have to research them..Also, if you have to self pay for them once and make arrangements to pay them $20 a month until they are paid off, then that is an option too.
You got back on your supplements which aren't too bad but could use some tweeking. For your multi - you are best off with centrum silver chewables - they taste good and have no iron in them.
The iron just interferes with the calcium and is the wrong iron anyway. Take the multi 2 times per day like you are. They also have selenium in them which is very important and many other multis don't.
Your calcium - make sure they calcium citrate with D - citrical is great inexpensive option. You can get the maximums which are 630mg per 2 tablets and take then 3 times per day giving you 1890mg which is good dose to make up for what you were missing.
Sublingual B12 - you want to take just B12 and not complex. The complex tends to have too much B6 in it making many toxic. YOu get enough of the b vitamins in your multi except for B12 and B1. For your B12, since you are probably pretty low from not taking it for awhile, I would recommend taking 2500mcg daily until you get your labs done. There is no danger in taking too much but too little can cause nerve damage. the B1 you need 100mg per day - this can be in a regular tablet.
Your iron is the biggest concern for me. Any iron with ferrous in the name is not good for us, we cant' absorb it and especially since you were anemic before, you need a really good iron supplement. The cheapest and best iron that I can suggest ( I take and works great) is called Tender Irons - they carbonyl iron with the vitamin C already in the capsules - the C needs to be taken at the same as the iron, not 30 minutes before. You can get these at vitalady.com - they are 60mg per bottle and the bottle has 400 capsules, so it can last for quite some time depending on how many per day you need to take. Being you are known anemic and have been taking the wrong iron, I suspect your iron and ferritin are really low. I would start with 3 capsules per day (this is what my NUT starts all patients with) You can take them all together in one dose. If needed you can take up to 5 of these. Some people need to take Heme iron but that is very expensive and the Tender Irons usually work really well. They also are easy on your stomach and dont' cause constipation.
Ideally you should take some vitamin D as well, I was in the pharmacy the other day and they had bottles of D3 -10,000 units - I would start with 1 per day and see how that goes. You probably need alot more than that but it is a start. Make sure it is D3 and in a tablet or capsule, no gelcaps.
There is a good chance that you might need more but without labs, you won't know. Here is a list of labs you should get. Hopefully you can get them covered by someone. Some deficiencies that are common are vitamin B1, B12, folate, vitamin A, selenium, zinc and a few others.
Here is a list of what you should get tested.
CBC, Comprehesive Metabolic Panel, Iron, TIBC, Iron Sat %, Ferritin, B12, Folate, Vitamin D ( 25 Hydroxy), Phosporus, Calcium, PTH, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Lipid Panel, Zinc, Magnesium, Selenium, Copper, Vitamin B1 (Whole Blood), B6, TSH T4and T3, HemA1C
I hope this helps
Topic: RE: As there doesn't seem to be a "beat yourself up" forum..(long)
Please don't be so hard on yourself. Like you, I neglected myself after my first WLS. I didn't take all the supplements I should have, my labs were incomplete (not all my fault, I trusted my surgeon and they just don't run that many labs), I ate so much I regained 100lbs and never exercised. I did wind up very sick for a long time before I had the energy or motivation to make changes. I spoke with someone who is very knowledgable about post op care and I told her that I had stopped taking care of myself because I just didn't care anymore and she told me it was the deficiencies talking, that becoming vitamin deficient can cause use to stop caring about taking care of ourselves. That helped open my eyes. I tried to have a complete set of labs done but for some reason many of the labs I requested weren't done or I didn't get the results for them. I still didn't have the energy to fight about it so I just resigned myself. I did find out I had very low vitamin D and ferritin and I had an iron infusion but I still didn't feel better. I finally went back to my surgeon and begged for a reversal. I found out I couldn't be reversed, only revised so I didn't malabsorb so much. At the same time he reduced my stomach from a very large sleeve to a RNY pouch. I used to time recovering from surgery to detox off of carbs and I started researching what vitamins I needed and started on them. I was finally able to get a complete set of labs after 6 months, when I had already been supplementing, and I was able to adjust my vitamins to make sure I was getting enough.
It took the better part of a year before I started feeling normal again. I was a hard recovery but that was after many years of neglecting my health. It sounds like you have only been doing that for a few months. I am sure you haven't done any permanent harm.
Is there any kind of low cost health care or clinics where you live? Can you qualify for state Medicaid? Whatever it takes get your labs done. If you can't get any help find out if they have a self pay rate or if they will let you make payments. You need to know where you stand and what you need.
Here is a link to Vitalady's recommended labs and targets. https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AU46vLsRDC9rZGhranhtcXpfO GNxcDk2c2c0&hl=en&pli=1
You won't know what else you need until you can see what your levels are. That will give you a better idea if you need to take different vitamins or more of what you are taking.
The dizziness after standing could well be low blood pressure. That is very common. If you have a store nearby with a blood pressure machine you can check it out and find out if your blood pressure is low.
As far as constipation, Vitalady recommends Miralax daily, 2 magnesium oxide 500mg pills a day with your calcium doses and stool softeners. I also try to get in a lot of fiber.
How are you with your protein? I know protein powder is expensive but try to get at least 100 grams a day, along with a lot of fluids. I buy my protein in bulk and it costs me about $5 for unflavored whey isolate.
Good luck to you. I am sure you will be fine.
It took the better part of a year before I started feeling normal again. I was a hard recovery but that was after many years of neglecting my health. It sounds like you have only been doing that for a few months. I am sure you haven't done any permanent harm.
Is there any kind of low cost health care or clinics where you live? Can you qualify for state Medicaid? Whatever it takes get your labs done. If you can't get any help find out if they have a self pay rate or if they will let you make payments. You need to know where you stand and what you need.
Here is a link to Vitalady's recommended labs and targets. https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AU46vLsRDC9rZGhranhtcXpfO GNxcDk2c2c0&hl=en&pli=1
You won't know what else you need until you can see what your levels are. That will give you a better idea if you need to take different vitamins or more of what you are taking.
The dizziness after standing could well be low blood pressure. That is very common. If you have a store nearby with a blood pressure machine you can check it out and find out if your blood pressure is low.
As far as constipation, Vitalady recommends Miralax daily, 2 magnesium oxide 500mg pills a day with your calcium doses and stool softeners. I also try to get in a lot of fiber.
How are you with your protein? I know protein powder is expensive but try to get at least 100 grams a day, along with a lot of fluids. I buy my protein in bulk and it costs me about $5 for unflavored whey isolate.
Good luck to you. I am sure you will be fine.
WLS 10/28/2002 Revision 7/23/2010
High Weight (2002) 240 Revision Weight (2010) 220 Current Weight 115.
Topic: RE: I am Ron lester the actor that was 508lbs. You might know me from Varsity Blues
From my experience already, I can tell you there are ALOT of negative people on this site. I joined not long ago and quickly found that out. Chances are for every "nice" reply, there are 10 negatives. I don't think i'll be a member for much longer, I'd rather surround myself with positivity.
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