You are not a failure! You have lost a lot of weight. 70 lbs is nothing to be ashamed of. Please go to your post op appt. Your surgeon may be able to help you. You need to have your labs drawn. The only suggestions I could make would be to make sure you are drinking a lot of water and up your protein. I am sure you have probably heard that. You started out a lightweight so your weight loss will be slower. My weight loss has slowed down a great deal. Like you I only want to lose about 25 more lbs. So if I lose 2 lbs a month it will take me a year. I can live with that. Hang in there and please see your doctor.

hey it sure sounds like you have been suffering these last 5 years...  i am so sorry for you... i hope that the new doctor you saw on the 2nd will have some answers for you...keep us posted... tammy

no regrets. i agree it would be good to post this on VSG forum...or even search that forum for 'regrets' to see previous discussions on the topic.
good luck on your journey.

Hi all,

I'll try to be brief but thorough. This may be a bit long, sorry if it is.

I had Roux-en-Y in November, 2005.

Before my surgery I'd been on a narcotic patch (Duragesic patch) for chronic migraines since 2004, and I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in the spring of 2005 and put on Armour Thyroid.

Before all of that, I had four surgeries from 2001 to late 2003, all of them involving my reproductive organs and resulting surgical complications.

Not to mention tons of stress from a rebellious teenager and money problems.

Almost immediately after my WLS I began showing symptoms of adrenal insufficiency, or low cortisol. I was fatigued all the time, my blood pressure was low and would drop when I stood up, making me blackout. I felt empty and drained, like there was nothing for my body to draw upon for strength and energy.

I had an ACTH challenge test done, which showed a problem with my ACTH production–the hormone that the pituitary gland releases to stimulate the adrenals to produce cortisol–but the doctor said it was because of the narcotic patch and that there was nothing he could do.

He did order a scan of my adrenals, but what they found was a gigantic cyst on one of my ovaries. So all attention was then diverted to that, and in July of 2006, just 8 months after my WLS, I had my ovaries removed.

So, I was losing weight rapidly, struggling nutritionally, struggling to keep myself hydrated, having issues with cortisol, and suddenly I'm plunged into menopause.

Then, stupidly, and because my husband got laid off just 2 weeks before my ovaries were removed (which was actually a blessing in disguise since I couldn't get out of bed and SOMEONE needed to take care of the family), and we had no money or insurance, I stopped the narcotic patch cold-turkey

NOT a good idea.

I was so sick from withdrawals I thought I was going to die. That's not an exaggeration. I will never judge heroin addicts again.

I ended up going on Suboxone (a partial narcotic, developed to treat narcotic addiction) several months later. My adrenal insufficiency symptoms improved after stopping the patch, and so did my ACTH levels, but I still struggled with the low cortisol symptoms. I stayed on Suboxone until June of this year. I am now FINALLY narcotic free!! :D

In spring of 2009 I was finally beginning to feel better, when I began experiencing the same low cortisol symptoms as before. In addition, I began having sudden, and severe, blood sugar crashes, tingling in my tongue and feet, breathlessness, and extreme fatigue–these symptoms turned out to be B12 deficiency. I do B12 injections once a week now. I saw my doctor and he decided to try putting me on hydrocortisone for the low cortisol symptoms, as that had never been tried with me before. We discussed a plan to figure out what was wrong with me, a plan to get off the steroids, and I made a follow up appointment for a month later.

3 weeks after that visit, I got a call from his office saying that my insurance had dropped him. They never did tell me why. Well, he charges $250 for a half-hour visit, so I just couldn't see him anymore.

Then followed months and months, and a lot of money, of doctor shopping. I tell you, if all you have to deal with are occasional sniffles, it's easy to find a good doctor. But when you have multiple health issues, that's when you start to see the laziness, greed, and just plain incompetency of a lot of doctors! I finally found a good doctor a year ago.

During all this time I stayed on the steroids. That was a huge mistake, but in my defense, I didn't know if I needed them or not, and I had no one to help me manage my health and my medications. I was having to make my own medical decisions.

Well, the steroids began to wreak havoc on my teeth (they interfere with calcium absorption) and my immune system. I seem to get every cold that comes along. My teeth got to the point where I required $10,000 worth of repair!!. I don't have that kind of money, so some of my teeth are going to have to wait. I did, however, have eight root canals, two extractions, and three cavities filled.

I was constantly in pain, and constantly running a fever. I was taking a lot of Ibuprofin during this time, another mistake. Now, possibly because of all my Ibuprofin use, we just don't know at this point, my kidneys aren't functioning as they should, and I've developed iron anemia because of it (For those who don't know, the kidneys produce a hormone that stimulates the bone marrow to produce red blood cells.).

It turns out that the reason I got sick in the spring of 2009, was because there was a mixup on my thyroid dose, and I was taking double what I should have been. I didn't get that figured out until months later though. For some reason, the extra thyroid was straining my adrenals, that's why I was having the low cortisol symptoms.

Now, the way things stand, I've been weaning off the steroids, and it's kicking my butt! And after the discovery of my too-high thyroid dose, for months it was off my thyroid med, on again, this dose, that dose...there is still a problem with my thyroid; my T4 levels keep coming back abnormally low, despite all the changes in my meds. My doctor is worried that the problem may be with my pituitary function. Well, I'm not on opiates anymore, so if there is a problem, it's a geniune problem, not drug related. My kidneys aren't functioning, I have iron anemia, my muscles twitch all the time, I've had weird–and painful–muscles spasms in my stomach muscles (like charlie horses), because of infections in my gums I've been on a lot of antibiotics, which has led to fungal infections in my mouth and outer ears, my heart is always beating around 120 beats per minute, and I'm so tired I can't get out of bed most of the time!  

In short, I have nutritional issues, endocrine issues, kidney issues, and dental issues.

I don't know how much any of this is related to my gastric bypass. It's probably partially related, and the rest is other stuff, medicines and their side effects, and complications from everything. I don't know. It just seems like I didn't start getting really ill until right after my WLS.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Or experiences that might help me figure out what's the problem? I'm seeing a great endocrinologist on Tuesday, November 2nd, and I'm thinking about seeing a cardiologist as well, since my heart is always going too fast. That, however, might be because of iron anemia. And I need to find out if I have kidney disease; if I do, then I'll need the injections of the hormone the kidneys are supposed to produce.

Oh, and I've gained 70 pounds thanks to the steroids and my thyroid problem. That just ****** me off, excuse my language. I lost 125 pounds but gained 70. All my gorgeous size 8 clothes are useless now!

Sorry this is so long. I'm doing everything I can, and talking to everyone I can, to get control of my health.

Thanks, Lynda

Luchosays... 

Give it a rest, man.  You copy/paste the same thing in multiple posts time and time again.  Your "facts" are not supported with references that people can check.  Some of the statements you make in other posts are absolutely unsupported by the many studies cited elsewhere. 

The  Dr. Ernsberger you quote (same quote over and over and over again) may be the greatest MD in the world, or he could be a PHD economist, for all I know.  Without telling us who he is, and pointing us to a URL, study, or publication that you are citing, your post is absolutely pointless. 

There!  I got that off my chest.  Feel much better now!