Question about RNY & Lupus Flare

Okay, I know this board isn't very active (to say the least), but hopefully, someone out there checks for new threads every now and again like I do.

I just had my RNY on Wednesday and came home yesterday.  All in all, everything went well.  I took a nice nap yesterday and today, but I'm not sapped of all energy.  I'm sore, that's really it.  Overall, I've handled the whole surgery quite well.  Last night and today, my temp is flirting with 101.  When it hit 101 today, I called the surgeon.  He said Tylenol to control the temp.  I don't have anything wrong with my incisions.  I'm not coughing (pneumonia).  So, apparently not too much to worry about.  While I don't have MD after my name, I know that when I get FUO (fevers of unidentified origin) it's usually lupus related.  So, I suspect that is what this is.  My body is saying "What the hell did you do to us?!"

Anyway, I just wanted to know if anyone else experienced this or something similar following surgery.

-Elli

Hi Elli,
           Glad to see I'm not the only one who checks this site! I am kinda the opposite from you. I did have a few FUO's but my energy is gone. I am 3 weeks post op today and I still can't do too many things without having to sit down. Someone asked me the other day how I was feeling...I said like I did before surgery. They said "that's good", No it's not. My rheumy requested that I have steroids during surgery to prevent a major flare after. I think my steroids are wearing off. I'm still taking my plaquenil and I am maxed out on Imuran. But on the lighter side I did loose 30lbs in 15 days. I was just hoping to have more energy by now.  When I stand I feel like all my weight goes to my feet and the rest of me is hollow. I know it is weird but it's the only way I can explain it. This was a major problem  before the surgery....I don't know what I was expecting. I hope things get better for you. I know nothing I have said has made a difference for your situation, but I wanted you to know that you are not alone. Same disease...different problems.

Kathy

Thanks for responding.  It's nice to know people do lurk around here.  I'm still flirting with temps from 99.0 - 100.8, and have an on-again, off-again headache, but that's it.  I'm getting some good sleep.  Because of my lupus, I have always known I function best with 8-10 hours of sleep.  Unfortunately, under normal cir****tances, I usually get 6.5-7 hours.  So this R & R off of work is making a difference. 

Sorry to hear your energy is sapped.  Been there, done that.  I anticipated it with the surgery, but (knock on wood), so far my energy level is about average.  Obviously, because of the lack of energy, exercise is difficult...are you doing any strengthening/toning exercises?  You know, stuff you can do while sitting down?  Maybe you could work on building some endurance that way?  I dunno, just a thought.

I wish I still had my happy plaquenil pills!  I was on plaquenil for 10 years.  Last August, I went for my yearly eye check up and my doc saw some retina changes.  Couldn't say for sure if they were plaquenil related, but he's been my doc for 9 years and hadn't noticed them before.  So, bye bye went the plaquenil.  In December, my rheumie tried sulfasalazine (often used with arthritis patients).  It was helping to control pain, but in March, my liver enzymes shot up.  Since my rheumie was on a 3 week extended vacation, my PCP wasn't taking any chances and got me a rush appt with a hepatologist, which bought me a liver biopsy.  Hepatologist wasn't nearly as alarmed as the PCP, just wanted the biopsy to compare to my biopsy from 14 years ago.  Anyway, the sulfasalazine was discontinued and now I have no lupus medication.  The rheumie didn't want to start something less than a month before surgery.  But at last conversation, methotrexate was mentioned.  We'll see what he says in June.

Wow, this turned into a long post.  Oh well.  Anyway, I'm here hoping you get some energy back soon.  Just remember, when the weight is off, it WILL make the lupus easier to manage.

-Elli

I am still lurking..lol..
I am very happy for both of you. I am still in the process of being excepted for surgery, last week I was told my BMI (54) is too high for sugery so I have to go back to the clinic next week (fingers crossed) so they can tell me how to get my BMI down..BMI needs to be 50 or less, I'll see if I can't get it down before I go =) than maybe they will push me through..lol.
I am curious if any of your lupus or arthritis meds had to be changed to liquid or injected?
Please keep posting, it's nice to see what is happening with life with lupus after surgery.
Cathy

Currently, I'm inbetween lupus meds.  Long story, but the readers digest version is I had to stop Plaquenil due to the start of retina damage (a very rare side effect my doc has seen only 3 times in his career).  Then we tried sulfasalizine (used often in arthritis) and it made my liver enzymes go up...so we tossed that one too.  My rheumie didn't want to start a new med a month before surgery.  We'll see what we try in June.  There was talk (before trying sulfasalizine) of going to methotrexate injectible.  Injectible because we knew RNY was coming.

With RNY, steroids and NSAIDS are no-no's for most patients.  Currently, any pain is being controlled with Darvocet.  But no, none of my other meds were changed to liquid.  Only liquid med I had was liquid Percocet immediately after surgery.  The reason for that was because the surgeon didn't want me to have pain and the liquid was absorbed quicker.

Elli

 Elli, you reminded me I need to have an eye exam.     Thanks!!

Did you take a very high dose of plaquenil?   I was taking 800 mg but have reduced it to 400 mg.

Yes, I was on 600 mgs of Plaquenil for about 7 or 8 years.  Needed to be extra vigilant about those eye exams due to the high dose.  Better make your eye exam!

Nothing changed for me. Still on plaquenil and Imuran. I am on the max (I think) dose for Imuran to help control things cause like Elli said....no NSAIDS or steroids. Sorry to hear about your plaquenil problems Elli. I see my eye doc every 9 mos to make sure it is not doing the same to me. So far so good, I have been on it since the end of 2005. I had done methotrexate inj. for a while and then we found out that I have lung disease and it cannot be used in people with lung problems. I did not cause the problem.  I hope you find something that keeps you in check. Let me know how things go. Cathy, I hope things worked out for you at the docs office. I want to know how things go for you too.

Glad you all lurk cause here I am ... a SLE pt for 15 years now almost to VSG.   I take 6 mg of Prednisone a day and 400 mg of Plaquinil.    My lupus doc does not see any problem at all with having WLS and at my first visit with surgeon he made no indication there would be a problem at all.    I hope that is the case.

I'm going to review all the other posts to see if there is any other info from all of you prior to this week on personal experience.  

Thanks - Robin

Welcome.  And just so long as your lupus doc and surgeon are willing to work together, you shouldn't have any problems.  I was glad the surgeon I went to is out of the same hospital as my rheumie.  At least that way, if anything went wrong (lupus-wise) my rheumie was a couple of steps away. 

All my docs are very pleased with my progress.  Of course, since surgery, I have a low white blood cell count.  They ruled out all the likely suspects (short of doing a bone marrow biopsy) and everyone decided it was my autoimmune disease going "wonky" as a result of t he WLS.  So, my wonderful team of docs is just keeping a close eye on me as I shrink down to nothingness.

Good luck Robin!
Elli