WL prior to WLS

Hello Everyone. I am glad to have found this board. I have type 2 diabetes and over the last year tried to concieve a child. I recently went to a Reproductive Endo and was diagnosed pcos. It makes sense now, because I gained about 50 pounds after going off birth control. So, with my pcp and my RE and of course my husband, we have decided to have wls before trying to pursue having children. I have researched wls for a long time but wanted a child first. Anyway, I have to lose a mandatory 10% of my weight, which is 39 pounds, prior to surgery. I am doing a 1200 calorie low fat diet that they gave me as well as exercising 4 days for 1 1/2 hour, mainly cardio. My daily blood sugars are high, usually 220-260, but my last a1c was 6.7, not bad. I realize now that this is common in pcos. I really need help to lose this pre op weight!! What works?? I hear that low carbing is essential, but I don't really want to go back on atkins. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I know this surgery will help with my diabetes, high blood pressure and pcos, but they won't do it until I get the 39 pounds off. So far I have lost about 8 in 4 weeks, but every time I lose a few I seem to gain a few back. Ugh. Thanks again! Shari

Shari - Your sugars are too high and you need to get those under control. Ask your doc for glucophage which they use for PCOS for folks who don't have the problems with blood sugar as well. Once you get that under control you will find it easier to lose weight. As for the diet, definitely do low carb. Sounds like you really really need Atkins, but there are other low-carb plans less drastic than that. One is South Beach which is a little more liberal with fruits. Obviously the low-fat diet is not helping you out. It's causing you to react with your blood sugars and in the process will keep you from losing. If you were to get pregnant, you would find yourself on insulin pronto. I was threatened with insulin with gestational diabetes if my sugars went over 120 one hour after eating for any regular time frame. I would suspect a doctor would have a cow if they thought you were pregnant with those blood sugars, and the thing is, being pregnant causes your blood sugars to rise anyway. Can you imagine if you WERE trying to conceive right now? Yikes! Let us know how it goes and what they do for you! Dina

Hi Dina! Thanks for the response! I am already on glucophage 850 mg 3x a day and glyburide 10mg 2x a day. I did talk to the doctor and nutritionalist that are running the wls classes because I gained another 3 pounds this week and they both practically screamed at me for my sugars!! So, last night I went and got a prescription for insulin and I just need to get in to see a nurse to show me how to do my own shots. The doctors will ween me off the oral meds and increase the insulin as needed. I sure do hope that this is what I need to jump start my system into the weight loss mode. I am still doing the 1200 calorie diet and going to the gym...but if need be I will consider atkins. Thanks again for your reply!!

Hey Sheri---for some reason my computer is acting up and I can't email you...email me if you can. We are in exactly the same boat....I've been trying to find someone with the same situation and here you are. Do they have you on Glucofage/Metaformin yet? My fertility doc put me on it right away, could help with excess pounds right now. It's hard to know if PCOD causes excessive weight or the other way around, but that medication often helps with weight management AND the regulation of hormones, which is the reason for our infertility. Unfortunately, the excess wieght makes our hormones even more out of wack.....so therefore the fertility prob is even worse. I've had a couple of freinds with PCOD who had great difficulty concieving, but they did it with the help of fertility drugs (BUT neither one was "morbidly obese"). My husband and I have been through all the tests and I have no other fertility issues thank God. We were at the point of fertility meds, but my fertility specialist said at this weight, the Clomid won't work for sure and even the strongest fertility drugs may not kick my ovaries into gear because between the hormone imbalance caused by the PCOD and the weight, it's unlikely. I'm 37 and don't have much time to get myself pregnant so I got a little panicky. I want a child with my hubby so bad!!! Just one, is that too much to ask? So, here I am, waiting for a pre-surgery appointment with UCLA. I already got my approval from Kaiser but now have to jump through UCLAs hoops (I hear it's a long process and I'm not a patient woman)....would love to talk with you and exchange info regarding how long we have to wait to get pregnant after wls, chances of the infertility probs going away after wls, etc....email me!!!! ---Ann

Hi again, I just talked with a woman who was over 400 lbs and had wls at the end of 2002....she is due to give birth in early April. There is hope!! She said that after she was down around 238-240 they started trying again and it only took two months!!!! Yeah!!!!