Not sure what is happeneing to me
12/08 RNY surgery starting weight 285
Problems on an off for herniated disksin my neck and back. Informed my neurologist I had had surgery and could not take NSAIDS. Due to a lack of meds that I could use to treat pain AND their inability to help the pain at all I was given meds that contained NSAIDS and was told to make sure I ate a meal when taking the meds.
12/09 my weight was at 189 lbs and completely stopped losing weight. I had been having pain in my stomach and went to my dr about it. Was told I didn't have a hernia and to keep doing what I was doing and the rest of the weight would come off. Nothing happened over the next 7 months. I still had occasional dumping if I ate something I shouldn't have. I had been having severe gas sice 1 yr out. Frequent and SMELLY. My BMs were still normal and occurred everyday. Something that I had never experienced before I had rny. I had a history of bowel troubles and minor IBS. (I forgot to mention that I had a prior colorectal surgery that resulted in me having to have 2 more surgeries to repair anal fistulas that occurred)
Sept 2010 Everything started to change. Started to gain weight rapidly. Consumed maybe 1500 calories a day and on my worst days I might consume 2000 calories (if I went out to dinner or was pms'ing). I continued to exercise daily and monitored my calories and what I ate very closely. Every morsel of food was written down. My BM's had changed. I was constipated ALL THE TIME. The Gas stopped. Hemmoroids returned. Now when I eat I don't feel full and can consume more food than what I should be able to. I also can feel a gurgling to my left side when I eat or drink something.. I no longer dump. If I do have an alcoholic beverage I no longer get tipsy off of a few sips. The other night I had 2 drinks and felt nothing. Since 10/10 I have gained approx 15 pounds. I am 204 today.
I fianlly got over my fear that I was somehow failing my surgery and called my surgeon. He ordered bloodwork and I have an appt scheduled for 2/23/2011. I am a ball of nerves and stress over this. I can't figure our what has gone wrong. I feel like a total failure and am so freaked out that I am gaining this fast. I CAN'T go back to 285. It will devistate me.
Anyone had any similar symptoms or story? What could be going on?
I had RNY in 2005. I weighed about 240 and my goal weight was 125 pounds. It took a couple of years but I reached my goal weight.
Shortly after my surgery, I began having a lot of problems with fatigue, blacking out when I stood up, nausea, etc.I researched my symptoms and believed it was low cortisol. I asked to for a scan of my adrenals and instead of finding a problem with my adrenals, they found a scary looking ovarian cyst. All attention was then diverted to that.
Nine months after my RNY I had my ovaries removed. I was losing weight rapidly, compromised nutritionally, and suddenly I was in menopause.
Also, in 2004 I was prescribed narcotic patches to control my migraines.
After this, my low cortisol symptoms continued, only now I had hot flashes, insomnia, and migraines too. All the symptoms of menopause. In spite of the patch, I was still getting terrible migraines.
Six months later I saw an endocrinologist and arranged to have an ACTH Challenge test done. I had the test and the results showed that my pituitary gland wasn't stimulating my adrenals properly. I was having low cortisol just as I thought, but the problem was my pituitary, not my adrenals. The endo said it was because of the narcotics I was on and that nothing could be done for me.
Two or three months later I decided to go off the patch. It was doing more harm than good. I have to say that narcotic withdrawal is sheer hell. I will never judge a heroin addict again.
I had a terrible time going off the opiate patch and ended up on Suboxone. It's a partial narcotic designed to treat opiate addiction. I went on it because I was addicted to opiates, I stayed on it because I have chronic migraines. The Suboxone didn't interfere with my pituitary as much; my cortisol issue improved, but didn't go away.
However, by spring of 2009 I was doing well. I was thin and I had lots of energy. Except I was having these scary blood sugar crashes that seemed to come out of nowhere, and they scared me. They were bizarre and intense. I have since learned that it's reactive hypoglycemia. You eat something, it enters your intestines too fast (thanks to your RNY), your blood sugar spikes, your body releases insulin to deal with it, your insulin takes out too much blood sugar, and you get a blood sugar crash. This can happen hours after a meal. And for me it seemed random. I still don't know what triggers them, aside from soda, I mean.
Then one day all my low cortisol symptoms came back. I saw my doctor and we decided to try a steroid for awhile. He put me on Cortef (hydrocortisone), then three weeks later I was informed that my insurance no longer covered him.
Long story short, for a long time I had no PCP and I made my own medical decisions. I made some BAD decisions too. I stayed on the steroid, even raised the dose a few times thinking I needed it, and the steroid ruined my health, my teeth, possibly my bones. I didn't know what I was doing and I had no doctor to manage things.
Turns out that my thyroid dose was too high and somehow it was putting too much strain on my adrenals. But by the time I got this figured out, I'd been on the steroid for a long time.
Well, Armour thyroid, the only med that works for me, was no longer available around this time. I was forced to go on meds that did nothing for my hypothyroidism. It's been just in the past few weeks that my thyroid has stabilized. I'm back on Armour again, thank God.
In addition, the steroid lowered my immune system and I was constantly fighting infection. I was running fevers all the time and just sick, sick, sick.
The steroid destroyed my teeth (steroids interfere with calcium absorption) which required $10,000 worth of repair. I'm still working on that one.
So, with my being hypothyroid, the steroid causing me to gain weight (a side effect), running fevers all the time and too sick to get out of bed for 18 months straight, you can imagine what happened to my weight.
Yup, you guessed it. I gained it ALL back. All 125 pounds.
I researched and researched and I've decided on revising to a duodenal switch. I has the best record for weight loss and weight loss maintenance. Much of what you eat isn't absorbed. Well, sugar and things like that are, there's just no way around the necessity of avoiding junk food. :( And you don't dump because the valve on the end of your stomach is there to control how fast the food enters the intestines. If you eat the bad stuff, you can get gassy and have a smelly BM, but that can be controlled. I'm so constipated all the time it would be nice to have a smelly BM on occasion. :D
The biggest drawback for me is that you have to be oh so careful about your nutrients. But I'm doing that anyway with my RNY. I figure, what have I got to lose, except a whole lot of weight? If I do nothing, I will remain fat and always have to be careful with my nutrition. If I revise to DS, I will be thinner and always have to be careful with my nutrition.
I don't believe my RNY will do it for me anymore. My pouch has stretched and I never feel full. I feel like everything empties out of my pouch real fast. I learned that about two years after RNY the body gets very efficient at using calories and you have to keep your calorie count low to keep the weight off. So you lose weight because you're taking in little calories, then two years later, when your body's adapted and you can eat more, you have to eat LESS to avoid weight gain!
I wish I'd known this before I had the RNY. But, my insurance wouldn't cover the DS anyway, so there's no point crying about it.
Anyway, that's where I'm at right now. I just want you to know that you have other options besides having them go in and put a lap band around your pouch (bad idea) or some other useless thing. If the RNY doesn't work for you, you could switch to one that will.
All I'm saying is research everything, explore all your options, before you make a decision. You've got a lot of options you could use to help you.
Another thing. I think it would be very smart if you saw more than one surgeon. Get a second, and maybe even a third, opinion before you decide what to do. We're talking about the rest of your life. Be careful in what you choose to do. Explore all the different surgeries.
Good luck,
Lynda
PS: As for your gurgling on the left side, the left side is where part of your colon is. You may just be having normal bowel sounds. But check it out if it worries you.
