Please give me a hard time!

I put frozen strawberries and frozen bananas in the protein drink and blend it all together.

You're free to do what you want, but let me add my kick in the ass.

Symptoms of vitamin deficiencies (especially of B vitamins and calcium) are not apparent until they have resulted in untreatable, irreversible conditions affecting your bones and nervous system.

You've gone through the surgery and apparently convinced the surgeon that you have the intellectual capacity to understand and comply with post surgical requirements. So....don't do anything dumb. If you develop problems with vitamin deficiencies or malnutrition due to protein deficits, your lack of follow through with post op protocols will be noted and you will be labelled a "noncompliant" patient. This can affect how future doctors will view their ability to treat you, and will definitely impact your relationship with your surgeon in a negative way.

Girlie, I don't get to post the way I used to but I read a lot -- haven't you had a lot of issues since surgery? YOu've been through way too much not to be compliant at this point. Unfortunately, some problems are beyond our control (especially in medical stuff) but when it comes to protein and vitamins, those are totally 100% within your control....

Don't like protein? Not everyone does...at almost 3 years out, I still do at least one shake per day 95% of the time. Very very very few powders will take good as is -- you gotta get creative and make it work. I never ever have one (minus Nectar) without ice and a blender. If pp just won't work, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, SOMETHING is out there!

Vitamins? there are times I skip a dose here and there but I do good in that dept. I'm currently fighting iron and B12 deficiencies and I don't wanna go down without a fight!

You can do it!

I have a pill container that has a.m. and p.m. on it and I fill it each night for the next day. I take my calcium then throughout the day. I pack protein snacks and lunch to take to work with me everyday and do a shake for breakfast. (Snacks include things like pepperoni chips, protein bars, baked cheese, string cheese, turkey jerkey, carbmaster yogurt with almonds added to it, things like that).

I am still pre-op, but have already started keeping track of things to get into the habit now, rather than later with all the other frustrations of adjusting to the new life.  I made my own food journal chart that I print off and keep in my WLS binder for each day.  Anyone that is interested is free to PM me and I can email it to them.  It is an Excel spreadsheet.  This has helped me GREATLY on remembering to take my vitamins and keeping track of what time of day I take them so that I do not take my calcium and iron too closely together and to spread out my calciums throughout the day.  It holds me accountable and having to write it out, as well as writing out what I am eating, definitely makes me stop and think some days.  I track my water, protein, vitamins and food this way on the same sheet.

Please, PLEASE figure out a way to get this done. It's different for everyone, everyone has to develop their own system of what works. But you WILL find it if you keep trying and don't give up.

I too couldn't stand the shakes so was very bad about getting in all of my protein at first. And I was awful about getting my labs done on time.

Last August, I almost died of a cardiac arrythmia. (My particular type of arrythmia - ventrical tachycardia, has a dismal survival rate for one episode (5% at most) and this was my second episode as I had one episode preop (survival rate for second episode is a little under 1%. I will not survive another episode.)

They actually put me on a respirator and called all of my family home to say goodbye to me. They were just trying to keep me breathing until the ones who were farthest away could get here. My heart literally stopped twice, and they barely got it to beat again.

I don't know why God chose to give me more time here. The vitamins/proteins weren't the only factor back then, but they were a MAJOR contributor. If I had even kept up my labs they could have caught a lot of the problems before they reached critical level.

Fast forward almost 10 months and I am STILL trying to get my levels up where they belong. My anemia had progessed to the point that my surgeon told me I was "iron bankrupt". Not enough iron to function - he was shocked that I was able to get through the days as well as I do. It's been a fight to get my iron up at all, and I am still working very hard to get all of my levels up. (especially calcium)

Anywho. Don't want to scare you, but I kinda do I guess. You can die from this stuff. The scariest part for me is that I felt pretty good the day all of this happened - there were no signs whatsoever of what was coming.

Please be very, very careful and find out what works for you. Even if you have to take your protein mixed with only 1 or 2oz of water and just slam it down like a "shot". I did that for a while until I finally (at 2 years out) found a shake formula that I really like. Sometimes thinking of the protein as medicine that MUST be taken helps. And if you don't add much water to it, you can get even the nastiest stuff down in a couple of swallows.

Take Care of yourself - you can start getting serious about it now, or play russian roulette with your vital organs and just pray that you're one of the very few that survive long term without complying with their surgeons protein/vitamin protocol.

Best of luck to you. Try your hardest. Your life, and quality of life is literally in your hands right now.

 I think the "shock you into compliance" stories are enough to remind you how critical this is, but in case it hasn't been said enough, you MUST do right by your body. It's the only one you'll ever have.

Continue to not take your vitamins so that your levels tank and you get all sorts of issues and eventually die.


Lose weight to be healthy and don't take your vites to get sick and die  makes sense.
 

 Thanks to everyone for the responses. I know what I have to do and now I just have to....do it. My goal by the end of June is to be on a strict vitamin plan and stick with it.