Hello! A Post To Introduce Myself...

Hello to all the amazing, fantastic people in this forum! My name's Mike and I just wanted to take a moment and introduce myself.

I had Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass surgery on February 7th, 2004. At my start weight I was over 400 pounds. After surgery, I got to my lowest (which was scary - I had lots of complications, developed struggles with food and got down to under 150 pounds, and at 5'11 with a large frame, I looked like a walking skeleton (I am posting photos in my photo gallery). Then, things finally got better, and I began to gain weight. I finally got to and maintained a very healthy 185 pounds and managed extremely well... until a couple of years ago.

Suddenly, my dumping syndrome (which never went away really) got even worse - I now have what the doctors call "surgically induced hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia", where if I eat too many carbs - even healthy ones like whole grains or even fresh strawberries, I get a severe blood sugar reaction. My pancreas pumps out too much insulin as a reaction, and forces my blood sugar too low and I black out. This has even happened once while driving back from a business lunch, where I made the HUGE mistake of eating a small roll on the side of my Chicken Caesar salad. Go figure - how DARE I do that! LOL hehehehe.... Ugh.

So, I began to eat around whatever I could - my dietary intake is a lot fattier than before, and I have even tried just pure Atkins-type eating. Yet now I struggle, very hard, to maintain my current weight which is 242 as of this morning. I feel miserable, I have no energy, and everything hurts - all as a result of carrying this extra weight after not having that issue for so many years.

Now - everything is not doom and gloom - if I had to do it all over again, I would! Surely, by now if I had not had the original surgery I would be long gone and 6-feet under. I am very thankful. I did have some follow up procedures from complications, and a few hospitalizations, but everything was managed great early on. Now, I just struggle every day with food choices, eating from emotions and stress (I work out of the house and have a very technologically challenging job as a Director of Information Technology for a large nationwide company, and I am ALWAYS working it seems) - and at times of very high stress I eat too much, or just not the right thing.... Or - (here's the kicker!) - already fully KNOWING how sick I will be, and that I might black out, I eat carbs that I know will just kill me (lol), and when I feel a blackout/dizzy spell coming on, I just run to the bed and lie down. This is so stupid. I am frustrated and I am disappointed in myself, that after all I have gone through, food still has such a huge control over me.

At any rate, I am so excited to start participating in this forum. From what I have been reading, everyone is so supportive and people here are truly terrific!

Currently, I am 57 (birthday is in May - a Taurus so very bull-headed LOL), I live with my partner in Little Rock Arkansas, I have three amazing dogs (two Chihuahuas and one Basset Hound), and I have two beautiful amazing 33-year old twin step daughters who I am blessed to have a terrific relationship with. I am an open book so ask any questions you like, and I look forward to participating in this group and also in hopefully getting some support, and an outlet for when I am struggling with turning to food. My goal? To get back down below 200 so that I feel better. Thanks so much everyone - I appreciate all of you - have a beautiful day!

Mike

Hi Mike and Welcome! The most active thread tends to be the daily menu thread but it really covers anything people bring up, menus are optional, lol. This is a great group of people that have been through many of the same challenges and know that some days are great and easy and others are not. Nice to meet you!

Thank you so much for the welcome! I truly appreciate it! :)

Welcome Mike,

It is always great to get new people participating in the thread. There is a core group of posters who are very consistent and active on this site. I hope that you become one of them. I look forward to supporting through this new phase of your WLS journey.

Thanks so much! I appreciate it, yes I do look forward to being active in the community :)

Welcome!

It's good to meet you. Thanks for sharing your story and your journey -you've come so far!

As other have said, there's a great group of wonderful people here who engage regularly. Look forward to seeing you on the site! Cheers.

Welcome! Looking forward to getting to know you better.

Welcome! Looking forward to getting to know you on the menu thread!

Hi Mike. I'm sorry you are dealing with the insulin issues.

I can relate. I used to be like that. I was joking that just looking at "potatoes" caused my BS to start dropping.

Since then, and having other issues, I was diagnosed with hormonal imbalances, insufficiencies, including cortisone, thyroid and a few others. My Pituitary and my hypothalamus just kind off stopped working efficiently.

Long story short, after diagnosis I was prescribed some hormones to take, including cortisone.

Post op RNY - some people can develop pancreatic changes- adult onset Nesidioblastosis.

Fortunately and unfortunately, the condition can be partially managed with diet. But, not only carbs cause insulin release or can cause insulin spike, and RH as a result of that. To properly process proteins - we need insulin. The more bioavailable the protein - the more insulin the body need to process the rapid absorption of proteins. i.e. whey protein, egg white protein, or practically nay pre-digested type of powdered or liquid proteins can cause a spike in insulin. (i.e. i used to get RH after eating 1-2 HB eggs, eating a lean piece of chicken breast, or even cold cuts -no sugar added cold cuts). I sill react to some of that to this day.

It is estimated that a lot of people post op RNY can make up to 20x more insulin in response to foods, as compared with people who did not have any type of WLS and who don't have insulin resistance. I know I'm very sensitive.

To better understand how food can affect you - check "food insulin index". Please have in mind that studies to determine that was done on a number of people, with rather normal digestive tracks , and the results were then averaged.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_index

https://foodstruct.com/insulin-index-chart-food-list

Nesidioblastosis is defined as the proliferation of both ductular and islet cells, with hypertrophy of beta cells in islets and the formation of ductuloinsular complexes (closely associated groups of proliferating endocrine cells and small exocrine ducts).

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/391 614

Welcome Mike !

Your situation sounds very frustrating.

Ive never tried not to eat carbs except the very few occasions I tried a diet ( excuse me ... Food Plan ) like H.O.W. as a component of an overeating twelve step program.

Frankly, I STARVED on mostly meat and salad despite their being available in more or less unlimited quantities.

This was many years before my WLS twelve tears ago .

Before and since then I largely exist on carbs - the caveat being theyre often complex carbs that dont give you either the massive insulin release nor the rebound low blood sugar . Rather they keep blood sugar quite stable for many hours and give you a feeling of fullness ( and are also usually high fiber so help with digestion) and the high energy level necessary to work hard or exercise hard .

I am usually pretty careful to eat my carbs with as little fat as possible and try to eliminate or reduce fats in general .

This has successfully maintained my below- goal- weight since a few months after Bariatric surgery ( with pretty much some daily exercise factored in ) .

I too largely work from home and am very familiar with the refrigerator calling ... my way of dealing with overeating from stress or tiredness or emotional issues is to keep a lot of very low fat snacks in the house like air popped kettle toasted homemade fresh popcorn , fat free and often sugar free fresh fruit laden homemade baked goods , high protein low fat snacks like coldcut rollups ..and of course salads w fat free dressings .

Good luck with your efforts- posting here should definitely help ! Hugs