Co-morbs.

For you grads that were beset with co-morbs, I was wondering how things were doing. Many patients report almost complete and near instantaneous remission of conditions such as HBP, diabetes, etc. Is that still the case 2 to three years down the road? For me, that is not the case. After 6 months, I was off all diabetic meds and the lowest level of meds for HBP. (Keep in mind that I have a prior heart attack, so the level of BP they desire is lower than that which would get a person diagnosed as being hypertensive). My weight is stable, yet I have had to increase my meds to keep my BP and blood sugar in check. I have had to double my focus on chewable protein sources and away from carbs. I have had to do so for blood sugar reasons, and not to avoid regain. The values are well controlled with lower levels of effort and meds than before, but they still merit my attention. For those of you with serious pre-op co-morbs, what is your experience? Nowhere Man/PH/Jay

I did not have 'significant' HBP, but they were ready to medicate it were it not for WLS. I now have Low-Normal BP, and have since I began running over a year ago... so it may be the running, who knows? Mostly, I was just very fat, and WLS continues to help on that score. Tek

I am off bp meds. I now am 120/70 . preop without meds was 210/110. with meds 140/80. I still take antidepressants. My depression was not only weight related, but a long term chronic condition that will likely be an issue forever. bad genetics. I have noticed that I am having joint pain, IE in my hip where I think I am getting arthritis. I'll be seeing the ortho Monday. I probably aggrevate it with the cardio kickboxing and Karate. My sciatica has been acting up as well, but I am working out so much that I may be aggrevating it by being so much more active as well. Is it WLS related? I was a couch potato before, but had issues with the sciatica when fat as well, My wieght and a bad fall related to my poor physical condition kicked it off. and the hip/ ? arthritis may be an issue of age.

I was on three meds: one for diabetes, one for hypertension and the third for cholesterol. My surgeon took me off all of them immediately after surgery. I thought he was nuts. But, after 2 1/2 years, I'm doing well. I do notice that the sugars go up if I carb too much, but they are in the range of 107 in the morning, so that's not too bad. I think the range is 75-115. I did have a bout with atrial fib in February, so I'm on a beta pace for that which slows my heart down. I think my blood pressure may be affected for the better with that drug, and my cholesterol hovers about 195, so I guess the 60 lb weight loss worked. I am a carb-a-holic though and have gained 14 pounds since I've been to my doctor, so we'll see what the numbers are next month. This saying "it's only a tool" is making much more sense to me, but it still comes down to life-long dieting (for me). It may be easier with the RNY, but it's still dieting. I was really hoping the fairyland losing months would last a little longer, as I didn't learn any good habits early on. Reality ha****!!! lol Good luck. Marilyn

My BP remains somewhat borderline and will likely have my HCTZ diuretic increased at my next preventative cardiology visit (scary family history). It went down for about the first 18 mos. and has slowly crept back over time. As my Prev. Card says, I have a crappy family history in this regard and I you can't choose your relatives! High BP is my only co-morb. karen

Jay, The only serious co-morbid I had before surgery was high cholesterol - and it has been very under control for the almost 4 years since my surgery. It was tested in June and was running about 120 - and it was 368 before surgery. As for my blood pressure - it was never seriously high but it normally runs about 120/60 now. Miraculously, I never developed diabetes even though I weighed over 350 pounds before surgery. Patty

I am down to one BP med and other than Prilosec (everybody in my family seems to have some kind of GI ailment it seems) that's it. My sky-high cholesterol went from so high they couldn't fractionate out the other lipids to 150. Blood sugars are great - glycosolated Hgb was 7 (upper end of normal at the lab that runs it) to 4.5. But I'm due to get labs checked so we'll see if my luck is holdiing - and I'm still about 50 lbs away from goal and need to exercise. I'm 57 - need to get on the stick!! I feel like I dodged some major bullets but don't want to get complacent. Plus, 50 lbs and little exercise is just plain dumb. I have a week off and plan to get on that stick!! Other that buying a new computer (a spiffy new G5 iMac! because I bypassed my power strip protecter (or whatever that thing is called) for my phone line and apparantly fried my email) all I really have to do is SHAPE UP!! You and I are not Spring Chickens so part of our meds may just be part of getting older - and obviously without the surgery we may not have had that privilage. Your WLS pal Bette

My blood pressure has gone up again. Have to start new meds for it. it's running about 199-215/100-106 Darlene

And my doc gets all perturbed by 130/82? Nowhere Man/PH/Jay

Mine just started back up high like this the past 8-9 months but my pcp didn't say anything about it. I saw a new cpc last week and he was in shock. Mine showed on the charts up then down then up and then up and then down. He said with my high PTH there is a missing component..at least he is willing to try and control it. Before surgery it use to run 296/210 and I never knew it was even high... Darlene