Good Morning. Are you a victim, team player or abuser..

...regarding your WLS? What's your attitude about your WLS "tool".  I'm still thinking about my answer and may be a little of all three depending on the situation. A victim may be resentful and might strike out against the tool. A team player works well with the "tool" and together they benefit. An abuser puts all the work on the "tool" and counts on it to keep everything together even when they push the limits every single day. 

Maybe you guys have a different definitions of victim, team player and abuser. Let's hear them. Can you categorize yourself? 

--gina
 

This early out, I am most def a team player. I am following diet and excercise to the T! I really dont want to mess anything up, it was hard getting her and I dont ever want to go back.

Day7 for me so I am definitely the victim. Thinking what the hell did I do to myself. Awake with reflux again, still have intermittant pain, can't drink without burping, can barely drink anything without nausea and have barely just got the water weight off.

I am hoping that in the very near future I become a team player, I really want to get my fluids, vitamins and proteins in, choosing dense proteins, avoiding empty carbs, staying away from soda and alcohol, eating 3 meals, cardio, strength traing etc.


I know eventually there will be some abuser, but I really hope that I make the above habits life style changes to keep the weight off.

I cant drink anything except Hot/Warm tea. Everything makes the nausea come back. I still have alot of pain, especially since I twisted and pulled a muscle in my stomach, that has been very hard to deal with. I have also thought often, Why the Hell did I do this?  Then I look at old pictures of me and I know. Hopefully you can figure it out soon to make your life easier.

Brittany,

On night three I woke up with a mouthful of acid.  I realized that I had gone from three pillows to two pillows.  Not a good move.  As soon as I propped myself up higher, it got better.  I stayed that way for around two weeks because I was too scared to experiment.  When I did, it was all good and I never had a moment of reflux since then.  I had a hernia repair at the time of my surgery.

Are you taking a PPI?  I take 40mg Protonix twice a day.  7am and 4pm.  That seems to do the trick for me.

Congratulations on having a good plan to be a team player.

Lee,

My doctor just switched my prilosec to twice a day (20 mg)  I sleep pretty much straight up.  I am happy to report that I think it is kicking in.  I only slept a few hours last night, but I feel so much better.  I took 1 chewable vitamin (only my second since surgery)  ate 2 ounces of cream of wheat, and have drank about 16 ounces of orange gaterade.

I hope I have turned a corner.  I feel so much better!  I was on a protonix drip in the hospital, so if the prilosec does not continue to work I will ask for some of that.

Thanks for the advice and feel better soon Stacey. I will have to try some tea.

team player as i'm going by the book...as much as i can.....still can't eat as much as my menu plan says i should eat but i'm getting my protein and fluids....

abuser as i'm counting on the tool to do the work right now.  don't have the energy to exercise at all.  waiting for results of my labs.  i'm monitoring my blood pressure...its hanging in there at about 93/62 so the issue might be that i no longer need bp meds....i know my bp meds contain a diuretic which might complicate the fluid intake thing...........so....i didn't take it this morning and will continue to monitor the bp throughout the day today.....

can't wait to have enough energy to exercise again!

Certainly right now I am a team player, although I have thought of ways to push the envelope, I haven't done it yet.  For all of my life, I have been a rule follower, which is a major help in my profession as a Medicaid provider.  No Medicaid Fraud here. 
 

Wow I LIKE that question Gina!

Ive never thought ive abused my body but obviously thats not the case . I have a love- hate relationship with her.

I stuff her full of healthy vitamins , i feed her great high quality food , i buy her top notch exercise equipment and schedule my time so the warmest ( or coolest , in summer) most exercise - friendly part of the day is available for her to run or blade or hike ....

She gets great clothes , comfy flattering shoes,expensive hairdresser and mani pedi appointments ...accessories , invitations , appreciation.

on the other hand i am relentless in telling her she is just not ENOUGH .... not long legged enough , not young enough , not straight postured , straight nosed and long necked enough .... not small waisted and small torsoed , firm armed, white - toothed and hard- cored enough lol!

Now i know Ur question was about my POUCH not my body ... but i think my relationship with one will reflect my relationship with the other . I dont feel I abuse my pouch . Other people may disagree ..especially when i journal about eating at all U can eat buffets and so forth ...

But truthfully Ive met a few people from on here and THEY were eating hamburgers and fries and I wasn't lol .....so.... I DO make GREAT choices at those buffets ....and take chitosan to mitigate the fat before etc.

The fact is catering trucks , and great free food at catered events are an ongoing part of my life - the more successful i get the more of that i will be confronted with every day . So i better get used to picking and choosing from OTHER people' s normal- fat containing menus !

I DEFINITELY dont feel victimized by my pouch at all ! Even when like today I ( extremely rarely ) get a stomach pain ... im quick to blame whatever i ate not my mechanism. The truth is the fact that i eat a significant VOLUME of fat free low cal food ( which moves thru my body fast ) i think has really protected me from the possibility of adhesions , ulcers etc.

I have been VERY blessed to have NO problems at all with my pouch ..... thank God .. in a whole year !! yay ! not an twinge , not an incident of gerd,no constipation, nothing . Frankly , Im healthy as a horse , and except for a curious few weeks when i felt depressed ..my energy levels have been high ,my mood optimistic , patient and willing .

I am getting to be a team player with the tool . I didnt like my tool at first . Maybe i just needed to vent about it . Its interesting - since i gave myself permission to explore a revision to DS and started saving the money for it - Ive actually achieved an ease with the RNY i HAVE .

I think its because i realize the milkshakes and highly restrictive diet may not be forever unless i want them to be ...

For me the RNY is a significant change in eating and a significant difference from how i want to eat . I am still not OK with having to live on 1200 or 800 calories a day , sorry. No amount of rationalization makes that OK to me .

If someone had told me going into this that i would be expected to live on an 800 calorie a day diet forever i would have LAUGHED and insisted on a DS from the get- go .

The only reason i can survive on 1200 calories a day right now ( and not regain ) is because i am still in the honeymoon period . Could i eat more ? HELL YEAH ! Do i WANT to eat more ? Hell YEAH ! The thing that REALLY ****** me off is even living on the most restrictive diet possible ...I am still not THIN ENOUGH GRRRRR!!!!!!!

I still cant zip up those 00 sample size dresses !! ( NO matter how little i eat ! ) What am i supposed to do ? Heroin ?! i statrted on Topamax and Wellbutrin ,a WL promoting drug combination against my better judgment yesterday .... and yes im PISSED i have to do this ....particularly after having endured WLS .

So in a sense i suppose i DO feel victimized by my surgery - that it wasnt what it was advertised to be . That I wasnt given all the facts up front nor given the option of the surgery that would have been the best choice for me .

My surgery is currently holding me back from living like a normal person. I cant be around my fiance and his Father who are both diabetics and need to eat frequently and cook healthy fatfree food without gaining weight like gangbusters .

The second I even LOOK at a fatfree sugarfree dessert i gain... the second i eat in a restaurant i gain .... teh second i eat three meals a day I gain .... this is RIDICULOUS . I literally dont want to spend the weekend with my fiance eating normally because i know i am going to come back several pounds heavier .

I DID NOT GET WLS TO GO TO FOOD JAIL !!!

And PARTICULARLY because i dont even get the desired results !!

OA is helping me be more of a team player with this tool . Reading this .... im not sure if thats smart or stoopid . Maybe i should just concentrate on getting the funds together and getting a DS as soon as possible LOL ...

When Ure trying to bail a rowboat out with a measuring cup .. it might be time to buy a bucket ...

I think for the most part I am a team player. I have recognized since before surgery that this wasn't the "magic cure" so many believe it is. I have worked with my tool, using the restriction and only putting in healthy food. And I get off my butt and work out. Occasionally I am an abuser, but let's face it, we all make bad food choices on occasion (birthday cake, dessert on holidays, etc.).