Yikes!

[Pixx]

Okay, so I have had this eye inflammation thing going on and it is kind of annoying. When I got it back at the end of January I thought I had pink eye. It wasn't and I ended up taking 3 months of 'eye therapy' because the inflammation caused Uveitius, which causes your cornea to stick to your retina if not taken care of. If you can't get it to unstick then you go have eye surgery. No thanks! Anyway, I was told that it was a symptom of an auto immune disorder. And so, off to the races to get the expert opinions of an ophthalmologist (actual eye doctor, because they won't take the word of an optometrist who does the same exact thing and knows the same stuff...) and a rheumatologist. So much fun, and 40 vials of blood later, turns out they have zero clue as to what is causing the issue. But, I now know for sure that I don't have cancer, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or any of the common anything. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with not knowing. If it is a disorder, and I can stick a few eye drops in the eyes when they turn red, okay. problem solved.

So several months go by, and I get a call to go back and see the rheumatologist and even though she has no idea what is wrong with me, she wants me to start this drug therapy to stop the inflammation from happening. With a drug that suppresses the auto immune system. I can't pronounce the name of the drug but yikes! The side effects! I was highly uncomfortable with this solution, so I scheduled a conference with my regular MD to go over my options and politely decline taking a drug with so many issues when I can just use eye drops with steroids. So I have my consult on Tuesday morning and I had a minor (or maybe it was a bit major) meltdown in the doctors office. The prescribed drug was a watered down cancer treatment drug and one of the major side effects that wasn't mentioned was stomach ulcers. HELLO?!?! Bypass patient here...I don't take NSAIDS so I don't get stomach ulcers...and so yeah, I was so not happy. Oh and yes, the rheumatologist knew I was a bypass patient. I discussed it at every visit... anyway, my doctor vetoed the drug and is fine with me taking eye drops and is sending me to a research center to find better answers hopefully. My surgeon called and boy was he totally unhappy with the entire situation. He told me that drug would kill me, literally kill me and why did he spend his time in surgery with me if some other doctor was just going to kill me...that if I did get cancer later in life I would need to take a different type of treatment. He kept muttering 'small town doctor idiots' in the phone conversation and made me swear to call him each and every time I was prescribed anything ever again. He also told me as a bypass patient I could never take systemic steroids as they do the same thing. I didn't know that....

Anyway, lesson learned! Let me encourage each of you to double check all prescriptions, side effects, and meds before taking them! Docs don't always have it right, only you are in charge of your own health!

 

[Carolyn270]

Wow, Pixx!! Your doc was one step close to a law suit. I commend you for staying on top of things. Im definitely glad youre still with us! I had eye surgery a couple of weeks before the sleeve. I had a retina detachment when i was a teen (child abuse). Anyway the first surgery back in 96 they put an implant to keep the eyeball from shrinking and causing pain. Last year that implant was being rejected. So the ophthalmologist did a graft taking fat from my stomach (yay me) and filling up my eye with that. Hopefully thats the end of that. I dont like surgeries but especially that close to the brain. Its definitely a bummer dealing with the senses.

Lately I have been dealing with low blood pressure. I was put on meds that can and did cause weight gain. When last i was weighed by the doctors office it said 280. Eeh!! But i managed to get 8 of those pounds back off. It was rough going with a lot of hunger thrown in. But i am still on the meds. I will be under my cardiologists care for a bit to find out whats going on. Last year i had high bp. Things are weird. I will ask my surgeon if its cause of the weight loss. But i hope not cause i havent reached my goal...yet.

I had to go to er for chest pain and they wanted to give me asprin! Eh! Noo. Anyway i hope things get better for you.

 

[HoJo]

Hi! I'm sorry that both of you have been dealing with so many medical problens recently. I'm so focused on all the changes going on in my body right now after WLS that I temporarily forgot that life and it's associated "stuff" still goes on!

Pixx, I'm so glad you were on top of things and skillfully dodged a big bullet. It just goes to show that it's not just the general public, but many physicians, who do not understand the complexity of people who have had WLS. You are absolutely right that we must advocate for ourselves.

Carolyn, I'm sorry that you have a lot of medical issues as a consequence of your WLS -- wasn't it hypoglycemia previously and now hypotension? As you noted, sometimes the treatments of these problems make further weight loss harder -- like losing weight isn't hard enough in itself!

I hope things get easier for both of you soon!

 

[Carolyn270]

Hi! I'm sorry that both of you have been dealing with so many medical problens recently. I'm so focused on all the changes going on in my body right now after WLS that I temporarily forgot that life and it's associated "stuff" still goes on!

Pixx, I'm so glad you were on top of things and skillfully dodged a big bullet. It just goes to show that it's not just the general public, but many physicians, who do not understand the complexity of people who have had WLS. You are absolutely right that we must advocate for ourselves.

Carolyn, I'm sorry that you have a lot of medical issues as a consequence of your WLS -- wasn't it hypoglycemia previously and now hypotension? As you noted, sometimes the treatments of these problems make further weight loss harder -- like losing weight isn't hard enough in itself!

I hope things get easier for both of you soon!

I appreciate your well wishes.

Yes it is hypoglycemia and hypotension. Hypo everything. I am so tired of suffering. It seems like with evrry ten pounds i lose i gotta deal with a new issue i didnt have before. I guess i was kunda expecting the miraculous. I know wls has its merits but i was only prepared for the good things to come. I dont regret losing the weight and the dress sizes. Clothes are cheaper and more stylish. But its no use if im laid up cause im dizzy.

I try to stay posituve but these turn up side down pretty quickly and unexpectedly.

Anyway i have my one year appointment Tues. I get to see how bad in doing and complain to them the things Im going through. Hopefuly walk out of there feeling like it was worth going in, having learned something useful.

I will keep you posted.

 

[HoJo]

Good luck with your 1-year appointment on Tuesday, Carolyn! Please let us know how it goes.

I feel really bad that you are so down in the dumps because you have been such a supportive voice for me since I have started my weight loss journey.

You are doing much better than you think you are. You may be having trouble seeing the "big picture" of the past year because you are mired in a bunch of unfortunate adverse events right now (hypoglycemia, hypotension, weight gain due to medication).

But, Carolyn, give yourself a break! You didn't do anything to bring these problems on -- you are just an "innocent bystander" stuck in a body that just isn't cooperating for now. That doesn't mean things won't get better!

Take a little breather and try to "go with the flow" for a while. I bet that soon you will be riding that "wave of success" again. I hope that "old," positive Carolyn will be back really soon and that things start moving ahead in a positive direction!

 

[Carolyn270]

My one year was full of bad news. I not only retained the weight i had at 9 months but gained a pound. I think i should fire my scale. Also i was told that the protein shakes might need to be cut out. Carbs or calories. I dont know which. Maybe both. I was given a new sheet of paper telling me what to eat. Like i havent done that all year. Sigh!! I understand completely how others feel when they plateau. I realize i didnt truely. My goal is to lose 99.4 more pounds. This sounds daunting. Makes me want to go to McDonald's. Quarter pounder!! I really want this to work. So...I was basically pushed back to soft foods for the most part. Yogurt and the like. I have the strongest feeling that my other health issues play a major role in all this flubber. Not the other way around. Then theres the gatorade the pcp instructed me to drink. I am adviced to switch to propel. Ok. I'll do it. Something has to give. Any other advice at this point is welcome.

 

[HoJo]

My one year was full of bad news. I not only retained the weight i had at 9 months but gained a pound. I think i should fire my scale. Also i was told that the protein shakes might need to be cut out. Carbs or calories. I dont know which. Maybe both. I was given a new sheet of paper telling me what to eat. Like i havent done that all year. Sigh!! I understand completely how others feel when they plateau. I realize i didnt truely. My goal is to lose 99.4 more pounds. This sounds daunting. Makes me want to go to McDonald's. Quarter pounder!! I really want this to work. So...I was basically pushed back to soft foods for the most part. Yogurt and the like. I have the strongest feeling that my other health issues play a major role in all this flubber. Not the other way around. Then theres the gatorade the pcp instructed me to drink. I am adviced to switch to propel. Ok. I'll do it. Something has to give. Any other advice at this point is welcome.

Hi Carolyn. I'm sorry your year has been so difficult. But, the bottom line is you did lose weight and kept it off for a whole year! (Forget that 1 lb you gained back. You probably just drank a glass of water before you were weighed and it made the scale go back up a pound!)

I wouldn't be happy either if I had to take a step back with my diet back to soft foods after I was eating more solid foods! It's upsetting and discouraging. But, don't feel like you did something wrong and you're being punished. It sounds like they are just trying to kick start your weight loss again.

I think I'm having the opposite problem but it's also going to lead to my weight loss stalling, too. I was started on a few slightly more solid foods a week ago like eggs, string cheese, cottage cheese, rotisserie chicken, and ricotta. The only 3 foods that I have been able to keep down are string cheese, ricotta, and eggs. But, they only stay down about 25% of the time! Otherwise, they come back up and then my stomach feels like it's on fire. So now I'm afraid to eat! I'm worried my weight loss is going to stop because I'm going to go into starvation mode!

Whoever said surgery is the "easy way" to lose weight should know what we are really going through!

 

[HoJo]

Hi Carolyn. I just wanted to see how you are doing.

I hope you are not in the path of the hurricane, Florence! My brother lives in the eastern part of North Carolina and he has had flooding in his home. My sister lives in Virginia, but I'm not sure she is in the storm's pathway.

I hope that things have started to turn around for you. You sounded so bummed out after your 1-year appointment

I can see how other medical problems can interfere with weight loss. I take at least 5 medications for depression. No matter how much weight I lose, I will still have to take these medications! My psychiatrist tries very hard to avoid putting me on medications that cause weight gain, but that's not always possible.

Carolyn, I hope you are hanging in there and that your scale starts cooperating with you!

 

[Carolyn270]

Hi Carolyn. I just wanted to see how you are doing.

I hope you are not in the path of the hurricane, Florence! My brother lives in the eastern part of North Carolina and he has had flooding in his home. My sister lives in Virginia, but I'm not sure she is in the storm's pathway.

I hope that things have started to turn around for you. You sounded so bummed out after your 1-year appointment

I can see how other medical problems can interfere with weight loss. I take at least 5 medications for depression. No matter how much weight I lose, I will still have to take these medications! My psychiatrist tries very hard to avoid putting me on medications that cause weight gain, but that's not always possible.

Carolyn, I hope you are hanging in there and that your scale starts cooperating with you!

Hi. If my scale is telling the truth...i lost 4 pounds since the appointment. Especially with the abrupt change in diet. Im hungry. I am on four meds for depression. One of them was lowered in dosage because it was too much. I hope the others will decrease as well but i know i will never stop taking them.

I am going to receive some flooding in my area but hopefully no downed power lines and trees. I am in the mountains so it will be something but not as severe as our coast.

Health issues aside i might continue to lose weight but itll be sliwer than projected. Especially with winter coming.

I hope to reach my goal weight by next summer. Thats losing 96 pounds.

Thank you for checking up on me. I appreciate it. I will keep all updated.

 

[Pixx]

I drink the propel protein water, it's okay and works to help get the protein goal in, but they aren't terribly tasty. A bigger chunk of my protein daily is a shake though. Just as a reminder, if you aren't getting 80-100 grams of protein a day in, you are stalling your own weight loss and just 'maintaining' where you are at. It might be more helpful to throw unflavored protein into some of the foods your eating daily. I do that a lot! I mix it with chicken broth for a hot drink, or in soup for a light lunch or supper. Kind of like...blending up carrots and putting them in a cake...the flavor is masked, but you still get all the good ingredients from the carrots, and it tastes like cake! I struggle with food in general though. I find that I fill up very quickly and I don't like that feeling, so I tend to lean on shakes and drinks for my intake. It is making my doc unhappy, they want me on more solid foods with a higher calorie intake. Trying to tell a normal doc that your on a protein based diet seems like an impossible task. They don't get it. Trying to tell my surgeon that my doc wants me at 1000+ calories a day is worse, cause he starts in on my daily protein intake. Sheesh! They need to get together and work it out I think!

I hope you are both doing well! I finally got the remodel done so I can check in more often now I am now down 157lbs. I stopped working out about a month and half ago, and have become a bit of a sloth. Yeah, I was working on stuff daily and active, just not on myself you know? Anyway, I will renew my gym membership next month and start over. I'm not really excited about it though...lol! That's my lazy side talking and trying to convince me to stay home, stay warm, and stay a chunky monkey. Gotta love those inner demons! One day at a time ladies!

 

[Carolyn270]

My doctors each have access to my chart being affiliated with the same clinic. They should squabble it out instead of the tug o war. But ultimately i think i have to be the bottom line. I will just have to experiment with my budget and see where the weight is going. But the dietician may be right that the shakes keep the weight on...cause i lost a few pounds when i stopped drinking them. I cannot find the tasteless powder near me so i have to browse the net. Sigh. Its gotta work out.

 

[Pixx]

Oh, I get mine on Amazon. It is called 'Syntrax' unflavored protein powder. It is 10 grams of protein per scoop, so if you just need to boost something that is already 15 grams up to 25 to sneak a bit in then you can, or I throw in 3 scoops with chicken broth to get the full 30 grams. I do want to get some of that 'bone broth' from the health food store, they say it has 25 grams of protein and can be used in soups instead of water. That would be nice! Are you still on the carnation shakes? I'm using Annex protein powder shake mix, it is 27 grams of protein a scoop, very light and thin with no sugars in it. There is also a protein coffee out there and it is actually pretty good, 25 grams of protein. I gotta remember the name though...ugh my memory!

 

[Katbrks74]

im Gonna look into those. I’m trying to find ways to get my protein. Thank you.