I would ask what codes are they using for the lab work. Alot of ins likes to push back on anything WLS but usually if the codes are vitamin deficency and malabsorption its not so much of an issue.

But in short Kaiser just sucks in more ways than one.

Yeah most bariatric folk round my area dont have a clue about the DS. Even new dr didnt know but was so open to learning and listening. Including what labs I really needed.

But as for fat, Im full fat everything. I drown eggs in butter when I cook them, which I eat 4 each morning. I add butter to steaks, everything. I do not limit myself with fats at all. Maybe I need to eat more taco bell again, lmao.

Hey DSrs

Im around but quiet, dealing with alot craziness but nothing bad(none of it Covid). I have no regrets and truthfully most days my DS isnt even on my mind. Cause well life is "normal".

Now for my long term vets lets talk labs. I FINALLY found a family dr that listens. So I got indepth labs done for the first time in sorry to say 10 years. Ive had basic pulls and random checks but not a really deep pull.

For the most part everything is good. Yes even my D (103), yeah its a smidge over the high end of normal. So I take 1 D less a week now (50,000 iu 6 days a week instead of everyday). My labs truthfully are great besides 3 of them which all are a hair below low end normal. Thoes being my E, K and LDL (and total cholesterol in general). My diet is mainly meat and veggies. Some fruits. I do have to watch potassium levels of foods I eat, as I sodium waste and cannot let things get out of balance. But hey add more salt.

With the E, my alpha is 5.1 (according to my lab 5.5 is low normal) my gamma is 0.2 (0.0 is low normal so its a hair above). I never really supplemented it before but have started to. Even though I do eat many things rich in it (veggie wise).

My K is 0.15 nmol\L (.22 is low normal) again I eat plenty of veggies ri***** Ive started supplementing. I get retested on thoes in a few months.

Now Im actually more concerned about my cholesterol being so brutally low. Our body and brain does need cholesterol, its just in excess its not good. So my total is 104 , yeah I said it my total is 104. My LDL is a measly 38, which everything Ive read below 40 isnt too ideal but so few people deal with low cholesterol there isnt much info out there.

Opinions vets?

The kicker with this....and I point blank looked at my dr and said at the follow up. Look at thoes labs and look at me....dont match do they. And she agreed that you wouldnt think they were right. Im 5'9" and 228lbs(dont look it) in a size 12 jean but cant wear normal jeans as they arent big enough for my legs now, lol, damn weight lifting. So Im finally going to get testing done for the multiple connective tissue disorders that we think are at play.

Absolutely and only the DS. Im 15 years post DS no regrets.

And knowing what I know now about my crazy wacked out body, the DS was the only way to go. Im where I need to be trust me your body tells you, learn to really listen to it.

While Im no dr but...

Reflux is usually because you are reacting to something you ate. Almost like an allergic reaction. (Not always the case but a usual culprit). I would never take PPI inhibitor but I have taken H2 inhibitors (zantac etc). But once I just stepped back and listened to my body about foods and what and I can cant eat, Ive minimized any reflux and just take licorice root (capsules) to keep the acid reflux down and GI tract happy. Its gotten rid of the bloating. So Im happy as can be and not pumping pharmacuticals down my throat anymore. Which some actually made things worse because Id react to fillers in the pills.

But if I want to stray from my safe foods, Ill take an extra licorice root for good measure.

Congrats Val!

Most days I forget I had surgery myself, including my own 13 year mark in Aug, lol.

Out of curiosity have you tried the antihistamines? Any luck?

I know it sounds odd but if thoes types of meds in the past have not worked try claretin, zyrtec, zyzal etc. More of the new antihistamines. They really are not antihistamines, they are receptor blockers. The same cells that have histamine release also cause anxiety and depression from improper "hormone" balances. So the antihistamines actually help block thoes hormones from affecting you by blocking the hormone receptors.

Yay wooohoo Im a DSer I can eat food and plenty of it.

Yeah till I cant....the last 4 days have been horribly frustrating for me. Ill be 12 years out on Tuesday. When your a DSer with MCAS...which carries all the same symptoms and effects as mastocytosis, just waxes and wanes and is not a constant state, lets just say it sucks.

MCAS gives me low blood sugar swings if I dont eat every couple hours. So when it also decides to give you low stomach motility, it seriously sucks. My intestines are growling but my stomach is like one bite love and its a bathroom run. Truely i have to force myself to eat some, usually with something of high acidity. Im gonna say this.... I HATE how much I have to eat in a day. I didnt eat like this pre-op. Yeah yeah calorie in calorie out can bite me at this point, thats out the window if your body is in a constant in flamed state of an autoimmune problem that whacks the starting standard hormones that set the stage for all the others we are more aware of off kilter. When the bodys reaction to food is not what it should be.

Ive been reacting to my vites lately so I am very careful with how many and much I take, yes I can react to things Ive taken and done for years. Only my Vit D holds steady.... well cause D helps in mast cell stabalization. Honestly folks learning the life of a DSer is a damn cake walk to MCAS, let alone a MCAS DSer. There has been only a small handful of studies with MCAS and WLS...all of them were band and RNY. The intricate details I have to know now, how they effect each body system and what I have to do to combat it, can be exhausting at the least. Luckily I enjoy learn such things.

So really what it comes down to Im hating food right now. Tastes great in my mouth, my stomach is telling me to go to hell, and my intestines & body are saying FEED ME.

UGH thanks for letting me rant. Im HANGRY as one can be and my body is calling me every name in the book for the last 4 days of maybe 500 calories a day. And my stomach is complaining of food being put in it.

Jim,

I know you are happy with your SADi and Im glad you are and it has worked well for you. But your still very new into yours also.

At the end of the day Its still an investigational procedure, with no real stats yet. And surgeons who get it covered by insurance are commiting fraud as they may be putting it down as multiple separate procedures, so not cool there. If self pay folks should be aware that many insurance wont cover problems from investigational procedures. Is what it is.

I do think it is a far smarter surgery than the RNY for a host of reasons. And maybe one day will replace it.

But I highly doubt it will ever surpase the true DS in results, esp thoes done with the Hess method.

Well here it is for me. I was 22 when I had my DS. Im nearly 12 years post op now.

I didnt tell anyone I was dating. To me, Ill tell you if things get really serious as the choice to have surgery was not something I took easily. Truthfully I hated to have to have it but there was no stopping my body (mine was not a food problem, mine is autoimmune). And one of the big things for me with the DS was that I could eat like a normal person, with albeit smaller portions at first.

I have now been with the same guy for 5+ years. I didnt tell him about surgery till 2 years ago. So yeah I went 3 years without a word and he couldnt tell because my food types wetent restricted beyond my own food allergies.

So it is a choice of your own how soon or how long you wait to bring it up.

Ah the ole **** yourself stories....yeah Im calling it that. Thoes people need to question what they are eating if its that bad (usually carbs).

To be honest only people Ive ever know having such bathroom problems usually were not eating right. You may have looser stool but not omg im not gonna make it to the restroom, but I hear more complain of the opposite, lol.

Im shy of 12 years post DS and I wouldnt change it for nothing. Havent had any such issues with bowel movement. I go once maybe twice a day (morning/evening).

Eating....here is today so far

2x greek yogurts, 2 string cheese sticks, handful baked cheddar and sour cream chips (I have to have some starch or bread carb in the morning my stomach gets angry otherwise....long story as to why, and its not a mental issue)

Lunch

4 chicken fingers, 1/2 cucumber sliced with ranch to dip, black olives, 2 oreo cookies. Yup just admitted to eating 2 oreos....funny I bought a 4 pack.....its called moderation. But Ive already made it to 85grams of protein for the day.

Ans dinner is always protein and veggie

I know many could get confused by or misunderstand my original post. Cause as you see to even begin going into the hell that can be MCAS is insane.

I actually allowed myself to gain back to 220 from the 207 I was because I felt better at a heavier weight. Now that I know why that was the case I am carefully working my way back down to 210. I was much happier with my physical body there but I would live with the 10lbs if it helped me feel better. Its a give and take.

Worst thing is most all of what I listed really started to appear post DS. My fat controlled it prior, thus why I could gain so easily it was my bodies coping mechinism. So in a way I did have a coping mechinism just it was driven by my body not me. And it sure never drove me to eat, food has always been nothing more than fuel for my body to me, especially when you never knew what was going to give you the 3hr stomach aches from hell from eating. That is what makes it so hard to relate to people, most no one (drs included) would believe anyone in my family that eating wasnt my issue. Drs blowing your mother off as a "first time mother" when her child is cronically colicky for 10 months, crying 13-14 hrs a day unless when being fed (no she didnt over feed me either). I put family members in tears when they would try to baby sit to give my parents a little break cause I didnt stop crying. My parents were afraid for years to even think about another kid. My sisters are affected a bit different than me (not as severe thank god) but they are starting to show more issues than before and I fear for my nieces as its hereditary. Or a crazy thing when I had my DS, my surgeon was floored that 99% of my fat was skin deep. My abdominal wall was more that of a "normal" person I didnt have the fat around the organs like many do. I was litterally in a fat suit. I didnt need a full tummy tuck, just skin removal. My abdominal wall wasnt stretched. *sigh* to get into all the off the wall things my body does.

So yes it can make me hot under the collar when people "blow it off" like Im lying about my eating and how I got fat. So I do my best to understand that things have been so engrained by society and doctors as to why things happen like its a for sure thing. Medicine is a practice, that constantly is evolving. And there will be cases that dont fit the standard molds.