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Thank you for the Response! yea my cpap mask is full face around the nose and mouth it is the airfit f20 to be exact. i have the F30 as well but that one i have to take back cuz it causes me a ton of problems the corners of my nose got all messed up the 2 times ive used it and hurt my nostrils. and just as the other one gave me REALLY dry mouth.
I know the pain first started when i had that little bit of hamburger. witch i ate at the beginning of week 3 and im beginning to think it was way to soon. i looked at my paper and i might have miss understood its recommendations it says its acceptable during weeks 3-6 but i wasn't sure if that ment after 3 weeks or the start of week 3.
I had really bad lactose intolerance prior. cheese never really affected me much some yogurt greek not so much but the others usually did. and milk the more milk fat in it the worse it was for me.
Im not sure if the heaving might have pulled something slightly earlier and then yesterday i was walking my dog and she pulled pretty hard when i was holding the leash on the left side. and im not sure if something was pulled again or more or whatever. I had very little pain most of last week i even stopped taking my pain medicine for almost a week. now when i try to take it it makes me SUPER nauseous. I tried to call my surgeons office today and sadly they closed early today so i wasn't able to get in with them my PCP is out on some kinda vacation she takes more vacations then any one i know so i might have to wait till Monday. I don't trust the ER here in my town to do anything so i wont go threre unless there's blood or something happening.
the incisions are all healing nicely. Had the mrs feel them to see if they were hot. The big one felt a little warm to me but then again my hands are cold. She said they all felt fine not hot just the same temp as my belly. We also took my temp and its at 96.3 so im not running a fever thankfully. Sadly right now it hurts to lean forward it hurts to stand up and stretch it out, or leaning to the side to far. i don't really understand. if it progresses way worse i might have to head to reno and go to the hospital there. cuz i wont here. they will probably kill me haha only slightly joking
as the water i dunno you might be right i might not be getting enough water thru the day even though it feels like its all i do. I am not sure if its cuz of my dry mouth woke up this morning and it was crazy dry twice. but everything all waters propel everything has tasted ick to me. and my mouth feels like ti has a film on it. Bought some biotene mouth wash small bottle to see if it will help a little bit. will diffidently bring it up to my doctor and will probly be seeing him before my next scheduled apt. with is the 27th with surgeons office and 25th for my PCP
on a side note I might have tried something else i should have had. i cut up a mushroom and put it in the toaster oven sprinkled with a little bit of garlic salt. ended up tossing half of it cuz i felt full. its a little uncomfortable but not like it was with the stuffed pepper bite. i think i just need to cut it out and go back to my liquid **** for a couple weeks and stop trying to push ahead.
Thanks again for all the advice and everything it has really made me stop and think about whats going on. and re affirmed my need to call the hospital right away Monday morning. i know its not what i should be doing but the pain is there with every step if my tummy isnt supported and it caused me to not go for my walk with the dogs this afternoon. But i did go to the Walmart with the MRs for house stuff and got almost the same amount of steps in just slightly less.
the cost for me was one of the biggest reasons that i didn't have it done many years ago. back when i was only 350-385 or something like that. Sadly i ended up going to the ER in june-ish and got an ambulance ride 2 hrs away to a better hospital where i spent 2 nights getting tested to make sure i didn t have a heart attack or anything else. that weekend alone ended up taking all my co pay and out of pocket and just shoved it in my face. since then the rest of the year has been 100% covered from the insurance. If that hospital trip would not have happened id still be sitting here 465 lbs wondering when my heart will give out. If my out of pocket wasn't met the surgery was about 17k here. witch was very discouraging. I understand living remote in alaska i know there is cities and everything up there but most o fhte state is pretty remote the town i live in is 2hrs + from anything else and the hospital here takes advantage of that to the Nth degree health care here is expensive as all get out and half our doc are not competent in the field they are fulfilling.
It also sounds like your insurance is .. sorry for the language... pretty ****ty. hopefully your not paying too much for it. Does your state have a state wide insurance or anything? Like here in Nevada we have the Nevada health link depending on your income you can qualify for different plans at different prices. some cover more then others of course. and there are a ton of hoops to jump thru when it comes to qualifying thru government insurance but might give you the ability to look into this a bit more seriously. just a thought. I know how discouraging it is to be in that situation. Hopefully you can find something that allows you to do this for your health and your family and the betterment of your life in the long term! GL AlaskaLass ill be rooting for you!
Six months?! Was your surgery open or laparoscopic? My wounds were basically healed in a few weeks.
To answer the OP's question, I wasn't told to put anything on my wounds.
I will look into it, but I barely make enough to pay bills, so even that would take quite a while. I appreciate your help!!
My insurance (through a hospital no less) will cover 50% even after my out of pocket maximum is met. And since I'm in Alaska our healthcare expenses are outrageous. Just the surgeon fee is $12,000. I'm getting discouraged even thinking about it.
It's been a long time since I lived in the U.S. so I'm not up-to-date with the tax situation, but you may find that your medical expense deduction helps significantly.
Also, there used to be some sort of arrangement where you could make pre-tax contributions to a medical fund, which you would have to use during the calendar year or lose it. If that's still a thing, it could be a big help depending on your tax bracket.
I can't speak for others, but my insurance covered a lot more than that. I think my "out of pocket" limit is something like $5000 (after that, insurance picks up everything). I reached my limit before I even had surgery (because of all the pre-op testing: blood tests, sleep study, stress test, etc)
Ah yes, the famous "week three stall". It's perfectly normal and happens to most WLS patients; you're not doing anything wrong. You will start losing weight again soon.
you're having your three-week stall a week early. Mine was weeks 2 & 3. It broke during week 4 and I dropped like 6-8 lbs practically overnight. Just stick to your surgeon's plan and the stall will eventually break. It usually lasts a week or two - although one of the members on here had hers last for three weeks. Yikes!
but don't worry - this happens to almost everyone. It'll break - just stay the course.
I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad I asked. Personally, I think you should call your surgeon's office, and make a fuss if they don't take you seriously. That's not meant to alarm you; I suspect whatever is going wrong can easily be fixed with the right treatment. Make a list and tell them about all your symptoms: the dry mouth, the pain in the side, the nausea, the vomiting, etc. And if they don't help, contact your primary care physician. I would insist on having someone examine you, if only to put your mind at ease.
I see you're 18 days post-op. At this point the only pain I would expect you to feel would be if you eat something you're not ready for, and even that should normally go away in an hour or two. You should be able to move freely, but you will probably get tired very easily.
The pain in your side concerns me. An occasional twinge might be normal, but what you describe makes me wonder if you have an infection (which could also explain the nausea). Have you checked to see if you have a fever? Are your incisions warm? Your incisions should be closed up and no longer reddish.
You say you drink and drink and drink. Maybe you're drinking often, but are you drinking enough? At this point you should be able to get a full 64 oz of fluid. If not, you may be dehydrated, which could explain the dry mouth and the nausea. If that's the problem, an IV will make you feel a lot better very quickly.
Incidentally, about the cheese and yoghurt: some people develop lactose intolerance, or have it worsen, after WLS. I'm not suggesting that's happening to you, but you might try avoiding dairy completely for a day or two to see if you feel better.
If your CPAP mask only covers your nose, or if it slips, you might be breathing through your mouth. That happens to me sometimes, and gives me a dry mouth and throat, but it only lasts perhaps 15 minutes. (You might need a new mask, or to adjust your current one.) If you have a dry mouth all day, that is unusual!
There are mouthwashes and oral gels that can help with the dry mouth, but I think you need to find out what's causing it first. Otherwise you might just be masking the symptoms.
I hope you feel better soon, and start to enjoy your brand new life.
