New girl in town

You can't step in the same river twice...

Let me welcome myself to the RNY Board - I started my 6 month pre-op at my heaviest which was 366 in 2007. I got my lap-band on 3-5-2008 and have had no complication, but did have my gallbladder out in 2009 by the same surgeon (but it had been giving me issues for years I just didn't know that it was my gallbladder that was the problem). My lowest adult weight was in late 2008 when I was 240. I am back at 311 and have since had my first and so far only child who is now a year and a half old. When I first had WLS I was on 1000mg metformin per day and I believe my a1c was around 7, I was on quite a bit of medication for my HTN, and for my high cholesterol. I have since run into some new medical issues since having my daughter - I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia - I have daily joint pain, stiffness, tenderness of various spots on my body I never had before - I used to do 30 minutes of pilates and 15 minutes of elipitical before I have birth, now I can do neither due to the pain. I was having daily migraines 18 months ago, but am down to 2-4 a week, but also have status migranosis where I get stuck in migraine cycles that have lasted up to 22 days. Lastly, I have been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in my lower back and in my neck which I have received facet injections for and have started rhizotomy processes for. I take daily medication for all that jazz plus I have Bipolar Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, both of which are very well controlled. I also have sleep hypopnia which means I don't quite stop breathing, but I might as well, but I have a CPAP machine, but I think my psych meds mess with my head (more then they are supposed to as I always wake up without the mask on...)

Soooooo. Hi *waves* I am 31 years old and happily married and all that fun stuff and I have my daughter and my pets and I work part time and go to school full time and I never got that memo that I should hate my body because I'm fat because I think I'm bleepin' hot. *EDIT* I am back on 500mg metformin, but me and my PCP are aggressive on my medical stuff - my a1c is 6.1, I am back on HTN and cholesterol meds too but very low dose. My bad cholesterol is 103 and my HTN has been around 133/70ish?. *END EDIT* Despite all of that I am looking into a revision. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I want to teach my daughter good eating habits early and how to not always have to celebrate everything with food (**coughcough likemymom coughcough**) or punish yourself by not eating (**coughcough likemydad coughcough**) both of which are things I do. I started last week with a NUT as well and I like her - she is honest and realistic - just like my surgeon. I don't eat horrible now, just bad enough to maintain where I am, bad enough to have gotten me here. I know my issues - portion control - carb to protein ration - boredom eater - two meal a day eater - late night eater. Now for the hard part - getting back into the good patterns that had me losing... Right now I am trying to get in 100+g protein per day 100-g carbs per day and 1200-1500 calories per day and I have to say I have been more like 1500-1700 and it has been busting my ass.

I'm still at 50 pounds weight loss with the lap-band and I don't regret my decision. Even when it's gone it won't be my crap band. I took a long freaking time to make that decision and wasn't made lightly. It was a part of my journey and to dismiss it would be to dismiss part of me. I spoke to my surgeon who did my lap-band last week and we decided that revision would be the best choice for me (over the VSG). I spent a great deal of time looking into the VSG and the DS. I made this decision no more lightly than the last. I am considering this yet another step in my journey. (Wow, that last paragraph was way defenisve, sorry, the lap-band gets a lot of bullying I guess, lol).

Say hi and tell me one thing you could have/would have/should have done pre-op that would have made your life easier post-op.

I don't regret anything but I wish I would of been more clear on the no NSAID's with the bypass verses the sleeve. I to have fibro and have severe arthritis in my left leg from a injury. Now after the bypass I can't take my meloxicam which was my savior before surgery and my pcp won't give me anything to help the pain. I live in MI and it's been super cold here and I have not been able to get out from under the heated blanket and heating pad to do anything some days. I talked to my pcp about this and her answer was stay in when it's cold (she was the one who sent me for WLS). I am afraid since I am not as active that I won't lose like I would if I could move more. I guess what I am trying to say is make sure your pcp is willing to help manage the pain from the fibro before deciding. I also have bipolar disorder and get your point on those things first hand

I can't take NSAIDs as is with the band. My Lyrica helps a lot with the fibro - along with benefits from Cymbalta. I get Vicodin from my pain management place for break through prain for my back/neck/migraines/fibro simply because of the fact that I haven't responded to first line pain meds (tylenol baiscally) and second line (NSAIDS - cant take). I was on 5mg for quite a while, but will admit that my tolerance has moved up to 7.5mg especially since I had the pne extended migraine cycle. I hope once I start losing some weight and get my migraine more under control I can at least get back to using my eliptical. And yes, I live under a heating pad too. *fist bump* pain buddies 4 eva. But see if pain management can help you out. My PCP told me that worst case scenario I could always....bleh....squeeze aleeve gel capsules and drink them.

I am totally glad I seen your post. I can't take cymbalta it makes me super sick. As of right now I am not taken anything and this gives me another avenue to check into. Before I moved to MI I had shots in my knee and foot two weeks on two weeks off and had pain meds for the winter which is the only time I use them.