POSTED UNDER Gastric Bypass REVIEWS
This Journey in All Its Glory
ORIGINAL POST
This Journey in All Its Glory
Buffalove214March 17, 2023
3/9/2023-had barium test for acid reflux showing acid was coming up to at least my collarbone, X-ray position could not show if a secondary esophageal hernia was or was not detected, but I do have small 2-3cm hiatal hernia.
Followed up with meeting surgeon who dropped the bomb on me that at my weight 24l lbs 5’7 that I had a BMI of 37 and was too heavy to perform the hernia repair on. He advised that the risk for reoccurrence of hernia and more severe consequences resulting in a more difficult repair were very high
He advised that at this weight that relief would be gained by performing a gastric bypass and hernia repair to bypass the gastric juices to relieve the acid reflux. Needless to say I was shocked, my weight holding me back from hernia repair had not occurred to me at all. I was mainly focused on sleeping upright since my first upper endoscopy on new years eve in order to heal some of the esophagitis in my throat that would make a surgeon willing to perform surgery.
So really I left that appointment without making a decision and was told in the meantime to make another endoscopy appointment to prove I had healing without taking the PIPs(I am looking for a root cause fix not a band aid, and digestion is IMPORTANT to health)
Some background: I have been eating to heal my metabolism since Jan 2022, more so getting super strict at the end of summer 2022 to current. That means grain free, preservative free, organic Whole Foods(think paleo or how our great and great great grandparents ate) low sugar and really just using maple syrup or honey to sweeten when needed. I make my own sourdough bread, we source organic raw milk biweekly. No seed oils, good fats only.
I am not sitting there eating this processed garbage big food is producing to poison us day in and day out. The standard American diet is a lie, it’s what’s killing us, period! And alas I just can’t get any weight off, my highest weight was 253.99 in 12/2020 when I had my last child. Since then my body seems to want to sit around 240.
I also have hypothyroidism which makes losing weight and having any energy AWFUL so I really have no physical activity in my life. I only recently started gaining energy to do some walking on my treadmill. Which duh I understand how that would make losing weight difficult too!
That night I messaged my surgeon on the patient portal and advised him I would temporarily take the pips to heal my throat and opted for the gastric bypass. Dr Posner is a salt of the earth, tell it like it is man. I appreciate the no none sense approach, that’s how I like my people. So as uncomfortable or shocked I was at the first appointment I had all the facts laid before me, they all made perfect sense and I understood.
3/15/2023 Dr Posners office called and advised they would be sending me information about the weight loss clinic, they sent me and email with some first steps such as a seminar to attend and an application to fill out.
3/16/2023 I attended a 2 hour seminar on weight loss surgery which was actually presented by Dr. Posner which was a pleasant surprise. He went over pretty much everything you would find on the internet about the different procedures. The risks, benefits & process. Because I wasn’t seeking weight loss surgery I feel like I am in a good position to be successful, it was stressed that the work you put in is what you will get. I am already eating in a manner that supports all the requirements to maintain the results of surgery afterwards.
Have I been a food junkie heck yeah I have been for most of my life, at just like everyone else , ate like garbage before I became informed and had a son with autism whos symptoms are greatly greatly greatly affected by food(it’s amazing and has gave him so many opportunities!!).
Reading a lot in these reviews where people are trying to cheat this process by eating like trash afterwards, it’s really a mental game. Going from eating processed garbage to then eating nutrient dense is a 180 and I don’t think a lot who have this surgery realize that with all seriousness. Especially the whole not smoking thing, this was stressed numerous times throughout our seminar yet people still had the audacity to ask if vaping counted. Uh YEA!
Sorry it works me up so see the lackadaisical Attitudes to these very serious life upturning procedures. I literally have to do this if I want to avoid throat cancer and live.
I digress…
At the seminar we were able to make our initial appointments, they will be about 2 hours with the nurse practitioner and the nutritionist. This should be very interesting because I disagree with a lot of what standard/conventional nutrition suggests. Eating whole grains, how bout no grains. Like these protein drinks and it’s okay to have all these chemical elixirs during this program shock me but I guess it really doesn’t shock me because that is how we are taught in school how to eat. The food pyramid is completely ridiculous. Vilifying animal proteins is nuts to me….I digress again.
I am hoping they will count my first appointment as my begin date, from my understanding it’s a 6 month program. What wiggle room will depend on insurance and be on an individual basis based on your progress.
That would be amazing if that were my case and if not that’s okay too, I GOT THIS either way. We were told we would need to lose 5% of our body weight, which is only 12lbs and since my first surgeon appointment I left that place and got super strict switched over to protein shake in the morning and have already lost over 5 lbs in a week. I started my period as well so I assume it would have been a tiny bit higher.
I really wish there was a faster fix to GERD, it has made my life hell for 3 years I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
Anyways, we were advised to purchase the south beach diet book as that is the nutritional program that is followed at the clinic, I ordered my copy off Amazon should be here tomorrow. I have done keto previously without working out and got down to 189 about in 2018, it was a lot of work and energy and at the end of it I think I was starving my body of nutrition, it also depends on how my thyroid is functioning so at that time apparently well. I crept up to 210 by 2019, I also had a tumor removal surgery at that time. I then became pregnant right as Covid hit the US so March 2020 and gained weight until my highest weight.
Followed up with meeting surgeon who dropped the bomb on me that at my weight 24l lbs 5’7 that I had a BMI of 37 and was too heavy to perform the hernia repair on. He advised that the risk for reoccurrence of hernia and more severe consequences resulting in a more difficult repair were very high
He advised that at this weight that relief would be gained by performing a gastric bypass and hernia repair to bypass the gastric juices to relieve the acid reflux. Needless to say I was shocked, my weight holding me back from hernia repair had not occurred to me at all. I was mainly focused on sleeping upright since my first upper endoscopy on new years eve in order to heal some of the esophagitis in my throat that would make a surgeon willing to perform surgery.
So really I left that appointment without making a decision and was told in the meantime to make another endoscopy appointment to prove I had healing without taking the PIPs(I am looking for a root cause fix not a band aid, and digestion is IMPORTANT to health)
Some background: I have been eating to heal my metabolism since Jan 2022, more so getting super strict at the end of summer 2022 to current. That means grain free, preservative free, organic Whole Foods(think paleo or how our great and great great grandparents ate) low sugar and really just using maple syrup or honey to sweeten when needed. I make my own sourdough bread, we source organic raw milk biweekly. No seed oils, good fats only.
I am not sitting there eating this processed garbage big food is producing to poison us day in and day out. The standard American diet is a lie, it’s what’s killing us, period! And alas I just can’t get any weight off, my highest weight was 253.99 in 12/2020 when I had my last child. Since then my body seems to want to sit around 240.
I also have hypothyroidism which makes losing weight and having any energy AWFUL so I really have no physical activity in my life. I only recently started gaining energy to do some walking on my treadmill. Which duh I understand how that would make losing weight difficult too!
That night I messaged my surgeon on the patient portal and advised him I would temporarily take the pips to heal my throat and opted for the gastric bypass. Dr Posner is a salt of the earth, tell it like it is man. I appreciate the no none sense approach, that’s how I like my people. So as uncomfortable or shocked I was at the first appointment I had all the facts laid before me, they all made perfect sense and I understood.
3/15/2023 Dr Posners office called and advised they would be sending me information about the weight loss clinic, they sent me and email with some first steps such as a seminar to attend and an application to fill out.
3/16/2023 I attended a 2 hour seminar on weight loss surgery which was actually presented by Dr. Posner which was a pleasant surprise. He went over pretty much everything you would find on the internet about the different procedures. The risks, benefits & process. Because I wasn’t seeking weight loss surgery I feel like I am in a good position to be successful, it was stressed that the work you put in is what you will get. I am already eating in a manner that supports all the requirements to maintain the results of surgery afterwards.
Have I been a food junkie heck yeah I have been for most of my life, at just like everyone else , ate like garbage before I became informed and had a son with autism whos symptoms are greatly greatly greatly affected by food(it’s amazing and has gave him so many opportunities!!).
Reading a lot in these reviews where people are trying to cheat this process by eating like trash afterwards, it’s really a mental game. Going from eating processed garbage to then eating nutrient dense is a 180 and I don’t think a lot who have this surgery realize that with all seriousness. Especially the whole not smoking thing, this was stressed numerous times throughout our seminar yet people still had the audacity to ask if vaping counted. Uh YEA!
Sorry it works me up so see the lackadaisical Attitudes to these very serious life upturning procedures. I literally have to do this if I want to avoid throat cancer and live.
I digress…
At the seminar we were able to make our initial appointments, they will be about 2 hours with the nurse practitioner and the nutritionist. This should be very interesting because I disagree with a lot of what standard/conventional nutrition suggests. Eating whole grains, how bout no grains. Like these protein drinks and it’s okay to have all these chemical elixirs during this program shock me but I guess it really doesn’t shock me because that is how we are taught in school how to eat. The food pyramid is completely ridiculous. Vilifying animal proteins is nuts to me….I digress again.
I am hoping they will count my first appointment as my begin date, from my understanding it’s a 6 month program. What wiggle room will depend on insurance and be on an individual basis based on your progress.
That would be amazing if that were my case and if not that’s okay too, I GOT THIS either way. We were told we would need to lose 5% of our body weight, which is only 12lbs and since my first surgeon appointment I left that place and got super strict switched over to protein shake in the morning and have already lost over 5 lbs in a week. I started my period as well so I assume it would have been a tiny bit higher.
I really wish there was a faster fix to GERD, it has made my life hell for 3 years I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
Anyways, we were advised to purchase the south beach diet book as that is the nutritional program that is followed at the clinic, I ordered my copy off Amazon should be here tomorrow. I have done keto previously without working out and got down to 189 about in 2018, it was a lot of work and energy and at the end of it I think I was starving my body of nutrition, it also depends on how my thyroid is functioning so at that time apparently well. I crept up to 210 by 2019, I also had a tumor removal surgery at that time. I then became pregnant right as Covid hit the US so March 2020 and gained weight until my highest weight.
UPDATED FROM Buffalove214
1st Bariatric Clinic appt
Buffalove214March 24, 2023
3/23/2023
I had my appointment with the Bariatric Nurse Practitioner and welcome speil. The nutritionist was not in so he will be calling me today or Monday. I got my food log sheets, welcome packet and information sheets. My weight was 233lbs, when I was there for my consult with the surgeon I was 241lbs that was two weeks prior, so the NP agreed to use that weight as my start and since the program requires us to lose 5% of our body weight, I only have 4 more pounds to go.
Unfortunately my insurance is Fidelis and they require 6 months in a program so that is a pain but it’s fine because I found out my TSH is way too high for surgery. It’s a 12.65 and my primary refuses to raise my Levothyroxine dose or try anything else, they state my T4 is in range and that’s all they care about. They were d*cks about it and gaslighting me when I said my TSH was elevated. So buy-bye.
So needless to say without their help I had to schedule an endocrinologist appointment and I found a new primary. Thankfully I am able to see them both on the same day in about 2 weeks. I have 6 months to get my TSH sorted out or surgery is a no go. There is no way insurance would approve with the thyroid issue.
It’s a very great chance that is why I have held onto all this weight despite having my eating in order. Also not working out cause I have NEGATIVE energy, it’s sucks I don’t even know how I have been managing with life with 5 kids at this rate.
Other than that I had already had blood work done previously that they are using, I had 2 upper endoscopes already, did the barium testing as a result of my reflux & hernia.
So what’s left for me is:
Sleep study(which is done for all)
Psych evaluation
Get TSH under control
I also did the H Pylori breath test at the appointment, waiting on those results.
Other than that I have met all the requirements, I am worried about losing more weight and throwing my BMI lower than 35 since I’m already at 36.something right now but the NP said they would submit the initial weight and BMI but I think I will work more on resistance and strength training to keep my weight steady, I have 6 months to lose 4lbs and I already lost 8 in 2 weeks so….that seems like that may be tough.
What else? Oh so they have paper food logs or the MyNetDiary app that they can hook up to for your logs. I have to provide daily food and exercise logs. I am finding the app difficult as I make about 85-90% of my foods from scratch so I feel like I am just picking things close enough which is not going to reflect the correct nutrition facts and then I would get coaching based on incorrect information. I may just do the paper logs as annoying as that will be. It’s actually really weird to log things I feel like it’s creating an unhealthy obsession with my food which I have since freed myself from awhile ago. So that is a negative but it’s required and I get it. I am just eating what I would normally eat and logging and not stressing about hitting a calorie goal or macros. That is the point of all this right? To create a healthy relationship with food not further an obsessive eating disorder. Lord help me. Food is to fuel your body.
Stats:
HW:254
SW:241
CW:233
I was doing research on how to lower my TSH in the meantime and realized I probably prevent absorption of it by taking it with my other supplements one being dedicated liver which contains iron. So I read about taking your levo when you wake up in the middle of the night to pee to allow ample time for absorption before eating or other pills so hopefully this will help while waiting on the endo appt. I assume she will do a better job than my shotty PCP.
I have my next appointment in a month after I return from South Carolina, will update then.
I had my appointment with the Bariatric Nurse Practitioner and welcome speil. The nutritionist was not in so he will be calling me today or Monday. I got my food log sheets, welcome packet and information sheets. My weight was 233lbs, when I was there for my consult with the surgeon I was 241lbs that was two weeks prior, so the NP agreed to use that weight as my start and since the program requires us to lose 5% of our body weight, I only have 4 more pounds to go.
Unfortunately my insurance is Fidelis and they require 6 months in a program so that is a pain but it’s fine because I found out my TSH is way too high for surgery. It’s a 12.65 and my primary refuses to raise my Levothyroxine dose or try anything else, they state my T4 is in range and that’s all they care about. They were d*cks about it and gaslighting me when I said my TSH was elevated. So buy-bye.
So needless to say without their help I had to schedule an endocrinologist appointment and I found a new primary. Thankfully I am able to see them both on the same day in about 2 weeks. I have 6 months to get my TSH sorted out or surgery is a no go. There is no way insurance would approve with the thyroid issue.
It’s a very great chance that is why I have held onto all this weight despite having my eating in order. Also not working out cause I have NEGATIVE energy, it’s sucks I don’t even know how I have been managing with life with 5 kids at this rate.
Other than that I had already had blood work done previously that they are using, I had 2 upper endoscopes already, did the barium testing as a result of my reflux & hernia.
So what’s left for me is:
Sleep study(which is done for all)
Psych evaluation
Get TSH under control
I also did the H Pylori breath test at the appointment, waiting on those results.
Other than that I have met all the requirements, I am worried about losing more weight and throwing my BMI lower than 35 since I’m already at 36.something right now but the NP said they would submit the initial weight and BMI but I think I will work more on resistance and strength training to keep my weight steady, I have 6 months to lose 4lbs and I already lost 8 in 2 weeks so….that seems like that may be tough.
What else? Oh so they have paper food logs or the MyNetDiary app that they can hook up to for your logs. I have to provide daily food and exercise logs. I am finding the app difficult as I make about 85-90% of my foods from scratch so I feel like I am just picking things close enough which is not going to reflect the correct nutrition facts and then I would get coaching based on incorrect information. I may just do the paper logs as annoying as that will be. It’s actually really weird to log things I feel like it’s creating an unhealthy obsession with my food which I have since freed myself from awhile ago. So that is a negative but it’s required and I get it. I am just eating what I would normally eat and logging and not stressing about hitting a calorie goal or macros. That is the point of all this right? To create a healthy relationship with food not further an obsessive eating disorder. Lord help me. Food is to fuel your body.
Stats:
HW:254
SW:241
CW:233
I was doing research on how to lower my TSH in the meantime and realized I probably prevent absorption of it by taking it with my other supplements one being dedicated liver which contains iron. So I read about taking your levo when you wake up in the middle of the night to pee to allow ample time for absorption before eating or other pills so hopefully this will help while waiting on the endo appt. I assume she will do a better job than my shotty PCP.
I have my next appointment in a month after I return from South Carolina, will update then.
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UPDATED FROM Buffalove214
…P.S.
Buffalove214March 24, 2023
My program goes by The South Beach Diet, we are required to read it and apply it to our eating. Now lemme tell you this book was originally written 20 years ago! While it does contain good basics and sciences behind why these things occur it on the other hand vilified meats but advised canola oil and I can’t believe it’s not butter is healthy. Soooo along with that book I also order their SBD Keto version which was written in 2018 and literally walks back all the wrongful claims they made in the original. It’s not keto like super low carbs it’s mostly prioritizing breaking insulin resistance which I agree with so if you are looking for a book I would go with the South Beach Diet Keto version. I personally feel better with lower carbs and not only lower but complex carbs, that will fuel you. I don’t know if lower carb is especially helpful for my thyroid but I do feel better on the lower range 40-60ish. Might be able to amp up depending on food choices.
I do not do well with tradition keto or atkins low low carb that is when eating becomes obsessive, detrimental and draining. Right now the phase one is don’t eat potatoes, rice or bread and watch sugar. It’s a really good book and very nice at explaining how and why we are insulin resistant and how the standard American diet is not accurate for health. Almost forgot to comment on this portion of the program.
I do not do well with tradition keto or atkins low low carb that is when eating becomes obsessive, detrimental and draining. Right now the phase one is don’t eat potatoes, rice or bread and watch sugar. It’s a really good book and very nice at explaining how and why we are insulin resistant and how the standard American diet is not accurate for health. Almost forgot to comment on this portion of the program.
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