Re: about the FM and Bypass/or anyone with advice

[Guest guest]

Hi Jan,

I had some symptoms before my Gastric Roux en Y, but had not been

diagnosed until recently. The FM hs just progressed on its own. I am

working with my doctors to find a treatment plan. Luckily there are

liquid pain medications and pain patches that can be prescribed so I

did not have trouble with the small size of the pouch. I was 299.5 at

my highest weight. I am only 5'3 " so I was a great strain on my body.

I was on oral Diabetes medications plus 2 kinds of injected insulin.

My doctor projected that my pancreas was failing and my liver would

be next. Within days of the surgery I was off all my diabetes meds, I

no longer have high cholesterol or triglycerides. I have lost 75

pounds in 3 1/2 months. I feel this surgery has saved my life. I am a

very rare case from what I have been told from my surgeon. I followed

all diet instructions to the T. I was so scared of dumping syndrome.

I have not had any real problems other than occasional nausea

depending on whether my pouch would tolerate certain foods. No

vomiting or other problems though. I really can not say whether the

dramatic weight loss has worsened my FM. I can only say that without

a second thought I would do it again. My FM pain has increased over

the last 6 months, but it started increasing before surgery.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Saundra :-)

>

> > Hi Saundra,

> > My name is Jan and i'm new here but I'm very curious about

the By

> > pass surgery as I've been recoomended to have for many health

reasons.

> > One is the FM. Did you have the FM before or after?

>

> Hi Jan. I'm not Saundra but what the heck. ;D For background,

I'm

> 57, 4'11.5 " short. At age 9, I weighed 95 lbs. At age 11, I

weighed

> 125. 8 months later, I weighed 150, start of 7th grade. Life as

an

> overweight teenager was hell. I became morbidly obese in my early

> 20's, and except for four miserable years in Overeaters Anonymous

> between 1978 and 1982, I've been super morbidly obese my entire

adult

> life. In 1998, I deliberately stopped dieting, at 333 lbs (BMI of

> 63) and started paying attention to and satisfying food cravings,

and

> my weight stablized and gradually decreased 50 lbs over the next 7

> years until my weight loss surgery. I had a Duodenal Switch. You

> can see diagrams of this surgery (and others) at www.asbs.org,

which

> is the American Bariatric Surgery web site.

>

> I've had FM, or what I used to call " all-over pain " , since I was a

> little girl. I was hospitalized for a week in 1961 while they

failed

> to figure out the cause. It only got a name about 8 years ago.

Same

> pain, just has a name now.

>

>

> > I have

> > these " lumps " on my arms legs and some on my stomach. They all

hurt.

> > Some are big like a golf ball some are just tiny BB's. These are

what

> > really hurt the most. I was told some are fat deposits. Others

are my

> > muscles all bunched up. Either way only I can touch them. I guess

what

> > I want to know is do you have anything like that?

>

> I had, and still have, lots of lumpy fat. Only now it's lumpy

skin. ;D

>

> > If so did they start

> > to go away after the By pass? This is what I've been counting on.

>

> Huge globs of lumpy fat have been replaced with a lot of hanging

> skin. What has happened is that it's a heck of a lot easier to

tell

> what's going on 130 lbs down from my surgery weight, and 180 lbs

less

> than my peak weight in 1998. My docs are ecstatic. It's so much

> easier to see and feel, and when I get osteopathic manipulation,

it's

> so much easier for my doc to treat me. She can do things that she

> couldn't when I was so heavy. Add to that, I no longer have high

> blood pressure, my cholesterol is dead normal, and my Type II

> diabetes - my blood sugar hopped around for two days after

surgery,

> then went to dead normal and stayed there. My last HA1C was 4.5.

I

> was able to get both knees replace, and a great deal of increased

> mobility, plus I shed a whole lot of pain from my seriously

> degenerated knee joints. I worked hard on the rehab from the

knees,

> and have been more active, so a lot of the pain of unused muscles,

> and structural problems like back pain have largely disappeared.

I

> still have arthritis and am currently trying a generic form of

> Voltaren because of the cost, instead of brand name Celebrex. So

far

> it's not working very well and a lot of arthritis pain has come

back.

>

> About 2 years out from August 2005 surgery, I told my doc that I

was,

> in the back of my mind, a little disappointed that losing the

weight

> didn't seem to have much of an impact on the fibromyalgia pain.

She

> said that Fibro is not connected with weight, and that weight loss

> wouldn't really help it.

>

> What the weight loss has done is helped me to clear out the

> treatable, correctable sources of pain from my life. Increased

> strength and activity, as well as less weight to move around, had

> decreased the incidence of casual injuries and muscle strain. My

> back, legs, and arms are much stronger from exercise, and I no

longer

> injure myself just getting in and out of the car, or doing

household

> tasks. That leaves the fibro pain, which is bad in itself, but is

a

> lot easier to tolerate without the knee pain, back pain, and

frequent

> weight-related injuries.

>

>

> > My whole house hold is not on a regular schedule like the

> > Cleavers seemed to be.

>

> What!?! You don't wear pearls and high heels and an immaculate

> shirtwaist dress to vacuum??! Shocking! ;D ;D

>

> > And for anyone else that has had the By pass or similar. How

the

> > heck did you lose the 10% required to have the surgery. I'm

having an

> > awful time.

>

> This is one of the stupidest things that the insurance companies

have

> ever thought up to plague patients. If we could *lose* the

daggone

> weight we wouldn't be looking at weight loss surgery for pete's

> sake!!!!! I was working with an excellent surgeon in Northern

> Virginia, Dr. Elariny, and they encouraged me to lose some weight

> before the surgery. Actually, he wouldn't do the complete duodenal

> switch in one surgery on me because of my high BMI. I went on

South

> Beach and gained 10 lbs. :-/

>

> My insurance did not cover weight loss surgery, so I was self-pay.

I

> could have sprung for one surgery, but two was beyond my means. I

> took my life in my hands and went to a surgeon in Brazil. He's

U.S.

> board-certified, and a world leader in the kind of surgery I had.

I

> went alone, had the surgery in a hospital that puts US hospitals

to

> shame, recovered in an efficiency-type apartment in a hotel, had

> world-class care, was fortunate to have no complications, came

home,

> and recovered well. I have not reached an arbitrary goal; my

weight

> stablized at about 23 lbs over a " normal " weight, but I am wildly

> happy with my weight loss and with its apparent stability.

>

> > It's sink or swim!

>

> Speaking of swimming, can you get more active? Even sitting in a

> chair doing arm and leg lifts would help you. If you can get to a

> pool, walking in a pool and moving your arms is a safe way to

> exercise when you're super morbidly obese, and may also help your

> fibro pain. Any strength and muscle tone, as well as lung

capacity

> you can build before surgery will help you.

>

> > I want to lose weight, I really hate the way

> > I am but I just can't seem to shut my mouth. Any ideas short of

wiring

> > my mouth shut? Or am I really not wanting this bad enough.

>

> It is practically impossible for those of us who are super

morbidly

> obese to lose weight. Diets have a 95% failure rate.

>

> You may be able to get the 35 lb requirement waived by assembling

a

> weight loss history. Make a spreadsheet, and list the year, diet,

> starting weight, amount lost, amount regained, and any comments.

If

> you can, get a letter from your PCP and any other doctors you go

to

> (orthopedic, whatever), supporting you, that you need the surgery

> regardless of whether you can lose 35 lbs.

>

> Another thing, DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!! Make sure your surgeon is

board-

> certified (www.asbs.org), and experienced in the kind of surgery

you

> get. Also, you should do some research on different kinds of

> surgery, comparisons between them, what life is like afterwards,

how

> much you can expect to lose, and the chances of regain. Gastric

> Bypass (or RNY) is the most commonly performed surgery for weight

> loss. I looked at it but there were things I didn't like, and

things

> I didn't think I could live with. I chose the Duodenal Switch,

which

> is sometimes considered more drastic than the Gastric Bypass. In

my

> opinion, it isn't. For research, I started with www.nih.gov, and

> www.asbs.org. There are sites like www.obesityhelp.com. See if

your

> surgeon has a web site, and better yet, a support group. Talk to

> people who have had your surgery, join internet support groups.

Make

> sure that you can adjust your eating afterwards to what your

surgery

> requires, and that you can afford post-op followup and

> supplementation. Remember that weight loss surgery isn't brain

> surgery. It is possible to sabotage even the most effective

surgery

> and regain weight. It is simply a tool that can help you lose

weight

> and maintain the weight loss.

>

> But keep in mind that *ANY* weight loss surgery will demand life-

long

> compliance with post-op requirements. Gastric Bypass has its own

set

> of rules; others can speak to that. Duodenal switch, the rules

are

> simple: protein first, sufficient fluids, supplementation, and

> periodic followup lab work and care. For life, which will

probably

> be much longer than I could have expected being super morbidly

obese.

>

> > Ok PS: Is it the meds that make us so tired? I take Effexor for

the Bi

> > Polar thing. I had it down from 150 mg to 75. Then the FM hit and

I

> > had

> > it raised back up. I know that makes me tired. So is it the FM or

the

> > meds? I hate to think it's a double whammy. I really hate being

tired.

> > I like my mornings. I miss the mornings. Really leaving now

before I

> > think of something else.

> >

>

> My " meds shrink " (the doc who handles my psych meds) said once

that

> with multiple conditions, it's almost impossible to parse out what

is

> caused by which condition. You may be right about the Effexor.

Or

> it may be fibro. Or partly the result of dragging around the

> equivalent of 20 ten-pound sacks of potatoes. ;D Like I said

above,

> the weight loss surgery was a tool that helped me to clear a WHOLE

> lot of sources of pain out of my life. Mine was effective.

>

> Good luck on your journey!

>

> Z

>