New member - really long post

[Guest guest]

Hi , my name is Becky , I joined last week and have been lurking

for a few days. You have such a vast range of States with members ,

I hope you don't mind a Canadian ???

I am 1.5 years post op , started at 402 and am currently 181 ,

my goal is 175 so obviously I'm going to make it , although worried

about losing too much .... I'll explain - this is the reason for

joining your group, because I'm not getting any answers up here and

am hoping there are maybe others with like problems out there , so

here goes :

I had an open RNY in Feb 2001 , my doctor believes in bypassing the

whole amount possible so I had the whole 150 cm's bypassed and had no

difficulties other than getting several infections along the

incision. I was doing awesome for the first 6 months , no problems ,

stayed on mush as long as possible and didn't try too much of a

variety - mainly ate what I knew worked. So around the 7th month I

got the runs really bad and started to " puke " once or twice a week ,

and after getting the swallow test and not a thing showing on it they

decided I must have an intestinal infection leftover from when I got

the surgery so put me on some pretty nasty pills for several weeks.

Well they got rid of the runs and then the constipation started

(sorry if this is graphic) , and continued for the next 6 months.

They spent all this time trying me on different pills , laxatives ,

and basically doing nothing , since there are no doctors up here

familiar with it and my surgeon from another city is very very busy -

he would converse with them once every couple months. Soooo 14

months post they finally decide it's time for me to come down to see

the surgeon for a checkup so I figure yayyyyy they're going to figure

out what's wrong with me down there , so I get there and he's like

" problems , what problems? " and never booked any tests or anything.

And had the nerve to say " it may be permanent, just an aftereffect " .

So they send me home and 2 more months later finally my doctor here

is starting to worry that maybe the weight loss isn't slowing down so

he gets ahold of the surgeon again and they book a catscan and

another barium test , nothing showed on the swallow test but the

catscan showed a pancreatic cyst , BUT they don't think it is causing

my problems. So I am still experiencing all the problems , and they

don't know what else to look for now. The only test they havn't done

is the scope but they won't do it here so I have to wait until I can

save up enough to travel again to the coast (14hrs) , probably in

october or november when I get my abdominoplasty (which took me 1.5

years to save for - whew). But he doesn't think the scope will show

anything either since the other two didn't , it may just be something

I have to " live with " . Well I don't think so !!! Also I know it's

not gallbladder because that's been gone ten years , there's no

hernias and it's not lactose intolerance because I checked for that.

So there's my story , here are my symptoms : I puke 3 or 4 times a

week and there's no particular thing that causes it because it's

happened on fluids - also it would be more times if I try to eat any

of the foods I don't tolerate anymore but I avoid them so minimal

times of getting sick. I cannot drink more than a half cup of fluids

at a time and no more than once every half hour , still getting

crampy pains when eating (although not always) , can't lie on my

tummy because it aches , and every month I lose the ability to eat

more and more foods (in other words I was able to eat them for a time

but suddenly my tummy won't tolerate them anymore , ie WW bread ,

lettuce , any meat cooked more than rare , sole , imitation crab meat

, all raw veggies and many cooked ones , all fruit skins , also

started puking on protein shakes , etc etc etc)

I am a little worried that if the puking continues that I won't stop

losing the weight , I know this sounds irrational but I am 5'5 and

very large boned (guys shirts fit across the shoulders lol) and after

talking to my doctor they thought 175 would by my ideal weight. I

weighed 160 once in my twenties and people thought I was ill so I

thought the goal was a good one. But I am only 6 lbs away from that

goal , I have never plateaued , I am still losing 1-2 lbs every week

, and still have to have plastic surgery which they figure is a

minimum of 15-20 lbs of skin (it's really bad !!!).

Well there you have it , I apologize if this post is too long , but

it'll only be this once lol , so if anybody has any suggestions , or

the same symptoms or any info whatsoever , it would be greatly

appreciated.

Becky in BC Canada , 34 years old , mom of 2 boys , student

start 402 , now 181 , lost 221 lbs so far, goal of 175

having the abdominoplasty this late fall, just waiting for a date

and desperate for answers :0)