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Intro (after being on here for a week lol!)

MANDY2910

MANDY2910

Member
My name is Amanda, but you can call me Mandy for short. I am 41 years old and live with my husband and my mother in Missouri. I am originally from Wyoming, where I lived until I was in my thirties. I have two beautiful daughters, 21 and 17. I have two dogs, Bella and Nica and a wonderful mess of chickens that give me eggs and peck at my calves and chase me anytime I go outside. I work as a Respiratory therapist in Springfield, MO. During the pandemic this has been super challenging, not only because of the sheer volume of patients and how sick everyone is, but my weight has gotten completely out of control. Even when you are averaging 16,000+ steps a day you can still gain weight if all that is around you are donuts and pizza and you are so busy you are just happy there is food in the break room and you slam it down as fast as you can so you can get back to work. And of course let’s not forget your manager or another unit supervisor bringing in huge sugary lattes every shift. It’s amazing how many calories you can consume in short periods of time. Anyway, I have been heavy since I was a kid. 140 lbs by the beginning of 2nd grade, 200 lbs before middle school. I lost about 100 lbs between my 16th and 17th birthday, and fought like hell the next 13 years to keep it off and was successful, even through my pregnancies. Then in 2007 I had major surgery that messed up my thyroid and my female stuff and here it came! I have been losing and gaining the same 80-100 lbs ever since. When I diet I am determined and focused, but after fighting and fighting for months and months I give up. One little slip up and the food just tastes so good and it’s over! When I diet I eat good, tasty food. I love to cook, so trying new foods and new recipes is actually fun for me. So even though I don’t feel particularly deprived, I just self-destruct. I am ready to get off the merry-go-round. This surgery is very important to me, not because it is going to somehow miraculously make me never have to lose weight again, but because it is going to help me keep things in check. It’s like an extra layer of protection against the battle I fight with myself. I am very much looking forward to the process, however long. I didn’t gain all of this weight overnight and I’ve been battling it my whole life. It’s time to battle it with a new tool. I obviously have proven I can’t do it alone. I have an amazing husband who is very supportive and my mother had RYGB many years ago. She was not successful long term unfortunately, but still very much believes in the process. Most importantly they believe in me. You all have been great in this forum so far and so full on knowledge. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.
 
MANDY2910 said:
My name is Amanda, but you can call me Mandy for short. I am 41 years old and live with my husband and my mother in Missouri. I am originally from Wyoming, where I lived until I was in my thirties. I have two beautiful daughters, 21 and 17. I have two dogs, Bella and Nica and a wonderful mess of chickens that give me eggs and peck at my calves and chase me anytime I go outside. I work as a Respiratory therapist in Springfield, MO. During the pandemic this has been super challenging, not only because of the sheer volume of patients and how sick everyone is, but my weight has gotten completely out of control. Even when you are averaging 16,000+ steps a day you can still gain weight if all that is around you are donuts and pizza and you are so busy you are just happy there is food in the break room and you slam it down as fast as you can so you can get back to work. And of course let’s not forget your manager or another unit supervisor bringing in huge sugary lattes every shift. It’s amazing how many calories you can consume in short periods of time. Anyway, I have been heavy since I was a kid. 140 lbs by the beginning of 2nd grade, 200 lbs before middle school. I lost about 100 lbs between my 16th and 17th birthday, and fought like hell the next 13 years to keep it off and was successful, even through my pregnancies. Then in 2007 I had major surgery that messed up my thyroid and my female stuff and here it came! I have been losing and gaining the same 80-100 lbs ever since. When I diet I am determined and focused, but after fighting and fighting for months and months I give up. One little slip up and the food just tastes so good and it’s over! When I diet I eat good, tasty food. I love to cook, so trying new foods and new recipes is actually fun for me. So even though I don’t feel particularly deprived, I just self-destruct. I am ready to get off the merry-go-round. This surgery is very important to me, not because it is going to somehow miraculously make me never have to lose weight again, but because it is going to help me keep things in check. It’s like an extra layer of protection against the battle I fight with myself. I am very much looking forward to the process, however long. I didn’t gain all of this weight overnight and I’ve been battling it my whole life. It’s time to battle it with a new tool. I obviously have proven I can’t do it alone. I have an amazing husband who is very supportive and my mother had RYGB many years ago. She was not successful long term unfortunately, but still very much believes in the process. Most importantly they believe in me. You all have been great in this forum so far and so full on knowledge. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.
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Thanks for the intro & welcome. I feel for you facing the unbelievable challenges in your line of work. Bless you for all you do.

Just a couple suggestions. If you haven't done so yet, try to wean yourself off of all soda including diet, juice, and caffeine (as much as possible). Replace with water that you sip all day & evening. If it helps, add some lemon or lime (such as ReaLemon), cucumber, etc, and work up to 64+ ozs sipped daily, even up to 80 ozs. Caffeine dehydrates the body, and should be avoided, at least for the 1st few months after WLS.

I lost my taste for sugary sweets and most carbs like bread, pasta, chips & pretzels, and white rice after WLS which is helping the numbers on the scale go down. I LOVE pizza, but I only eat the toppings (meat, cheese, sauce) off of the crust. So far so good. I hope you find joy and peace as you continue your journey.
 
Hello and welcome. I see that you're going to have to wait 6 months for approval. While not ideal, try to look at it as an opportunity to start slowly putting your new lifestyle into practice. And try to actively listen to why your doctor wants you to wait. Is it a commitment thing? Or do you have an issue that might impede your success?

For many of us, our insurance requires 6 monthly visits with a WL doctor, as well as a psych eval, multiple tests .. the list can go on and on. I had my first consultation in July of 2019 and had my surgery on June of 2020. It seemed like it took forever and also that it came in a blink.
 
I have Bipolar I and had an episode in July of last year. She wants me to wait at least until this July to make sure I remain stable. The surgeon has put everything on hold for now. He requires that clearance from my psychiatrist to move forward. While it is not ideal, I am going to take the opportunity to continue making changes that will be required for surgery in a few months. It may be a blessing in disguise and that’s how I am looking at it. It is not a matter of me not being ready or committed. She doesn’t question that at all. She just wants to make sure that I will be able to handle the mental aspect of the post op lifestyle and come out relatively unscathed.
 
I'd guess a few of our members have a touch of bipolar disorder, including me. It hasn't affected my appetite or ability to comply. In fact, you can find pages and pages of famous bipolars like Einstein who changed the world while alienating family, etc. Your shrink is nuts. WLS gave me something to focus on, and the results helped my self esteem so much, I could improve my self talk and move forward with my life.

The job of a psychiatrist is to guide clients to make healthy choices. I'm stunned to hear a shrink can harm a life by closing a door.
 
Just came back from vacation. Husband and I were both sick most of it. Both have now tested positive for COVID. Anyway, I have decided after taking some time and speaking with my family that I am going to continue to actively pursue surgery. The Bariatric team’s secretary wanted to stop the whole process. No tests, classes, anything until I got my psychiatrist’s approval. Anyway, I was able to speak with a surgical nurse on Friday. She spoke to the surgeon about me and they are willing to move forward with my EGD, classes, and pre-op requirements while we wait for my psychiatrist’s final say. My psych eval is with another psychiatrist and when I talked to the nurse they apparently have had issues with my psychiatrist in the past. Once she found out who my psychiatrist was, she was happy I called back. She believes their psychiatrist will be more apt to be subjective and won’t blindly say no without even discussing it with me. I do love my psychiatrist and she has gotten me through a lot of bad scrapes, but she isn’t listening to me about what I hope and pray to accomplish. She feels that WLS for ANYONE with any kind of mental health disorder, even depression, is not a good candidate. That simply isn’t true.
 
MANDY2910 said:
Just came back from vacation. Husband and I were both sick most of it. Both have now tested positive for COVID. Anyway, I have decided after taking some time and speaking with my family that I am going to continue to actively pursue surgery. The Bariatric team’s secretary wanted to stop the whole process. No tests, classes, anything until I got my psychiatrist’s approval. Anyway, I was able to speak with a surgical nurse on Friday. She spoke to the surgeon about me and they are willing to move forward with my EGD, classes, and pre-op requirements while we wait for my psychiatrist’s final say. My psych eval is with another psychiatrist and when I talked to the nurse they apparently have had issues with my psychiatrist in the past. Once she found out who my psychiatrist was, she was happy I called back. She believes their psychiatrist will be more apt to be subjective and won’t blindly say no without even discussing it with me. I do love my psychiatrist and she has gotten me through a lot of bad scrapes, but she isn’t listening to me about what I hope and pray to accomplish. She feels that WLS for ANYONE with any kind of mental health disorder, even depression, is not a good candidate. That simply isn’t true.
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So sorry you spent your vacation being sick! I hope you feel better soon. But I am happy to hear that you will use another psychiatrist for the evaluation. Best of luck!!
 
MANDY2910 said:
My psych eval is with another psychiatrist and when I talked to the nurse they apparently have had issues with my psychiatrist in the past. Once she found out who my psychiatrist was, she was happy I called back. She believes their psychiatrist will be more apt to be subjective and won’t blindly say no without even discussing it with me.
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Mandy, that is such exciting news. I feel really hopeful for you. The fact that they are willing to move forward with pre-op testing and classes is so wonderful. It will be such a morale booster because you are moving forward on the journey. Hip hip hooray!
 
Welcome I am in awe of your progress so far. Those shrinks can be very destructive. I started my weight loss journey with the VA in 2015. I had to join a program called MOVE. It is a weight loss support group, with a book and monthly meetings (meetings went online with pandemic, I kinda like them better that way). At the beginning I was very anti surgery, kinda happens when two coworkers- one lap and and one sleeve- lost weight and regained 75% back with in a couple of years. I wanted the weight loss meds( orelestat aka my alli or Victoza , a diabetic med, it has another name I just can’t remember right now. The VA pharmacy denied because of a suicide attempt in 1989 20 years earlier. My local pharmacist was astounded btw. 25 years and still holding it against me, DCFS was threatening to terminate my parental rights to my children. I don’t know many mothers that wouldn’t act out under those conditions. A local dr prescribed the Victoza that the va pharmacy would not fill, and I had a year of that plus I used the my Alli for 6 months. I lost weight even though I did not follow a healthy eating plan but only 1-2 pounds per month. Then I worked in a toxic office and gained 100 pounds over two years. I learned from a social security worker( when I applied for disability) about RNY and did my research and then I finally talked to VA Bariatric dr about the surgery at my 3rd annual visit for the move program. From the bariatric team at Iowa city university hospital I was started on a 1500 calorie diabetic bubble diet. It is a very creative diet btw. I took their food log and had it made into a spiral notebook for daily logging, helped but was slow going. No was never diabetic my A1C has always been 5.x but that was part of the requirements for 6 months before surgery. I put my time in before surgery and lost about 50 pounds, my 1 year surgiversary is 2/14 I am 64 pounds down from that day, I am 117 pounds down from my highest weight. Now is the time to put your brain on the right track for your journey. This is possible and everyone here will be there for you, cheering, encouraging, a shoulder to cry on, whatever you need. Be safe, count your blessings, think positive thoughts and move to a better brighter you.
 
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