My Story - Page 2 - ThinnerTimes - Gastric Bypass Forum, Lap Band Forum, and Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy Forum

poet_kelly · 09-01-2009, 04:41 PM

I wanted to talk about vitamins, too. Vitamins are really, really important when you've had a gastric bypass. Because they bypass part of the small intestine, you don't absorb vitamins and minerals from your food as well anymore. So you need to take vitamin supplements.

My doctor told me I should take a chewable multivitamin twice a day. He did not tell me it needed to be a bariatric vitamin. He said any adult chewable would do. At least he didn't tell me to take Flintstones! I started out taking Centrum adult chewables, but later decided a bariatric vitamin would be better, so I switched to Celebrate. The Celebrate vitamins have more of what you need than a regular adult chewable does. My doctor said I needed a chewable because it would be absorbed better.

I think www.celebratevitamins.com is a great company. They have excellent products, their prices are good, and they have great customer service. They will also send you free samples of their vitamins if you email and ask. They have a couple different flavors of multivitamins. They sent me a mandarin orange flavor and something else, I think it was cafe latte. The cafe latte one was icky but the madarin orange was OK. It tasted kind of like a sweet tart. I ordered some of those and some of their strawberries and cream calcium.

In addition to the multivitamin, you need calcium after a gastric bypass. It needs to be calcium citrate, not calcium carbonate, because the calcium citrate is absorbed better. The PA at my surgeon's office told me to specifically take Caltrate, which is calcium carbonate. I had to explain to her that that was the wrong kind.

I have had kind of a hard time with vitamins. For the first couple of months after my surgery, I was nauseous a lot, and the vitamins made me more nauseous. The same thing started happening when I got gall stones. I was nauseous, and taking my vitamins made the nausea worse. Sometimes I threw them up.

Both the taste and the smell bothered me. My doctor told me to take a B complex vitamin in addition to the multivitamins and the calcium, and those usually come in tablets. And they stink. Well, I found one from Bariatric Advantage that come in a capsule, so it has no smell and no taste. So that was better.

My doctor also told me to take a B12 supplement. You can get B12 in several different forms. I was taking a sublingual tablet, but the smell and taste was bothering me. You can go to your doctor and get B12 shots once a month (or give them to youself, for that matter) but I didn't really want to do that. I ended up using the patch. You wear it once a week for 24 hours. It's so easy. I love it. I wish I could get all my vitamins from a patch!

When I had my six month blood work done, it showed I was low on vitamin D. The PA at the surgeon's office told me to take 1000 IUs of vitamin D a day. There are actually two kinds of vitamin D, D2 and D3. D3 is the kind we need. She didn't tell me that, but by then I was on TT and knew enough to ask. So I got the right kind. However, when I had labs done again three months later, my vitamin D was still low. I was later told that I was taking a very low amount and it was no wonder it hadn't helped. But that's what she told me to take. So anyway, I'm now taking 5000 IUs a day. Hopefully that will help.

When I started having the nausea from my gall bladder, I had trouble taking my vitamins regularly. I looked into other options available from Celebrate. They have multivitamins that are capsules that I thought I might tolerate better, but I'd still have to get my calcium down. They also have this fairly new stuff called ENS. It's a powdered drink mix. You mix it with 8 - 16 ounces of water. It contains a multivitamin and 500 mg of calcium. I emailed and asked if I could get a sample of it. It tastes like grape Koolaid to me. So I ordered some of that. It's kind of expensive. It's like $49 for a 30 day supply. But it does include both the multi and the calcium. And I can tolerate it, so it's what I need to do for now.

I don't take an iron supplement. A lot of people are told to do so after a gastric bypass, but my doctor said he didn't recommend it unless my iron was low. And so far it's not.

Kelly

poet_kelly · 09-07-2009, 07:38 PM

So I am trying to get my vitamins all straightened out. And my medication. Because while I was so nauseous with my gall stones, I pretty much quit taking everything. For a while I was taking it when I felt like I could, then the last couple of weeks I just quit trying. Most of the time I was too nauseous to get it down. Or if I did get it down, it came right back up. It got to where the thought of taking vitamins or swallowing pills made me want to hurl. So I just decided to let it go until the problem got solved.

Well, it's solved now, and I want to get back on track with stuff. I have been using the Celebrate ENS stuff since my gall bladder surgery, and I like it a lot. It's about time to go mix up another glass. The problem is that it has 500 mg of calcium per serving, and I drink two a day. But apparently that is not enough calcium. For some reason I was thinking the recommendation was for 1000 - 1500 mg of calcium a day, so I was thinking I had it covered. I get some calcium from food, too. But I have been corrected. Apparently we are supposed to have 1500- 2000 mg of calcium a day. So I need to take some more.

So I ordered this stuff called Upcal D. It's a powder. One packet has 500 mg of calcium citrate, plus some vitamin D3. It is supposed to be tasteless. I hope it is. I plan to mix it in my protein shake.

I also ordered 50,000 IU vitamin D3 from vitalady. My surgeon told me I need to take 5000 IU a day, but I'm to just do 50,000 IU once a week. That should work out OK, right? I still have these 1000 IU tablets left and right now I am taking five a day but they are almost gone.

While I was at vitalady, I ordered a couple protein drink samples. I forget now which brand. But it was a cappachino flavor and something else that sounded good, I forget which. Right now my favorite protein drink is a scoop of vanilla protein powder and a packet of General Foods International vanilla latte mix. But cappachino flavored protein powder would be good, providing it tastes good, of course. It would be easier - and cheaper - than the vanilla latte thing I'm doing now. General Foods International stuff is sort of expensive.

I need to get back on my antidepressants, too. I pretty much quit taking them along with my vitamins, which I know is really not good. I am on three different ones. One is a capsule and it's not that hard to take. The others are tablets. I take two Lamictil, and I think they have a bad taste. I swallow them, I don't chew them, but I can still taste them. I think I'm going to have to chop them up and start taking a little at a time. I remember when I first started taking them, they started me on a low dose and gradually increased it. So I don't think I can go back on the full dose right away. I should probably call my doctor and ask, but they will probably tell me I have to make an appointment, and it will be like a month before I can even get in, and I hate going to see that doctor because he always runs way late and I have to sit in the waiting room for well over an hour before I finally get to see him.

Kelly

ragazzarosa · 09-07-2009, 09:50 PM

Hi Kelly - wow, I didn't realize you had so many issues...but I'm glad you are getting better now.

Congratulations on your successful weight loss, it has really been an amazing journey, huh?

I agree that protein and vitamins are super important and I'm glad you are working on it.

Take care.

poet_kelly · 09-10-2009, 11:29 AM

Well, I got the Upcal D stuff in the mail today. I haven't tried it yet, though. I'll let everyone know how it is. I also got some samples of Chike protein powder. I decided to try it because everyone seems to like it so much. I haven't gotten my vitalady order yet.

I am really enjoying this ENS stuff from Celebrate. It's so nice to not dread taking my vitamins anymore. If anyone is having trouble with their chewables, I highly recommend you try it.

In other news, I wrote about this the other day in Emotional Support, but I'm gonna write about it here, too. I found out on Tuesday that my therapist is retiring at the end of the month. I have been seeing this therapist for about five years, and he's been great. I am very unhappy. I am very concerned.

It's really hard to find a good therapist. Apparently there are just a lot of idiots out there. There are some good therapists, too, of course, but they can be hard to find. And there are several things that make it particularly hard for me to find one.

I live in a small town. There are not that many therapists in town. And I have Medicare and Medicaid, and not many therapists take those. Basically there are two mental health agencies in my town, and those are the only places that take them. I moved here are 5 1/2 years ago, and I initially went to this one agency, and the care I received their was appalling. They did not seem to know what they were doing. No one there seemed to have a clue. And everyone was rude and unhelpful and it was just awful. It was actually sort of emotionally traumatic. So I found this other agency, which is smaller and has fewer therapists. And they have been great. Everyone there is friendly and helpful and they've all been great.

I have major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and something called dissociative identity disorder (DID). DID is relatively rare, and unfortunately many mental health professionals just don't know much about it. They don't get much training related to it when they are getting their degree, and they don't have much experience dealing with it.

At the first mental health agency I went to in this town, I don't know whether they had anyone on staff that knew anything about DID or not. They wouldn't really tell me. They just said I couldn't pick my therapist, that I just had to see whoever I got assigned to. And it so happened that the person I got assigned to did not have a clue.

At the agency I go to now, I asked if there was anyone on staff with experience with DID, and there was. The therapist I see now. Well, when he told me he was retiring, we talked about what my options are. I asked if there was anyone else there that knows anything about DID, and he wasn't sure. He was going to find out and let me know. So he called me yesterday, and there is not. There is a woman with a lot of experience with PTSD that he thinks might work out well for me, and I'm going to schedule an appointment to meet with her and see what I think.

But I really think I need someone who knows something about DID. Before I moved here, for several years I had a really good therapist. Then she moved out of the area and I had to find someone else. And there was no one on my insurance plan (I did not have Medicare and Medicaid then) with experience with DID, except one person and she was not taking new patients. I tried to convince my insurance company that they needed to pay someone out of the network because I needed someone that specialized in DID, but they disagreed with me. I ended up seeing this woman with experience dealing with PTSD, and I think she was a really good therapist. And she made a huge effort to learn about DID. She asked me to recommend some books for her, and she ordered them and read them. She found another therapist with a lot of experience with DID that she could consult with. She asked me lots of questions and tried to learn all she could.

But I felt like I spent an awful lot of time educating her, and while I'm not adverse to educating people, that's not really what I was paying for. I kinda thought maybe she should be paying me for the education or something.

When I started seeing this current therapist, I think I made a lot more progress. I don't think I really want to go through the process of trying to educate someone about my condition again.

I'm not sure what other options I have. There is this psychiatrist about an hour away from me that has some experience with DID. I know about him because a couple years ago I was looking for a psychiatrist who did, because mine doesn't. That sounds bad, huh? My psychiatrist prescribes my antidepressants, but he has no clue about DID. But I am limited in my choice of psychiatrists for the same reasons I am limited in my choice of therapists.

Well, anyway, my therapist happened to know this doctor an hour away and suggested I might like to see him. But it turned out I was not able to do that because he works for this agency and they have a rule there that if you see their psychiatrist, you also have to see a therapist at that agency. And I did not want to change therapist at that time. But now my therapist suggests that I might want to think about seeing a therapist at that agency. He is assuming that since the psychiatrist there is knowledgable about DID, the therapists there will also be knowledgable about it. I don't know if that's true or not. I can call and find out. The benefit to doing that would be that I could then see the psychiatrist there instead of the one I am seeing now, and I think that would be better. The downside is that it is an hour away from me. I don't really want to drive two hours round trip each week. And it is almost winter, and it is an hour's drive over little windy country roads.

I don't know what other options I have. I am a little over an hour away from Columbus, and I might be able to find someone there that takes my insurance and has a clue. I am about an hour and a half away from Cleveland, and I might be able to find someone there. But again, that's a long drive to make every week. I'm stressed.

Kelly

poet_kelly · 09-12-2009, 07:53 PM

Well, I tried the Upcal D stuff, and I really like it. The first day I got it, I put some in a glass of Crystal Lite and just stirred it with a spoon. It seemed to dissolve really well and it has no taste at all. However, I didn't drink the whole glass that fast, I was kind of sipping slowly over time, and in just a little while the calcium started to settle to the bottom of the glass. I had to stir it again a few times. The next day I put it in my protein shake, which I make in the blender, and I was hoping that blending it would kind of mix it in better. Plus, I make my protein shake with milk and I put a few ice cubes in it, so it's a thicker liquid than Crystal Lite, and I was hoping that the powder would be suspended better in it. And it seemd to work that way. Also, I drink my protein shake faster than I was sipping the Crystal Lite that time, so maybe it just didn't have time to settle. Whatever the case, I am happy with it. If anyone doesn't like chewable calcium, I can recommend this. I think I paid something like $12 for 120 servings, 500 mg calcium citrate each.

I also got some samples of Chike protein drinks, and this morning I tried the banana. It was OK, but to be honest it was a little too strong on the banana flavor, I thought. And I noticed that the samples were only 1/2 serving size, and it said to mix them with four ounces of milk, but I went ahead and mixed mine with 8 ounces like I usually use for my protein shake. And the taste was still really strong. So I think I would not like it very much if I used a whole serving size. Although I had the idea that it would taste good with some chocolate in it. A chocolate-banana shake, you know. Lean Dessert Protein has a banana cream flavor, and I think I like that better.

I'll let you know what I think about the other Chike flavors when I try them. I'm interested in the orange flavor. I make an orange protein shake sometimes with a packet of vanilla instant breakfast (sugar free) and a packet of orange Crystal Lite, which is pretty good. I finally got my vitalady order today, too, so I have some other new flavors to try.

Ever since I had my gall bladder taken out, I have had less appetite than I did before. Right after it came out, I had virtually no appetite at all. It's a little better now, but it's still much less than it was. I guess I don't really mind. It's a pain to force myself to eat, but I think I'd probably rather have to do that than feel hungry all the time. If I had to pick one or the other.

Also, since having my gall bladder removed, I notice that I feel full on less food than I was eating before the surgery. I know that's very weird. I can't figure out why removing my gall bladder would have that effect. But like, tonight I ate half a sandwich. And I was uncomfortably full. I should not have eaten that much. I didn't get sick, but for a few minutes I thought I was going to. But a couple months (which is the last time I had a sandwich, I don't eat bread very often) I could eat about 3/4 of a sandwich with no trouble. And that's just one example. I am noticing it with pretty much everything I eat.

I see the surgeon next Tuesday for a follow up appointment and I am going to ask him about it, but to be honest I don't expect much from him. I think he is an idiot. After that appointment, I am going to start looking for a new doctor. I have a couple of doctors in mind that I am going to call and see if they take my insurance. For some reason it seems like most bariatric surgeons don't take it. I had a hard time finding a surgeon in the first place, and then when he closed his practice I had a hard time finding a new doctor that took it. But I'm sure I will find someone somewhere.

Kelly

poet_kelly · 09-14-2009, 02:22 PM

I called the agency where I go now for therapy to make an appointment with the other therapist there that my therapist suggested I meet with. The one that doesn't really know anything about DID but he thought I might like her anyway. Well, it turns out, she doesn't take Medicare. It doesn't make sense to me because she's at the same agency, so I would think they would all either take it or not. But apparently that's not correct. Only the therapist I was seeing took Medicare. No one else there does.

The agency does a sliding scale based on income, and I asked if I would be eligible for that or if I wasn't because I have Medicare. The person who does the scheduling didn't know (shoudn't she know that?) and the person in charge of insurance and billing had already left for the day. Someone is supposed to call me back tomorrow.

It's probably not that big a deal because I was probably going to decide I need to see someone else more qualified to treat me anyway. But I'm still upset by it. Why does this have to be so hard?

Kelly

Pink Stella · 09-19-2009, 08:15 AM

I'm glad you were so persistent about your nausea and found your gallstones. I had gallstones for 6 years for any doctor ever suggested it might be my gallbladder! I was young and didn't pay enough attention to what was going on. I had my first "attack" when I was 17. I had horrible pain and horrible nausea followed by vomiting. Well, nothing like that happened again until a year later and it was the same thing. I happened to be at my aunt's house at the time and all I could do was curl up and rock it hurt so bad. Believing it was gas, she gave me all sorts of things, which I would just throw up. It was about 6 months after that before this became a regular event. I saw several doctors, including the one on campus (I was in college at the time) and he told me it was just stress and I needed to take fewer classes. I dropped a class and 30 pounds that semester. I saw other doctor off-campus who told me I probably had irritable bowl syndrome and prescribed something for the pain (like I said, I was young and naive and accepted "probably' from a medical professional). I went on for a few more years thinking I had IBS and taking a pill each time I'd wake up with these horrible pains. Finally, 6 years after the first attack, I went to see a new doctor (by this time I was working and had insurance of my own - the quality of my care had improved some) and just asked for a refill on the RX I'd been taking as needed for the past 4 years. She asked why I'd been taking it and when I explained why, she asked if I'd ever had my gallbladder checked out. Long story short, a month later, it was out! Looking back now, I can't believe I suffered like that for so long!! I wish I'd been more proactive in my own care and I'm so impressed that you were!

poet_kelly · 09-19-2009, 08:32 AM

I'm so sorry it too you six years to get help! You really do have to be persistent and advocate for yourself. I guess maybe I shouldn't complain so much about suffering for six weeks after all.

Kelly

Josephine · 09-19-2009, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pink Stella

I'm glad you were so persistent about your nausea and found your gallstones. I had gallstones for 6 years for any doctor ever suggested it might be my gallbladder! I was young and didn't pay enough attention to what was going on. I had my first "attack" when I was 17. I had horrible pain and horrible nausea followed by vomiting. Well, nothing like that happened again until a year later and it was the same thing. I happened to be at my aunt's house at the time and all I could do was curl up and rock it hurt so bad. Believing it was gas, she gave me all sorts of things, which I would just throw up. It was about 6 months after that before this became a regular event. I saw several doctors, including the one on campus (I was in college at the time) and he told me it was just stress and I needed to take fewer classes. I dropped a class and 30 pounds that semester. I saw other doctor off-campus who told me I probably had irritable bowl syndrome and prescribed something for the pain (like I said, I was young and naive and accepted "probably' from a medical professional). I went on for a few more years thinking I had IBS and taking a pill each time I'd wake up with these horrible pains. Finally, 6 years after the first attack, I went to see a new doctor (by this time I was working and had insurance of my own - the quality of my care had improved some) and just asked for a refill on the RX I'd been taking as needed for the past 4 years. She asked why I'd been taking it and when I explained why, she asked if I'd ever had my gallbladder checked out. Long story short, a month later, it was out! Looking back now, I can't believe I suffered like that for so long!! I wish I'd been more proactive in my own care and I'm so impressed that you were!

WOW!!! 6 years!!!! I suffered for 9 months and lost my all expenses paid scholarship before someone helped me. I was 16 when I had my first attack. I think sometimes it's hard for them to believe that someone so young can lose their gall bladder, but that's what months of eating only green beans to be pretty and fit in will do to ya.

You are one tough cookie! SIX YEARS!

poet_kelly · 09-19-2009, 09:45 AM

Well, nothing big is going on, but I have a number of little things to talk about.

A few days ago I saw the surgeon for my follow up appointment from my gall bladder surgery. My surgeon is three hours from my house. I drove for three hours and got there about 15 minutes before my appointment. I go up to the receptionist and tell her I have an appointment and she says, "He's not in this office today. He is seeing patients in the other office today." Other office? There's another offcie? I did not know that. But indeed there is, and for some reason, when I scheduled my follow up appintment, they made it in the other office. Now, when I had been seeing him in one office, why would they schedule me in the other office and not bother to tell me where it was? Needless to say, I was annoyed.

So I had to drive to the other office. I was a little late. And the doctor says to me, "It would really be better if you scheduled your appointments in the other office since that is where your records are." Argh!

So he takes one quick look at my belly, says "Wow, you heal fast," and that was it. Two minutes, tops. No one weighed me, took my blood pressure, nothing. For that I drove for three hours.

And I tell you what. If I get a big bill for it, I am arguing about it. I got the bill not long ago for my first appointment with him. At that appointment, I spent maybe ten minutes with the nurse, telling her what meds I was on, getting weighed, all that stuff. Then about ten minutes with the doctor. That's when he told me I might have a kink in my small intestine but really I should just wait a while and see if the nausea went away. For that, they billed $176. Medicare and Medicaid paid for it all, I didn't have to pay anything, but isn't that a ridiculous charge just for that?

I am in the process of looking for a new surgeon. I discovered that Obesity Help lists surgeons that take Medicare and Medicaid. If anyone is interested, they have a forum for each state, and at the top of each state's forum, there is a sticky thread where people can post about surgeons that take those. It's not a complete listing or anything, and some of the information is old and outdated- like, my old surgeon was listed, and he's not in practice anymore. But it's a place to start. So I got three names and numbers to call.

Well, I called the first one and got a recording that said, "All representatives are currently busy assisting other patients. Please stay on the line..." So I waited on the line for a loooonnnnggg time but my call never got picked up and I finallly got tired of waiting. So I called the next place. There I got voice mail. Same with the third place. Why wouldn't you have someone actually available to answer the phone when someone calls to make an appointment? I did not leave a message because I was going to be away from my phone the rest of the day. But I will try again next week.

On to other news. I learned that the mental health agency will let me do the sliding scale if I see the therapist there, and it will actually cost me less than I pay now. Right now Medicare pays 50% for mental health visits, and I have to pay the other half. I also have Medicaid, and they will pay for mental health stuff, but I have a monthly spend down of $498. It's like a deductible. Medicaid does not kick in until I have paid $498 out of pocket. Every month. Is that not ridiculous? Who can afford to spend $498 a month on medical bills? So I almost never meet my spend down.

But anyway, with the sliding scale, I will only have to pay about 25% of my mental health visits, not 50%. Hopefully I like the therapist. I don't feel that optimistic because she does not know a thing about DID, so unless she's willing to do a lot of learning in a hurry, I don't see how it would work out. But we'll see.

Next week, we are going to this hotel in Sandusky, Ohio, called Kalahari. They have an indoor water park. It's awesome. We went last spring and had a great time. However, it will be much more fun now that I've lost more weight. They have all these water slides and you have to climb about a zillion steps to get to the top. Last time, I had to stop about half way up and rest. Now, I bet I can climb to the top with no problem.

I tried on my bathing suit the other day to see if it still fit. I was doing water aerobics several times a week but haven't been in a couple months, and I've lost weight since then. Well, I can still wear it, but it's a little loose. I want to go back to water aerobics, and I'm going to need a new suit soon. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to order one online because they won't be in stores until spring now and this one is not going to last until then. Anyone know a good site to order bathing suits from? I hate ordering suits online. I did it before, when I was too fat to find one that fit in the store, but they are so expensive online, and you never really know how it's going to fit or look until you get to try it on. If it doesn't fit or doesn't look right, I can always return it and order something else, but that's such a pain.

Kelly