I had heard that it wasn't uncommon for the surgeon to take your gall bladder out when he did your bypass, and it's been over the past couple of months that I have seriously wished that my surgeon (ha) had taken out mine.
I'd been having some problems for a long time, like my spontaneous barfing syndrome, where I suddenly puke violently for no reason and then go on, but it progressed into some pretty serious stomach pain about five or six weeks ago. The short story is that my family doc sent me for an ultrasound, and guess what!?! Gall stones - lots of them. I met my surgeon and had it taken out in a lap surgery last Tuesday. In by six and out by eleven. Yep, day surgery.
I was pretty sore - and definitely cranky that doc hadn't given me anything but 7.5mg Lortabs. Take one every four hours, the directions said, and I did that, but they reallly didn't cut it. We called the doctor's office and complained, and his nurse said that I could go ahead and take one and half every four hours, and that helped a little, but not nearly enough. We called again Wednesday morning and he insisted that I come in before he would give me anything stronger.
We got there and he kindly explained to me that the surgery I had was just a routine little procedure and not a big deal, or it wouldn't even be a day surgery. He did give in a give me a script for something else, telling my husband with a grin that if the 2mg dilaudid didn't tale care of it, then he should just take me out back and shoot me as there was nothing else that he would or could do.
By Saturday morning, I was pretty cheerful as nothing actually hurt but my incisions, and I was actually thinking that I was about over it. Maybe I'd even go back to work on Wednesday, if my sub didn't mind me cutting her time short. By Saturday afternoon, I thought that I was going to die, and I was off to the emergency room with A GALL BLADDER ATTACK?
It was horrible - my stomach was screaming worse than it had so far and I kept puking. I spent three hours sitting in the local emergency room lobby, waiting for someone to see me, before I gave up and left. We went to the next town over and spent maybe an hour waiting to see the doc. He did some x-rays and some blood work, gave me some demerol, then explained to me that I had a stone left in my bile ducts, and that was causing all of the problems. I was going to have to go back to my surgeon and he could either arrange to have me scoped or he might even have to go back in and remove it like he did my gall bladder. Since Monday was a holiday, he said that my surgeon (whom he called) said to call him first thing Tuesday morning and see when to come in.
I did that, and Tuesday afternoon I sat on a table in my doctor's office, listening as he removed my staples and told me that I had confused the pain of my incisions with gall-bladder like pain. He said that he hadn't seen the lab results or XRays from the hospital, but he didn't need to see 'em and wouldn't look at them if he had them. I wasn't yellow, and if I had a stone left, I'd be jaundiced. I just expected to get well too soon; after all, I had experienced a major surgery and I couldn't expect to feel better and be able to do everything like normal so soon. I'd been stabbed four times, he said. What I did expect except to have a lot of pain?
Husband and I just looked at each other as this was exactly the opposite of what he had said the week before when I was complaining about hurting. Then it was all about how it was a minor procedure, blah blah.
We left from the surgeon's office and stopped by my faily doctor's office and asked if he could call us. When he did later, I explained about hving to go to the ER, how bad it hurt, what the ER doc said had happened, and how the surgeon said he didn't need to even see the lab work to know that nothing was wrong with me. Doc J. asked if I had wanted him to make the determination between them, then, and I said yes. That's when Doc J. said that he sided with my surgeon, and that if he said I was fine then I was fine. Does this mean that I don't even need to have the X-rays or lab work sent for you to look at? That's right, Doc J says. Don't even need to see them.
Um, wow. Okay. I was imagining things, and the ER doc was, too.
What in the hell do I do now?
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Ups and Downs
Now isn't *that* funny? Ups and downs - get it? I bet that anyone who has been dedicated to serious weight loss for more than a year gets that one.
It's August, 2009, and I have finally wandered back to my little forgotten blog. I am at 200 pounds now, and I am hoping that I don't go any higher. I joined a gym with the family right before Christmas last year in an effort to fight off moderate depression (another funny, and I'll explain that one in a minute, too).
We were dedicated - four or five days a week, three days some weeks when we had a lot going on - for at least an hour and a half. Some weights combined with an hour on the treadmill. I made my goal in calories instead of distance, working all the way up to a goal of 800 calories per session according to the machine I always used. Over the course of five months, I lost a grand total of (get this - it's the funny part) FIVE POUNDS.
Did I mention anywhere that I've had a gastric bypass, so it's not like I can pig out or anything? LOL.
I did feel better, and I would still be going except that my gym was moved and completely remodeled at the end of May or so, and now, since it has no dressing room, no fans, and fewer nachines, we just don't go. It sucks to go to the gym for three hours and spend half of that waiting in line for a squeaky treadmill.
There are two other gyms in town: one is painted dark gray and red with minimal lighting (????????) and the other is National Fitness - which we just can't afford.I've gained a grand total of two pounds of it back. I know that I am going to have to look at it from the "Wow, but I was so fit!" point of view rather than the "I worked how hard for how long to lose how much??" or I'll never join another one.
Right now, I am on the gall-bladder-weight-loss-plan. For those of you have never had the good fortune to try this effortless approach to weightloss, all you have to do is cultivate a couple of gall-stones, and then not only can you eat very little of anything, a portion of what you DO eat just makes its reappearance within about twenty minutes. I've heard that it's very common for people to develop gallstones after a bypass - so common that many surgeons just take out the gall bladder when they perform an RNY. Not my doc! Maybe he hopes that we'll come back so he leaves it for job security, or maybe he just doesn't see having another surgery as a big deal. For me, though, it is, and I am astounded at how my apparently poor choice of a surgeon is the gift that just keeps on giving.
As far as the depression goes, it seems to be over. I feel like a normal person now, and the best part is that sometime over the summer, cigarrettes stopped bothering me like they did. They don't set off my I-wanna-SMOKE reflex any more. They just STINK, and it's wonderful. All those years I smoked and had no idea that they smelled like something that blew out of the devil's ass. Ha.
I haven't read my old posts, so I don't know how much I have mentioned fertility issues - or even if I have at all. A little over a year ago, at age 38, I started seeing a fertility doctor in Johnson City for IUI. It took about three cycles to realize just what a total quack he was, and we moved across the street to see another one. I've had a total of six or seven rounds of IUI, one chemical pregnancy, and spent a small fortune. Husband and I figure we are good for about two or three more runs at it before we count the blessings that we have and move on. Finally, for the first time in YEARS, I can feel at peace with that idea, too. We still want another child, but at least now I can look at other people's babies and not cry.
I think that this year is going to be a good school year, especially compared to last year (a total CF). Half the people on our team were new last year, and out of those, most of them have already gone into something else for a living as they realized how unsuitable (or unemployable) they were for education. One is now on disability, one is working the desk at a local tourist trap for minimum wage... Another is still with us, but at least that one is now located right beside someone else - who happens to report straight to Central Office. I suspect that person's days of ignoring the children to chat with an S.O. is over. I just don't think that person's lack of activity is going to be a problem anymore. YAY!
Some people look at teaching as a job, and for others, it's personal.
I have lesson plans to do and groceries to get, so I am going to blow right on out of here and into the Sunday sales papers for some serious stick-it-to-Walmart ad-matching.
Catch you later!
PS - I thought that I'd take a look at my weight loss tracker, and look - I weigh exactly the same thing that I did in '07 on my first post. That goal weight is looking farther and farther away. How ironic.
It's August, 2009, and I have finally wandered back to my little forgotten blog. I am at 200 pounds now, and I am hoping that I don't go any higher. I joined a gym with the family right before Christmas last year in an effort to fight off moderate depression (another funny, and I'll explain that one in a minute, too).
We were dedicated - four or five days a week, three days some weeks when we had a lot going on - for at least an hour and a half. Some weights combined with an hour on the treadmill. I made my goal in calories instead of distance, working all the way up to a goal of 800 calories per session according to the machine I always used. Over the course of five months, I lost a grand total of (get this - it's the funny part) FIVE POUNDS.
Did I mention anywhere that I've had a gastric bypass, so it's not like I can pig out or anything? LOL.
I did feel better, and I would still be going except that my gym was moved and completely remodeled at the end of May or so, and now, since it has no dressing room, no fans, and fewer nachines, we just don't go. It sucks to go to the gym for three hours and spend half of that waiting in line for a squeaky treadmill.
There are two other gyms in town: one is painted dark gray and red with minimal lighting (????????) and the other is National Fitness - which we just can't afford.I've gained a grand total of two pounds of it back. I know that I am going to have to look at it from the "Wow, but I was so fit!" point of view rather than the "I worked how hard for how long to lose how much??" or I'll never join another one.
Right now, I am on the gall-bladder-weight-loss-plan. For those of you have never had the good fortune to try this effortless approach to weightloss, all you have to do is cultivate a couple of gall-stones, and then not only can you eat very little of anything, a portion of what you DO eat just makes its reappearance within about twenty minutes. I've heard that it's very common for people to develop gallstones after a bypass - so common that many surgeons just take out the gall bladder when they perform an RNY. Not my doc! Maybe he hopes that we'll come back so he leaves it for job security, or maybe he just doesn't see having another surgery as a big deal. For me, though, it is, and I am astounded at how my apparently poor choice of a surgeon is the gift that just keeps on giving.
As far as the depression goes, it seems to be over. I feel like a normal person now, and the best part is that sometime over the summer, cigarrettes stopped bothering me like they did. They don't set off my I-wanna-SMOKE reflex any more. They just STINK, and it's wonderful. All those years I smoked and had no idea that they smelled like something that blew out of the devil's ass. Ha.
I haven't read my old posts, so I don't know how much I have mentioned fertility issues - or even if I have at all. A little over a year ago, at age 38, I started seeing a fertility doctor in Johnson City for IUI. It took about three cycles to realize just what a total quack he was, and we moved across the street to see another one. I've had a total of six or seven rounds of IUI, one chemical pregnancy, and spent a small fortune. Husband and I figure we are good for about two or three more runs at it before we count the blessings that we have and move on. Finally, for the first time in YEARS, I can feel at peace with that idea, too. We still want another child, but at least now I can look at other people's babies and not cry.
I think that this year is going to be a good school year, especially compared to last year (a total CF). Half the people on our team were new last year, and out of those, most of them have already gone into something else for a living as they realized how unsuitable (or unemployable) they were for education. One is now on disability, one is working the desk at a local tourist trap for minimum wage... Another is still with us, but at least that one is now located right beside someone else - who happens to report straight to Central Office. I suspect that person's days of ignoring the children to chat with an S.O. is over. I just don't think that person's lack of activity is going to be a problem anymore. YAY!
Some people look at teaching as a job, and for others, it's personal.
I have lesson plans to do and groceries to get, so I am going to blow right on out of here and into the Sunday sales papers for some serious stick-it-to-Walmart ad-matching.
Catch you later!
PS - I thought that I'd take a look at my weight loss tracker, and look - I weigh exactly the same thing that I did in '07 on my first post. That goal weight is looking farther and farther away. How ironic.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Yes, It's Been a While
Where do I start on this one? It has been a time of surprises and of healing since I last stopped by to lay my thoughts out for the world.
I had given up, you see.
I had problems and I knew it. I have tried repeatedly to get in to see my surgeon, making perhaps five trips to Johnson City to see him, to try to get answers to my questions about why I feel tis way or that, why my weight loss had slowed down to such a crawl early out, etc. This past trip was during Christmas break - I call his office and very clearly explained why I wanted to see him. I haven't seen him since I was in the hopsital, I explained. I don't feel well. I am not losing weight - as a matter of fact, I have *gained* at only eight months out, despite only eating about 1200 calories a day. My PCP does not know how to deal with my since I have had my bypass, and he constantly refers me back to my surgeon. The appointment clerk sounded horrified that I had not see the doc since I was in the hospital, and she promised me an appointment with him on the only day that he would be in the office over my holiday. Great! Maybe I would get some answers.
I showed up with my notebook of questions and went to the window sign in. When asked for my check, I declined to hand it over, suggesting that it would make it far easier to wait until we established that the doc was really, actually going to see me - especially last time he wasn't even in the office I had to argue to get my copay back.
Guess what?!? That's right, he never even came in at all that morning, and his office didn't bother to pick up the phone and call me, saving me a THREE HOUR ROUND TRIP for apparent reason. I just thanked to the girl at the front desk (somewhat snottily, I'll be the first to admit) and left. Husband stood there and clowned a bit, loudly explaining to the crowd in the waiting room that once you were paid up by the insurance company then you were on your own.
So by the middle of January I am back at my PCP, complianing about the same problems that I was bitching about in October: serious fatigue, major irritability, insomnia, lack of weight loss, mental fog, difficulty concentrating, lack of motivation on all fronts, and now, very irregular periods as well. I told the doc that I was there for a referral to an endocrinologist as I was certain that there was something wrong hormonally. Doc said that was fine and that he was not going to send out my regular labs to include a thyroid test as it had already been tested "out the yin-yang" before I ever had my surgery. I had been talking to two ladies that I work with, and they were very insistant that I should have my thyroid tested - BOTH levels of it. So I asked the doc to do so, telling him to please just humor me. It wouldn't hurt anything and just might ease my mind. He agreed, wrote down "mood disorder" on my diagnosis page, and offered to increase the wellbutrin that he had put me on in October. I declined, explaining that it wasn't doing anything at all for me. He said that he would call with my results that next day, and yes, he would check both levels.
No one called on Tuesday as he said, but Wednesday the nurse let me know that my appoinment for the endocrinologist was for March 28th and all of my labs were just fine, except that dlkgjhsdfkgjhsdklfjhg. Pardon? Can you slow down, please? I want to make sure that I understand everything after the "except" part, as I am pretty sure that just might be something important (ya think?). Turns out my TSH level is 5.89, but that's okay, the endocrinologist can get me straightened out when I see her in March. His nurse also tells me that they very thoughtfully faxed the results of my bloodwork to my surgeon. WTF? I had just gotten through explaining to this man that I couldn't get in the see the surgeon, that I hadn't seen him, and probably was never going to get to.
The endocrinologist will start me on something in MARCH?!? I am supposed to just keep feeling like this for another two and a half months because the doctor says that he doesn't know what to do with me because I am a gastric bypass patient? I am a patient with a thyroid problem - this has nothing to do with my surgical history.
So the next day I changed my PCP with the insurance company and go to see my husband's a doc - an internist. (Husband calls and begs me in, explaining that I am not in very good shape and need help.) The new doc immediately put me on 100 mcg of levothryoxin and asked why my PCP did not do this as soon as he got the test results back. I explain the whole thing and I am so relieved to actually find a PCP who has an idea about how to deal with bypass patients.
New doc also tells me that the NSAIDS old doc had me on for cramps could kill me, that the idea that old doc had about them being okay for me just a couple of times a month just wasn't accurate. Yay.
So now I have been on meds for this for a grand total of four days now, and I already not only feel beter but have lost a little bit of weight again for the first time in a couple of months.
Weight this morning: 191 (again - finally)
PS - all that crabbing about not being able to sleep before... poor husband.... it wasn't really his fault at all.
I had given up, you see.
I had problems and I knew it. I have tried repeatedly to get in to see my surgeon, making perhaps five trips to Johnson City to see him, to try to get answers to my questions about why I feel tis way or that, why my weight loss had slowed down to such a crawl early out, etc. This past trip was during Christmas break - I call his office and very clearly explained why I wanted to see him. I haven't seen him since I was in the hopsital, I explained. I don't feel well. I am not losing weight - as a matter of fact, I have *gained* at only eight months out, despite only eating about 1200 calories a day. My PCP does not know how to deal with my since I have had my bypass, and he constantly refers me back to my surgeon. The appointment clerk sounded horrified that I had not see the doc since I was in the hospital, and she promised me an appointment with him on the only day that he would be in the office over my holiday. Great! Maybe I would get some answers.
I showed up with my notebook of questions and went to the window sign in. When asked for my check, I declined to hand it over, suggesting that it would make it far easier to wait until we established that the doc was really, actually going to see me - especially last time he wasn't even in the office I had to argue to get my copay back.
Guess what?!? That's right, he never even came in at all that morning, and his office didn't bother to pick up the phone and call me, saving me a THREE HOUR ROUND TRIP for apparent reason. I just thanked to the girl at the front desk (somewhat snottily, I'll be the first to admit) and left. Husband stood there and clowned a bit, loudly explaining to the crowd in the waiting room that once you were paid up by the insurance company then you were on your own.
So by the middle of January I am back at my PCP, complianing about the same problems that I was bitching about in October: serious fatigue, major irritability, insomnia, lack of weight loss, mental fog, difficulty concentrating, lack of motivation on all fronts, and now, very irregular periods as well. I told the doc that I was there for a referral to an endocrinologist as I was certain that there was something wrong hormonally. Doc said that was fine and that he was not going to send out my regular labs to include a thyroid test as it had already been tested "out the yin-yang" before I ever had my surgery. I had been talking to two ladies that I work with, and they were very insistant that I should have my thyroid tested - BOTH levels of it. So I asked the doc to do so, telling him to please just humor me. It wouldn't hurt anything and just might ease my mind. He agreed, wrote down "mood disorder" on my diagnosis page, and offered to increase the wellbutrin that he had put me on in October. I declined, explaining that it wasn't doing anything at all for me. He said that he would call with my results that next day, and yes, he would check both levels.
No one called on Tuesday as he said, but Wednesday the nurse let me know that my appoinment for the endocrinologist was for March 28th and all of my labs were just fine, except that dlkgjhsdfkgjhsdklfjhg. Pardon? Can you slow down, please? I want to make sure that I understand everything after the "except" part, as I am pretty sure that just might be something important (ya think?). Turns out my TSH level is 5.89, but that's okay, the endocrinologist can get me straightened out when I see her in March. His nurse also tells me that they very thoughtfully faxed the results of my bloodwork to my surgeon. WTF? I had just gotten through explaining to this man that I couldn't get in the see the surgeon, that I hadn't seen him, and probably was never going to get to.
The endocrinologist will start me on something in MARCH?!? I am supposed to just keep feeling like this for another two and a half months because the doctor says that he doesn't know what to do with me because I am a gastric bypass patient? I am a patient with a thyroid problem - this has nothing to do with my surgical history.
So the next day I changed my PCP with the insurance company and go to see my husband's a doc - an internist. (Husband calls and begs me in, explaining that I am not in very good shape and need help.) The new doc immediately put me on 100 mcg of levothryoxin and asked why my PCP did not do this as soon as he got the test results back. I explain the whole thing and I am so relieved to actually find a PCP who has an idea about how to deal with bypass patients.
New doc also tells me that the NSAIDS old doc had me on for cramps could kill me, that the idea that old doc had about them being okay for me just a couple of times a month just wasn't accurate. Yay.
So now I have been on meds for this for a grand total of four days now, and I already not only feel beter but have lost a little bit of weight again for the first time in a couple of months.
Weight this morning: 191 (again - finally)
PS - all that crabbing about not being able to sleep before... poor husband.... it wasn't really his fault at all.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Day 253 - As the Tummy Rumbles....
I think that my lower belly must be full of rocks - at least it feels that way. I am definitely F.O.S as things just haven't been working out right for the past couple of weeks. For a good long time, I had a lot of success eating a spinach salad every day for lunch and taking a couple of colace, but it seems like the charm of that has worn off, despite increased fiber and water as well.
I've gained (are you getting this - GAINED???) seven pounds in a week and a half, but at least three of them came back off, leaving me at 195 yesterday morning.
Husband and I have a new hobby - woodcutting. No, we aren't carving, but rather we have been selling firewood. He does most of the work during the week as his job gives him a lot more flexibility than mine, but we're out there every weekend getting a load or three, and I took off a day last week just to go cutting. It's funny to me that things that were so heavy just a month or two ago are now getting plumb light, and it is so easy to drag things around that used to just plain herniate my fat ass. LOL I've put on a decent amount of muscle, and I realize that is partly responsible for the weight-loss slowdown, but I sure would like to see the scales move again. It seems that I have been stuck forever.
On the bright side, this past month I bought my first size 14 jeans since I was in JUNIOR COLLEGE. Yay! While I hope that this isn't "it", I sure am glad to be here than where I was a year ago.
Highest weight: 294
Weight yesterday morning: 195
Weight last week: 191
Current size: 14/16
I've gained (are you getting this - GAINED???) seven pounds in a week and a half, but at least three of them came back off, leaving me at 195 yesterday morning.
Husband and I have a new hobby - woodcutting. No, we aren't carving, but rather we have been selling firewood. He does most of the work during the week as his job gives him a lot more flexibility than mine, but we're out there every weekend getting a load or three, and I took off a day last week just to go cutting. It's funny to me that things that were so heavy just a month or two ago are now getting plumb light, and it is so easy to drag things around that used to just plain herniate my fat ass. LOL I've put on a decent amount of muscle, and I realize that is partly responsible for the weight-loss slowdown, but I sure would like to see the scales move again. It seems that I have been stuck forever.
On the bright side, this past month I bought my first size 14 jeans since I was in JUNIOR COLLEGE. Yay! While I hope that this isn't "it", I sure am glad to be here than where I was a year ago.
Highest weight: 294
Weight yesterday morning: 195
Weight last week: 191
Current size: 14/16
Thursday, October 11, 2007
A Rant
I love the man, I really do, but I just can't take it.
The past month or two, I couldn't figure out what was going on - I would get on my broomstick every morning and fly to work, then come home and be totally, um, witchy. I've been depressed, exhausted, and moody, totally unable to concentrate, and I actually started worrying about my mental health. I went to the doctor and got a prescription for ambien and wellbutrin, thinking that maybe I was having biochemical problems with depression or something, especially when I put all of my symptoms together.
I am the kind of the person who can sleep through almost anything and not wake up, but once I am awake, then it's over - no going back to sleep for me. I guess that's what has made it so hard for me to figure out just what has been going on. I wouldn't wake up enough to realize just what was happening on the other side of the bed.
Last night was my second night with sleeping pills, and I really did expect to get a good night's sleep for a change. I even suspected that I had been *dreaming* that I was waking up. After all, I was taking a SLEEPING PILL, for God's sake! Anyway, last night before I went to bed, I was pretty determined that I was going to make sure that I was really waking up and not just imagining things. So at one this morning when I looked at the clock, I made sure to roll over and rationally evaluate, "Yep, I am awake." I managed to go back to sleep that time, but when I woke up the second time at 2:45, I wasn't as lucky. I lay there and listed to the snorting, snorting, moan-and-groaning (complete with roll-over motion) until I couldn't stand it anymore. I got up and went to try to go back to sleep on the couch, but it was just too late - I was really, really awake. (Did I mention that he puts out so much heat that I cook every night? Body heat isn't just it, either - we have an electric blanket with dual controls, and he cranks his side up then radiates heat like a furnace.)
I used to wonder why older couples would have separate bedrooms or even separate beds. I used to love to snuggle up to DH, and now I am wondering if I am ever going to be able to sleep in the bed with him again, especially since this has been going on SO long and it's been so bad that I have gone to the doctor to get MEDICATED to deal with the effects of it.
Geez. I dunno what I am going to do!!!!
The past month or two, I couldn't figure out what was going on - I would get on my broomstick every morning and fly to work, then come home and be totally, um, witchy. I've been depressed, exhausted, and moody, totally unable to concentrate, and I actually started worrying about my mental health. I went to the doctor and got a prescription for ambien and wellbutrin, thinking that maybe I was having biochemical problems with depression or something, especially when I put all of my symptoms together.
I am the kind of the person who can sleep through almost anything and not wake up, but once I am awake, then it's over - no going back to sleep for me. I guess that's what has made it so hard for me to figure out just what has been going on. I wouldn't wake up enough to realize just what was happening on the other side of the bed.
Last night was my second night with sleeping pills, and I really did expect to get a good night's sleep for a change. I even suspected that I had been *dreaming* that I was waking up. After all, I was taking a SLEEPING PILL, for God's sake! Anyway, last night before I went to bed, I was pretty determined that I was going to make sure that I was really waking up and not just imagining things. So at one this morning when I looked at the clock, I made sure to roll over and rationally evaluate, "Yep, I am awake." I managed to go back to sleep that time, but when I woke up the second time at 2:45, I wasn't as lucky. I lay there and listed to the snorting, snorting, moan-and-groaning (complete with roll-over motion) until I couldn't stand it anymore. I got up and went to try to go back to sleep on the couch, but it was just too late - I was really, really awake. (Did I mention that he puts out so much heat that I cook every night? Body heat isn't just it, either - we have an electric blanket with dual controls, and he cranks his side up then radiates heat like a furnace.)
I used to wonder why older couples would have separate bedrooms or even separate beds. I used to love to snuggle up to DH, and now I am wondering if I am ever going to be able to sleep in the bed with him again, especially since this has been going on SO long and it's been so bad that I have gone to the doctor to get MEDICATED to deal with the effects of it.
Geez. I dunno what I am going to do!!!!
Friday, October 5, 2007
Time Marches On - Day 193
Yes, time keeps moving, and the scales barely do. Still, husband tells me not to complain as I am going down in measurements and sizes. Being a woman, however, gives me a license, and I plan to take full advantage of that, even if it is only here.
I did quit smoking, and it was not very pleasant, as I am sure you can imagine. I used Chantix and quit smoking after about four days on the meds. I took the pills for just a little over two weeks, until feeling like a poster child for unwanted side-effects, I put the pills to the side and decided to weather it out all on my own. After all, two weeks of not should be enough to break the cycle, right?
Side effects, you ask? Ewwww.... they were monstrous! I was exhausted, extremely nauseous, and still pretty-short tempered. I think that I was waking up on the average of three to five times a night, but the dreams, while vivid, were not a real problem. In the past two weeks since I stopped taking Chantix, I am still having difficulty paying attention and sleeping through the night. I am not nearly as tired all the time, but I am having trouble sitting still, etc. I am showing many of the classic signs of ADD, but I am not sure if this is related to quitting nicotine or if it is my natural state and the nicotine used to mitigate that. I dunno.
Anyway, here are my stats:
Highest weight: 294
Weight this morning: 197
Current size: 16
I did quit smoking, and it was not very pleasant, as I am sure you can imagine. I used Chantix and quit smoking after about four days on the meds. I took the pills for just a little over two weeks, until feeling like a poster child for unwanted side-effects, I put the pills to the side and decided to weather it out all on my own. After all, two weeks of not should be enough to break the cycle, right?
Side effects, you ask? Ewwww.... they were monstrous! I was exhausted, extremely nauseous, and still pretty-short tempered. I think that I was waking up on the average of three to five times a night, but the dreams, while vivid, were not a real problem. In the past two weeks since I stopped taking Chantix, I am still having difficulty paying attention and sleeping through the night. I am not nearly as tired all the time, but I am having trouble sitting still, etc. I am showing many of the classic signs of ADD, but I am not sure if this is related to quitting nicotine or if it is my natural state and the nicotine used to mitigate that. I dunno.
Anyway, here are my stats:
Highest weight: 294
Weight this morning: 197
Current size: 16
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Day 166
My weight loss has slowed down A LOT, but I have finally made it under 200 pounds for the first time since I was in college! Yay!
I started taking Chantix last Wednesday, and I am already feeling the effects from it. I am not smoking nearly as much, and they taste pretty gross when I do. I also have the nausea and fatigue, but interestingly enough, I don't have headaches - I'm rather light-headed instead. Pretty weird, huh? Wonder how long I'll have to take this med... I really don't like it, but I have to do something about smoking! I have bronchitis yet again, and my skin and circulation need all the help that they can get.
I have all kinds of new lines and stretch marks that I never saw before now, and I while they are not *that* noticeable, I can see exactly what I am going to look like when I do get all old and wrinkly. Between my respiratory issues and my skin, I really do have to do something. There's no sense in going through everything I have done the past six months to get healthy only to kill myself with Marlboros, you know?
Highest weight: 294
Weight this morning: 199
Current size: 16
I started taking Chantix last Wednesday, and I am already feeling the effects from it. I am not smoking nearly as much, and they taste pretty gross when I do. I also have the nausea and fatigue, but interestingly enough, I don't have headaches - I'm rather light-headed instead. Pretty weird, huh? Wonder how long I'll have to take this med... I really don't like it, but I have to do something about smoking! I have bronchitis yet again, and my skin and circulation need all the help that they can get.
I have all kinds of new lines and stretch marks that I never saw before now, and I while they are not *that* noticeable, I can see exactly what I am going to look like when I do get all old and wrinkly. Between my respiratory issues and my skin, I really do have to do something. There's no sense in going through everything I have done the past six months to get healthy only to kill myself with Marlboros, you know?
Highest weight: 294
Weight this morning: 199
Current size: 16
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