It has been eight years today since I had my Open Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass surgery. I lost 97lbs. I gained numerous health issues, including severe malnutrition, peripheral neuropathy and hypotension. Would I do it again? No. Would I have weight loss surgery again? Yes, probably. But I would go with a restrictive procedure such as the lap band and not a malabsorptive procedure. I was only 100lbs overweight and really didn’t need to go so extreme.
As Melting Mama, my WLS cohort who is suffering from seizures now will tell you, we are at higher risk of kidney stones, but should be restricting our calorie intake while upping protein and lowering carbs, which may lead to kidney stones. Hmmm… And she’s also awesome at explaining how we sometimes screw ourselves over by eating very small bites of CRAP all day long rather than real meals. The crap makes us sick and/or full so there is no room for real meals so we cannot eat properly. Doh! We are also at a higher risk of fractures, especially in our hands and feet. On the plus side, we have HIGHER sex drives!!!” Woo-hoo. 
Melting Mama also has a great post on whether obesity should be considered a disability (she says no and I agree). The reality is that even though the gastric bypass itself is responsible for some of my problems, I, too, make choices. I drink a diet soda or coffee (usually one of each per day) when I should be drinking water (although I do drink a ton of water). I should be drinking more protein shakes than I do. I should be better about taking my HUGE calcium horse pills. Generally I eat well but I could be eating more (sounds weird but if I ate 5 small meals a day, my metabolism would work better). I’m in pain and some of my pain is the direct result of my own choices. The other pain is the result of vitamin deficiencies due to a surgeon with no follow-up program and misinformation about the type and frequency of vitamins I should be taking. Instead of taking the two Centrum and two Citracal each day as recommended by my surgeon, I am now taking a Bariatric Advantage multi twice a day plus B12 shots, Iron with Vit. C, four Citracal, dry Vitamin D, and a variety of other pills my homeopathic guy recommended. So I’m pretty much shooting pills all day every day. And I drink a TON of water. Makes it hard to have room for food.
Hence today’s problem. Been dizzy and suffering from vertigo since yesterday. I think it’s low blood sugar or low BP but I’m not sure. I haven’t been able to eat much without feeling a pain in my belly. It was about this time last year that I was in the hospital after tying my stomach in knots so perhaps my belly has muscle memory? LOL. Dunno but it is no fun. Shared a HALF of a turkey sandwich and a cup of soup with Pumpkinhead last night and barely ate the turkey and a few spoonfuls of the soup and felt like I was going to die. Today all my skin is on fire. WTF?!?! 
So I’m hopeful that this is just a weird WLS anniversary bleechiness/hypoglycemia/low BP yuckiness and not some more new nastiness heading my wa
