WLS Center E-Newsletter

A FREE publication from
http://www.WLScenter.com

Hosted by Barbara Thompson
Author of:
Weight Loss Surgery:
Finding the Thin Person Hiding Inside You.

Hello Everyone,
I am from Pittsburgh and a Steelers fan through and through. In fact, my first goal after I had my surgery was to not weigh more than the Steelers football players! It would bother me when they first announce the players at the beginning of the game that most of them weighed less than me. I always think of professional football players as being big bruisers! Well, I guess I was a big bruiser too! But not anymore!

In the recipe section below, I have a chili recipe that you can have on Super Bowl Sunday.  I hope you enjoy it. Go Steelers!!

In This Issue

* Your Medicine Cabinet: Safe Remedies for Colds or Flu
* Hospital Experiences
* Girl Scout Cookies Revisited
* Biking to Honor All of Us
* Recipe: Super Bowl Beer Chili
* Success Story: Juanita Logan
* Research Study Info Requested

We are in the middle of cold and flu season. If you have caught a bug, you may be confused about which over the counter remedies are usually acceptable or not for us to take. This article from my book, “Weight Loss Surgery; Finding the Thin Person Hiding Inside You” will guide you through.

Taking Pills Post-Op

It is important to continue your prescribed medications  post-op. But you may be concerned about taking pills that are large fearing that they might get stuck.  You can try crushing your pills and putting them in something like a little bit of applesauce.  Or you can buy a pill splitter to cut them in half.  However, be careful if you take timed or sustained released medication.  Check with your doctor or pharmacist to determine if the medication you take falls into this category.  These medications are not designed to be crushed and can release medications too quickly into your system. 

Timed and sustained release medications may no longer be the best choice if you have had gastric bypass surgery.  These are designed to slowly break down in the stomach and intestines.  Because of the change in your anatomy, they may not be absorbed correctly.  Immediate release medications seem to be better suited for gastric bypass patients.  Talk to your doctor about this.

Also, be sure that your primary care physician understands how rapidly you will be losing weight.  Many conditions are drastically improved soon after weight loss surgery including high blood pressure.  Your physician needs to monitor your medicationsso that they are correct for your changing needs.  A patient from my local support group was on blood pressure medication and about a month or two after surgery started complaining of dizziness and feeling faint.  When her problem was isolated, her doctor discovered that her high blood pressure medication was now too strong for her, causing her blood pressure to drop too low, making her feel faint.

In general, any non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug is not acceptable because they tend to cause bleeding and stomach ulcers. 

The following list is a general guide to over-the-counter drugs.  Be sure to check with your own surgeon to ensure that he or she agrees with these recommendations.

Hotel Experiences

Have you checked into a hotel and had a bad experience because of your size?  Were the front desk personnel less than helpful or insulting? Was your room so far away from the elevator that you could hardly make the trip down the hall? Was the furniture or bathroom design or fixtures not accommodating? Then drop me an email and share your experiences or thoughts with me at Barbara@WLScenter.com.

I have been invited to address the hospitality industry and would like to share with them your experiences and also your suggestions on what would make your stay better.

Super Bowl Beer Chili

1 (12 ounce) can beer
1 (46 ounce) can V-8 juice
1 (8 ounce) can kidney beans
1 (8 ounce) can chili beans, mild or hot
1 (8 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 pound ground meat  (You can substitute the vegetarian ground “meat”)
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper (optional)
1 (8 ounce) package of chili seasoning mix

In a large Dutch oven, brown and drain the hamburger. Add the remaining ingredients except the chili seasoning. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. When simmering, open the chili seasoning package. There are 4 packets in the package.  Add the chili seasoning package first, stir. Add the salt package to taste, stir. Add the cayenne pepper package to taste (the entire packet will make the chili very hot and spicy), stir. If you like thick chili, add the mesa flour following directions for your desired thickness. Let this simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Turn the heat to low and continue cooking for up to 40 minutes longer.

Makes 8 servings.
Each serving: 239 calories, 19.6 g. carbohydrates, 4.5 g. fiber, 15.3 g. protein

If you have a recipe that you would like to share in future issues of this newsletter, please send it to me at Barbara@WLScenter.com

I want to offer a special thanks to Juanita Logan for sharing her story. 

Hi Barbara,
Thanks for all the inspiration you give me. Here is my story.

I'm 47 years old. I had Roux-en-y gastric bypass surgery on September 14^th, 2004. It had never entered my mind to have this surgery but I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, severe asthma, sleep apnea, and allergies. My heart doctor said if I didn't have this done I wouldn't live much longer. My heart was getting weaker all the time. So I fought with my insurance company for five months and finally got approved.

I started gaining weight in the early 1980’s when I was diagnosed with severe depression. Of course the side effect of the medication was weight gain. Every pill they added after those made me gain more weight. I tried every diet known to man, but when my heart got bad, I couldn't take diet pills of any kind. Not that they would help anyway.

I've been made fun of a lot over the years. Family members would never fail to tell me how fat I was. Wonder where the depression came from? My brother called me names as a teen and I wasn't even really fat then.

After my surgery in September 2004, my father and mother both fell ill. Taking care of them caused me to lose more weight than I should have. I weighed 272 pounds when I first weighed in. I needed to lose 117 pounds but I lost 140 pounds. I now weigh 132 pounds.

My surgery has been a great success. I would do it again, but my heart never got any better. It is stable for now and I do feel better. I got off of all asthma medications, all breathing treatments, and all antidepressants. I was off of all heart medications, but was recently put back on a small dose.

I wore a size 26-28 and now I wear a size 6-8. That is a huge difference. I like myself now for the first time in years. I hope that I can keep the weight off, but sometimes it scares me that I might regain it. But I do have good support where I had surgery. Even though I can't make it to a lot of meetings because of the distance, I can communicate by email to them when a problem arises.

Keep up the good work on your web site.

Juanita Logan from Kentucky
Juanita@setel.com

Congratulations Juanita

I love good news.  If you have good news, a success story to share, or inspiration, please send it to me at Barbara@WLScenter.com so that I can include it in future issues.