Complications...

A long time blog I read had this blog topic that has got me thinking. I agree with a lot of what she wrote. But also had a thought or two myself. So I thought I'd write...

She wrote a blog on complications after having WLS. We are all different, we all have different complications after having our guts re-arranged and then there are others that don't have any complications at all. You have to understand what could be when having WLS. The changes you have to do forever. I myself feel pretty lucky overall to be healthy and yet to have many complications. And the complications I do have I believe are self induced. Not on purpose- but the foods I was choosing were making my blood sugar crash from time to time. I was also seeing I was avoiding trying to eat, which in fact my body got pissed. Last summer I was having troubles with my blood sugar dropping way to low. It happens to me when I'd eat just carbs or sugary foods. My eyes get funny, I get VERY sweaty, shaky and I feel like crap. It's a lot like dumping but I'm not over the toilet or curled up in bed, but all the other symptoms are the same sort of. I did talk to my Dr. and he told me "you need to learn to eat every 2 to 3 hours even if it's a snack or something". He told me "you have to remember what you did to your body and take care of it and treat it as such". Now my whole life I tried to avoid eating through endless dieting, so that seems wrong in a way. When I look back I was bring breads, chips and other carbs back into my life and that's when I started seeing patterns of "crashes". I still had some learning to do. Today I still have low blood sugar from time to time, but I know it's all about the food I just ate or didn't eat. I try to think about my food and keep my foods balanced. And I when I do that I feel fine. But the Dr. was right...it's about the food I was eating and also not eating. I always eat my protein first. Usually that is enough to fill me. I no longer need a lot of side foods like chips, fries, big salads and such to fill me. But I know if I sit there and eat more carbs then protein I WILL"crash" within 2 hours. It still happens from time to time these days. I never leave the house without some kind of snack that works for me. You can't just run into 7 eleven and grab a protein bar or something healthy, so I always bring it along now. When on a longer road trip I bring my cold pack with maybe a 1/2 ham sandwich and apples or grapes and protein bars for snacks now. When I feel my blood sugar dropping I make one of my whey protein drinks with soy milk or eat one of my South Beach PB protein bars. For me they have the right amount of sugar that brings me out of it and does not make me crash later by giving me too much sugar. They also only have 140 calories. I never leave the house without one in my purse.

If I had to sum it up: I guess for me being obese for the rest of my days and the health problems I knew I would suffer from out weighed any complications from surgery that may occur in my future.


Dawn's blog:
http://diminishingdawn.blogspot.com/