rstone115
Hair Loss
Oct 12, 2010
As a former cosmetologist and as a person that has psoriasis, I have studied for years on the subject of hair and skin vitality. To my knowledge the loss of hair is common after major surgery due to the stress on the body and to a lesser extent, anesthesia. Loss of hair is called alopecia and this type is known as telogen effluvium. In most cases the hair returns to normal within a growth cycle. That can be a long time however, depending on many factors. Some things you can do nutritionally to aid the process are an increase of protein in the diet, which should be no problem in the case of a bariatric patient. Supplementation including Omega 3 fatty acids, B complex as well as additional B 12 and up to 3 mg of Biotin daily. Other supplements include folic acid, collagen, and my favorite bamboo silica. As far as I’m concerned bamboo silica is one the best things I have ever found to keep my psoriasis at bay and keep my skin looking great and I recommend it to anyone with dull, dry hair. Unfortunately all of these things are systemic and will take time to appear in new hair. Hair is being constantly replaced so eventually you will notice a difference.
There are a couple of other products that I like to recommend and they are Doo Gro Stimulating Growth Oil and Proteinex-18 Liquid. The Doo Gro I found at Walgreens, it’s a blend of botanical oils, no chemicals, and I like it just for my skin, but supposedly it helps stimulate hair growth and that is what it is intended for. The Proteinex-18 Liquid is actually recommended for bariatric patients to help in healing after surgery and as a means of increasing protein intake without having to ingest additional food. Some people can’t stand the taste of it, but it’s only a tablespoon at a time and it’s not that bad.
So there you have it, I hope someone gets some use out of this information, but remember I’m not a Dr. or a Nutritionist and you should always research on your own to find out what is best for YOU!
My heartfelt thanks for reading and my best wishes for everyone’s success.
HUGS, Russell
Fear of Failure - I Don't Think So!
Oct 12, 2010
I’ve tried my entire life to lose weight and be a normal size and each and every countless time I’ve failed. I’ve had moments of success that were swiftly met with crushing failures, i.e. losing a bunch of weight and thinking that I had finally won the battle only to be faced with defeat some months later when I had regained all the weight that I’d lost, plus more, because I let my guard down while I was in my moment of glory and confident in my success. So, ultimately, failure is all I’ve known when it comes to the subject of permanent weight loss and rather than a fear of failure I have developed an expectation of failure because that is what I’ve learned to be true from my experiences.
I’ve never been normal weight before so why should I expect it now? Well, because this is a whole new game, that’s why. I’m having my digestive system rewired and my stomach reduced to the size of a thumb. I read something the other day that stated that some people’s stomachs are able to hold up to 16 cups of food and I’m pretty sure I’m one of those people. I immediately pictured my big 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup that I sometimes use when I’m cooking and in my mind I lined up four of those bad-boys filled with food, it’s pretty shocking if you think about it. But, with a new game comes new rules.
I know that even with surgery I cannot expect to give up the battle, but now, I’ll have the big guns on my side. This is going to require a brand new perspective and that is going to be the key to my success this time. I know I have the discipline to be successful, I mean after all I’ve lost hundreds of pounds throughout my life, I know some diet books by heart, and If you laid out a portion of food in front of me, with one glance, I could tell you how many ounces it weighed and how many calories there were in it. I’ve gone Vegan, done fasting and had colonics. I’ve taught myself to love exercise and have faithfully made payments to one gym or another for ten years and actually went in and used the facilities and still do 4 or 5 days a week.
So, I have to ask myself, why am I still fat? Because, obesity is a disease that I’ve had since I was about 8 years old and more realistically one that I was born with. It has no cure. It’s something that I will have to deal with until the day that I die. There is no viable temporary solution to the problem and I use the words “temporary” and “problem” purposefully because it is a problem when you can’t function and your life is diminished because of your weight and without permanent intervention, failure to heal is inevitable.
Now this is where the new perspective kicks in; THIS IS A TOOL! I’ve heard those words so many times in my journey to educate myself on WLS and now they finally make sense. I have a medical condition that requires constant and diligent treatment. Just as someone with type-one diabetes requires insulin for the rest of their life and must test their blood and maintain blood sugar levels every day without fail or face certain death and just as a paraplegic person uses a wheel-chair to get from one place to another and can’t decide to “cheat” one day for the fun of it, or, consider also the patient with a pacemaker in their heart, they wouldn’t just have it put it in for a little while and then take it out because they were tired of dealing with it. These are all permanent medical conditions that require attention for the rest of the patients’ life.
I am a patient now also. I became a patient when I went to the seminar held at my local hospital and decided that I wanted to seek treatment for my condition. My prognosis is very good and I’m expected to be able to live a full and vibrant life. How lucky is that! The only thing I have to do is follow the rules set out by my Doctor, eat protein foods first, don’t drink with or close to my meals, get some good movement in daily, take my vitamins, and get in 64oz of water, I think I can handle that. There are probably a few things that I will never be able to do again, like eat real sugar birthday cakes at a party or slather a bunch of butter on a hot loaf of sourdough bread while sipping on an oaky, buttery chardonnay, but that’s ok because there are going to be lots of things that I’ll be able to do that I’ve never been able to do before, like go shopping for clothes anywhere I want or ride on a roller coaster with a friend, go for a walk without wanting to die or fly on a plane comfortably. Compared to the “Can Don’ts” (lol) the Can Do’s win hands down, really!
So, armed with my new perspective, new tool and a battle plan, I think I’ll have reason to be optimistic this time around. No fear of failure, no expectation of failure, only a new outlook on a new game with new rules and new tools. I love it!
My heartfelt thanks for reading and my best wishes for everyone’s success.
HUGS, Russell
Introduction (first blog post)
Sep 21, 2010
I’ve been obese all of my life except for a few times that I worked and starved and exercised till I was ready to drop. Still even after all that effort, and as many of you know, the weight comes back on when we can no longer keep up the regime that we dictate to ourselves. The resolve fades away and the excuses start to fly. The last time I lost weight was around the year 2000 when I was turning 40. I was determined that I was not going to be a fat 40 year old. I was very successful for a time. I got my weight down from about 380lbs to about 240lbs in a little over a year. The diet that I was on was a low carbohydrate diet that honestly made me feel like crap, but the pounds came off and I stuck with it. I was able to maintain my weight loss for a time and then I started to develop pains in my joints that would keep me awake at night. After a while the pain got really intense and the workouts stopped. I had to use all my energy to get to work and keep my house clean. Within a span of 4 years I would be bed ridden and weigh 456lbs.
I was in immense pain constantly and exhausted from it. I was finally diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis in 2006. Since I could no longer hold a job I had to fight with the Social Security Administration for disability. It took a lot of perseverance but I did win in the end and with that came good medical care and a very slow recovery process. I see now that I had gotten into the habit of eating a lot of meat and cheese with the low carbohydrate diet. Without the exercise, as well as adding back in the chocolate and “diet “sodas and the pasta and whatever else you feel like, because you don’t feel good about life or yourself, it’s a combination for disaster. The only thing that saved me was that I was also still in the habit of having fruits and vegetables and salads. I would have fruit for breakfast a nice salad with some tuna for lunch but then in the evening it was a free for all. I’ve always been a big time night eater. Don’t forget dessert.
I’ve used food as a comfort for my pain and as a friend and source of entertainment. I’ve never been one for “junk” food; I like to eat quality food, but let’s face it, just because a bag of potato chips is kettle cooked and organic doesn’t make it the best food choice or negate its calories. I love to cook and have always gone to the farmers markets and top grocery stores for the best food available, but when you come home and cook a dinner for 4 and you are the only one eating it, guess what, you are going to get fat.
I knew that if I was going to salvage my life that I would have to do something drastic. It was then that, after years of deliberation, I decided to have gastric-bypass surgery. Through Youtube, support groups and the classes that were required prior to surgery, I observed all kinds of people regaining their lives, improving their health and losing all the weight that was holding them back. It certainly was an exciting prospect, you go in have a little surgery and then you’re skinny, only not so much, it isn’t little surgery it’s major surgery and there is nothing easy about it. You have to be totally committed to the process for the rest of your life. It’s a tool to help out, not a magic cure. The diet that follows is strict and if you do not follow it you are faced with a little thing called dumping syndrome which I’ve been told is akin to child birth on the pain scale.
Amazingly, somehow, even with my new found resolve, I still wasn’t quite convinced. I thought, I knew I could somehow manage this problem with sensible eating and exercise even though I had been trying for nearly 40 years. Still, I canceled my surgery and I decided to embark on yet another diet. Well, yet another diet didn’t work and I can’t play this game anymore. I need to resolve this issue once and for all. I have scheduled my surgery for November 10th and I’m really ready now. I’m actually excited and for the first time the excitement is louder than the fear. I’m tired of missing out on life, tired of making excuses and tired of feeling bad all the time. I don’t think there is an hour that passes that I don’t think about how fat I am and how life would be different if I wasn’t so heavy. There is a very dull quiet voice in my head that I’ve gotten very good at tuning out but I know it’s there. It’s there when I open my closet door to get dressed in the morning, it’s there when I go to the pool and I’m walking across the deck and wondering what people are thinking of me, it’s there when I go to the store and put the cookies in my cart and it gets really loud at the checkout when I’m wondering what the cashier is thinking of the food I’m buying. The voice is there when I get in my car and the steering wheel rubs on my belly and there when I go out to eat and have to ask for a table because I know that I won’t fit into a booth.
I’m trying to imagine the day when that voice has nothing to say. That will be a great day and I know it will come to pass, but I have to make it happen. The voice will only be silenced through action. I will embrace the process and make friends with my rewired intestines. I’ll be nice to my pouch and treat it with care. I will look at food in a new light, no longer will it represent a reward or friend in times of need, it is fuel for my new life and that’s all.
"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up"
My heartfelt thanks for reading and my best wishes for everyone’s success.
