If you've been following me on here, you know that I have been doing very well with my band for quite some time. Some people criticize a little "too" well, but I don't think losing 85lbs in 10 months is really too fast at all. It's hitting the average of 2lbs a week nearly on the dot. Some weeks have been more. Some weeks have been waaaay less. But it's been just under 40 weeks since my initial weigh in at Dr. A's (1/22) and I'm just hitting 85 lbs down from that now. Which puts me at 188, give our take a fraction of a pound. I've been holding pretty stead for a couple of weeks, so it seems. When I look back at my running log, I actually have lost 7lbs since a month ago but I've definitely stayed around the same for the past 2 weeks. Anyway, that's not actually the "trouble" I'm referring to. The trouble is, I've been having some pretty annoying side effects from the band no matter how careful I try to be. I have had days where I just cannot eat solid food and days where I can barely get liquids in. Some days (more than not) I've felt overly tight and then some days I've felt so loose I could eat anything. It's the dreaded "finicky band" that everyone talk about. I got my last adjustment of only 0.25 ccs on 10/15 and about 2 weeks after that it REALLY kicked in. I find that I don't lose weight when I'm overly tight because I can eat so little that I start indulging in things I normally wouldn't eat but they are easier than the solid and healthy foods. It's textbook really. It's exactly what they say will happen. But I don't want to get fluid taken out because I don't actually believe I'm "too tight." So what's been happening? I had no clue but I think I finally solved the mystery.
See, I've still been taking my metformin for PCOS (polycystic ovaries) and it keeps my period normal which in turn keeps my emotions in check, so even though I may not technically need it anymore, I've been doing it. The problem is, the pill is freaking huge. It's like a horse pill and even when divided in half, it's still really large. For a while, I was able to take it but I mostly did so at night before bed because my band is naturally looser at night. But then I started getting weird upset stomach and nausea around bedtime when I would lie horizontal. So I started trying to do them earlier in the day and then was having all these stuck, PB, and vomit issues. I won't go into details but it got pretty nasty. A few days ago I had been drinking liquids fine all morning and then took my pill around noon. A few hours later I decided to attempt eating (I was actually hungry for the first time that day around 3pm) but as soon as I'd taken a bite, within 30 seconds stuff was coming up. The problem was, by that point I was SO hungry that as soon as I vomited, I'd wait a few minutes and try to eat again with the same result. I tried different foods that have in the past caused me no issue but nothing worked. NOTE TO ALL: Don't do this. Don't be stupid. If you're throwing up, stop trying to eat. Yeah, I need to take my own advice sometimes. But it's such a weird sensation to be SO hungry physically and yet unable to keep anything down. Finally, I puked hard enough to dislodge what turned out to be an entire half of my metformin pill which was, to my surprise, completely solid and un-disolved. It had been sitting in my upper stomach, literally blocking the opening between my pouch and my lower stomach for HOURS. This shocked me into realizing I cannot continue taking pills like that. I have another medicine that I take daily but the pills are much smaller and never given me issue, until the next morning when I tried to take them with a protein shake that was up until that point going down smoothly. That's when something that has never happened before happened to me: within a few seconds of swallowing my pill, protein shake spewed with amazing force from my mouth and nose at the same time. I was sitting in my cubicle when this happened without warning and hope that no one around me heard (but I'm sure they did.) At least no one mentioned it and I coughed a few times to try to make it sound more like coughing and less like puking. There are still dark chocolate protein shake stains on the rug of my cube. They are a constant reminder to never do that again. So I've gotten my doctor to write prescriptions for the liquid form of both my meds. I had no idea they even CAME in liquid. She never told me. I had mentioned my issue swallowing the pills before but she didn't suggest liquid. Arg...
But the good news is, in the 2 days that I haven't attempted to take any pills, I can actually eat! I have energy, I'm not a complete bitch, AND I want to exercise again. It's amazing what a difference it makes.
On top of that, I've been making better choices again and opting for solid protein instead of ice cream and cookies once again because it doesn't make me sick to eat them. Thank goodness.
I sure hope this sticks. Now I know... most likely the pills were to blame the whole time once I got to the level of restriction I'm at now. I wanted to write about this to warn other people in case you're experiencing the same kind of thing.
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Ellen, you are doing fabulous!
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