Medications.

Hola. (: Como estas?

^^ I love takling in spanish. Random fact. <3 haha. anywhoo.

Medications. Big topic regarding weight loss, weight loss surgery, and just general health.

Metformin is a miracle drug. There are other meds out there similar to it that I have heard work well, though I havent tried them so I cant say. And only your doctor would know whats right for you. I've been on metformin since i was 9. (Metformin or Glucophauge, whatever you want to call it. the technical name for the one i have is Glucophauge, but they're the same thing.)

I'm on blood pressure medicine. A generic form of Aldactone that starts with an 'S', that i cannot spell nor pronounce to save my life. It works pretty well, im ona lower dose of it thati think probably needs highered... The nurse at my school the other day took my blood pressure and it was 156 over 98.. not good. i don't know. Ill mention it to my endocrin next month.

I'm also on Loestrin lowdose birthconroll, i think the tablets are 1mg. one a day. for hormone replacment, cause i have PCOS. the pre testosterone chemical (i forget what its called.. androgens i think)  are fairly high.. This med isnt doing much for me and my endocrin is talking about swithcing me to Yaz.

I'm on cymbalta for depression.. No depression med seems to do much for me. I'm just naturally  mellow quiet person, and my family seems to ahve this idea anti-depressants are supposed to be personality changing.. Sorry about their luck. lol. ive been on prozac, effexor, and now cymbalta for depression/anxiety.. none really did anything, although going too high on effexor made me a complete bitch. i was soo moody and easier aggrvated that usual. -- that was changed quickly. lol.

For weigt loss surgery: i was put on vitamins. I'm gonna be put on more after surgery, but currently they have me on Vitamin D tablets (1000 units once a day) and a multi vitamin.. i forget the dose and if im suppsoed tot ake it twice a day or not.. i dont, because those really upset my stomach.. Taking them together, or even seperatley but if i take either in the morning its agonizing.. Im not sure why, my family doctor whom i asked about it said the multi vitaim, iron, could upset my stomach. but other than that she wsnt sure. so i just take them before i go to bed.

thats pretty much all im on right now. so in closing:

Metformin: 850mg 2x a day.
Aldactone: 50mg 2x a day.
Loestrin: 1mg tablet 1x a day.
Cymbalta: 20mg 2x a day.
Vitamin D: 1000 Unit tablet, 1x day.
Multivitamin: 1x a day.


And a steady diet of painkillers.. I have three little brothers whom play instruments. headaches are bound to happen. lol.

So basically, the point of this is to give anyone an idea of what the medicine end of this is like. After surgery youWILL be on vitamins ther est of your life. theres no way out of it. So if you can't commit to that, don't even think about surgery.

don't try to get ahold of any of this on your own either, talk to a caregiver. Family doctor, endocrin, GI, etc... and see what they say. they know your medical history and knwo what would be best for you. and if yous econd guess them, its totally okay to go get a second opinion from another doctor! I've done that lord knows how many times.. My parents have too for their own medical issues.

So yeah, thats about it. <3

-ashley
twitter.com/justashley1637

rant-ish post.

Okay, so its been a few days. On Friday I missed the support group meeting. My moms GPS died, and we totally got lossed. Everyone we called gave us wrong directions and we turned around eventually cause by the time we would find it it would already be completely over. Which sucks. I really wanted to meet some of the other kids.

Random thing I noticed today: For bigger girls, personally, for me anyway, I like to have other features to accentuate since im not very proud of my body. Ever since I was little, people ahve complimented me on my natural hair color. Its strawberry blonde-ish. mroe blonde than strawberry, lol. but it has like natural highlights from the sun and stuff. I always change up the cut and stuff too.. I have it kinda long right now.. heres a picture:

http://i54.tinypic.com/f5toy.jpg
Except, that was the day i got it cut and the stylist styled it for me.I can never get it as nice and straight as it is there, no matter what products i use or how much time i spend straightening it.

So i do best i can, its usually wavy-ish. and frizzy. very frizzy.

I used to have it cut shorter. last summer i had kinda a taylor momsen-esque cut. more volume on top thinner at the bottom, side bangs, etc..it looked really cool. and my hair didnt wave and frizz up as much then. So i'm thinking about chopping it all off.

^^wow that was random. anywho, yeah.  this is kidna just a random filler blog.. But some kids at school today were making stupid comments about fat people and saying we're all smelly and sweaty and eat twinkies and shit.. stereotypes suck. I hate them. But in reality, i wish people would realize, we're just like them. its not like we have some mental disability or are just flat out stupid or from another planet or somthing.

Personally (I've talked about this with one of my friends before too, shes plussized aswell.), Im obsessive with being clean.. like I have to wash my hair every day. brush my teeth obsessivley, redo my hair and makeup all the time, deoderant, perfume, hand sanitizer, etc... So is my friend. Its weird. Ive been around average sized people that smell TERRIBLE and just make me want to gag.

i hate when people dont realize that stereotypes are exactly what theyr'e called. stereotypes. People have come up to me and said to my face 'quit eating the stupid twinkies and maybe you'll lose some weight'. They dont realize ive dieted and exersized regularly pretty much my whole life.. I dont eat half as much as most people do. Its annoying. People really get on my nerves sometimes.

I dont know, this was just kinda a rant. i'll be back to regular posting tonight or tomorrow. (:

Doctors, Needles, and Medicine.

I feel bad for the inside of my left elbow.. I've lost count of the amount of needles that have been stuck there since i was little. it's always the exact same spot, in the same vain. i have a pernament scar, no lie. either there, my right wrist-ish area.

I just had more bloodwork done to check my electrolites or somthing? I don't know, I was really tired, I wasnt really paying attention. But cause of the surgery I had to start taking Vitamin D, and a multi vitamin.. I have since learned, taking those both in the morning with all my other meds does NOT go over well with my stomach. So they ran some bloodwork at my primary care doctor just to check nothing else was going on.. So im gonna start spacing out my meds a bit more...

I'm on wayyyy too many meds. I heard after surgery soem people get off of some of the meds.. I hope i do too. Obviously not the vitamins, buut blood pressure meds or metformin and things like that that I'm on.

I'm weird.. the lady thought i was crazy cause i wouldnt look away when she put the needlei n my arm... I have this weird facination with looking.. Im paranoid if i dont.. if i look, ih ave no issues and barely feel it.. i used to freak out when i was little,w ith needles and stuff.. But since ive been taking my bloodsugar and getting tests and blooddrawn and shots and stuff since i was 5.. shots even before that, ive gotten used to it. They're really not that bad. Although it hurts in  your wrist.. I had a glucose tolerance test done there.. that hurts like a mother effer.

ANYWHO.
Tomorrow i'm gonig with my mom to a support group meeting so I'll meet other familys of teenagers and teenagers that have had, or are going to have bariatric surgery at the same place I am.that'll be interesting. i'll also see a cardiologist down there during the meeting, they'll be talking about, well, heart stuff the flyer said.

And i think next week i have an appointment on monday with my psychiatrist.. I'm on cymbalta for depression/anxiety. just started that about a month ago so we'll see how thats going. I don't think its doing anything.

My bloodsugars have been through the roof the past few days. I came home early on monday from school, didnt go on tuesday, i went yesterday, then stayed home today.. I've felt terrible..

My moms an RN (registered nurse) and thought it might be my aldactone (bloodpressure med) making my bloodpressure low.. but it wasnt.. not at the doctors anyway. 120 somthing over 72 i think... which is normal for most people.... before i started the blood pressure med i was running like 170's over 90's... not good. not at all. So im glad my bloodpressures at least being controlled.. My surgeron said when i first met with him he wouldnt do surgery till that was under controll. So im glad thats fixed.

Anddd my mom needs to call the sleep center and set up a sleep study.. They have to check for sleep apnea. I've never been tested for that. My friend did, and said basically they keep an oxygen thing on your finger and a camera on you while you sleep.. Can't be that bad.

So yeah, thats about it. I'll check back in later, peaceee<3

-ashley

Testingg.

im sitting here in school bored, so im trying to update this through text.. we'll see how this goes.

anywho testing. the tests that youll probably have done before surgery or being accepted would be:

*fasting bloodwork

*ekg

*ecocardiogram

*glucose tolerance test

*endoscopy

*sleep study

And maybe a few more.. id suggest seeing an endocrinologist before you consider surgery, as they may be able to rule out other things that may be causing theexcess weight such as thyroid or hormone problems. And they’d probably get some of these tests out of the way. My endocrine is the one who sent the referral for weight loss surgery.

so yeah, just a quick update. ill probably update later when i get home, so i dont have to keep texting. this is hurting my hands, haha. kay, later.

~Ashley

twitter.com/justashley1637

PS: the texting this didnt go over very well.. i just finished editing it a few hours later.. It send the message in like 5 partsd so it was broken into 5 different posts... I need mobile internet. haha. so yeah. byee.

My Stats, and Timeline so far.

Name: Ashley
Age: 15
Height: 5'3"
Weight:248
Highest Weight:276
Bmi: 43.9
Skin: Super Pale.
Hair: Dirty/Strawberry Blonde
Eyes: they change.. usually they're a greenish/teal.

My BMI when i first applied for wls was almost 49. Ive dropped 30 pounds this year on my own with a durastic medicine change.. but its slowed down and im still getting the surgery as of now.

I first looked into it in january 2011.. Did some research, talked to my parents, and my grandpa.. Looked over soem of my health records..

Heres the thing: I've been battling IR (insulin resistance) my whole life.. I was diagnosed aruond the time i was 7.. I showed symptoms of it though many years before that.. My parents say they noticed around the time i was 3. When the doctor who origionally diagnosed me and treated me moved away, the new doctor that 'replaced' him (I use that term lightly.. he doesnt do nearly the job my former doctor did, and isnt technically certified to have the job in my opinion..), didnt do much other than continue to perscribe my glucophauge and have a weigh in every 3 months..

I brught it up with my Primary Care Doctor with my mom and they were hesitant.. Just because im 15 and they werent sure if i was emotionally stable enough to go through with it.. I have Depression. Technically my diagnosis is Dysthymia i believe. But we already had set up an appointment with an endocrinoligist, so we figured wed bring itu p with her and see what she thought, because my family doctor didnt feeel comfortable making a referal.

Lets just say, the endocrin was more than enthusiastic that I knew what i was takling about, did my research, and understood things about it and was more than happy to send a referall.. She had looked over my records and pervious attempts.. and knows the program im going through very well. She has had other kids go through the surgery and do great. So she sent the referral.

Within a week or two I had recieved a package in the mail with information to fill out. so I did. it was basically paperwork regarding health stuff, and you had to answer essay questions to send in.. and mail copies of insurance card(s) to check for pre-approval. So i did as it said. In the packet, was included a folder that I still have.. giving me information about weight loss surgery and their program.

Within another week we got a call saying One of the two insurances im covered by, had approved me. for the consultations, anyway. and they set that day for april 5th.

I was kinda bummed, I had Ke$ha concert tickets for that night. And they said it'd be an all day thing, and the place is a little over an our away.. So i had to sell the tickets.. But I was super excited i was getting the consultation.

[I'll talk more in debth in other posts about what the consultation and different appointments consisted of. This is pretty much just a timeline.]

So at the consultation, it wasnt just me. other kids were there with their parents aswell. we werent in the same room or anything but i met one family. The guy was pretty nice (: But anyway, so they saw more than just me that day. It was a nurse, the surgerion, a medical doctor person, dietician, and psychologist.

They told me on thursday they were having a meeting to review all of us kids and talk about who they thought would be a good canidate for surgery. and so they did.. i gota  call on friday (they left a message..) saying to call them back.. But by the time my dad got home from work it was too late to call back, so we had to wait till monday :(.

First thing monday morning I made him call, to find out that i was in fact approved. They thought i was a great canidate for WLS. I can honestly say i dont think ive ever smiled so big in my life.

They scheduled the next appointment for May 10th, at one. So since its about an hour away, I just stayed home from school that day and me and my mom got lunch (Panera, my favorite. <3) and we left on our hour long drive to the hospital.

Basically it was just another meeting with similar people.. The same nurse as before, same dietician, and a Social worker.. no surgeon or psychologist this time. The social worker was on maternity leave last time, so i didnt get to meet her. So I caught her up and everything went smoothly.they told me about tests they were gonna schedule.

They called just another day or so ago to schedule some tests, but already scheduled the next pre-op appointment on June.. 16th? i think? don't hodl me to it. sometime in june.

They're gonna do an endoscopy, ekg, eko, some more bloodwork and a sleep study to check for sleep apnea. my endocrin ordered another glucose tolerance test, anddd I think i have to visit a cardiolosit..


The way my insurance is (they're very familiar with the program the hospital has set up for teen bariatrics), you have to visit them three times before surgery. then after the three apointments and arrangments have been made, someone has to write to the insurance company for a final approval. After they respond (which ive been told happens very quickly, with the particular insurance i have..) they schedule surgery.. theres not much back up.. They said theyd be able to have it happen pretty quickly, if everything with pre-op and insurance and the testing goes smoothly.

So I'm pretty much off the hook untill school lets out.. Where I will have a bunch of tests.. I'm gonna be living at hospitals. Im volunteering at my local childrens hospital this summer, every monday. That on top of all the tests and stuff? geesh. haha.

but yeahh. Thats pretty much how it happened. the process started mid january 2011, and its mid-may now. I hear all these stories about how people have to wait years for insurance companies and testing and such.. Im SO happy everythigns moving so quickly and smoothly. <3

First Post.

Alright.. So, I decided I'd keep a blog through my journey of, well.. Life, I guess. I've started these numerous times before, but I always end up deleting them. I think they sound stupid or no one will care, or read them. But I just decided it doesnt matter. I'm gonna post anyway, because i know someone out there could benefit from some of the stuff ive learned.. am learning.. and will learn.

I'm in the pre-op phase on the journey of weight loss surgery.. for teenagers!
who would've thought this option would be available for teenagers, right? But i did my research, i dont even know why the thought came into my mind a few months ago... I guess just seeing the number on the scale and hearing doctors talk about how bad my health is really got to me.. I hear someone on the news talking about weight loss surgery and just for the heck of it, looked up online info about it and came across a story about a teen getting weight loss surgery.. And there it sparks my curiosity even more.

Soo this blog will pretty much just be full of tidbits of information i find out, learn, venting, anything really.. pictures probably too. I see blogs and stuff adults have kept about their weight loss surgery journeys, and thought i might aswell.

Soo here we go. (: