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[TessAnn]

It's been a long time since I've been here.  I have reasons, though.    I've been in and out of the hospital and have been very ill.

Not because of my RNY, though, just to make sure that's clear.  My surgery has been a very very successful tool for me...my weight at surgery was 460 lbs, and today my weight is 205 lbs!  THAT, I'm very happy with. 

What I've been sick with is Auto Immune Hepatitus.  Basically, it's an auto immune disease a lot like Rheumatoid Arthritis except that instead of my joints my immune system attacks my liver.  It sees my liver as a foreign substance that needs to die.  It can be controlled using medications, but cannot be cured.

The one problem I'm having that does tie into my RNY is that my appetite is still pretty small and my meal sizes are about half of un-freaky folk.  My liver is damaged enough that it has a hard time keeping my albumin (a type of protein created by the liver) levels high enough.  What I need to do for that is eat a high-protein (used to that) and higher calorie diet.  It is very very strange to go from total weight loss focus to suddenly having to *increase* my calories by quite a lot. 

I wish I could say that I'm having fun with it, but I feel like I'm stuffing myself silly and really am not enjoying it.  It triggers a big bunch of fears of gaining it all back...especially considering that one of my (vital) medications is prednisone which can cause weight gain.  So far, I've been out of the hospital two months and I'm still consistently losing weight.  My goal is 180 lbs, but my family is starting to get concerned that I won't be able to maintain instead of losing if I don't start to eat more.  I'm following doctor's orders, but every time I finish a meal that leaves me almost too full, it feels like I'm throwing two years of healthy training and progress down the tubes.

I've been looking all over, and while I can find a whole lot of information on either WLS or AIH, I have found nothing from someone who is familiar with dealing with AIH after gastric bypass. 

I thought I'd check with you wonderful people and see if you had any ideas of where I could look, or maybe even someone who has dealt with this. 

Thank you for listening to my rant...and I hope that you are all doing wonderfully!   

[baka]

Welcome back and congrats on your awesome work!

Why not use protein shots or shakes instead of food to increase the protein?

Ian

[MacMadame]

Hey, TessAnn, I also need to eat a lot during certain times of the year when I'm doing a lot of long distance workouts. What I found works the best is the following:

-Eat more often so you aren't stuffing yourself at every meal

-Eat foods that give more calories per volume

So, for example, you can have a mid-afternoon snack of no-fat plain cottage cheese that is 70 calories or you can have full-fat college cheese and put some fruit in it and double the calories for the same size of cottage cheese. But you aren't eating candy or cake or other junky foods that aren't good for you and might trigger bad habits.

[Janine Hallewell]

I was diagnosed with AIH at 19 months post op. I am now just under 4 years and we still don't have my meds for my AIH right.

I am so pleased to find someone else like me!!!!!!!!!!

[Indykitty]

I don't have anything to offer on the AIH, except that I'll be praying for you (both)!  Congrats on your weight loss though and hang in there. I think MacMadame has some good advice.  Maybe adding in some protein supplements might help too.  One of my problems is I love the protein bars and they are higher in calories than what I should have as often as I want them.  Keep us up to date.

[lesliethequeen]

I have no advice to give, just a big  Ya poor thing! Hope you are feeling better soon...and it seems like Ian's advice about the protein shots is pretty good. How else to get all the protein you need in?

Sending you good thoughts...

Leslie