*jumps into the pool*

Morn66

Hello, everyone. Just thought I'd say hi...because. Not sure how active I'll be around here since what online time I have for message boards is mostly devoted to two other fannish interests...but what the heck, right?

So, me. Female, 42 years old. I'm here not necessarily to lose weight (although I need to and am) but more to track nutrition and daily weight for my doctor's satisfaction. I have a congenital heart defect that has only recently been diagnosed, specifically a leaking bicuspid aortic valve that is now severely stenotic. The doctor's mantra when I was a kid/teen was "Oh, you'll grow out of that heart murmur." Subsequent visits in my 20s/30s reporting severe exercise intolerance were met with, "Oh, you're just out of shape and need to exercise more." Because, of course, when you're severely out of breath and starting to have chest pain when you walk your dog maybe 100 yards on a flat road at a moderate pace, obviously what you need to do is exercise more. So, I gave up on doctors, basically. Only when I passed out at the grocery store a few months back (very embarrassing) and ended up in the telemetry unit of the hospital for three days with unstable blood pressure and arrythmias was I taken seriously and tests and an actual diagnosis ensued.

Since I've had this issue since birth and it's been untreated, I now have an enlarged heart with failure on both sides, with a bit of subsequent pulmonary edema and liver enlargement. Overall, it's not good. What is needed is a heart valve replacement so that, while the damage that's been done by the faulty valve can't be fixed, at least the tide of damage will stop. But first the doctor wants to see if we can address some of the other issues with medication and diet modification so that I can be a bit healthier going into open heart surgery, so that there will be less risk of the surgery killing me. So, here I am.

You know...Rereading that is depressing! :laugh: I want to emphasize that I'm not depressed or upset by this. More than anything, I'm relieved that I'm finally being taken seriously. What was upsetting was being told that I was having these symptoms just because I was overweight, so, essentially being told "It's all your fault." Or, worse, being told that I have a life-long history of syncope ("passing out") because I'm a woman and "women get over-emotional sometimes." Right. Even though I never passed out when I was "emotional." So, really, I'm happy about being diagnosed FINALLY, and I'm optimistic about the future, although as I said, I want to be healthier going into surgery.

That's where this place comes in. Because I am in heart failure and am retaining fluid, I need to ditch sodium as much as possible. And because I have some liver damage, it's been recommended that I drop animal protein from my diet and reduce protein in general. So, although I've been mostly ovo-lacto vegetarian all my life, never having eaten red meat or fish/seafood (Seriously, never) and only having some chicken breast when eating out if there was nothing else for me to eat and I didn't feel like eating Yet Another Salad, I'm now vegan. Not for any "ethical" reasons but simply because eating animal protein makes an already-damaged liver work harder than eating plant proteins. And it's funny because when you say you're vegan, the first thing people say is, "But...protein..." And I laugh because, now, I actually get far more protein than I did as an ovo-lacto because I'm eating A) better and lots of beans, lentils, and quinoa, which have a ton of protein. In fact, too much for me sometimes, as I'm supposed to get, for now, 40g or less a day. And that could go lower if damage continues.

Anyway, that's my story, I guess. I'm here mostly to make sure I'm not eating too much protein or sodium while still getting the other nutrients I need. I'm doing a lot of actual cooking now, avoiding processed/packaged foods and soy as much as possible, mostly because of sodium content. My diet ideally needs to be high carb/moderate fat/low protein, and I'm using the tools here to figure out what's going to work best for that, given what I like to eat. Weight loss is actually a very secondary goal and, with a misbehaving liver, is likely to happen no matter what I eat, if the damage cascade doesn't moderate/stop. So my goal is to eat to make my two failing organs as happy as possible so that my condition doesn't get worse and maybe even gets a little better. And then, once I have and recover from surgery, I can start exercising again. Whatever weight loss happens in the meantime is just a bonus.

That said, since "going vegan" on Jun 1, I've lost about 25 lbs. And that's with no exercise because, right now, exercise is dangerous for me. But, like I said, weight loss (and, unfortunately, a degree of malnutrition) in my condition is somewhat inevitable, and I don't recommend it as a weight loss method.

What I'm hoping to find here, I guess, is perhaps other vegans who aren't vegan for any ethical/ecological reasons at all. (Because if there are others besides me, we seem to be a very rare breed! ) Also, it'd be nice if there are other people here who have heart and/or liver failure who are watching their nutrition. Perhaps we can trade resources/recipes and such. Other than that, I'm hoping to participate in some discussions. I like civil arguments, and there sometimes seems to be quite a bit of bickering here. Which suits me fine.

Ta-ta for now!

jollyjoe321

Good luck with it, might have to try this new "vegan diet" :devil:

Haha, just kidding, but I do also agree with your bit about bickering, we all love a good fight

Welcome!