Rootman

I was being wheeled into the operating room for the most life changing surgery I have ever had - my VSG. I've lost over 170 pounds form my highest weight - that I know of, the last "official" weigh in I was 375 pounds and I KNOW I weighed more for a while after that, I was spiraling out of control and eating like a cow. I dreaded the scale so much I refused to weigh in, till I arranged off my VSG and started my self imposed 2 week pre-op diet. Would I do it again? YOU BET! It's not been easy, it's not been pleasant at times but it HAS been WORTH IT. If you have not had WLS surgery and are thinking about it, as I always state it's YOUR decision, but PLEASE, PLEASE make SOME decision. Do something about this killer obesity, even if it's just diet and exercise, please do SOMETHING. You WILL be better for it. So I am going to Celebrate - by NOT eating something

As mentioned, any place that has soup should do you. If you want a soup that has bigger chunks in it ask if they can run it through a blender for you. I asked for this a few times and got weird looks and told "I'll check" and they always did it for me.

Congrats, we all wish you the best in your new adventure!

I've chimed in on a number of these hair loss threads. I do not hold to the various supplements that report to stem or cure hair loss. I don't think that they work. Be that as it may, I would advise real caution if you take these, especially with the dosages that are being pushed. Taking so much of any kind of supplements could possibly lead to bad consequences. I know that it's a prescription but many people who took Propecia for hair loss really regret it : http://www.drugs.com/sfx/propecia-side-effects.html There are things that are WORSE than losing some of your hair.

2 years out and still freezing - far more than when I was thin to begin with. I am convinced it is SOMETHING other than just weight loss that does this. I was cold directly out of surgery h weight loss.

I've had the sinus drainage issue, even had it post-op. Yes, the snot pouring dow the back of your throat does make you a bit sickly feeling. It may be a bit paindful to vomit immediatly post-op but subsides for most people after a few weeks or months as you and your tummy heal. It may sound strage but I find it far easier to puke now then before. I rarely have to but when I do typically it's just once and very fast and is all over. Your stomach is just so much smaller that there is not much to vomit. Pre-op when I had to barf I would get the dry heaves and have a lot of discomfort. Now I don't.

It is quite unusual NOT to lose hair. The massive diet change and post operative shock casue the body to change from pulling energy from food to pulling it from fat stores. The body resists doing this becasue it worked so hard to put those fat stores away for emergency use. Your matabolism slows some and your hair (and nails) stop growing as fast and some of your hair will then eventually fall out. This is due to the DIET change and post operative shock, NOT the surgery itself,. Eventaully most people recovery pretty fast and the hair starts to grow more fully again, but may not grow as fast or as full as it did before as there is not as much food being consumed and used for hair growth. Don't forget that you are aging as well and most people lose some hair as they age.

I've had issues for decades, got worse post-op largely due to not drinking as much Water. I started using Mirilax and maybe about 6 months ago chia seeds. I take 1/2 ccap of mirilax in a small glass of water and 2 teaspoons chia seeds twice a day, mixed in a SF pudding and a yogurt. Mirilax as far as I can determine is not really a laxative, it's a hygroscopic inert plastic that adsorbs water like crazy and makes your stools softer and easier to pass. Chia seeds do the same thing. I found to much mirilax made me move too much and get cramps, teh chia seeds don't but neither made me go good enough themselves.

What ieagal said, it gets better. At one year or so you will be able to chug pretty well, maybe not as well as pre-op but pretty well.

Talk it out. If you value your marriage you will get this issue settled BEFORE your surgery. Seek professional help if you can afford it. This can be a life changing even - both the surgery and any repercussions from marriage issues stemming from it.

Abbreviated RNY, there is also a duodinal switch bypass that is less popular and comprises of a VSG and a bypass of the duodenum.

Your reasoning is faulty, the body pulls from fat reserves as the caloric intake is lessened. The body does go into a type of "starvation mode" but cannot stay in that mode indefinatly, gradully it will reassume the normal matabolism and start burning the fat. If you are obese there are PLENTY of fat reserves to pull from and you can maintain a strict diet till you reach your target or increase your caolric intake to match your bodies needs. The ONLY way you can lose weight is to eat LESS and burn MORE.

Hi Cindy and welcome to the VSG forum. It may seem slow but believe me time will fly by and you'll wonder where the time AND pounds went to.

I have to add that AFTER the surgery I told MORE people including my family and a few co-workers. After I lost enough for people to notice up till now in fact I tell EVERYONE in order to encourage them to do SOMETHING about their deadly obesity problem.

Well, some semi-legal advice: GET OFF THE INTERNET and do NOT post any more about this. As much as we'd like to help you may let something slip that your hubby can use against you and jeopardize your interests. This can be a major life, health, legal and financial issue and you are not going to get any real help on the internet. Get some REAL help next, seek advice form councilors or a help group. Talk this out with HIM, NOT us. If things escalate then secure the services of a good lawyer and decide what to do. Above all PROTECT YOUR INTERESTS - NO ONE else is going to, so YOU have to. We all wish you the best.

I did exactly that, I told my wife and no one else. For some reason almost everything I do is picked apart incessantly by members of my family and I KNEW I HAD to do this and did not want to put up with he hassle or arguments. We have no kids so there was no issue there. When I told them post-op they were all mad, despite them all being overweight and familiar with the issues of obesity, my sister had also had a duodenal switch bypass herself and lost and regained most of her weight. Do what YOU want to do, this is YOUR decision.

I'm one of the b@st@rds that tells everyone it's inevitable This is a natural result from the massive reduction in caloric intake, your body is basically going into a type of shock and cutting off some of the non essential energy expenditures - like growing hair and even nails. In fact in a few months you may notice that your finger and toe nails may develop a ridge where they stopped growing for a while. This is natural and pretty much unavoidable. There are some supplements that people pay a lot of money for but I sincerely think it is just the passage of time that matters and their hair would of been in the same shape as if they skipped the supplements and just waited. The supplements are taken in pretty heavy dosages and that's why I am loath to suggest them, piling so much on to your digestive system at this state MAY lead to issues beyond just losing your hair. I am all for taking a Vitamin, Iron if you need it B Vitamins if you need them and little else. I've often said, we here in the first world have the most expensive urine on the planet - because that's where MOST of these supplements we take end up - in your pee.

I'm doing fine, never made it to the "goal" weight I had chosen and since decided that it was unrealistic. I went from 275#+ (not sure how much I weighed exactly as I dreaded the scale, still do actually) . I got down to about 200# and my weight fluctuates between 200 and 205. I carry a lot more muscle then I used too, I swim and bike a lot now. It was the single best thing I have ever done for my health EVER.

Well, I have no suggestions other than to appeal but want to say that that royally sucks! What difference does it make how far along post cancer you are? Is your life somehow not worth as much as someone who get unlucky 2.5 years before you? Sometimes insurance "rules" just blow chunks!

I was 49 and am now 51, will be two years post-op in a few days, 12/6.

I'm just about 2 years out and STILL freezing. It is something more profound then just the weight loss, i too like the OP was freezing when I came out of surgery. I was the epitome of a fat sweaty guy pre-op, I was ALWAYS sweating, I would just SIT and sweat. Wore short sleeves year round and waited till the weather was in the 40's till I donned even a light jacket, NEVER wore a hat. Now I am cold when it drops below 70. Years ago I saw my doc about the sweat issue, we tried a prescription that made me so thirsty all the time I could not drink enough. My throat actually got so dry once it stuck together like fly paper, I was gasping for air till I managed to drink a bit. We also talked about surgery, seems that cutting the vagus nerve near the heart will cut back on excessive sweating but it is dangerous as you can have a heat stroke and not even realize you are hot so we elected to not do it. The very tail end of the vagus nerve terminates in the stomach and I suspect that some of it is cut during the VSG - perhaps this is a clue as to why many VSG'ers are so cold all the time. I rarely sweat much at all any more and when I do it's normal and not a drenching rolling sweat the way it used to be.

I'm still here, two years out in just a few days.

Dark Ranger is right on the money on this, what YOU and I call awake is different than what the anesthesiologist calls "awake" are 2 different things. You'll be doped up and groggy abut still be able to respond to instructions. The stuff they give you to finally put you under typically contains something to give you retrograde amnesia so you will not have any recollections of the past few minutes. I remember when they did my EGD I was under "light sedation" and could see and respond to things - as long as my eyes were not covered, when they placed a cloth over my eyes it was as if time stood still, they pulled it off again, asked me to do something, I did, they put the cloth back. When the removed the cloth, it was like 20 minutes later and all I could recall was the few minutes when the cloth was off my eyes. Anesthesia is weird stuff. Chalk it up to an anesthesiologist who has poor or limited bedside manner, they should tell you "You won't remember a thing" and leave it at that.

it was a good 2 months for me, felt like crap then gradually didn't. Start light exercise (with the docs approval) and drink plenty of Water. You are in ketosis and burning off fat reserves, this takes a while to get used to and really upsets some peoples well being. It will pass.

Well as you can see by the proceeding responses stuff is all over the place, some ar ein pain, some experience virtually NO pain. No matter how much you prep, how much you study and search for answers the truth is you will never know until you actually DO it. I went in it expecting the worst, besides just feeling crappy for about 2 months I really had no ill effects from it besides 3 bouts of kidney stones from not drinking enough Water to stay hydrated. I drink constantly now and have not had any for over a year.