Discocactus

I'd just like to add that if you wonder why you feel so light on your feet, do some concreting. Those 45 lb bags of cement are REALLY heavy to move about!

well when I had it done (at Oclinic in Australia) they had a team with a nutritionist and a psychologist as well as the surgeon. You should go for an initial consultation with a multidisciplinary team and talk to the psychologist. Also you need to know how many operations the surgeon has done and what their record of complications is. My surgeon was happy to discuss this with me: he had done over 100 operations with no leaks. When I had a question about the complication of reflux after the op he talked my through his procedure and how he avoids this complication. Another possibility is to find the team you're interested in and see if you can go along to a meeting of the support group to ask people about their experiences after the surgery by that particular surgeon.

Later on, every morning you will put on your (now) several sizes smaller clothing or you will look at your now smaller stomach in the mirror and you will feel happy instead of depressed. The weight of the world will be lifted off your shoulders. You will walk up hills and work in the garden with gay abandon. food will no longer control you. Your addiction will be finished forever.

meggspeggs and KatyL The twist in the stomach was non-existent according to the surgeon when he did the endoscopy. He said the sleeve was perfect. Re anti-reflux, I have used the pills without success. Every so often I try something out, for example I tried fish n chips the other night. Had a small serving but it was a bad experience. Also had a very bad experience with sushi even tho' rice is supposed to be only problematic with a band. I don't understand why I tolerate muesli bars fairly well. Maybe the fat is not easily accessible. Anyway the surgeon doesn't have any bright ideas and I'm not sure he believed me in the beginning anyway.

Just to put the geriatric view (I'm 61), I really enjoy putting on my (much smaller) trousers these days. I can do both legs without holding on to the wall. Or as Billy Connoly says: you know a man is sober when he can lay on the floor without holding on. I enjoy the fact that I am off antiinflammatories for arthritis and can now walk up steep slopes. I enjoy not having to pay A$200 a month for medications (this is the Australian medicare system where standard meds are no more than A$32 a month). I enjoy being able to go to the local woodworking men's shed and work solidly for a couple of hours. I enjoy the fact that work around the house is now not daunting - I can now contemplate the painting and concreting I have to do. I also enjoy not struggling with the 10 minute walk to the train station in the mornings. I am happy that my risk of stroke and heart attack is now a lot lower. And generally, the constant regret and self recrimination at being morbidly obese has left. Also the constant barrage from the TV about obesity no longer affects me. I believe I am less prone to sadness and depression now because my self esteem has increased. The trade off for me is intolerance to fats, oils and carbs. But - hey! - you can't win 'em all!

Thanks for your prayers. I am thinking that VSG creates what they call learned food aversions (LFAs) and this is tied up with taste and, from what you say, smells. Fortunately not ALL foods do this. I will have a look on the net to see if there are any standard cures for LFAs other, that is, than time. Bill

Renee Will have another scan Aug 16 but my surgeon is not hopeful although the scan showed a twist in the stomach. Thanks for your thoughts. I will post the results of the endoscopy if it is a help to others with long term nausea/learned food aversion (LFA) issues. Bill

4 months out and still naseous eating solids. Vegetable soup out of a can is fine. Fats and oils bad. Sometimes the thought of food is enough. Cheese is bad. Smoked salmon is bad. Even averse to dry crackers now. My surgeon says it's not gastroparesis (paralysis) due to vagus nerve damage. My theory: If they feed rats a new food and then make them ill with radiation, they develop a food aversion. In people eating something and then getting stomach flu makes them averse to the food. Cancer patients on chemo develop food aversions. So: What happens when you do major surgery on the stomach: you make us very ill so it's not surprising we develop food aversions. The scientists say this happens at a deep level. It's not rational. Like when they want coyotes to stop eating sheep they put out poisoned lamb. The coyotes then stick to rabbit and when they see a sheep they run the other way. Trouble with gastrectomy is that people get a range of other problems and get nausea due to the surgery so it's hard to separate the causes. Anyway, that's my explanation but I don't think I'll bother trying to convince any doctors 'cos they just look at you with that blank stare. The thing about food aversions tho' is that they take a long time to change. Just ask parents of picky eaters! I hope this strikes a chord with others of us who are still nauseous long after the healing has finished.

Thanks Erin92. I am 14 weeks out and food makes me nauseous. Scans for problems negative.My surgeon thinks I'm unique. My GP thinks it's psychological. I too would just like to be able to eat a small piece of something without a stomach reaction. I'm starting to think the medical profession knows less about this operation than they make out. Fats oils beans smoked salmon are worst. Even that taste of oil can cause nausea. That's why my surgeon thinks it's all in the mind. Liquids are not too bad but I easily become averse to foods but even normal people have strong food preferences. I wish I could avoid eating altogether. They say time cures everything but then, they would say that, wouldn't they?

I read a paper some time ago where they looked at the shape of the stomach after sleeving and found that those with a banana were OK but if you had a pouch at either end you could have problems with reflux. I questioned my surgeon before I had the sleeve 10 weeks ago as I was concerned about this. He said that the stomach has a natural twist which the surgeon needs to take into account when doing the cut to end up with the desired shape. I'm still taking Nexium and Maxolon just in case for nausea but I believe things are finally improving; also in the BM area. My problem is that the only thing I can count on not to make me nauseus is red wine!

Great topic this! I am 8 weeks out from VSG and 60 lbs lighter. For some years my blood pressure meds have caused impotence. I have used Viagra with some success but now use Cialis as it lasts for 3 days (the medication that is, not the erection) and alcohol doesn't interfere with performance. My experience is that I have been transformed into a teenager (in terms of performance not that I have lost half a brain). My wife is pleased with the results. Another side effect is that I believe that the erection is bigger for the simple reason it is maintained at full strength for longer. I have come off one of 2 fairly strong BP meds and am hoping to reduce this further. It should be interesting to see what happens impotence wise. There seems to be some improvement already but Cialis gives you such, how shall I put it, confidence, that I may not want to stop using it. This lack of confidence also happens to men as they age, so Cialis is a bit of a wonder drug in my experience, tho' fairly expensive and needs a prescription (at least in Australia). This seems like a great topic for a clinical trial.

I've been on meloxicam (mobic) long term from pain due to osteoarthritis in multiple joints. Since being sleeved 8 weeks ago I initially cut my dosage in half and have now cut it out entirely. Mobic is a more effective NSAID that celebrex that I used previously till it stopped being effective for pain. Both of these in my experience don't give you stomach problems (like, for example, voltaren does) and certainly nothing compared to the nausea I get from eating solids with my sleeve. Just as an aside my Doc was keen for me to cut out the NSAID because of a history of angina (Vioxx was removed from the market due to effects on the heart in some patients). I expect that the sleeve will ultimately improve the state of my coronary arteries because this has been shown to happen in people in other rapid weight loss programs. So as well as feeling a whole lot better and happier, the sleeve seems to fix a whole bunch of health issues. Hope this info helps.

Thanks Tracy for the input. I guess my progress is normal then, I was beginning to think this might never end. I just did an experiment with a small vegetable pakora at lunchtime. Looks like a bite every 5 or 10 minutes might be the go.

I am 8 weeks out and happy that my shoes fit better than they used to. Also, now when I go in to have my BP checked I can cheerfully roll up my shirtsleeve, my CPAP pressure has dropped from 12 to 7.2 and I have reduced my BP meds from 2 categories of strong pills to one, not to mention the 25 kg (55 lb if you're from the U.S.) weight loss and, who knows, I may begin looking at myself in the mirror pretty soon. However, 2 weeks ago I started to break out into a cold sweat after eating a bowl of lentil soup and had to lay down for a couple of hours. My surgeon says I am unique amongst his 200 patients (that solid food makes me nauseous) and that things will improve in 1 to 4 months. I am taking Nexium (40 mg) and Maxolon in the mornings but this doesn't stop the nausea when I eat. As I would like to start watching TV cooking shows again, I wonder if what he says is true.