CowgirlJane

It sometimes feels like the new procedures get us all excited - but do even the surgeons know the consequences? I too was sleeved in 2011 and continue to do great. i was very aware of the reflux thing - and in my opinion that is the biggest negative of the sleeve! Alot more people seem to be impacted, but in truth studies that I saw even back in 2011 indicated that around 20-30% of sleeved patients have significant reflux issues over the long haul. Sometimes it is controlled by meds, sometimes not. It seems to peak in the 3-6 year post op timeframe. I am only 4 years post op, so who knows, could still become a problem.... i keep my fingers crossed. I don't really understand the stretched sleeve problem as that is not something i have really seen in research. I know that I have a much larger capacity than i once did, but I think that is expected/normal. I know a couple of people that are many years out from bypass, and they eat bigger meals than I do. I am not sure if it is stretching or what. I know from my own failed band experience that over time, the surgery itself becomes a much less effective tool - I am imagine this to be the case with other procedures too. I had completely incorrect expectations when i was banded, but was fortunate to have good education with the sleeve. Bottom line, at 4 years post op the restriction still helps me, but I could very easily eat enough to regain. I think many others have the same experience. there are alot of DSers on the plastics FB group I am on. Considering that surgery is very malabsorptive and the most effective for the very high BMI - I am sometimes surprised that those patients aren't thinner. However, not sure they all work too hard at restricting their eating like I do. I wonder if they are also prone to reflux given that step one is essentially a "sleeve". I don't really know. To be honest, i don't really understand the difference between the standard and "mini" bypass. What I do know is that procedure is constantly evolving. I think that both offer the reflux relief which is probably the main benefit, right? If you feel the least bit unsure, i think it is worth it to take a breath, read some research studies, discuss further with your surgeon perhaps even consider a second opinion so you really know what you are getting into. I hope you get the relief and improvements you are seeking though!

Yes, diets are fattening. Sent from my KFJWI using the BariatricPal App

I have to laugh...lately my life has been a country western song "if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all" Sent from my KFJWI using the BariatricPal App

@@CBT lol! Pain meds are IB and percoset. Heat makes it worse, I have not tried cold yet. What works best and maybe this is my imagination - but being heavily drugged and trying to doze. The pain is like a knife stab in the lower ab, pain is deep inside....that spreads from there around the back and abs. I am doing ok, maybe about a 4 - 5 pain scale right now and my back is really achy too. If it gets worse...might consider the handstand option. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using the BariatricPal App

After having the same primary doc for 10years...I tend to hang on too long...it was remarkably easy to replace her when she didn't support WLS and in fact displayed a general ignorance and unwillingness to listen. She hadn't even heard of the sleeve... made me wonder if she kept current with modern medicine at all. Your BMI is 52, which is considered high ( mine was 52 also). An outstanding bariatric practice with good results, ongoing support and education and a billing staff that knows how to work with insurance is way more important than primary doc on this subject. Don't expect your primary doc to be that we'll informed. My initial info was from my sleep apnea doc. First doc that had the guts to tell me, in a compassionate way, that I was dying prematurely. He had good knowledge of the obesity disease process and why I was beyond"diets" and needed WLS. After i got to goal I mailed him before and after photos and wrote him a letter of thanks. His prodding me to have an open mind saved my life.

I think that hormone drop, 500 calorie starvation diet. I lost about 30 in a month before going nuts. I believe I set some kind of regain record...all back in3 weeks and another 10 eventually found me ! That diet was promoted to me by a naturopath..I lost a little faith in t h em as a result. It was sheer misery.

Ok, got the "triage call". They were fully booked but due to reports from hospital getting me in at lunch hour tomorrow. Yeah!!! Here is the bad news, pain is ticking upward. I accelerated last dose of meds by an hour because I was starting to cry. I plan to make it and avoid ER but I have about 19 hours till appointment... Also got more details. I have either 2 big ones or one REALLY big one. Scan was unclear on that.

Tough day...worked while high on percoset. I let the pain get to bad and started vomiting and crying about midday. Thank goodness for mute button and percoset. Now exhaustion and need a nap. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using the BariatricPal App

Part of our own transformation is to learn to be comfortble in our own skin. i can assure you that when my skinny minny girlfriend is told she is too skinny, she just nods and smiles as she is polite. It is her body and other people don't really get a vote and she doesn;t give it another thought. Just to be clear, she is healthy, just a skinny person and everyone seems to have an opinion. I have said it before, people that I meet NOW tend to think i am just right because it is all they know... it is only people that knew me obese who seem to think I am too thin/too fat or whatever.... I sometimes feel like I am too big because I wear a med top and recognize how much smaller so many women are. But truth of the matter is that we are all built differently and as long as you look healthy, and natural for your frame, people don't see you as too heavy or too light - unless they knew you before that is!!! It is very freeing to just know you are fine and the other stuff rolls off a bit easier.

I had a lifting restriction for the first 6 weeks - can't recall, but it was like 8 pounds or something. Think about it, vacuuming, ,mopping etc you are doing the equivelant of lifting quite bit more than that! one of the risks is adhesions which could give you issues in future ab surgeries.... so take it easy for a bit. Slow easy walks, no scrubbing floors and windows just yet!!!

I would look for --- what makes dinner different. i would suspect eating too fast, pushing too hard on foods your tummy isn't ready for or some other commonality. I believe it is NOT normal to vomit daily after a meal. I don't think I vomited 4 times in my first year, much less in a single week.

I cant add much EXCEPT it has been my personal experience that what you need to do varies alot over time... be prepared to keep evolving!

I object to the basic premise that it is primarily a male - female division. As a manager in corporate America I have much experience and classes on communication. there ARE distinct communication styles and not respecting those can lead to much much misunderstanding, negative feelings and poor "results". A specific example, there are people who simply cannot "hear" a message unless they have received, absorbed and understood the details. There are others who really cannot process the details unless they have the big picture. Put those two together and they can be constantly frustrted and ineffective. My job as a leader is to make sure that these two styles on my team both get what they "need" to be maximum contributors. As it relates to personal life- not exactly the same - but it is the realization that not everyone "hears" what we think what we are saying is really important. Being good listener, a good communicator is a skill that needs to be nurtured. It doesn't need to be complicated. I went on a dinner date about a week ago. I had a nice time, he said he had a nice time, but neither of us has pushed to see each other again. From my end, I felt like i had been on a job interview. I wasn't offended, but it did not trigger in me any attraction or feeling. From his end, he mentioned that he wondered if I was "open to love". I think what he was really sensing is that I perhaps wasn't open to being grilled on the very first meeting. As time went on, i was less and less interesting in filling out the checklist (it wasn't a physical checklist, but i FELT like it was a checklist.) In my view, this was very telling - I don't get along as well with the linear thinking engineer types - and he was communicating in no uncertain terms that is what his personality is. So, while I think he might have misunderstood the mismatch - there was definately a mismatch!

I always weigh about 5# lighter my primary docs scale than my home scale. It doesn't matter, a scale as a measure is for trends.... I say pick one scale, once week, same time of day, same clothing as your official weight. It doesnt matter if it doesn't match a different scale, different time of day, different clothing etc.

That missing port... after 10 years... was one of the strangest feelings for a few months. it does pass though...

I am a fellow "non tracker" but i genuinely believe you need to weigh, measure and track everything so you are working from facts, not feelings about how much you are eating. I realize that message is not welcome but it is the truth. It might be you are eating more carbs than you realize, maybe you arent eating enough. Maybe the times of day is the problem (eating late for example) but it is all guessing unless it is accurately tracked. I had something similar happen when I was about 7-8 months post op, and I was still eating well, but small changes got me back to losing that 10-12 pounds a month and get me to goal. I lost 150# in 14 months, even with my short little detour of minimal losses for a month. I personally believe that a stall is more like that natural fluctuation in Water etc where the scale doesn't accurately reflect the changes. What i experienced was not a stall, what I experienced was weight loss slowing way down, way too early in the process. I am a fellow "non tracker" but i genuinely believe you need to weigh, measure and track everything so you are working from facts, not feelings about how much you are eating. I realize that message is not welcome but it is the truth. It might be you are eating more carbs than you realize, maybe you arent eating enough. Maybe the times of day is the problem (eating late for example) but it is all guessing unless it is accurately tracked. I had something similar happen when I was about 7-8 months post op, and I was still eating well, but small changes got me back to losing that 10-12 pounds a month and get me to goal. I lost 150# in 14 months, even with my short little detour of minimal losses for a month. I personally believe that a stall is more like that natural fluctuation in water etc where the scale doesn't accurately reflect the changes. What i experienced was not a stall, what I experienced was weight loss slowing way down, way too early in the process. I am a fellow "non tracker" but i genuinely believe you need to weigh, measure and track everything so you are working from facts, not feelings about how much you are eating. I realize that message is not welcome but it is the truth. It might be you are eating more carbs than you realize, maybe you arent eating enough. Maybe the times of day is the problem (eating late for example) but it is all guessing unless it is accurately tracked. I had something similar happen when I was about 7-8 months post op, and I was still eating well, but small changes got me back to losing that 10-12 pounds a month and get me to goal. I lost 150# in 14 months, even with my short little detour of minimal losses for a month. I personally believe that a stall is more http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/362211-is-this-a-stall-or-is-this-is/like that natural fluctuation in water etc where the scale doesn't accurately reflect the changes. What i experienced was not a stall, what I experienced was weight loss slowing way down, way too early in the process.

I called again... you will love this. I will hear back from the medical assistant within the next 48 hours to determine where I am on the "triage" and getting an appointment. Wow, who knew urologists were such a rare breed that you must be screened to get in. I am going to make some more phone calls. Meantime, i am a little woozy on pain meds, trying to work and noticing that the knife wound feeling stab in my lower left gut is holding steady... not better but not worse I was hoping for better. Keeping fingers crossed as I do not want to be back in the ER!

My photos are conservative - no cleavage shots at all. I tend to wear bodycon clothing as a style preference - not hoochie, but not baggy shapeless clothing either. I don't have any of those kind of photos either. My big thing is to have CURRENT photos and i get annoyed when people have outdated and inaccurate photos.

In a way it is a little insulting - to assume that just because you meet their superficial "looks" approval that you should of course have someone madly in love (or lust) with you. I mean seriously - maybe I just havent found one who met MY criteria. Actually, there is a little truth to that..... I am not superficially picky but i am very picky on the deeper issues. Not willing to settle.

Mine are over the muscle - which is not considered good by all plastic surgeons. i dont have any visible scarring as they were able to do this just via the nipple. I know that mine look and feel much more natural than some women have. My advice is to make sure your surgeon's "asthetics" align with yours. also, be sue that you get multiple consults... that guided me alot in determining size etc. I was told the same thing that many hear - that people regret going to small. I had plans to go much bigger than I did until a woman PS asked me how I would feel about needing to wear a large top considering that my butt is like a size 2/4/6 range. She made a compelling case once I looked at it from an overall "look" perspective. My lover at the time tried to talk me out of doing it at all. He said something that influenced me too... I was on my way to a vacation in NYC - and he told me to notice all the 60 year old women with huge implants and with age and weight gain, perhaps look way heavier due to the implants. I did notice it, and recognized with my body type,i could someday look like that - which i didn't care for. Even though my implants are small, I am considered big breasted in my circle of friends and get more attention about it than I would actually prefer. I am one of those who does NOT regret keeping the implants a modest size. Just another voice to the conversation - it is a very personal decision.

i too was interested in this... but more from a motivational/life changing messaging. I didn't really pursue it as I have a fulltime career already. I do feel that there is much to talk to people about beyond the surgery itself, beyond the food plans, beyond the short term view. Much of that may belong in a therapy setting - but I do think there is a big picture message here that someone who HAS successfully transformed their life can communicate better than any therapist I have ever met.

So pain meds over night helped. However, it is almost 8 am and pain is returning.... I am trying to work and pain meds are not conduscive to that... I am on the phone at 8 am to that damn urologist's office. If they won't take my call, I will find a different one! This is ridiculous... no wonder healthcare is so expensive. They are pretty sure I need treatment, it won't pass on its own, they couldn't deal with it in ER and the expert they sent me to is apparently too busy to answer their phone or to call me back and return my message. I really don't want to be back in the ER due to the pain and vomiting - that was a terrible experience AND it is just wasteful from a healthcare point of view. The nurses sort of implied they expect to see me again soon.

Well, the 3rd gentleman added the remark that was along the lines that I didn't belong in the same "pool" as others he'd met...or something like that. What I want to say is something quite different than my actual reply. .. I said "I found you this way, so can't be all bad" I am developing a theory...people assume that if a woman looks good compared to the competition (ie same age group, same location. .whatever)... that you have hot guys tripping over each other to ask you out. That has not been my experience. I have had much older and very out of shape (and let's not forget married ) men pursue me but not exactly a stampede kf those who interest me. It has also not been the experience of my pal who is a genuine knock out and looks way younger than her 50 years. She blames it in her inability to make small talk...but I think just in general it is a false assumption. Maybe I am off base, maybe it is a unique "seattle freeze" thing but it is the experience. Anyway I do have 2 follow up dates in the works and so far managing to do this and have fun, not become jaded or tired of it. I have way improved my screening so only meeting reasonable matches which helps. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using the BariatricPal App

Sounds like fun! I have never been to Vegas, I would love to go!! Funny story,I was suppose to go to Maui with pals in Feb but had to cancel due to surgical complications recovery. Last week I was at happy hour with friends and as I am prone to do, I chat with all as I head to the ladies room. A couple of older married guys who like talking (safe, harmless flirting, I have met the wives etc) were talking about a Feb trip to Hawaii so I told them my woes. Mike lights up and says "you should go alone, YOU'D have a great time and no lack of company...and what happens in Maui stays in Maui". I couldn't help but laugh! Truth is I am terrible about this sort of thing, I wouldn't hook up with any one..although I'd probably converse with dozens!

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/362162-the-second-most-painful-experience-of-my-lifeomgthis-was-bad/ Is the link to my current nightmare. It's 1am, and I am awoken by the pain. Loaded up on the IB and percaset, still hurts like hell. They warned me I may be back in ER for the pain...damn, this smarts of an epic proportion. I had no idea I had an issue until about 24 hours ago. So Tuesday night I had Chinese food. I normally avoid since it is greasy breaded, gross. My date suggested I try this place which was quite good. He and I split an entree -see I like this guy already - and so when I first awoke I thought I had greasy MSG gross food cramps but quickly realized this was a whole nother ballpark of pain. I thought I'd been poisoned, possibly stabbed with a knife from the inside. Kim, anxiety is a complex condition. I definitely believe certain activities and situations are triggers. There are alot of small things that provide some relief. Compression garments like a Spanx cami can help for example. Deep breathing exercisies. Many people swear by vigorous exercise but there is evidence that it tends to amp anxiety up over time.