nailsbyniki

@@Lina123 Girl...there is no way, if I could go back, that I would ever choose again to do the revision. The doctor can't possibly know exactly how much weight you'll lose, everyone is different. I got down to 118 pounds myself...way TOO LOW! I've been on TPN (fed thru a central line in my chest) and thru a feeding tube for months now to gain weight back. I've been extremely malnourished and it was my life-line. I take all kinds of medicine and vitamins and supplements just to get by. Please do all the research and try all kinds of GERD medicines before you commit to a revision. If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask. Also there is a Facebook page called Gastric Bypass Complications that might be able to answer some too.

Hello all...I am scheduled for a gastric sleeve revision to gastric bypass tomorrow because of extreme gerd/reflux and every other option has not worked. I was sleeved originally December 13, 2012, have lost 58.6 pounds and have had several complications/procedures done since then. I'm looking for someone else who's had a revision to a bypass and not by choice but by lack of other options.

What surgery did you have?What complications, may I ask? P.S. your arms are Amazing! Thanks for the compliment on my arms...it's funny though, I think that's my worst feature, lots of excess skin...I think that might have just been great photography! Lol! Anyways my complications are almost too many to list: large hematoma with drain tube one week after sleeve surgery, severe reflux and GERD, 3 strictures with dilations, 2 hiatal hernias needing surgery, a myelotomy surgery, revision to bypass surgery, central line put in for TPN, then finally 2 weeks ago a jejunostomy feeding tube put in for nutrition. Whew!Nails by Niki - thats unreal!! Was this or majority of all your complications due to the sleeve surgery? Im so sorry youve had so many different things happening to you. Yes, I truly believe all of these complications are directly related to the sleeve surgery first and then the bypass surgery. I just had another surgery yesterday to replace the feeding tube. Ugh! Here we go once again...

Yes, girl, whew...brings back memories! Just concentrate on eating the yogurt when you're able to and just drink those Protein shakes continuously...I still do for my protein! What do you take for your reflux? I take Dexilant 60mg and it's great for me and does much better than any other over the counter or prescription that I've ever tried. I'm sure your sleeve will work for you and you'll do great! Just keep doing what the dr says and never stray! ????????

@ thanks girl...I hope you do great with your revision, never let up on your vitamins and continuing to get your protein and liquids in!

Girl...I so worry for you! Please please...whatever you do, NEVER give up on getting every bit of protein you can get in your body. You must always strive to feed yourself even if you feel like you're eating too much! Not being able to eat or gain weight and feeling fatigued and like you can't do anything at all without passing out is the worst! Take all your vitamins too! It's so necessary! Good luck to you and I hope everything works out for you! Please keep me posted!

Thanks so much! I appreciate you!

Girl it breaks my heart to hear of your tragic losses...I can't even imagine. I can't really even find words to comfort you right now...all the sayings and words that come to mind seem so trivial and cliche that I choke on them as I even start to type them. Yes you can find me on Facebook. I'm under Niki Thompson from Greenville, TX, I would love to keep up that way. Maybe by then I could find some words of encouragement for you....for now maybe time????? I am so glad you did not ever have the bypass surgery done and that you're not faced with the same complications that I am faced with now. I fear with all you have been through, you'd be much worse of than I am now. I miss hearing from you, I'm not on this site often either but found my way back since these last procedures/surgery. Please find me on Facebook. Talk to you soon!

What surgery did you have?What complications, may I ask? P.S. your arms are Amazing! Thanks for the compliment on my arms...it's funny though, I think that's my worst feature, lots of excess skin...I think that might have just been great photography! Lol! Anyways my complications are almost too many to list: large hematoma with drain tube one week after sleeve surgery, severe reflux and GERD, 3 strictures with dilations, 2 hiatal hernias needing surgery, a myelotomy surgery, revision to bypass surgery, central line put in for TPN, then finally 2 weeks ago a jejunostomy feeding tube put in for nutrition. Whew!So you had complications with both the bypass and sleeve... Yes ma'am I certainly have...double trouble for sure! Still awaiting one more surgery to stretch my stomach once I'm healthy enough again to go thru surgery. Not looking forward to that one at all!

What surgery did you have?What complications, may I ask? P.S. your arms are Amazing! Thanks for the compliment on my arms...it's funny though, I think that's my worst feature, lots of excess skin...I think that might have just been great photography! Lol! Anyways my complications are almost too many to list: large hematoma with drain tube one week after sleeve surgery, severe reflux and GERD, 3 strictures with dilations, 2 hiatal hernias needing surgery, a myelotomy surgery, revision to bypass surgery, central line put in for TPN, then finally 2 weeks ago a jejunostomy feeding tube put in for nutrition. Whew!

What surgery did you have? Gastric sleeve 12/12 and gastric bypass 8/13

Here's my before and after 100+ pounds...love the loss, hate the complications 3 years later.

I hope u get better and thk u for all the information you share. Thanks doll!

Yes ma'am a feeding tube...he says 3 months at least to get me where he wants me but I keep having these little setbacks. Like tomorrow I have to have a ct scan to see what's I my intestines as I am very bloated and distended. Yes I've taken my vitamins (and then some) but with the bypass there's a malabsorption issue to deal with. I guess it got this far because I also have a chronic migraine problem which turned into a daily headache problem, not necessarily migraines, that have plagued me for almost a year. I have had numerous neurologists try to come up with a plan to help me to no avail but then to only send me to a pain management dr who has done numerous nerve blocks, and a spinal tap to lower my spinal fluid pressure and give me pain meds. So the pain medication makes me sleep thru the pain of the headache causing me to not eat much and that combined with the malabsorption issue caused me to get extremely malnourished to the point of needing a lifeline; my feeding tube. Does that make more sense now? Btw, the headaches have been gone since the day of the j-tube surgery! It's a miracle!

@@Lisa's Hope Hi Lisa...I'm so sorry I have been gone for so long...please just send me something so I know how you're doing...I think of you often.❤️

@@Jerziegirl, @@chasingpolaris321,@, @@ausmith Hi everyone...sorry I've been absent. I have had numerous complications and procedures done in the last couple of months. I'm interested to hear whether the person with GERD working overseas has had the revision from sleeve to bypass and how she is. There has been so much going on and so much has happened it would be easier to answer questions than to tell it all but for now I am on a feeding tube 20hours a day 7 days a week and my GERD and reflux are back in full force.

@@Soexcited Hi there! Ok I'm back to the living...well sort of...I'm on this stupid feeding tube 20 hours of the day and off for four hours. You can imagine what all kinda trouble I'd like to get into in that 4 hours but really if I can get a shower in, I'm pretty lucky! Nope, no shopping, lunch dates, day trips or anything like that for me but a girl can dream, right? Anyway, I'm not sure I'm the exact one to answer any questions for you as I went from the sleeve to the bypass which is a completely different thing than going from the band to a bypass. I don't think you'd have near the complications or problems that I've had. First of all, with the sleeve they removed about 85% of my stomach, never to be seen again. Just so we know, Sleeve 101, they can't just dig it out of the trash and sew it back on! (Had to learn this the hard way.). Then when they do the bypass, they completely reroute your digestive system bypassing the stomach (which is now only 15% of the size it used to be, make you another pouch, walnut sized) and reconnect it. This causes some malabsorption issues. Bypass 101, the malabsorption issues apply to everyone...so it is important to get thorough lab work every so often and take extra vitamins where you fall short...and to continue those vitamins FROM NOW ON...(another lesson learned the hard way). Anyway...I can answer any questions you might have that pertain to me but I would probably find another poster that has gone from a band to a bypass (I don't think it would be hard to find one on here) and ask them to get better answers to your questions.

Keep in mind Bella, EVERYONE wants to get to 100%.Hi @@feedyoureye...you are one of the few posters still on here from when I was first sleeved. How are you doing; weight loss, length of time, skin excess, loss of muscle, complications?It took me 3 years to get to my goal weight. Felt fantastic! Had a very difficult year.... lost my mom, my husbands dad and my darling dog of 16 years.... among a list of other things... and ate the greif. Not a ton, I did keep many good habits. I exercised and still do 4-5 days a week, semi fast one or two days a week, still work on protein first and all those healthy habits, vitamins, doing things I love, learning new things and checking in to my support family right here. I have gained 20 pounds, the skin is pretty good, I was losing hair for around 4 of the last 5 years, but that has stopped and my hair looks different, but returned at last... waist length and pretty thick again. I am a different person in some ways, older but wiser. At this time I have kept off around 70% of my Excess weight.... higher than the average statistically which is around 58% or so I have read. Coming up on 5 years in January, I feel like a success.... sure I wish I was still at 100% but I have to tell you, maintenance is a lot harder than losing for me... and I am around 100% better off than I was before the surgery... I don't know about you, but I never lost all I wanted to before surgery, and NEVER kept it off for that long.... this is the very best I have ever managed with the sleeve, and really changing habits.... exercise and support and the other tricks of the trade.... I only make changes that I am pretty sure I can keep... no desperate diets or schemes... just back to basics, drink more water, reduce carbs a little, protein first.... and when I am doing the best, I am logging everything in MFP, using the fitbit and going to the Gym and/or other sporty activities that I enjoy. I have taken up kayaking, birdwatching (walking in nature a bunch) , kept up with Belly dance (I started this a couple of years before surgery) walk with a group of adults with developmental disabilities twice a week, and just took up motorcycle riding at age 62 with the intention of riding to the Arctic Circle next year. I always had a life, but now it is more active, and I can't eat as much in one sitting which helps quite a bit. Maybe one day I will be able to commit to enough changes that I might re-lose those 20 pounds, if not, I am now 20 pounds over weight, not 90. @@feedyoureye Thank you so much for the update and response. Is the 20 you gained back part of your goal weight or your doctors'/standard goal weight (I.e., my personal goal weight is 125-130 but my doctor's goal weight for my age and stature is 140-145)? I've been both and I know exactly where I should be! My husband stands with my doc so we don't exactly see eye to eye! Lol! Anyway, I'm sure you already know my story/remember me from before, but the problems/complications continue. Lost 100% goal weight (mine AND theirs) and then some. On a feeding tube now which is yet another complication to add to the thousands I've already had. I'm proud to hear that you're doing great still (sorry about your losses this past year) and yes what a life at 62, riding motorcycles to the Arctic Circle...I can only imagine! I hope you continue to do well! Would love to see pics now...and then!!

P. S. Ask yourself why insurance would be denying it? Mine did too!

As one who has been from the sleeve to the bypass for GERD reasons, no I would not pass on any secrets for getting insurance to approve you for many many reasons; the first and foremost being that I did have a central line put in to control my malnourishment by TPN and when that doesn't even get absorbed by my body and I'm in a constant state of dehydration due to malabsorption to now even being on a feeding tube 20 hours of the day, 7 days a week...no I'm not inclined to let another person endure what I've had to. Tell your doctor to find another way, another pill that your body will absorb or find another doctor who can...this was my mistake, doesn't have to be yours.

I drank one protein shake/day and ate the rest of my protein. Dr's, nurses, NUTs, past sleevers, everyone will tell you protein is the most important thing...but if there's one thing this past sleever/bypass patient could share with you, it's that TAKING IN PROTEIN IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU'LL DO, trust me!!

I was sleeved in Dec 2012...lost all my weight in 6 mos but developed severe GERD which I did not have at all prior to the sleeve. After trying all medication and procedural routes, many dilations, etc, my GERD would not resolve until they performed the bypass August of 2013. I was then rid of the GERD but continued on 60mg of Dexilant everyday since then. My GERD is now back in full force and I've had to resort to other drastic measures to get nutrition in my body.

Keep in mind Bella, EVERYONE wants to get to 100%. Hi @feedyoureye...you are one of the few posters still on here from when I was first sleeved. How are you doing; weight loss, length of time, skin excess, loss of muscle, complications?

I'd be glad to share my story with you, no problem, however, I am currently admitted into the hospital right now after having a jtube placed yesterday for feeding. I'm on quite a bit of pain meds right now but I wanted you to know that if course I would love to share my story and answer any questions you might have...you just might have to give me a few days as I kinda feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck!! I won't forget you, I promise!

It is generally performed according to the usual technique for the laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy that you first went thru although you should have more fundus from weight regain. So they would remove that again, staple along the suture line just as in the last procedure. I'm not a doctor this is just the very basic of what I have read and it at least alleviates the problems of malabsorption and others that the bypass could bring which I highly discourage. I also discourage this as it brings with it another surgery, more risks and more complications. Please go back to step one and try again! You will thank me later I promise. It's always PROTEIN PROTEIN PROTEIN, and I am the first one to admit that I didn't get all mine in and I'm in a mess now!!!