chasingpolaris321

Yes! Same for me. I have severe GERD and vomiting and will be revising from sleeve to bypass on September 25th. I am nervous about the pain this time around!

Anyone do a sleeve to bypass revision? Curious about how recovery time with sleeve compares to bypass revision. Thanks!

Hi there! I was just wondering if there's anyone on here with Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction (condition that causes abdominal pain and makes it so you can't have any narcotic medication) who had surgery? I developed SOD after having my gallbladder removed and am now facing a revision surgery from sleeve to bypass. Since I developed SOD after I had my initial sleeve surgery, I have never had surgery where I had to worry about developing spasms. I am trying to find out if there are strong enough non-narcotic pain medications that could manage my post-op pain. I know it's an uncommon condition, but thought it didn't hurt to ask as many of us have had our gallbladders out. Thanks!

I also stick with, "oh yeah, quite a bit, lots of hard work!" I don't feel obligated to share specifics, but also don't mind people being curious. I think people who have smaller amounts of weight to lose are usually really proud to share numbers, but for those of us with significant amounts of weight lost (anyone with WLS, low and high BMI), it can be embarrassing to say you've lost a whole person worth of weight. Do whatever feels good to you and don't feel bad for leaving out information that's personal.

I had the sleeve and am happy I did, but I will say that Dr. Fetter has a very impressive program and that he is a skilled surgeon. I am from the US and had surgery in the US, but if I had lived in SA at the time I think I would have chosen him and bypass because of the quality of the hospital, his skill as a surgeon, and his team. I thought I was going to have to have a revision to bypass because of very severe GERD from the sleeve, and I went through a lot of testing and consultations with him before eventually deciding against a revision. Even if you are set on having the sleeve, it might be worth it to check out him and his staff. South Africa is not the most bariatric surgery friendly country, and follow-up care is so extremely important. Just a thought!

Dr. Fetter is the most well known bariatric surgeon in Joburg but I don't think he does the sleeve.

Thanks all! Wishing everyone the very best :-)

I'm a year a three months out of my surgery, and I figured this is as good a time as any to share my story. I always found other people's journeys so helpful, and I hope someone can benefit from hearing mine. I definitely struggled a bit with my weight when I was younger. Even with playing sports I was heavier than my friends, and I have a critical mother who frequently put me on one diet after another, fostering some pretty unhealthy feelings about food. My weight didn't really become an issue until my late teens, when I struggled with some mental health issues that resulted in a weight gain of more than 50 pounds in a year. In between high school and college, I went to a summer weight loss camp, and that helped bring me down to a more regular, albeit still unhealthy, weight. However, the following years I really struggled and was eventually diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. In the period leading up my my diagnosis, some poor medication decisions and my emotional struggles contributed to a rapid weight gain of around 80 pounds, bringing me to my all time high of 250lbs. I tried dieting, weight loss programs, weight controlling medication, and I never could get more than 20lbs off. I had finally got my psychotropic medications right, but I was left feeling pretty defeated and exhausted by everything that had transpired. Even though I was struggling, I was always an excellent student and I was accepted to attend an Ivy League school for my master's degree. My program was extremely intense, and my peers were all very high achieving and disciplined. I was one of two people in our class of over 100 with a weight problem, and I isolated myself a bit because I was so uncomfortable. I am an avid traveler and studied and work in the International Development field. During my lower weight in college, I spent close to a year studying and working in Madagascar and Uganda, and felt very much at home traveling and learning about other people and cultures, and working on projects to tackle rural poverty. My early twenties were very fulfilling, and I went to grad school wanting to continue the work I had done. Towards the end of grad school, I was on a trip to Alaska with my family and it struck me how miserable I had become because of my weight. I had already been participating in a weight loss program luckily run by a physician, and so when I decided to have surgery I had already fulfilled all of the requirements. I decided to have the sleeve, and within a month I had surgery. My life has improved drastically and I am ten thousand percent certain that this was the best and only option for me to be successful. Seven months into surgery, I accepted a position with a very large US NGO, and was relocated to South Africa to begin managing the NGO's 21 country programs in Africa. I work on public health programs for people with intellectual disabilities, and am so thankful that I have been able to work in an area that I am passionate about. I would not have been able to do this job at the weight that I was. Just in the seven months I've worked in South Africa, I have traveled to our programs in Nigeria, Uganda, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. These trips require a lot of physical activity, and I'm often in areas where you have to walk long distances is very warm weather, and spend a lot of time sitting on the ground and working long hours. For a vacation this summer, I went on a horse trek to Kyrgyzstan, riding for 6-8 hours a day and sleeping on mats in rural yurts with nomadic people. I cannot properly articulate how amazing it feels to be able to do the things I've always wanted to do. Having WLS was certainly not a walk in the park. I struggled a lot for the first several months with fatigue and a series of frustrating medical issues. I had my gallbladder removed a month after surgery, and I got c diff in the hospital. Finally being able to lose a significant amount of weight helped me to stick with the program and kept me motivated. As of this morning, I've lost 103 pounds and am solidly a normal weight. I'm still working on those last stubborn pounds, but I feel confident that I am going to reach my goal. I'll end with this--last week I was working in Malawi at a training for Optometry students to help them learn how to work with people who have intellectual disabilities. We screened a hundred kids, and many of them got new glasses to improve their vision. It was close to 100 degrees, and I was able to walk kids between different locations and carry heavy equipment for over eight hours. People didn't look at me strangely like they did when I was obese (unsurprisingly, obesity isn't as common in many parts of Africa), and I just felt normal. I've realized that being a healthy weight doesn't necessarily induce euphoria like I imagined it would when I was at my highest weight. Instead, it is the constant noticeable absences of discomfort, shame, and sadness. We all have our own feelings about body image and weight, but for me, I have a new perspective and appreciation for my "normal" problems. My boss might piss me off, I might get stressed about money, I might just have generally bad days sometimes, but I don't spend my day feeling like everything about my body is uncomfortable, embarrassing, and limiting. I very much admire and appreciate everyone on this site. If you are new, know that there will be some very serious struggles, and that perfection is not a long term reality. The further out you are the harder it gets to stay focused. But don't let that stop you from fighting. The sleeve helps stop the spiraling out of control that many of us have experienced, but ultimately your brain and attitude are responsible for keeping you on track. Good luck to everyone, and when you inevitably fall, get the hell back up.

That used to happen to me when I was dieting pre-sleeve. I think I was so stressed out from repeated failure that it turned into literal nightmares. At the core, I think it's an anxiety thing and is completely normal. Post-sleeve I haven't really had these dreams and I think it's because I am more sure of my ability to succeed.

I in no way meant to offend you or anyone else. Internet privacy is a really interesting and relevant topic, and my comments come from a place of concern that a site like BariatricPal or any of the others I mentioned are perceived as private. I do understand why they may appear so, but if you don't want to listen to me "rant and rave" as this thread is aptly named, I suggest you do your own research so that you can participate in online forums in a way that you feel comfortable with.

I'm so confused why anyone would think this is a private site. We all found it using a Google search, could read what was being said, and then decided to make usernames so that we could post. It's no different that making a username to comment on a New York Times article. Facebook is slightly more private because there are privacy settings, but even then Facebook owns your content and can use it as they please. Deleting your Facebook doesn't erase what you've posted there, it just disables you from posting more. This site feels like a support group because we support each other, but the content has nothing to do with accessibility. My assumption is that BariatricPal wouldn't exist without advertising, because that's how they pay for the domain name and the servers needed to run a site this large. It's likely that companies who sell bariatric products do market research here. Hell, there are surgeons from Mexico with their own accounts who jump in offering to Skype with people. They aren't doing that because they're charitable, they're doing it because they want your business. Wikipedia, which we all know and love, exists on user donations, hence the lack of advertising. My point is, there's no such thing as privacy on the Internet. With now regular security breaches leaking private information including credit card and social security numbers, we should really understand that privacy is something we can only expect by not sharing. If you're going to participate in the system, don't get all high and mighty about a site betraying you and reexamine your understanding of this site and any other site that you signed up to participate in.

Chike is my absolute favorite, particularly their iced coffee and chocolate. You have to order them online, but they have a starter sample pack with a single serving of each of their flavors. Like everyone said, people's preferences vary but Chike's the best for me :-)

I'd definitely be interested to know what she has used for pain medication. From my research I've found Tramadol but not much else. I had pretty extreme pain with my sleeve surgery so it's all the more reason to have as much info as possible ahead of time. Thanks again for your help!

Thanks @Stevehud I'm not opposed to that at all and that might be a good route for recovery. I live in CA and it's legal. @@Madeleine Renee I am definitely planning on talking to my surgeon in depth about this. I don't want to wake up from surgery feelings like I am having a heart attack in addition to having my intestines rearranged.

Thank you :-) It wouldn't be such a big deal if I didn't have this upcoming surgery! Lots of people have had their gallbladders out here so I'm hoping someone might have some insight. This disorder seems to be a direct result of gallbladder removal. Thanks again for the well wishes!

I'm not a doctor and this is entirely anecdotal, but from what I know running is very hard on your body and you can do damage if you aren't doing it properly or are out of shape. I would start with something lower impact like power walking and improve your overall fitness level before putting your body under that much stress, especially when you are recovering. If you do want to jog, maybe do something like couch to 5k which is an app on your phone that helps you work up to greater distances. I'm a year out and I still prefer to do strength training/hiking/walking over running. Lots of people on this site seemed to have really embraced running which is awesome, I would just urge caution until you are more recovered and have worked up to it.

I'm 26 and I had my surgery at 235 pounds. I did it for many of the reasons you listed above, but above all I did it because I could very clearly see where I was heading. I hopefully have 50 plus years left to live, and it breaks my heart to think of myself spending them miserable and isolated from my friends and family because of my weight. There's no "wrong" reason to have the surgery when you are morbidly obese. There are reasons that you might not be prepared for surgery if you are not psychologically ready, if you have not done enough research on the realities of WLS, or if you aren't prepared for the hard work, but there's never a "wrong" reason for wanting to be a healthy, happy person!

You might have already left for your surgery (good luck!) but you can't wear a tampon. They give you these really cool (not) paper underwear with a pad in them. Or at least, that's what happened to me when I had my gallbladder out.

Listen to your NUT, but I personally wouldn't go anywhere near rice for quite some time. I'm a year out and I still find rice challenging to digest. Also there's not much nutritional value in rice except maybe fiber in brown rice, but I'd spend my calories on protein and make sure I was drinking enough. Good luck!

I'm American but I'm living in Johannesburg for work. I had sleeve surgery about a year ago in the States, and am going back there to have a revision surgery to bypass because of severe GERD. But, I'll be back here after that for four years! I'd love some tips from you guys on protein shakes/bars and food in general here. The brands are all different and you use kj instead of calories so it's a bit of a struggle sometimes. Anyways, glad to see there's a SA thread!

My doctor told me the no-straw rule is nonsense and I tend to agree. I have never had an issue drinking from a straw and it helped me get more liquids in post op. You breath in air whenever you drink, straw or not, because you're breathing.

Yes I had to do the upper GI. 1phych visit, 1 nutrition, I already had a bunch of testing from my Gastro doctor like a gastric emptying scan and EGD and his office notes. Okay that all seems manageable. I just know from the sleeve how crazy insurance requirements can be and I just am hoping this is simple since I stuck with my program and lost the weight and there's nothing I can do about the GERD. I only have one EGD that was done out of country so I'm guess I'll probably have to do some more tests. Good luck on your surgery! I'd love to hear your experience.

Did you have to fulfill any requirements? I have had a hard time getting an answer from my clinic on what my insurance is going to require. I am at a normal BMI and am revising due to severe GERD/Barrett's.

I was diagnosed with an endoscopy

I'm one of the ones who is in the process of revising from sleeve to bypass. I developed terrible GERD post op and recently found out that I also developed Barrett's Esophagus. I don't think this is a common occurrence, but GERD is definitely something I'd take into consideration if I already had it pre op. I couldn't have know this would happen and think the sleeve is a great procedure for a lot of people. No regrets from me, but talk to your doctor about your concerns. They will have the best recommendations.