chasingpolaris321

I have bipolar II that is well controlled by medications and I haven't encountered any difficulty with surgeons or managing my medication post WLS. I had the sleeve done in early August and have found that there hasn't been a significant change, although I have met with my psychiatrist more frequently than usual to monitor everything in case adjustments need to be made. I will say that post-op it was a struggle to take the liquid medications that I was given because they made me feel incredibly nauseous, but I got through it and am back on normal meds now. I really haven't heard of surgeons being unwilling to do the surgery on stable bipolar patients, and would be surprised if that was the standard that you mentioned. Part of why I gained so much weight was the medications, and the sleeve has really helped me to continue to improve the management of my disorder. Good luck and feel free to message me with any questions!

I originally chose 140 (I'm 5'5 SW 237 CW 191) but my doctor suggested 130 since it's right in the middle of a normal BMI range for me. I don't think BMI is always a great measure for health when you get down into a normal size for you, and my goal is to build strength while I lose weight and so I would definitely be totally content with a higher weight and more muscle. That being said, I wanted to set my goal at a level where I wasn't selling myself short by thinking that I can't get there just because it's such a foreign number. For me, believing that I can achieve a normal weight means using BMI as a guideline. I underwent surgery because I want to fundamentally change the way I view myself, and part of doing that is telling myself it's okay to think that I can get there even if it seems physically and mentally overwhelming!

I'm so sorry to hear that your surgery was rough. I hope you have a speedy recovery!

Mine's coming out on the 15th. Crossing my fingers for an easier recovery than the sleeve!

I made my decision to have surgery very quickly and haven't regretted it for one minute. I think my situation was somewhat unusual because I had a lot of the requirements taken care of without even realizing it. I had been on a medically supervised diet for a year and hadn't even considered surgery during that time, and had a very quick insurance approval process (I literally gathered all the documentation needed the same week I went to an information session and was approved in two days). My info session was on 7/9, surgeon consult was 7/10, and I had surgery on 8/12. My point is that I think where you are mental preparedness wise is a lot more complex than just the length of time in between making a decision and having surgery. For me, I was able to take a significant portion of time during that period to understand everything about the surgery and prepare for what was to come afterwards. I think that process is very different depending on who you are. I had some complications and was pretty miserable for the three weeks after surgery, but I knew that it was short term and that most people have a hard time in one way in that first period of time. There was never a feeling of regret. From reading on this forum and talking to other people who have had the sleeve, it seems that if you can picture the surgery not going well (complications, difficulties managing cravings, struggling with eating in moderation, finding exercise overwhelming), and you still want to have it, then you are more likely to succeed. At least some of those things come up for everyone! It seems like the people who are less prepared are the ones that expect to lose a million pounds every day and who imagine that this path is a quick fix. I would analyze how I felt about those factors as a better gauge of how ready I was rather than focusing on how fast you decided to have surgery. Long term weight management is still going to be a battle with surgery, but it's one you can win if you focus on the mental as much as the physical. Good luck no matter what you decide and I think you will find lots of support on this site

My surgeon emphasized that it's important not to let your sleeve be a measuring cup, especially in the beginning. Because you are so swollen it can be hard to actually feel "full" and so it's important to measure things out and stick within the guidelines of how many ounces you should eat at the stage you are in post op. I'm far enough out that I can definitely feel when I've taken one bite to many, but when I was just starting the mushy stage I had the same thing where refried Beans didn't make me feel like I should stop eating. I measured out a 1/4 cup and stuck with that

I'm not an expert but I believe that gallstones generally cause pain on the right side. My pain was below my ribcage and down the mid section of my right side. It was sort of a burning stabbing pain that comes and goes. Has your doctor mentioned kidney stones to you? That seems more likely than gallstones because kidney pain is usually on your back, either right or left side. Or it could just be a muscle strain. It's best to follow up with your doc if it continues :-)

I have to have my gallbladder out on the 15th which will be right around 8 weeks out from the sleeve. I am definitely dealing with some pretty bad constipation and was wondering about that with going into this next surgery. How would you have dealt with it if you could go back?

This same thing is happening to me! I had sleeve surgery on 8/12 and was in the ER with gallstones this past week. I am scheduled to have mine out on Oct 15th. I can't believe I'm headed back to surgery so soon!

I drank Gatorade after surgery when I found myself getting really dehydrated. I have a really difficult time with artificial sweeteners and so the trade off was between having some sugar or not getting enough liquid. However, you might want to be careful about acid reflux with Gatorade- I didn't realize that it can make it worse! If your problem is with getting liquids down with the artificial sweeteners, you could try a small amount of no sugar added juice with as much water as possible. That, or water down the Gatorade as much as possible. Those have been good strategies for me. Also, herbal tea is great!

The exact same thing happened to me with the Bariatric Advantage vitamins! I took them a few times before realizing that was what was causing instant nausea, and spent 20 mins laying flat hoping not to throw up! I wonder what it is about them?

Hey all! I was sleeved 8/12 and have been doing pretty well with fluids and Protein since then. About a week post op, I discovered that I had C Diff (there was an outbreak on the floor I was staying on) and I've been struggling to drink/eat enough since I started the antibiotics, which are causing mild nausea and a general aversion to anything going into my stomach. My question is- what do you do on those really bad days when you just can't eat and drink enough? Today I've managed to drink some but all I've really had calorie wise is some yogurt. I'm definitely going to force myself to have a shake or something, I was just hoping someone had some good tricks for getting it all in when you feel crappy. Thanks :-)

I had an on-q pain pump and it is seriously the easiest thing. I was really freaked out when my doctor explained it to me but you truly don't feel it when it comes out. The most annoying part is showering with it :-)

I slept great on my back from day one. I moved to my side about a week out and feel totally normal now (surgery was Aug 12th). That being said, I think I'm one of the few people on here who had virtually no gas that I could detect, and so I'm not sure how that impacts things. My incisions were very tender, but felt very minor by day five! Good luck!

Hi all! I am one week post op today and am entering my second week of Clear liquids including Protein shakes made with Water. I'm finding like many I have seen on here that it can be tough to get down all of your protein and liquids when your sleeve doesn't love anything in it, but what I am struggling with is feeling like I'm just not getting enough calories in to do much activity. I've been managing around 2-3 protein supplements a day in addition to lots of sugar free liquids and broth, but that really amounts to under 300 calories a day. I felt better each day after surgery, but starting yesterday I've been feeling really weak and woozy to the point that walking downstairs exhausts me. I'm just getting worried that after two weeks of such a low calorie diet my body might not be in such great shape. Does anyone else have this concern? I don't feel hungry, but I definitely feel very sickly and like I might faint from time to time. I am following my doctors plan, but I just wanted to hear from people with other experiences to gauge if this is all part of the process.

Hi all! I was sleeved 8/12 and am still in the hospital. I didn't have major complications but I have been having a really hard with liquids and spasms so they are been keeping me until I'm doing doing better. I should be out tomorrow!

I was also sleeved yesterday and it actually went better than expected. I'm having hardly any gas pain, but tons of pain on the incision site. Luckily the pain meds have been pretty helpful! Wishing everyone who has been and who is getting sleeved this week!

Hi all, So it's the morning of my surgery and I'm fairly certain that I have oral thrush (gross). I looked in the mirror at my tongue last night and I would be surprised if it's anything else. I'm guessing this isn't a very common situation, but does anyone know if you can undergo surgery with this? My preliminary google search didn't look good and I'm starting to feel like they are going to postpone. My parents flew in from across the country to stay with me and so I'm pretty stressed about it :-( I will definitely call my surgeons office when they open but wanted to throw this out there now. Thanks in advance!

Thanks all! My surgery is this Tuesday and I'm really nervous! It's great to hear everyone's hospital stories :-)

Mine is at Inova Fair Oaks in Fairfax, VA

Also, if you switch to health insurance through the ACA be very careful that weight loss surgery is included. There are only a handful of states with WLS plans and most states exclude it.

I go back and forth between excitement, dread, and terror haha! I am really ready but it's very overwhelming to think about possible complications and set-backs. At this point, I'm doing some deep breathing and reflection and telling myself that whatever happens will happen and I'm doing everything I can to live a better life! You will be okay!

Just throwing this out there (and I am really glad everyone had such positive experiences with bypass!) but since you posted this in the gastric bypass success story section you are likely to get mostly answers that people loved their gastric bypass surgery. It might be helpful to head over to the sleeve section and ask a similar question if you want some other perspectives :-)

I think it should be a lot less than the out of pocket maximum. From what I understand, the surgeons fee is much less than the hospital stay, and so you only end up paying 15 percent of that. So if it was $4500 for the surgeon you pay 675 in addition to the 250 hospital co-pay. It is possible that I'm doing this wrong and I'm prepared to pay a lot more than that, that's just what I've gathered from looking into the plan and reading this board.

I'm going in for my surgery this Tuesday and am a little unclear on what my total bill is going to be. I have paid a 250 co-pay for the hospital stay, but believe that I will be responsible for 15 percent of the actual procedure (not the inpatient hospital stay). I'll report back once I know the exact amount!