catwoman7

no - he's pretty reasonable. And nationally known.

it's your body - I'd say it's your choice. I wonder if he's just more comfortable doing sleeves (??).

I had GERD before surgery, so it was a no-brainer: bypass. Bypass often (but not always) improves GERD if not cures it completely, whereas sleeve can (but not always) make it worse. if it weren't for that, I probably still would have had bypass because at the time I had surgery, VSG was just becoming popular. Bypass had A LOT more research behind it, and I was afraid of VSG becoming "Lapband 2". However, sleeve has now been around long enough to prove itself. It's not "Lapband 2" - it's a good surgery. So if it weren't for the GERD, I'm not sure which surgery I would have chosen if I was facing it right now. They're both good surgeries, and I've known a lot of people who've had great success with both.

also, re: hair loss - some people never lose any. Some have it come out in clumps. The majority of people, though, just shed. They notice it - but no one else does. And it grows back. I worried about hair loss incessantly. But I'm here to say that in retrospect, I don't know why I wasted even ONE brain cell worrying about that. No one noticed my hair loss, and I am SO MUCH HAPPIER being normal weight that I don't know why I was even worried for one second about my hair. It's a small price to pay - and if you're like most of us, no one is going to notice your hair loss except for you.

you won't die. These fears are based on bariatric surgeries that were performed in the 1960s and 70s, when they WERE high risk. Almost no one dies anymore. Techniques have vastly improved, and these have become very routine surgeries. Gastric bypass has a 0.3% mortality rate, sleeve is even less. So that means you have at least a 99.7% chance of pulling through just fine. This is one of the safest surgeries there is - much safer than a hip replacement, even, and they do those every day. My surgeon has been at it 30 years and has yet to lose one patient...

it depends on your bone structure, too. I'm 60 and look my best at 150 lbs (I'm also 5'6"). I got down as low as 138 two years ago and looked awful. I have a pretty large frame - really broad shoulders, etc. My mother-in-law is also 5'6" and has bird bones. She looks great at 130 and even looks OK at 120. She'd look heavy at 150, I think.

"My 600 lb Life" is both good and bad - good in that it's exposed the general public to weight loss surgery, bad in that it gives actual bariatric patients unrealistic expectations about how much weight they're going to lose in the early months. One of the biggest factors in your rate of weight loss is your starting BMI. At 320, you're still an average weight loss patient. The people on that show start off at over 600 lbs. With that high of a BMI, they're going to drop 30-35-40 lbs that first month. Although that occasionally happens with some of us "normal" bariatric patients, that is the exception, not the rule. If you only lose 20 lbs the first month, or even 15 lbs, you are NOT a failure. You're experiencing a pretty average first-month loss. I've been hanging out on this and other forums for about five years, and I've been working with pre-op groups in my clinic for the last three years. So many people seem to get down on themselves because they don't lose 40 lbs the first month - and I'm sure that's due to the fact most of their info comes from "My 600 lb Life". Although I've never seen actual research stats on this, I've been involved with the community enough to wager that most of us "normal" bariatric patients lose in the 15-25 lb range that first month. Just something to keep in mind...

it probably depends on the insurance company. If you're staying with the same company, call them and ask them.

if you stick to your plan, it should break on its own. It's just your body recalibrating - happens to most of us once in awhile. I had several stalls on my journey.

although I've never seen statistics, A LOT of us don't dump at all (maybe half? I'm not sure. I've seen people throw numbers around on these forums, but I don't know if there's any research data behind that). Anyway, I've never dumped - and a lot of people don't. And among those who DO dump, some can only eat a very small amount of sugar before they dump, and others only dump when they eat a lot of it - so....it depends...

my stalls seemed to be more frequent and lasted longer the further out I went, but i kept sticking to my plan and kept losing - bit by bit - until I was about 20 months out. So you may not be done yet...

it's a pretty common problem. I have a coccyx pillow in my car and still have to use it after 4.5 years out. I had a second one on my office chair back before I retired, too.

it's not that it's necessarily a no-no - it's just that some people can't tolerate it because it's too dry. Darker meat is moister.

I'm over four years out. I eat sushi, but I can only manage half a roll. Chinese food - yes. I don't eat the rice, though. I order something with non-fried meat (and veggies) and eat a cup or so of that. pasta - I avoid that. I don't feel well after eating a carb-heavy meal, so I haven't messed around with pasta dishes.

I"m that way when I walk by one of those "Bath & Body Works" stores at malls, too. UGH!! I could never go in one of those - I'd get a migraine for sure!

like the above poster said, your rate of weight loss depends on a number of factors, most of which you have no control over. What you DO have control over is how closely you stick to your surgeon's plan. If you're committed to your plan and rarely, if ever, go off, you WILL lose the weight. It took me 20 months to lose all of mine (actually more, since I lost 57 lbs before surgery). But I started at well over 300 lbs.. (starting BMI is one of those factors....)

I didn't have one for my RNY (I did for plastic surgery, but not the RNY)

as long as you stick to your surgeon's plan, you won't fail. It's when people start straying that they start having problems...

I've read that although things like silicone sheets/gels, massaging with oils & lotions, etc can have at least SOME effect for the first year or two, they're most effective during the first six months after surgery. I'm still using lotions/oils on mine (my procedures were 10 months and 17 months ago), though - if I don't the scars feel dry and tight - drives me nuts.

yes. I was always sensitive to certain smells, like perfume and aftershave, even BEFORE surgery, and it was intensified after surgery. I couldn't even have my mother in the hospital room because the godawful perfume she wears was about to make me vomit right after surgery. I think my sense of smell is back to normal now (things still bother me as they did before surgery - but the intensity I had right after surgery was gone). Either that, or I've just gotten used to it - not sure.

the OP might need to ask both. Yes - a psychiatrist is going to know more about psychotropic medicines, but the bariatric surgeon is going to be more familiar with potential malabsorption issues.

since the DS uses a sleeved stomach, I would assume there would still be a risk of it. But I'll defer to someone who's had the DS.

I didn't use any bariatric-specific sites after I was through the phases - but I would imagine most low carb recipes would work (and of course you'll have to have some kind of protein at every meal, too...)

no - but I'd be a little surprised if it's related to your sleeve. Keep us posted! I'm curious..

ScarAway. I got my first tube of it at Walgreens. Then I noticed it was much cheaper at WalMart, so I got my second tube there...