catwoman7

I was reading those stories in the days before my surgery and had to make myself stop. I knew that those kinds of stories are very rare, but still, they scared the crap out of me. the people above are correct in that people are a lot more likely to post when they have issues or questions or concerns. They're looking for advice and support. People usually don't post to say that everything is great (I know some do - but it's way more likely they'll post when they're having issues). Most of us don't have complications, and of those who do, they're almost always minor things that are treatable to "fixable". I had strictures at weeks 4 and 8. They're the most common complication in bypass patients (they can happen to sleevers, too, but they're pretty rare with sleeve). But about 5% of bypass patients get them. I would hardly call something that only 5% of people get "common", but there you go. (strictures can happen within the first three months post-op - they're very rare after that. And they're a super easy fix. They just do an upper endoscopy and use a tool to stretch it out. You feel 100% better afterward). yes I am so happy I had my surgery and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. If I had to go back every year and do it again, I would. Honestly, it was one of the best decisions I"ve ever made - if not THE best. It's changed my life! another thing to consider - you are at much greater risk staying obese than you are having the surgery. These surgeries at one time were very risky and some people died from them. But that was 30+ years ago and they've come a LONG way since then. They've become very routine surgeries, and they're quite safe these days. There's a 0.3% mortality rate for bypass, and less than that for a sleeve (I can't remember the rate on the sleeve, other than it's lower than bypass). That means you have at least a 99.7% chance of making it through just fine. And you will. That rate is actually even better than the rate for hip replacement surgeries, and they do those all the time.

I had to look that up. It's the same thing as Barrett's esophagus. It doesn't always evolve into cancer, but there's a risk. I'm a little surprised she's going to proceed with the sleeve and not do the bypass instead - but she's a doctor, I'm not. And she's seen your stomach - I haven't.

they happen to most of us. The first major one usually hits sometime during the first month post-op. We call it the "three week stall" because it's most often the third week, but not always. mine was weeks 2 & 3. they typically last 1-3 weeks, but I've heard of them lasting longer (although USUALLY 1-3 weeks), Just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days - and know that it WILL break.

I kept losing for almost two years. It slows down the further out you go, but my weight loss didn't stop until I was 20 months out. I think I'd lost about 80 lbs before people started to notice.

I just checked my spreadsheet. I'd lost 57 lbs by that point, and I started out at 373 lbs. honestly, people's rate of weight loss is such an individual thing that it's kind of pointless to compare yourself to someone else. There are so many factors that influence your rate of weight loss, and most of them you have little to no control over - like age, gender, starting BMI, genetics, the percentage of muscle you have, whether or not you lost a lot of weight before surgery, etc. The only two factors you really have a lot of control over is how closely you stick to your program, and your activity level. If you do well with both of those, you're golden. The weight WILL come off if you stay compliant, whether fast or slow. I was a below average loser from the get-go, and I ended up losing over 200 lbs , 100% of my excess weight. In the end, your success (or not) is due to how well you stick to your plan, not how quickly you lose. P.S. if your expectations come from shows like "My 600 lb Life", then remember that those people start out at 800+ lbs (I don't think I've ever seen a contestant weighing 600 - it's almost always higher than that). AND...starting BMI is big factor in how fast you'll lose the weight. So unless you're of similar size, I wouldn't worry about "only" losing 52 lbs so far. That's a respectable loss for us "normal" WLS patients.

P.S. it may not be "normal" for people to gain 30+ lbs after quitting smoking, but we're not really normal. I think most of us are more prone than most people to gain weight. If I know that some drug is likely to make me gain weight, and the average is 5 lbs, I can pretty much guarantee that I'll gain at least 10.

I definitely eat faster than I did the first few months out - not sure if it's as fast as I did pre-surgery, though. And although I chew more than I did pre-surgery, I often forget about the "20 times" rule (you really are supposed to chew things pretty thoroughly, though, because our stomachs don't churn nearly as much as they used to - so some of the "churning" needs to take place before the food even hits your stomach - thus...chewing thoroughly) if I do a really bad job of chewing, my stomach will usually let me know. It'll either be really uncomfortable, or it'll come back up.

lol - yes, you're correct - I cut & pasted the name from an article a quickly googled because I couldn't remember the medical term off the top of my head. I thought that looked weird!

it's been over 20 years since I quit, but yes - I think I gained around 30 lbs.

I'm 7.5 years out and according to my clinic, I'm still supposed to wait at least 30 minutes after eating to drink (and I do...). I'd say for most clinics, that rule is for life. I don't dump, but dumping occurs once your food goes into your small intestine - so yes, that would probably take about 30 minutes, give or take... Some people call any kind of vomiting after eating something "dumping", but that's not true dumping. Dumping is when your small intestine goes into overdrive trying to deal with the all the sugar or fat you managed to consume in one sitting. Sweating or chills, dizziness, heart palpitations, cramps, and diarrhea are all common reactions. Nausea can be as well, but not as common.

wow - that's the first time I've heard this. Hmmm. Not sure what to make of it. Well, I guess they have their reasons..

we were told to take calcium citrate. I don't know how well AlgaeCal is absorbed by us - you might want to ask your clinic.

yes - hunger comes back for almost all of us sometime during the first year. Mine came roaring back at five months out. I know it sounds weird, but enjoy it while it lasts. Although I was weirded out by it at first, I soon found it very liberating to never be hungry. By the end I wish it had never ended - it was so much easier to lose weight when I was never hungry and didn't give a flip about food! p.s. are you still supposed to drink protein shakes? The RD at my clinic said we could give them up once we were able to get all of our protein requirements in from food.

stay off TikTok. I read those kinds of stories before I had my surgery and they scared the crap out of me. I almost cancelled my surgery. However, those kinds of horror stories are extremely rare. Most of us never had complications or just had mild ones that could be "fixed" or treated. The most common complication is a stricture, which happens to about 5% of bypass patients, if that tells you anything (I personally would not consider something that only happens to 5% of people "common", but that's the most common complication...). It's a minor complication that's easily fixed. P.S. I finally made myself quit reading the stories.

that's very common and is usually due to low blood pressure. It's temporary, though. In the mean time, just get up slowly. medical term for it is hypostatic orthotension There are undoubtedly a lot of posts on here about it, too - you should be able to find them by doing a search (may or may not come up by searching for the medical term - but try searching on "dizzy" or "dizziness") it could also be caused by dehydration or low blood glucose - or some imbalance in the inner ear, but most often it's low blood pressure.

were you told to take them all ten minutes apart? I always took a handful at breakfast time, another handful late afternoon - and then my two extra calcium chews spaced out. Then iron before going to bed. I never was told to wait 10 minutes after each one...

sounds like the infamous three-week stall...

that's actually true - you're only going to see the surgeon a couple of times, most likely - once while you're in the OR and knocked out! You'll be dealing a lot more with the PAs or NPs, nurses, dietitians, and psychologists at the clinic than you will with the surgeon.

should be fine. Although one possible caveat - tomatoes are pretty acidic, which may or may not bother your stomach being this early out (further out it likely won't, though)

iron can be hard on some people's stomachs. Carbonyl iron and heme iron (heme iron is derived from animals) are usually easier on people's stomachs. There are a couple of other versions that are easy on the stomach, too, but I can't remember what they are. Does anyone else remember?

the place my insurance company covers has a decent reputation, so I just went there.

Bypass was once the gold standard of weight loss surgeries up until a few years ago, when sleeve took over. It's easier for surgeons to perform, it's cheaper, and a lot of people are afraid of the bypass. Thus, sleeve is currently the most popular weight loss surgery. I went with bypass because I had GERD prior to surgery. Bypass usually improves if not outright cures GERD, whereas sleeve can make it worse (doesn't happen to everyone - and some people say their GERD even improved after getting sleeved, but the risk of having it get worse was too high for my comfort, so I chose bypass). bypass is the stronger of the two surgeries, but sleeve is close. And yes, you have more options for revision after sleeve, but then, very few people who have bypass get theirs revised. honestly, they both have their pros and cons. There are some health conditions (like GERD) that would make one surgery more appropriate for you than the other, but barring that, it really comes down to personal preference. They're both good surgeries and you'll find many examples on here of people who've been very successful with both. I love my bypass and would choose it again if I had to make the choice today.

I'd just take it with a small swig of water either right before or after eating.

I'm the same as a couple of the others - close friends and family knew, as well as others who were obese and asking a genuine question. For most others, I told them I was working with a dietitian and exercising like a fiend. People without a history of weight problems usually believe that schlock and are satisfied with that answer.

I used to hear reports that they didn't have enough of what we need, but that was a few years ago. They may be better now. I know that a lot of clinics are OK with them (including mine), but I always opted for Centrum or the generic equivalent, which my clinic's RD said were actually a better choice. here are the recommendations of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Just make sure that whatever you pick meets their basic recommendations for your type of surgery, and you should be good: ASMBS-Nutritional-Guidelines-2016-Update.pdf