Hop_Scotch

The average weight loss (percentage wise) for ESG is probably only a little higher than gastric balloons. If you have a lot of weight to lose an ESG is probably not a good option, that said, I have seen a few people with BMIs of 50 or more have success with the ESG. If the ESG isn't covered by insurance where you are, I think your money would be better spent elsewhere.

I had an ESG October 2018, I had a gastric sleeve March 2020. My ESG had some success initially, but then no longer felt any restriction, I put all the weight I had lost back on bar 5 kilos. An endoscope in February 2020, showed all but one or two of the sutures had come undone. I had chosen the ESG initally because I liked the idea of a non surgical weight loss procedure in which the recovery time was reduced. With the benefit of a massive does of hindsight, I wish I had the sleeve back in Oct 18. I had some discomfort with the sleeve, a different type of discomfort than the ESG but really the worse I could say about the recovery for the sleeve was a bad dose of contact dermatitis. I had rolling cramps for a few days with the ESG. I felt some type of cramp for a day or two with the sleeve when I swallowed liquid. I could have gone back to work sooner than I did with the sleeve, but took the time offered by the doctor. I definitely feel more restriction than I ever did with the ESG. Some people have had great success with the ESG, others not so much. They seem to fail for various reasons: overeating volumes allowed, lack of surgeon technique / knowledge and some fail for no apparent reason (sutures come undone regardless of excellent compliance or even good technique). My gastric sleeve surgeon said there seems to be mounting evidence that at best the ESG should be considered a temporary measure for people who can't have surgery due to being serverely overweight and need to lose weight quickly for an operation. Like i said though there have been some people who have had good success with the ESG for a decent period of time. I am a member of a few FB groups for ESG one of them is a group regarding ESG failure, a lot of active posters are from Australia where ESG failure seems to have a higher rate. ESG has only been in Australia for a few years so perhaps technique has a lot more to do with failures there. Some points to ask when meeting with the person doing your ESG: Rate of success/failure/complications. Of the successes how many of them are still active patients....you don't know if someone who drops off their books after six or 12 months still has restriction. If your ESG fails will they rectify it free of charge? Will their technique prevent a conversion to a gastric sleeve if needed (most surgeons will convert to a bypass only). How many people didn't lose weight due to loss of restriction.

For the liquid stage make sure he consumes only what is on his post op guidelines. For the liquid stage it is liquids only, no blended fruits included...if that is what you meant by protein smoothies. If unclear in the very early stages refer to the post op guidelines given by the dietician or surgeon, if still uncertain contact the dietician or surgeon. My liquids list included very low fat milk (skim), high protein milks, protein powder blended with milk or water, fortified milks (such as ensure plus) as well as other liquids...your husband's list may be different.

Do you have the option of finding a more supportive doctor? Were you able to demonstrate to him what you have done in the recent past to lose weight without any success? Sounds like he doesn't understand obesity and the complex issues that cause it. For a lot of people it isn't as simple as eating less and/or moving more.

I sometimes get this error message when I click on the hightlighted unread link on the banner. The unread link isn't working for me currently.

Good luck everyone, the countdown is on!

Make sure you have plenty to distract yourself. Get some walking in to help with the gas, do some reading, watch some shows, do some puzzles and if you are into arts and crafts I am sure you'd love to give them a go.

Stalls happen for various reasons, but sometimes the body just needs a bit of time out to the adjust to the weight loss, the scale weight catches up eventually. Have you taken any photos or measurements to see if there is any visual weight loss (as opposed to scale weight). You don't mention your height, start weight or current weight. If you are close to a healthy weight, weight loss is going to be lower and slower. Water could be the reason, along with some other thing to consider...do you know how many calories you are eating? Are you tracking them? What type of foods are you eating? Are you doing any exercise or a lot of incidental activity? Did you change anything just before the stall began? Are you less active due to any lockdowns? Any medical conditions or medication that hinder weight loss?

I can't help much with the hair loss, but with regards to your weight loss, did I misunderstand what you wrote in one or two of your prior posts, and I am going by memory now....your start weight was 202lb, you lost 14lb pre surgery? In about nine weeks you have lost 16lbs...so if my memory is mostly correct you have lost about 15% of your start weight and about 9% of your surgery day weight. I know you don't see it but you've been doing pretty good and being older, shorter and at a lower weight you aren't going to lose big chunks of weight.

What type of health issues are they looking for? High blood pressure, cholesterol issues, diabetic or pre-diabetic, sleep apnea, fatty liver? You don't have any health issues at all?

Which country are you in? Most countries/insurance provide for BMI 35+ with co-morbidities or BMI 40+ without co-morbidities. Your BMI is greater than 40. Do you have the option of finding a more supportive doctor?

$10,000 worth of appointments seems way over the top

I assume it is something you have posted? Maybe report that post and ask for it to be removed???

Welcome and good luck!

I have two weight loss procedures...one non-surgical (ESG) I only told one person because the doctor insisted I have someone with me following the procedure. It really wasn't necessary, but if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have told anyone. You can guarantee that someone will tell someone and before you know it..... I had a sleeve in mid March, no one knows at all...those who knew I was going in for surgery, I told them I was having gall bladder surgery. It helped that my surgery was was of state and I travelled solo. Because of the time off for surgery and then working from home most of the time, and the social isolation at the moment, I haven't seen that many people for then to question what may seem like sudden weight loss. If anyone asks I will be telling them I lost a little weight before surgery (true) and have kept up the healthy eating habits and exercise since then (also true). It must be awful going into a workplace that is like that...such culture is driven from the top down, must be some terrible people there.

I travelled out of state for my surgery and I was by myself, I was fine by myself, in fact I preferred it. If that is the only thing that is holding you back, you will be in hospital two or three nights? Time will go fast, the first day you probably won't feel like company, second day you will be walking, walking (hopefully), before you know it you are ready to go home.

No concerns here, I have had a good run so far (hoping that continues)...no acid reflux, no nausea or vomiting, a couple of things that didn't go down well to start but can tolerate them easily now, energy wise feel great and have done since surgery. Fluids have been going down well. Hopefully your good run continues as you continue through the post op phases...

Some people do a variation of ice cream with frozen bananas...(if you google no doubt there will be a few different recipes...I have seen some with banana, peanut butter and a little cashew milk. But simply...peel and chop a couple of bananas, freeze them, and then blend. Here are a couple of recipes I copied yesterday from the pound of cure website with the intention of trying them somewhere down the track. Chocolate Peanut Butter Nice Cream Serves: 1-2 Ingredients: 4 ripe Bananas, peeled 2 ounces Peanut Butter 2 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder Directions: Peel 4 ripe bananas and place them into the freezer for 2 hours. Add all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Scrape down the bowl if necessary. Enjoy! NOTES: Depending on your blender/food processor, your nice cream may become too soft. If that happens, just pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes. If you have a hard time creating a creamy consistency, you can add 1-2 tablespoons of cashew milk. Peanut Butter and Banana Nice Cream Serves: 1-2 Ingredients: 3 ripe Bananas, peeled 2 ounces Peanut Butter Directions: Peel 3 ripe bananas and place them into the freezer for 2 hours. Add all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Scrape down the bowl if necessary. Enjoy! NOTES: Depending on your blender/food processor, your nice cream may become too soft. If that happens, just pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes. If you have a hard time creating a creamy consistency, you can add 1-2 tablespoons of cashew milk.

I had my surgery mid March just as it was ramping up in my country and the state where I had the surgery. I was certainly happy at the time that I went through with it and I had my surgery a little under a week before all elective surgeries were cancelled. Now if I was waiting for WLS, I would be undecided and whether I went ahead with it would be dependent on a few things: number of recent new cases in the state/location, number of recent deaths in the state, number of community transfers still ongoing, how the hospital was/is still being impacted are some of the first things that come to mind that I would consider.

I found this, it explains how it supposedly works https://estetikland.com/en/weight-losing-with-stomach-botox/ ps it written by someone whose first language isn't English Effects of stomach Botox Botox is applied to stomach muscles and it is effective on smooth muscles of stomach. Muscles with Botox have decreased contraction capacity. For example, since contraction of stomach muscles that process food in 2-3 hours and discards this processed food in 4-4.5 hours slow down, this process can take up to 10-12 hours. With the help of injection to stomach part where hunger hormone ghrelin is segregated, level of this hormone is significantly decreased. This way, appetite of the patient can be decreased significantly and sense of fullness can be maintained for a long time.

Botox injections in the stomach for weight loss, its a thing.... https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/digestive_weight_loss_center/services/concierge_weight_loss_program/gastric_botox.html

Would sucking the vitamins help do you think? That's what I do with my chewable multi vitamin and calcium...I take my time with them, and by the I've finished its usually 20 to 30 minutes. I take one MV with my first meal, a calcium with the next, another MV with the next meal and finish up with another calcium with my fourth meal.

What changes have you made? Are you counting calories? Weighing and measuring everything? Drinking lots of water/non calorie fluids? Doing anything like slimfast or optifast? What type of foods are you eating? Do you have any medical conditions or taking any meds that slow down weight loss?

There are some good over the counter ones that you can take once a day but typically these should be used only for a short while. I am surprised your doctor hasn't prescribed some of the stronger ones for you? Has the cause actually been investigated? Are you pre op or post op?

Are you taking any acid reducing medication?