emilygrace

Dr Joseph Capella's website has many photos of naked patients pre and post TT, both men and women

This topic is fascinating to read, and has aligned with my experience, 12 years after WLS. It's only the past year that I've attempted to resolve my own childhood traumas and realized the link between avoiding my feelings and eating. I've not had one binge since I have been prioritizing my mental health this year. Even reading some comments, you see how we see some foods are "bad" and some are "healthy" - the judgement shows what we learned as children (and fat people). We are seen as inherently lazy, greedy and bad if obese. I know I used my obesity to be invisible, to numb my feelings, to get that pleasure hit. I don't think I am physically addicted to food, but certainly psychologically I am. It was unintentional, but certainly deliberate. Some tools I use now - 1. Journaling daily, but also when I particularly feel like eating something; asking myself why? What am I feeling? Or trying to not feel? Am i bored? Am I lonely? Am I sad? 2. Mindfulness: deliberate mindfulness, to ground myself in the here and now, and what I am actually feeling in the moment. Am I looking to the future and making myself anxious? Feeling sad about the past? Just breathe back to the now. 3. Mindful moving of my body. Riding my bicycle to work, taking a walk, yoga or dancing. It gives me time to think, and know that I am doing something for myself, and it makes me feel like today, I chose to take care of me. 4. Self care in general. Taking time to do things that make me feel good about myself. Setting boundaries for things that make me feel bad. It really helps put me in a mindset that eating healthfully is doing something FOR myself, rather than doing something TO myself.

I hope your revision went well. I found the psychological aspect to be the absolute most important longterm. The restriction and appetite suppression wears off, but your traumas and maladaptive behaviors do not. I have always poo hooed therapy as a bunch of crap, but it was because I was not committed to it, or didn't have the right therapist. Once I found one with whom I had a great therapeutic relationship, I have laid it all out and finally been able to deal with my childhood issues (and I'm in my 40s). I highly recommend the book "The Body Keeps The Score" to explain physical issues and their relationship to mental issues. This has been transformational for me, and allowed me to eliminate binge eating and finally lose the weight I had regained after surgery. I am hopeful that I have found my solution.

This is rather a slippery slope. Ordering a troponin or Ddimer is not something that should be done without the knowledge of what they mean. Ddimer and troponin can both be elevated for MANY reasons and are not by themselves indicators of either clots or heart attacks. If you're worried, you'd be better to go to a doc. I do find these services helpful to order vitamin labs and stuff that is easy to track and have on hand before going to routine doc visits though.

I was sleeved 12 years ago, and never had dumping. I still am sensitive to high fats, lactose or fake sugar (sugar alcohols like xylitol) where I poop my brains out if I eat or drink those things.

- Do it, you will only regret not doing it sooner - Do your research and be completely comfortable with your surgeon; make sure you ask what they will do and how they will manage complications - Get up and move around as soon as you can postop. It helps move the gas out of your system. Use a heat pack for the shoulder blade pain from trapped gas. - Don't worry about loose skin yet; deal with one step at a time. - Go to a psychologist or therapist. The mental reasons you overeat to the point of obesity are not helped by surgery. You have the aid of no appetite initially to lose weight, but once that restriction eases over time, it's just you again, with all the same issues and problems. See someone. Consider what led you to get where you are/were. I was never a believer in "therapy" and thought it was rather useless and self-indulgent to sit and "whine" to someone about your problems. I misunderstood. It is unbelievably helpful to have a professional with whom you build a good relationship, to call you out on your BS and encourage you to feel your feelings instead of eating to suppress them (if that's what you do - it's what I do). Cannot recommend strongly enough, and think it should be mandatory for before and after WLS.

I am 47 and did my WLS 12 years ago at 35yo. I lost 115lbs, regained 70, lost another 30 (so far). I regret not doing plastics at the time after my WLS in some ways, but mostly I'm glad because thereafter I had pregnancies and a child, and some weight regain. I mostly held off in case I did want children. Now, I wish I could have more kids but I am too old and all attempts have failed, so I am ready to commit to plastics (I think!), and focusing on being my best self. I feel like going through plastic surgery would cement the "new me" in my own mind, and help me be motivated to maintain it. I certainly understand the hesitation though - my husband doesn't care about my jiggles, doesn't really understand plastic surgery except to think it vain, and it is expensive - and mostly, I have a young child and do not take elective surgery lightly. So I will research, and research, and 2nd and 3rd guess everything, and then hopefully take the plunge and do it.

Agree - you're not eating enough. If you are only taking in 600 calories and then burning 600-1000 hiking, you aren't going to lose weight.

In the evening I sometimes feel "hungry" but generally if I think about it I realize it's reflux. Once I take Prevacid it goes away. If I do take the PPI regularly, the only thing I get to tell me to eat is kind of an "empty" feeling. It's not "hunger" like I used to get, it's just a "my tank is empty" thing. Sometimes I eat all day from boredom still eg. weekends sitting around - but I track the intake and just eat a yogurt or something with protein and not too many calories.

I don't think it's fair to say "most" doctors are in it for the $ and not the patient! I think you would find that is a vast minority. I know a lot of docs and I don't know many who went into it for the money; it's a hard way to earn money. However; like in all walks of life and all professions, some people are just a-holes.

One of my docs at work said "Gee you've lost a lot of weight... are you well or are you diseased?"

Why are you on antibiotics? Are you on reflux meds? Call your doctor/surgeon.

Worst parts: - Nasogastric tube: I wasn't aware I would wake up with one, it was horrendously uncomfortable on my throat and made me gag every time I moved my head. Ended up having it for 4 days.. awful the whole time. I must have bugged every dr and nurse I saw asking to take it out, and I actually considered pulling it out myself! - Shoulder pain: Sore shoulder when I woke up with what felt like a huge lump on the back near neck. Think it was just gas but it felt like a massive bruise. Heat packs helped. - Swallow test the day after surgery: felt ill from being wheeled fast around corners to the test, then had to stand up with butt hanging out of hospital gown and try to drink horrible gastrograffin I thought I was going to throw up. Ugh. - Peeing in small bedpan postop and overflowing it and wetting the bed.. awfully embarrassing although at the time I didn't care that much. I was just grateful I had a lovely nurse who cleaned it up right away and was very kind. - The noise in the ICU the first night. There was some old guy who was out of it and calling out and trying to get out of bed.. all I remember hearing all that first night is "JOHN! Lay down! JOHN!". Heh. Honestly after the first month this is all a blur and nothing. I can barely remember most of it now. I had a great recovery and although I had some throwing up as I was transitioning to solid foods and trying to figure out how much to eat, I haven't had that since.

Set 2 goals - docs goal and your "ultimate" goal. Nothing stopping you from going past a little once you hit the docs goal.

This right here is why I kept my surgery to myself - I don't want to deal with other people's issues with it long after I have moved past it.

Took mine from a couple days later

Oh my god, I might have slapped her! So unprofessional!

I listed as partial gastrectomy; many medical ppl don't know what a sleeve is.

I had a hiatal hernia I was unaware of repaired at the time of sleeve. Postop I immediately had awful reflux when I lay down. Have has it intermittently since. Am 10 months postop now, take over the counter Prevacid and don't get reflux. If i forget the Prevacid I start coughing which is related to the acid. I did have a scope and it just shows mild reflux. SMALL price to pay for having lost ~110 lbs in 10 months!

God, how on earth do you exercise in a whole body compression garment? That looks super hot and uncomfortable!! I agree go to Ross or Marshall or TJ Maxx and check the underwear department for some bike short type support garment. I also have an exercise tank that is tight that I wear on top under a tshirt. Just seems cooler than a whole body thingy.

If you decide to weigh daily, you have to accept that the numbers will go up and down. You know you can't have gained fat, so don't worry about it. Fluid shifts, bowel movements, lots of things affect weight. I do weigh daily, so I understand, but I can tell as soon as I get up in the morning if I will weigh heavier or lighter. If it's lighter I dance around happy, if it's not I just ignore it because I know it will go down in a day or two. It has to, if I'm only eating 800 calories and walking! So just keep in mind that weight is a fluctuating number. I actually find it interesting to see how the weight changes depending on what I have been eating/doing.

I have always hated heat because a) legs rubbing together little sleeveless tops and dresses I couldn't wear c) sweating.. Now I love it! I have lost 107lb and get freezing cold without my fat blanket so welcome the heat. I put on my tank top and shorts and go walking or running in the heat now!

I flew internationally for 24hrs when I was 3 weeks postop so you should be fine! I did eat an aspirin as I was worried about blood clots, made sure I took stuff to drink (protein powder to mix with milk or water), and walked around as much as possible.

Kerry, the sleeve can't really "fail" - it's either a sleeve, and restricts intake, or not. What you put in it depends on you. I am sure however that there are some people whose weight loss is less than they expected/wanted due to other factors such as metabolism, etc... As a start, you're only a few weeks post surgery, you have this for the rest of your life and there is no race. What are you eating? Are you tracking your input so you know how many calories are going in? Are you exercising yet? Are you drinking Water? Are you eating enough Protein? Any other medical problems?

Did you ever get tested preop?