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I had my surgery on 1/28! No complications, 20 lbs since surgery and feeling good.

JessLess you are correct. I just pray for a better life for all. Comfortable and complication free.

I’m worried that I’m not being realistic about time off from work. I realize that it can’t be predicted because of possible complications and I can go on FMLA leave if something does happen. But I’m trying to get a handle on whether I’m going to need more than 10 days total before I go back to work. That’s what I have avail in paid time off. I have an office job, no heavy lifting, some walking around (which I think will be good for me). I’m a pretty tough cookie - not a wimp when it comes to pain or discomfort. I was back to work less than a week after laparoscopic gall bladder removal. Does that compare at all to how recover from bypass surgery might be?

I had my sleeve1/21/19. I have been working out since the 2nd day after surgery. Treadmill and stationary bike. I am 5 weeks out down 38lbs. I was 293 at Surgery, I am 255 today. Saw Surgeon Thursday he was ecstatic with my progress. Anyone who is negative about the process I just shut them out. Stalling for a little bit is normal. I did for a week. No complications at all. No nausea or vomiting either. THE EXERCISE SPEEDS UP THE WEIGHT LOSS!!! I am starting swimming today.

I am trying to stay positive... I just feel very beat down over the last 4 months for little "reward". I feel much less healthy than I did before. Sure, I'm a pants size down but whatever. I've missed over a month from work due to complications, and as soon as one resolves something new happens. It's just so discouraging. You never hear about the bad things that happen to people, only the positive things. Sent from my SM-G930R4 using BariatricPal mobile app

I wish I'd been told that if you get a leak in your stomach (which I did), that you'd most likely be in hospital for an extended time. That really hit me hard and I had no plans in place if that did happen. Disaster! I felt that the surgery really skipped over the topic... it was there, mentioned in the paperwork, but the reality of it is something else. Everyone, even though the chances of you getting a leak are very small, please make sure you do have a plan if it happens to you. I had to fly my mum out from the UK to take care of my kid (who has autism) for 3 months. Also, I didn't quite realise first time round that there is a honeymoon period with these surgeries. Make the most of them! Edit: Also, if you are self pay... make sure you know what the costs will be if you do end up in hospital with a leak. I WAS going to do self pay over here in the States and god only knows what that would have ended up costing. I don't know if my insurance would have covered it... I doubt it. When all was said and done, my Gastric Sleeve surgery with complications cost just under a million dollars. Had I been self pay, most likely our family would be bankrupt by now.

I’m a year and a half out. I never truly felt full until I got to soft/solids. I think I was told about 2 Oz for snacks and max 6 for meals. I measured everything until I developed complications because now I can barely eat liquids or solids so I eat whenever I can.

I’m a year and a half out. I never truly felt full until I got to soft/solids. I think I was told about 2 Oz for snacks and max 6 for meals. I measured everything until I developed complications because now I can barely eat liquids or solids so I eat whenever I can.

Me me me! Last year a friend of mine had a surgery, and everything went well, she lost so much weight without any complications. And I was so afraid that I didn't go to the appointment. I thought I'll give myself a chance to make it on my own. But I just couldnt stick to the plan and failed. I'm having surgery on the 1st of april. [emoji16][emoji120] Sent from my EML-L29 using BariatricPal mobile app

Be careful about going overseas for surgery. There was a member that went to a clinic in Eastern Europe recently and she seems to have had major complications. She was given no preop support, no counselling and no postop diet instructions. Cheaper is not always worth it.

I had Gastric bypass 3 weeks ago and I am soooo happy that I chose this one .. but everyone is different so no matter what surgery you decide to get you can have different symptoms from anyone .. the good thing about this surgery is that if people have complications later down the road then that person can get a reversible meaning they can operate again and put everything back to how it was .. Good luck on whatever you choose, you’ll do great !!!!!

How long have you been overweight? Have you attempted weight loss many times before and failed? If you haven't been overweight for long and haven't really attempted weight loss I would say yes impulsive. Nothing wrong with making up your mind quickly as to want you want, but do make sure your research and then research some more. Make sure you know exactly what you are up against, the risks, the complications, the failure rates, the pain, the stalls, possibly a life time of vitamin supplementation, what options you have for a revision if needed, what WLS is best for you and importantly, the benefits too.

Hi Pam, I will be 60 years old in March, had a revision from sleeve to bypass on February 17 due to GERD.. don't have much to report in terms of weight loss ...doctors' focus is for me to heal without complications and I am doing well... not much pain, went back to work within a week of surgery. I suggest you focus on being healthy and forget about the age.... just a number

I revised from band to bypass on 17/01/19. I have lost 7kg so far and am now back in the healthy weigh range. You don’t have to have a high BMI when you are revising because of complications. Im really happy with my decision so far

Hi I had a lap band in 2015 and had complications. My dr is advising I have it removed. I am looking at having a revision surgery to MGB in Tijuana with Dr. A. Lopez. My lap-band was done in the states. My worry is am I crazy for weighing in at 190 and considering a another weight loss surgery? I have gained 30lbs in the last 6 months. Is MGB too invasive? I don’t want to loose to much and look unhealthy. Please be open and honest. God Bless is all!

I am a sleeve. I have had no complication. I'm getting close to five years out. I'm sorry to hear about your struggles. Hope your Dr's get you healed and feeling better soon.

Due to insurance and scheduling issues, I had to wait 8 months before my surgery. This gave me a LOT of time to weigh the pros and cons, examine my motives, and get psychologically ready for the change. It is different from other surgeries - this is ELECTIVE. You are choosing to put yourself at risk. Like many others, I lost hundreds and hundreds of pounds on my own..... only to have it all come back, plus. After a life time of this, my metabolism was totally screwed up and the brain-stomach-hormone mechanism was also screwed up. I had no "stop button." I never felt full. I ate very healthy food, but could never stop once started. Meanwhile, I had given up, wheat, sugar, all artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors, alcohol, caffeine. I ate nothing fried, only healthy grains, my homegrown veggies/poultry/ and eggs. I maintained an active lifestyle with my garden and animals. One day, feeling afraid of the surgery, I suggested to my PCP that perhaps I should just try again to do it on my own. She very kindly told me, "If you could have done it on your own, you would have." She was right. I was just fooling myself, maybe thinking I was weak for not being able to do it on my own. But I came to the realization that my body would NEVER lose weight because of all the damage I had previously done. Weight Loss Surgery was the final tool I needed to bring my metabolism and hormone mechanisms back to a more normal baseline. I was still scared, even laying on the Pre-op bed, I was crying and told my surgeon I was just scared about making such a big decision for an elective procedure. He reassured me that none of his patients had ever come back to him and said they wished they had never done it. He was right. I am only 3 weeks post op. I did have a complication that has now been handled, and I can say that my life looks so different. I feel better already, having lost 31 pounds since beginning the pre-op diet. I am very, very glad, even at this early point, for having done the surgery. I think this is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. Preop, it is like you are looking up at a cloud layer that is obscuring the sun. All you see are shadows (doubts.) Afterwards, it is like you are flying above the clouds in the sunshine, looking down at the clouds that are now bright and white. It's all about the perspective of where you are, and you can never get above the cloud layer unless you bravely make the decision to go forward. That being said, you must be determined that you will do everything you can after surgery to be successful. No cheating, no compromise. Surgery is a tool - you still have to do your part. My best suggestion is to give up all addictions BEFORE surgery so you don't have to deal with them on top of the recovery. (Caffeine, sugar, simple carbs, processed foods, artificial anything, alcohol, and of course smoking.) Determine that these are lifestyle changes that you will never go back to. That is my slogan: "I'M NEVER GOING BACK!"

I was wondering what complications, if any, you had after surgery? I started having bad pain and nausea in my lower left abdomen, and they found it was diverticulitis. They think it is due to all of the protein shakes and after surgery diet/ pain meds causing constipation. I finally went back to work after being out for 2 weeks, and I started vomiting white foam, and I am back to feeling super nauseous and dizzy. Anyone else having these problems? Unfortunately with feeling so sick, I am not getting many calories and my dr said my body is in starvation mode, which is stalling the weight loss. I have to force myself to get up to 800 calories a day. Not fun...

My options were the sleeve or bypass, and the surgeon recommended a sleeve first. That was also my first choice, as I'm not really interested in doing a bypass to be quite honest. The sleeve is touted as safer and that it has less complications than the bypass, and nothing is 'off limits' on the sleeve as well, which appealed to me. I am the type of person that if you say 'no', then I immediately want to do the forbidden thing, lol. Mostly it came down to safety for me though, honestly. I admit that I have also heard of more 'horror' stories with the bypass also, so that helped to affect my choice. My surgeon did say that if I wasn't very successful on the sleeve though, in a year's time, she would very likely approve me for a revision to another kind of WLS. She said it wouldn't be bypass though.

It took you 6 months did you have complications or was it just a longer process for you Sent from my SM-S767VL using BariatricPal mobile app

Thank you for all the information Walter, but I did have the band removed a few years ago.. about 8 months after I had the procedure done. So it wouldn't be a revision or removal..but I'm still wondering if having had the lap band and having it removed due to no weight loss and complications might make a difference still in the requirements. I have a consultation Thursday so I guess I'll find out.

Hi Butterfly512, We handle hundreds of these kinds of denials (band conversion cases) so I wanted to share something before you went to surgeons thinking you might have to talk them out of a "required" six-month diet. Remember, despite what you might be told, there is no evidence-based medicine to support these bogus 6-month diets and the society of bariatric surgeons has soundly rejected the concept of insurer requirements like this. However it is quite possible that isn't even relevant in your case if you are having your band removed (with a conversion to a new procedure) because of a complication . While most people only think of band complications as being a flipped port or the band slipping or eroding, there are other complications we see every day, most of which result in stalled weight loss, weight gain, severe reflux and other serious problems. Often overlooked, even by surgical practices whose dieticians are often trying to paint we patients as the ones to blame if a surgery "fails", is a recognized complication called "band intolerance." That means, in essence, you cannot get it adjusted in the "green zone" so you're either too tight which results in severe reflux, regurgitation, vomiting, and pain (sometimes) or you are open and getting no satiety or restriction and can eat anything. Either way is bad but having a band too tight is often something people try to muddle through - often by eating softer, usually higher calorie foods because they go down easier than the dense proteins we are supposed to eat. When complications are present and your band has to be removed because there is no other way of treating your symptoms, there is no medical reason to be forced to undergo a 6 month diet. Think about it and you know the answer to this: how is a diet going to help alleviate something that can only be fixed surgically? Sadly too many bariatric practices simply have knee-jerk reactions about these diet programs which make no sense - they do it because they have allowed insurance companies to make these medical decisions. Hopefully this information helps you interview surgeons in your area and gives you some "ammunition" if someone in their office (or the surgeon themselves) tries to convince you that going on the dreaded six-month diet is necessary. And feel free to call us at 877-992-7732 if we can help in any way, even if you haven't had a request sent to your insurer. Good luck! For Patients' Sakes - Drive The Bus!

I know it's hard but stay on the preop diet, it will lessen complications. My dr ensured that I stayed on it and if I didnt and was not in ketosis day off, he said my surgery will be cancelled. What does your preop diet allow ? Everyone seems to have different preop requirements. Sent from my SM-G950W using BariatricPal mobile app

Oh I'm sorry. I've read that can be a complication of diabetes, especially with type 1.

Hi! I had the lap band and revised to sleeve 05/2017. I lost about 75lbs. I did really really well. But at almost 6 months out I developed severe Reflux. After trying every ppi and otc reflux med out there and not getting a satisfactory response from my surgeon I switched hospitals. My current surgeon believes that is it a possibility that the surgeon who did my sleeve was inexperienced with lap band to RNY and choose to go with what he could handle. I’ve regained about 25lbs because bread and nuts didn’t really agitate my reflux as much and sometimes it was easier to choose not being in pain. If you already have GERD and/or reflux be aware that it can get worse after the sleeve. A lot of ppl who have the sleeve as a virgin surgery do just fine on it and don’t have these complications. I’m just happy that the end is almost in sight! Good luck!