Search the Community

Banded 1st July! Change for life! :tongue_smilie: After much research i was under the impression i'd be fine after a few days. Ha ha ha.......was i fooled. It is now July 6th - the smallest thing exhausts me! Luckily took 10 days off work following surgery, so i'm hoping by next week all will be well? I've found the mix of liquid diet and medication quite difficult.......strong painkillers on more or less empty stomach cause sickness and nausea. Luckily surgeon said i could have creamy soups to get some protein - which has helped! Cant wait to start on mushies!!!!! :thumbdown:

I just saw my doc this past Wednesday for my preop and asked the same question. He told me that though he is comfortable performing either procedure, he likes scientific data. The rny has been performed for 30 or 40 years with very high success rate and the sleeve has only been performed for the past 10 years so it doesn't have the longterm data to back it as rny. So I chose rny because I feel the same way. Something interesting though while at my appt...all of us in the group that day were asked if we wanted to participate in a blind random clinical research study for a single incision gastic bypass. Being random you wouldn't know which surgery you were getting until you woke up but my doc did the first single incision rny back in 2004 and is coming to the end of his clinical trial...thought that was interesting though I opted for the normal 5 incision...he said the single is a bit more difficult and a little more post op pain involved. Good luck with your decision! I wish you the best!

1. If you think it is a magic bullet. Bariatric surgery is not a magic bullet. It will help you lose weight but the responsibility is on you to keep going and maintain that loss. Regaining all of the lost weight is very possible and not even that uncommon. People who do not commit to a healthy lifestyle after the surgery are highly vulnerable to regain. Unlike diets, regain with surgery is delayed. On a diet people usually gain weight back within a few weeks or months. With surgery, people won’t begin to regain the weight until 18 months to 2 years. People who feel like surgery is a magic bullet will not be prepared for the commitment and will end up on the road to failure. 2. If you think it will be easy. Bariatric surgery involves an extensive process of nutrition counseling, temporary liquid diets, and pre- and post-surgery meetings and preparations. Most clinics will ask that you lose some weight before the surgery, start on a special diet, and exercise. If you find a clinic that does not ask you to go through multiple steps like this you should find a new clinic. A good clinic will prepare you for success by giving you the right nutrition, behavioral, and exercise support before and after surgery. If you view these steps as a hassle, then you are not in the right mindset for surgery and will be at high risk of weight regain in the long run. 3. If it is in the back of your mind that if it doesn’t work you will just try it again. Even though people like Carnie Wilson had a second surgery, keep in mind that most people do not. Some surgeons will not want to do a second surgery for you. In fact, they may lose hope in you. Surgeons want to set you up for success. They might not want to take the risk of an additional surgery unless they are very sure you did not squander the results of the first surgery with a blatantly unhealthy lifestyle. Surgery is an intensive and invasive process, only plan to do it once. 4. You Haven’t Truly Made Committed Attempts to Lose Weight. One of the criteria to be eligible for surgery is that you have had numerous failed weight loss attempts. Nearly everyone on the planet meets this criterion, right?! Well, no. If you can’t honestly say that you put your heart and soul into previous weight loss attempts, then you aren’t really meeting this criterion. If your reason for not losing weight in previous attempts was because you were too busy or stressed out to make lifestyle changes, these problems will not go away with surgery. You will need to make the very same lifestyle changes. The difference will be that regaining the weight you lost from surgery will be 10 times more demoralizing than it is from a usual diet attempt. Once again, if you aren’t committed to making lifestyle changes, surgery will not make a long lasting difference.

I had my gallbladder out at 19. I wasn't overweight at that time so with the first attack, the ER gave me pain medication and sent me home. The second attack had me thinking I was going to die so I made my "death bed" confessions to my mother, asked her to give my siblings certain things of mine and wrote a letter telling everyone how much I loved them. I passed out from the pain! Fortunately, the next ER decided to do an ultra-sound sound on my abdomen and I had 3 very large rocks in my gallbladder! Surgery was scheduled for a few days later. Now, besides having to answer to my parents for some of my confessed mischief, I think that having those attacks were the best thing that happened to me. From what I hear from others, the attacks happen more frequently and are worse. Had I known that I had gallstones, I would have never waited for the pain... it's not worth it. Get the surgery.

I had my VSG surgery on October 6, 2011. Before Christmas I started having these weird pains that would start in my sternum and wrap around to between my shoulder blades. I seriously thought I was dying. I had two in December, 2 in January, a VERY bad one in February that drove me to vomiting and pretty much passing out in pain. Most of these only last about 20 minutes to an hour, so by the time I was ready to head to the ER, they were going away. I saw my doctor after that last one though. He told me what I was experiencing were gallbladder attacks. He said it was because of the drastic weight loss. Now my VSG surgeon had checked my gallbladder and said it looked good and was healthy! I was so frustrated to hear that I was now having problems with this. My doctor said that if I could handle the pain with the attacks and that if they weren't severe, I should probably wait to have it removed since I'd had VSG less than 5 months before. Well, Thursday March 29th, I had an attack that last nearly 16 hours and I ended up in the ER because I was out of my mind in pain. They found I had a stone lodged in the bile duct and it was causing problems with my liver and pancreas. I had emergency surgery to have the gallbladder removed and they swept the duct to get that stone out too. They were able to do this laproscopicly. Ends up I was filled with gallstones and several were marble size! I'm about 10 days out now and feel soooo much better! Please don't mess around with the gallstones. They can cause so much trouble with other organs that you DO need to survive!

I was banded on June 5th this year and i'm down 51 lbs. I've been filled twice, i'm at 5 CC in my 10 CC band. I felt huge restriction for the first 3 weeks after my 2nd fill, but now, no as much, so I may analyze it a couple more weeks, but I'm thinking i need another fill. I dont "pig out" persay, but I do eat more than I was able to a month ago. ANyway, congrats on your loss... keep it up!!

Doreen0716, I completely understand. I will be a year out on the 19th of this month and I've been at a stall for 3 months as well. I try not to let it get the better of me because praise God we've come a long way from where we were. I'm down 70 pounds trying to loose the last 10 but it's a serious challenge. I workout and I try not to consume over 1000 calories. I'm going to try to reset my sleeve/body by starting over on the liquid diet and go from there. So maybe that could be a start for you also. I see alot people are doing the keto diet that had the sleeve, so maybe try a diet plan that's fit for you. But whatever the case dont get frustrated re evaluate and keep pressing. I think the process has just slowed for us all after so many months, to me it seems like when i hit the 9 month mark it slowed big time. But keep us posted on your progress.

Hi, My surgery sites were healing well and my doctor gave me the go ahead to swim after 10 days. Lynn

Congratulations Lynda!! I'm only ahead of you by a couple of weeks!! It's such a wonderful feeling, isnt it!?! I weighed in this morning at 192!! 10 more lbs and I'll weigh what I did on my wedding day 4 yrs ago!! So excited! My hubby still doesnt really see how much I've lost yet but he will soon!!

When someone says "You look great" I say "thank you". Before becoming a Vet I would have given a list of at least 10 reasons why they were wrong.

I just had my 3-month post-op appointment and my surgeon said it's pretty much unavoidable. Generally your hair falls out 3 months after the event that triggered it, so my surgeon stresses the importance of protein immediately post-op. I got all of mine in and am still losing hair, but I figure it could be worse and maybe the protein kept it at bay somewhat. My hair is past my shoulders so I think even a small loss looks like more because the hair is longer. I take biotin and surgeon said he doesn't know if it helps, but it can't hurt. I have also heard that zinc might help, but I don't take it. The surgeon also said the surgery itself and the anesthesia can trigger hair loss. Mine started at 10 or 11 weeks. Hopefully this too shall pass.

I initially was kind of in the same boat. 39 BMI, had high blood pressure, high choles., thyroid, arthritis, you name it. But my insurance required under a 40 BMI, that you had to have either diabetes or sleep apnea, which I knew I didn't have diabetes but wasn't sure about the apnea. My primary care dr. was fabulous and very supportive, sent me for a sleep study and, lo and behold, had sleep apnea. Now everyone around wasn't surprised. Guess I was the only one not disturbed by snoring...lol. But still had to jump through all the hoops for the six-month program. And even gained weight to make sure I still fell within the weight guidelines because I knew that part of six-month plan was to lose 10 percent and had to be careful not to drop below the required weight. My daughter was also refused for having no comorbidities. She flew from NYC to Houston to Dr. Spivak who is one of the original 14-member team that introduced lap-band to the US...pretty much as long as you're a 35 BMI, he will do it. I would think it wouldn't matter as far as complications after the fact as to whether insurance will cover. it's then a medical problem and they should still cover, but there are plenty of attorneys out there that do nothing but litigate insurance company denials. So I wouldn't worry about that. Dr. Spivak in Houston last year was 13,500 but my daughter did all of her follow-up/fills in NYC. Good luck Trisha

Middlesiter 57, I did ask my Dr., but when I first found out, I asked here as I had to email my Dr. and sometimes it takes a few hours/day for him to respond!! Yeah, I am good. They said no worries. I did find out that once you have been treated for it, it is unlikely you will ever get it again!! That was good news. You know what else was weird? I took a blood test for it and it was negative, but the biopsy was positive. My Dr. is concerned about FALSE negative tests now! He is going to do research to see how many their are to see if blood tests are accurate! Thanks everyone! Still taking HUGE amounts of antibotics and they are still making me feel crapy!! Only 10 days left! Kelly

im 14 months post op......and I have no issues. I've found it quite easy to addapt to this new life style, although I still avoid that "I can eat anything", im still trying to stick to what ive learned is good for me to eat, and avoid the crap food. My goal is still to try to get in my 60 to 80 grams of Protein per day. when I go to a reasturant, I split a meal w/ hubby, no questions ever get asked.......If I get a meal by myself, i've only had this happen 1 time where they thought i didnt like it, all you have to do is reassure them it was great, tell them you ate as much as you could. don't feel like u need to explain anything more, its none of their business....lol on a scale of 1 to 10.....its a 8....real easy..... I was embarrassed to be out in public when i was heavy, now, i hold my head up high!

☆☆☆CW 230 LBS ☆☆☆ ♣♣♣SW 369 LBS♣♣♣ →→→9 months 12 days out TODAY ←←← ■■■SURGERY DATE 1-21-13■■■ ▶▶10 more LBS to my goal weight ◀◀ ▶▶▶Goal weight 220 !!!! ◀◀◀ ¤¤Dr Sosa in Miami¤¤ MrsB MrsB surgery 1-21-13

I'm 18 months post-op. I don't have any post-op problems, no GERD, no nothing. I don't hate myself anymore due to my size. I don't buy mail-order clothes anymore to avoid seeing myself in the mirror. i'm not ashamed by what I put in the grocery cart. I admit, I was a carnivore before surgery so protein first is easy for me, but before surgery every meal ended with dessert and that doesn't happen anymore; partly because everything tastes too sweet now and partly because I like being a size 6. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being easy and 10 being very difficult, it's been about a 3 for me to maintain the changes I've made. I really, really wanted to lose all my excess weight and was determined to do it as quickly as possible so that was my priority. Now my priority is to keep it off.

I got to 140 and it pretty much stopped. Down to 138 after 2 months. I think my body likes this weight. I am pretty thin at size 6, but not a skinny minnie size 0. I am very stable here 10 months out. guess I will just revise my uberthin fantasies. At 53 I don't look so bad

I had to have full lab work...ekg...stress test..sleep apnea test...psych eval...nutritionist visit......mandatory support groups...and lose 10% of my weight

There's this great great SUPPORT GROUP on Facebook.. go in there, it will help a lot, still helping me, and I had my surgery done a couple of months ago...there's a lot of real patients, but it is a really active group, even surgeon answer your questions..it's call Dr Carlos Altamirano Support Group, he's not my doctor, but he also works for bariatricpal, but even though I didn't use him, they left me in. And here is my experience... I will like to share my experience after 9 months because now I'm closer to my goal, but first of all because I know I made the best decision ever, it's not just how I look, but how I feel inside, I'm a healthier and happier person now, I have improved my relationship with family and friends. My self esteem was in the ground, therefore I wasn't too friendly, now people like to be close to me, and it's only been 9 months like a I said, Im doing all kinds of outdoor activities, I'm going to the gym, I have a new wonderful wardrobe, I'm dating, I love myself more than ever.... and everything started like this…I tried all kind of diets and diet pills before going to surgery, they helped, but only for a short period of time, and if I dropped 10 pounds, after a couple of months I gained 15, I kept going like this FOR YEARS, I just couldn't keep that weight away FOR GOOD, I went into depression, the worse year of my life, but yet the better, in January of 2014, I wasn't getting out of my house or job, obviously my family was a bit worried, I even went to therapy, I felt petty about myself, then I signed up in forums of people with the same issue I had... OUR WEIGHT, met this girl that was doing the same thing as I'm doing right now...sharing her story and helping people, I had made my own research, I looked up for doctors in Tijuana, and this girl told me about Bariatric Pal, they were so helpful, I started with them from nothing.... and they guided me in every decision I was taking, first, they gave me my options, I visited the doctors they recommend, and I stayed with Dr. Lopez,I felt really comfortable with him, It felt like he knew me, well to make the story short, Bariatric Pal made all the arrangements for me, the day of my surgery, they picked me up in San Diego, they took us (my brother and I) to the clinic, as I hoped, they made me feel so welcome, I signed up, a few papers, they explained to me everything I was signing and they gave me my room, they did all kinds of pre-op tests, EKG, etc.. they gave me a pill to calm me down, since I was really nervous,I had Dr. Lopez visited me before surgery, I liked that, because sometimes you never get to see your surgeon, I think he gave the attention every patient deserves, we deserve to be treated as humans, if it is not too much to ask, well SURGERY went great, no complications, afterwards a Lil bit of dizziness, nauseated, but that's just normal, I stayed two days in there, then Mike from Bariatric pal drove us to the recovery house where my brother stayed while I was at the hospital, they didn't have a room for him, but the guys from BP take great care of him as they did for me the two extra day we decided to stay at their RH, then they drove me back to San Diego the day Dr. Lopez discharges me...I will be in debt with all the staff the rest of my life. My recuperation, had its ups and downs, but I did a lot of reading, about what I could eat, which is one of the hardest parts of it, I learned my vegetables, my Protein, and I learned to eat, I would cheer myself up every time I felt this was too much to handle, my family and friends helped a lot also, but now I know it was the BEST DECISION EVER, I'm proud of myself, and telling my story because I want people to feel the same way I do, I'm still dropping weight, and I will keep telling my stories, my progress and my humble advice in case you need support.

My 20 year reunion is in the plans for next July.....I am THRILLED to have just had this surgery - I will be SPECTACULAR and FIERCE by next summer!!! I did attend my 10 year.....at about 285 and a size 22....I am so looking forward to seeing all my old buddies again...even if I have most of them on facebook!

So excited! 10 more days!! How are you 26ers doing with your pre op diet?

I was on clear liquids for 1 week, full liquids for 10 days, and I'm currently on puréed food.

I am 10 days post op and I don't feel well at all. I had the surgery last Thursday came home Friday and was admitted again on Saturday for dehydration and gastritis.... I'm on all types of meds for my stomach including a cocktail of mylanta and some other stomach medicines. Every time I swallow anything to drink I get a horrible pain in my belly. I get a weird feeling in my throat that starts to bubble then I burp but it feels like I wanna vomit. I contracted shingles while being admitted so I'm on antibiotics for that now also. I'm borderline depressed and questioning why did I do this to myself. Hoping and praying things get better but woke up today feeling like I have a chest cold. I don't think I'm taking in E ought fluids because like I said it hurts going down. I have a appt tomorrow with my Dr hopefully he can give me so positive info and say this to shall pass. Anyone else go thru anything similar. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Good morning fellow bandsters!! I had surgery 12/9/10 and I'm doing well. As you can see from my ticker, I'm over halfway to my goal. It feels great! I'm registered to run a 5k next month. I would have never thought a year ago that I would be doing this. I have been training for it and I can easily run the entire thing nnow. Before, going to the mailbox was hard. I think alot of times we focus solely on the numbers on the scale instead of the other great things happening on this journey. Things like losing inches, eating less, getting more active, eating healthier and just having a different mindset about our health. And as some of know....it has to start in the mind before the body follows. For those just starting out or only a few months post op...hang in there. I was discouraged too. The scale wasn't moving fast enough, I thought that I would just start dropping weight after surgery and continue until I got to goal. That didn't happen. I thought that the band would just stop me from eating. That didn't happen. I was discouraged because I wanted bigger fills and my doc was only doing small amounts at a time. Now in hindsight, I'm glad that they were small amounts because it gave me time to wrap my head around the lifestyle changes I needed to make. For the new bandsters or the ones struggling, keep your appointments, schedule nutrition visits, join a support group. I truly believe that post op care is critical. Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to share this with everyone. Good luck!!

Great advice! It is so easy to get caught up in the moment, caught up in being R.I.D. and lose sight of the bigger picture. For me, I still have odd moments when I feel fat and look in the mirror being very self-critical. The reality is I am not. I am 85lbs lighter than last year with a BMI of 25. I am a UK size 10/12. To the world I look normal sized. I have to shake myself and it helps to think about what I am grateful for - no diabetes, no pain from arthritis and the other night it was simply sitting at the cinema and being able to sit with my arms INSIDE the chair. There wasn't a bit of me "leaking" into anyone else's space beside me. For me, being grateful usually gives me perspective on what I was R.I.D. about. Like the idea of writing it down because I think I would be surprised at just how much I have to be grateful for every day....