Search the Community

Hi. I've been suffering from pcos since teenage, having all the symptoms like weight gain, facial hair, irregular periods etc.. I have had my gastric sleeve in november 2020 and lost 25 kg in total. I have seen improvement with my pcos symptoms, for example getting a regular period cycle, less facial hair and obviously weight loss. Now, almost after 2 years my period cycle is getting irregular again. Increasing 2-4 days every month. For example, 30 days cycle in June, 34 days in July and 36 days plus (still missing) in August, and I'm definitely bot pregnant. Has anyone else had the same problem? I'm really worried that my Pcos might kick.in again. My weight is on a stall, as I'm not doing much at the moment. Please share your experiences Thank you Sent from my SM-N960F using BariatricPal mobile app

My offer is sincere. It is open to everyone. Knowing you are doing all you can and it still may not change an outcome is a difficult place to be. Are you local to a support group that meets in person? I am sorry about your therapist. I did not see a therapist until a few years ago. I may be a little different from some in that my weight was also driven my metabolic issues. The same thing that helped me stay large (I had an appetite too!) was a metabolic disorder. My sister had the same thing but instead of a damper on her furnace it burned white-hot to the point of doing damage sometimes. I would be at the gym and taking my martial arts classes and maintaining massive amounts of muscle to just be a size whatever (it varied so much) and my little sister would be on 4800 calories a day to maintain a size 0. It followed on like that till I was about 19, when I had about 6-7 years that I maintained a size 14. I got back up to a 16 when I was about 27, which I would miscarraige that year and then my weight skyrocketed and I began to suffer real health problems for the first time ever - sports injuries aside. By the time I was 30 I was as heavy as I have ever been, and diagnosed with diabetes in 2007. Since I have been on a very slow downward pattern again. I was at 272 when I finally decided one last "go" and shortly thereafter decided I needed to admit I needed help. I was attending therapy at this point but amped it up and changed from a "food" therapist to a therapist that focuses on cognative therapy - helping me think for myself. It has done so much good. There were walls in my journey. I crossed a big personal hurdle when I admitted to myself that no matter how fit I had been when I was younger despite my size, that it had left its mark. The miscairrage and weight gain and diabetes and being so large I could not fit in an airline seat without an extender, that between my Husband and I we couldn't share a hammock with a 550 weight limit - it left issues. Doing what I can to fight the good fight - and again only 2+ weeks post op. I have no guarantee I will succeed, either. Strong energy to all who needs it.

I'm at the very beginning stages.... Had my first appt end of April! I see people saying that they didn't get approved because of a weight gain, but what are they referring to? Can you not gain any weight from first spot to surgery date? Or is it month by month? Or just on pre-op diet? I'm so confused.... I'm 3 lbs heavier than my spot last month... Will this be an issue?

You sound like me except I am down around 74-79 pounds depending on the day. i know if I was 100% I would be down more. I am very happy, it's not a weight gain like the many many years in the past. For dinner tonight I am having my 1oz of pasta with my chicken and salad. I know I can not do without everything. Last night I had a wonderful salad and salmon but ate a big ass warm crunchie roll, the insides dug out. Be happy with what you have done, lost weight!!

hi bedhead, - strong possibility that i could have been in a room near me - don't remember the room #, i will try and look it up, sounds interesting we might have been at SUNY when you were there. whats the infection you had - all better now i hope. Any comment about your electrolites, did they get them in order? every thing else going well i hope. curious on your opinions on the younger residents and nurses. Just wondering there service etc . actually since i've been home, i still am not feeling well with my whole drinking of problm. i feel again. i'm going on the road towards dehydration again - i don't understand why, but i seem like have a lot of trouble geting all my liquid (H20) I really don't want to end up at the SUNY Hotel again they continuelly stuffed me with various Vitamins, magnisium i mean, phosforus (msp) at thed hospitaland some say that stuff could help you gain weight. I'm trying to reasure myself that this is rational - i don't want to think i actually gained 6 lbs like i did, doing every properly, even througing up - throwing up dictionary - Webster new addition Then i get on the scale instead of not losing, or even remaining the same weight, I gained 6 lbs. not to cool Under most situations, i wouldn't be too upset about a little weight gain or no loss - but to have gained weight, thats beyound my understanding. I am raising my right hand that # i swear I will promise to drink, and drink more liquids. Cold is now on overtime from 24 hr flu to maybe at least 48 hours. Oh well, nice to hear from you Bedhead best wishes kathy

Well, as soon as the pain meds start to fade you will feel like you have been run over by a truck... but welcome!! The best advise I can give is get up and walk! I am on Day 12 post op and my surgery was mid-day....by evening I was starting to feel pretty bad so I actually asked to get up at around 5 am to take some laps around the hospital floor. That was the best thing I could have done! Everytime I started feeling really bad, I got out of bed. When it hurts to move, you really don't want to, but it really is the BEST thing you can do. The first 4 days will be the worst, but remember the good times are coming!! You WILL feel better soon. Also, do not be concerned with the weight GAINED.....no one told me that being on an IV for 2 days would put so much of my hard earned weight loss back on!! I came out of the hospital having gained 6 lbs. and I think mine was pretty conservative! That was discouraging after the sacrifices made to take it off pre-surgery.....but like all things, it came back off pretty easy. Good luck friend!

Are you a compliant patient? All the time, some of the time, or none of the time? This is a practice that matters to me…does it matter to you? What’s the big deal about it, anyway? WHAT DOES PATIENT COMPLIANCE MEAN? The term “patient compliance” is a funny one for someone like me, who in some areas of her life doesn’t have the patience required for compliance. Maybe that’s just my funny little brain playing with words again. What does patient compliance mean? A compliant patient is one who follows or completes with their physician’s diagnostic, treatment, or preventive procedure(s). For example, John Doe’s blood work shows high LDL cholesterol and triglycerides (diagnosis: hyperlipidemia). He’s a compliant patient because he faithfully takes the medication his doctor prescribed, avoids eating saturated fats, and increases his exercise in order to lose some weight. His mother-in-law has high blood pressure (hypertension) and is recovering from a stroke, so in order to prevent the medical problems that challenge her mom, John’s wife Jane follows her doctor’s recommendation to reduce her own salt intake and join John for a daily walk. Their obese son Mark, who is scheduled to have bariatric surgery in two weeks, is compliant as he carefully follows his surgeon’s pre-op liver shrink diet to prepare for the surgery. Their sun-worshipping daughter Mary just had a suspicious mole removed and complies with her dermatologist’s recommendation to use sunscreen every day and give up the tanning bed. A highly commendable family, aren’t they? What about you? Are you a compliant patient? All the time, some of the time, or none of the time? Compliance is a practice that matters to me…does it matter to you? BARIATRIC PATIENT COMPLIANCE Most bariatric surgeons agree that the #1 cause of disappointing weight loss or other WLS “failure” is patient non-compliance with the surgeon’s protocol. In contrast, many adjustable gastric band patients (the disappointed ones, anyway) agree that the #1 cause of band “failure” (however they experience it) is that the band doesn’t work, no matter what (if any) protocol you follow. How can we reconcile such opposite views of WLS failure? What can surgeons do better or differently to improve patient outcomes? We already know what patient compliance means, so let’s take a look at the term “protocol.” In a general sense, protocol is a set of conventional principles and expectations that are considered binding on the members of a particular group, be it professional, social, or political. It’s also the formal etiquette and code of behavior, precedence, and procedure for state and diplomatic ceremonies. Protocol is a big deal to the British Royal Family, as witnessed by the flutter over the Queen’s order that Kate, the Dutchess of Cambridge must, as a former commoner, show reverence to the ‘blood princesses’. She is expected to curtsey to those born royal, such as Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie – both in public and in private. Although the media did a lot of speculating about Kate’s putative humiliation over this order, the importance of royal protocol can hardly be a surprise to a British citizen who marries into the Royal Family. In the medical world, the term protocol refers to the plan for a course of treatment – a physician’s diagnostic, treatment, or preventive procedure(s) like those followed by John Doe and his family. And like Kate Middleton, a bariatric patient can hardly be surprised over their surgeon’s insistence that they follow that protocol. Any surgeon worth his/her scalpel educates patients about that protocol from the time of an informational seminar to the day of a band patient’s first fill, with updates as time goes on. That’s why I feel impatient when I hear (very, very often) that new bandsters are shocked and vexed over the requirement that they follow a liquid diet immediately before and after their surgery, as well as after fills. “How can that possibly be a shock?” I ask myself. Did the patient sleep through their pre-op education, or were they so focused on the vision of themselves in a size 0 that they forgot the work that must be done to arrive at that size? Or (please say it ain’t so!) did the surgeon or other medical professionals in that bariatric program not spell out the details of their protocol when the patient was preparing for surgery? And then there’s the whole “Why does my surgeon say eat only ½ cup of food when my friend’s surgeon says eat 1 cup of food at a time?” dilemma. As I explained in Bandwagon, surgeons establish (and fine tune) patient protocols based on their own experience with their own patient population. If band manufacturers hired teams of auditors to ensure that every bariatric surgeon in North America used the exact same protocol, no one would be able to afford a gastric band, and very few surgeons would bother using the band for their patients. And a brand-new gastric band sitting in its package is completely useless until a trained and experienced surgeon implants it in a patient. Allergan and Ethicon Endo aren’t surgeons; they’re manufacturers of medical devices. So while speculating about the great variation in WLS protocols might be mildly entertaining, it’s not going to do a whole lot to get you closer to that size 0. If you choose a surgeon you trust and respect, you also choose to abide by their protocol, and enjoying that protocol is beside the point. I spent decades enjoying my own weight loss and weight gain “protocols” so much that by the time I was 54, I needed weight loss surgery. So whose protocol is healthier or more effective, mine or my surgeon’s? I lost 92 pounds by following a surgeon’s protocol. Is there a problem with that? I think not. OK, hang on a second while I climb off my soap-box. Ah, that’s better. Here I am again, standing on the ground, surrounded by living, breathing (if distant) WLS patients. It’s not fair to generalize about any of us, is it? But generalize I must in order to make a few more points. THE DOUBTING THOMAS I think some of us are by nature more likely to ignore, question, or defy authority figures, while others accept authority without voicing or even thinking a question. In the former case, we need to cultivate trust in the doctors who want to help us, while in the latter case, we need to cultivate enough trust in ourselves to dare to ask those authority figures for better or more detailed explanations of their instructions. I’m more on the defiant, or Doubting Thomas, end of the patient spectrum, but a few years ago I read a statement that struck me (out of the blue) as very true: SOME THINGS MUST BE BELIEVED TO BE SEEN I extrapolated that statement from a religious context into the context of my WLS journey (at that point in my life, I could extrapolate almost anything into the context of my WLS journey). When I had Lap-Band® surgery, I was convinced that I was a total failure at weight loss. Going into that operating room, I had to believe something I’d never seen myself do: that with the help of my band, I could succeed at weight loss and maintenance. And I did. Because truth can take a while to reveal itself, I think people like me need to ask ourselves, “What possible harm could befall me if I do follow an instruction whose proof of efficacy I can’t see right now?” Let’s go back to a previous example: your doctor tells you not to eat more than 1 cup of food at a time. You know you can easily eat 2 cups, so if you really want (or think you need) to eat all that, and no immediate negative consequences result from doing that, why shouldn’t you just go ahead and do it? Why should you blindly follow your doctor’s seemingly arbitrary and unreasonable instruction to stop eating after you’ve consumed 1 cup of food? It’s your doctor’s job to explain the “why” behind that instruction, but if she/he hasn’t done that to your satisfaction, and he/she isn’t sitting at the table with you and that plate of delicious food, I suggest that you consider what terrible thing would happen if you put away the extra cup of food for now. Will you starve to death? Really? What else might happen? Will you surrender your liberty, be forced to vote for your doctor’s favorite presidential candidate, or (worse) be compelled to clean his toilet every Saturday for the next 20 years? Oh, no. No, no, no. He’s your doctor, not your teenaged son, so let’s consider another, quite serious consequence of following his instruction. Maybe, just maybe, nothing bad will happen at all. Maybe even something good will happen. Just because your compliance doesn’t yield an instant reward doesn’t mean it won’t yield a future reward. What might that reward be? How about weight loss and the avoidance of side effects or complications? Doesn’t that sound good to you? Sure sounds good to me. I do much better at following instructions if I understand them, but I’m here to tell you that in almost 5 years of banded living, I didn’t truly begin understand my surgeon’s and dietitian’s protocol until I’d been following it for 6 or so months, and the scope of my comprehension expanded more over the next few years. In the meantime, I lost those 92 pounds I mentioned earlier. The lesson there is that you don’t have to completely understand or believe in a protocol for it to work, as long as you follow it as best you can. THE BELIEVER Now I want to talk to the folks at the other end of the patient spectrum, the obedient ones who wouldn’t even think of defying the advice of an authority figure. Their WLS journey can be bumpy too, even when they slavishly follow their doctor’s protocol, and here’s why. One of the problems with blindly following instructions that you don’t understand is that sooner or later you’re going to find yourself in a situation no one thought to warn you about. You won’t instantly know what to do, and you may waste precious time on unnecessary blood, sweat and tears. You may even end up doing something harmful. Without at least an inkling of the principles behind your doctor’s protocol, you’ll have a hard time coming up with a stopgap measure to help you survive a surprising and stressful situation. If you worry that any decision you make on your own will be the wrong one, ask yourself: “What’s the worst that could happen if I do nothing right now? What will happen if I do the ‘wrong’ thing?” Will you die? Surely not. If you’re able to breathe, ambulate, drink water, state your name and what year it is, and blood isn’t pooling in your shoes, you’re going to survive at least long enough to call your surgeon, leave a message, and wait for a call back. So unless the decision requires someone to dial 911 to speed you to the emergency room (if you can’t breathe, move, swallow, talk, remember your name or the year, stop the bleeding, or if something else life-threatening is happening), take a deep breath! And another one, and another one. Ah, that’s better! People on the Believer end of the patient spectrum are often reluctant to ask questions of their doctors because they’re afraid they’ll look stupid or make the doctor angry. I can only repeat the old saying that the only stupid question is the one you think but don’t ask. It’s extremely unlikely that your doctor is going to spank you if you ask (again), “Why can’t I take ibuprofen for my headache?” If your doctor seems irritated by a question like that, it may be because you’re trying their patience, or it could be because they’re having a bad day (worried or annoyed about something completely unrelated to you or their job, wishing they hadn’t eaten the whole pastrami sandwich for lunch, didn’t sleep well last night, etc.). It could also be because their bedside manner needs work. If that’s the case, you can set out in search of another surgeon, put up with the original surgeon’s rudeness, or do your part to lead that doctor towards kindness. If the answer to your question starts looking like a time-consuming project that your doctor doesn’t have time for right now, it’s perfectly okay to say something like, “Is there someone else in the office who could work with me on that?” or “Would it be better to make another appointment to talk about this?” THE DOCTOR Doctors, like other people, come in all shapes, sizes, and temperaments, and with varying communication skills. They’re not all made from the eternally patient, smiling, avuncular Marcus Welby mold, and not all of them are motivated solely by the desire to help other people. They’re often just as fascinated by science as by altruism. Like you and me, they work to earn money, and if their pay seems ridiculously high, just ask one of them how much money they borrowed to get through medical school, and how much they pay each year just for medical malpractice insurance. In many ways, I’m a “you get what you pay for” kinda gal. If 3 doctors quoted band surgery at a total of $13,000 to $15,000, and a 4th doctor quoted only $4,000, I’m not sure I’d feel safe with a bargain basement surgeon (nor would I assume that the $15,000 surgeon was the best). Last I heard, no courses in Bedside Manner or patient communication are required of, or even offered to medical students. Doctors must exchange important information with patients whose own communication skills vary greatly, and they must take a patient’s measure, choose a treatment plan, and explain it to the patient using a minimum of enigmatic medical terms, all within a matter of minutes before they rush off to the next patient or task. Doctors must rely on support staff to do hundreds of things to keep the doctor’s boat afloat, and it’s entirely possible that they have no idea how rude or careless or wonderful some of those people are because so much of that goes on in a way that’s invisible to the doctor. And which would you rather your surgeon focus on: the ink cartridge for the Xerox machine, or the pain in your abdomen? In medical folklore, surgeons are infamous for possessing a God complex, with big egos, enormous self-confidence, and an excess of superiority. When you think about it, it does take a lot of chutzpah to cut into another human’s flesh and fiddle with their innards in the effort to fix a problem., so it doesn’t surprise or bother me much that some surgeons have a hard time coming down to the lowly level (perceived or real) where their patients trudge through the mud of ordinary human existence. In many types of surgery, that’s not a big problem because the surgeon sees the patient maybe 3 or 4 times: the initial consult, the surgery, and 1 or 2 post-op follow-ups. Then the patient goes on their merry (we hope) way and the surgeon scrubs up and dashes into the operating room to cut into someone else’s medical problem. General surgery is usually a fix-it-and-go thing. If your diseased gall bladder gets tossed away and forgotten, do you really care if that also means your abdominal pain is also a thing of the past? But bariatric surgery, which treats a chronic and incurable disease that’s a highly complex tangle of physical, behavioral, and emotional problems, is a different matter. Successful bariatric surgery is not a fix-it-and-go proposition (and that’s reason #99 that I would hesitate to ever have surgery outside the United States, knowing that I have no local surgical back-up or support). Bariatric patients need far more education, aftercare and support than most other types of patients. I’m convinced that one of the causes of WLS failure (however you define failure) is inadequate patient education, aftercare and support. And on top of that, adjustable gastric band patients need even more education, aftercare, and support than most other bariatric patients. While I believe that too many general surgeons have been jumping on the gastric band-wagon without fully understanding the needs of those patients, it’s not fair to say that they’re all being careless or negligent when they fail to give patients what they really need. Unless they’ve had bariatric surgery themselves, they just don’t know what it is to walk in our shoes. They might consider the implanting of a gastric band to be an interesting and possibly lucrative addition to their practice without realizing that surgical expertise is only part of what the band patient needs. Doctors and other people with very high self-esteem can be hard for us ordinary mortals to deal with, but it’s a mistake to assume that they’re looking down on us. They may not be looking at or thinking about us at all, not because they don’t care about us but because their minds are so enthralled by and preoccupied with medical science. My father was a brilliant scientist whose head was so far up in the clouds that I often wondered what planet he was on. At the same time, I know he loved me when he noticed me (and I know now that nothing I could do would change that). In a sense, doctors who get heavily involved with their patients are doing those patients a disservice. The Hippocratic Oath exhorts doctors to “do no harm,” not to mop up your tears or hug you when things go wrong. If that seems harsh, consider this: doctors actually need to keep some emotional distance from their patients in order to treat them well medically. Without that distance, it would be very hard for them to make rational decisions about patient care. That’s why it’s considered poor practice for doctors to treat themselves or their loved ones. I’m not saying that it’s okay for doctors to be cold and heartless and should be excused for bad behavior. None of them are perfect (and neither are we, the patients) and you won’t find me worshipping at the altar of the AMA or the ASMBS. I’ve encountered some wonderful doctors and surgeons in my lifetime, and some bad ones too. The average American bandster might see 3-4 doctors on a regular basis (a few times a year): a primary care physician, a gynecologist (if you’re of that persuasion), a dentist, and maybe a chiropractor or a specialist like an eye doctor. The average American bariatric surgeon probably sees 20-30 patients a day (perhaps a few thousand per year). Since I’m not a mind-reader, and no one cares as much about my weight loss journey as much as I do, I figure it’s my responsibility to refresh my doctors’ memories each time I see them. I might wish that I didn’t have to repeat over and over again that (for example) I’m hearing impaired and need my doctor to look at me when he speaks, but that’s a minor issue compared to some of the bigger ones I face as a mature adult.

My surgery date is March 24th and currently I have to take Seroquel, which is an antipsychotic medicine that helps with my moods and to help me sleep. However, a side effect of Seroquel is weight gain and I believe it may have been a small culprit with me as well as my PCOS. I want to talk to my doctor about switching me to another sleeping/anti depressant mediciation without weight gain as a side effect, but I have a high tolerance to certain medications and seroquel has been the only one ive tried to work on me. I've tried ambien, but i had hallucinations with it and I slept walk. Trazodone did not work. I've been on Prozac for anti depression and Celexa but both turned me into a zombie. My goal is to find something that doesn't turn me into a zombie, but will help me sleep without hallucinating and sleep walking or waking up feeling hung over. What's worked for you?

thanks everyone. i appreciate it. so i guess my weight gain was normal? and also .... feeling no restriction is normal?

I believe sugar is addictive as some drugs. I have to avoid sugary foods altogether. My weight gain was due to eating gallons of ice cream and anything with sugar. since being banded and gaining more control I seldom eat sugar I had diabetes for years . My A1C has been normal since a few months after my surgery,

Thank you Vicki! Ya my BMI is 39.5 or something so I am definitely in the range, I have just read what seems to be horror stories with Kaiser doctors, because seriously, when I went through my PCOS diagnosis and they couldnt explain the pains I was having and it took them about 3 months to finally diagnose me with it. I just dont want to have to do a round about with this doctor! Hopefully he will agree with my decision to want this procedure! I am definitely willing and definitiely ready! I do have a great deal of depression since my weight gain, and have struggled with maintaining weight since Hs! So hopefully it will be an easy process for me! Thanks for replying I really appreciate it!

@@lazylyn I'm sure the weight gain is only Water - don't worry! Your body has been through a lot and needs time to adjust. As long as you are sticking with the plan - the weight will come off - you won't fail!!!

I had Bypass 6/29/2017. I gained weight from surgery. Is that normal?

Had you been on a protracted diet presurgery (not just a 1-2 week liquid diet)? I'd been on a stricked diet for 8 months presurgery. After the initial shock of surgery my loss really slowed down. Not sure if you are female but TOM really affects water weight gain.

I did a clean up. I kept only the basics. The last time I lost a lot of weight (gained it all back) I didn't do a clean up and felt it was ok to have them to fall back on. New you new start. I feel like I'm a newborn. My surgery is mid April and I've lost 25 pounds already on my own. Can't wait for the surgery. Purging is good for the soul!! Screw size 24!!! You'll be buying 10's soon enough! Good luck

I need help and tips on loosing weight and maintaining it off my surgery date is not scheduled however the insurance won't approve me and that's my worry. I'm craving so much and I'm out of breath a lot lately I need help something.

well wasabubble butt this is truly my last response to your attacks. since you enjoy website hunting on the sleeve so much why dont you find one that says there is no potential risk of weight gain or stomach restretching? cuz i sure as hell cant find one. and many of them say that you may eventually need further surgey( doudenal switch) depending on how obese you are. i never once said any of the surgeries were wrong i simply stated that i personally knew of people that have had all 3 surgeries and regained signifigant amounts of weight back. these are real life people that i've spoken with. and i never once said the sleeve and bypass were the same. only that i knew people that had signifigant regain after them. those are the facts im sticking to. again everyones choice is there own to make i chose the band and im happy with mine. lots of people are happy with their bypasses and sleeves and im truly happy for them as well. now you have a blessed day

I led a very sedentary life for about 15 years before surgery (which directly explains my massive weight gain during that period). Today, I do at least one hour of some sort of exercise every day, and while I wouldn't go so far as to say I LOVE it, it has just become part of daily life that I just DO. Like breathing. Or getting dressed every day. With that said, I do hate weight training which is why I only do it for about 20-30 minutes 1 or 2 times a week (a necessary evil though, to maintain/build muscle mass. Boo.) I do find that I prefer going to classes. Something about being around others makes it less boring. I enjoy Zumba and Hot Yoga. I started going to a Cardio Pump class which is ok (but is basically weight training disguised as aerobics) so I don't think I'll last long there. I have gone to a few Spinning classes, which I like so far, but I can't keep up with the rest of the class yet so I am working on it. When I can find someone to go with me, I'll go climbing/bouldering at a gym nearby, but partners are hard to find, and climbing/bouldering can get expensive! I also do a lot of walking, which I thought would bore me out of my mind, but turned out to be my favourite form of exercise. I put on my headphones and just head out the door and come back an hour later. The time just flies by it seems...which is a good sign In short, find something that you like to do, you will more likely stick to it and make it part of your everyday life. Try out different things until you find the activities that work for you. And it doesn't have to be just going to a gym or classes...you could join a sport team, take up running/hiking, swimming...the options are endless. Good Luck!

I do apologize for not having come back sooner...but I also can't promise that I'm back. I don't like the atmosphere of this forum. Too much hatin' going on here. I had managed to get from an all time high of 285 down to 225 within the first 8 months, but then my dad died, and that sent me into a tailspin. I started eating the wrong foods (comfort eating) and started gaining back...then I did something colossally stupid. I went in for a fill because of the weight gain. That made me too tight, but I was in denial about that, so I just kept eating the wrong foods. As you well know, the wrong foods do not get stuck. Whenever I did try to eat properly, I ended up being stuck. Every. Stinking. Day....until I quit trying so hard. Eventually, I went in for an unfill with a promise to myself to re-evaluate when I'm ready to try again. This resulted in me regaining all but 15 pounds back. About two months ago, I got on the scale and it read 267. This is only 18 pounds lower than my original pre-surgery weight. Do I regret getting the band? Absolutely not. See...when I went in for pre-op testing, I found out that I'm diabetic, I had high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. I have never had to take any meds for any of those conditions because of the band. I have been to the doctor every 3 months for the past 3 years, and all 3 of those conditions are "Perfectly Controlled" through diet and exercise. Every pound I've put back on is because of a bad choice or choices that I've made. Maybe in the near future I'll be able to make the decision to re-commit myself to the bandster lifestyle and go back for a fill. Until then, I'll just keep slogging along, trying to eat better and exercise every day. Thanks for reading. I hope this finds everyone healthy and happy. :redface:

Help! I had my gastric sleeve surgery September 24. I started at 264 pounds. I was down to 200 pounds at the beginning of February then found out I had a cavernous malformation on my brain stem and had to have surgery to remove it. During that time I managed to gain back 20 pounds. Some of that was due to prednisone but some was due to not being in control of my own cooking. Now I cant seem to start losing again. Im definitely eating larger portions than right after my surgery. Any suggestions?

Hi everyone I'm 21 and am getting banded August 13 Today I was prescribed Yasmin pills to regulate my heavy and painful periods. The doc assured me that this brand would not cause weight gain So my only concern is whether i will be able to continue taking them once i get the band I am taking them purely because my periods are horrible and has caused my Iron to be really really low Has anyone else taken them for this reason?

I am so depressed with my weight gain and I've been going to the gym for small group training and Barre class. So I'm a toned fat person lol Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using BariatricPal mobile app

I am still pretty nervous about the whole thing in general. I am a nurse, so a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Surgery always seemed like such a sell out for me, personally. My sister had gastric bypass and looks horrendous. Hair loss, skin sagging and generally unhealthy. On the flipside, my sister in law had the LB and looks phenomenal. I don't even know if my insurance will pay for this procedure, so that is another subject. The one thing that seems to bother me is the lump that you can feel just under the skin (the port?). My sister in law let me feel it, and I have to admit, it creeps me out a bit. I would be excited to put weight gain behind me once and for all. I am so frustrated with yo yo dieting, and all the strenuous psychological and physical work that I have put in over the years.

I had gastric bypass in 2003 and kept weight off for about 7 years. Due to medications etc unexpected weight gain resulted. After working with doctor and nutritionist for about 2 years -- having revision surgery next week.

It’s really difficult to avoid all the artificial sweeteners. They seem to be in everything these days. I wanted to reduce or kill any craving for sweet/sugar after surgery. My way of overcoming them was to prepare & cook most of my food myself. It was the only way I could control the ingredients. I don’t use sugar alternatives either. I know there’s sweeteners in the yoghurt & protein bars I buy but that’s really it. I generally avoid sweet things except for naturally occurring sugars like in fruit & I do put a little bit of honey in my rolled oats to help offset the odd hypoglycaemic episodes I can have in the morning (I used to have them occasionally when I was slim in the past too). As soon as I passed the fluid only stage post surgery I never had another protein shake. I made a lot of soup as I went through the post surgery stages. Now if I want something dessert-like I make chia pudding (lactose free milk, chia seeds, vanilla extract). Cooking your own food my be a way for you to not consume the sweeteners you want to avoid. I like to cook so it wasn’t an issue for me. These 6 months will allow you to do lots of research into suitable alternatives. In Australia we don’t have the 6 month pre requisite. I had three weeks between the first appointment with my surgeon & my surgery. This is bit of a thing for me so I apologise if I sound preachy. There’s a lot of interesting research about now about the side effects of sweeteners & the disadvantages. Sure there’s lots of research showing replacing sweeteners with sugar will cause weight loss but of course it will. Going from consuming 100s/1000s of calories in non diet soft drink to 0 calories by drinking diet sodas will result in some weight loss. Dig deep & you will find some research that’s now showing sweeteners can cause weight gain. Good luck.