Im considering surgery-do you regret it?

[tenzinblue 4]

Hi,

I'm Jess and I'm researching the sleeve and am pretty sure I will go ahead, but I just want anyone who has had a negative experience or anyone who fully regrets doing it to tell me why, so I'm fully aware of the negatives as well as the positives.

Please be brutally honest.

Thank you so much!!

X

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

You will get alot of replies I am sure! I also suggest you do a "search" for the word regret or regrets to see comments from many on this topic.

Full disclosure - no regrets - I went from BMI over 50 to a normal BMI and am maintaining below my personal goal. I lost over 160# !! - I feel like the sleeve saved my life.

I have been reading these forums for a few years and the regrets generally come in 3 camps:

1. Recently sleeved; struggling with the first weeks or months post op. Vast majority of these people change their minds down the road.

2. Minority of people who have complications. That is an interesting catagory because there are a few people who have gone through really rough time, but generally once they come out the other side they are glad they are sleeved!

3. People who do not achieve lasting weight loss - disappointed with results. To me, that is the tough category. This does happen. I have had great success, but I am nearly 3 years out and i need to warn you - at this stage "maintenance" is more about me and less about the sleeve... I could have never gotten here without the sleeve and it does help me maintain, but you need to have very realistic expectations about what WLS can do for you and what it can't...

[Cococat 119]

I am 67 and was sleeved on Sept. 10th. I am only a few weeks out, but I do not regret it so far. My motivation for getting sleeved was for health reasons. The tests that I had to go through before surgery uncovered a severe sleep apnea problem, which is now being addressed with a CPAP machine. I had high blood pressure which even at this early date is in the process of lowering. My arthritic knee no longer hurts. I can actually move! I have high cholesterol, which is being monitored and hopefully will come under control. My quality of life was nil, but after surgery seems to be getting better. I have a great doctor and his staff is helpful. All give nutritional guidance and a positive outlook. I had a few semi-rough days following surgery but I absolutely HAD to get this surgery because nothing else worked! I do not want to have knee or hip replacements, as some of my family members have had to get. Thankfully, I have a supportive husband who has helped me 100% on this journey. I could not walk anymore. Now we are planning vacations again. I am down 34 pounds since the surgery. I have no regrets.

[Comeflywithme 402]

MY ONLY regret is not having it done sooner. I LOVE it! I have now acquired a new weight, a new body, a new self-esteems, not to mention an entirely NEW wardrobe! LOL!

I was feeling so bad - always tired and blah. Now I am energized, feel beautiful and love the healthy new me! It's a huge choice, and very personal. Do a lot of reseach, ask a lot of questions and IF you decide this is for you, I guarantee you'll be very happy you did! Good Luck!

[Rovobay 920]

here come all the "I regret not doing it sooner" posts..... I am one of them. I am not even 5 weeks out. I feel great. lost over 40lbs so far. first fews weeks can be tough, but it gets better. cowgirljane sums it up nicely.

[AvaFern 3,516]

I am on the list of people who only regret they didn't do it sooner! I am very pleased with the results of my sleeve. The first few weeks you will likely wonder if you just ruined your life, but it gets better and better. I spent the first two weeks feeling completely miserable and I was sure I had just done something terrible. I am now 13 months out, 100 pounds down, and about 8 pounds away from goal. All of the hard parts were more than worth the end result. Good luck!

[Twirpo75 50]

I'm only a week out of surgery so I am going to be totally honest. Yes. In some ways I do regret it. There is that piece of me that feels like my best friend is just GONE. I can't turn to food anymore. I know that with every day that goes by I will be more at peace with it. Which is why people years out can say that they don't regret it. But Carl's Jr came out with the Mile High Burger right before my surgery and I feel like I was cheated because I never got to have one. That's the part of me that regrets it. But I'm down 53 lbs from my starting weight. And in that aspect I feel great. The surgery was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually pretty easy. I think you have to just know in your head and in your heart that you are going to lose your best friend. And if you are like me, you will have family members push you away. It turns out that other super morbidly obese people don't like to watch you get healthier. Because it means you can no longer support or enable thier habits. If you can get it together within yourself to do it, do it. But before you start your liquid diet, go have a Mile High Burger and tell me if they are any good! Eat the food you love most and say goodbye to it. Some of it you'll eat again in small portions. Some you'll never eat again. I'll never be able to eat a Whopper in 4 bites again. I'll never be the life of the birthday party and shove an entire cupcake in my mouth again. But hopefully in time I will not also be the biggest girl in the room. That's the thought that gets me through. I'm a girl and at 5'11" and 352 I was bigger than a lot of NFL players. But today I got on the scale and for the first time in probably 5 years I am under 300lbs. When you have that feeling, it makes the regret go away for awhile.

You will regret it. It's normal. But you won't regret it forever. It is worth it.

Cryssie

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

Hell, no, I don't regret being sleeved! Although I'm only 8 weeks post-op, I am so glad I did this. I researched this procedure and WLS in general for over a year before having VSG surgery.

To learn about how people feel about WLS here, you really should search this forum. There are dozens of threads like this. It would be so much more efficient for you to read those than to wait for people to post here. Search for: complications or regrets or failed / failure.

Having said that, I hope you know that WLS is really successful (in terms of long-term weight loss maintenance) only for 50% of WLS patients.

You should also search here for: long-term success, veterans success, two years, three years, four years, five years

[tenzinblue 4]

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for your responses. I will take your advice on board and search more on this forum (I was using it from my mobile earlier but it is so much easier to follow on my laptop!)

It's great and inspiring to hear about positive experiences and CONGRATS to everyone on their success! Cowgirljane, thanks for breaking down the main reasons people regret it - that does follow with what I have seen on here. My biggest concern is your point 3 - people that have it and dont lose any weight - I am scared that would be me

VSGANN2014 - do you know why WLS is only successful in 50% of people - is this because they still feel hungry and overeat? This is one of the biggest problems I can't fully grasp with the VSG - if I currently have problems controlling my hunger and diet, and I currently make the wrong choices, how will the physically smaller stomach stop that? I get that it reduces appetite and how much you can take in at one time, but I have read about people still felling hungry, and even gaining weight! I would just hate to do this, to still feel like I need to overeat and still crave foods. If I do that now, how will surgery make that go away

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

Be careful about statistics. Many people do not maintain a normal BMI say 5 years out. I would argue that if I regain to 200# and become obese again I would still be a success verus weighing over 300# and fighting every day to keep from gaining more. I think what the long term stats tell us is that 1. most people regain some weight down the road; 2. some never do that well or regain all and 3. some get to a healthy weight and maintain it. Statistics average all that together. It is misleading to say that 50 percent fail in my opinion. I am working hard to stay in category 3...but it takes some determination.

So why do people regain? Because it's freaking hard to eat small and healthy in a fattening world! Look around at all the people over say 45 who are quite overweight! The WLS is a great tool but as time goes on it takes more personal diligence. I am almost 3 years out and could easily eat my way back to obesity. I don't need much food but sometimes I want it!

[onthefencejenny 204]

I was sleeved July 25 I started my journey at 336 and am now 276! That's 60 lbs gone which is amazing! Do I regret it no, not at all but there is things that I have struggled with! And sometimes these things make it hard to be as happy about my weight loss! I'm still finding it a bit hard to judge how much to eat, and nothing tastes good to me right now! It's thanksgiving in canada this weekend and I found it frustrating that all I could eat was 1 Brussels sprout, and tiny spoon of yams, and a tiny slice of Turkey! I've also had some issues with acid and puking! But all and all no regrets! I now eat cause I have to and not cause I enjoy it which was the whole point right!!! Good luck with your journey!

[tenzinblue 4]

Hi Cowgirlane,

Thanks a bunch for your feedback.If I get it, I really hope I would be one like you who gets the weight off and keeps it off I would need your help big time!

I might get a counsellor too to emotionally support me

[tenzinblue 4]

Hi Onthefencejenny - youre right, I want to eat becuase I have to, not because I want to, that is the goal. I dont want to crave food and its taste anymore, I just hope my appetite is genuinly reduced! Congrats on your loss, amazing!

[Thinkingthinner1109 485]

I have very few days that I regret it. Everytime I look in the mirror it reassures me that this is the best decision ever! However the first 10 days after surgery I hated what I had done. The pain and getting used to my new norm was a difficult transition. I am 7 weeks post op and I feel great. I am about 40 pounds from my goal weight. I started my Protein Shakes twice a day with a sensible dinner on May 31st. I had to wait 6 months before my insurance would pay so I didn't have my sleeve until August 25th. I had lost 60 pounds before my surgery but I knew I still wanted it as I know it's only a tool. I wanted to prof to the nay Sayers that I could do it by myself so I wouldn't have to hear all the crude remarks from co workers at work. Now they don't compliment me except for a couple people but I don't hear them saying anything about how I couldn't do it without surgery. Most don't say anything because they are jealous but I didn't do this for them, I did it for me. Anyhow sorry about rambling on. I just wanted to say you will have good days and bad days.

[tenzinblue 4]

Hi Thinkingthinner,

Thanks for your response, I appreciate it. What I'm tending to hear is just what you've said, the early stages you regret it because of the pain and transition but later on there are no regrets, which is good I really will try to work hard on my diet and exercise too to make sure I'm not one who gains it all back.

Congrats on your natural AND sleeve loss! Amazing and inspiring thanks again

Jess