Severely depressed after mini gastric bypass

[mmy 62]

I just my mini gastric bypass 4 days ago. I am self paid and had to travel to a near by country to get it done since at my home country it's only offered for BMI 40+.

Initially I had discussed gastric sleeve with my surgeon and had already read so much on gastric sleeve and was just mentally prepared for it. I have a BMI of 33 (pre-op BMI) weight 77kg and height 153cm. I also have PCOS and insulin resistance. I have 1 child who needs BMT and that has to come from a matched sibling donor. So not only that I want to have another child I need another child to save my child. After many failed IVF cycles I decided to take a drastic measure and go for Bariatric surgery to help me lose weight.

So the surgery day came by and right before my surgery my surgeon came into my room to have a talk with me. He recommended mini gastric bypass which at the beginning shocked me because I always thought it's a surgery for morbidly obese patients. He said the following points:

1- mini gastric bypass has less risk of bleeding and leakage compared to gastric sleeve because the stapling site is much smaller

2- the hype around gastric sleeve is because nowadays general surgeons are doing gastric sleeve and it's becoming more available and the stapling company is paying so much to advertise for the surgery because it uses more stapling.

3- mini gastric bypass is reversable

4- with both procedures patients need to take in Multivitamins but mini gastric bypass is not associated with more malabsorption than gastric sleeve.

5- chances of regaining weight with gastric sleeve is higher that with mini gastric bypass.

After that being said I don't know why or how I just agreed immediately to mini gastric bypass without further thinking. The surgeon also ordered for a blood thinning injection (heparin) prior to the operation he said to cut the risk of blood clots. He said the risk of blood clots forming is higher than the risk of bleeding.

Got the surgery done and right after I woke up from the GA I started vomiting blood along with blood clots. Huge amounts of blood and I was feeling severe pain. My HB dropped from 13 to 7 and was rushed to and endoscopy procedure to try and stop the bleeding and got 7 units of blood transfusion. My case is stable now with HB around 8.7. But I can't help but feel huge regret as to the decision I was rushed to make not to mention the huge hospital bill I'm left with.

I feel I didn't get enough time to think about the mini gastric bypass and I'm not really well informed of its side effects. I worry that I will end up losing more weight than required and would be severely malnourished. I have also ready somewhere that the surgery is not really reversable since after cutting the nerves in the stomach it will be impossible to reconnect them. Now I worry I won't be able to get pregnant again. And just worry about so many things.

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[YumiMumi 29]

@mmy I'm so SO sorry you have had this experience, how traumatic. I think that it was borderline negligent of your surgeon to discuss changing procedures with you on the day of surgery rather than allow you the time to think it over. Having said that, I too have read that the sleeve can be less effective in some circumstances, but I think the level of complication for both procedures is similar - just different.

I think what is important for you now is to focus on the future. I KNOW how hard that is. I am 2 weeks post op gastric bypass (revision from failed band taken out 3 months ago). I didn't vomit blood but I did have a very tough first week (see other posts of mine) and on day 3/4/5 had MASSIVE buyers remorse (as a lot of people do).

I can tell you though, that even though it was (and still is some days) a struggle for various reasons (getting enough Protein in, nausea, fatigue, etc), I am now glad I had the courage to do this. I am a similar BMI to you and super happy to be down 20 pounds already. I have a 3 year old and I want him to grow up knowing me as a fit an healthy mother.

I know its hard but hang in there. I suspect you would have been going through "buyers remorse" no matter what procedure you had - sleeve or bypass. But, you have the bypass now so get excited and start visualizing the new YOU.

TRUST ME.... you WILL feel better, and quickly.... both emotionally and physically. Big hugs to you.

[lifeofblair 308]

I also vomited blood after my bypass. I always get sick from anesthesia so I was expecting, but didn't expect all the blood. (Add on that it was during a nurse shift change and it took forever). I was still delirious from the surgery and scared because of all the blood. It happened twice and that was it. Hopefully you start turning the corner and feel better.

[lovemypouchjudi 31]

I haven't had any complications with my gastric bypass. I am 1 yes post op down 134 lbs. my daughter is getting surgery this month. We have a blog call

Lovemypouch.com

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