Does anyone regret their surgery?

[catlady2012 73]

Totally regret it! My three friends also regret it. But we can't change it now.

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@@GinaCampbell

Why do you regret your surgery?

Is there anyone here who has had sleeve surgery who regrets it? If so, why?

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[gina171 626]

People do bring lawsuits here, but that is something that I wouldn't do. Any compensation I got would mean that someone else went without care.

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Well....do you want someone else to receive the type of care you received from these doctors?

Here's the other thing about compensation from a lawsuit: having to pay financial damages shines a light on issues that other prospective patients should be aware of, and hopefully the slap on the wrist financially would cause the provider and/or NHS to change some aspects of their pre, during, and post op procedures.

Do nothing, don't complain, don't boldly call them out on your horrible experience with these providers, and they will go on as if nothing happened. And other people will fall victim as you have.

My husband is British, too, has lived in the US for almost 50 years now....this is NOT the time for a stiff upper lip.

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Edited July 28, 2016 by gina171

[summerset 5,265]

What medication can be given to prevent gallbladder problems?

Ursofalk is supposed to prevent gallstones.

[summerset 5,265]

sorry, double post

Edited July 28, 2016 by summerset

[summerset 5,265]

The OP asked "Does anyone regret their surgery". I do.

And I will continue to support my position.

I think it's important to talk about complications. Complications always have to be considered. Of course we all like to read about success stories but when reading some literature there must be quite a few patients with complications out there, be it short term or long term.

My complication was severe volume reflux several years after having lap-band. Today I would never choose having the lap-band again but back then it was 2001.

[emme.vee 142]

Each one of us attended a two year program where we lost weight if we could naturally, went to meetings, seminars, bariatric team discussions etc. We had exhaustive tests and each were either given the sleeve or bypass. My friend who had bypass was in a program that offered Excess skin removal after year one. They moved the goalposts to year two. Then they discontinued the excess skin removal agreement. She can only eat a few foods so lost all of her hair because she can't eat Proteins and has constant diarrhea. She is miserable.

All of us feel that during the two years, we were not given full and honest information regarding after effects. We weren't given any medication to prevent damage to our gallbladders nor were we warned they might have to be removed.

We weren't given information regarding food revulsion, inability to eat through the food stages, constant diarrhea, lactose intolerance etc.

We also were not told of the amount of people in our program who had complications after surgery, and we asked. My surgeon still says my surgery was "textbook" and declares his record as problem free despite my having severe complications and still being ill 8 weeks post op.

So we feel mislead. All three of us that had sleeves had severe post op complications. One had an abscess on her spleen and Fluid on her lungs and spent weeks in hospital on IV antibiotics. Her sleeve leaked and had to be re done. She is still really ill.

One of us was in intensive care for six weeks, had to have a tracheotomy and was on the critical list, he is still gravely ill.

I had a 6.6 cm abdominal abscess that nearly killed me, spent weeks in hospital, dropped over 60lbs in 4 weeks, which might have killed my gallbladder, was given a near fatal dose of Cyclizine which caused lingering stroke symptoms and I am still ill on fluids at 8 week post op and can't eat any Proteins, am now lactose intolerant, I will have my gallbladder out once the abscess clears, if I am brave enough. My wounds haven't healed yet from the sleeve op yet. I can't tolerate any Vitamins etc I am supposed to take. And the aftercare we receive has been awful and totally confusing.

We all also feel that we were not fully informed about eating after the sleeve. We were told that once we got through the stages, we would be eating normally, just small portions.

We weren't told how many of us die each year from malnutrition here in the UK.

On discharge, we were given a booklet regarding food stages and foods that might cause problems.

None of us would have had our surgeries if we had had this booklet before our sleeves.

So no, we can't get together as we are all at home, ill, mostly on antibiotics and other treatments, facing more serious ops and treatments, months after our sleeves. Most of us battling dehydration.

Another lady we know has lost over 120lbs in 8 weeks. She is still in hospital and they don't know what's wrong yet.

We feel that we have been made permanently disabled by this surgery and not given accurate information so that we could make informed decisions.

I researched this thoroughly and asked questions and was told not to worry, that they rarely had problems. They split the statistics up so that the complications are shown as ward aftercare etc.

Four out of four of us is not rare, but a 100% complication rate.

Yes, we will all have to accept our stupid decision. Our families will get over the trauma of us nearly dying from complications. I am in counselling via telephone.

We are all just hoping to be well enough to drive a car again, go to church again, eat enough food to live again. (I am still only getting 300 or so calories but I am up from 100 calories a day for six weeks).

I am not "fighting" this sleeve. I am learning to live with an elective disablement.

Maybe this is just the difference in healthcare between countries. None of us were above 250lbs, all of us could walk normally, only one of us had diabetes and still has it two years post op after all the weight was lost.

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Omg this is horrible. I'm sorry y'all have gone thru so much after reading so many good things about WLS. Can I ask a question? Did you and all of your friends have the surgery thru the same surgical team? Just wondering if they are at fault and you could possibly have a malpractice suit? Again, I'm so sorry. This is just terrible.

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[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

No, I don't regret having had WLS (I was sleeved nearly 2 years ago).

I'm far healthier today than I was prior to beginning the WLS process.

I've lost 100 pounds and am maintaining now at 135 pounds.

And yes -- one day I will die.

[Christinamo7 4,042]

[

As you and I don't agree, perhaps you should simply contact me privately in future.

The OP asked "Does anyone regret their surgery". I do.

And I will continue to support my position.

I am only urging people to make sure that they are giving informed consent.

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No no no please! When your comments are made on a public forum it is helpful to see another view on the public forum. Other people will evaluate both and come to their own opinions. You say she is biased for working for NHS well shoot. We are all biased! You are due to your complications which do seem to me to be rare considering all I have read and seen and I am biased by not having any complications - we're all biased and trying to sort things out for ourselves. .

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[theantichick 2,204]

[

As you and I don't agree, perhaps you should simply contact me privately in future.

The OP asked "Does anyone regret their surgery". I do.

And I will continue to support my position.

I am only urging people to make sure that they are giving informed consent.

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No no no please! When your comments are made on a public forum it is helpful to see another view on the public forum. Other people will evaluate both and come to their own opinions. You say she is biased for working for NHS well shoot. We are all biased! You are due to your complications which do seem to me to be rare considering all I have read and seen and I am biased by not having any complications - we're all biased and trying to sort things out for ourselves. .

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I 100% agree. When I started researching, I wanted to know about the complications that have happened. I know that people who have no issues don't post as much as people who do, so it can seem skewed on a support board that there are more complications than there actually are. But having the knowledge about what can happen is hugely important to informed consent. As a nurse, I am ALL ABOUT education for patients and completely informed consent. I think there's always room for improvement in that area. And when there are surgeons or locations that seem to have more complications than are expected, I think people ought to be talking about it.

[GinaCampbell 434]

Please just let me be clear. This surgery was not right for me, period. The reasons are because it has caused more problems (uncontrollable diarrhea, constant monitoring of Fluid intake, lactose issues, weakness etc) than I had before. And for me, so many foods are restricted that preparing food (I am disabled) and keeping my energy levels up (I have fibro and CFS) is difficult.

The complications that I have experienced are a completely different issue.

Obviously, parts overlap. I had an elective surgery. I saw the positive side, asked the right questions about the negative stuff and felt informed.

I wasn't and that makes me sad.

I won't go through it all again.

I don't feel that I am biased against the NHS but I do feel that I would have gotten a different level of care in a private hospital afterwards. Our local bariatric system is admittedly overstretched. Even today, I had to ask to be squeezed into a clinic as I am in so much pain. I may have C diff from antibiotics and/or colitis which my GP is concerned about. She wants my surgical team involved but they don't want to see me as "they did not touch my bowels".

As for complaining about what is going on, I said to them all that I would love to speak at one of their seminars. A few faces went white. I joked about being able to clear their waiting list for them, faces went even whiter.

They know my feelings on the issue.

I sat there, fat. Thinking that this sounded relatively straight forward. My issue has always been quantity and never feeling full.

This sounded a great solution. Because I didn't have all the info I needed.

I will take responsibility for my part, I should have dug deeper than just my hospital and surgeon's statistics, researching forums etc.

I should have drilled down deeper in the UK WLS issues, NHS issues on the ward, upcoming industrial actions prior to my surgery, my own blood test results and what they meant etc.

I hope one day, my team will take responsibility for their part.

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[LipstickLady 25,682]

I'm still trying to figure out who said they worked for the NHS. I have read and reread, but I'm missing it.

[daniotra 298]

Ginacampbell, I'm so sorry you weren't given full disclosure beforehand. Thank you for sharing your story. Most people do go through this surgery with minimal issues, but some people are really sent through the wringer. Each person has to weigh the potential risks and benefits and make a choice. But to make an informed decision, one needs all the information.

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[GinaCampbell 434]

Thank you! I am being re admitted tomorrow to the hospital because of these ongoing bowel issues so I can see no end to all this anytime soon. Prayers would be much appreciated!

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[Toya214 17]

No regrets. I have lost over 100 pounds and no longer need any of my diabetes meds.

Ok - maybe one regret. I wish I could eat some Brooklyn pizza with fresh mozzarella.

Just eat the topping ????

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[Toya214 17]

Totally regret it! My three friends also regret it. But we can't change it now.

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Why?

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