Any regrets?

[bekah7482 79]

Not to mention, I am more likely to be sick or die from obesity then I am from weight loss surgery.

[My Bariatric Life 764]

On 2/15/2017 at 6:43 AM, danaymacklin said:

I had my GB surgery 12/1 so I'm curious...since having your surgery have you been 90-95% consistent/committed to taking your Vitamins 6 times per day? Or is your body rejecting absorbing those nutrients regardless if you provide the nutrients or not?

I take a ton of Vitamins and always have... something to be aware of with vitamins is that many brands, even the expensive ones, even the bariatric brands, contain fillers and are too low dose to be therapeutic. My clinical nutritionist has me on Thorne Research and Designs for Health.

My Bariatric Life
Publisher of
www.MyBariatricLife.org online bariatric magazine

PS when I had my RNY in 2003, I was told that I need only take a children's Multivitamin, an Iron tablet, and a Calcium tablet. THAT is completely untrue. I suggest working with a really good clinical nutritionist to set yourself up so that you might avoid nutritional deficiencies and the ripple effect of those deficiencies.

Edited February 17, 2017 by My Bariatric Life

[Cindi_Augustine 102]

On 2/11/2017 at 4:32 PM, AnneElliot said:

Me! I was hoping for the best but I made a mistake.

Anne, you list yourself as having surgery last December. If that's correct you are still in the early stages when things are challenging. You haven't stated what challenges you are having, so we can't give you the benefit of our experiences.

As for bariatric surgery being a moneygrab, well, mine was covered by the government so that's not true in my case.

As for being sold something i don't need...I've had a neurologist, a cardiologist and a rheumatologist all tell me I did the best thing I could have done for my health, and that I have very likely increased my lifespan...

Sooooo...

REGRETS???? You've got to be kidding! 4 years later I'm even happier I had this opportunity at a better life than ever before!

[CocoNina 210]

I'm 3 days post op. My 1st two days I had "sleever's regret" but that's because I'm in so much pain. I'm better today now that I'm home comfortable. It hurts but I know in the long run it will pay off.


Height 5'0"
Weight for WLS consultation: 216 lbs.
Surgery date: 2/13/17
Goal: - 71 lbs for healthy BMI (about 145 lbs).
My profile picture is not me. It's my "FitSpiration" body.

[CocoNina 210]

I researched for almost 2 years as well. I listen to countless people giving advise and enjoying their new found life. To be honest my choice to do this was never about feeling or looking beautiful. It was about saving my life. I feel like I traded in one situation for another one because I couldn't see clearly the course. However, as I said in my previous post..... All the glory overshadow the people that are hurting, dying, in and out of the hospital, one surgery after another and even divorcing. Now, that I'm on this side I can clearly see I made a drastic mistake. My question is at this point..... why the opposition? At the end of the day.... people are going to do what they choose to do. I choose to reveal the ugly not just the glamorous.

That's far-fetched "all the glory overshadow the people that are hurting, dying, in, and out of the hospital". The hospital I had my sleeve done has ZERO fatalities. And this is surgery, what do you expect? There are always risks to going under the knife. And your comment about divorcing? That's why you make sure you have supportive people around you. If someone divorces you for this, they didn't hold their vow to stay with you through thick & thin. You're over generalizing.





Height 5'0"
Weight for WLS consultation: 216 lbs.
Surgery date: 2/13/17
Goal: - 71 lbs for healthy BMI (about 145 lbs).
My profile picture is not me. It's my "FitSpiration" body.

[Berry78 4,261]

"Thick and thin" HA!

[sja 38]

My only regret was waiting so long to have it. I'd talked about it for 5 years. I could have had 5 amazing years added to my life instead of miserable ones. I was headed for diabetes, my blood pressure was rising and I knew I was headed for many health issues if I didn't do the surgery. I couldn't keep living that way. Everyone has their tipping point. If you're not at that point, you may not be ready. I asked myself "am I willing to die?" After I asked my doctor how many patients he has done the surgery on and how many died. And my answer was "yes." So for me, it was time.


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[mattyl88 23]

I have no regrets at all. Was sleeved 11-29-2016 and have been blessed. I haven't gotten sick at all, just a few stomach aches when I ate too fast or tried spicy food. The only thing I can't seem to tolerate is sashimi. I've dropped 90 pounds, 12 inches in my waist and 4 shirt sizes. I'm off all diabetic medications and take one blood pressure pill and Vitamins daily. God has been good to me and I have zero regrets on getting surgery. I hope to lose another 90 pounds by the end of the year.


Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

[The New Kel 1,312]

My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. I'm finally living life!

[lucielu 21]

Thanks for the great responses! Congrats to those of you doing well! Very inspiring [emoji3] I was approved 2 weeks ago and just waiting on a date. This has been a really long two weeks!

[mlbdl 86]

I have no regrets. My sleeve was 6/30/16. I researched for 7 months while going through the insurance process. I read a lot on this forum - the happiness and the regrets. I attended every support group and nutrition lecture my surgeon's office offered before my surgery every month for 6 months. I was often the ONLY pre-surgical patient in the room. When I attend now, I feel sorry for those post-op folks that didn't attend - they are very uninformed, and are struggling more than I did. Did I struggle? Yes, but I had resources immediately available because I researched and planned ahead of time.

The nutrition lectures were/are especially valuable. The medical community has learned so much about this wonderful Bariatric/metabolic surgery, especially in the last 10-15 years. Nutritionist that specialize in Bariatrics are so much more reliable than ones that don't, and are better at knowing what to do in certain food-specific situations than many of the surgeons. The surgeons cut and rearrange. The NUTs know how to handle the chemical reactions our bodies have with the food.

I also cannot emphasize enough how important it is to get a psychological evaluation before the surgery. Not as a pass/fail test, but to help you identify possible strengths and challenges you may face. It may also help you decide whether you want to more forward. After all, you can continue the process and cancel the day before if it just doesn't feel right to you. I continued seeing the "food shrink" as I call him, and it's one of the main things I contribute to my success. He and I agreed that my main challenge would be, and continues to be, body image and anger at how people treated me/now treat me rather than the food. It's what the evaluation showed and it's what I predicted. My evaluation showed that although I was in the 90+ percentile of wanting the surgery and being prepared for it (and I don't remember exactly how he termed it) I was also in the same percentile for anxiety about it. He said that was very unusual. Most people that want it as much as I did would be in the 60th percentile for anxiety.

Long story short, with my family history of diabetes, including blindness and loss of limbs, and my own history of hypothyroidism and PCOS, I was done torturing myself with diets that just wouldn't work. Dieting has a 2% success rate. Bariatric/metabolic surgery has a 80% success rate. That's a 98%/20% failure rate, respectively. I'll take those numbers any day.

Just do your research and your soul searching. I wasn't ready 13 years ago when I was thinking about the band. I'm glad I didn't do that. But I'm thrilled that I did the VSG.

[My Bariatric Life 764]

mlbdl that is an awesome response. i am glad to see you are in charge of your health!

[My Bariatric Life 764]

Don't know what went wrong with my reply above. It should read "in charge of your health."

[Lateese92 49]

I'm not really sure if I have regrets or not at this stage of my surgery. I had my sleeve done 10/14 so I'm about 2 yrs 4 mos post op. Like many of you up until my 2nd year postop I was thrilled and wouldn't have doubted that I made the right decision for anything. However for the past 6-8 months I have been battling hypoglycemia. Which I found out is very common 18-24 mos postop. Like many of you I also did my research but never came across these statistics. Then again I was so determined to have the surgery .I'm not really sure learning that would have changed my mind back then. It's a horrible feeling and working 12hr shifts at the hospital I am not always able to eat every 2-3 hrs as my body demands, which also results in my blood sugar dropping. I'm sure once I get a handle on this and feel normal again I may very well be thrilled about my decision to sleeve, but currently I having trouble believing I made the right decision as this seems to be a new norm for my life. I welcome any advice or suggestion if anyone else have experienced and conquered low Sugar issues.

[AnneElliot 79]

14 hours ago, Lateese92 said:

I'm not really sure if I have regrets or not at this stage of my surgery. I had my sleeve done 10/14 so I'm about 2 yrs 4 mos post op. Like many of you up until my 2nd year postop I was thrilled and wouldn't have doubted that I made the right decision for anything. However for the past 6-8 months I have been battling hypoglycemia. Which I found out is very common 18-24 mos postop. Like many of you I also did my research but never came across these statistics. Then again I was so determined to have the surgery .I'm not really sure learning that would have changed my mind back then. It's a horrible feeling and working 12hr shifts at the hospital I am not always able to eat every 2-3 hrs as my body demands, which also results in my blood sugar dropping. I'm sure once I get a handle on this and feel normal again I may very well be thrilled about my decision to sleeve, but currently I having trouble believing I made the right decision as this seems to be a new norm for my life. I welcome any advice or suggestion if anyone else have experienced and conquered low Sugar issues.

This decision alters our lives in so many insane ways. I hope you get a grasp of the hypoglycemia and manage it.

Think about posting a question on Obesityhelp. I find that the crowd there is very knowledgeable.

Several of the risks associated with this surgery are not shortterm nlby any means.

Edited February 28, 2017 by AnneElliot