Surgery in one week, freaking out

[Kikidi 0]

I know its "normal" to be nervous about surgery. But im starting to freak out about my surgery coming up in one week.

I "only" need to lose about 80 pounds. But I do have severe GERD, sleep apnea, and I feel exhausted and joint pain all the time.

How do I know im not making a huge mistake ? Im 30 years old, will I be regretting this for the rest of my life ? Is it normal to be this worried/panicking ?

Id say im leaning 75-80% towards backing out of the surgery, and dont just know what to do...

[Apple203 1,314]

You are practically me, but 20 years younger. My experience is that things don't get better as you get older -- at all. Odds are, your co-morbidities will grow to include BP and high CHL With extra weight, add cancers related to estrogen. Etcetera. I would do the surgery, but I am not you -- the decision is intensely personal. I wish you all the best.

[Neens 60]

Hi! I'm 26 years old and almost 3 months post op. I can only talk to you from my experience with this surgery so far and I hope that helps. I got the gastric by-pass on Aug. 14th 2017, and since that day my life has improved in so many ways. You can see my stats on my profile but I started with 120 kg and I'm already down to 89, i feel lighter, i can walk all i want and i don't get tired, i am more socially active than i was a few months ago, i have more energy. I never had any regrets, except that I didn't get the surgery sooner. Before this I failed every diet I tried.

I'm not saying everything with this surgery is great, it's hard at first, you have to learn how to eat again, there'll be times when everyone's eating burgers and fries and you'll be having a tiny container of broth, but things get better and you get used to eating less than you did and less than everyone else. You will miss some foods (you'll probably be able to eat everything again down the road but it will take time). And some of the foods you love won't taste so great after surgery.

Just think about this will you be able to lose those 80 pounds by dieting and exercising? Will you be able to maintain that lifestyle? If you think so why haven't you done that already?

For me surgery was what I was expecting, hard, not fun at first but totally worth it.

[Wanda A 73]

I hear you. My surgery is 3 weeks away, and I am starting to feel anxious. I am like you, have about 80 lbs to lose, but like so many others, I have tried everything else and can't lose more than 30 lbs. I am older, 51, but have type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular disease (4 stents). My hope is that the diabetes will be gone, that is my main goal. Don't get me wrong, the weight loss is exciting, but I am very concerned about the diabetes. It is well controlled now, with medication only, but I know it will only get worse as I get older.

The anxiety is normal, expected even. I wonder "am I going to have a lot of complications? will I ever eat 'normally' again (not like now, but normally), will I be the one that this doesn't work for?" Lots of things go through my head, but for me, this is the right decision. Improving my health concerns far outweighs the risks for me.

Think long and hard about the reasons you initially wanted this. As Apple said, the decision is personal.

[Apple203 1,314]

11 hours ago, Wanda A said:

I hear you. My surgery is 3 weeks away, and I am starting to feel anxious. I am like you, have about 80 lbs to lose, but like so many others, I have tried everything else and can't lose more than 30 lbs. I am older, 51...

I thought I was the only one who has trouble actually losing weight (much less keeping it off). It seems like everyone else can lose 80+ pounds but gain it back. I've never gotten beyond 25-30 lbs. Are we destined to be the "slow losers"? For the record, I'm happy to be a slow loser, so long as I lose and keep it off!!!

Edited November 3, 2017 by Apple203

[Mattymatt 491]

18 hours ago, Kikidi said:

I know its "normal" to be nervous about surgery. But im starting to freak out about my surgery coming up in one week.

I "only" need to lose about 80 pounds. But I do have severe GERD, sleep apnea, and I feel exhausted and joint pain all the time.

How do I know im not making a huge mistake ? Im 30 years old, will I be regretting this for the rest of my life ? Is it normal to be this worried/panicking ?

Id say im leaning 75-80% towards backing out of the surgery, and dont just know what to do...

You've come this far in the process so don't back out now. You do not want to be 40 years old and potentially even heavier. Trust me, I am 40 and I need to lose 176 pounds which is more than double what you need. I have sleep Apnea, Type 2 Diabetes, and High Blood Pressure - I could have a serious cardiac event at any given time. Do this now and your 30s will be happier and healthier. I believe that if you do not go through this now, you may have future regrets. The statistics say that only 10-15% of people that lose weight through diet and exercise alone can keep the weight off whereas 65% of those that use surgery as a tool keep the weight off.

Will this be a huge change? Yes, of course it will. Will this be easy? No, it won't be but if you're getting your surgery done at a Center for Excellence, then your prognosis is incredibly good. The statistics show less than 1% of people developing complications. That is almost statistically insignificant. I am certain it is normal to be nervous about any kind of surgery but think of this as life saving.

[Mhy12784 423]

Out of curiosity is there like a megathread on patients with GERD getting sleeves? I'm in a similar boat, and a sleeve sounds much more reasonable to me. But I have GERD so...

[Neens 60]

Out of curiosity is there like a megathread on patients with GERD getting sleeves? I'm in a similar boat, and a sleeve sounds much more reasonable to me. But I have GERD so...

I wanted the sleeve but i had GERD and my doctor adviced me against it because in the future you might need a revision, so I decided to get the RNY instead.

[Wanda A 73]

16 hours ago, Apple203 said:

I thought I was the only one who has trouble actually losing weight (much less keeping it off). It seems like everyone else can lose 80+ pounds but gain it back. I've never gotten beyond 25-30 lbs. Are we destined to be the "slow losers"? For the record, I'm happy to be a slow loser, so long as I lose and keep it off!!!

I lost 40 lbs when I was first diagnosed, but regained 20. No matter what I do, I can't get below 234, I have hovered between 238-234 for years now !! I am hoping that once I am on the liquid diet, that I will actually lose the 9-12 lbs they want me to lose before my surgery.