The fear mongering is getting to me

[Bambi150 3]

Hello, this is my first time posting after finding this forum back in February, I had my surgery day back on 2/20 (gastric sleeve) and everything has gone well, I have a great support system at home and have been very strict on following all my phases (yay for finally being in phase 4), I haven't felt bad, so far no dumping syndrome and my body seems to be accepting foods well

The issue is that I work at a clinic (admin dept.) and some of the medical staff have been telling me of patients that they've had or know who've had issues with their surgery, from things like, "oh they ended up in the hospital because they had a nutritional deficiencies" or "their sutures caused a leak and they had to have surgery again", I'm sure they're not doing it on purpose, a clinic will have patients who have issues at all times, my thing is, that the comments are starting to make me feel a bit afraid, in a way that's almost like, when is the other shoe going to drop, apparently some of the patients were feeling fine when one day their body just gave out, so now I am worried and stressing if it could happen to me too, and if having my surgery was a mistake, how do I deal with this?

[Dr.MrdrMttns 5]

Do not let doomsdayers get you down! You are already well past your surgery. Your stomach tissues should be all healed and happy. You just have to follow your program, know it’s a journey not a race (don’t be bothered by plateaus).
This kind of talk by your co-workers is common — ever notice how when someone in a group is pregnant or has a major illness people will start sharing stories about how they know someone who had something similar but there was a freak occurrence or bad outcome, etc.? “My sister was pregnant with twins and she was in labor for 36 hours!” “My Aunt Ada had kidney cancer and her left leg just popped right off one day! They never did find it.” They are just connecting to the experience with storytelling, which is pretty thoughtless (but a good reminder to be mindful ourselves that we probably do it to other people and should watch out for that).

Next time you hear talk like that, smile to yourself and know you are completely in control of your journey, you are rocking it in every way and you are a success. If you feel the need to say something, maybe a breezy, “Oh, I think the docs I’ve had care with have everything under control just fine.”

[Bambi150 3]

14 hours ago, Dr.MrdrMttns said:

“My Aunt Ada had kidney cancer and her left leg just popped right off one day! They never did find it.”

Thank you for the laughs 😂

Also thank you for your reassurance, I will try to be conscious that I am doing my best and my surgical teams has been amazing with addressing any of my concerns, I appreciate your words.

[GreenTealael 25,483]

21 hours ago, Bambi150 said:

Hello, this is my first time posting after finding this forum back in February, I had my surgery day back on 2/20 (gastric sleeve) and everything has gone well, I have a great support system at home and have been very strict on following all my phases (yay for finally being in phase 4), I haven't felt bad, so far no dumping syndrome and my body seems to be accepting foods well

The issue is that I work at a clinic (admin dept.) and some of the medical staff have been telling me of patients that they've had or know who've had issues with their surgery, from things like, "oh they ended up in the hospital because they had a nutritional deficiencies" or "their sutures caused a leak and they had to have surgery again", I'm sure they're not doing it on purpose, a clinic will have patients who have issues at all times, my thing is, that the comments are starting to make me feel a bit afraid, in a way that's almost like, when is the other shoe going to drop, apparently some of the patients were feeling fine when one day their body just gave out, so now I am worried and stressing if it could happen to me too, and if having my surgery was a mistake, how do I deal with this?

I love fear mongers… not. If you run a search for mortality rates after bariatric surgery you’ll find a lot of info including:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9881843/

Edited Thursday at 08:35 PM by GreenTealael

[Sullie06 1,027]

I’m 8 1/2 years out and I’ve had no issues with my surgery or eating. I do get Iron injections but I’ve been anemic for decades. Everyone is going to “know someone” who had a horrible outcome, but that can be about anything. Keep you head up and keep working the program

[catwoman7 11,228]

Leaks, if they occur, are almost always within days after surgery. Everything in your stomach should be well healed by now. I actually haven't heard of nutritional deficiencies in sleeve patients - you don't have malabsorption with that. I suppose if you ate crap all day you might have deficiencies - but I'm assuming you don't. Nutritional deficiencies can be an issue with the malabsorption surgeries (RNY, DS, SADI), but then again, if people stay on top of their Vitamin regimen, they're pretty rare (well, except Iron - some people don't absorb iron well from tablets or capsules so they have to get occasional infusions - but than can be the case with anyone - even if they've never had surgery). I do know a few RNY'ers who have to get iron infusions, but not many.

[Arabesque 7,504]

Well of course people who work in a medical environment may come across people with issues. I mean if you have an issue you seek medical help. If you’re doing fine you don’t. I bet they have just as many if not more people coming for medical help or advice with lots of other surgeries as well. And how many are directly related to the surgery or related to pre existing conditions? Unfortunately a high number of obese people have a myriad of pre existing health concerns which often were what drove them to have the surgery.

Side effects, hiccups or complications aren’t common. I know lots of people (friends, family, friends or friends, etc.) over the years who’ve had bariatric surgery and they’ve been fine.

Tell them you’re doing well & your medical team is very happy & you’d rather they didn’t share negative stories because they’re not being helpful or supporting a decision you made for your health & to improve your life.

[ShoppGirl 5,061]

You’re too far out for a leak to be common and you have to remember two things when you hear the horror stories. One is that people are more likely to talk in general when it’s bad news. The person dealing with it needs help and needs to vent and the people hearing it tend to talk about the juicy stories more often but statistically the odd of that happening are low. Second, the statistics for malnutrition include everyone. They include the people with other medical issues that may play into it and the ones that never go to the doctor and don’t take their Vitamins but end up in tbe ER when it gets real bad and get a diagnosis. That’s not going to be you if you get your labs and take your supplements. Worst case you will have to get an infusion here and there if you get low on something and then take a different Vitamin so it doesn’t happen again. Their are very few cases where your body just will not absorb a vitamin through diet or supplements and even fewer that there is nothing a doctor can do if you keep up on your labs and catch things early. And these people that are telling you these things just politely tell them that you are sure their stories are well intentioned but you really would rather not hear those kinds of stories. Especially since you already had surgery and can’t take it back. That wouldn’t be helpful for anyone. 🙄

Edited 16 minutes ago by ShoppGirl