chowchows

Congrats, Anne! Would you mind telling us who your doc is? I didn't have a band previously, but had a hiatal hernia and I wondered, before I scheduled in Mexico, if any doctor would do WLS while they were in there fixing the hernia and just bill me for the 'above and beyond' part of the WLS (my insurance covers nothing for WLS).

That would be very beneficial, IMO. Thank you!

I wish that someone would gather statistics and info from all the patients who have gone to Mexico and had it done. There are enough of us that, while the FDA and ASMBS probably wouldn't find it reliable, other people might be interested in following the path of our journey and seeing the weight loss as we all become "long term" patients.

TP, Is it possible for your doctor to just go in there and tighten you up? I have read somewhere that a couple of people have had that done. Would you consider it, or are you just 'done' with plication?

I am still relatively new to the game: will be two months out in a few more days. I had a looong stall early on (two weeks in) and then stalled again two weeks later. I have been frustrated at the stalls, but that may just be me, and I might be that way with any WLS, who knows. I have also had some pain lately, but am working on diagnosing and getting past that. Some days I wish I had the sleeve, due to the stalls and slow weight loss. That being said, I wanted somewhat slow weight loss in order to give my body time to recover (less loose skin, more health in my opinion) and I didn't want to lose part of my stomach, so.... I think part of my unhappiness sometimes stems from seeing others on here who have not had successful results, and feeling scared that I might end up like that. It really just depends on the day, and that is just part of who I am. That being said, I am losing weight, I have always felt restriction, and have never had any nausea. I am almost 1/4 of the way to my 110 lb weight goal, so I try to focus on that. I guess time will tell.

US trials will NOT make me change my opinion on plication, for the better or worse. Look at US "safety" and Phen-Fen. What a joke. It's all about the right person getting their palms greased. On the other hand, having lived all over the world, just because other countries do not have FDA type standards does not make them less safe. Sometimes the FDA's feet dragging has led to many deaths because someone needed a medicine that the FDA wouldn't approve because they were not finished with their tests. The FDA says that the person may die without their tests, but if the person is going to die anyway, where is the safety in that if the drug is their last chance?! Most days I am happy with my plication, some days though not so much. I was feeling pretty bad last week, but turns out it's something that has nothing really to do with the plication. I know that it hasn't been "everything to everyone", but I think it's something that everyone needs to make their mind up about. It IS good to have the negative info out there, to help us make up our minds, but if someone decides to do it and is happy, then that's pretty good evidence too. All weight loss surgeries (and all surgeries period) were experimental at one point. Part of me thinks it is interesting to be a lab rat. Part of me doesn't like it. Time will tell, but even with "tried and true" weight loss surgeries some people have failures-hence all the revision surgeries out there if you look at other boards. I am sorry you had an appalling experience, and hope you can figure out something (surgery or non-surgery) that helps you in the future!

I now have about 85 to go...how are you doing Jenn?

Ok, So I have been having pain for 3 days now, and have an email into my doctor (this is when I'm thinking maybe the Mexico thing wasn't the way to go.) to get some advice. I got to thinking, would anyone on this board know what a leak felt like? I have been researching a leak for sleevers, and they note having a rapid heartbeat, fever and pain. I assume a leak on a plicator has the same symptoms. Then we have the necrosis issue to think about. I've re-read the threads for people who ended up with this, but I wonder if there are certain symptoms we should take notice of? On Sunday I noticed that I was having pain on the left side, mostly in my stomach, but some radiating upwards. My first thought was acid, but I have been taking 40mg of Prilosec daily, and take Gaviscon if needed. I then thought it might just be gas, but it has been going on for 3 days now, and the nature of it doesn't seem to be gas. I have regular bowel movements, but I even thought I might be slightly constipated since I eat so much less Fiber since the surgery. I took a mild laxative yesterday, but that hasn't seemed to help the pain. My appetite has really subsided (even more than usual after the surgery) and when I eat or drink I feel slightly nauseous and have more pain, but I have never thrown up. The pain seems to be almost cramp like, as it comes and goes, and can get worse. Being in certain positions can either make it worse or lessen it. Is it possible I have a leak, or a torn stitch, necrosis, or could it just be that my stomach is still adjusting (almost 7 weeks out). I would to think that it's just my stomach adjusting, but I am getting somewhat scared. I can function around the pain, but it is pretty intense at times. I have weighed myself the last few days, and my weight actually went up 2 lbs at one point, but it is back down to where it was on Sunday. I was thinking that if there was a leak, wouldn't our weight go up because the Fluid is basically sitting in the stomach? At this point I am not sure who to even go to if it continues. Do I go to my doctor who knows nothing about the surgery and is not overly nice/helpful, go to an endo doc, or just go to the ER. Since I had my surgery elsewhere, and was self-pay, if I have complications and issues, will my insurance cover my care to fix those issues? (not that this is a huge issue, but it got me to thinking about this question) Hopefully I am just being an overworrier. Anyone have any thoughts? Since it's something we all have a small risk of, maybe we should compile a list of warning symptoms or something like that....even if this does just turn out to be gas this time. LOL.

Don't think I have a bezoar...after some research I really think it may be an ulcer, it fits all the descriptions for type of pain/location/duration/when it happens. That being said, I had never heard of a bezoar, and my doc sure as heck never told me to avoid coconut, celery, etc. So for anyone else as clueless as I was, here is a discussion on bezoar's on the VST board. Hope no one ever needs this info! I am now off to mourn the fact that I can never have coconut again-that is one of my all time favorite foods.

OMG-I had some coconut on Saturday before it started. I love coconut, and was never told anything about it being a problem. It wasn't raw, was cooked, and I thought it would be be ok. Thank you Jenn and FattoPhat for the info. I too had wondered about an ulcer. I don't think stepping back on the eating plan is a horribly bad idea, even though I am put out with my doc's lack of concern. I think I might have been pushing things lately. I haven't had any problems with foods up till now, so maybe I got ahead of myself. I just noticed that I spelled "do" as "doe" in my subject line...man, I must have really been in pain yesterday, lol!

Ok, my doc was useless. He thinks it's acid...wants me to go back on liquids at 6 weeks post op and continue prilosec and add Maloxx or Mylanta. Sigh. Maybe one of you (Donna, perhaps) that are getting ready to go get surgery can ask a more compliant doc for what we should be looking for? In the meantime, I'm hoping that my pain subsides and it's not anything worse than acid. Still thinking about going to get a barium swallow at the least.

edit, replied to wrong post.

Would love to know what you found out. Thanks!

I was doing some searches on the VST board, and I thought this conversation was interesting. Not only does it address the issue of pain and constipation (which I'm still not sure was my problem, but feeling 75% better now), but it also addresses my personal fears of some hospitals not knowing/understanding our surgery, and it has a little advise from a doctor in the middle of it (concerning gastric bleeding). This might be useful for others in the future.

I know of two cases of necrosis and Lena's leak. I was thinking a barium swallow might yield more info than a GI, since our stomachs are folded up. I didn't contact the doctor until this morning, and I am still waiting to hear back from him. I kept thinking it was something stupid, which I'm hoping it is and now it looks like it might be, but on day three when the pain was so much worse, I decided that I would risk looking stupid and I contacted the doc and posted this thread. Even if he just 'poo-poos' me, I am going to ask if he can give us some warning signs. If he does I will post them on here. Sometimes it's fun to be doing something not many people have done...sometimes it's scary and I think it's really good that we can share and look out for each other somewhat. Edited to add: pain has come back now a couple of hours later. :-( Guess that wasn't the problem.

Thanks Lena, I was hoping you would reply. I appreciate the info. I still haven't heard from my doctor, but I am actually feeling somewhat better. Maybe I did need the laxative...? I am still curious about all I asked, and I think it's valid concerns for all of us. I think, even if the pain totally goes away, that I will go get checked out. My insurance didn't cover any weight loss surgery, but other than that is surprisingly good and I don't need a referral, so I think a Gastro doc is the way to go. Thanks again!

The pain is definitely in front, right where my stomach is-pain radiates between middle of abdomen to left side. Did you go to your regular doc and request the upper GI, or did you go to a bariatric doctor here in the US for that ?

Does anyone here get pains from lack of fiber/constipation? That is one other thing I am thinking may be causing my stomach pain the last few days...although I didn't really think I was constipated, but I don't eat the fiber I did pre-WLS.

The scope part is interesting...I did not know that. I thought the only real revision plicators could have was the DS. I read that in several places. Can a plicator successfully revise to a sleeve? I figured all the scar tissue would prevent that, but maybe not. Edited to add: they are just discussing the revision to sleeve on VST, so I guess it can be done.

I think Genepha is Jenn on this board, I may be wrong though. She is doing exceptionally well with hers, and I believe you are correct in saying that she hasn't had a fill.

Donna, You might want to start a new topic so that people see it more. That being said, I will answer you. I am mostly happy with my plication, and would do it again. I too went back and forth on the sleeve vs. plication. I had several personal reasons for choosing plication. One of which, crazy as it may seem, is that you get to keep the part of your stomach that they use to make an "esophagus" if you get esophogeal cancer. I had a friend's husband go through this, and I suffered from bulimia for several years and have bad reflux, so this is just a reason I thought the plication was better. I also liked the idea of losing a bit slower (although not as slow as it sometimes goes, lol) so as to give my skin time to rebound as much as possible. That being said, I was perusing the sleeve boards last night, and I am very inline with the amount of weight loss several sleevers that are 6 weeks out have. That kind of surprised me, because I thought I was losing slowly. I have lost almost 24 lbs in just over 6 weeks. I have no problems eating anything that is on the "ok" list at 6 weeks. I have been having pain in my stomach the last couple of days, not sure what that is about as I have had no pain for a month, and then this suddenly showed up. I think it is reflux though, or gas, but if it continues I am going to get it checked out. I have never been sick once, even in the hospital. My recovery was pretty easy. My cravings (and boy did I have a sweet tooth and a junk-food tooth pre-surgery) have subsided 95%. I feel restriction, but am still able to enjoy (on a small scale) my favorite foods. On the bad side, I have had two really long stalls which concerned me and depressed me. That being said, I lose really fast post stall, but the stalls really get me down. I have really had to work to not question (and you will see in my posts that I have questioned) having the surgery during those times. Overall though, I would do it again and am about 75% happy with the plication. Feel free to ask any particular questions and I will try to answer. Take care, CC

For about two weeks I had pain in my stomach area, that came and went. Doc told me it was the stomach fighting the stitches. It went away, but now (6 weeks out) I sometimes get a pain that just 'sits' in my stomach area. Not sure if its the same thing, or might be reflux issues, but does anyone else have anything like this?

For those that had their surgery in Mexico, or in a place other than your home country, did you tell your primary care doc about it beforehand? If you didn't tell them until afterwards, how did they react when you told them about the surgery?

When you did tell your doctor, did they do any particular post-op care or checks?

Interesting article on memory and WLS: article I just thought my memory was bad from stress. I've noticed I'm less forgetful lately, maybe the WLS is paying off. LOL!