RichardVST

Had surgery 1 1/2 years ago, lost 155 lbs, and at 6' 220lbs am pleased with my new body... probably still about 20lbs overweight and despite working out 5x/week still have a lot of loose skin. It was pretty easy losing the weight, but it was torture the whole time. Post surgery eating was a horrible experience - nothing tasted good, I never felt satisfied and I always felt sick after eating and extremely hungry all the time. It was brutal. The good news, though - was that the weight just seemed to melt off. The bad news was that to survive, I would cheat with candy, cake, Cookies etc on the side because they didn't make me feel sick and they felt satisfying, and it didn't seemed to slow my weight loss. Now, the sick feelings after eating seems to be easing. I still have to eat slowly or I will feel terrible, and I still have to have small portions, but my weight loss has completely stopped and I have actually gained 7 lbs from my low. No matter how careful I am with my calories, at levels where before I would steadily lose weight, now causes me to stay flat at best or even gain. Yuk. This is kind of depressing. BTW I have cut out all alcohol now for 2 years, which is very boring and I eat very little, exercise a lot - and am now gaining - yuk, yuk. I feel like I am back where I started, ever day I wake up and say to myself I am going to try to eat even less and exercise more so that I can lose more weight, ie DIET. This doesn't feel sustainable and doesn't feel good. Any words of encouragement/advice or similar experience? Thanks

I searched the forum and see that I am not the only one with an aching tail bone! What is the deal? It is so painful and just seems to get progressively worse. I am 1 1/2 years out, lost 155lbs. I haven't fallen or hit the bone...it just hurts. Anyone else? Any suggestions? Thanks

Thanks for the advice - congrats on everyone's success!

Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried weights - can't read during so very boring, and it seems to really aggravate my joints....excuses! So anyone else have this experience?

I am a year and almost 3 months out. Have lost 155lbs...that's the good new! However, I have had constant pain eating no matter how much or how fast. Bummer. Doctors are no help. I am resigned to hope that it will just fix itself... My body has changed so much. Good and bad. Strangely my legs and butt have lost all muscle. I'm 6' and have always been very physical and athletic, despite my weight. My legs were always very muscular. Now they are so skinny...its crazy. And my butt is nothing but bones. literally. It is painful to sit on a bench or on the ground - I have no padding at all. I exercise 5x a week 60 minutes each - all cardio on elliptical and treadmill. Does this sound strange? Anyone else have this experience? I am 56 - maybe what I thought was muscular legs wasn't...it has been a long time since I saw my legs prior to being overweight. Maybe now I just have skinny old man legs/butt...? If its not normal, I wonder if this muscle loss is hurting my heart...? Thanks

Everyone says that hair loss will stop, but when? I am 11 months out and its not showing any signs of stopping....

I hate to be negative, but I do have regrets. I am 9 months out and have lost 140 lbs, my sugar levels are normal, I'm off all blood pressure meds, I've gone from a size 60 waist to a 42 - what could be bad? It really is hard to argue with success, but eating is always filled with pain, food tastes lousy and while I feel "FULL" with just a few bites, I still feel very hungry and un-satisfied. This unsatisfied feeling is the biggest bummer. Its like you feel on a diet - when you restrict all your food and you so much want to have that piece of cake. That is how I feel all day and even after I eat my mini-meals. It is very discouraging because I really fear that this set up is geared for failure. Good luck. I must warn that you should take my comments with a grain of salt, because I really am not the norm. I did my research too, and it was very hard, if not impossible to find anyone with anything bad to say about the surgery.

I took capsules on the day after surgery. No problems. Prilosec's generic equivalent is omerprazole and that comes in tablet that can be split in half....

Wow! Good for Mich...I personally would never really trust a surgeon....

Thanks everyone for the replies. To answer some of the questions. Yes I have been on prilosec/omerprazole and zantac since surgery. Plus I drink Maalox and drop tums all the time. I even tried other PPIs. Nexium gave me a rash - strange. The pouch term was mine - technically I think its called the boughie...? I got an Upper GI and saw the xray and there definitely were two pouches with a very narrow tube in between. It looked tiny and the Radiologist who did the test said that everything was normal, except he noted a mild narrowing....I The surgeon I saw, was the partner of the surgeon that did the sleeve, but that's not exactly objective. I really would not like to get a RnY. Things would have to be a lot worse for me to consider that...But I do need to get the heartburn under control or I could have a problem. I am going to get the endoscope so they can see how truly narrow that passage is. Based on that I will weigh my options. I probably will have another surgeon look at my xrays and scope films to see if anyone things I got screwed by my surgeon. I'm very disappointed, though I must say. Thanks again everyone.

So I have been whining about my sleeve ever since I went on solids. My surgery was at the end of Feb13. I get that bloaded feeling everytime I eat and regardless of how much or how slow. Now I am getting lost of heartburn and hunger pain, especially when my stomach is empty. It even wakes me up at night. I have been assuming that it would get better with time but now at 9 months I decided to get it checked. Had an Upper GI (yuk) and it came back normal, with one exception that there was a narrowing between the upper section of my pouch and the lower...? I never knew there were two sections. Looking at the xray, my stomach kind of looks like a barbell..? The surgeon said that food could be getting stuck in this narrowing. Her off the cuff solution was to 1st get endoscopy, and think about converting my sleeve to an RnY!!! Yikes I was blown away! Does anyone know anything about the anatomy of our new pouches? Does it make any sense that the new pouch would actually be more like two with a narrow passage between the two? Does it sound like my surgeon screwed up? HELP? Thanks

I'm 9 months post and am having increasing problems with heartburn. I upped my dose of omerprozole/prilosec to 40mg from 20mg in the morning. No improvement. I take rolaids all day. I stopped drinking my 1 beloved latte in the morning. I can't eat fruit. I tried a prescription for Nexium and broke out in a rash, plus it didn't help the heartburn. My doctor wants to do another endoscopy - super expensive - and to what end? Yes my stomach is irritated, why do they need to spend $1,500 do confirm that - my heartburn tells the story anyway. I ask them to just treat me as if they did the endoscopy and they scratch their head! Frustrating! Anyone else have any ideas? Thanks

Thanks BKLYNgal - I am on an autopap. I don't want to pay for another study. I would think I could just stop using it and ask my wife if I snore or stop breathing. But for whatever reason, I am so hooked on having that CPAP essentially breathe for me that when I try to sleep without it, I can't sleep. Just wondered if anyone else has gone through the experience of getting off the machine.

I am 9 months post, have lost 140 lbs. I have been on a CPAP for years for my sleep apnea. Since surgery and with weight loss I have experimented with lowering my CPAP pressure and am at a very low pressure now. Essentially only about 40% of my max. I don't think that I need the CPAP any more, but I think I am addicted to the air pressure and don't know how to stop using it. I have tried to sleep with out it and find it almost impossible. Anyone have any experience with getting off their CPAP? Thanks

That is crazy. If you have legit insurance, they must cover it. I am sure that they have before. List your carrier and find people on site that have same insurance and have been covered. Also, I would recommend that you review every page of what your doctor submitted and compare it to the list of what the insurance company requires. I did that and found that my file from the MD was extremely disorganized and impossible to follow. And if it was that way for me, you can just imagine the insurance company's eyes glossing over. Everything needs to be laid out and spelled out in very organized simple manner. You need to do this for the MD and make your own case. Call the insurance company, as I did, and ask them to fax you the specific pages that cite their requirements for surgery approval..... Good luck. Don't give up.

Since you brought it up....I had the opposite reaction. I am 8 months out and ever since surgery mine has been absent any smell. Very strange. I thought that maybe it was because I had small stomach and food was not digesting as much...?

That was a big problem for me from the start. I used the benefiber and I think it helped. But, now 8 months out, I have found that getting off the protein shakes and eating regular food has made all the diffference. Maybe its the protein shakes?

Thanks all - re: Susis - just because MDs have extensive education doesn't mean they are always right or don't have cotton in their ears and aren't prone to assuming they know what we are going to say and hence prone to making big decisions based on incomplete information. I never assume that MDs know what they are saying. They are too rushed, under-paid and egotistical to trust, just because they were crazy enough to go through medical school. IMHO...

Hi - I had surgery 8 months ago and am recently wondering about some of the "strict" guidelines on nutrition that were offered when I started this process. Specifically, we were all told that post surgery we had to drink tons of Water, we had to eat tons of Protein, we couldn't eat carbohydrates - Pasta, bread, candy, we had to stick to 3 meals per day, no Snacks, we had to chew our foods excessively, to name a few (if not all). Now, all these make great sense and are healthy choices, and for RnY I can see why they are rules, but for sleevers - whats the big deal? As long as we moderate, why can't we have pasta? Its not like we have the RnY small opening that can get clogged. Do we get more dehydrated with a sleeve than before? Why do we have to drink excessively? I understand why we need to chew extra, I think? Are they just trying to scare us into the most healthy diet or are there good reasons for these "rules?"

Same! Before I was so disgustingly sweaty - it was embarrassing. A few times I would break out in sweat, like at a wedding or party and I would be drenched all over. Almost immediately after surgery I have been really cold - even more than my wife. I am the one turning on the heater. I sleep with my electric blanket on - and I live in CA!

I have lost 130+ down from 360. It hasnt been fun. I get a lot of pain when I eat. The kind you get when you eat too much or too fast, but for me I get it no matter how slow or little I eat. To survive, I find that I eat too many snacks and crap. I just cant get in a good meal that satisfies me. Very frustrated. To Susansoon - how did you know you had a leak or needed your throat dilated? What were your symptoms. I wonder if something is wrong with me? Also, my hair is thinning a lot. And my hair is muuch wavier than before. Strange....

Sad story. Congrats to you on your success and most importantly for taking control of your life. I don't think any of us can tell you what to do. Everyone has a different perspective, history, background, religion, kid situation, etc. Only you can know what is best for you and your family. But now that you are healthy physically and looking great, give yourself time to heal and grow mentally. Same for your husband. Not to excuse his behavior, which sucks and is never excusable, but your history is dynamic and influenced from all sides. Get help, set boundaries, see if he changes, see how you change - you might like it or you may not. But you will know when and what to do. I've been married 30 years and those ups and downs, and going through the motions, etc are there even in the best marriages. I am currently on one of the upswings and am glad to be around and together to enjoy it. Don't know if it would be the same or what it would be like in a different or new relationship. Be patient and strong. Good luck.

I am 7 months out, have lost 145 lbs - still have at least 30 to go, am far from skinny! I have noticed that my sternum - that bone in the middle of my chest at the bottom of my rib cage - sticks out? Has anyone else noticed this? I assume its because I had so much fat before that my ribs and stomach stuck out and the sternum angle just matched everything else...Any idea if this will go back? Or is there anything I can do to help it go back? Its not terrible and certainly not a problem, but just wondered... Thanks

Hi All - I'm 6 months out. Having a tough time with solids - get full pains with very little food, so probably not getting enough protein. My hair started thinning at 4 months. At 55 was very proud of my think head of hair, but now the recede and thinning is ON! Bummer. Does anyone know how long this lasts and if/when my hair will start coming back in??? Thanks

I am 6 months out and still have that feeling. It is very disappointing. If this is the way its always going to be I will really regret this surgery. Losing weight is great, but I feel like this pain is starving me. Eating is a completely unpleasant experience. I feel deprived and hungry all the time. I just have to be patient and hope it gets better with time. Good luck to you.