James Marusek

There are different types of weight loss surgery. The two that predominates are : sleeve and RNY gastric bypass. They are different types of surgery and produce different types of results. In RNY weight loss happens very quickly and almost effortlessly. In sleeve, weight loss is slower and takes quite a bit of effort to stay on track. But sleeve patients can achieve the same result in weight loss as RNY patients.

But the speed of weight loss is not the main issue. The main issue is that once you achieve weight loss, keeping the regain under control. What really matters is the success of maintaining the weight loss long term 5 or 10 years down the road. THAT IS WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT!

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According to the rules of BariatricPal:

Weight loss surgery “bashing” is absolutely prohibited. This include, but is not limited to, statements that a specific type of weight loss surgery is:

• Bad or wrong
• Easier than another type of weight loss surgery or “cheating” when someone is trying to lose weight
• Out of date or obsolete
• Doomed to failure

In addition, “bashing” of individuals is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, statements that a person is:

• Lazy for choosing one type of weight loss surgery over another
• Unprepared for or undeserving of weight loss surgery because of
• Deserving of complications or disappointing weight loss because of their choice of weight loss surgery

Please abide by these rules.

_______________________________

I am locking this tread because it has deviated from the rules.

The Forum Rules and Guidelines state:

Disrespectful and Hurtful Posts are Forbidden

In addition, “bashing” of individuals is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, statements that a person is:

• Lazy for choosing one type of weight loss surgery over another
• Unprepared for or undeserving of weight loss surgery because of
• Deserving of complications or disappointing weight loss because of their choice of weight loss surgery

This tread is now frozen.

I developed the following plan to deal with this threat.

Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic

Since you are getting closer to your surgery date, I thought it might be fitting to pass on a little advice.

After surgery remember to WALK, WALK, WALK. Around the clock every 2 hours. Most of the pain from surgery is really gas pain and walking relieves that. After surgery I felt so little pain that I refused all pain medicine. It was because I WALKED, WALKED, WALKED.

I had surgery in 2013 and this article summarizes my perception.

How_I_Survived_Bariatric_Surgery

I am 71 years old now and still kicking. Having the surgery was a major part of my continued living. Well off to the YMCA to swim a mile.

12 hours ago, H8thissurgery said:

James... my ex was so turned off by what happened In The initial surgery he lost his trust in doctors, though doctors were the ones who helped him so many years later. He did not do any of the things he was supposed to do. He did lose a bunch of weight though. He got down to 168 pounds at his lowest. But he was never the same.

There are different approaches to Bariatric Surgery. My surgery went through a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence. It was a very comprehensive program. Sort of like "the full meal deal" because it encompasses a multidisciplinary team of specialists. It includes a surgeon who specializes in bariatric surgery and a hospital specializing in bariatric surgery and a team of specialist in a variety of other fields (such as nutritionist) as support staff. There was a lot of support after surgery. So for those contemplating this type of surgery, I recommend using a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence.

According to this story, the gastric bypass surgery was done in 2007 and supposedly performed by an expert. I underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2013 and this story doesn't make much sense from my perspective. Before and after surgery, I underwent many steps. Firstly I had to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to see if I was qualified for the surgery, if there were underlying psychiatric issue that drove the weight gain, they had to be remediated prior to approval for surgery. In order to qualify for the surgery, my insurance required that I undergo a six month program of weight loss and exercise. I had to attend monthly support group meetings. Then there were a variety of medical tests that were performed to detect any medical conditions that may affect the outcome. So over a year went by since I started the process before I had the surgery. I also underwent a day of classroom training prior to the surgery that included very detailed information covering almost every aspect of the surgery and what was to follow and given a 1 inch binder of material to constantly refer to.

After the surgery, I lost 120 pounds over the first 7 months. It was difficult because of the extent of the requirements (food types, food volumes, Vitamin, etc.) But overall I was please with the surgery.

Then there was yearly follow-ups. Gastric bypass surgery requires that the individual must take many types of Vitamins for the rest of their lives. If someone fails to take those, their bodies will experience Vitamin deficiencies which caused damage in multiple organs. That is known up front. Every year for the first 5 years, I underwent extensive blood work. These test measured my various vitamin levels and allowed my doctor to fine tweak the vitamin levels.

Also there was a mechanism in place for a psychologist in the event that psychological problems arose post surgery.

There are many people involved in this process, not just the surgeon. They included nutritionist, psychologist, support group meetings etc.

In order for this surgery to work effectively, it depends upon the compliance of the patient to follow the guidelines given and seek help when problems arise.

25 minutes ago, MysteryJess said:

YALL!!!! OK, I am hoping someone can give me some advice. I was banded in 2009, lost 100 pounds, was at my goal weight for about 9 years. Then around Christmas of last year, I started having trouble keeping ANYTHING down. My surgeon said the band was properly placed and had not slipped. He removed all of the Fluid from my band and I gained 40 pounds in a matter of months. My insurance finally approved a revision and I had that done 4 days ago. I had no real pain, just some gas pain in my shoulder and neck. They laid out these tiny little cups and told me to "sip sip sip every 15 minutes". It didn't take long before I had both small bottles of Water drank. I was released the next day and was able to drink 2 cups of beef broth, I ate an entire cup of sugar free jello---last night I ate an entire can of thinned down cream of chicken Soup in the amount of time it would take someone who had not had bariatric surgery. I have not had my post-op follow up yet but my mom had the VSG about 18 months ago and she can only eat about a cup of food. She told me it took her an entire day to drink 1/2 of a Protein Shake. My goal weight is 145 and I am currently 169. (I am within a normal BMI and have no co-morbidity factors but the revision was approved because of all of the issues I was having with the band.) My fear is that surgeon might have been super conservative and made my sleeve/pouch larger than it should be because I don't have a ton of weight to lose. I am just hoping that someone reading this had a similar experience but felt restricted once solid foods were reintroduced. I feel like this surgery might have been a waste of time. Is there anyone out there that was successful after not having drinking limitations immediately following surgery?

In general gastric bypass or sleeve surgery does not limit your physical ability to consume fluids because these pass right through your system. It does constrain the amount of solid foods that you can consume. So I would recommend patience. Wait for a couple months and then consider if there is a problem.

Also please do not post duplicate threads!!!!

This morning Bariatric Pal received a strange post from a first time poster. The poster after leaving a message that didn't make any sense requested members to contact them using private message. The thread appeared to originate from Russia. It appeared to be a type of honey trap enticing members to communicate by PM where they might fall prey to a spam attack.

These attacks seem to be targeting a number of different types of message boards at the moment. On one of the other boards, the moderator recommended the following actions:

Would members please try to recognise and ignore the spammer posts instead of replying to them. Just report them. If you mistakenly report a bona fide member, don't worry, better to be safe than sorry.

What might indicate a message is Spam?

1. Profile entries sometimes have very basic spelling errors eg "Unated States"

2. Profile page shows a business link (sometimes)

3. Messages posted sometimes have what appears to be a string of nonsense letters - for example djhpownkggstr
NEVER click on these to quote. Recent ones are from the Ukraine. They have been detected as infected on other sites

4. Posts with blue links placed below the message in the left lower corner of the post as you look at the screen.

5. Words in blue embedded in an otherwise plain text post - the blue words are hidden spam links that open up when you click on them - may carry malware

6 Obvious spam links from new members with little or no posting history

7. Look out for several brand new posters showing up in a thread and congratulating one another on their good advice.

8. Never open links that are posted in these thread topics: Bitcoin, travel tips, vaping, gambling, viagra etc, essay writing, smoking, cannabis in any form.

9. Be mindful that spammers usually lie about the country that they are in - the Ukranians say they are in the USA, the UK, one of them claimed to be in Mali...

10. Look for new members who join with "whole" names like JamesWilson for example, or EllaSmith, these are quite common lately

12. Look for new members who interrupt a completely unrelated thread with a first post that says "Hello! Nice to meet you!!"

They are devious and malicious, and can trick both new and old members. If in doubt, report and we can check out their real location and posting history.

The Russian, Ukranian and Muldovan spammers seem to be getting more numerous in targeting our social forum lately. They are producing most of the current spam, though there are some from Pakistan also posing as ordinary members who are also active. Before most of the spam of these kinds seemed to be USA based, and the change to the Russian speaking countries has happened in the past 12-18 months.

Please be vigilant and report.

****This is a Warning ****

The Rules of this Site are located at the lower left corner of the page and are called Forum Rules.

These Rules state:

Disrespectful and Hurtful Posts are Forbidden

Weight loss surgery “bashing” is absolutely prohibited. This include, but is not limited to, statements that a specific type of weight loss surgery is:

• Bad or wrong
• Easier than another type of weight loss surgery or “cheating” when someone is trying to lose weight
• Out of date or obsolete
• Doomed to failure

In addition, “bashing” of individuals is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, statements that a person is:

• Lazy for choosing one type of weight loss surgery over another
• Unprepared for or undeserving of weight loss surgery because of
• Deserving of complications or disappointing weight loss because of their choice of weight loss surgery

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I came across a rather interesting study this morning:

Using mouthwash after exercising could negatively impact the cardiovascular benefits of working out, particularly lowering blood pressure.

The findings, published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine and led by researchers at the University of Plymouth in England, detail how using mouthwash after working out can prevent your body from reaching — and staying — in a low blood pressure range for a period of time post-exercise. Exercise has long been known to reduce blood pressure, though how exactly blood pressure levels stay low for hours after exercise has been a source of much debate.

For the study, which focused on the role of oral bacteria in reducing blood pressure following exercise, 23 healthy adults were asked to run on the treadmill for two 30 minute sessions. After working out, participants were monitored for two hours. [Some of the adults used a placebo mouthwash and others an antibacterial mouthwash immediately after the workout.]

“These results show that the blood pressure-lowering effect of exercise was diminished by more than 60 percent over the first hour of recovery, and totally abolished two hours after exercise when participants were given the antibacterial mouthwash.”

The findings show how important oral bacteria are to opening the body’s blood vessels. “These findings show that nitrite synthesis by oral bacteria is hugely important in kick-starting how our bodies react to exercise over the first period of recovery, promoting lower blood pressure and greater muscle oxygenation,” he said. “In effect, it’s like oral bacteria are the ‘key’ to opening up the blood vessels. If they are removed, nitrite can’t be produced and the vessels remain in their current state."

Source: Using mouthwash after exercise has this bizarre effect on blood pressure, study claims

I guess the take-away is do not use antibacterial mouthwash after exercise. Allow your body to absorb the positive effects of the workout.

I used Soups and chilis quite a bit after my RNY gastric bypass surgery. I fortified them with Protein and that allowed me to quickly reduce my reliance on Protein Shakes. I put some of the recipes at the end of the following article.

How 
I
 Survived
 Bariatric 
Surgery


NSAIDs should be avoided after sleeve surgery. They can lead to severe ulcer problems.

The answer will vary somewhat by the type of surgery that you are planning to have. I had RNY gastric bypass, so I will answer this question from my perspective. First off you taste buds may change right after surgery. The Protein Shake you are currently consuming may taste simply awful after surgery.

Many experience problems drinking Protein Shakes. I hated them. But in the beginning I drank them, three 16-ounce Protein shakes a day, in order to meet my protein requirements. You do not have to like protein shakes only tolerate them. There are many varieties of protein shakes available today. Experiment until you can find one you can tolerate. I used Muscle Milk Light (Vanilla Creme) powder blended with Water and a half a banana. That worked for me. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, you might try premixed Isopure.

Without sufficient protein, your body will scavenge protein from other areas of your body, such as your muscles. Protein is extremely important after surgery as its job in the body is to build and maintain tissues including your body's major organs and skeletal muscles. Protein deficiency, when continued over a long period of time can cause a disease known as protein caloric malnutrition. Common symptoms are poor healing, fatigue, Hair loss and muscle wasting. Immediate post op, protein promotes healing of the staple line and incisions.

Your daily protein requirement is met by a combination of the amount of protein you obtain from food combined with the amount of protein from protein supplements (protein shakes, protein bars). Right after gastric bypass surgery, the volume of food you consume is minuscule (2 ounces) per meal. But as you get further along, the meal volume increases. Therefore you have a very important option available to you. As a result, you can begin to reduce your reliance on protein shakes if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals. I went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, down to 1 and eventually none when I reached 1 cup per meal at a year and a half post-op.