catwoman7

i wish my food cravings had stayed away. I found it very liberating to never be hungry and not give a flip about food. Although you're far from the only one who doesn't like that aspect. My hunger and appetite came roaring back about five months out and it made things much more difficult. I did end up losing a crap ton of weight, but it became much more challenging once my hunger and cravings were back.

I'd lost 11 kg in that time, which was no where near 10-20% of my starting weight. people lose at all different rates for all different reasons. The first few months I felt I was behind the rest of the pack (and one very insensitive resident told me I was), but I ended up losing ALL of my excess weight (I've gained back about 20 lbs since i hit bottom, which is pretty common). I ended up being one of their "model" patients and for three years I helped lead the pre-op groups at the clinic. there are so many factors that can affect your rate of loss - age, gender, % of muscle you have, metabolic rate, genetics, starting BMI, whether or not you lost a fair amount of weight before surgery, activity level, etc. The only two things you really have any control over are your diet and activity level. If you do well with those, you WILL lose the weight, whether fast or slow. I was definiteily slow - but steady - and turned out way more successful than I'd hoped to. so you are doing fine. Try not to compare yourself to others because you don't know what factor(s) are in play for them that might be affecting their rate of loss.

I definitely lost most of my weight in year 1. Year 2 was super slow - sometimes only a couple of pounds a month - and I kept thinking, "well, this must be it" - and then I'd drop a couple more pounds. I finally quit losing for good at month 20 - at that time weighing in the 130s (like many people, I had some regain in subsequent years but have been pretty stable for a long time)

this is ridiculous! Can you switch over to your regular PCP, maybe? (we were encouraged to have our annual check-ins with our regular PCP once we were 5+ years out and had had no issues). I wouldn't want to see a nurse like that again. And no, I don't eat an obscenely low level of carbs (my surgeon's program wasn't ultra-low carb to begin with - they stressed balance - protein, healthy carbs, and healthy fats). And you have been amazingly successful. Most successful bariatric patients make it down to "overweight" or "class I obese" (which is not very obese - we're talking like 30 lbs overweight). You're only barely in the "overweight" category - and like you said, you've got loose skin, which probably counts for a good 4 or 5 lbs. Sheesh. That nurse needs a new profession. (P.S. I'm 10 years out)

my surgeon had us eating purees as soon as we were home from the hospital. I ate a lot of Greek yogurt and refried beans, IIRC (it's been 10 years!). Also, protein shakes.

to be honest, I've heard of RNYs being revised to DS, but never the other way around. I'm so sorry you're going through this!

there's just regular gastric bypass (RNY) and mini gastric bypass (the latter done mostly in Europe - I don't really hear about it in the US). I don't know of any surgery that is done specifically for people who eat sweets - but I had my surgery 10 years ago, so maybe things have changed (??)

I don't know if I got it from surgery, but some meds will give me dry mouth. In addition to drinking more fluids, dry mouth toothpaste, dry mouth lozenges, and dry mouth spray help somewhat. When I'm having issues with it, I even keep a bottle of dry mouth spray on my nightstand next to my bed.

They seem to work better for some people better than for others, but it seems a lot of clinics don't recommend them (probably for the reasons the commenter above listed). I do have some that I take with me when I'm on vacation since it's a lot easier than lugging around all my vitamins - but that's the only time I've ever used them. I figure even if they don't work very well for me, a few days of using those instead of vitamins in pill form is probably not going to cause any damage.

I had my bypass 10 years ago and would do it again in a heartbeat. No problems or issues (other than a stricture early out - which happens to about 5-8% of us and is an easy fix), and I lost a crap ton of weight. A majority of us don't have complications and for those who do, most are minor and "fixable". I'm so happy I had this done. I'd go back and have it done every year if I had to! My life is so much better now!

as others have said, the weight does seem to redistribute and you start to look less gaunt (although I think you look great now!). Also, don't forget that it's very common to have a 10-20 lb regain during year 3 - so I wouldn't get too worried if your weight continues to drop a bit. I thought that regain would never happen to me - but it did!

water fitness classes were my main form of exercise when I was at my highest weight. I loved them. I still go to them - but now mostly in the winter when it's too cold to exercise outside or when I'm tired of doing things in the weight room or on machines.

weight gain is unfortunately pretty common - it usually seems to happen in year 3. For most people, it's about 10-20 lbs, but then there are those who don't gain anything at all, and those who gain a lot more than 20 lbs. Obesity is a chronic disease that takes lifelong management. I'm 10 years out and if I'm not careful about what I eat, my weight will start heading north..

I had an estimate from him, too - but it's been several years. I'll see if I can find anything from him. He was a very well-respected plastic surgeon.. Dr. Sauceda! That was him. I'll see if I can hunt him down - hopefully he hasn't retired! UPDATE: Here ya go: https://drsaucedaplasticsurgery.com

I was always able to drink more than what they said we should be able to. The PA at my surgeon's office said as long as it doesn't hurt my stomach, it was OK. If you're an RNY patient, fluids go right through you - so you can consume more fluids than you can solid food. As Spartanmaker said, though, definitely prioritize fluids.

we were eating pureed food before even leaving the hospital, so plans are all different. I had to rely on protein shakes for a while to make get up to the required amount of protein.

yea I had buyer's remorse the first couple of weeks - but that ended quickly. I had my 10 years ago and it was the best decision I've ever made.

I had two strictures - at 4 weeks out and again at 8 weeks out. But I was told that they almost always occur during the first three months after surgery, so it's not very likely that that's what's going on with you. If it is, though, it's a super easy fix. Both times I felt like I had acid reflux. The first time I was puzzled since bypass usually cures that. After a couple of days of that, I suddenly couldn't keep food down, so I called my surgeon's office and they told me it was probably a stricture and they set up an appt, but they said if it got to the point where I couldn't even keep fluids down, to go to the ER (it never got to that point). The second time I knew what was going on because I had that acid reflux feeling again, so I made an appt to have the stricture "fixed". I never had any pain either time, though. It was an acid reflux feeling (which progressed to not being able to keep food down when I had the first stricture)

I sort of hate to mention "averages", since everyone is different, but most people end up "overweight" or "class 1 obese", which is not very obese. But you'll always find a few who make it to normal weight (about 13%) or who never make it down to "class 1 obese". But that might at least give you an idea..

I'm not sure about Aetna, but a lot of policies won't cover skin removal unless it's causing health-related issues (e.g., chronic rashes that don't respond to conventional treatments). If you have something like that, be sure to see a doctor about it so it's documented in your medical file, since the insurance company will want documentation that it's causing health issues. as far as experience with plastic surgery, I had lot of it (lower body lift, breast lift, arm lift, face lift, neck lift). Lower body lift (LBL) is pretty painful since they do both liposuction and muscle tightening with that (if you just get a pannelectomy (sp?) rather than a full LBL, it's probably not as painful - but the LBL has more extreme and natural-looking results). The rest - arms, breast, face, neck - weren't too bad. Arms were kind of a pain, though, since you can't reach up for a while - which is really hard to remember to do! Plastic surgery can be painful and expensive, but I'm glad I had it done.

P.S. the amount of vitamins recommended are often just a starting point. It's common to have quarterly blood tests the first year, and then annual tests thereafter. I think being allowed to go off all supplements isn't all that common (although it's true for some people), and I'd be surprised if it's true of ANYONE who had bypass, since that surgery has a malabsorption component. At any rate, vitamins and amounts of vitamins required are sometimes adjusted depending on the test results. For example, I require more protein than most patients because we discovered early on that my pre albumin level tanks unless I average 100 g a day. Also, I had to quit taking calcium a few years after surgery because it was clear I had no trouble absorbing it from my food and regular multivitamins, and the overage by taking additional supplementation was not only unneeded, but was also putting me at risk for kidney stones or damage. So your particular needs may change as time goes on - that's why it's important to keep up with any required testing.

I just want to respond to the issue with iron. Depending on the type of iron, you only actually absorb a certain percentage of what's in the tablet. I take carbonyl iron, of which the body absorbs close to 100% ("elemental iron" is the amount you actually absorb, vs the total amount of iron that's in the tablet, and I believe carbonyl iron is the only version with that high of an absorption rate). In other versions, the body may only absorb half, or 20%, or 60%, or whatever, of iron that is in the tablet. That would explain the incongruence of the numbers that you're seeing (e.g., 45mg tablet when the required amount or iron is 18mg). I just cut & pasted this from an article I just googled: No, 65 mg of iron is not the same as 325 mg. Ferrous sulfate tablets are often labeled with both the amount of ferrous sulfate (the actual pill) and the equivalent amount of elemental iron (the usable iron). A 325 mg ferrous sulfate tablet typically contains 65 mg of elemental iron. So, while 325 mg of ferrous sulfate contains 65 mg of usable iron, they are not the same in terms of their total weight.

I can't respond to the particular complications you have (only a doctor can) or how bypass might affect them (ditto), but major complications are pretty rare with bypass. The most common complication (and it's considered minor) is dumping, which 30% of patients get (I've never had it - and neither have a lot of others I know), but that can be controlled by not eating a ton of fat or sugar at one sitting, which none of us should be doing anyway. The next most common complication (also minor) is stricture, which is easily fixed by doing an upper endoscopy and using a balloon-like tool to stretch it out. This happens to about 5% of us, and as being the second most common complication, it gives you an idea how common complications are (I had a stricture, btw). You probably hear about them more because people are more likely to post or talk about them because they're looking for advice or support. People generally don't mention that things are going great unless someone specifically asks them how things are going. So it might appear that complications are more common than they actually are. Other than that stricture early on (and they happen very early on, if they're going to happen at all), I've had zero issues, and I had my surgery ten years ago. we were told that it was OK to take NSAIDs on a very limited and very occasional basis, but I haven't taken any since my surgery. I've taken Tylenol for any pain, and when I had hip replacement surgery two months ago, they found a non-NSAID alternative to aspirin for me since I had to be on some kind of blood thinning agent for six weeks. As far as your other prescriptions, it could be that there are non-extended release versions available - but again, a doctor would know that. Sounds like you'll be having a long conversation, and hopefully it'll provide some answers to make a decision. as far as having the surgery "late in life", there are many of us who had it in our 50s and 60s (I was 55 when I had mine), so you're definitely not an anomaly! I wish I would have had mine years earlier than I did. The thing probably saved my life (I weighed almost 400 lbs). I am grateful every day that I had it. good luck with your appts and decision.

if you lose a ton of weight, you're likely to have some loose skin. I had a ton of it (I had mine surgically removed three years after my bypass). No one but me (and my husband and doctor) knew it was there, though - it was pretty easy to hide in clothes. Even if it didn't have it removed, though, I still would have taken loose skin any day of the week over weighing 373 lbs (and yep - we had the same starting weight).

there really isn't malabsorption at all with sleeve. There is with bypass - that's why we take more vitamins than sleevers. But the vitamin thing is really second nature after a while - you just go on autopilot. major complications with either surgery are pretty rare. With sleeve, the most common one is GERD, but not everyone gets it, and for most who do get it, it can be controlled medically (e.g. pantaprazole, which you said you're already taking). Some people with severe GERD do revise to bypass, but it's not a huge percentage that have it that badly. But yes - it IS a potential issue. The most common issue with bypass (besides dumping, which about 30% of us deal with (I never have), but that can be controlled by not eating a bunch of sugar or fat at one sitting, which we shouldn't be doing anyway). The second most common is a stricture, but those are an easy fix. They just do an endoscopy and stretch it out. I had one. Happens to about 5% of us, according to the PA in my surgeon's office (if they're going to happen, it'll be within the first three months after surgery - it's very rare for them to occur after that). if you need more time to think about this, though, then take it. It's a big decision. But as SpartanMaker said, you almost never hear anyone say they regretted it. The only regret most people have is that they didn't do it sooner. I had it at age 55. I wish now that I'd done it at least a decade earlier. P.S. I had GERD prior to surgery, so I went with bypass. I know the chance of having it get worse (for those who already have GERD) with sleeve is only 30%, but I didn't want to risk it. Besides, sleeve was still pretty new when I had my surgery, and I was a little afraid of it turning into "lapband 2" - but it's been around long enough at this point that I wouldn't have had that particular worry. It works well and it's safe. But I still would have chosen bypass for myself because I was afraid I'd be one of those whose GERD would get worse.