flyingcarb

I've been wanting the surgery for years, dreaming about it, going through every possible avenue to get financing, waiting for the right time when work and parenting would allow it. Now that everything has come together and my date is scheduled for less than a month I am getting sooooo scared! Please tell me this is normal for doubts to spring up just before surgery!

Yes it's normal to feel nervous. Any surgery is a big deal, especially because this one changes your life forever. I won't lie and say there aren't foods that I miss, but now at 7 months I can pretty much eat any healthy thing I want and small bits of things like chocolate from time to time. It's hands down the best thing I've ever done for myself. My quality of life has improved dramatically. The arthritis in my knees and back is so much better. Since I waited so long to do the RNY, I won't ever be running or jumping again but just being able to walk more than 10 feet pain free is game changer.

My surgery is Friday and I am almost totally freaked. I am confident that I will lose the weight. My biggest concern is that I will be miserable afterwards. I will miss eating alot or feel like a freak for not eating. My sister had a sleeve and she said both of those are not issues after you get used to it.
Still freaking.
Ed

Literally all I can say is don't think too much about it. I would have panic attacks thinking about the surgery and on my surgery date I just .. forced myself to think about it differently (my mom had RNY along with other painful surgeries n she said it was the easiest thing, just thinking about my loved ones who underwent surgery and made it out helped so much lmao) and less. Also it might help to ask questions / step by step on the procedure even if you know it all, hearing my surgeon talk so confidently about it eased my fears of an incompetent surgeon.
Anyway i wish you the best and a smooth recovery ❣️

Being scared is very normal.
Since you are at the beginning of this process, I would recommend three things.
1. Take a good before photograph of yourself, so that you have something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success.
2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery.
3. Wean yourself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery.

Don't think to much or you will get sick. It will be ok. When you start thinking and getting anxious, breathe deep in and out and say to yourself you gonna be ok. I would have regretted if I would have cancell my Surgury. I went through a lot but I feel so much better and so will you. We are all here to support one another. You are not alone. 😉

Hello
It is so normal to feel scared. I was scared to the point just before I went into Surgury. I almost said no. What helped me was to stay and focus on all the positive things that would happen after Surgury. Being around positive people is so important. Keep speaking to yourself positive things and be around supportive people. You will be ok. Trust me it's normal and many of us have felt that way. A lot of great health and great things will all come together. 😉😀

Hello Everyone,
I just had my MGB surgery on May 18th (about 2 weeks ago). I have been overweight for nearly 10 years, and though I have had some successes with diets along the way, all those ultimately failed and I regained everything back and a little more. I am a short guy so just looking purely at the weight, it may not look like I was that bad, but I surely felt really bad. At my highest I weighed 196 lbs (day of the surgery) with a 35 BMI and 38% body fat. The doctors stated I was morbidly obese, though they admitted I was one of the smallest size patients they had ever had. After the surgery the surgeon told me that my intra-abdominal fat was one of the worst he had ever seen. Though he admitted I was his first foreign patient, and the main reason could be that Chinese diet which although can also cause obesity due to excessive eating, is a lot healthier that what *we* foreigners eat.
I did my surgery at a NCKU Hospital here in Taiwan (a national university hospital), which is also supposedly one of the top in the country. The great thing about Taiwan is that their National Health Insurance covers even temporary foreign workers, irrespective of the work they do. That was very helpful as the NHI covered majority of my cost. Weight loss surgery here is only covered by National Insurance if the doctor deems it necessary for you, which is either if you have BMI of over 40 or 35 with co-morbidities, which in my case was Diabetes, so I qualified for it.
Most of the information I researched prior to the surgery came from English forums such as this one, so I had a good idea of how everything was supposed to be if I were to do it in US, but had little information of it would be done in Taiwan, since I didn't have any reference. I was surprised to find that some things were very different than I thought.
I found that the time from the first visit to the date of the surgery was much longer compared to many of the cases I read online. Although I wanted to get the surgery as early as possible, they insisted I had to follow their process, (and it wasn't even due to the surgeon being too busy). I spent nearly 7 months doing a wide variety of tests. At one point I was going to the hospital once every week just to do a different type of test. (Tests are also covered by Insurance so it wasn't a money-making scheme or anything) I can't remember what all those tests were but I guess they tested nearly everything prior to the surgery. When I asked surgeon about these tests, he basically said : We want to find out if there's anything wrong with your body that is causing you to be overweight. We want to find out all the health problems you have (even the hidden ones) that may have been directly or indirectly caused by you being overweight. I would strongly recommend that everyone follow what their own doctors/surgeons tell them. Every forum I read mentioned about the pre-op diet so I was surprised to hear that there was no pre-op diet here. They doctor said that there was nothing I needed to do before the surgery, and just live a normal life. I had my last cheese Burger at 10:00 pm, the night before the surgery. After 12:00 am that night I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything. I had my surgery next morning at 7:00 am and it lasted for 3 to 4 hours. For the whole 7 months prior to the surgery I had always wanted to get the Gastric sleeve surgery, because the thought of my intestines being rewired scared me. It wasn't a week before the surgery that I decided to change to Gastric Bypass, only to find there was no Gastric Bypass offered there. It turned out majority of the national hospitals only offered Mini-Gastric Bypass instead, so I had to go with that, despite having little information on it. The surgeon told me that Mini-Gastric Bypass was easier, had a short surgery time, quicker recovery and higher weight loss in the first 12 months compared to Gastric Bypass. He also said that there was a 60 to 90% chance that my Diabetes would go in total remission with MGB compared to less than 40% chance with a sleeve. He referred me to some many local researches that were performed by the university as well as the local Bariatric association in Taiwan. In my personal research I also found Taiwan was one of the best in Asia when it comes to Bariatric surgeries, so I just trusted my doctor and everything he said. I stayed 5 days in the hospital. The first couple of days were really rough but everything started to get better quickly after day 3. Walking helped a lot. I left on day 5, and was back to full-time work on Day 7 already (though I don't recommend it). As far as Diet is concerned, the nutritionist and doctor told me I could eat normal food but with certain restrictions. This is unlike what I read about many other people having to go through the soft food stage for a few weeks to a month. I was told the following : I could eat pork, chicken, beef, as long as it was lean cut, and cooked to be soft. She told me not to eat any fried or deep fried meat, but I could grill it, steam it, or cook it in very light oil. I was recommended me to eat more fish than other types of meat. I was told about the types of fish/sea food that I could eat and ones I couldn't. Shrimp was recommended as well. I was told I could eat Yogurt (low-fat and sugar-free recommended) eggs (boiled or scrambled), potatoes or sweet potatoes (bakes, mashed/boiled or cooked in very little oil). I was told I could eat more or less any kind of fruit I wanted, but to avoid fruits with very high-Fiber during the first few weeks (e.g. Pineapple). Now two weeks later, I can eat most fruits already. They said no sweets, or any kind of artificial/processed food. As long as the food was natural I could eat whatever I want but I had to chew everything 20 times and eat very slowly, and small portions. The only food I was told not to eat (ever or at least 1 year) was Rice, Noodles, Spaghetti, and bread. So basically no starchy food. Instead they recommended that I eat any kind of vegetables (boiled or cooked). Though they said RAW vegetables could be a little difficult during the first couple of weeks. To keep hydrated I was recommended to drink lots of Water and low-fat milk. I think the requirement was something like 1500 ml of liquids per day at least. To avoid muscle wasting I was recommended to get at least 6 servings of Protein each day with at least 60% of them coming from natural food instead of supplements. The nutritionist said that I could eat 6 boiled eggs a day, I wouldn’t need to eat Protein. I was also told to take daily Multi-Vitamins and Calcium Citrate. So far, since the surgery I have been eating normally more or less, except that I am eating much healthier foods than I used to. Even without the pre-op diet, I lost 15 lbs within 6 days from the date of the surgery. Since then I have only lost an additional 2 lbs in the following week. I couldn’t find any local forums or groups to share about my surgery so I am doing it here. I hope this info is helpful. If you have any questions about my surgery I would be happy to answer.
Last but not least, I am very happy with my decision, and I think it’s a brave choice, given all the risks involved. I read an interesting saying in one bariatric articles about people who do these surgeries, which said, “I will live forever, or die trying!” This is indeed the case; in order to live longer and better lives, we take these extreme measures. This is not something to be ashamed but something to be proud of.

I read that Mgb can cause reflux also.

Raw cacao is very beneficial to us, buying a mars bar is what is wrong. Assuming that a question is silly based on ur own definition is very limited in my opinion...and does not match the role of this forum by any means! Just a helpful hint there are many ways to enjoy chocolate made with healthy ingredients like fruits, natural sweetners like agave and healthy oils like coconut.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using the BariatricPal App

Hi there!
I'm a new member to these forums, maybe visited a while back.. Here's my story..
I'm 30, and in 2005 I had a lap band. about 3 years later, after ,maximizing inflations, it started working suddenly!
I lost 100 lbs, down to 127 lbs, in a few months. I was pretty much throwing up everything I eat, and learned how to manipulate the "system".
I'd eat whatever I wanted, then gulped Water, excused myself, threw everything up, returned to the table, and ate some more. Then I got pregnant, and I deflated the band completely. BIG MISTAKE.
I gained the 100 lbs again during my pregnancy. Yes, in 9 months, I gained 100 lbs. I'm serious. ok my baby was probably 6 lbs.
I got pregnant again, and didn't fill the band. Then suddenly, while pregnant, the band started working again, even though it was empty.
When I had my second child, I was lighter than when I got pregnant by 20 lbs.
In 4 months post partum, I went back down to 127. at that point, I couldn't eat anything. I threw up ANYTHING I ate, even water.
I had to get IV hydration in ER several times. A barium study showed my band had slipped, and was causing complete obstruction. My potassium was dangerously low and I started to get arrhythmias. I was admitted for emergency removal.
Here I am, 3 years after removal, back to 223 lbs, and 26 days away from my mini GB.
I was completely against any surgery that will change anatomy, but after the suffering of losing and gaining a 100 lbs TWICE, I'm done.
I want to create this thread for anyone who is having a MGB in 2017, to discuss our progress together, our preparations, and our outcome.
I look forward to meeting more MGBers in the new year
S

I found out I had Barrett's during all the preop testing. Facing this diagnosis, I switched from wanting a sleeve to getting RnY. Had surgery on 4/24.