Mattymatt

You're absolutely right! Diabetes is no joke at all. Your blood sugar is very well controlled and after a very short period of time. Mine is starting to come down now that I am, at least, eating much better and less. It's still higher than I want. I have neuropathy in my feet but since I am a newer diabetic, the doctors seem to think all of this will reverse as I lose weight. I don't want to die. I wish I had started this process earlier in my life too. :-(

LOL! You're all good. One of the nice things about bariatric surgery is the instant gratification (or almost anyway.) When I hear of people losing like 100 pounds in 3 months and even getting to goal weight in 6-8, I am getting eager to get going.

I've got 176 to lose

The lap band can slip causing damage to the stomach and even bleeding. There is a markedly higher complication rate and it is not nearly effective as getting gastric bypass out sleeve.

I am hoping that by telling myself sweets will make me sick, it will become the self-fulfilling prophecy.

That's awesome! I wish the two of you continued success.

The doctors are very serious and sober about the diet and lifestyle rules that you must abide by in order to avoid or lessen the complications. This procedure is not for the faint of heart. I believe you need to be 100% committed to it. I am struggling badly right now so I have great hope that when it becomes my turn on the surgeon's table, the journey to life long health will begin.

Your chances of a speed and easy recovery when you reach the phase that I am in are far less. Just keep that in mind.

Interesting .... no answer from the OP. I took the time to write a really supportive piece too. I sure wish I had it done earlier too.

Not even a full month has gone by and you're almost 40 pounds lighter! That's just incredible! Keep up the great work. You had your surgery when I had my first appointment with the surgeon.

Human beings tend to be incredibly judgmental and the worse we feel about ourselves, the more we tend to pass harsher judgement on others. I thought about re-joining MyFitnessPal to track my food intake and for the supporting forums but they're all anti-Weight Loss Surgery and almost religiously so. How many of the MyFitnessPal members have managed to lose and keep the weight off? My guess is only about the national average of 10-15%. We are all here because yo-yo and fad dieting has not worked. The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I feel very empathetic for people in my shoes. I am even more empathetic towards the people with curmudgeon insurance companies that want to find every way to deny a patient access to weight loss surgery yet brag that they offer such coverage. My only regret is that I did not consider this earlier in my life. I feel sad that I did not pursue this option five or so years ago.

I would go through with it were I you. Weight problems tend to worsen with age or so I am told. You do not want to be in my position. I am 40, have to lose 176 pounds, have high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and diabetes. So, in essence, yes, the older, bigger, and more unhealthy that you are, the greater the risks. I have already been told that I will need 3 days in the hospital before the surgeon would consider me for discharge. If you think you're scared, walk a day in my shoes. I am fearful that I could have a heart attack or stroke even prior to surgery. Hell, it's entirely possible that the strain of the surgery could cause problems. But, as Yoda from Star Wars would say, "Committed, I am. For better health, to have." I won't call you chicken and won't pass judgement but I think by dropping out, you will regret this in the long run. Also, we are now in Republican-dominated times so you can fully expect for it to get harder to qualify for surgery and coverage uncertain. Your insurance company might even use the fact that you dropped out as a strike against you and might require more scrutiny in a future attempt at qualifying. That letter you got is worth its weight in gold. Show up, complete your mission, live better. Don't put yourself in a situation similar to mine.

That's okay man. Remember, progress not perfection.

You've come this far in the process so don't back out now. You do not want to be 40 years old and potentially even heavier. Trust me, I am 40 and I need to lose 176 pounds which is more than double what you need. I have Sleep Apnea, Type 2 Diabetes, and High Blood Pressure - I could have a serious cardiac event at any given time. Do this now and your 30s will be happier and healthier. I believe that if you do not go through this now, you may have future regrets. The statistics say that only 10-15% of people that lose weight through diet and exercise alone can keep the weight off whereas 65% of those that use surgery as a tool keep the weight off. Will this be a huge change? Yes, of course it will. Will this be easy? No, it won't be but if you're getting your surgery done at a Center for Excellence, then your prognosis is incredibly good. The statistics show less than 1% of people developing complications. That is almost statistically insignificant. I am certain it is normal to be nervous about any kind of surgery but think of this as life saving.

I'm concerned about having loose skin but I'm so heavy now that I'm relatively unattractive. My goals have nothing to do with appearance. I miss my two loves: the mountains and bicycling. I want them back! Hahaha! But seriously, I'm right there with you. I tend to brash and acerbic as a result of being bullied. I don't handle bullies very well at all and tend to stick up for others being bullied. Nothing feels better than to emasculate a bully. They call it the dating game for a reason. It is going to take many attempts before you find the right one. Before I let myself get to the intimacy stage, I want to know her flaws and I want her to know mine. No surprises.

How do you feel now? If you feel good and energetic, maybe you're okay. You certainly look fantastic and a whole lot healthier.

I was bemoaning how long the pre-op phase is going to be but it is actually going by very fast so far - I guess 3 months is a really short period of time after all. I barely have time to get my blood sugar under control. I also lucked out in getting to see my endocrinologist this week and she said that even if my A1C isn't perfectly under 8%, she told me that she would be willing to let my doc know that I would be safe for surgery. My surgeon called me yesterday to let me know that he was able to count my first visit with him as one nutritional appointment, thereby shortening the time some. Yesterday, I got the Upper GI contrast and Abdominal ultrasound done plus I was able to get an appointment to see the psychologist on Nov. 15th with many thanks to the person who cancelled. I have the next medical weight management appointment on Nov. 22nd and the final one on Dec. 27th. If the Abdominal and GI studies come back okay, I can get a surgery date set. YESSSSS!!!!

I am going to struggle to get to 10K steps per day because I am so heavy. It hurts to walk for more than about 10 minutes or so at a time. Instead, 10K steps will be a post-op goal. What I am doing is walking EVERY day. I do what I am able to do. My main goal for the time period between now and the big day is to NOT gain any more weight and simply work towards and A1C goal of >8%. For me, the only easy day was yesterday. I fully expect nothing will be easy about this process. The post-op diet will be exceedingly difficult, especially the pureed food part. I will have to find foods that do not make me gag. I cannot even stand the smell of cottage cheese, let alone even look at it. Of course, it may turn out to be far easier than I expect but I do not want false hope right now.

You've got this! Don't worry as you will be under good care,

I am from West Chester ... close enough. Getting my surgery done at Penn Presbyterian. Dr. Korus will be my surgeon.

I am really glad that you shared about your pre-surgery exercise habit. That kind of resonated with me because I will be getting the sleeve. I've decided to start exercising. I can really only do about 5 minutes of walking at a time but I will do it everyday and slowly build up to it. Reading your story motivated me. Thank you!

Keep up the good work! It's good to read your success story. I am still in the pre-op phase and my surgery date feels like a long way off. Please keep us posted.

Ask your doctor if Seroquel is available in a salt tab form. Basically a salt tab is something you put on your tongue and it dissolve in your mouth. I have to take my antidepressant that way because otherwise I puke.

I'm a relatively new diabetic. I was just diagnosed on January 15th of this year. Well here's to better health and taking money away from Big Pharma! 😀

I am a walking profit model for Big Pharma. They see me and think, "Weez gonna get paid today!" On a more sober note, I really do want to get off of all of these meds. For diabetes, I take Metformin, Glipizide, and Lantus insulin. For the High Blood Pressure, I take a baby aspirin and Losartin. For the Depression and Anxiety, I take Seroquel and Remeron. Finally, I have my trusty sidekick, the CPAP for Sleep Apnea. Sadly, I am noticing my average number of apneas per hour starting to uptick again. It used to be with the machine that I would average less than 1 apnea an hour and now I am up to about 3-4. Time to make an appointment with the sleep doc and maybe get my machine checked out. Swallowing pills and stabbing myself with the insulin flexpen is really no way to live in the long term for someone only 40. I think if I did not see the humor in it, I would be in utter despair. If I could just reverse the Type 2 Diabetes and High Blood Pressure, that would be a victory.