looly

I do sympathise - this mismatch can be so painful. You might not feel like sex because you are poorly, or because you are depressed...or maybe you just don't fancy him any more? I've experienced all three of these situations. For me, when I got over the first two, the desire came back eventually. The desire never came back with the last one. It was scary to admit it, but it was a relief once I did.

There's nothing as inspirational to the seasoned horticulturalist as a mature garden! It urges him to take up his sturdy harrow and plough the friendly and familiar furrow with renewed vigour!

I can understand someone wanting to eat Indian food again - there are lots of Balti restaurants where I live and it's delicious. I just have a small amount of my partner's curry when we're out - 4 or 5 bites fill me up quickly. And when we're at home, I cook Indian food with as little oil as possible and avoid the carbs. Yum!

My greatest and most embarrassing victory involves haemeroids hemeroids haemaroids piles. It's great to pop in a suppository without almost dislocating my shoulder!

"Going to Lady Town" = "Tending the Lady Garden" in my neck of the woods. This leads to all manner of double entendres involving gardening implements and practices...

Well, I must be a great big girly wuss because I only swam 600 metres (25 lengths) in half an hour today and I feel knocked out! I was able to swim 60 lengths in 60 minutes before the surgery (maybe it's because I was as big as a whale!) I've been walking 30-45 minutes a day until now, but even then I sometimes feel light-headed. I'm 5 weeks post op. Well...I suppose we're all different...

My partner says I don't snore like a piggy any more.

"Preparing for the Dead"....great name for a novel...I think you should write it!

Thank you for posting this about the 'Whoosh effect', Pete. It made sense to me and put my mind at rest.

I stopped trusting my scales - they've never coincided with the doctor's scales. So instead, I occasionally use a urine analysis stick, to see if I'm excreting ketones. As long as I'm in ketosis, I'm burning fat, so I'm on the right track.

Well, you've go to feel sorry for people who are plonkers...After all, we had an operation to help fix our all-too-obvious flaw, but what can they do? - Have a personality transplant?

Yup...because that never occurred to you before, did it? That's got to be up there with "You just need to eat less and move more."

I was sleeved on the 30th June. I've lost 28lbs before the op and 25lbs since, and I'm happy with that. However, sometimes I get up and I feel suddenly very weak and a dark circle encroaches on my vision. Occasionally, I feel nauseous with it. I never faint, and if I sit down again, it goes away within a minute or two. Has anyone else experienced this? I've checked my blood pressure: its gone down but it isn't low - and I've never had a problem with blood sugar.

That's it! I'm having some banana and strawberry tomorrow! No more straining for me!

Tracy - I hope your op went well! As regards you original post, I told my long-term friends and family and just one work colleague. My two best friends expressed concerns about the seriousness of the surgery and the risks, but were very supportive when I explained my reasons and how it was relatively safe compared to other major surgery I've had. I reckon that's a measure of how much they love me - they just wanted to make sure I would be safe. But there are some other people I know who would most certainly be b*tchy if they knew, so I'm not telling anyone who has contact with them. Unfortunately, my mother has taken it upon herself to tell two of her friends (who she swears are trustworthy). I've tried to explain that it should be my choice who knows, but she thinks I'm being unnecessarily secretive. (Sigh) Mothers eh?! Well, she's kind and thoughtful in lots of other ways...

3 out of 10 Apart from some minor pain, slight constipation and some fatigue, the recovery has been fairly smooth, so far. I didn't particularly enjoy injecting myself with blood thinners for a week though. I've had a laparotomy (open surgery) before, and the VSG was a doddle compared to that.

I've lost 63lbs in the past by using diet and exercise...and put it all back on again...several times. My own body stymied me every time. I used to feel guilty and weak-willed about this, until my surgeon explained to me that my body thought I was in a famine, so my metabolism dropped and I produced more hunger hormones. If you think you can beat a mechanism like that - go ahead and try. I took the plunge and had a VSG, because I reckoned that if I did what I'd always done, I'd get what I'd always got. And I'd had enough of that.

I'm 46lbs down and the nicest surprise I've had so far was when I got into the car and my usually-wobbly-jelly-belly didn't touch the steering wheel!

I'm reassured by all your posts that PPIs are effective and aren't incredibly difficult to stop. Thanks for that!

I was sleeved two weeks ago and I'm losing weight and feeling well. I can only manage to eat about 500-600 calories a day, but as I'm well-hydrated, I'm not too worried about that. However, I've been automatically put on a PPI for 3 months and I am slightly concerned about this, as I have read that they are hard to discontinue. I've forgotten to take them on a couple of occasions and haven't experienced any acid reflux as a result. I'm sticking to them, as I think the surgeon knows his stuff and I don't, but I'm interested to know anyone else's experience of these drugs.

Thanks redhead - that's very reassuring.

Thanks for that, Matt. May I ask - were you on PPIs and how easy was it for you to stop using them (if you did)?

Protein pump inhibitor - stops you producing excess stomach acid and getting GERD*. *Are you OK with GERD?

Hmmm...what to call IT....? Sir Prodalot...because it prods you...a lot?

Mine is on the right side of the belly button half way up and down. Usually this incision will have an indentation like something is pulling in. This incision is the main source of pain after the gases go away. At least it is for me Thanks for that Pete. I don't think I have this stitch, as I have no indentations and only very minor pain. I haven't had to take pain killers since 3 days after the op. I hope your pain eases very soon.