ouroborous

Some nerves never regrow, just FYI. I had hand surgery 3 years ago, and my left pinky is still almost completely numb. Eventually you stop noticing it so much.

I live in Seattle and am getting the sleeve (locally) on 5/6. Also my girlfriend was sleeved in November here, too. Lots of us Seattlites around!

I'm yet to be sleeved (5/6), but my plan is to have it done one a Thursday, recuperate through the weekend, and then work from home for a week. I've got all this cleared with my boss. Of course, I'm lucky enough to be able to do my job (I'm a programmer) from home, so I can go and lie down or take a ten minute walk when necessary. After a week, I'm figuring I should be well enough to go back in to the office.

Install a script blocker or an ad blocker, and problems like this go away I wasn't even aware that this was happening until I read your post and disabled my ad blockers. I rely on forum posts for general informational content; I'd never trust what "someone says" in one place to recommend a doctor. How do you know what their motivations are? If you see a lot of posts from a lot of people on a lot of sites saying something about a doctor/facility, that's marginally more trustworthy. But still, the scientist in me would caution everyone to take testimonials with a grain of salt.

Congratulations! I'm about a month behind you!

Well, I had my EGD today and there were no signs of bile duct issues (and no hiatal hernia, duodenal ulcer, or esophageal erosion from GERD -- yay!). Just to be sure, since my mom's had gallstones, we also did an ultrasound on the gallbladder (and liver, and pancreas). If those come back clean, my gallbladder is in good health (for now) and I don't need it out. Here's hoping I can keep one more organ of my body intact and healthy!

I did my initial nutrition/psych analysis yesterday, and had my EGD today. All went smoothly, no sign of a hiatal hernia or esophageal erosion (I have GERD), no sign of a duodenal ulcer (which was a concern), and we're waiting for the results from a gallbladder ultrasound but the EGD doc said he didn't see any bile duct inflammation, so (fingers crossed) it's looking like the coast is clear for me to get my lap sleeve done on 5/6/10 as planned! Now that I know that my surgery will be about as simple as a lap sleeve can be (no gallbladder issues, no hiatal hernia, virgin stomach), I'm getting much less anxious about the surgery and actually starting to get excited about the prospect of getting skinny!

pnw, I got your message and I think my response got lost in the aether -- sorry about that! Long story short, I'm leaning towards a "wait and see" attitude. I don't want the pain of gallbladder removal, and I know I have decent odds of NEEDING it removed. But it's not a zero-cost equation, as you've pointed out. I really don't want to need a whole OTHER medicine (with possible side effects and complications) for my whole life if I don't HAVE to. If the doc says I have to get my gall bladder out, I'll get it out. But I don't think I'm going to do it until that point. Thanks so much for the advice (to all of you)!

From what I understand the surgery (with its attendant reduction in ghrelin) actually helps you to need LESS willpower than just doing it au naturale. That's one of the big draws for me -- this isn't a magic wand, but it can help us make the right choices.

Well I don't know for sure that I need my gallbladder out. I'm going in for my EGD on Thursday morning, and they'll know better what my innards look like at that point. I hope I don't need it out, but we'll see...

I used a transdermal cream for a while, but there are complications to using exogenous testosterone. Since the cream didn't help, and since I've been hoping that my natural testosterone would come back, I never revisited the topic. If the WLS doesn't significantly improve my testosterone/libido, I may go back and talk to the doc about the cream again.

I did a little googling ("obesity testosterone") and it appears that overweight and obesity can dramatically reduce testosterone levels in men (especially as they creep towards middle age). Apparently the fat cells produce increased aromatization of testosterone to estrogen. For men, this is *not* a good thing.

Count yourself lucky -- my insurance simply will not cover WLS at all. So I'm forced to shell out 20k out of pocket. But, from what I hear, it's worth it...

After I get the surgery, should I avoid taking the prescribed pain meds? My girlfriend had VSG recently and got Roxicet and liquid Vicodin. She's tough, so she didn't take much of either, but truth be told, I have a lower threshhold for pain than her and might need the prescribed meds. Is it "bad" to take the painkillers -- does it impede the healing process in any way? Or can I just take the prescribed doses as needed and not worry about it?

I'm curious to know what constitutes a food addiction. I'm morbidly obese, but I never obsess about food. I do have occasional anxiety and sometimes eat to soothe the anxiety, but not often. I never CRAVE food -- I don't get obsessed about a brownie or a burger or whatever. Mostly I just overeat -- I eat a normal portion of food, and then two more portions besides! Also, I'm extremely sedentary (this is sort of the bane of my existence, my own physical laziness). From what I understand, I don't really have a food "addiction." I just eat like a starving wolf, and I'm kinda lazy. Does this ring true to you guys? Mostly curious -- I'm not going to really change my plans either way (regardless of addiction or no, I nee to lose the weight!)

Hello, one quick question: I was under the impression that a gallbladder removal could happen during the same surgery as the VSG. In fact, I vaguely recall my surgeon mentioning that he wanted to do this because it was safer. However, the surgical center staff now claims that it can't be done during the same op. I'm not sure if this is an administrative issue or a surgical limitation.

I'm hoping to do this same thing -- pack on the muscle at the same time I take off the fat. All my life I've had an easy time putting on weight -- fat OR muscle. Usually that's worked against me; I can add heavy slabs of muscle with just a month or two of working out, but it's all concealed beneath a thick layer of fat. As I get rid of the fat, I'm looking forward to profiting from the "gain muscle" (anabolic) side of my metabolism! I might finally rediscover my love of regular exercise :lol0:

I had a long discussion with an ex-girlfriend about how (usually) sex is MUCH more work for guys than for gals (for obvious reasons that I won't go into). I know that there's an urban legend that it's impossible to die from sex, and I know that that's just a myth. Worrying about having a heart attack can really take the "mood" away, you know??

I know -- with low testosterone, poor body image, and sex feeling like I was running a marathon, can you blame me for not being in the mood?? And of course, men are the ones who are expected to be "in the mood" all the time (according to society). I know that's kinda a myth but still, the times I've spent explaining to my S.O. that "it's not you, it's me"... and you know, it sounds like a cliche, but in my case, it was TRUE! Just not having to have those uncomfortable middle-of-the-night "discussions" would be worth its weight in gold!

From what I understand, your food capacity is supposed to roughly double from immediaetly post-op to long-term maintenance. If so, going from 400-600 calories per day to 1200 or so doesn't seem too alarming. Again, as long as you keep your protein/carb/micronutrient balances good, I don't think it should be a concern. Of course, I have yet to be sleeved, so this is all guessification on my part.

Thanks for this info. Psychology is a big part of low sex drive for me; at a BMI of 42, I just feel un-masculine and unsexy. Also, being this overweight means that sex feels like I'm going to have a heart attack. All of that (plus the other stuff I mentioned) leads to me just never really being that interested.

This begs an interesting question: are endoscopies safe/uncomplicated after VSG?

I have a VSG tentatively scheduled for May 6th (I am a 39 y.o. male, BMI 42, wt. 335, w/diagnosed fatty liver, w/sleep apnea, no diabetes/heart disease/cholesterol issues, no previous WLS). I'm curious what the overall complication rate is for the VSG (not surgeon-specific, just the overall rates being reported in studies and so forth). From what I understand, aside from gallstones, leaks are by far the most common complication, and the overall rate of leaks is around 1-2%. Is this correct? I'm a worrier and if I can wrap my mind around the idea that the "risks" are only 1-2%, and even those are usually correctable, it will help me be less anxious. I'm attempting to be as compliant as I can with every instruction my surgeon (Dr. Robert Landerholm in Edmonds, WA) is giving me. Thanks in advance!

I know this is an odd sort of question, but I was wondering if I could expect any uptick in libido after losing significant weight. I have a medical condition that leads to low testosterone (which won't go away with weight loss), but I was wondering if anyone had noticed a better libido after WLS. For me, every little bit helps; I'm only 39, there should be SOME kind of interest there!

Thanks for the advice, but I was hoping one of the RN types around here had some more hard advice. I can't access Dr. L every day, whereas this forum is pretty responsive!