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I had my bypass in 2018. Many foods still don't taste the same. My sense of smell and taste never really returned. That alone is worthy of mourning. I have a problem getting enough protein and calories. I am currently suffering from anemia (my hemoglobin had dipped to 5.2 at one point, requiring hospital admittance and blood transfusions.) The cause was determined... two ulcers slowly bleeding out. Eating is a chore... very little pleasure left.

Mine was due to complications from the sleeve. I had gastritis, esophagitis, and horrendous gerd. I was taking such high amounts of PPI (80mg of Nexium per day plus Pepcid and TUMS for break through gerd) that I developed so many polyps throughout my stomach it took 4 endoscopies to remove them all. Had my revision from sleeve to bypass and have been great ever since.

I guess I have a couple of things for you to think about: Many insurance companies don't cover weight loss surgery. Those that do, typically have very specific requirements that take months to accomplish. Do you know for sure this would be covered, or are you prepared to pay out of pocket? Most bariatric surgeons have their own set of requirements from patients aside from those that the insurance company requires. These too can take weeks to accomplish. If your surgeon does not have any requirements, this would go against best practices. Do you really want a surgeon willing to take shortcuts? Most bariatric surgeons want to have you do a pre-op diet of 2-4 weeks. There are multiple reasons, but the most important is to shrink your liver to make the surgery safer. Are you okay with extra risk just to get the surgery ASAP? Most bariatric surgery is done by a specialised bariatric surgeon, not a general surgeon. I'm not sure I'd even want a general surgeon to do the bariatric surgery even if they say they could do it. Remember, experience here is highly predictive of positive outcomes. Are you sure about the experience of the surgeon what would be performing the surgery? Long term success from weight loss surgery is a lot more than just having the surgery done. Are you mentally ready for a lifetime of changes to how you eat? Do you really know that VSG is the right surgery for you? Gastric bypass is typically recommended for larger people with more weight to lose, especially if they have comorbidities like diabetes. I think it's worth taking your time to research and discuss various surgical options before jumping straight into this. On a more practical level, even if you could overcome all of the above, most surgeons and surgical suites are scheduled based on the length of the planned surgery. I can't imagine either of them changing this on short notice. Overall, while I think bariatric surgery is a fantastic, life-changing choice, it's not for everyone. Take your time and go through the process to mentally and physically prepare yourself before jumping in.

I'm not allowed protien shakes this week. Just tea, broth, water and juices ooo and jelly. I woke up today hungry but too exhausted n sore.. I am day 2 post op bypass

Since 2014 I have been gaining weight. I've gained 75 pounds. I was 150 at 5'7 inches tall and at that time I was relatively inactive but ate normally. A decade later I'm 225 and 34 and have not been able to lose. I cut out sugar, I joined a gym and got a dietician three years ago. I have still gained ten pounds per year. I've been tested for PCOS, Cushing's and Thyroid disorders and they have found no evidence. I eat less now than I did ten years ago. I love in Canada and rely on government healthcare. They won't approve me for gastric bypass. They gave me ozempic last year and it was a nightmare and worsened my IBS. I didn't lose weight I gained another 12 pounds on that drug. I'm out of options. This has basically destroyed my life. I haven't dated in ten years. Tried to commit suicide twice three years ago. The weight gain never stops. It's awful. I'm not doing it to myself. I don't over eat. I exercise, I go to the gym, I don't eat sugar and I just butt. It's a cruel joke this life.

Finally had a call with the nurse incharge and she just put my mind at ease! She told me to "chill" and that I am doing everything right!! She said don't forget u did the bypass and many of the comments and comparsion I've been getting and doing is towards gastric sleeve patients. She said everything I'm experiencing is right and to not panic about calories because I am definitely not over eating! Focus on Protien and avoid sugar! Teehee nothing new but felt good hearing it from her! Phew

One thing I've learned through experience is that it's hard to predict what will happen next. My weight loss slowed significantly in July but then I dropped a lot in August and September, but slowed again in October and even more in November. A lot of it not really because of any major changes in my behavior, either. There's a lot going on that you can't really see throughout this whole process. I notice, for example, that my body shape changes when my weight is steady. I do try to be honest with myself. Sometimes, I know for certain I have been doing everything correctly and am not losing. That's fine. Sometimes, I lose weight and I know I did so despite making some poor choices. I try to be aware of that because it will not be as easy as time goes on (it already isn't for me!). I know that if I have things in the house, I will be tempted by them, but I rarely would leave the house to go buy something I didn't already have just because it sounded good. If I buy cookies, I may end up eating four of them instead of the two I said I would eat. If I don't buy them, I will eat zero. So, after the holidays, not buying or making the stuff is my main strategy. For me, it's all about figuring out how I want to live. I want to be healthy, but I don't want to be miserable. I'm working on being more intentional with what I eat and how I exercise. My goal now that my appetite and capacity have kind of settled into a fairly predictable pattern, is to strengthen my routines around food prepping and setting regular meal times. If I can stick to that most of the time, have a solid list of things I make on a regular basis and keep in the house ready to go in an instant, and things I do NOT keep anywhere near me, I won't feel like I need to worry about the occasional indulgences. Because skipping all holiday snacks or treats, or never ordering a dessert or a special cocktail, isn't a way I want to live! But I also don't want to lose track and let myself indulge all year because I forgot to set limits.

Thank you so much for responding, everything you said made me feel validated in my fear and comforted as well. I actually do love cooked vegetables and meat cooked in other ways besides fried. I like a variety of foods in fact. I guess I just see people posting such healthy looking meals that don’t look appealing to me and I’m just like “do I have to eat that?” Like I’m not a fan of raw vegetables and cottage cheese, for instance. I haven’t seen anyone post something that I like which makes me think that what I like to eat are things I won’t be able to eat. I’m not too concerned about not being able to eat junk food at all because I’m not really a junk food eater more than I am a comfort food eater. I just love a good meal and I just don’t see anyone posting good food. Food is a concern bc it’s important, but my biggest concern besides food is being able to get out of my head and an even bigger concern is the things that can go wrong! Being dehydrated, vitamin deficiency, extreme constipation, hernias, gallbladder removal, GERD, having to convert to bypass, being hospitalized for something. Like is there anyone who has not had a complication? Even people who don’t regret the decision seem to have so many scary issues. I’m so afraid of what could go wrong. I’m afraid of being sad about food the rest of my life. I’m sad now about the control food has over me. I feel trapped. I hate that I have to be fat and even go through all of this. I hate I’m on a forum complaining about being fat. Lol. I just need someone to tell me to do it and that it will be ok and worth it! I guess I just keep imagining I’m going to be sitting here physically feeling a cut off stomach, if that makes sense. Lol. Like, I know I won’t be able to eat a lot anymore, I know I’ll need to make the better choices with food which is fine, but I just don’t want my life to revolve around food anymore! I don’t want to sit around everyday worried about food. It seems like I have to go from thinking about what I’m going to eat everyday to worried about if I’m going to be able to eat enough or eat too much or get dehydrated or get enough protein or something with food! I’m just sick of food! Lol.. Will my life ever not be about food and weight?!! If the sleeve makes me go from worrying about weight to worrying about weight on top of a bunch of other stuff, is it going to be right for me? Am I trading one woe for another? I hope that makes sense.

So I went on vacation with my hubby- caught some kinda cold...getting to the almost better part of the cold- however still have a cough- and sometimes my chest hurts with it. So please if you are one to pray- pray this is done and over with by my surgery date ❤️ I did my preOp appointment, doctor heard me coughing- didn't really question anything....so I didn't either. Did covid test- it was negative so thats good. Started my PreOp 2 week diet per my doctors orders. I also started watching my portions before this so it feels very manageable. Oct 24th is my go date for Balloon procedure. I know people that did gastric bypass however I did not qualify for that. So fingers crossed my lifestyle changes will get me to my goal. Thats my intro- looking forward to hearing from people as we progress through this journey together

Glad the cause has been found and you are on the road to recovery. I have pernicious anemia and for that reason at the first surgical consultation the surgeon said she thought sleeve would be the better option for me due to later complications with anemia and bypass. I was also told that unlike most sleeve patients who can stop the recommended bariatric vitamin regime after the first year that I was consider continuing on them for the rest of my life, I don't have an issue with that as no harm in taking them.

This is a very good point about having a different procedure. I went with the SADI because it was a revision to an existing sleeve and revision surgeries do not produce the same results in terms of weight loss and durability, but the SADI offered more. In terms of other medical issues, though you will constantly have to have your bariatric doctor in the loop with any issues that may even remotely have to do with your gastro system and this can be complicated because the doctors don’t want to step on one another’s toes. But in terms of family doctors or doctors of any other specialty, I have not met one since I started researching this surgery or since I’ve had it that I have even heard of it. If you do go with this one, you need to educate yourself so that you can explain that to them. And it is possible that you find yourself in a position where something could get messed because the doctor just hasn’t seen it before where it’s more likely if you had something as common as a bypass they will have seen it. I mean there’s pros and cons with everyone. There’s no perfect answer or they would only do one and we wouldn’t be here naming off a handful of surgeries that are sort of commonly done and in terms of revisions, they do even more. I think they just make up names for them as they go along, honestly. My best advice would be to educate yourself as much as you can and go back a couple of times to make sure you get all of your questions answered by the doctor. They usually only want to give you one appointment but if you say you’re not ready to choose, they should give you another appointment with the doctor or a PA or NP. But that is a very good point about having the less common procedure does present obstacles or potential ones down the road. I mean if you raised the fact that you have it to any good doctors attention, they know where to find the information and should be able to still provide you adequate care but in an emergency situation it’s better for the information to already be in the doctors head.

So, you don't feel "full", but do you feel "hungry"? Or do you just keep eating because you can? This early on, your body is still adjusting and relearning signals. Hopefully, you don't feel physical hunger pangs (most people don't but some do). Either way, you need to portion out your foods. A bariatric meal is generally 3-4oz of meat and around 1/2 cup vegetables. Even if you CAN eat more than that, you aren't supposed to and don't need to. It's pretty early to be adding in a grain, but that can also be part of your meal at some point. The feeling of restriction is different between the sleeve and the bypass, so I can't speak to it from experience, but I've seen so many people here say the sleeve restriction doesn't truly kick in for a few months. Until then, it's your job to only eat what you're supposed to eat. It helped me to get very small plates. I ate off a saucer for the first 6 months. Half of it would be my meat and half was a non-starchy veg. I would weigh the meat (after cooking) and just fill the empty space with the veg. If you are already truly feeling hunger, fill yourself with vegetables, fruit, and healthy whole grains as opposed to protein or simple carbs. After a certain point, let's say maybe 100g in a day, you really don't need the protein, so if you're truly hungry, a salad or steamed broccoli will do a lot more to fill you up with very few calories ounce per ounce. It can also really help to set specific meal times and not allow yourself to eat in between.

Honestly, if the bypass failed, why not consider the traditional Duodenal Switch? It's more reliable and effective than the sadi.

This is the what one Hospital provided me for Gastric Bypass Medicare costs and requirements. One thing I noticed is "Consecutive diet counseling within 1 year of surgery" but did not specify a duration time for the diet. Anyway, thought some might derive some useful info from this. TRADITIONAL MEDICARE Insurance Requirements Primary Bariatric Surgery - covered benefit? Yes Revision/Conversion Surgery - covered benefit? Yes - BASED UPON MEDICAL NECESSITY Special Facility Requirements? N/A Specialty Referral or Authorization required from PCP? ● No referral required for clinic ● Policy Copay Fees Registered Dietician (RD) ● One on One Counseling Session ● Diet Class $0 DX: DIABETES $30 Psychology $0 Specialist ● (Surgeon, APP/NP/PA, Cardiology, Pulmonology, Obesity Medicine Specialist) $0 ● BMI requirements ● ‌ BMI >= 40 - OR - ● ‌ BMI >= 35 with 1 of the following: ● OSA on CPAP ● TIIDM ● HTN ● Nutrition Education ● ‌ Consecutive diet counseling within 1 year of surgery ● Documentation includes weight, diet education, supervised by an MD ● Must meet weight goal set by Dietician to return to see your surgeon and schedule surgery ● Psychology Evaluation ● ‌ Clearance within 1 year(s) of surgery (Special considerations may apply, to be discussed if needed) Medical Evaluation ● ‌ Letter of Medical Necessity by ANY medical provider Yes ● On his/her letterhead ● Signed and Dated by the MD/DO/RN/ARNP/APP ● Documents previous failed attempts at weight loss ● Lists co-morbid conditions related to obesity ● Additional Medical Clearances no

Yep, still waiting for my surgery date @Spinoza The dietitian had warned me that I could end up doing the liver reduction diet over Christmas and I was wondering if anyone else had managed the same 🙂 When I had my appointment with the surgeon, we both agreed on having a bypass so now I wait for the date for the op! Definitely glad I’m over Covid though 🥳 @FifiLux isn’t it odd how the there are so many different approaches to WLS? Some have no pre-surgery diet, some have a couple of days, mines 3 weeks plus there are longer ones etc. It’s hardly surprising that some people end up totally confused with what they are supposed to be doing! Oh, how was your break? Did you take your travel scales? Did they help if so?!

I'm almost a year and a half since my RNY (November). I've lost about 135 give or take (I bounce between 125-130lbs). I haven't lost any fat free body mass since month 3, and have actually gained 5lbs of fat free mass since May. At my 1 year, in May, my body composition said I was at 18.1% body fat which is on the low end of "lean" I did another one last week because I was feeling off (tired, muscle cramps, brittle nails, headaches) My body fat percentage was at 12.3% which translated into roughly 16 pounds of my overall weight (130 at the time of the test) being fat. Anything under 15% is "at risk". I eat, what seems like all day long, I get my calories, protein, healthy fats, fiber. I take all my supplements. All my blood work I've had this year for random things and specifically for post surgery, has been normal. Nothing, other than feeling off, pointed to this. I do have an appointment with nutrition and my bariatric team this week. But wanted to see if anyone has gone through this, heard of this... Anything? My initial thought is how my body is absorbing nutrients, but again, my labs have been normal.

Listen, I believe you honestly believe you mean well and are somehow helping. I honestly believe you believe that. Unfortunately, your efforts are proving instead to be high handed at best. I'm dumb, I'am not spreading misinformation. I'm not accusing you of spreading anything. I just think you're mistaken. I'm not attacking you character, or am I even finding anything wrong with you personally. My point is proven by the market place, the information provided in my program and countless others. The information from many bariatric dietitians, and surgeons that have information all over the the internet with rare exception. Patients are told you will need to take bariatric vitamins for the rest of your life. We are not told for the first year. But for the rest of our lives, we are pointed to or even given free samples of the ASMBS approved levels, and the vast majority of the brands closely mimic each other. They even say they are IAW ASMBS guidelines. That is what they say. Some formulations for example only offer 45 MG iron. most offer way more B16 then is stated is needed. Celebrate is one of few brands that even has a sheet specifically for SG patients. I literally have put them in a spreadsheet and compared them. So unfortunately, what you say isn't true. Patients are by and large in most programs to take one of the standard formulations. For example again with iron of the ten brands surveyed, including the most popular brands 40% sold only the 45 mg iron formulation. Even the ones that sell 18mg version most of their products have only 45mg. There is no study that I've found that says men or non-mensurating women w/o other issues need more than 18mg of iron. yet most of the products have 45mg. It's worse when you look vitamin B12 which most studies say should be 500 mcg for SG patients as the upper limit, but most exceed 500mcgI only found 2 that didn't. Again, this isn't my opinion it's based on data from the marketplace from the vitamin companies themselves. This isn't misinformation. You can look it up. Again, I'm not accusing you of anything I'm telling you where I'm getting my data, it's right there as plain as day. SG patients when told to take these vitamins are being over supplemented for some of micros. SAGES is clear, multiple studies are clear about the levels of iron needed, and B13. The upper limit of iron in men or non-mensurating women is 45mg. Yet most formulations start at the upper limit despite the dangers of taking too much iron. None of this is my opinion. You dismissing me by saying you do you or accusing me of spreading misinformation or disinformation, is simply not good. You telling me I' wrong by calling the other types of bypass, by pass. You saying that some programs don't still say RYGB is malabsorptive is just wrong. Patients are provided inconsistent, overly simplified information. There is also a terrible follow up rate after a few years. ASMBS has talks about that, I watched one on YouTube last night. Again, I appreciate that you responded. But the attacks and dismissiveness are not acceptable behavior. Not on this forum or anywhere to me. We can disagree on concepts, but don't accuse me of being nefarious, do not accuse me of spreading misinformation or disinformation, dismissing as being confused. Unlike a boat load of patients I've spent countless hour, days, weeks, months, of hours reading peer reviewed studies, watching lectures talking with multiple dietitians, reading the program materials from multiple programs. The variation between programs is startling and disturbing. The lack of consistency regarding follow-up is basically alarming. SAGES in terms of 2024 manual actually calls a lot of this out. Lastly, here's a presentation from UK NHS showing multiple variations of surgical interventions. The "History of bariatric surgery" presentation from St James University has illustrations of about 14 of them. Since per ASMBS SG the most popular surgery performed, it is startling that the vast majority of vitamins exceed what's recommended for SG patients. Again, not opinion you can look up most of the manufacturers websites.

Hi everyone 🩷 posting here as well as in the revision surgery forums in hopes to get a discussion going. I’m considering having revision surgery and have an appointment with my doctor next week. I’d love to hear some of your experiences with revision surgery, what surgery you ultimately went with for the revision, the process and road to your actual surgery date, post op experience - anything you’re willing to share ☺️… soo lay it on me ! The good, the great, the bad, and the ugly! I had gastric sleeve surgery and lost about a 100 lbs and kept it off for about 4 years but since having a baby about 2 years ago I’ve really been struggling with my weight again. Gastric sleeve to bypass seems to be the most popular route however I also see that some people have had other surgeries done such as a duodenal switch. Just curious as to how you and your doctor decide which surgery is best for you. TIA 🩷

tomorrow morning, i am getting my excess tummy skin removed and my boobs reduced and lifted. i had rny gastric bypass in september 2022 and lost more than 200 pounds, highest weight 410, and my weight has been stable at 190. i saved up enough money to get plastic surgery in tijuana, mexico, and my work, school, and holidays lined up to get it done! im getting 360 lower body lift, tummy tuck with fleur de lys, and breast reduction and lift. i also want to get an arm lift and inner thigh lift sometime in the future. im nervous for my surgery tomorrow morning, but i’m confident in my decision to have plastic surgery now, and trust my surgeon and medical team. ive done everything i can think of to best prepare for surgery and make sure it’s as successful as possible: i have SO MANY medical supplies; i’ve been taking SO MANY vitamins and iron to make sure my hemoglobin levels are high enough; i’ve had iv infusions of iron, vitamin c, and ozonized (definitely not the correct term) 120 ccs of my blood and pumped it back in; i’ve done too much research; and i’ve saved up thousands of dollars and dragged myself all the way to mexico and tomorrow’s the day! ill update as i drag myself through yet another surgery and recovery! 😅 i also will take any recommendations for healing, post-op recovery, pain management, and expectations. ~kukui

Yeah nobody can control the snow except God. I'm not worried about the snow. It usually does snow in early November here in upstate NY but lately over the past 3 years or so it hasn't started snowing until Janurary. Hoping this year is another repeat of that. Time will tell. They gave me a whole booklet that my surgeon gave to me when he explained the various different surgeries to me and a bunch of other people about 7-8 months ago. It has everything that I need to know in it like what I'm supposed to be doing 2 weeks before my surgery 2 weeks afterwards ... everything. I just haven't had much time to give it a good going over its been a busy 7-8 months. They always ask me at the end of my appointments if I have any questions and I think I have some for my surgeon that I'll probably be asking him the day of my surgery so if I have any I can always ask. Most of my questions are medical questions though that I think only my surgeon can answer because I'm curious how my mental illness is going to affect my surgery and my weight loss journey after my surgery. It's definitely going to be more of a struggle than usual. Do all of your hunger pains and cravings usually go away with the surgery? Or do you still have to worry about the urge to eat?

I’m a few years out so I have a little bit of perspective. I think staying consistent in a sustainable way is the key. Inly commit to drastic changes you can see yourself continuing 5-10 yrs later. It’s the only thing you can really control, everything else happens on a biological level. Also try to avoid diet/lifestyle creep. Special occasions diets (birthday cake, peeps, royal icing cookies, apple pies, stuffing and pies, gingerbread houses, eggnog etc) should stay where they belong. Don’t do it all of the time. There’s always going to be special occasions but they don’t have to derail months worth of progress (l’m looking at you November/December!). Congratulations in advance on your surgery anniversary ❤️

I had sleeve revision to SADI (just the bypass portion) and I am really happy with my decision. My surgery was August 7th so I am about 2.5 months out and including my preop loss I have lost 55 pounds. I am over halfway to my goal. I have been eating 100% on plan though and exercising a pretty great amount (2.5-3 hours a day). The revision surgery gave me the metabolic Hca Hes tk actually do Al of that though. I never exercised or prepared fresh homemade food with my sleeve. Didn’t have the motivation. It made a pretty huge difference for me. Did your Dr do a endoscopy, barium swallow and gastric emptying study? Mine did those tree before deciding I was a candidate for SADI or Bypass. If the sleeve didn’t work for you long term then I would probably lean away from a ReSleeve. Just thinking why repeat history. Try something different but that’s just me. The research does say that the loss is more durable witb the SADI revision than the Bypass. Not certain about the ReSleeve but my guess is that too since the Virgin Sleeve doesn’t have the best statistics for durability. Also, resleeve is kinda risky. My Dr said he wouldn’t touch the sleeve with the SADI not because of my BMI but just because he doesn’t think it gives that much more benefit to justify the risks so that’s something to look into as well. Ooh and if you do have coverage for the GLP-1 and you can tolerate them, they do work. They don’t have to be long term for everyone either. If you take the time on then ti make real lifestyle changes you may be able to go off of them and maintain. Ibvuously If you just eat a few French fries for your meal you will lose, but will obviously eat more when you don’t have the meds but if you genuinely change your habits then people do maintain the loss. I have a friend that is almost to goal and she has been asking me for advice of what foods to choose to be sure to get her protein in. Kinda odd because she is smaller than me but I have heard a couple success stories with them. My friend has to force herself to eat. It’s a chore. If you do go that route, talk to your doctor about staying on the lowest dose that works for you. That’s the thing that many bariatric doctors usually recommend and it makes sense to try to avoid the side effects. . And some people go onto a maintenance dose after they reach their goal if they need it. Also, see about a three month supply when you do get to the dose that works because for my friend it’s cheaper that way. I strongly considered them but I didn’t have adequate coverage. I even considered postponing to see if things would change but my family Dr advised against waiting since these things can take a long time. There are pros and cons of each option but do your research. This is a good start but make anothet appointment with you surgeon if you have more questions. I did several before I decided. You probably only have this one more shot at this. Not a lot of surgeons will do a second revision ooh and that is one thing to consider if you do go with SADI, it’s newer so ask your surgeon if you had a complication god forbid what you would do. Mine actually brought it up that he would send me to another hospital to someone with more experience with the surgery. I mean obviously he would stabilize me but if I needed a revision because of malnourishment or something he would send me elsewhere. I kinda respected the fact that he would admit what his limits were and appreciated it but maybe you feel differently about that. Or maybe your surgeon is fine with revising if necessary but I would for sure ask.

morbidity rate is 0.3% with bypass - which is super low. These aren't the same surgeries as they were years ago. They're only slightly more risky than the sleeve. Complication rate is really low, too. The most common (other than dumping) is stricture, which happens to about 5% of bypass patients, and that's an easy fix - they just do an upper endoscopy and stretch it out (I had one of those). Dumping happens to about 30% of bypass patients, and you can prevent that by not eating a ton of sugar or fat at one sitting (most dumpers can eat *some* sugar and fat, just not a ton of it at one sitting). I've never dumped, and I know lots of other bypassers who've never dumped, either. yes you do need to take supplements forever because of the malabsorption "feature" (which makes it a more powerful surgery than sleeve). But you get used to it pretty quickly. I don't even give it a thought anymore - taking them is now just part of my regular morning, afternoon, and evening routines, Most sleeve patients have to take vitamins as well - although slacking off on them has more dire consequences with bypass than it does with sleeve. Missing a day here and there - or even a few days in a row, isn't likely to cause problems. But simply not taking them can cause huge problems over time. To be honest, cutting off 3/4 of your stomach and throwing it in the garbage doesn't really seem that less radical to me than stapling across the top of your stomach and re-attaching your small intestine, but I know that thought seems really radical to a lot of people, so you're not alone in thinking that. Although unlike the sleeve, the RNY is reversible (although they'll only do that in extreme circumstances), which seemed oddly comforting to me. I chose RNY because I had GERD prior to surgery - and it did "fix" that. I'm very happy with my decision - I've had a lot of success with mine and no problems other than the aforementioned stricture I had at four weeks out. I'd make the same decision today.

For anyone that may be confused by this thread, here are some things to think about related to vitamin supplements: The most important thing is to follow your doctor's recommendations. All bariatric programs I've seen have specific recommendations and you would be well advised to follow these. The vast majority seem to recommend a bariatric specific vitamin supplement. Some may also recommend specific brands of over-the-counter vitamins as well. That said, at least from what I've seen, typically when recommending over-the-counter options, they will suggest taking these twice a day (AM & PM) instead of just once. There are a few reasons for the above recommendations. First of all, you'll be eating a very low calorie diet and thus vitamin supplements formulated for "normal" people may not be sufficient. Also, while malabsorption for bypass patients is a concern, sleeve patients aren't immune to reduced absorption. Some vitamins & minerals are dependent on stomach acid to be properly absorbed. Since all WLS patients will have reduced stomach acid production (at least for a while, if not forever), higher than normal amounts of some vitamins are needed. From a cost perspective, yes, bariatric vitamins tend to be more expensive, but if you have to take twice as many of an over-the-counter supplement, the costs aren't very different after all. Especially if you take advantage of subscriptions like those offered by sites like bariatricpal, the cost of a good quality bariatric multivitamin isn't that much. Keep in mind your food bill should also drop, so at the end of the day you should still be spending less per month. If for some reason you still think vitamins are just too much for your budget, please discuss this with your surgical team. They may be able to help you find a less expensive option that still meets your needs. It's never a good idea to make decisions that can impact your health simply based on things you may have seen on the web. Aside form the cost concerns I mentioned above, there is very little to no downside of taking bariatric specific vitamins, even though some have really high levels of certain vitamins. For some specific vitamins, there is no established upper limit, meaning there's no health risk in taking too much. If you take in more than your body needs, then you'll just safely eliminate the excess. Yes, there are established upper limits for a few vitamins & minerals and this is taken into account in the vitamin formulation. Iron, is an example. The established upper limit is 45 mg/day, which is also the max you'll see in most supplements. Keep in mind this upper limit was established because some people had digestive upset at higher doses. You'd have to take considerably more than 45 mg/day to actually have a significant impact on your body. Further, remember when I said that some vitamins & minerals need stomach acid to be properly absorbed? Iron is one of those, meaning that you're probably not actually getting a full 45 mg/day dose as a bariatric surgery patient. Regardless of which surgery you have, you should be getting regular blood tests for life that check for nutrient deficiencies. if you don't get these from your surgeon (for example, you went out of country for surgery), then please get them from your primary care physician. This is really important because some studies have shown up to 30% of WLS patients end up with nutritional deficiencies post-surgery. Don't be a statistic. Human bodies are not all the same, nor are our diets. This means one person may be successful stopping vitamin supplementation, whereas someone else that had the exact same surgery from the same doctor won't be able to do that. Please don't decide what you should do based on another person, even if it's your best friend, a family member, etc. Only with your doctor's blessing should you consider changing or stopping your vitamin supplementation routine. Regardless of which surgery you have, there is a real possibility you may need to take at least some form of supplements for life. The effects of nutritional deficiencies can be severe, so think of your vitamin supplements as insurance against potentially debilitating or even life threatening problems. Best of luck.

Hey @MrsFitz, I’m a little confused. Sleeve does reduce hunger hormones - where it is produced in the tummy is in the section of the tummy that is removed. Unfortunately, hunger hormones are also produced in the brain which can compensate which is why hunger comes back in varying degrees for both sleeve & bypass.