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I have not had my surgery yet but its fast approaching, May 3rd. There is only 1 person who knows, my husband. I have older kids and younger kids (2 are still at home). Like others have said in their posts, I do not find it to be anyone's business that I have a sleeve. My kids I have not told because the older ones do not come around enough anyway to visit and Ill probably be on regular food by the time they do lol. My younger 2 children that are still at home (girl 17, boy 11) I have not told because my youngest son would be worried like crazy on surgery day. I do not want to cause any undue stress for him. As for my coworkers, no one knows from there either. I do believe most would be supportive because I had 3 coworkers who had gastric bypass. Two of which is on a fast track of gaining their weight back post surgery 4 yrs. At current I am still working from home and only go to the office 1 week a month. I was just there last week and one coworker said I looked like I have lost weight since she last saw me (Ive lost 17 lbs in the last few months) but I didnt think it was noticeable. Obviously we cannot dodge the looks and questions post surgery because we are losing weight, but at least I dont have to be judged or questioned why I would go down this road ahead of surgery. I kindof view it this way its my health, my decision. Once its done its done. My hubby is from (W Yorkshire) England and he left his family, friends and country because he loves me. He is very supportive of me. He doesnt necessarily agree with the surgical aspect of things but I know he will be there for me and will help me through the mood swings, the pain and he knows if I go down a dark path of thoughts to give me his hand and help me back to where I need to be (I hear some ppl become depressed post op) I have never experienced that but if I do he will be there to help me. He always has been. You will tell ppl in due time as you feel more comfortable (as will I perhaps) and I agree with what blackcatsandbaddecisions said If brought up we dont have to talk about it especially if its from a judgmental person/family member!

I had gastric bypass 3/28/22 and received two heparin injections in the hospital. I was not sent home with any blood thinners tho.

My first post. My mini gastric bypass is scheduled for April 26. I’ve started my liquid diet + 250 cal of veggies per day. I should be doing a better job of counting calories. Feeling nervous 😬

I delayed doing surgery for forever (originally joined this forum back in 2009 and have surgery scheduled in two months). I would say if you are certain what procedure you want done, start your research there. Gastric Sleeve is probably the most common procedure these days; however, some people still elect for gastric bypass or other procedures depending on their own journey. There are plenty of places that do the procedures and there is a high rate of medical tourism where people travel to Mexico to have it done. I'm personally going to Mexico for mine as I was also self pay. My procedure was 7799 as I paid cash and have someone doing the surgery on the same day as me, but financing was 8500 I believe. The surgeon I chose has a ton of videos on his website, YouTube, and Instagram. His name is Dr. Alvarez with Endobariatric. You can certainly look at his website and videos for research regardless of what surgeon you end up selecting. All the best!

I am not sure I have advise. But, I had diarrhea the first week- week and a half too. (I had bypass) After that I became INSANELY constipated. Nothing helped, I went 6 days without using the bathroom! When I did go the first time, it was miserable and took me over an hour. Each time got less painful, and less time in between going. I am 4 weeks post op now, and go about every other day but it still doesn't seem normal or feel normal. I never really feel "done" but it's like my body says, that all were letting go of this time. Hard to explain. I am not uncomfortable anymore and hopefully it keeps getting better. Good luck, I hope you get some relief but not the constipation kind!

I didn’t get one specifically for gastric bypass, but I later had to get one for another condition, so I also added “NO NSAIDS, NO BLIND NG TUBE”. I got a sidekick from roadid.com (same thing is also available on Amazon). It attaches to my watch band, so it’s not a separate bracelet.

I had gastric bypass on March 3 with a hiatal hernia repair. I knew I had heartburn issues for a long time but didn't realize until my pre op testing that it was due to a hiatal hernia. They had called it small but when my surgeon was in there doing my bypass she said it was quite large and took a long time to fix it. My stomach fundus got slightly damaged during the hernia fix so they removed a portion of it which is fine with me...less gherlin producing cells in my body. I have had no issues with GERD since surgery. I am so happy to NOT wake up in the middle of the night with stomach acid in my mouth!!!

Close to you for surgery date! I’m May 24 for bypass. My favorite right now is Muscle Milk zero sugar. It is a whey Protein isolate and from what my nutritionist teaches are better tolerated and the more concentrated form of protein so you get more absorption or something like that lol. I also like Vega greens powder in vanilla but muscle milk is nice because it’s easy to find and pre made in a shake. Unjury is very good and is also a whey protein isolate 

I have bipolar disorder but I don't take any DR/ER meds; I was also told those can be an issue with sleeve or bypass. If your levels are half what they should be, why wouldn't your doc prescribe it twice a day, rather than crushing a DR pill? Is there a standard release pill form of valproic acid? What about lamictal instead? I take lamictal with no issues (so far - I'm 7 months out) but everyone's different. I'm so sorry you're struggling. I hope you find a good solution.

I second @toodlerue...I had bypass on March 3 and remember thinking to myself "thank god I didn't have to travel to get the surgery cuz I would not have been able to do the airport/plane". I also had a hiatal hernia repair which turned out to be quite large and cumbersome to fix. I was in a lot of pain post op for about a week and I have a high tolerance for pain. Everyone is different so unfortunately you won't really know till after the surgery. I assumed I would have minimal pain so I was quite surprised when it turned out differently.

I once heard a story of someone who had an issue because she had some tube put in her stomach and the EMT didn't know she had bypass and it caused serious damage, but apparently the person inserting a tube would have to have seriously messed up for this to have happened, and it might have been an urban legend anyway. My surgery center didn't mention us needing medical ID bracelets (I had sleeve, but the people I was in classes with had bypass), and I can't think of a situation in which I would need one, even if I were unconscious. We weren't given wallet cards either.

Hey stranger ❤️ I bought one when I was first revised to bypass. I didn’t wear it for long because it wasn’t comfortable or stylish enough for me to consider it everyday jewelry. I may reconsider another one in the future.

Anyone wear a medical ID bracelet since gastric bypass? I know my surgeon office gives us a wallet card, but I’m weighing the choice of getting a medical ID Bracelet….. Thoughts?

1) A couple of weeks after surgery the scales began to move. There's a lot of water retention post-surgery, which throws a lot of people off. Best advice is to just ignore the scale while you're still healing from the procedure. The weight is definitely coming off, but there's some adjusting your body needs to do. It's been through a lot! 2) I had no appetite right after surgery and was on liquids, so I really can't recall anything that I honestly loved. I couldn't tolerate sweet things, so any liquid savoury soup (like a simple miso) was appreciated. Unsweetened matcha lattes made on protein fortified soy milk also kept me happy. 3) It took a good month for me to recover (I had a hernia repair with my bypass). Once the pain had finally gone and things settled in, I began to feel better pretty quickly. The first big improvement honestly came from having quit sugar from the pre-op diet onwards. By about week 3, my skin was clear and I really noticed how much better I was feeling. No more headaches. 4)The trick with exercise is to pick something you enjoy. There's no point joining a gym if you don't enjoy gym fitness. The best exercise is the one you'll actually do. I personally love the gym, it's my happy place so I don't need to motivate myself to go because I look forward to it. Find what gives you pleasure. It might be swimming, riding a bike, or just walking (great time to pop on headphones and listen to a podcast or audio book). There's honestly a fitness activity out there for everyone. Set aside the time for yourself and enjoy it.

My gastric bypass is May 23rd! Surgery twins! My pre-op is not until May 11th and I find out about my pre-surgery diet at that appointment. When do you start your pre-op diet?

it's very common with both sleeve and bypass people. It has to do with the high protein diet and some of the supplements (mainly iron and calcium). A lot of us take a capful of Miralax every day to stay on top of it. Others take Colace, magnesium tablets, drink Smoothmove tea, or eat a few prunes. Whatever it takes to keep on top of it..

My gastric bypass is scheduled for May 23rd. I’m over the nervousness and am excited for a new chapter. I’ve read and watched as many YouTube videos as possible. What are everyone’s favorite protein powders/shakes? I’m still looking for mine.

Had my 2 week post-op appointment today and since the liquid diet and revision surgery, I’m down 30 pounds. Honestly, couldn’t believe it! Best part of the appointment was the approval to move on to soft foods though! Haha! Hope everyone is still kicking major butt! Good luck to all the upcoming surgery dates! Can’t wait for you to join us on the “loser’s bench”!

I had a mini bypass 4/14 and accused my surgeon of stabbing me under my left rib several times lol. I've been taking my pain meds consistently!!! My worst area now is above the navel. The hardest part for me has been the mental aspect of not being able to eat. Just going through a lot of emotions and anger about it which is really unfortunate because I have been so ready, excited, prepared for this... but, here I am anyway.

Hey all. I’m 7 days post op from gastric bypass. I don’t know how to change my profile from pre op right now. Things have been going really great actually. I’ve been handling things really well all things considered. Meeting my goals, even lightly walking and exercising every day. My mood was fantastic and I was blessed with very little pain. Before my surgery I went through a lot. I already got postponed several times over the course of 2 years, I started pursuing this in Nov 2019. I finally got scheduled in the middle of March. However I have been dealing with battling legal issues (retaliatory eviction and a civil rights discrimination case), a severely abusive relationship that I ended in the two weeks of my pre op, reporting him to several police agencies for the abuse, and just a LOT of emotional stress. It was hard but I did it and I felt so proud, and until today I felt amazing about it. I felt it was truly a test of sorts because I did not relapse with nicotine once, I didn’t binge eat the entire time. I hadn’t heard a single thing from my attorney about my eviction and I never got a response to my civil rights case in almost two months so I wasn’t expecting to get an email today in which I was severely slandered and read several upsetting abusive lies about me. The email wasn’t so much what bothered me. I had a great morning where I had tons of energy, I sang in the shower and danced around a little bit. Did my make up. It was just a minor set back, until I went to go tell my mother who I am staying with for just a little since I live in a basement level with a huge flight of dangerous stairs in my house. She was really dismissive and she wouldn’t listen to me. The whole situation was triggering me but I did what I was supposed to do, go tell my support. She was really mean to me and it completely set me off. I think I had one of those hormone reactions I was warned about, or perhaps just several weeks without any kind of food, quitting all my vices cold Turkey at the same time, everything just hitting me all at once but I lost it. I sobbed uncontrollably for several hours and I raged. I was so angry. Every time I thought I soothed myself, the crying would start again. I cried so hard I felt like I pulled something and now I’m in a lot of pain. I seriously wept and wailed for so long. I tried to reach out to supports but they were incredibly busy today. I finally decided to just go to sleep so I slept for several hours. I woke up and I feel only a little better, having stopped sobbing. But I feel like I got steam rolled. I do keep having sniffles and little crying fits. I lost all my momentum and motivation I had and I’m sincerely worried I’ll be permanently depressed again, which depresses me even further as I have felt so good the last few weeks. I didn’t relapse with over eating, I didn’t break my diet other than not meeting all my goals but I’m trying to catch up. I’m just so nauseated from crying so hard. Please tell me this will get better. What can I do? I’m still dealing with several toxic situations or the aftermath of them. I’m trying my best but I’m scared right now.

My Gastric Bypass is set for April 27th, is anyone else having surgery the same day? Can we follow each other’s journey please?!

@bypassingMyPhatAss thank you! Do you have a surgery date for your revision?

no date yet. my husband and i are both having bypass, and have requested for the same day or close to it. Our adult twins agreed to help us out for the first week. we have all our clearances finished. Our first appt with the surgeon was in october. We are still doing our monthly nutrition class and weigh-in. we are in fairmont. How is everything going with you?

I'm pretty sure I've seen people on here that have had revision due to GERD and were at or close to a normal BMI and I don't think they were self pay. I hope they see this thread and chime in. Best wishes!

I hope you get good information from the surgeon and begin a pathway to revision and improved health! GERD sucks, I suffered with it for years and I'm awaiting revision from Band to Bypass now. Best wishes!