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We have surgery on the same day :thumbup: the whole cravings thing really depends on you, gastric bypass is different than the band. be nice to keep in touch with someone going through the same thing at the same time:biggrin:

I just met with my surgeon and she basically gave me the option of Bypass or Sleeve. She said she would recommend me for either surgery, but she would lean more towards sleeve because I am young and hopefully have a good 60 years ahead of me and that's a long time to be maintaining a pouch...like there are more risks and a long time of taking crazy amounts of vitamins, etc. I was initially leaning more towards bypass because I am not doing WLS as a method to lose weight, I am doing it as a tool to keep the weight off. And I wanted dumping syndrome to keep me in line because high fat sugary foods are my slippery slope. I do have faith in myself and I am confident that I can do this if I really set my mind to it, with or without dumping syndrome, but I wanted that extra assurance. But I do agree with her, the sleeve is less risky and invasive and that's comforting. What made your decision?

I would go with your doctor's recommendation. My doc did both the Sleeve and Gastric Bypass, but stopped doing the GB because he was having such good results with the Sleeve. He was originally doing the Sleeve as stage 1 of a 2 stage surgery for the super obese - to get them down to a weight where it was safe to complete the Gastric Bypass. They were losing so much weight with the Sleeve, most of his patients never needed the GB.

My surgery has been a personal journey. No family, friends, work are aware. Only my husband outside of medical staff. Therefore, I cannot share pics but wish I could. I started out in a size 16, BMI 35. Now I am able to get into some 10s, 12 very comfortably. As you must be aware, this choice is not exactly main stream accepted...yet! It comes with criticism about being lazy and just not trying hard enough, or taking the easy way out. This far from the easy way out. In one of the pre surgical meetings another patient said I didn't need the surgery. Granted her bmi was much greater than mine. An attitude I dealt with from many others during the pre surgical process. According to every weight chart I did qualify and I was the one willing to take the necessary steps to admit, and correct the fact that I was unable to lose and maintain weight loss on my own. Humbling. Having had enough, I looked her in the eye and told her it really wasn't a very fair judgement since I did not judge why it took her so long to make the decision for surgery. Borderline BMI or under 40 BMI patients face criticism from society and are not as supported for their decision both socially and by some medical staff. We tend to have to keep our choice for surgery hidden. Not fair, but true until care givers become more supportive and less judgmental. This surgery is becoming a very healthy cash cow so I anticipate a major attitude change in the next 5 years or so. Hopfully you are getting all the support you need and the criticism is minimal and easily ignored. Some criticize because they do not have the courage or the ambition it takes to do this. If you face any of those people, consider them jealous and stay on track. We have to stay diligent for the rest of our lives for lifelong success. I did this for a better health. If it is a choice for me between improving my health or someone else's opinion...they lose!! My almost 30 lb loss includes the lbs lost pre surgery. Post surgery it has been 20 & climbing. Stay off the scale daily. I was just stressing myself out. Once a week now. I have stalled in the past week but I know plateaues are to be expected. Eating all foods now. You will find what works best for You. Immediately following surgery egg drop Soup worked best. Goes down easy & high in Protein. I had trouble this week with chicken and pork tenderloin. Both came back up. Cooked the pork in the crock, shredded and chewed a lot but just too dense. Chicken was dry and just got stuck. I accept responsibility that I have to eat much more slowly. Lesson learned. Don't be scared to try things when it is time. Everyone is different. Even if it comes back up I is not like when your are illness sick. It comes back up, you feel better, done. Those 2 times are the only 2 times. Are you thirsty? I am and so was every other VSG patient in our post op group meeting. I believe this is different than the other bypass surgeries. Keep up the good work! I am thrilled I had it done. Hope your results are similar.

OH crap! I am going to have to revise my opinion. I am not in love with the reputation of 1-800-get-thin. They have issues.

Hi, From my understanding the sleeve was first put into play as a safer way to do WLS on those who have super high BMIs. Depending on your results the bypass may or may not be needed. It sounds like your surgeon is trying to do this as safely as possible.

Reasons I chose Sleeve over bypass: Less risks and complications Able to take Nsaids Loss of hunger ( I now have control over what goes in my mouth) No Vitamin deficiencies No DUMPING syndrome Less chance of regain. (some 50 percent of bypass regain all of their weight and then some) Sleeve is effective for the rest of my life, Rny only for 2 years Sure I could eat the wrong things with the sleeve, I choose not to, but even if I ate the wrong thing, let me tell ya there is just no room for much food at all and believe it or not even after only about 3 or 4 bites of a meal I am TOTALLY satisfied as if I just had a huge meal. I really don't know how anyone could eat too much with the sleeve as that one bite too much causes instant discomfort and then the food has to go!

I have been reading other people's blogs and am happy for every single one of you who have posted pictures of you rafting, hiking or cycling yourselves to a new you. I'm also incredibly jealous because that will never be me. The spirit is more than willing, but the body just isn't able. For sure I'm going to be able to do more things than I have been able in years but my success will be more moderate: I will be able to walk to the store two days in a row. I will be able to walk two days in a row. :biggrin: What I find frustrating is the people at the clinic don't seem to get it. I appear to be a misfit among the misfits of society. I keep being assured that my life will change so much, which I don't doubt, but I wonder if they have any clue of what my life is like? Will the band magically let me hold a pencil long enough to write a letter? Will I be able to play my violin or harp again? The psych lady I met yesterday was all impressed how I seemed to know my body much better than the average person and that learning the rules of the band would be a breeze for me. The truth is that for years, one small lapse in thought and I've popped something in my mouth that will lead to hours of gut wrenching pain or my eyes swelling shut. Push myself too hard and I'm bedridden for days. She seemed really nice and wanting to help while we chatted for our 35 minute hour, but she specialises in anorexia, bulemia and overeating... I wonder if she knows much about people who've grown old before their time. Then again, it was the first session... I'm hoping that a few more sessions will get us all on the same page. I'm really looking forward to working with the chiropractor they have on staff. Ontario's major failing in health care is that if it can't find something specifically wrong, it won't fix it or expend the energy to see what can be done for you. When one of the foremost rhumatologists in Toronto tells you "wow, your life must suck, but there's nothing I can do about it" you tend to lose heart. I've not been able to afford private physiotherapy, massage therapy or the chiropractic care I probably could use, so I've gone without. I didn't want to risk getting addicted to a therapy I couldn't do long term. How dumb is that? So apparently for the next year or so I'm being offered unlimited access to this guy. After me, they may want to revise that policy. Usually I'm not so much of a whiner... I promise I'll be more upbeat next time. In the meantime, keep posting the canoeing pictures. Even though I can't do it myself, that doesn't mean I don't like seeing others have fun.:sad:

I had RNY. I was in the hospital one night. I had no nausea, and I took no pain meds once leaving the hospital. I went back to work four days later. I'm 92 pounds lighter. I don't dump (though I kind of wish I did). I look and feel great. However, I also have no problems getting my Vitamins in, and I was otherwise very healthy so the extra time in surgery wasn't a big risk. I believe that the decision between sleeve and bypass is very personal, and shouldn't be made emotionally but rather based on your health, current weight, circumstances, and doctor's recommendations. Sent from my SM-G925V using the BariatricPal App

I didn't have bypass (I was sleeved), but I try to have at least one piece of fresh fruit a day. Embrace the Stall! http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/351046-Embrace-the-Stall

I am supposed to be getting the sleeve and my understanding is that you can have dumping syndrome with both the bypass and the sleeve.

Does anyone know any surgeons in Temecula/murrieta area or even in riverside that they would recommend? I'm looking into a arm lift revision due to my scars being very noticeable and thick. Thank u

I'm just curious about the major differences in the levels of post op pain people post about on here. Some people seem to be in excruciating pain that require high powered narcotics and they aren't able to get up and around for weeks. I (fortunately) had no pain, just low level soreness. I didn't take any pain meds (besides 2 days of a sublingual NSAID) and I was driving and shopping and taking care of myself, dogs, cats and horses immediately. Even went back to work as a vet tech after 7 days. And then there is everyone in between. Is there that big of a difference between surgical technique and periop drugs, or is everyone's pain perception just that different? For you health care professionals, do you see this much variation in pain levels for other "standard" surgical procedures like hysterectomies, cholecystectomy, cardiac bypass, hip replacement, appendectomies, etc.

I hear you Jasmine. I went nuts after my band was removed. It's amazing how quickly the weight comes back. Now I'm miserable and feel the way I did pre-band which is why I don't want to have to wait another six months. The company I work for is in the process of being bought out so there is a very real possibility that I may not be covered in six months. I have started the six month diet (earlier this month) but that puts me into June at the earliest to have my surgery. By then it will have been fifteen months that I will have been without some sort of Bariatric assistance. It just doesn't make sense why the insurance companies would make us do this after already having a band. Why are you revising to the sleeve?

I also had gastric bypass surgery on March 6th. The pain will go away, its just gas. Move around.

i feel the same as lipsticklady. i had 3 friends who had bypass... a 50 something year old friend, a 29 year old friend with 4 kids and an old boyfriend who is in his late 40s (like me). they all have had excellence results and are very glad they had the surgery. so i asked myself... what risk was i willing to take? after working with my doc for 3 years, all i managed to do was gain 15 pounds and my blood pressure was dangerously high. my father died young from a heart attack (he was fat with high blood pressure). 3 years ago my 48 year old cousin dropped dead in front of me from a heart attack. i needed to do something. when i read about the vsg, i knew it was the choice for me. (2 of my friends have issues with anemia). bottom line, what did i have to look forward to with being fat and sick? was it a bigger or smaller risk than this surgery? i would not discuss this with family members or friends. i would talk with your doctor about it. my doctors were both very supportive and my surgeon was very upfront about possible complications, side effects and how my life would need to change after surgery. i felt fairly well prepared.

It's a common thread I see running around this forum.. people asking why they didn't do this years ago. I'm even young and I'm finding myself asking the same thing. Though I'm only 25.. I wish I would have done it at 18 or 20.. admittedly, maybe I wasn't ready then.. maybe I still needed time.. especially because part of my story is finding out at 24 that I had bipolar II without the usual "standard" symptoms of women docs normally see in their 20's so I was very hard to diagnose and went through a period of about three years where I alienated everyone but my very closest friends because I was so hard to be around -- with a low of winding up needing to be admitted to a psych ward to get it all figured out. I definitely learned who my friends were (and who, surprisingly, weren't...) I am also social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and depression.. so I spent the last year and a half in counseling trying to get my mental self to match the well-put together self I present to the world thanks to years of being on stage growing up. I learned to show myself as put together - graduating magna cum laude and being responsible even if I was falling apart inside. So I needed to deal with all of that first before I felt ready to confront my weight. But finally I was ready. It started about 1 year ago. I had been feeling bad about my weight for a while. I was overweight during my childhood. My grandmothers both grew up during the Great Depression.. so for them.. giving me food was the same as giving me love.. especially high calorie foods. For them eating wasn't about hunger.. it was about enjoyment and thankfulness to have food to eat. (One was thin, one was overweight). But from them I learned to love all the wrong types of food and to love them in gigantic portions.. My stomach was already way stretched by the time I was 7 or 8. I remember weighing 85 pounds in 2nd grade because we did a math thing where we all weighed in front of the class. There was only one student, a boy, who weighed more.. during school I dealt with a lot, I mean a LOT of bullying because I was mature and just different - I'd rather read a book or write a story than go out for recess and I was reading Romeo and Juliet while they were reading Junie B Jones (For the Record I like her too even though she's a huge spoiled brat). Basically I had a generation gap with my peers since my parents were born in the late forties and early fifties and their parents were much younger.. so I was already -extremely- bullied. I didn't make my first non-internet friends until college.. and those were some of the people I found out weren't true blue friends when I went through my emotional break down a couple of years ago... So yeah.. and it didn't help that I was overweight.. that was just something else to give them to make fun of me about. As it turned out.. even though I wasn't doing even as good as I am now in therapy one year ago.. I was doing better than I had been in years and that gave me time and energy to turn my thoughts to the weight I'd been unhappy to be carrying around for years. Before college it bothered me.. but I didn't think about it a lot.. it was in early college when I hit 200 and started having trouble finding clothes that would fit me in your typical stores both like Macy's but also stores that people my age like - Aeropostale, Am. Eagle etc.. that I started to have a personal crisis about my weight and be super unhappy with it. Shopping became my least favorite thing because it was an exercise in taking whatever would fit rather than whatever I liked. And by a year ago I had started to notice I couldn't do or keep up with the same types of activities most people my age do. I love showing my dog Riff in conformation and was learning that I couldn't keep up with her jogging on our down and back (jogging beside the dog so the judge can see his or her movement properly) and that getting on my knees to present her not only hurt but was nearly impossible. I started to be even more unhappy because I couldn't do the hobbies I loved that people my age are doing. And in the meantime for the past 5-10 years I'd been trying every diet known to man.. I didn't feel like any of them were sustainable for a life time because I was unhappy with them. And rather than yo-yoing I just didn't lose. Didn't matter how well I stuck to a diet, I'd find myself losing maybe 5 pounds in 7 or 8 months of hard work.. and finally I gave up.. I was near the point of accepting I was just going to be overweight forever and that was how it was going to be. I knew my issues - I don't eat for emotional reasons, I don't eat when I'm not hungry.. but my stomach was super stretched from years of eating too much and I like big portions and the wrong kinds of things. I could go and polish off a huge plate of food enough for three meals and feel "Just about right" and I didn't have the self control to starve while I waited on my stomach to shrink naturally.. I just couldn't do it. I had heard things about gastric bypass that made me say no way never.. things like "You'll never be able to have any sugar again." or "You'll never be able to have fried foods again." While I'm happy to make lifestyle changes, things like "Never again" aren't something I'm capable of. So I ruled out surgery for a long while. Finally, a year ago I looked into it again and read about gastric sleeve for the first time.. and it was a fit.. not as serious as gastric bypass.. less prone to things like dumping syndrome.. and all about moderation rather than "never agains" more healthy choices.. less bad ones.. but I didn't have to promise I was never eating Pasta or never having a fried chicken leg again - which was something I knew I couldn't agree to. There was less risk of serious complications and it was a plan I thought I could actually live with and be happy and it went right to the root of my issue - shrink my stomach so I can get used to a normal portion size again without having to starve. Something I haven't had since I was 6-7 years old. Within two days of researching I was ready to commit. But of course getting my medicaid to pay for the surgery wasn't as easy as deciding I wanted it - even though I looked over the qualifications and knew I met them - I still had a lot of hoops to jump through. In October I started my 6 month phys supervised diet which only convinced my doctor and I that I needed the surgery even more. I ate 1500 calories a day and walked my dog most days for 30+ minutes (which was a significant step down from what I had been eating and step up from my sedentary lifestyle) and lost only 11 pounds in all that time. And part of it came back! Getting cleared psychologically was a battle too. They wanted a psychiatrist who didn't know me to evaluate me even though my own had already sent a letter of approval.. and the psychiatrist who I did see didn't really want to clear someone who was bipolar.. it was a battle, but finally I got cleared. That by itself took over two months and delayed my surgery which should have been in March 2016. I also had to have blood work, a number of physician check ups by my program's docs and so on. But finally all the hard work paid off.. on the first submission to insurance, I was approved within a week! How excited was I! And my surgery was set for May 31st 2016. However, the roller coaster wasn't over.. I had little contact with my bariatric program from the get go... they share a department, nurses, etc with general surgery.. so calling to talk to someone there is always a nightmare.. it's a 30 minute wait to get a human on the phone, calling to talk to a nurse means a 5 hour or more wait for a call back.. and it also means a very unpersonalized approach.. they're so busy and have so many people through their program that they want everyone to be a cookie cutter mold and don't want to offer people any individualized advice because "others in the program might want the same advice." Well number one - others in the program shouldn't know what -I- discuss with my doctors so how could they want it and number two healthcare isn't supposed to be about squeezing people into a mold and making the exact same treatment work for everyone... so I began to be unhappy with my program from early on.. especially when their psychiatrist and my psychiatrist got into a fight over the phone about whether I was going to get cleared. Their psychiatrist had met me only once and knew nothing about my case history while my own psychiatrist has been working with me for about a year and half.. who do you think was more qualified to say if I was stable or not? But aparently their program couldn't understand that.. However.. I was stuck.. Medicaid wanted me in state and this program was the closest to me and already an hour and a half away.. the only other options were double or triple that commute time (Chicago). So I just kinda had to stick with it.. I've gone on to be further disappointed by them at numerous occasions - namely when my surgeon said that Water aerobics is a joke of an exercise program and only for people who can't do anything else and that I couldn't hit my weight loss goal of 130 pounds doing water exercise of any kind (there's a thread floating around about that). Clearly he's never taken a hard core water exercise class or he would know that is so not true. I took my first one Friday and I was sweating in the water! Finally I did get to have my surgery though! Before surgery I had an 800 calorie diet for two weeks focusing on Protein and lean meats and veggies and reasonable on carbs. It wasn't too hard of a diet to follow beyond getting hungry because my stomach was huge. Surgery day came but I was excited rather than nervous. especially because all of us May 31st sleevers from the forum (there was about 10 of us) made a facebook group so we could keep in touch and that really helps to have other people who are exactly where I'm at in the recovery stage. I didn't have much trouble recovering from surgery. I never had any gas pain and even though I was in pain in general the first three days they gave me lots of morphine and kept me very comfortable. While my program as a whole is somewhat disappointing - I do have to say that the nurses who took care of me in the hospital couldn't have been better. They helped me walk. They helped me get up to go to the bathroom and helped me adjust positions in bed since I needed help doing all that for the first 2-3 days. I brought my laptop to the hospital with me and spent time here on the forums and doing other stuff I like -- even played some Sims. My recovery was uncomplicated and three days later I was able to go home. My internal swelling went down fast and by a week out I was so sick of liquids that I couldn't help but try a little puree and it worked just fine to help supplement and keep me from going nuts. One thing that's been very helpful to me is Fairlife Milk. it's heightened protein milk with 13 grams of protein for a cup. I drink it straight and also add it to my Soups. It helps a lot in getting in my 64 oz of liquid and my 60 grams of protein. I've been using an app called Plant Nanny which lets you grow plants based on how much Fluid you consume then you can plant them in your garden and harvest their seeds to get more diverse plants.. it makes drinking at least slightly more fun. I also wear a fitbit flex and it's synced with My Fitness Pal. I log my calories on MFP and my exercise syncs there from my fitbit automatically and tells me if I've earned extra calories from exercise (though I rarely use those). I was never given a calorie goal to shoot for but I set a goal of 800 for myself based on the pre-opp diet and what I can eat and get in 60 grams of protein without feeling too stuffed/ too deprived. I'm on my own for a lot of it because I've only met with the NUT once for 30 minutes pre-opp about 2 months and I won't see her again until in July so... I just read and do the best I can. So yeah I'm 3 full weeks out from surgery on Tuesday and also down 20 pounds since May 18th (the start of my pre-opp liver diet). I faced the three week stall at about week 2 instead of three and I was down to a new low for the first time in a week today so I'm hoping that it's broken and I'll have a bit of smooth sailing for a while from here. So.. that's my story so far. I don't know if people post in these to update but.. every once in a while I'll post back and let you guys know how I'm doing.

It could be that easy. My process was 4mths from initial consult. I went to an informational seminar the end of April. Had my initial consult in May, surgery in September. Of course there was the various testing and I had monthly meetings with my surgical team, but it was fairly simple. Not all insurances require medically supervise diets. In the end the process for most of us is a combination of program requirements and insurance requirements. However if you know for sure you want the sleeve, I would specifically ask if insurance covers vertical gastrectomy. Some insurance cover bypass and lapband but not sleeve and I would hate to go through all that pre-op testing only to be told that at the end my option are those 2 only when my heart was set on the sleeve.

Well had part of my revision done, Dr Alvarez couldn't do sleeve because my band had so much damage and a lot of scar tissue, now I can't wait for 4 months to go by to get sleeve done. Was disappointed to not get sleeve at same time but least I'm alive and well. 4 month wait will not kill me. Sent from my VS990 using the BariatricPal App

I haven't had my bypass yet, I'm concerned because I have 4 kids ages 15 13 11 and 8. They are great but are in tons of sports aka driving all over! I also have my own day care business. I have 4 young children 2and a half and younger. I have an assistant, but how long should I hire help? I also have a great husband who is really good with our children and the house.

I had my lap band in august, I've lost 70 lbs, I hate excersising and I got a personal trainer, to meet with me for 30 mins twice a week, you need to turn fat into muscle, and the more you excersise, the better you feel. From a woman who hates exercising. I chose the band because I never wanted to have sugery again, and there are a lots of risks with bypass, and something could throw you back on the opperating table again! This is serious stuff, and recovering from the band is easier than the bypass, even though recovery still is hard. Get your sugeon to deal with your insurance, I know that my hospital did - good luck Caroline

Hello all - new poster. 11 days post op for my gastric sleeve, spent the first seven days post op on liquids only and have been on a pre-select soft food diet for the past 5 days (oh what fun). Coming up with more and more odd combinations of refried bean, greek yogurt, egg white, sugar free pudding, and cottage cheese. Sad what passes for an "omelet" at the moment. Something odd I noted almost immediately upon arriving home was my sense of smell, particularly with regard to how foods smell, seem particularly altered. Have a household that has always enjoyed cooking and have done so several times for my lady as a thank you for how well she has been nursing me and the aroma of the foods is just nowhere near as full as pre op. Is this common? At least one other full bypass patient at my 1 week check in mentioned a similar change. Is it permanent or something that changes over time? Thanks all - and best of luck to all those on or getting ready for the same journey.

This is a rant and a rave. Firstly I would like to say that I have always found the people here to be in the most part helpful and supportive. The same cannot be said for all other sites. Some of the sanctimonious BS from some peeps is unreal. Example Wow reading this thread is depressing. So many people saying never to drink alcohol again. Absolutes ( never )are very hard to accept. I got my band 9 years ago and was never told I had to give up alcohol. I enjoy a glass or 2 of wine a couple of times a week. Maybe I'm lucky I didn't become an alcoholic! Now looking at revising to RNY so I understand that I am going to have to give that up, at least for the foreseeable future but I would hate to think that I could NEVER have a glass of wine again. alcohol is pure sugar. The body uses that pure sugar to function instead of burning your stored fat for energy. Maybe ifvyou had not used alcohol you would be at goal weight and not looking for a revision. You are a perfect example of the truth of what those who are saying about alcohol use are saying. Alcoholics and drug abusers in recovery use the never absolute every day. They have to, no other choice. Not using absolutes, like never is often just an excuse.

I was banded in 2008. Never felt full. Never reached a sweet spot. Random foods would get stuck. Sometimes the same food I'd eaten earlier without a problem. I never told anyone about my band either...and I'm glad because you can't tell I had WLS. I'm grateful that I never had a slip or erosion. However, the little weight I lost has all returned. Throwing up every day since 2008 got old...excusing yourself from the dinner table, etc. Even at 260 lbs people are thinking I have an eating disorder since I leave the table so often. 12/2012, I had all of the fluid removed from my band. I was hopeful for a revision, but the main goal was to get this band removed!! I am fortunate and have been approved for a revision on 4/25. I don't want to fail again. I'm going to give it all I got and not look back. I've decided to put the lap band behind me. I don't want to compare recovery, eating, digestion....anything. As of 4/25 (for me) the band never existed. I MUST do this. This band has been worse emotionally than any bad relationship I've encountered. Best to you all. I haven't even been revised yet and I know that it is a better decision.