Search the Community

I stopped cold turkey 3 months before my surgery. I also stopped drinking just before my preop (and I was a cocktail every night/dozens weekends kind of gal). I went to Mexico, so there were no restrictions/testing from my surgeon, but the fear of complications from poor healing was enough for me. I looked at my surgery as a package deal...I had to succeed both mentally and physically to have the best chance at getting through everything as safely as possible. To me the not smoking and not drinking and not cheating on the pre and post op diet were just as important as the surgery itself.

I was out of work for 3 days total. Had surgery on a Friday and returned back to work on Wednesday. Zero complications for me.

I am 9 month post op and had ZERO complications. My recovery was great, I had no pain in the hospital or at home, I was up and walking around and running errands in a matter of days. I haven't even had much hair loss at all.

Actually, it's possible anytime. It gets rarer overtime. But I don't know why folks are told that these complications can't happen anytime. Alternatively it can be that your body is reacting to the new antiacid meds Hope you find your answer and cure

I’m a year and a half out. I never truly felt full until I got to soft/solids. I think I was told about 2 Oz for snacks and max 6 for meals. I measured everything until I developed complications because now I can barely eat liquids or solids so I eat whenever I can.

I'd caution against relying on dumping as a 'pro' for bypass. Not everyone experiences dumping. If risk of failure is your number one concern, I'm not convinced one option is better than the other. Both are tools and require you to stick to the guidelines and put in the work to be successful. I would consider the advantages of bypass over sleeve to be potential to lose more quickly (while total loss is about the same ultimately, the malabsorption cause bypass patients to lose faster, which can be good if you have a very high BMI and high risk of immediate health issues related to your weight), the fact that it seems to immediately cure diabetes in most people, and the lower risk of GERD. The trade off for those advantages is rerouting of your intestines, loss of your pyloric valve, higher risk of late stage complications, and permanent malabsorption.

Thanks for the update. I hate people are more inclined to only post or update the negative stuff especially for us pre-op to hear "normal " less complicate stories is so helpful. Keep us updated on the journey thanks Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I am just under 3-years post-op at about 33 months-ish and I have had no real complications. I have a sleeve that doesn't like fried food, oils, fats, sugar and heavy dairy and periodically it pukes regular things that it normally doesn't complain about. I have a slight stricture so I can't eat too much too quickly or I barf. Both of those things have been good for me because it is a physical control that keeps me in check. I don't have any interest in the vast majority of junk food, because while it took about 18 months of barfing almost everyday, I have now learned that I don't get to eat burgers, ice cream, and cheesedogs if I don't want to be sick and rather than not eating them to avoid being sick, I've been conditioned to just not want them. I wouldn't really call this a complication as much as a blessing, although for a new person reading this I can see that it might contribute to concern. I promise, being thin is worth far more than any burger could ever be.

MIralax is a miracle. I used Colace, one pill, when I was constipated a few weeks ago. I passed out in the middle of the night. Ends up it is a possible complication from using it. Had no idea. The pain and discomfort was so heinous, than that horrible feeling where I actually considered I might be dying and then I woke up on the ground. lol! So I'd just go with one cap-full of Miralax and forgo the insane midnight drama.

I was banded on 9/05 and at first it was kind of unusual, scary and kind of hard. The first 10 days was easy for me to do liquids because I was scared of slipping and erosion and hernia. I was not hungry and it seems like day 11 I am starvinggggggggggggg. Without any restriction I was able to eat and that was what I was doing until my first fill in 11/05. Still I had no restriction but I did get some food stuck so I started really watching what I ate and started weighing my food making sure I did not eat over 8 ounces but I had these snack attacks and I did not lose any weight in November because I snacked every day (chips, candy, cookies, donuts). I truly believe that if you excercise and work with the band you can lose. I am currently on my 3rd fill 2.5cc and I am totally restricted. My first was 1.5cc no restriction, 2nd fill 2.0cc no restriction. I was getting depressed by then. My 3rd fill 12/05 and I am sooooooo restricted. I have lost 36 Pounds since 9/05 and I have went from a size 18 to 16. You have to get used to everything, your mind, body and the band. Cause you really dont know what to expect and what to feel. I think if was not for website I would be half crazy not knowing if what i am going through is normal or if what i am feeling is normal. I have not had any complications or any pb's (vomiting). If you decide to chose the band Good Luck!!

Well, i had been thinking about WLS for a long time. I started looking into different types about 8 mths ago. About 4 mths ago i stumbled onto this website and decided that yes the lapband was for me. I am overseas right now. My journey is a lil more complicated then most. I have tricare overseas, which my reps say is very hard to get approved for WLS. But i still needed to try. On March 28 2008 I went to my PCM to see about getting a referrel to see a WLS surgeon. My PCM was seriously not supportive but even though i was embarassed and nervous, i did not let him intimidate me and by the time the appt. was done he agreed to give me the referrel. I got my blood work done on the 7th of April. Much to my surprise my cholesterol is sky rocket high, along with a bunch of other things. I had a Psych eval done on the 22nd of April and much to my surprise, was deemed sane. I put my packet together and submitted it to tricare. I am 100lbs overweight and have several co-morbs like high cholesterol, chronic knee pain. Well the tricare lady said it could take about a week to see if they would approve me to see the surgeon, amazingly it took 2 hrs. And they said go ahead. Now they have not approved me for surgery. I go see my surgeon (Dr. Weiner) in Frankfurt, Ge on Memorial day. I know strange cause its a holiday but Germans do not celebrate all of the same ones we do, and this works out good because i do not have to take time off work. Frankfurt is about 2-2 1/2 hour drive from where we are stationed. Now i have only told a few people about my decision. My hubby is one, one friend here, and 2 friends back in the states and one family member.. I figure i should try to blog some, since i can openly put down everything here without fear of someone being negative to my choice. I am so glad i found this site. it is the best, the people i have met here are soo freakin inspiriational. So heres hopin i can get banded overseas.:thumbs_up:

yeah, because u need a special liscence to use radiation. im a healthcare worker... i used to work with radiation, that's why i was so curious. i was also wondering what the complications are with finding the port..... are they sometimes too deep? mobile? something else? congrats on the quitting smoking!

It will be so much cheaper to see your surgeon once or twice than to have major complications that could put you into the hospital! I know when your not insured or insurance doesn't cover doctors visits a lot of us tend to stop seeing our doctor. However, I think this could be the difference between being successful with the band or not! I hope all goes well with you and there is an easy solution to your problem! please let us know how it turns out!!

Thank you for the responses. I thought I'd stop in and give you an update. Her doctor did drain the area (he got 9 or tem huge syringes full of yellow fluid out). There was another area that was not liquified, he is planning on trying again next week. She did seem to brighten up after and was moving around a lot better after that. Mom slept in her bed for the first time a few days later, and the pressure of laying on her side made the area start leaking- ALL OVER THE PLACE! It was really disgusting and she, we both, freaked out. We called the doctor and went back in to see him the next day. He's concerned. He said if it doesn't stop leaking and look much better next week, he'll need to remove the port. He'd leave the band and tubing in- remove the port for a few months then reinsert it. The thought of more surgery scares me, but mom says shes in... She's invested this much this far... I like mom's surgeon very much. He's thoughtful and checks in on her often by phone. He's was the only surgeon willing to take on mom. She 60 years old and a revision from the intestinal bypass days of the 70's. We knew she was high risk, and she is having the complications that come along with that. I'm not however impressed with the facility he practices at. She had surgery the day of that awful storm here in St. Louis, the hospital's electricity went out for 10 hours AND the generator failed for about 15 minutes. Rain poured in around the window in her room, we had to move in the dark. It was bedlam, and our nurse did not handle it well. Very stressful. The thought of another stay there is an unpleasant one. I hesitate to name mom's surgeon, mom and I both feel he's very competent. I would hate for anyone to associate her condition with his skills in the OR or otherwise. This forum, I'm sure, is frequented by his patients and colleagues. Thanks again for your replies. Rebekah

HI there, my name is Kari and I am 24 yrs old. I was banded on November 3, 2006 by Dr. Carl Sunby in Madison, WI. I had some complications and was unable to get a fill until this past monday March 11th. The biggest complication was that the larger incision got infected, and I mean infected. My Dr was worried that the band had been exposed to the air because you could see all the way through to my inside (lovely i know) and if that were the case there was a possibility for internal infections and all that. It took almost 3 months of packing wet gauze into the incision and keeping it all clean for it to finally heal. Unfortunately I have a really ugly scar now but I guess it could have been much worse. I have had a really frustrating time because my Dr kept telling me not to do too much exercise especially nothing abdominal and so I haven't really lost much weight since my surgery. But like I said I finally was able to get a fill a couple of days ago, which was also fun because with all the scar tissue he couldn't feel the port so we had to schedule another appointment to try it under the xray machine, so hopefully I am on the right track now. I am happy to be apart of this website and hopefully will be able to meet some new people. Good luck to you all and take care

I think below 1000 calories a day long term is seriously risking your health. That said, I dont think WLS patients can compare to normal people - I know i cant as the charts all say at my height, age, level of activity I shoudl be eating about 2400 a day. I eat about 1500 to maintain my weight. Because at the end of the day, whatever your surgery, you have lost weight by fairly strict calorie reducation and yoiur metabolism IS affected by that, no matter whether you're doing a newfangled low carb diet or the perfect strength trainign routine. Once you have lost a lot of weight by calorie reducation you will never be able to maintain your weight on a "normal" calorie intake. that said, I lost easily on 1500 a day (I do a lot of exercise) and I really think that there's no medal for starving yourself. I can nourish myself adequately on that level if I eat carefully. If you're eating 700 a day then you will need to be obsessed with your nutrition for the rest of your life, there's no room for treats in there, and even so you WILL become deficient in various nutrients, and your metabolism will slow markedly and you will have more trouble than you need to maintaining lean body tissue. It really should not be necesary for most people to eat that little, but I guess its one disadvantage of the sleeve, they have to make your stomach small and restrict your eating a lot because if they allow you more leeway and you peter out 50lb above your healthy weight range, there's nothing more you can do about it. You're stuck with the size stomach you have and would have to diet and use willpower to lose the rest. Its a moot point anyway because you will have your sleeve for life and so eating low calories should be doable for you without undue pain, as long as you're very attentive to nutrition, I'm sure most people would swap that for the pain and undoubtedly more severe medical complications of obesity.

I would think you would NOT want to give up....you made it through the surgery with no complications....and you have a wonderful tool inside of you. You should of been warned from the get go that this is a SLOW process. It is not like RNY where the weight will fall off....although yes for some it seems too. I think it depends on age, amount of weight you are above your ideal and also how much you move your blooming arse.....don't mean to sound harsh but exercising is so vitally important here......You must create new habits and one of them is to become very active. I know my fat but was used to sitting on the couch eating and watching tv during the week after work and on the weekends I would make it to the grocery store and back to my couch.....this was the worst no activity for someone my age. I can't imagine going back to that person.....I love what the band has afforded me, you must work with it. It is not a miricle cure for overeating. Don't give up.....listen to those who have lost here......they know what they preach is true!!

Ok, I'm gonna ask this: Surgery last July 2011, lost 120lbs since 6month supervised until now. I have at least 200 to lose overall at least! My husband also has pretty much the same stats (surgery Aug 2011). We both have a 34bougie. We can eat alot....we can eat a piece of chicken, veggies and part of baked pototoe to give you an idea...of course we are full...but no reprecussions at all...never have thrown up....if feeling full...it is brief...like 10mins....of course we can eat slider stuff....but even when we eat protein first....I am sad to say I'm shocked to see people can only eat 4oz...really???? I can eat a turkey burger on a bun with fries(if i chose to). I was so happy that neither of us suffered any problems, sickness or complications....I won't say it has been easy but not overall a challenge. We are so glad to have done this but I'm still over 300lbs and I'm beginning to wonder if dieting(which I could have done without the surgery) is all my future holds because it looks like we can eat pretty much anything we want. I thought maybe it was the bougie size, we are both tall or did our surgeon leave too much stomach....or are we just doomed to suffering forever with this? Ah well....I've done this since I was 5...it's all I've ever known. Thanks for listening, Tracy

My surgeon told me it was ok to travel after three weeks. You don't want to travel before that in case you have complications from surgery

That, my dear, is a LONG explanation on how it's supposed to help lose weight. First, your doctor must think you're insulin resistant, or he wouldn't want to prescribe it. If you have not been diagnosed as insulin resistant, or prediabetic and he simply wants to have you take it for weight loss, he is an idiot....sorry. If you are insulin resistant, that means your body has high level of insulin all the time and doesn't use insulin like it should. To make a very long complicated story short, if you have high levels of insulin in your system all the time, your body wants to store fat, not lose it. It's much more complicated than that, but that's the Cliff notes on how it works. So, by taking Metformin, your body is better able to use the insulin it produces, thereby theoretically not wanting to store fat all the time. Now this sounds good, but in practice, like I said before, almost no one loses weight by just taking Metformin - if they did, EVERYONE would be on it and it would all over the news as the magic bullet/pill everyone is looking for and none of us would need surgery!! Your sleeve has put your body in a catabolic (losing) state already, which has already forced your body to produce less insulin and use it more wisely - that's why I can't see how on earth at this point, you taking Metformin would produce any sort of weight loss. So, all that being said....you have lost almost 16 pounds since surgery on 8/31. That's 16 pounds in 5 weeks.....sure it's not as much as some lose, but we are all different. I also noticed that you were on the 'smaller side' when you started and in my experience on these boards, those that don't have a large amount to lose, tend to lose slower. You also lost weight prior to your surgery, and that's fantastic, but that also could mean that you wouldn't drop weight so dramatically after your surgery as your body wasn't 'shocked' like those that didn't lose weight beforehand (like those that didn't have to do preop liquid diets, etc - they tend to lose more right after surgery). I honestly think you need to look at your calorie intake and the makeup of foods you are eating (carbs, Protein, fats). If you are not eating ENOUGH calories, that will definitely slow down weight loss, as well as they wrong type of calories. You can certainly try the Metformin, it won't hurt....I just don't want to see you disappointed when you don't lose weight on it. And, any doctor that tells you that your weight loss to date 'sucks' needs a quick swift kick right up the ass, in my opinion. What a horrible, horrible thing to say to your patient! You have lost an average of over 3 pounds per week! Which is amazing compared to all other types of weight loss plans. As long as you are losing, and the slope is downward, keep your chin up, honey. Don't get discourage...you just may be one of the 'slow' losers. But it will come off!!

I had raging GERD pre-surgery, and while the GERD has pretty much gone post-op, I'm so prone to developing ulcers that I'm still on 40mg of Pantoprazole almost two years out. The plan was for me to wean off Pantoprazole, but when I do, I get a fresh ulcer. I have a pooling of bile in the bottom of what's left of my stomach, which I suspect is at least contributing to it (and I still get "gallstone attacks" despite no longer having a gallbladder). Unfortunately, it's not a sure thing that a bypass will cure GERD, which sucks. 100% feel for you. It's just relentless complications. Hope your surgeon has some idea.

So you cheated a little on your post-op diet. When you were supposed to be on liquids, you had a few spoons of mashed potatoes or a swallow of yogurt, both nice and soft. Maybe you ate a few Cheez Doodles, but what’s the big deal? They’re like eating flavored air, aren’t they? And the McNuggets you tried during the puree phase? You chewed them really well, and you could only eat three instead of your pre-op portion of six – isn’t that great? No, it’s not great that you could only eat three McNuggets. And yes,cheating is a big deal, and I’m going to tell you why. You’re not going to get away with this one. Miss Jean has eyes in the back of her head. She sees the cookie crumbs on your face and the neon orange faux cheese film on your guilty fingers. SOME DEFINITIONS OF CHEATING The word “cheat” has two main connotations. One is cheating in the sense of lying and deceiving. It’s intentional dishonesty. You know what you’re doing is wrong, but you do it anyway. The other connotation of “cheat” is unfaithfulness. Unfaithful to a vow or promise you made to another person or to an organization. When someone cheats you, do you just shrug and say, “Oh well, he was having a bad day”? Let’s say you bought a car that you thought was brand new, and later discovered that the dealer had fiddled with the odometer and charged you full sticker price for a car with 1200 miles on it. Would that be okay with you? And what if your spouse, the person you trust with your life, cheated on you by sleeping with your best friend, would you be able to just shrug that off? If your child got a B+ grade by cheating on a test by copying answers from the student at the next desk, would you be proud of him or her? And what if you found out that a coworker betrayed you by using the great idea you confided to him or her and taking credit for it when it worked out splendidly? Would you still be eating lunch with that coworker? Or what if you donated money to a political candidate who you admired, and he or she spent it on a vacation in the Bahamas instead of on re-election expenses. Would that be okay with you? Would you vote for that candidate ever again? I’ll take a guess at your answers to these questions. In none of the situations I’ve described would you be happy or proud. In fact, you’d be disappointed and angry. So just how can you think it’s no big deal to cheat on your post-op diet? EXCUSES, EXCUSES I can hear grumbling in the room. I think I just heard someone saying, “I had to eat that mashed potato. I was so hungry and miserable and cranky from being on liquids for a week, I couldn’t stand it another minute.” I do understand very well how you felt, but in the big picture of world hunger, where babies die because their mothers eat so little that they don’t produce enough milk for nursing, your and my hungry misery is a big So What. And someone else is whispering, “My best friend’s surgeon let her eat mashed potatoes on her third day post-op, so it must be okay for me to do that too, even though my surgeon told me to wait until my 15th day post-op. It’s not my fault that every surgeon has a different post-op eating protocol.” While it’s true that surgeons’ eating instructions vary widely, you signed on with your surgeon, not your best friend’s. Presumably you chose your surgeon because you and/or your insurance company believe that he or she is well-qualified in laparascopic bariatric surgery. During your psych evaluation, you affirmed that you understand what the surgery involves and that you can and will follow instructions. You nodded when the shrink asked if you’re ready to make all the lifestyle changes needed for success. You nodded when the dietitian asked if you understood your pre- and post-op eating instructions. You scribbled your own name on a sheaf of release papers to indicate that you were informed about the risks involved and despite those risks, gave your surgeon permission to perform surgery on you. In addition to all of that, you spent weeks or months jumping through hoops to prove your need for bariatric surgery. Perhaps you suffered through a six-month pre-op diet. You had lots of medical tests and evaluations, most of them not much fun, because you were so eager to get your weight loss show on the road. You had surgery, suffered some degree of discomfort from your incisions and gas, and finally heaved a sigh of relief because all the struggles are over now. But then you discovered that there are still more struggles to survive because of that stupid post-op liquid diet. Yet despite jumping through all those hoops, in less than 60 seconds you blow it by popping a Cheez Doodle in your mouth, and justify that with the aforementioned misery excuse. And man oh man, that must have been some really serious misery, because evidently it drove out of your mind all the very good reasons for faithfully following that post-op diet progression. You forgot that one of the most common causes of band slips is the patient’s failure to follow the post-op diet. You forgot that food can get stuck in the stoma or esophagus and cause an obstruction or vomiting. You forgot that vomiting can disturb the position of the band, especially when you’re a new post-op and your stomach is still healing from surgery. You forgot that in order to move mashed potatoes or Cheez Doodles through your digestive system, your esophagus and stomach must expand and contract, which can disturb the position of your band and cause it to slip. You forgot all the promises you made to your bariatric team and to yourself about healthy eating and weight loss success, because you were so miserable and just a few little cheat bites are no big deal. I’ll try to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you thought that being able to eat the Cheez Doodles without having any uncomfortable side effects or complications like a stuck episode, a PB, sliming, chest pain, esophageal dilation or spasms means that it’s okay to eat the Cheez Doodles. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s a wrong assumption. Cheating eating can cause problems without you ever knowing it until it’s too late. Cheating eating is just plain foolish. YOU’RE NOT ALONE Now here’s the good news. You’re not alone. Nobody enjoys the post-op diet progression. If any of us were good at following diets, we might not need bariatric surgery in the first place. And only infants enjoy a liquid diet. But in a sense, as a new post-op you’re a bariatric infant who must consume liquids because your body isn’t ready yet to handle anything else. Cheating on your post-op diet is cheating your health in a major way. If you already cheated once or twice or ten times, that’s not a good reason for continuing to cheat, so don’t do it again! I believe we should begin any project as we mean to go on. If you can’t follow your post-op diet, exactly when are you going to begin your healthy post-op lifestyle? Are you going to wait until after your first fill, or your second fill, or at some hazy time in the future? If so, don’t come running to me when your scale stays stuck on a number you hate. NOW is the time to begin your healthy lifestyle. NOW is the time to practice good band eating skills and making good food choices and controlling portion sizes. Doing that may not be easy, but it’s not impossible either. Losing a massive amount of weight is a big, tough project, but if you respect your band, it's going to be easier than any of your past weight loss attempts. Let me clarify that: it's going to be easier if you follow instructions. In addition to that healthy lifestyle, there’s another very good reason to stick to your diet. At some point you’re going to have to face up to your past and acknowledge that food and eating have been a major problem for you. The fact that you’re struggling with your post-op diet is a symptom of that. There’s no shame attached to that struggle. As mentioned above, if we didn’t struggle with eating, we wouldn’t need bariatric surgery at all. So I suggest that you look at the post-op diet (and your pre-op diet too, for that matter) as a rite of passage. During this rite, you’ll be painfully aware of just how many food devils you possess, because without food to shut them up, they’re going to be jumping up and down and screaming for your attention. But their wish is no longer your command. You’re going to send them a clear signal: that you’re not going to submit to their demands any more. From now on, you’re going to follow your surgeon’s and dietitian’s eating instructions no matter how much commotion those devils make. You’re in charge now. As the saying goes, today is the first day of the rest of your life. Do yourself a favor, and make it a day without Cheez Doodles!

Hello and welcome! When I deal with people speaking ignorance, I try to enlighten them with facts. For instance, only 5% of Lap Band complications resulting in removal are by no fault of the patient. The rest are the patient failure, not the band failure, because the patient wasn't doing what they were supposed to do. Unfortunately, the fact those that are howling loudest and most often are the ones that are having problems (usually self induced ones). What you don't see is all the happy, healthy people who've been successful with their band because they're too busy enjoying their lives to be bothered posting all over the internet. Hang in there and don't let the poorly informed naysayers get you down

Glad you found the answer. You are one of those for whom it is necessary for the short term because of that hiatal hernia. I was one of the lucky ones.I had no pain and no complications. I only had some discomfort from the gas which I walked off like one possessed. I do attribute some of it to the fact that I treated this surgery as something akin to a vacation and a new lease on life.

Please don't let fear of the unknown keep you from using the awesome tool that is VSG surgery. I too was consumed by the same fears as you are, all the way up to the morning of my surgery last week on December 14th. Even while I was being prepped for surgery by the OR nurses, I was calling my family and friends discussing the idea of backing out of the surgery at the very last minute. I now thank God that I went through with the procedure because it has been life changing. I had virtually no pain, merely a little soreness and no complications. As of this morning I've now lost 20 lbs, in a mere 10 days since surgery. I feel a lot better, I'm more active, and unlike the past 30 years, when I was always yoyo dieting, I now know I will definitely reach my goal weight and maintain it. Only you can decide what's best for you, but I sure wish I hadn't wasted so many years of my life being fearful of the surgery that I now feel blessed to have had. Good luck! Don't look back, turn the page, and let your next chapter begin!