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Impressive work! You look good Too bad for the complications, hope everything will remain fine for you.

Congratulations for all your hard work and taking care of yourself. Would you mind sharing your complications after your surgery? Are you still experiencing any complucations?

I too have PCOS. I had a hysterectomy at 34 and an ovary removed at 37. I'd been on metformin for years and no amount of metformin, exercise, or dieting improved my A1c or the insulin resistance that comes with PCOS. Blood pressure and cholesterol were through the roof. I also gained so much that I had sleep apnea. The whole thing just stressed me out, and I was scared senseless that I was going to become a full blown diabetic as it is prevalent in my biological family. My husband is a type 1 with an insulin pump, so I see first hand what that's like. I was initally offered bypass after my oopherectomy. At the time, I didn't know about the sleeve, and had other new complications and was a little offended that my doctor offered to remove the other ovary and have someone do the bypass at the same time. I worked at a hospital when they initially started performing the bypass, and the thought just wasn't appealing to me. The presentation of the option was also just poorly communicated. A few years later, I found out about the sleeve through a friend who works for my surgeon and also had the procedure. My doctor was well educated about PCOS and how the sleeve could help. That really sealed the deal. I wish I'd known sooner.

Just wondering... in the day or two before the pain started, did you fly anywhere? Go on a long car trip? Anything unusual? It would be nice to know if this is only a complication from the surgery, or a combination of factors. How long do you stay in the hospital? Sent from my SM-N920R4 using the BariatricPal App

Before my surgery my surgeon has his patients sign a paper with all complications that can happen. He pointed out how there are over 90 things that can happen, but very small chances with them including leaks. I guess for me it just came down to if I wanted to be obese for the rest of my short life or get surgery and have that opportunity to live life longer. You just have to figure out if your fears are greater than reality or if you can get over those fears for a chance at a healthy life. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I have said this before, and it may apply here too. Tell people about your surgery to Inform them, NOT to Affirm you. If and when you are comfortable, you can share with others. I have been amazed at how many people are either thinking about WLS, or know someone who is considering it. I see it as a chance to counter the negative junk out there about WLS failures and complications. If you tell no one, it is your choice and NO ONE should condemn you for your silence. Just be comfortable with who you are and who you will become once the surgery succeeds for you!

I've more or less been comfortable being overweight my whole adult life, around 220 at 5'2". I've been fortunate to "carry well" and not have any other medical complications due to being obese. I went up to 250, then 270 last year. I'll be 40 in a few weeks and I could feel my body just giving up on me. My limbs get numb, I can't sleep, cant breathe, can't bend over, huff & puff going up the stairs of my house. I failed at all my efforts for healthy eating and I exercising. Then one day my darling 5 year old son and I were cuddling. He hugs me, grabs my back fat roll & ask me straight up, "why are you so fat?" And I knew I REALLY had to do something. I cried. Next thing I know a coworker confided in me she went to Mexico for surgery. I had considered gastric bypass about 10 years ago after a childhood friend got it, but it felt too extreme. This seemed doable. I did the research. I got the money, and now I'm headed to Tijuana on 2/17. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Very very low energy post op... think about it, your still have to carry your weight with 400calories. And don't forget the energy you need for the healing process.... Personally I had a bad complication post op and I was off work for 9 weeks. Without the complication, I think 5-6 weeks is reasonable to recover your energy. But it's all worthed Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Yes it's 5 weeks. Dr says there is less complications. I do not have any conditions that would effect the length of the liquid diet. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hi all. I haven't posted since the morning of my surgery. Unfortunately I was one of those where things didn't go oh-so-smoothly for me. This isn't meant to be a discouraging post but my tale and where I am at. I had my sleeve done on the morning of January 25th. Everything up to the point of surgery had gone swimmingly. When I awoke in recovery I was in a tremendous amount of pain and nausea. I do not do well with anesthesia so waking up was doubly difficult. While I do not suffer from sleep apnea my breathing was irregular and if I would start to drift off to sleep I would stop breathing. I ended up being in recovery for probably 6-8 hours. As to the surgery itself my doctor said things went perfect. Liver was tip top and the time of surgery went quickly. When I got to my room the discomfort continued. What complicated things further was that the pain meds seemed to be making me nauseousness all the more. Getting fluids down was really difficult. My stomach must have been seriously swollen because any amount of Fluid seemed to sit at the top of my stomach and gave me terrible heartburn. Thursday continued to be a difficult day. The nausea continued and got so bad to where I wretched a few times although there was nothing to come up. By Thursday night things had started to improve slightly, but on Friday things went downhill yet again. I had fallen asleep in my reclining chair and awoke around noon with terrible pain and cramps in my left side and shoulder. Then suffered another wretching bout on top of it. As time passed the pain increased and moved to the center of my chest. Breathing became difficult and painful. The concern was a leak or internal bleeding so they took me down to do a CT scan. Scan showed that it appeared my spleen had decided to spring a leak. Good news is that it was not a continual bleed but I had blood in my abdomen. By the time I got back to my room the chest pain increased and breathing was rapid and shallow. At this point the pulled me out of my room and sent me down to ICU to try and stabilize me. The next 18 hours were scary and painful. By Saturday I was starting to feel slightly better with a reduction in chest pain and breathing became easier. I got the all clear to go back to my original room, but by that time the floor was full and they had no bed for me. So I was essentially stuck in ICU for almost a day longer than I needed to be. By the time I got into a room on my original floor it was Sunday evening. My luck seemed to be on a crash course as the heating was malfunctioning and all of the rooms were well over 80s degrees. Sleep Sunday night was minimal and miserable. Come Monday morning my doc told me that he wanted me to stay yet another day for observation. At this point I was ready to jump out the 12th floor window of my room as being in the hospital was taking its toll on me. On Tuesday I felt the best I had. Sadly my heartbeat was still elevated and temp was over 100, but my hemoglobin was showing normal again which pointed to the internal bleed being gone. At the last second I thought they were going to change their minds and keep me again but my doc gave me the okay to go home. Total time was 6 nights and 7 days in the hospital. I'm now home and doing better, but far from being out of the woods. My temp continues to bounce around at 100 degrees and heartbeat is about 100-110. I wanted to give myself a solid day of rest at home as the hospital stay was making me a wreck, plus the heat problem made the last 36 hours all the worse. Getting fluids down is now a piece of cake. Still have no appetite at all, and cool drinks are all I want. I've actually gained weight but that's due to being pumped full of so may fluids while at the hospital. At this point in time weight loss is the last thing I'm worried about. Still having some pain but it's bearable, and the meds I'm on aren't causing nausea which is a Godsend. Still pretty scared about the temp/heartbeat and that it could be a sign of infection. The wretching bouts I had left me worried that I had done some damage, but my stomach seems to be happy at the moment. Put a call into my doc this afternoon to update but haven't heard back from them yet so I'll follow up again tomorrow. Hoping another decent night's sleep will help get me over the hump to a full recovery. Could definitely use some well wishes right now. Was feeling horribly discouraged at the hospital but so thankful to be back at home.

Hi everyone, I'm new here. I have a problem and just wanted some advice. I'm five months out from the sleeve. No complications. This past Friday I had problems moving my bowels. I've never had an issue until then. Friday night I took some chewable Fiber pills and went to sleep. Saturday I took more fiber pills and stool softeners. Nothing. Sunday I took fiber pills, stool softeners, and milk of mag. I had a little bit of loose stool. Monday, repeat of Sunday. Today (Tuesday) I've had loose stools a few times.I thought maybe I had a partial bowel obstruction but I do not have any abdominal pain. No nausea or vomiting. I just feel uncomfortably full all of the time. I usually have a bowel movement every 1-2 days. I usually get hungry, eat my small portions and then I'm fine. But I just feel full and a little discomfort in my lower abdominal area. . I've been drinking lots of Water and other liquids. Should I be concerned? Worried?

Notinks, I totally agree on all counts.....thank you. I do believe that the band will have to come out at some point, and I would like to do a revision before I gain ALL of my weight back. Though a bypass is the only revision I would consider, there is something about it that scares me. The sleeve scares me even more and it completely out of the question. I think the idea of changing my plumbing freaks me out a bit and I don't know what to expect. I'm self employed, and if there are any complications, I couldn't put work on hold for anymore than two weeks; I would lose my clients! Although, I work from my home office and could rest when necessary. That in itself is a blessing!

Hi, I would like to know if anyone had the VSG done that have any autoimmune diseases. If so did you have any setbacks, complications or relapses? Thanks? Sent from my SM-T217S using the BariatricPal App

Hi all, It's been almost 8 months since my gastric sleeve surgery. I am sharing this because just like I find inspiration and motivation in people’s stories, I think I could be a source of those too. I had A LOT of trouble after my surgery. I stayed in the hospital for almost a month due some complications and my life was at risk. I questioned myself so many times if going through all this was worth it and today I can totally say YES. Yes, it’s me in both pictures. The first one was taken exactly 10 years ago. That was my ‘heaviest’ year (134.8 kg). No, I wasn’t happy, but I had in my head ‘I was born this way’, ‘that’s my karma, there is nothing I can do about it’. Oh, I was so wrong! I lost some weight on the following years. I reached 116 Kg and I kept it for like 4 years. But my mind remained the same: unhappy, but conformed. It took MANY years – basically, my entire life – to me finally accept and love myself just the way I am. But the funny part is that when it finally happened, I decided I should do something. "Obesity is not a matter of appearance. It is a disease and should be treated like one. I simply refuse to let my body suffer anymore", I told myself. So I took some action. Does every fat person have to follow the same path? NO! That was MY choice. I chose this way because I thought it was better for me, but you go to any direction you want, dude. You OWN YOUR BODY. As cliché as it sounds, it comes from someone who truly knows how is to wear those shoes: They will try to bring you down. Sometimes they will make it. But put your sh*t together and demands the respect you deserve. They cannot reach you once you get to the top. It takes time, and a lot of patience. But I like to believe everybody can get there. Yet, don’t think you will find heaven on this path. It’s more like the highway to hell, but it feels so good to kill some demons. I did my sleeve weighting 126.6 Kg, in June 2016. Today I'm 82 kg. I officially ditched obesity and now I am 'just' overweight. It's pretty much the first time in my life I reach this point. I cannot explain the feeling. Ah, there is another thing I cannot explain: My eyebrows on the fist pic LOL.

Yes first I would like to wish you well on your decision. Like everyone else is telling you, everyone is different. Most all the people in my nutrition class, of course we all had surgery about the same time, but no one other than me had complications. Listen to what I'm saying. Just because my complications does not mean you will do the same. The dr. said what I'm going to tell you is normal but not everyone goes through this. I've always been anemic. (Low blood and iron). My levels were a little low at the time of surgery and I did not know they were already watching for this but I lost 3 units of blood so after my surgery I was really sick and it was hard for me to move without feeling sick at my stomach or dizzy. MyBP was reaching very high too. My levels took a drastic drop, I started throwing up blood then passing massive amounts of blood through my stool as well. Once I received a blood transfusion I was great. Loosing that much blood cut my oxygen supply off is why I was feeling so bad. Only reason I was passing that much blood is because I lost it and it had to go somewhere. It was very scary. It was nothing life threatening by no means. I'm not telling you this to scare you but if by chance it happens to you, don't freak out because it is a normal thing and like they said, this doesn't happen to everyone. I just wanted you to know because I didn't know that it was a possibility if anything like this. I'm sure you will do great. Be sure to follow orders and get your liquids in. Good luck to you. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

HI there, not sure about the support as I am new here myself. Just wanted to say my brother and his daughter both went to Mexico and had the sleeve done with no complications. Both are losing weight and doing well.

Thank you. We all take a chance having wls, that complications might occur. Yes, I am following his diet and exercise plan. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm not sure that anyone is "perfect" and it hasn't been easy, but I'm almost 5 weeks out and 23 lbs down from surgery. I had a 2 week stall in there where I lost nothing. It broke and I'm down!! I get 60ish Gm Protein and 80oz of water/liquid daily. I workout 5-6 days per week for at least an hour. I'm just doing cardio right now, but stepping it up after my 6 wk appointment next week. I am almost down 100 lbs and was very successful with the band, but had a revision due to complications. Don't let imperfection break you and don't compare yourself to anyone. Do exactly what your dr says to do! You will be successful! Banded 2010 weight:327 Sleeved 12/28/16 weight:253 CW: 230 GW: 155 Heather in Texas

I chose to have the sleeve gastrectomy. I didn't want the more complicate surgery of RNY. I didn't want to have to worry about malabsorption, as fatontheinside mentioned, for the rest of my life. Even though RNY patients tend to lose weight more quickly than VSG patients, the long term (3+ years) outcome are similar for both procedures.

I had the bypass and couldn't be happier. My dad had the RNY 8 years ago and he's stayed steady for 8 years now. With the bypass, there can be more complications. Your body is subjected to malabsorption so I need to take vitamins for the rest of my life. I also have to be VERY careful on what I eat because I'm subject to dumping syndrome. However, even with that said, I have adapted, I am happy, healthy, and down to my goal weight. I think that having the RNY was the kick in the butt I needed to stop me from eating like an asshole...I think with the sleeve I may have continued that route because it would have been easy for me to cheat... my friend who was sleeved a week after me can eat an entire back of skittles...I cant eat a single skittle or i'll damn near die from the sugar. idk...it was the perfect choice for me. everyone is different. Good luck!!!

I live in canada where the surgery is free so my surgeon picked what is best suited for me he gave me the sleeve because i am on the bigger side and that its it would be i bit complicated so he said do the sleeve and in if a year we are not were we need to be then it would be safer to do the bypass BigBodyBombFace

@@GinaCampbell I, too, am sorry about your complications. Do you follow Dr. Weiner's plan?

It went great! No complications except for trapped gas for a couple of days. It's been the best decision of my life. I feel like a different person. I love to be on the go. I have less fear about social situations. I'm more daring which I haven't yet decided if that is a pro or con. I walk about 5-7 miles per day, but I am looking to step up the activity in a different direction in a major way. What type of exercise do you prefer?

So I'm doing the 3mo route with behavioural modification plan as opposed to the 6mo physician maintained diet and weight loss option. With the 3mo plan, it's actually 4 months. You have to have 4 nut/dietitian appointments and with in 7 days time you have to have an appointment with say a physical therapist. I'm pretty sure you have to have a psych eval, I do, and I assume it's an insurance requirement and not one from my surgical team. As far as what the behavior modification plan actually is, I think there is a grey area there. I remember either reading on hearing that term used when researching my surgeon. They use that program and I believe it's just everything you're already doing. As I get closer to surgery date I will be having some pre-op classes and I think that's part of it as well. Other things you may need, blood work, upper GI and others depending on your overall health. To your question about the exercise therapist, when I went to my surgeons office, they have a dietitian on site and referred me to a physical therapist who work with obese patients getting ready for surgery. So just ask your doc or your surgeon if they can refer you. But MAKE SURE YOU SEE THE EXERCISE THERAPIST WITHIN 7 DAYS OF NUT/DIETITIAN VISITS. They told me they had a patient schedule on like say 8 or 9 and was denied because of it. And with the 3mo Aetna does not require you to loose a specific amount of weight, you simply can not weight as much as your initial visit. Your surgeon may require some weight loss and it's always good to lose some before the surgery to lower complication chances. Hope this helped. Sent from my Nexus 6 using the BariatricPal App

Thanks for this.. I'm an uninsured 9 weeks post op sleeve patient from Australia and have only had one folllow up appointment since my surgery. And that was with my dietician whom didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know lol. To she handed me a pamphlet and that was really it.I have found a lot of my diet and post op info from Pinterest and different forums like this one. Sometimes instagram and YouTube as well. I think it's because I was a self funded patient that I haven't really been given the time of day after my surgery. Thankfully I haven't had any complications but I have no idea about what supplements to take except Multivitamins.. Annoying really Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App So sorry to hear that! These videos and his book are really informative. Message me if you want a buddy. I am no expert but I got through it and am happy to help even if it is just to listen! God bless, Gina Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Thank u x Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App