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I spent more time filling out a bubble answer questionnaire than actually speaking with the Psychiatrist. She was friendly, asked about my background- including history with weight, failed weight loss attempts, did I understand the surgery and complications and did I have support at home. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920AZ using the BariatricPal App

How was it? Mines is scheduled on Monday and I have to go under anesthesia Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Sorry, I just saw this so I'm sure you've already had it done. But in case others wonder as well... It was so simple. I remember going into the room, answering some questions, and then waking up in recovery. I don't remember falling asleep or anything. And I was only in recovery for a few minutes. Maybe 15. My biggest concern when I have surgeries is being put under anesthesia as well. But one of my friends has been a nurse for almost 20 years, and she said the only complications she has ever seen or personally heard of is nausea. This helped ease my concerns a lot! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Keep in mind that the majority of people who have WLS do well and have no complications. I can only tell my story. Not to scare people but to encourage them to be realistic about what might happen post op. I can't comment on the NHS treatment that you might receive. Hopefully it will be better than mine and my friends'. Just be vigilant, don't rush through the process. Don't just assume that you will just be normal after six weeks, plan ahead for any unexpected down time. Even if things don't go to plan, after six months, things will at least be a new normal. If this is what you really want, then just prepare mentally and emotionally. There was so much information that I didn't know despite researching for years. Best of luck to you, keep in touch. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

When I had my GI test the morning after surgery they could see the liquid that I drank go into my stomach but it took a very long time to exit. Essentially it was too tight for liquid to pass and I had two options. One, have a second surgery or two, wait for the swelling to go down which should fix the complication. I am about three weeks out and still have a very hard time swallowing and getting liquid down. I did have a scope procedure last week where they opened everything up some so I'm just patiently waiting for it to get easier .

I am concerned that you are eating solid food (lean meat) when you are four days out. You should still be on Clear Liquids this week. Then, thick liquids beginning on day 7. Then, soft/pureed foods, beginning week 3. Eating solid foods too early can cause a leak & other complications. The mental hunger is normal & will eventually fade, especially once you get to the solid food stage & certain foods you used to love either taste different now or make you sick.

I didn't need any help. Unless you have severe complications, which in thus case, you would still be in the hospital, I don't see the reason, why would you need help. It's a good motivation and reason also, as moving and walking around after the surgery, is necessary.

I live alone and didn't need any help after surgery. I had friends on standby in case I had a complication. Overall, my recovery was pretty easy. Went off pain meds after day 2, no gas pain, walked, slep, and focused on getting water in.

It is possible that your sleeve is too tight because that's what happened to me. I had the GI test the morning after surgery and immediately the doctor said it was tight. The liquid went in and we all watched as it never came out. Eventually the liquid did come out but it took an abnormal amount of time. I had a scope procedure done so that they could open up everything but that was two weeks after surgery. I can relate to the restriction but I can tell you that if your sleeve has a small complication like mine, it will pass. As the swelling goes down it will naturally get better. Hang in there and hopefully it passes soon for you!

My stats are not that far off except I am a bit taller. I am having the sleeve on Dec 30th. I have had many friends my size have major complications with the full bypass and I know for me that is not an option I was open to. I have read other stories from very large people and they have been successful with the sleeve, I really think you have to do the research and decide what surgery is right for you. My doctors never pushed one over the other but I was also pretty upfront that I was not comfortable with the bypass. Good luck Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hi, I am a 31 year old male, and I have been morbidly obese since I was a kid. Even though I was severely obese I was relatively active until I was around 26. Now I weigh 210 KG and at a height of 5 foot 8 I have a BMI of 70 ! I know it sounds shocking, I am very unfit, and after about 10 min of working out the elliptical machine or bike i am exhausted. I checked my blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol and all are normal. I consulted the leading bariatric surgeon in our country and he has got me appointments with the cardilogist, endocrynologist and a liver expert and a breathing expert for next week. I know given my condition bariatric surgery will be a no brainer. My main concern is choosing the right type of surgery. I would prefer to get something with less complications like gastric sleeve, But want to know if given the right commitment of diet and exercise will it be enough? I cant afford two surgeries and like to know if there are any cases of successes for people who have done gastric sleeve only and lost the desired amount of weight for someone who is over 70 BMI? even now i am on a very low carb diet which I have gotten used to as a lifestyle in the last few months with no sugar and carbs such a bread/rice and i work out about 5 times every week as much as I can. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks Rajiv from Sri Lanka

Sooo i am offically 4 days post op i made it to the other side yay!!! Unfortunate my liver was still too big to get the full Ds Surgery so i ended up with a sleeve not unhappy because still have promising results with less complications and my surgeon says when i lose more weight we can reschdule for the 2nd half if im still willing. Not sure if im willing to go through the wake up pain again. My stomach wasnt so bad but my back was killing me. But dont let my story scare you I have a low tolerance for pain and 4 days out i barely need any pain meds. I guess i feel disappointed like i let myself down. thats why it took me so long to talk about it. I feel like i let u guys down who were rooting for me. I followed my diet i lost weight on it just not enough. But every journey has its twist and turns to tell and although i am an expert in DS I am a novice at this sleeve thing so it a new mindset and a new set of rules to process. But honestly im scared. My sergeon is not very hands on and not close enough for me to go to all the meetings. With the Ds I had the malasorbtion angle to help keep the weight off long term what if i am not meantally long term strong enough for this?? Full of Questions

Long story short, I had gastric bypass on 11/29 for bile reflux, not weight loss. My stomach pouch was made a little larger than ones done for bariatric surgery but obviously, my diet is restricted. However, since my surgery I've begun to realize I have an incredibly unhealthy relationship with food. I am hungry all the time right now, and can't stop watching videos of food being made, looking at pictures of food, googling restaurant menus, and planning out what I'm going to eat as soon as I'm healed. Food has always been very comforting for me, and while I never binged I always, always made unhealthy desicions when it came to eating. Two years ago I had a Nissen Fundoplication for acid reflux, and my eating was MUCH more restricted than it was now. It was months before I could even drink cold water. I fell into a deep depression at that time, and as my literal ability to swallow food increased, so did my poor choices. I was slightly overweight before my bypass and want to maintain a healthy weight when I'm able to eat food again, and I want to make better choices when it comes to eating, especially because of the nutrient absorbtion issue. I'm feeling very lost and sad right now, and I don't know where to turn. Because I did not have this surgery for weight loss I didn't recieve any nutritional guidance beyond the "week 1 clear liquids, week 2 pureed food..." handout. Can anyone please point me in the direction of some good post op diet and nutritional guides? Ive had a long, complicated recovery (bowel obstruction, 9 days in the hospital) and I'm still in a lot of pain and feeling very depressed. Any encouragement would mean a lot to me! Sent from my SM-G935V using the BariatricPal App

Please understand that gallbladder issues can be the result of ANY weight loss, not just surgical weight loss. I had to have my gallbladder out 15 years ago after losing a measly 40 pounds on Weight Watchers. The weight loss is the issue, not the surgery. Most of the other complications are minor and easily treatable. And many other issues are resolved by the surgery. Being obese has much more serious complications long term.

Sorry you are one of the 5% to experience complications. Now you will be one of the xx% to be successful. It all up from here. Best wishes! Had lapband surgery 10/12/16

All bariatric surgeons are different and what they recommend will vary. Complications can happen with any surgery, and I do believe compliance plays a part. I trust my surgeon and what I learned about the surgical options. I'm comfortable with the decision I made with my surgeon. Each person needs to decide what is best for them and their lifestyle. Good luck to you. Had lapband surgery 10/12/16

Hi, I had my surgery on 11/10/16 - exactly one month & one day ago. I am doing quite well. But it was not the walk in the park I had planned. You see, I was one of the lucky less than 5% of all sleeve patients that have surgical complications. I had a bleed. My surgeon came up to my room to check on me, this is actually the first I recall since going under. Seems to me there were a lot of people there & discussion on my blood pressure & pulse. Once the windpipe was removed, I just said "pressure". The doctor looked at me & said "we have to go back in" - I saw my husband & daughter & said I was scared. My husband said "you are in the best place for this to happen, everything will be alright". So, my overnight stay in the hospital became four days in ICU & 2 more days on the surgical floor. Later I found out that my surgeon had never had any surgical issues in his career - I was special - clearly I intended to never be forgotten. I went from 5 small scars to 4 small scars and one rather large scar from my chest to my belly button. I am thinking a future zipper tattoo is in order. But that is a long range plan. Today I am down 29 pounds since the surgery - in addition to the 10 I lost in the pre-op phase. I admit I was actually afraid to eat any food, even baby food. That has passed. I am on the pureed stage, find it difficult to always get my 64 oz. of fluids in - I sometimes get busy with work or at home & have to remind myself to drink. Oddly enough, I did not have pain in the large incision area (at least right away) but the incision that my stomach was removed from hurt like the dickens. Because I am bending more, some discomfort has developed along the large incision, but I suspect that will stop as well. My second follow up appointment is on the 13th & I can't wait to see what is next!

My surgeon told me that they dont even offer the band anymore. There are complication that can happen that require another surgery and i sometimes ins doesnt cover it. It has nothing to do with compliance to your diet and the competence of the surgeon. Plus the results just arent as good as with the sleeve. Sent from my SM-G935P using the BariatricPal App

Wish I had known pregnancy would cause complications with the band. Wish I had known they have a limited lifespan. But I had mine done in the early days...not much information around back then. Would say I wish I'd done rny from the start, but I don't think my bmi was low enough back then.

My sister was banded 12 years ago and has lost over 100 pounds without complications. I was banded in October and feel great. I believe compliance of the patient and skill of the surgeon impact the outcome. I went to a center of excellence and took 6 months of classes. I learned about the three surgical options and we evaluated my ability to be compliant, etc. Had lapband surgery 10/12/16

Creatingthenewme... Do you mind me asking what complications? If so, no problem and forgive me for asking! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I had a friend who had the lap band and had to have it removed due to complications. My brother got the sleeve 2 years ago and it's changed his life. He lost a lot of weight and is off insulin. I get sleeved tomorrow morning :-) Sent from my 710C using the BariatricPal App

Three weeks might be pushing it with such a demanding job. I had surgery on November 22nd and convinced myself that I would be going back in two weeks. However, it wasn't even an option because I had complications. I am crossing my fingers now that my doctor will allow me to go back to my non-demanding (I sit down at work) job when I go to my next appointment on December 23rd. I know it will vary based on the person, success of surgery, and everyone feels different afterwards. My advice would be to be prepared for the possibility that you may need more time off. At a minimum you may have some restrictions when you go back. I wish you all of the luck!

We submitted to insurance with documents of rashes and skin breakdown and it still wasn't covered. They had very strict requirements--for breasts you had to be removing a certain amount of weight (in grams). For the pannus it had to pass the pubic bone. Everyone's plan is different. Some have specific exclusions for skin removal, some have explicit requirements like mine, some just want documentation of physical limitations/issues/complications. Check with your policy to find out what they require! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I had gastroparesis and chronic nausea for over ten years. I have not been nauseas or thrown up since I left the hospital after the sleeve. Everyone has their own side effects from the sleeve, but there are so many remedies that out weigh a little discomfort. you are having the surgery for yourself not anyone else. You have to look at the process and say is this a life change I'm willing to make for me? It's not easy to meet your Protein and nutritional needs but that's something you have to put the effort into. Many complications are caused by the patients failure to follow the surgeons instructions. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

PhillyAj, I'm in Dallas. Mexico is a long story: Although my health insurance doesn't cover anything bariatric, I'd planned to have my surgery here in the US and we were going to pay out of pocket. I met my surgeon and did all that, had a couple meetings with the nutritionist here, and I had my psych eval here. I was told the surgery was going to be 'around' 10k, plus a couple other things. Also, because my preop EGD was related to this bariatric surgery, we'd have to pay for that out of pocket, too (an additional few thousand dollars). We may or may not have had to pay out of pocket for the preop ekg. I don't know how much that would cost. Long story short, while the surgeon and her support team were great, the hospital she was to perform the surgery at was being a pain with a reasonable request of mine to have a 'plan of care' since I was paying out of pocket. That's a list of the procedures and professionals (anaesthesiolot, radiologist, surgeon, surgeon assistant, hospital OR fee, cost of 2-3 nights in hospital, etc) who would be involved in my surgery and about how much their fees would be. It's standard to ask for one of these when you have anything major done out of pocket, that way you can plan accordingly how many bills you'll be getting, roughly how much, and from whom. The surgery is well over ten thousand dollars when all's said and done and we didn't want any surprises. Anyway, this hospital was being very unaccomodating about that. I was told by the surgeon's billing lady that this hospital's billing department "just won't do that". The surgeon's billing lady told me she'd "try" to get the hospital's billing lady to write up a plan of care so we would know what we were getting into financially. Meanwhile, my surgeon's team was wanting me to get in and get that EGD & everything else done (as you all know, those preliminary tests are time bound- they have to be done no later than xyz before the surgery). So I was supposed to get scoped for a few thousand dollars, plus everything else like the ekg, before I even knew if/when the hospital was going to write up a plan of care. Fast forward, 20 days went by without my hearing from the hospital billing lady, or my surgeon's billing lady. The day before Thanksgiving, I'd had enough. I called them up and left a voice mail, asked to be taken off the schedule. The following Monday morning, I was getting calls from both the surgeon's billing lady, who said my surgeon was furious that this had transpired with the hospital, and the hospital of course, trying to get me back on the books for that date. The hospital had never called me at all until I called to cancel my surgery, then they called the next business day and said that this was the first they'd heard of it. I was so over it. As of this surgery isn't nerve wracking and stressful enough, AND paying out of pocket, without getting dicked around by the hospital. Or whoever. One billing lady or the other, I'll never know. To keep my enthusiasm up for surgery, after I had gotten discouraged by the hospital but before I decided to cancel altogether, I used to watch YouTube videos of people who had the sleeve or were getting the sleeve, for thinspiration. I'd lay in bed and watch them on my phone after my husband fell asleep. I kept noticing Americans without insurance or without bariatric coverage were going to Tijuana. And they'd video their experience AT the hospital and everything, and then they'd follow up week after week, getting thinner--well, you know how it goes. I casually mentioned to my husband I could get it done in Mexico, and he and I talked about it. We decided I should just go for it. We know exactly how much the procedure will cost without complications, plus how much it will cost if there needs to be a hernia repair or anything like that. That's all we wanted from the hospital here! Anyway, I'm a little nervous, but I don't have a bad vibe about it at all. I've had laproscopic gallbladder removal and it went quite well, (although I was very physically fit at the time). I don't know what it's going to be like to have my stomach cut, but I know what to expect with laproscopic surgery. It's a lot easier than a c-section. It's the 21st! Think of me! I'll be thinking of all of you on your dates Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App