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I didn't tell a whole lot of coworkers before the surgery because I just didn't want to talk about it every single day. But now that it's over I don't care who knows. Firstly, I couldn't live with myself trying to be dishonest or hiding something. But the big reason is, it was one of my coworkers who inspired me to have the surgery indirectly. We were talking one day and out of the blue he told me he had a bypass. He was very up front and honest about the whole ordeal. It really helped remove the stigma of the whole thing from my mind. After that I started doing all my research and had my first doctor visit a month later. So I hope by being honest and open about my surgery, I may one day inspire someone else to improve their life.

Hello. I am 48 and plan to have the ESG done. Compare to the Mini Gasric Bypass could someone give me some info on diet. On my understanding the diet is easier with ESG as I can eat quite everything but on small doses. CORRECT? THANKS

I have hypoglycemia and PCOS I take metformin .I am having lapband to bypass revision but really...I am on Dr Ruth organics...I take both supplements and get in fluids..isopure...

What's the difference?? Why would someone want the mini when you could have the regular bypass?

Hello...I'm 2 yrs post gastric bypass and 5 months pregnant and have been having some bad upper abdominal pain that starts right under the center if my breasts and radiates on both sides...I've been to ER twice and both times they found nothing ....the last time he gave me Maalox and said possible Gerd or ulcer ....I have an appt with ob tomorrow. ..I mentioned it at my last appt because it had happened one time prior and she said everything looked good not to worry but now it's happened at least 7 times and it gets bad but then goes away ...any ideas???

I got pregnant 3 months after revision from band to sleeve....we had been trying for several years and my doctor told me that I probably wouldn't be able to get pregnant until I lost about 100lbs. We had stopped trying I was focusing on weight loss......Anyway long story short I am having issues with low blood sugar. I have a few questions and concerns. 1. What have you all done to prevent this? I am eating about every 3 hours. Maybe I need to go to every 2? 2. I am supposed to do that sugar test next week but I honestly don't think I can go from midnight until 8am with nothing to eat....... 3. What about during labor....do they give you fluids with sugar in it? UGH so worried. Other than they low blood sugar I am feeling fine.....just nervous about all of the above. Thank you in advance.

I'm 21 and I was just sleeved a few days ago. I felt very conflicted about this surgery. I've spent the last 2 years navigating the world of feminism and the whole fat acceptance/body positivity movement. I felt that I was finally starting say that it's okay to be fat. And to me, IT STILL IS! There really is proof out there you can be fat and healthy. You just have to eat very well and exercise... and you don't have to lose weight in the process. However, my beliefs about the HAES movement and fat people do not change the social stigma about fat people. YES, THERE ARE MANY UNHEALTHY FAT PEOPLE OUT THERE because they don't eat right. But there are plenty of healthy fat people out there too. My choice was mobility and health. I have PCOS and diabetes runs in my family. Despite exercising, I have high cholesterol. I remember being in high school having a blood test and my doctor said I would need to be on medication to control it if I didn't lower it. Well, I never went on medication nor did I do anything to help it. I've been active since I was a child. I was on the soccer team in high school and in recreational leagues growing up. I've reached this point where I want to help my PCOS, I want to help my heart, and prevent diabetes (if possible) and I want to physically change my body. I also have a hard time not eating a lot and feeling full. The whole stomach being smaller sounded excellent compared to gastric bypass which may experience stretching. There are so many things I want to do with my body that I just can't at this weight. I bicycle, but I want to get into legitimate cycling and do races. I used to run, but now I can barely make it down a street. Hills kill me and so do stairs. I want to run a 5K and eventually do a triathlon. I want to do rock wall climbing and not have to worry about weight limits and the harness not fitting. I want to go kayaking and not worry about my hips not fitting. I'd like to go to a theme park and fit in ALL of the rides. And for once, I'd like the buy clothes that I love because the world of fashion is so crappy at making cute fashionable inexpensive clothing for young plus size men and women as well as older women. We live in a thin privileged society, and for once I'd like to live that privilege and examine its effects on me!

I'm self pay for a revision that is needed...how needed I can't get the surgeon to say other than things will get worse. The office said I could come in Feb 7th for pre surgery testing and a class then surgery feb 14th. One day I'm ready the next day I think I'll just wait. I don't KNOW WHY I cant committ. Maybe it's all the money that I really can't afford..maybe I don't want to go through the fear of another surgery and relearning to eat again. I've read stories about others that are fearful about the surgery...that's not my primary problem. Just typing this out is helping me understand that it has more to do with being off of work and losing money there and the loan I will have to pay back to have this done. I have a family so I feel I'm selfish in using all this money for me to be thin. This forum has been my research method so I've come here to see if someone can make sense of my jumbled thoughts. Thanks to all

I don't know the reasons for your revision, but I do know that you are not being selfish...if it were just a vanity thing, maybe...but this is your health...to want to be healthy to be around as long as possible for your family and enjoy fully your life with them, certainly is not selfish..if your surgeon is recommending the surgery and says it's needed, he most likely is correct...I am fearful of having my surgery as well (first time VSG), but I think fears are normal and certainly not selfish--I would put that thought away as quickly as I could and just focus on the health aspects....you might want to be more assertive in getting your surgeon to outline the reasons for the revision

I went to my GP today and she totally discouraged me. Is NOT a fan of weight loss surgery at all. I got the same ol, same ol', "diet and exercise and let's send you to a nutritionist". I didn't even WANT to tell her that I was considering going to Mexico. Good god I can only imagine the lecture I would have gotten. I emailed Dr. Kelly to ask how they handle this. I would obviously have to go back to Dr. Kelly if I had any complications. Anybody else deal with their GP being dead against it? meanwhile another friend of mine who had a bypass said her bariatric team here in the US feels that the sleeve surgery is showing a LOT of promise. I feel so let down.

RELIEF! I had mine for 7 years until it was removed in June....I dont miss cramping in my port area if I bend over too long or acid reflux i developed in year 6... To me, my pain was worst when I had the band put in compared to revision surgery....but it could've been I was so happy to get the band out I wasn't phased by the pain....

I just had mine out this morning. It was a cakewalk compared to having it put in. Minimal soreness, not even enough to need pain meds. I will then revise in about four months. Good Luck!

While I agree you are not obligated and you're not a bad friend... Let me present another point of view. I had Never heard of the sleeve until a friend of mine started down the road and shared openly with me. I had decided no bypass for me years before and stopped researching. I had mine three months after she did. A year after I had mine a friend of mine with whom I had been open got hers done (again she had never heard of it before). Six months after she had hers another friend of mine had hers done because I had shared. Just think about the good you could do if you pay it forward. Nope you don't have to. Nope you aren't a bad friend if you don't. But I am beyond indebted to the friend who shared with me and I believe the two I shared with fee the same.

When I was in the hospital for my gastric bypass surgery, the first meal tray they brought me had a bowl of fruit cocktail! Apparently, they were out of sugar-free Jello, and they decided that fruit cocktail was the best substitution they had. When the nurse came in and saw it, she gasped and said, "You didn't eat any of that, did you?" and went to give the food service people a talking-to.

I am in a big stall! I had my band to sleeve revision January 13 2014. I have only lost 13 since then. That was in the first 2 weeks that I lost the weight. I haven't lost anything else. I am on a full normal diet and haven't had any issues with any food, except bananas, they make me sick and i throw up if i eat one on an empty stomach. I don't do much for exercise right now but going to start a kickboxing class next week and now that the weather is starting to get nice I can go out and start running. Hopefully that will get the scale moving for me.

Well, it's not so bad, really. I'm a night security officer, so I work by myself. I work in a town that's 2 hours away from our "headquarters," so I hardly ever see "the boss." LOL DH goes to HQ quite a bit, but not me. Anybody I see up here is people I don't see too often anyway (night staff at the hotels), so it's not like they'd notice. They may notice once the weight loss is DRAMATIC, who knows? As for my family...ugh. I'm the youngest. They think it should be part of their job description to have snippy opinions about everything I do. LOL I think on down the road the only person in my family that will get to know is my mom...but only after I've lost quite a bit to prove to her that it was a good decision. I have a group of good friends that I am on another board with. Small group of less than 30. But when one of the girls mentioned over a year ago that she was considering Lap Band, they would NOT let up with the diet/exercise advice just to keep her from doing the procedure. So, it's just the way it is. It'd be nice to have support, but honestly, it's easier when people actually have experience with bariatric surgery. And I don't know a single person IRL that has had it...bypass or banding. So DH will have to do.

I was on a two week liquid diet when I had my revision to bypass, so I am sure my team thought that was more than enough. when I had my sleeve, I was told to take the magnesium citrate I believe. I have also taken the magnesium citrate for my other abdominal surgeries to make sure my bowels weren’t full so they didn’t get in the way of the surgical procedure

Congrats to all that have their dates, I had my gastric bypass May 6th, I'm doing good best I can tell you is follow the diet plan they give you. Don't get disappointed if you do lose a lot right off I'm only down 14 pounds but for me I'm very happy not going up coming down. Make sure you eat slow drink only 20 mins b4 eating and 20 mins after I got sick one time my fault stomach was full but tasted so good ate to much that's a no no.. I feel so much better my depression is almost none existent my energy is coming back. I wish you all good luck

I had my endoscopy last month. The procedure went really well. I saw somewhat fearing this procedure because I have a strong gag reflex. I was very pleased when they told me that I would be under general anesthesia and I went out like a light and woke up with no side effects from the anesthesia. When I woke up my doctor told me that they found 10 polyps in the stomach. They did a biopsy on one and fortunately it was benign. I originally was going to have the roux-en-y bypass procedure but changed to the sleeve instead because the doctor told me they like to closely monitor polyps and they can not do this with the roux-en-y procedure because they old stomach is sealed off and can't be entered into through endoscopy. So we had to resubmit to Cigna for approval and start the waiting game all over again. Good new is I got approved on July 3rd and will be having the sleeve procedure on July 31st. I decided as a precautionary measure to have a colonoscopy procedure as well which will be done on Monday July 7th. I figured if I have polyps in my stomach there is a strong probability that I will have them in my large intestine or colon as well. This is my first colonoscopy and I'll report back on Monday how it went. I was just curious whether other members have had polyps detected in their endoscopy as well and what they have done with them. Can they be removed during the VSG surgery? It sounds kind of crazy but I first started out thinking that I would have the sleeve but had some fear of losing such a large percentage of my stomach forever. Now that i know that I have polyps in my stomach I'm looking forward to having the sleeve hoping that most of the polyps will be taken out with the stomach and I'll start out again polyp free. My doctor told me that these polyps are relatively common but haven't talked to anyone that had them. He recommended an endoscopy every three years to track them. I think having the colonoscopy is a good idea for those who have had polyps detected. Has anyone else here had polyps detected as a result of your endoscopy procedure?

I had RNY gastric bypass 8/1/16. For the first 4-5 months, I had CONSTANT nausea and vomiting. I was on a lot of antiemetics but finally, about 5 months out, that passed. I now only get sick if I eat/drink too quickly or too much

I think you have to be 100% ready for change. If you needed to pause and think about it, that’s great. Surgery is scary and change is scary. I had major doubts the morning of surgery but I told myself that was just anxiety and went through with it. Bypass was the BEST thing I’ve ever done for myself. You have the rest of your life to look forward to.

I too have lost a ton of hair. I spoke with my doctor on friday and he said that when the body goes through trama (like rapid weight loss) you will lose hair. I asked if there was anything that could help, Protein, etc.... he said no. There is no medical evidence that anything will help. He said I could try stuff but he said it was a waste of money. I said well then, when will the hair loss stop? when I'm bald. He said when I stop losing weight the hair loss will stop. I know this is true for alot of gastric bypass people (my friends) and it has grown back...so that gives me hope. Hang in there and keep drinking / eating your protein...it can't hurt.

I cashed my retirement fund to get my band. I went thru all the emotions that exists once I made my decision. I felt exhilarated, doubted myself, had sudden thoughts of never being able to eat my favorite food, was I nuts in making this decision right up until I climbedon the op. table. It has now been one year. It took me 3 months to learn to slow down in my eating and not vomit. Now it is only occasionally. I look at what people eat in the restaurants and my mouth doesn't drool with hunger instead I am turned off by the volumes they eat. My eating tastes have definatley changed. If you want my thoughts, after numerous weight loss programmes of losing and then gaining it all back, the band is the only solution (unless you want a bypass). With the band though, it is reversable. Go for it and good luck.

The following Abbreviations are commonly used on this discussion board: ACL = Anterior cruciate ligament AMRAP = As Many Rounds As Possible (crossfit) BB = belly button bc = because BCBS = Blue Cross/Blue Shield BED = Binge Eating Disorder bf = best friend BM = bowel movement BMI = Body Mass Index bp = blood pressure BPD = Borderline Personality Disorder or Biliary Pancreatic Diversion bs = blood sugar btw = by the way CBT = cognitive-behavioral therapy CC = common channel c diff = clostridium difficile cos or cuz = because CPAP = continuous positive airway pressure CRNP = certified registered nurse practitioners cw = current weight CXR = Chest X-Ray Dr. = doctor DS = Dumping Syndrome or Duodenal Switch EGD = Esophagogastroduodenoscopy EKG = Electrocardiography ff = fat free GERD = gastroesophageal reflux disease GI = gastrointestinal GNC = General Nutrition Corporation store GP = general practitioner or family doctor HBP = high blood pressure hr = heart rate hw = highest weight ICU = Intensive Care Unit Idk = I don’t know IMHO = in my humble (honest) opinion IMO = in my opinion IUI = Intrauterine insemination LAP Band = Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Band lol = laughing out loud LSG = Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy med = medicine MFP = my fitness pal msg = message NASH = Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis nf = non fat NG = Nasogastric NP = nurse practitioner NSAIDS = Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug NSV = non-scale victory (“scale” means “weight scale”) NUT = nutritionist OA = Overeaters Anonymous Onederland = a magical place or destination for those trying to lose weight. It might correspond to attaining a weight in the hundreds or losing a hundred pounds. op = operation OSA = Obstructive sleep Apnea Oz = Australia PB = Productive Burps PCOS = Polycystic Ovary Syndrome PCP = Primary Care Physician PM = private message (email) PMS = premenstrual syndrome POSE = Primary Obesity Surgery Endolumenal postop or post–op = post-operation or post-surgery PPI = Proton Pump Inhibitors ppl = people preop or pre-op = pre-operation or pre-surgery PTSD = Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder PVC = Premature ventricular contractions RA = Rheumatoid arthritis RH = reactive hypoglycemia RN = registered nurse RNY = Roux-en-Y RTD = ready to drink SADI-S = single anastomosis duodeno–ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy s/f or sf = sugar free SIPS = stomach intestinal pylorus-sparing surgery smh = shaking my head, scratching my head SO = significant other SOB = shortness of breath sw = weight at surgery tmi = too much information TPN = total parenteral nutrition TT = tummy tuck TTC = trying to conceive Ty = Thank you. [but according to the urban dictionary “Ty” is also an abbreviation for “a total stud with a massive carrot”.] u = You UGI = Upper Gastrointestinal VSG = Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy Vit = Vitamin wks = weeks WLS = Weight Loss Surgery WOD = Workout of the Day w/o = without wt = weight or :-) = = smiley face or :-( = = sad face

Ok, I was saving two pair of jeans because they were like new, they used to be so tight I couldn't wear them. I was looking forward to be able to put them on. I got them out yesterday to try to see if they would fit, and horrors of horrors, they are too big!!! I couldn't even get them to stay up comfortably with a belt. I'm crushed because now they have to go to the good will and I didn't even get to wear them!!! Oh well, I suppose that is a good thing. People have finally noticed that I'm losing weight, one at church and one saleslady at work. I told them thank you and yes it is hard work. I've lost 45lbs and I know I should be proud of that but somehow doesn't feel like enough. I know that I shouldn't compare myself to others but sometimes it's hard not to get weight loss envy. I was sort of complaining the other day and my son said to me that even though I'm losing weight I still look good and healthy unlike two of his co-workers that had the bypass procedure, he says they've lost a lot of weight but look like they've been sick. So i guess that losing slowly isn't so bad as long as I look healthy. I'm off all BP meds now, and have reduced my diabetes meds in half, Doc says probably will be off all soon. I am waiting to go back for another sleep study to see if I can go off my CPAP, I can't wait to get rid of it. I have 4 lbs to go before I hit one-derland, I can wait I'm so close.... but probably another 2-3 weeks. Oh well, slow and steady....