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A good friend who had gastric bypass had her only horrible moment on a taco out to eat with her husband. She's never eaten a taco since. This was like 3 years after her surgery! That's always in the back of my mind........ and not a pretty image. Oh...and what was your surgery date? I can't wait to be able to test fresh veggies.

Thank you all for your responses! I should mention that at my first meeting with the Nutritionist I received 3 pieces of paper from the Nutritionist. Two of the pages had been photocopied so much that they were practically illegible. Page 1 is entitled "Gastirc Sleeve and Bypass 1st Two Week Diet" . There is a lot of important information squeezed into this almost illegible page, but it is a poor to way covey such important information. Page 2 is legible entitled "Concentrated Sweets". It's poorly written and contains a list of crappy foods to eat and suggests you look at the list and find alternatives. Page 3, barely legible again, is "Baratric 2 Week Post-Op Diet". Under the title it begins "Program Instructional Guide (begins 2 weeks after surgery). Literally, the instructions are poor and contain lists of foods you can eat after two, three or four weeks. The back of the third page has portion sizes and grams of Protein. I'm going to check with the office about the amount of post-op support / instruction, but I'm guessing that I'm going to have to find a different doctor with a better support program in the new year. So glad I found these forums. Amy

Insurance is a puzzle. I knew that my insurance covers WLS and I met all the criteria, but we had a few extra hoops to jump through to get approval for a revision. That extra hoop was easy once I was diagnosed with a slip. Basically, if you had a "failure" of the previous surgery like a slippage it didn't matter your BMI or co-morbidities. Even so, they wanted my NUt and psych assessment to approve the band removal... I think they got wires crossed because that makes no sense. The insurance person said, oh we needed it anyway for the sleeve procedure approval. Anyway, my doc was alarmed by my slip too because even though all Fluid is out he said the band was too tight and it had slipped alot. It is strange because I feel basically no restriction. He too warned me that I could suddenly be totally blocked and require emergency surgery. Tomorrow, I have my EKG which is the last step before the removal - I somehow missed that I needed to do that. Only after the EKG is done will they schedule the removal. Ask your doctor how often the "repositioning" actually works or if it is likely to slip again.

I had my first appointment with my new surgeon today. Since it had been two and a half years since I'd seen my original one, he did a fluoroscopy on me. We saw that my band was extremely tight and that my pouch was extremely dilated/stretched. The tight band was news to me, since I hadn't felt much restriction in a long time and could eat close to a full meal. The band was so tight that we couldn't see the barium emptying out of the pouch at all. He said that my opening between pouches was probably about the size of a pencil eraser, and that he was amazed that I'd lived with it for as long as I did. He did an immediate complete unfill, since he said that it was pretty dangerous. He said that eventually it would migrate and close off my stomach entirely and I'd have to have emergency surgery to remove it. He gave me three options, all of which are surgery. Remove the band and leave my stomach alone, go in and reposition the band, or do a revision to a sleeve. Right now, I don't meet the BMI requirements for revision, but he thinks we may be able to make an argument that it's a medically necessary surgery anyway. Ideally, we'll revise, if that isn't possible, I'd rather have the band repositioned than removed. I admit that I was kind of hoping to have something wrong with the band in order to justify revising to a sleeve, but actually KNOWING that something is wrong bothers me more than I thought it would. I almost started crying at the surgeon's office. Now it's time to hurry up an wait while we get everything together and submitted to insurance. It's going to be at least a week until anything gets done, since the insurance coordinator is on vacation this week.

Wow, I could have written your post! I am 2 months into my 6 months of requirements. I started off wanting the bypass because I have GERD, but I take some meds for depression which may not be absorbed properly with the bypass, so in that sense the sleeve would be better. I'm so conflicted, but still leaning towards the bypass. Good luck with your decision! Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app

My mother had Gastric Bypass with duodenal switch 26 years ago, she turns 70 this year. I promise you, she wouldn't have made it this long if she did not have the surgery. Them saying that people dont live long after bariatric surgery is patently false.

I am 2 weeks out from bypass surgery, and have only lost 6 lbs. I know my water intake is not as good as it should be. Doesn’t this sound weird? I see my surgeon at the end of the week, and she said she expects I will have lost 20 lbs. I have lost 20 lbs since my last weigh in at the office.

I am almost a year from anniversary date of gastric bypass. Woot woot! But my knees are now killing me. Before the surgery I had issues with my knees and had anthroscopic surgery on the right one. However, now both my knees hurt so bad that climbing stairs or sitting low has become a huge pain. Could it be muscle loss and now too much weight is bearing down? I’m just at a lost. Anybody else experiencing this??

I don't think any WLS eliminates cravings or some of those other things. Even gastric bypass, not everyone "dumps " and I think some that do initially don't later. No matter which procedure. ...it isn't easy for most of us. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using the BariatricPal App

Hi! I am in the same boat as you! I had surgery in August 2014, got to goal (8 pounds below at 142) and maintained 150-160 for 5 years. Then a neck injury, cancer diagnosis, and the year 2020 hit and I’m up to 188 at this point. It’s so damn depressing having to buy new clothes because nothing fits anymore. My doctor has put me on a BED medication called Vyvanse for the time being, and it’s really helped suppress my appetite. I’m back to exercising at least 3 days a week, and tracking what I eat. Trying to keep it protein and fiber rich foods. We will see. I feel like I’m back on the diet roller coaster/fat brain thinking from before. Seriously thinking about a revision to bypass since I have reflux anyway, but have been through so much medical crap, I don’t know if I want to deal with another surgery again. You’re not alone, friend!

LOL yup. Tore revision came up. Interesting. Never heard of that before.

I’ve started with the Flintstones with iron. I have B vitamins in a meltable tab for under the tongue. Then there’s chewable calcium citrate with vitamin D. I had a bypass, other surgeries have different requirements. I might have to change up my vitamins when I get blood work done. Right now I’m seeing if the Flintstones is ok for me. I would call your dietitian. At my center they kind of run the show.

I have read just a little on lap banding. I am planning to attend a seminar, but honestly I don't want to do this because someone is selling/pushing me on it. I want to hear from real people who have had it done, and how it has affected your life. My sister has had gastric bypass, and even though she has lost the weight, she hates that she has ever had it done. I have a couple of questions, please. #1 What does it mean to get a fill? Why do you have to have fills? How is that done? Is something left on the outside of your body? How costly are the fills (my insurance does not pay for them)? How often are they done? #2 What kind of diet restrictions are there with the band other than you get full faster? #3 My sister and niece lost a lot of their hair with gastric bypass. Does this happen with the band? #4 I am overweight (260 lbs.) and have tried everything. I love to eat; therefore, I am scared if I go through this I might just end up stretching or breaking the band. Any words of wisdom or advice would be appreciated!!

Afterward, meaning after you have healed, for the most part, unless you are eating you will not have any different feelings, nor abilities than you have now. The ability to do more things will increase as your weight decreases. Your port and tubing do not just flop around freely inside you. They stitch the port, tightly into muscle, which holds it securely, and the tube simply runs from it, to the band,and you do not have sensation of it being there at all. I am quite close to my goal weight and I must still push firmly to feel my port. I ride motorcycles with my husband, as well as 4 wheelers, ride horses, haul firewood, jump on a trampoline, swim, wrestle with my grandbabies on the floor, use a variety of exercise equipment (not nearly as much as I should tho!)....heck the list could go on forever! I do a lot of these things thanks to the band, I was too heavy to do them before. The problem with stats when it comes to this surgery is the fact that they are operating on some seriously obese people. I am talking Super obesity, of over 500 pounds at times, and when you begin looking at that type of weight the health issues are monumental, and death is more common due to blood clots following surgery as they are not often mobile....but once the surgery is done, it is reported as a surgical statistic. This was a simple surgery for me, and I was very close to your weight. I was up and walking within hours, and back to my normal life in a week. We were remodeling a home with my Daughter at the time, and I was back to weilding a paintbrush and making Home Depot runs within that week. I am able to eat all foods. There are a few I opt not to eat....but that is a personal choice. I eat much much less than I did before, I am now in control of the food as opposed to the food being in control of me. I chose banding over bypass for several reasons. #1 being I am a cancer survivor and if I ever need to increase nutritional intake I can. #2. I had serious fears of my insides being cut and rerouted and removed. #3. I do not do well with deprivation. Being told I could NOT eat sweets was a deal breaker! I wanted to have a piece of birthday cake with my grandkids on their special days. So banding was the ideal choice for me, I eat that small piece of cake and am good, no longer wanting to eat the entire cake!!! The choice was an easy one for me. I do understand it is a very personal choice for everyone. I hope you do take into consideration the risks associated with obesity as compared to the risks associated with lap band surgery. At the risk of sounding like a mastercard commercial, getting your life back is priceless......being able to run, and sit in any chair, climb any ladder, fit on all amusement park rides----and not stand out in the crowd because of my size----those and a host of other reasons make me happy every day I chose to override my fears and be banded. I hope you come to peace with a decision soon. Did your wife go to the seminar with you? They can be super informative! Kat

I've had 4 friends who have had gastric bypass surgery. While all are losing weight they've all had some form of malabsorbtion issues post-op and have to take alot of liquid Vitamins and stuff. One also has problems where she will just suddenly throw up for no reason. They were all laid up for almost a month after surgery and 3 required open not laproscopic due to their size. I took a serious look at gastric bypass but in the end the mortality rate scared me. Also another thing I did was find a message board for gastric bypass. I was looking around one day and found a Memoriam page after having made some posts there. It was a list of all the people who had died who had posted there. There were alot of names on that list. I looked up their posts and saw the hope and comments like "I can't wait for my surgery and my new life!"..... then a few days later there would be an admin message "this person passed due to xxxxx" after surgery. There is no comparing the two procedures. I've had some people say "well bypass is reversable". No it's not. They can hook the plumbing back up but it is NEVER the same imo. With the lapband it's completely reversible and they're not rearranging anything. It's a much much much safer procedure. I'm on day 6 post-op and feel great. By comparison if I was post-op for bypass I'd just be getting out of the hospital today and would have 4-5 weeks of hometime before going back to work (what they told me). Instead I'll be back to work on Monday. Like I said no comparison. Just follow the doctors directions, get on your feet and walk as soon as after surgery as possible to prevent DVT and drink plenty of fluids as tolerated. If you do what they tell you to you'll be find and the risk of the unknown will be greatly reduced. Yes it's an elective surgery but I view it as medically necessary. Cormorbid conditions WILL kill you eventually. This surgery can stop those conditions in their tracks and set you on the right course for your life. ErikMesa :regular_smile:

So, here I am...19 days post-op. I'm feeling good, considering that I've stopped taking my anti-depressants and given up caffeine since surgery. I'm down 12 pounds and keeping a positive outlook. It's really bothered me because a rumor started around my school (cosmetology school, nonetheless) that I'd had gastric bypass. I've just shrugged it off for the most part, but I'm gonna admit that hearing that bothered me. I feel that more severe obesity cases opt for gastric bypass and I feel slightly insulted that it's even a topic amongst my peers. I would think that my being fat wasn't an issue to them as well as my having LAP Band isn't a topic that's up for discussion. I'm probably being silly for even worrying about it, but that's what cosmetology school is for. Drama and girlfights. Even though I feel generally better, I have noticed that I'm really lethargic at the end of the day. I've been honestly forcing myself to walk for thirty minutes here and there. I'm only up this late because I made it a point to prepare dishes that my sister and I could eat while everyone else eats the high fat/calorie stuff for Thanksgiving. I took a bunch of recipes from Hungry-girl.com and made them into "mashies approved" casseroles. I ended up with a cauliflower bake (pureed), smashed sweet potatoes (made with sugar-free maple syrup and Splenda), and a crustless pumpkin pie. I'm pretty pleased with how everything looks. So hopefully, everything with taste good as well. We had a potluck today at school and I had a teaspoon of stuffing and I can safely say...their stuffing was terrible! I'm really glad I couldn't eat much because I couldn't imagine eating something like that and pretending to enjoy it. Blech. Anyway, I'm gonna go ahead and close by saying that I'm trying to keep my chin up and stay hopeful that I'm going to (one day soon) be much smaller! I've had a lot of heartache in the past year that's made a huge impact on my life and I really need to make this work. For me. This time it's not for anyone else. Keep your fingers crossed!

Penni, there was a period of about 36 hours while I was being tested in the hospital for a slipped band where I had to comtemplate my path... I didn't know if they would be able to place a new band, so I had to make a choice: 1. tell them to go ahead and give me a bypass 2. tell them to take out the band and leave me flying solo (I was REALLY tempted to just say screw it) 3. tell them to put in a new band if possible I thought really hard about my options and knew that I wanted another band. I know you lost your band due to erosion, which is (imo) much scarier than slippage. But, if the doctor is fully supportive of rebanding you, my honest opinion is to go for it. In the meantime, if you're a bad grazer, I think your only option is to de-crapify your kitchen. If your only snacking options are fruits and vegetables, you're not going to gain. And (brace yourself - this is some really creative advice!) start exercising. It will help the depression. We are all pulling for you! You're going to do this with or without a band. (((HUGS)))

Hi White06...I most definately think either you have a problem with the band, or you are overfilled. A healthy, properly filled band is a tool that enables us to eat hard Protein, not liquid meals. Trust me, I've been there. Please get an unfill ASAP before you damage your esophagus or band, if it isn't already. What does your doctor say about all this? I'm not trying to be judgemental; I went through hell with my band before finally having it revised to RNY, and I hate to see you suffer like this. Take care,

I belonged to an all woman gym after my lapband surgery in 2009 (I'm now a a sleeve revision). I paid $60 a week for a personal trainer. Loved her. She kicked my butt every week. We spent 90 mins (30 on nutrition choices and 60 on weight training/cardio intervals). I told her I didn't like the elliptical cuz it was hard and made my legs feel like noodles. Guess what she chose for my 3 mins cardio intervals? Yep, the damn elliptical. By the time I left, I felt like Jello. Had a hard time walking to the car. After about 2 mths, I cut back to every 2 weeks (just cound't afford the $240 every month). I would weigh, we'd discuss my food intake and then she'd work me out. Everytime I got on the scale, I saw a loss. Even after not making the wisest choices at times. After a couple more months, I cut her back to once a month. Still saw losses every month. Then I met my now-husband. He had a membership at the Y, so I started going with him. He couldn't go to the all female gym with me and we didn't want to work out alone. So I gave up my trainer. Something she told me early on that I still remember: "You don't have to give up ur favorite foods. Just take a few bites and throw the rest away. U still have the taste but also have the control over what ur eating". She got me off my almost daily Tamale Pie (Found at Vons and Safeway on the West Coast). I cut back to once a week. Not giving it up but cutting back on it. I rarely eat them now.

Thank you so much for this. Yeah, our bypass is usually 3-4x longer than you guys', so that would make a bunch of sense. I'll ask about RH!

So just an update on my consultation for the ESG procedure. My day started by ordering a Starbucks latte for my hour commute, after paying the cashier, I drove away WITHOUT my latte. What a dope. My appointment was scheduled for 11am in NYC which takes me a little over an hour without traffic. I checked in at 10:45, and waited patiently for two bleepin hours. At this point my caffeine withdrawal is setting in and my tummy is A rumbling. The doctor was pleasant and I didn't feel rushed. She informed me that they had me scheduled for a 5 minute follow up appointment today. Fortunately, the doctor honored my consultation, and spent plenty of time with me. After my consultation, she gave me a Pre-Op Evaluation form. I will attach a picture of it below. I was able to complete my bloodwork at the office today, I figured what's another hour. They weighed me, which I have been dreading. I have gained 20 pounds over the last 8 weeks. So my official start weight is ..... 194lbs. Dr. Sharaiha asked that besides the bloodwork and H-Pylori test, that I meet with a nutritionist. While I was waiting to get my blood drawn, I scheduled an appointment with the Nutritionist (December 15th) . I attempted to schedule a surgery date but was denied. She said I could not schedule an appointment for surgery until the meeting with nutritionist was complete. I wonder if it's because when she asked me what I had for breakfast, I frankly replied, "a cupcake" and when she laughed, I said, "well since I'm being honest, I had two". Maybe it was a red flag that I have an eating disorder...yikes. I just assumed the majority of overweight people eat disorderly.... Dr. Sharaiha reported that they have 4 years worth of data in the US to measure results. She stated that the US has been doing the procedure the longest. I assume she does not equate the ESG to the similar procedure performed in other countries. She reported that most people do not need revisions. She compared the ESG revision to that of the lap-band. She said that some individuals needed a little tightening to increase their restriction. She warned against relying on possibility of future tightening as a crutch to possible slack.. She reported that in over 200 ESG procedures she has performed, she has revised(tightened) very few. She reported that the average amount of ESG's lost 19% of their total body weight compared to 30% of VSG's She stated that the part of the stomach that is "stitched off" from the rest is not susceptible to disease or ulcers. Comparison of complications to a VSG is, that leaks and ruptures can, and do occur with ESG, however it is rare. She was not concerned about my history of scar tissue and inflammatory disease associated with an autoimmune disorder. For me the food I eat negatively impacts my health to the degree in which surgery is worth the risk. My goal is to cut out sugar/flour/wheat/grains and eat 3 meals a day until my surgery. I want to get my weight down as much as possible to maximize the surgery assisted total weight loss. I'm sure I have missed some stuff but my brain is starting to putter out. I"ll be back.... I welcome any and all questions. If you are out there browsing this site and afraid to speak up in the forum...private message me. You are not alone, it takes a village.

Hello all! I didn’t see a May thread started yet for bypass. I’m scheduled for RNY May 24, 2022. 

Try not to be too hard on yourself, this journey is TOUGH! You're actually doing quite well, as others have said. My gastric bypass surgery was 3/29. I started at 204 lbs day of surgery, and I'm down 36 lbs as of last week. Very similar results and my team says I'm right on track. The hair loss is devastating, I totally get it. Today has been the worst by far, but I have to keep reminding myself it's temporary. Hang in there and stay with it - you are doing very well!! Sent from my SM-F926U using BariatricPal mobile app

No way in hell. Sorry, but the longer I've gone after erosion, the more I'm convinced that the band should only be a short-term implant. This is just based on my own personal experience, but I have one F-d up stomach these days. I know another girl in my same shoes (both banded & de-banded about the same time.) Penni, you already eroded once... do you really want to take that chance again of possibly having another erosion, not knowing what shape it could leave your belly? I'm already convinced that if I get back to 300, I will look into a bypass as my last hope of life, but no more band for me. Ouch, YIKES! Mind you, I'm in my 40s with no children and my future seems kind of bleak considering how bad I struggle with food each day. I was pre-suicidal pre-band, which is why I decided to take such a drastic measure and run off to Mexico for a band. I know I'd feel the same way again at 300, which is why a bypass wouldn't seem as harsh as suicide. Is that too honest?

I had bypass, but the first two weeks my kcals/day ranged from 50-500. 500 per day at two weeks is great! Some of us WLS folks struggle with 300 kcals at week two. I have also seen a good number of folks on here that stay at 500 kcals until they reach goal. You are doing awesome! 💕