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Hi there. I wanted to join this group hoping to find someone else that maybe in the same situation I am. Please do not judge or make judgement as to what I have done. I had gastric bypass in June 2004 and I had this done as an open procedure. Lost about 120-125 pounds. and was really good with that. I then started exercising and doing the "Curves" thing. I then discovered that I had a golf ball size incisional hernia from this surgery. Due to a job layoff and losing insurance I wasn't able to have this fixed. Finally I was able to get this fixed in March of 2011 and at this point it was the size of a grapefruit. Found this great surgeon who also happened to be a baratric surgeon as well. He fixed my problem or so I thought but only to discover a few months later it had reappeared in a lower part of my "tummy" so I then had a 2nd surgery done. Thinking all is fine I joined a gym and started to walk on the treadmill and the bike because I finally was glad to be able to get exercise in. But right before I decided to get a personal trainer to help with my muscles I discovered a 3rd hernia! WOW that was about all I could handle. I went back to the dr and we talked at length about having the surgery again and since he did the lap bands on other patients we decided to have it done on me since he was already in there. Not really even sure how this was approved by insurance but they did. I just had the surgery 4 weeks ago and he did about an 8x8 mesh patch to cover my previsous incision from breast bone to belly and then from the right to the left...and then we did the lap band. He said my pouch looked really good....it was not overstretched or anything of the sorts. I have not gained any weight back from the 125 but maybe a few pounds here and there but have always maintained the same weight for at least 7 years after i stopped losing. but I'm still at about 240 pounds and I feel that additional restriction is worth it. Since my surgery I have really changed my eating. I know longer eat my Breakfast all morning. I time myself to 30 mins only per meal. Something that i got out of habit doing. I stopped drinking dt coke....drink more Water etc. So I went back to my dr yesterday for a check up and a fill. I lost 11 pounds the first week but nothing since so he did a fill of 3 1/2 cc's. Sounds like a lot compared to what I have read. But hopefully it will work. Is this a lot? Is there anyone esle that has had the gastric bypass and then the band? Just curious if so what their experiences are and if its different for us than others? Thanks! Shannon

My story is about the same as the two above. Terrible reflux for years. I didn't even know I had a hiatal hernia until after the surgery when my Dr mentioned he corrected it so I will have some additional uncomfortable swallowing for a few days. I think since my surgery, 13 months ago today, I have taken two Tums once and I attribute that to laying down too soon after eating. So, for me, VSG was a total cure. But, I would rather have reflux than all of the possible issues of bypass ... no thanks.

Got my approval for Bypass on 12-30-2013. I meet with the surgeon on the 22nd. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I've been a little overwhelmed trying to get everything I need. So glad I found this forum!!

Well I am starting my WLS journey tomorrow at danville,pa with Dr. Bell. Please send me prayers to start this journey and continue it through till the end, I am 300lbs plus right now (get the official from the docs office tomorrow). And I NEED to do this

Well, going into it knowing I may never be able to tolerate sweets again, I had to ask myself this: Do I love sweets more than I would love to have a longer and healthier life? Do I love eating large quantities of whatever I want more than being healthy? For me, the answer was that I really wanted to be free from food. As much as I used it to help deal with my emotions (and darn it sometimes I still want to), it also had a control over me that I really didn't like. You know how I feel now? Free. I don't have to use food anymore. It doesn't hold the power over me that it once did. And with every pound I lose, my body feels less my enemy and more my long lost friend. That said, it is hard to figure out how to deal with emotions in a different way than I always have. I haven't figured it out yet, but I'm trying and I have hope. So, find out what makes you consider changing, what you want, where you want to take your life, then ask yourself if gastric bypass surgery is worth it to help you get there.

I had gastric bypass may 10, 2010 and lost 154 lbs-best decision I ever made for myself...but I've gained 30 of it back. I know a little weight gain is normal, but I've gone back to old bad habits!! Any post ops go through this?? And if so, HELP!

Misty, were/are you following your bypass guidelines? I sitil don't drink for a half hour before or after my meals etc. I did stop journaling my food but stated again after gaining some stress eating pounds ands it's working. I already lost a couple of the 10 I had put back on.I continually tell myself I don't want to waste all I gained and all the money I spent. You can do it! Get a nutritionist to help you if you need to keep you on track. Tell yourself that you will not let this food take over your life! You CAN do it!

Hi all! I am hoping to have RNY in November. I am checking out the benefits section at work for short term disability. It says there that they will not approve disability leave for "elective or cosmetic surgeries"...I know wls is technically elective but this could really save my life. Is there any way I can get around this? Any and all input will be welcomed. Thanks in advance!

I was sleeved on March 5th at approx 0800. My journey started a few years ago. I started tossing the idea of bariatric surgery around when I kept gaining and gaining weight. My dr kept doing test to see if there was a reason, and adding meds to my regimen because I was being diagnosed with different things. I talked to my dr about it and went through the initial seminar that the local bariatric surgeon has. That's as far as I went that time. I met my wife and realized that I wanted to be healthy. I wanted to be around for her and my children. Her and I talked and she pushed me to go back to the dr and start the process again. I am a paramedic for the city we live in and she is an EMT. A nurse at one of the ER's had recently had gastric bypass. My wife spent about an hour one night talking with her and her experience. She recommeneded the surgeon she used. He had practiced at the local trauma hospital and done the gastric surgeries there. Our friend had had great success and had nothing but great things to say about Dr. Allen. I did some research into the different types of surgeries that were being performed and decided that I really wanted the sleeve. I contacted Dr. Allen's office and scheduled to go through the seminar again. By this time I had almost completed the 6 month weight loss study with my primary dr. After the seminar I submitted the appropriate paperwork and was pre-approved. I met with Dr. Allen and informed that at that time he was not doing the sleeve. He suggested the bypass for me. I decided it was the next best thing; I was NOT having the band done. lol Dr. Allen wanted a few approvals from my primary physician before surgery. I had to have a EKG, and Pulminary Function Test. The PFT came back obstructed at the dr's office so I was sent to a pulmonologist. I was very discouraged. I met with the pulmonologist he sent me to and was told there was a chance I had COPD. Again, more discouragement. The pulmonologist was not about to sign off on letting me have surgery since the intubation could be bad for me. He wanted me to use an inhaler and CPAP at night for 6 weeks and come back for a follow up PFT. 6 Weeks later I was back. The PFT was enormously better, and I felt ENORMOUSLY better. Best of all, he APPROVED ME FOR SURGERY. My primary physician signed off ok'ing it as well. It was time for the waiting game with the insurance company for approval. A few weeks later on Feburary 5th at 1300, I recieved a phone call from the surgeon's office that I had been approved and my surgery date was March 5th. They gave me the date and time for the pre-op meeting and test. And the best of all, the information on the 1500 calorie diet I was to follow for 2 weeks prior to my surgery. 2-weeks prior to surgery my wife went to the store, stocked up on slim-fast shakes and frozen lean cusines and I started this crazy 1500 calorie diet. I was approx 390-400 lbs. It wasn't as bad as I expected. The day before surgery a few of my friends from work and my wife took me out for my "last meal". I went to the local BBQ shack and had a full rack of ribs. Normally, before the diet I could clean them off and still be hungry, however, I ended up sending almost half of them home with a co-worker! We then had a small desert and sat and talked for about an hour. It was the last time I really ate "real" food. The next morning my wife and I were up at 0430 getting showers and packing bags for my hospital stay. I was told to be prepared for a 3 day hospital stay. Surgery began at around 0900 and I was out and in recovery by 1030. No problems with sedation or intubation. However, I was slightly oversedated and sent to the ICU for the night because they were worried about the sedation and my sleep apnea becoming a problem. I don't remember much of this. The most I remember is having a cathader that I kept asking to be taken out and waking up with the CPAP mask on at one point. The next day at around 0800 I was taken for a swollow study (worse tasting stuff in my life). Everything looked great! Cathader was taken out and I was released to drink clear liquids! A few hours later I was moved out of ICU up to a regular floor bed. My wife spent hours with me at the hospital, encouraging me to get up out of bed to walk and get the gas off my stomach. She made sure that I was getting adequate nutrition as well as enough Water to drink. She even brought me fat free milk! On the Friday after surgery I called her to come get me. They removed my JP drain and got me ready to go. I was able to go home and get a FULL NAP!!! I actually felt good enough when I woke up to go to the grocery with her to get some broth, Soups, and yogurts. Since then, I am down to only 1 pain pill a day if I go out for a long period of time. I haven't gone back to work, but don't have a follow up until Monday. I'm hoping to get the staples taken out of the incisions on Monday as well. They itch like crazy. And I'm super excited to start the mushy stage of my diet. I'm ready to get back to the gym and start walking and riding the bike and lose some of this weight a little quicker. I'm amazed at the little amout that I'm eating and it's keeping me satisfied. I already have more energy than I did before the surgery and I am able to stay awake longer during the day. I did cheat yesterday and had 1 lean hotdog. I ate it very slowly and didn't drink anything with it or afterwards. I didn't get sick, but I felt 100x's better afterwards. Guess, we're not all perfect lol Hope everyone else that has been sleeved is doing well also, and everyone getting ready to be sleeved is excited!

Hi bigjon76 Its nice to meet you too. I just got my surgery date on this past friday.Its on November 24th. I've been on cloud nine ever since. I feel exactly the same about not risking doing it on my own any longer. I'm 46 and have been blessed thus far considering being obese for so long without diabetes or high blood pressure until recently with pre diabetes and inconsistent blood pressure. So I welcome this new lifestyle change too. I am new to this site since September and haven't had much luck with people replying to my few posts I've made and I hope you have better luck than me. Wishing you a constant successfull journey. Looking forward to hearing how well you do with your surgery. Congrats

I had rny gastric bypass may 2, 2012. I had to have 2 blood transfusions and my blood pressure was higher then normal. They did the upper GI and found no leak so I was released after 2 days. When ingot home a couple days later I was having trouble keeping anything down. I was very thirsty all the time. I had a lot of pain in my belly button area that would go around to the lower back. I still had the jp drain in (thank God) I started seeing brown liquid in the drain and that's when I realized it was my protein shake. I went to my surgeon and he sent me to the ER and they did a cat scan and found a leak. They also found an abscess and a gastric gastric fistula. The leak cause the connection from my old stomach to my new pouch. So when ever I would eat or drink it would go out through the fistula into my drain and old stomach. My doctor admitted me into the hospital. I had to have a picc line and I was feed food bags. He couldn't go in to fix it because the area was to mushy. He wanted everything to dry out and then see if the fistula would close on its own. I was in the hospital for 18 days. I missed my daughters high school graduation. I was so upset. I even began to question why I did this surgery. After I was released from the hospital he kept me on the food through the picc line. I had to have home health care. A nurse came out once a week for about 2 months. Finally everything was getting better. All my vitals were back to normal. The doctor did another cat scan and decided the fistula was so tiny that no food would pass through it so we decided to wait and see if it would close on its own. I started on the diet I lost a lot of weight. I started at 264 lbs and lost over 105 lbs. about my year mark I started having trouble keeping any food down everything made me throw up. I kept complaining about the pain it felt like something was always getting stuck. He checked for a stricture I didn't have one. We checked the gallbladder, mine was fine. Everything we checked we couldn't find what was the source of all this pain. Finally he did a endoscopy. I had a pretty good size ulcer. They put me on carafate and 2 other antacids for 6 months. The pain and everything just kept getting worse. I asked if the fistula could cause the problem. He said it was to small. Well we did another endoscopy and now the ulcer is tripled in size. Now I barely eat anything. I went in for an upper GI. As I drank the stuff I watched on the screen all the liquid go into my old stomach. The fistula was bigger. The acid in my old stomach was coming through the fistula and caused the ulcer and damaged my pouch. I was told I had to go in for gastric revision. March 12, 2014 I went into the hospital and the doctor removed the upper part of my old stomach were the fistula was and he had to take down the pouch and rebuild it using part of my intestine. He said this surgery is more intense then the first and I would be in a lot more pain because of all the scar tissue and mess he had to repair from the first surgery. I was in the hospital for 3 days. I am now 6 weeks post op. I feel so much better this time. I was not in as much pain as the first time. I honestly believe that God said I was in enough pain the first time, that I didn't need it this time. I weighed today at 130 lbs. my new pouch is smaller then the normal size so I need to make sure I get my protein and water in. I was told I may have to eat a little more often. But so far I'm doing great. I am glad. Went through this surgery if I didn't the weight would have killed me. Even with the complications I would do it again if I had to. Everything has risks. I had a great surgeon who was there for me every step of the way. And I had a lot of family and friends support. And I pray to God everyday for giving me the faith to get through this and heal.

Do not get the band!!!! The research says if you do your chances of another surgery are about 50% by year 10 and continue to go up thereafter because of complications. I personally never would choose a surgery with a 50% long term complication rates that are severe enough to require surgery. Unfortunately that data was not available when I got mine so I became a statistic and had my band revised to bypass last year. Love my bypass.

I am 2 days post op and in feeling pretty good. Of course I am having a lot of pain and my pain meds make me itch all over. My biggest problem is that I am soooo thirsty. I cannot just gulp my ice water down line I want to ????. I never feel like I have quenched my thirst. I have actually learned to spice my chicken broth up enough so I look forward to it. Lol. I am so excited about this start to my new life. I am dreading having to drink the protein shakes. I just feel nauseous at the thought of it. I don't like them. I do know my dr told me it will probably take me all day to get the 8oz shake down. I would love to hear from other bypassers and how you are doing.

@@Mudgy6 I am guessing you meant your glucose level, not A1C. Regardless that is great news! I too was diabetic until my bypass. Now, my resting glucose is around 73 average when it used to be in the 150s. My A1C is well below normal at 4.8 No more medications! It is one of the best things about having bypass besides the fact that it cures reflux as well.

Had my RNY on Monday August 18th in Danville PA at Geisinger. Had some unexpected complications and some annoyances which may someday actually seem funny to me and my family. First off, The Bypass surgery itself went well, the Doctors were very good and the nursing staff...heck even the cleaning staff, made the experience bearable. Now for the bad parts. surgery started at 11 AM on the nose, I was looking at the clock as I took a nice long deep breath. Approx 8 hours later I was finally groggily awake, still in the recovery room looking into the teary eyes of my grandaughter and my husband.Seems i didnt want to breath on my own, every time they turned down the respirator I forgot to breath ! I'm here now and still breathing, so I guess it could have been a lot worse. The surgeon informed me later that he found an old hernia repair which had basically disintegrated, leaving me with mesh for them to clean out and he did a quick temporary fix for the hernia. Says the surgery for that will be a walk in the Park! So onward and upward. The next and worst thing of all was the monster bed they put me in. according to my Surgeon it is the latest best bariatraic hospital bed. cost $7000. I told him, during rounds, that is was worthless. i couldnt turn over or even sit up in the bed, I was basically a turtle on my back. This was also making it hard for me to cough or breath properly.The nurses said the beds are only useful for tall people or those who need mechanical aids to move them. they found me an old short-procedure wooden recliner to sleep in and I finally was able to breathe. Was having some Fluid build up in my ankles on wed, they didnt seem too concerned and sent me home. by Friday my foot was twice normal size and red and shiny. Bumex to the rescue. Started it on my own. didnt bother call anyone for advice. Seems to have worked as my swelling is slowly subsiding. Saw my PCP today and he spent the visit asking me why they took me off various meds? How the hell do I know? He wanted me to have the procedure and now seems upset that he cant micromanage it. His problem not mine. he is normally not like that but I guess we learn something new about people every day. So I came home, took a well deserved nap and am sipping on my wylers light raspberry iced Water and dreaming of pain free days. 2 1/2 hour drive to Danville tomorrow for checkup. Fun.

I'm getting my gastric bypass on May 1st. Anyone else want to buddy up? I'm 32/f/Colorado

If you have problems with really bad GERD and acid reflux I would go with the bypass. Also I know quite of few people with sleeve who have gained all there weight back, however I also know quite a few people who have gained weight with the bypass but only 15-30lbs back which is not much compare to the sleeve!! And I have seen sleepers revise to the RNY bypass. I just had RNY bypass done yesterday! It's painful but well worth it!! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I chose the sleeve, because the complications and malabsorption with bypass always bothered me. When I heard the sleeve was proven effective I knew it was the one for me if I was going surgery route. I first attempted to lose on my own a few years back. I also have hormonal conditions such as autoimmune thyroid and PCOS, which lead me to believed I had malabsorption issues just from things I noticed with how I felt. They did confirm when they did Vitamin levels that I was deficient in several and close to being deficient in one. I feel more comfortable giving my body the change to absorb as much as it can by still having my stomach and not re-routing GI tract and lose/maintain healthy weight at the same time. Plus, I've never been fixated on being an unrealistic weight goal or loss. I am very realistic - my goal was in line with the weight range my dietitian gave me which will still have me in the obese category technically for my height... I'm looking to be healthier, more mobile, and have more strength not to be thin per se or a certain pant size. Lastly, I had hoped to avoid as much distress of loose skin, and thought I'd be better with sleeve since my end goal after surgery would still be quite overweight. I've lost around 7% so far of my body weight at a normal, healthy rate, and honestly I've already started noticing changes with my skin. When I lost significant weight (almost 100lbs) a few years back I had virtually no loose skin except an unnoticeable to others amount on my stomach. As I lose now I am coming to terms with the likelihood I will require some skin removal, and should start savings now. I had hoped I could just be okay with it and wear it proudly, but I'm actually having skin irritation already just from around 25lb loss. Each weight loss journey a person has is different. This experience is so much different from my last one just a few years ago. And as everyone pointed out you can gain with either option which is often shown on weight loss documentaries. I was told by my program's psychologist to prepare for a 10-20lb weight gain after you hit your goal weight, and to set a limit you will not allow yourself to go over i.e. 200lbs, so if you reach that point you reevaluate yourself and get back on track, because weight will always be an issue for each of us, and everyone that loses through whatever means has to stay on top of it or it'll become uncontrollable. Sent from my SM-G530T using the BariatricPal App

Originally, the intention of the sleeve was to go on to have bypass it was seen as part 1 in the process. It was called the first part for people that weren't candidates for bypass, so that might be why you've seen them later have bypass. Now some choose to just go with sleeve alone. Honestly, there is only a 5% success in terms of long-term maintaining weight loss regardless of how you lose your weight with or without surgery. I've seen where people do not even lose weight initially after bypass, and I mean within first 3 months, because they never adhere to the diet changes or get up and move. Or after a year or two go back to old habits and end up back to their old weight. My program required us to take a life after surgery, and talked about the honeymoon period for all surgery candidates, and how most end up back at their starting weight. They stressed the importance of exercise with strength training to maintain or increase your RMR (resting metabolic rate), which is the only way to burn more calories to maintain or lose weight long-term. As everyone has mentioned this is a tool to retrain yourself and to be more active. It is not a quick fix or magic pill in the least. I've done a lot of reading on both surgeries for years, and as I said my program put me through a 12 week wellness course and 4 week course regarding life after surgery to give the best and latest research currently available. Sent from my SM-G530T using the BariatricPal App

From what I read I see that there are some suggestions that banding MAY not be as good as bypass, and MAY have more complications, and MAY not have as much weight loss.... but they need to do studies to prove that theory. THAT means, it's NOT a proven fact, it's just opinions. If you read this carefully, you'll find it contradicts itself somewhat. It theorizes that there MAY be less weight loss, and there MAY be more side effects. But over a period of years, the amount of overall weight loss is closer to bypass. Look at the news today... 1 in 29 chance of bypass death? I'll take 2 in 100 chance of reflux over 1 in 29 of death. These quotes tell me a lot about the whole article. <<"that concluded that LASGB had an identical weight loss curve to the open VBG performed by the same surgeons. Kellum (2003) concluded that “t is obvious that only a prospective, randomized series would definitively establish which operation is best in terms of safety and efficacy.” >> <<"The researchers concluded that more study is required to determine the long-term efficacy of LASGB." >> <<“For laparoscopic gastric banding, the available evidence suggests that weight loss at one year is less than that achieved with gastric bypass. More limited evidence on three-year weight loss suggests that this difference in weight loss may lessen over time.">> <<" Early adverse event rates are low following laparoscopic gastric banding, and are probably lower than gastric bypass.">>

Protein and Water I think is most important Gastric bypass 3/12/15 Follow our blog Lovemypouch.com Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Welcome!! And what great progress you have made so far! A stall since November must really be frustrating. How many calories / Protein grams / carb grams / fat grams are you having daily? Have you contacted your NUT to see if they can help? It seems most folks either realize they have been grazing, taking in too many carbs or just need to actually up their protein to kick it in to gear. Also I have seen people try liquids (protein shakes) for a few days to kick the stall out. Give us a better idea of what you are doing currently and maybe we can help.

March 9 2016 need to find a doctor to do a Flourascopy Fill in Albany NY call anyone help Sent from my VS990 using the BariatricPal App

Congrats. If only everyone's journey only took 9 weeks that's quick! My surgery wont be until October or November. Congrats again and good luck!

HI everyone. I had a Lap band to a Mini Bypass revision on July 5th. So far. I have lost 23 pounds, but somehow I keep feeling that it should be a bit more. after some difficulty in the first two months with my eating. With a lot of food rejection, I now feel that I can eat quite well. I can eat a small size of fish, or one whole very well cooked and soft chicken thigh. I avoid carbohydrates to maybe one dry diet cracker in the morning with cottage and s bit at lunch (at the most have half a potato or a spoonful of carrots or zucchini with the protein) and concentrate on the protein. I walk a lot on my job (I am a tour guide) sometimes for two whole hours.. I try to drink enough ( I usually mix water with sugarless ice tea powder, as flavoured water goes down easier for me ) I completely avoid sweets, pasta, bread, and eat very little fruit. Also I am not experiencing any cravings really, and because I am eating protein 3 times a day I think that I am getting enough protein and still the weight loss seems to stall. Or am I being unrealistic?? Or maybe I am doing something wrong? Last week. I was at 24 pounds less, this week it came back to 23., I am starting to feel frustrated with this up and down effect!! I would really appreciate some feedback from those of you who went through this before, and how you managed to overcome this! For the record, as this might be an important detail, I am 61. Thanks a lot for taking the time to read and answer. All the best to everyone. Sent from my D6603 using BariatricPal mobile app Sent from my D6603 using BariatricPal mobile app