Today is the first day of my journey. I had my consult today and I am scheduled for my sleeve on march 14. I am excited, scared, curious, and so many other feelings I can't describe. I have read so many stories on here and they have all inspired me so much. I just hope that I have the same success that everyone else has had. I have 2 mandatory test that I have to do first. 1.) sleep study 2.) psych evaluation. And possibly an EGD this is still up in the air. I am not sure why I have to do the psych test. Maybe someone else who had this can explain better. Is there something they could say to prevent my surgery. Just sounds like a silly thing to have to do, I know I have an addiction to food, don't need a head dr to tell me that..anyway any advice that anyone has would be greatly appreciated. I hear that the few weeks after surgery is the worst because, you still have the hormone that causes hunger still lingering around. Has anyone had this problem or have a suggestion on how to get through it? I welcome any information.

Thanks

Abby

Today is the first day of my journey. I had my consult today and I am scheduled for my sleeve on march 14. I am excited, scared, curious, and so many other feelings I can't describe. I have read so many stories on here and they have all inspired me so much. I just hope that I have the same success that everyone else has had. I have 2 mandatory test that I have to do first. 1.) sleep study 2.) psych evaluation. And possibly an EGD this is still up in the air. I am not sure why I have to do the psych test. Maybe someone else who had this can explain better. Is there something they could say to prevent my surgery. Just sounds like a silly thing to have to do, I know I have an addiction to food, don't need a head dr to tell me that..anyway any advice that anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

(ABBY, IF YOU DO HAVE AN ADDICTION AND IT'S NOT ADDRESSED BEFORE SURGERY, THEN THE WHOLE PROCESS COULD BE VERY DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO HANDLE, WHEN YOU ARE SEVERELY RESTRICTED WITH WHAT YOU ARE ALLOWED OR ABLE TO EAT. YOUR SURGEON MAY REQUIRE YOU TO FOLLOW A 2 WK FULL liquid DIET, LIKE I'M DOING RIGHT NOW. THEN AFTER SURGERY I WILL BE ON ANOTHER 2 WKS OF FULL liquids. THAT'S A LONG TIME WITHOUT REAL FOOD!)

I hear that the few weeks after surgery is the worst because, you still have the hormone that causes hunger still lingering around. Has anyone had this problem or have a suggestion on how to get through it? I welcome any information.

(I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THIS, CAUSE I HAVEN'T HAD SURGERY YET. I WISH YOU THE VERY BEST!)

Thanks

Abby

The psych is to make sure you have support. To make you you are fully aware of the decision you are making, that you are in the right mind to accept full ownership of all the things you will have to do post op.

It's not bad AT ALL. He just asked me some questions about my child hood. About my eating habits, my life now, etc.

It was a breeze. And, he was really nice.

They just want to make sure that you are in the right mindset. It would totally suck to go through the surgery, and not to be mentally prepared. It's really a helpful thing!

Good luck to you on your journey!

Today is the first day of my journey. I had my consult today and I am scheduled for my sleeve on march 14. I am excited, scared, curious, and so many other feelings I can't describe. I have read so many stories on here and they have all inspired me so much. I just hope that I have the same success that everyone else has had. I have 2 mandatory test that I have to do first. 1.) sleep study 2.) psych evaluation. And possibly an EGD this is still up in the air. I am not sure why I have to do the psych test. Maybe someone else who had this can explain better. Is there something they could say to prevent my surgery. Just sounds like a silly thing to have to do, I know I have an addiction to food, don't need a head dr to tell me that..anyway any advice that anyone has would be greatly appreciated. I hear that the few weeks after surgery is the worst because, you still have the hormone that causes hunger still lingering around. Has anyone had this problem or have a suggestion on how to get through it? I welcome any information.

Thanks

Abby

Welcome to VST and welcome to the first day of the rest of your life!!!

March 14th will be here fast, so you will want to make sure you have everything you need for your surgery and shortly after. You will likely not feel like doing any shopping or pretty much a whole lot of anything while you're recuperating and tired/weak from surgery and doing only liquids.

The Psych eval is helpful in determining whether or not your have a good foundation, good understanding of what you will be taking on, and good relationships as you will need support during and after your surgery. Most do fine, I wouldn't worry too much about this.

Most of us are here due to an addiction to food. I am addicted to food. I am a recovering addict, and you can and will be as well. Our stomachs will only be able to hold so much. You will really need to dig deep inside to overcome this. The sleeve is only a tool, and used properly you will shed your weight like you never thought possible. If you abuse the tool, it will backfire. Just do the best you can, you are here for a reason and I know exactly what goes along with having eating issues. I work on mine every single day, and I will for the rest of my life.

My experience was that I wasn't hungry at all after surgery. In fact I didn't even want to eat. I couldn't stand the sight or smell of food. I didn't miss it and thank goodness for this, I didn't have any awful head hunger while I was doing my post op diet. This isn't true for everyone though, so just know that there are many different possibilities post op. You can only find out when you get there.

If you are one of the ones who experiences hunger post op, you must remember that you will be allowing your stomach to heal. Your staple line will not have scarred over and you CAN get food particles stuck in the staple line. You can seriously injure yourself, and you could possibly need surgery again to fix any damage you might have caused. You possibly could even cause a leak in your stomach. So, just be careful and follow your post op diet - not even to the best you can, you just have to do it for your health and safety.

Once you are over your healing period and you are back to life as normal, you will sometimes even forget you had surgery. The weight will be flying off and life will just seemed brighter, more awesome, and things will be going well. No this isn't going to fix all your problems, but it will fix your obesity (as long as you stick to the plan) so IMO that fixed a lot of my anxieties.

All the best to you. I'm sure you will do fine... stick around and read as much as you can here. Ask a million questions, for you are going to go through a huge change - you will want to be ready.

Thank you everyone who gave your advise. I now have a better understanding of why this evaluation is so important. When I asked the scheduler at the surgeons office why she said it was just to make sure I wasn't crazy. But going to talk about the addiction to food and the fact that I will no longer be able to use it as my comfort, my friend, or my crutch is a very scary thought. I know that going in but it will be nice to talk with a professional to be able to help me through it. I do have an addiction to food and I have no idea why or when it really started. I have not always been the "fat" girl. It used to be just the opposite. I graduated high school 20 years ago weighing a mere 87 lbs. No I never had anorexia or any kind of eating disorder. I just couldn't gain weight. I never in a million years thought I would be at the weight I am today. My weight gain didn't start until after my 2nd child. My first pregnancy I only gained 25 lbs putting me at 125lbs at delivery. At my 2week check up post delivery I was down to 90lbs.I lost more than I had gained, and they made me stop breast feeding. My 2nd pregnancy I gained 20 and never lost any of it, it just went up. And since then 8 years now I am up to 209 and 5ft tall. I don't think I ever suffered from post pardum, but I do suffer from depression and always have even in high school. So who knows. I do know that I am ready to make this necessary change in my life. I am slowly killing myself with food and it needs to stop. I will read on this forum everyday to educate my self, get inspiration and anything else I can to help me along my way.

Thank you for all the support

A.

Congrats on the date Abby!!! We may be sleeve sister, I am scheduled for surgery anytime between March and June