Anyone Over 55 Had Gastric Sleeve Surgery ?

[Jukecat 0]

I am 57 and due to have vss in jan 2012. Waiting for approval now. Just wondered what the experience was for somebody my age. Thanks juke cat.

[elise 5]

Hi Juke cat,

I'm 57 also and became sleeved on Wed Nov 16! So far so good. My surgeon said everything went like "textbook". No major complications. Only thing that happened was post-op and my blood pressure was elevated for 2 couple of days and the hospital had to treat me via IV meds. Now I did have high BP prior to the surgery but at the high levels that occurred post-op. At first I was worried, but, my surgeon came and spoke to me about it. He said it is common for the BP to rise after major surgery, and the levels were not critical. In fact 48 hrs after surgery the levels started to return to normal levels (for me).

I am now 5 days post -op and my diabetes is normal,without meds! My surgeon instructed me to continue to monitior but not to take my diabetes medicines unless greater than 180. My levels are 86-114. I didn't expect so quick a response.

I am basically, pain-free. I have liquid Lortab but only used it a couple of times. My incisions are small (5 of them) and healing well. They were closed with Derma-Bond, type of super glue for surgery, not stitches or staples. I am still adjusting to the small amounts of fluids I need to swallow, if too much it hurts a little, but, the feeling passes quickly and I can restart drinking again. My surgeon gave me a analogy: Think of the esophagus to the stomach as a funnel. liquids swirls down fine unless you add to much then it builds up and can over flow, but, it still is going down. Just stop and wait for the funnel to empty. So, that's what I do. No problems- no vomiting, no nausea. So far so good.

Also my cousin had it done at 58 and now is 61. No problems either. Just follow the directions from your doctor and listen to your body. Hope this helps!

[RickM 1,753]

I am close at 53 and had my VSG in early May. I'm down about 95lb and within 10 to goal and overall have had an easy recovery and post-op period. I had a few days the second week where my lower GI couldn't decide of I should have diarrhea from the soft/liquid diet or be constipated from the residual pain meds and that kept me close to home and didn't get in as much walking as I should have that week, but before that I was starting to outpace my wife on the walking trails. I had very little restriction for liquids which helped in the early days which meant that in the early days I could have enough Protein drinks to be able to experiment with small amounts of other foods and still get in the requisite Protein - enough that the doc was telling me to add veg to the diet by day 10. My system hasn't rejected anything that I have tried, so I have been able to keep a reasonably well balanced diet through all of this despite the volume restrictions (and yes, there sure is a restriction when it comes to solid proteins) and have been able to have a good variety of foods, both at home and when eating out.

My wife had a DS (a VSG plus intestinal rerouting) when she was 55 and she, likewise, had a boringly average recovery while losing over 200lb. She wound up being lactose intolerant afterward, and still is to some extent, and had more tolerance issues than I did during the recovery and loss phase, and strangely had more liquid restriction than I ever had despite her nominally larger stomach - her Protein shakes had to be so concentrated to get in enough protein that they were ghastly to her. Just one of the variations between us all.

Good luck down your chosen path,

[Foxbins 625]

I'm 56 and had my VSG in Jan 2011. I hit a normal BMI in September and my goal of 150 lbs in October. I also have hypothyroidism so I thought that I would lose pretty slowly. I low-carbed until goal and now I am experimenting with maintenance eating. I still journal my food and Water (I'm bad about Water unless I write it down) and measure my food if I'm home.

Age was no barrier to weight loss for me! Good luck!

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

hi all, I will be 58 in January - i am pre-op, sleeve 2b done 12/6/11 - can't wait, so very excited and a little nervous. I'm not that concerned about the WLS - its after the fact that scares me more. I'm worried about my drinking H20, and eating the proper amount of Protein. If anything I'm afraid I'll be so scared that i won't eat enough. I've heard that if you don't eat enough you could go into some type of starvation mode, and not lose more weight. So of course I won't do that.

I will be totally honest and say that in the past month i've GAINED 20 lbs. its amazing how easy it is to gain. I just wanted to eat food that i couldn't eat later. I kind of over did it though. I know i have been told i eventually can eat anything, very very small portions, but I think thats a tease.

Anyways, since I gained-I should be able to lose when I become sleeved right? That retorical (msp) because if i follow all the rules i should be able to lose like anyone else?

Once again - so happy to be sleeved in a couple of weeks. See you all at the Water cooler, i'm buying :grouphug: kathy

[Jukecat 0]

Thanks for all of your responses! So helpful! My paperwork to insurance is going in Wednesday. So, if all goes well, in should have a surgery date soon in january. Then on to hip replacement which the ortho folks wouldn't do til I lost the weight. at least 60 pounds. Thanks again for all of the over 55 encouragement!! Jukecat

[DebiC 181]

I'm 56 and a week out from surgery. The first two days were horrible and I felt like I'd made the biggest mistake of my life. Now a week later I can't tell I even had surgery! I have more energy than I have in a long time (I have lost 33 lbs since my ore-op visit). I have been one of the lucky ones-no complications, no side effects. I am just now starting to be able to set up a meal/water schedule. My surgeon said for the first few weeks just eat when you're hungry and stop when you are full-worry more about Water than Protein. I keep a bottle of water with me at all times and sip whenever I remember.

My blood pressure has already gone down enough that they have taken me off two of my three BP medications (of course I had just bought 3 month supplies of both!!)

Good Luck.

I'm so glad to see so many other over 50's

[Free2B 8]

I am 62 and was sleeved four weeka ago today. I had a couple of complications, but they were not related to my age. I lost 27 pounds on my insurance-required pre-op diet and another 19-20 pounds since the surgery. Like most everyone, I have had some difficulty getting in the desired amounts of Protein and fluids, but it is getting easier every day. I haven't had any problems with food tolerance except, perhaps, for eggs which is pretty common.

I have no regrets whatsoever and want you to know that as far as I can tell, age is no barrier to having the vsg. Good luck to you!