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Too Young For Surgery?



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Hey guys,

I am 20 years old, 5'1 and 255 lbs.

I am scared that i'm too young for surgery...

What do you think?

THanks!

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Hey guys' date='

I am 20 years old, 5'1 and 255 lbs.

I am scared that i'm too young for surgery...

What do you think?

THanks![/quote']

No you are too young to be 255 lbs. You still have a full life to live and enjoy. You making the right decision. Good luck to you!

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I am 19 years old and I had surgery just over a week ago. I am 5'2" and my starting weight was 271. I say age doesn't matter as long as you know that this surgery requires a lifelong commitment. If you ever want a sleeve buddy to talk to, feel free to contact me anytime! :)

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I'm 29 and just had surgery this week. I wish I would have done this years ago!

If I had done this years ago I would have had less weight to loose. If you know you can't loose the weight without surgery, the only thing that will happen if you wait a few years will probably be that you will weigh more then.

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Thank you everyone! Aren't you guys scared that the long term results are unknown?

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They have actually been doing this surgery for years as part of the duodenal Switch. As much as I was worried about the unknown I was more concerned about what would happen to my health if I didn't have the surgery.

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I agree with the above poster, I would much rather deal with a surgery with unknown long term results than to die from weight related issues.

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I have mixed feelings about this. I'm 42 and have been overweight by some degree my whole life, but severely for the last 10.

--On one hand I regret wasting so many years of my life obsessing over food and weight loss. I feel robbed of my entire 30's and part of my 20's. I wish this procedure had been more prolific back then. I did NOT want any part of RNY.

--On the other hand- I just don't know if I had the maturity and appreciation for what would be happening to me had I had the opportunity to have the surgery. I think I would have been left with the feeling of "what if I had JUST tried a little harder to diet and exercise?" Why did I do something so drastic? I know now that it did not work out that way, but how was I to know back then?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't do it. I'm just sharing my own feelings on how I was at 20 years old. I would not have had the life experience to deal with the changes and what it all meant. You are a different person though.

My PCP told me that once a person's BMI gets to 40, there is very little chance of ever being thin permanently without surgical intervention. SO..... this may spare you years of heartache.

p.s. to this comment....I also had some eating disorders in my early 20's, so I would have blown this opportunity all to H#!!

I've since dealt with those...

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I am 20 as well and am scheduled for surgery next week. I know quite a few people my age that have had this done and all are very happy with their decision. I would rather do this now and not wait until I got any bigger. :)

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There are some teenagers on this board. I'm 22 myself, but I've seen people as young as 15 and 16 on here.

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Lau-

I think the most important question is not if you're too young but have you tried to lose weight? Have you been successful to only gain it back? Has this happened multiple times? Have you tried multiple approaches?

It's my opinion that a person should easily be able to answer YES to all of these questions before considering surgical options regardless of age.

Best of luck to you.

Amanda

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I'm 22 and getting sleeved the 3rd of April! :)

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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