Hi my name is Denise, I have been toying with WLS for around 3 years...yes I'm chicken and a bit of an over thinker I have been looking into mainly the lapband but remeber hearing about the "sleeve" on a forum a year or so ago, so I thought I would look into it today. Initially I was refferd for gastric bypass by my pcp, but that seemed so extreme, then I discovered the band . I have talked myself in and out of this to many times to even really know? I went in for a consultatin and even had the surgery date, went in had labs done and the whole bit, only to find out that my surgery had been cancelled 2 days before surgery, due to insufficeint documentation for UHC ins. I took it as a "sign" that maybe I'm just not the kinda girl that needs this...I could do it on my own if I just got real serious and stuck to a plan...Well here I am still 3 years latter having the same conversations with myself and my AWESOME super supportive husband (i'm sure he's so over hearing about it all). I am fortunate that I really do have an amazing amount of support from him. His attitude is he knows this is a serious change I would be making and he will be by my side for the journey and is excited to change his habits as well. We have been married just about 17 years. I'm 35 and we have an 11 yo daughter..who is not a fan of me having surgery. Right now I feel very vulnerable, lonley and just at my wits end with not being able to make a decission due to being paralyzed by fear of having everything that could go wrong...go wrong. I've NEVER had a surgery and have only been to the hospital twice in my life...to be born and give birth. I havent always been overweight actually I'm a veteran of the U.S. Army (hoorah) Wow am I rambling... I just need to really feel some support and not feel like I'm crazy for going back and forth 20 times an hour, it's more exhausting having this darn internal conversation than it would be to just exercise:)anyhow I hope I havent scared anyone away but felt that I could find support and answers and possibly what I've been looking for with WLS on this forum and with this procedure verses others. Thanks for reading. Have a great day!

I yo-yo dieted for years before I finally made the leap. I tried optifast, medifast, shots in the bum, weight watchers, LA weight loss, Atkins.... All of which helped me to lose weigh, I even lost over 100 lbs 3 different times. I also gained it back every time. I went to the initial surgery seminar and heard about the three options, and to me the sleeve made the most sense. Now I am three months post op and I have to go to these support groups with people who had any of the 3 surgeries once a month at the hospital where I had my surgery. I am losing just as fast, if not faster, then some of the people who had the bypass. I also hear them talk about crazy stuff like dumping syndrome, and vomitting, and not being able to eat all types of foods. Now, I know everyone is different, but so far my sleeve has been great. You have to do what is right for you, but I wish I would have done it sooner and I have no regrets. Good luck!

I yo-yo dieted for years before I finally made the leap. I tried Optifast, medifast, shots in the bum, weight watchers, LA weight loss, Atkins.... All of which helped me to lose weigh, I even lost over 100 lbs 3 different times. I also gained it back every time. I went to the initial surgery seminar and heard about the three options, and to me the sleeve made the most sense. Now I am three months post op and I have to go to these support groups with people who had any of the 3 surgeries once a month at the hospital where I had my surgery. I am losing just as fast, if not faster, then some of the people who had the bypass. I also hear them talk about crazy stuff like dumping syndrome, and vomitting, and not being able to eat all types of foods. Now, I know everyone is different, but so far my sleeve has been great. You have to do what is right for you, but I wish I would have done it sooner and I have no regrets. Good luck!

I agree with the above completely. I wish I would have done it sooner.

Hi...I recently joined as well. I'm considering going to Mexico to get the sleeve surgery so I have the added worry of not being home (in Colorado) and not having a surgeon close by if something goes wrong and I have complications. My husband and I are self employed and self paid for medical insurance. Needless to say the insurance wouldn't even think of paying for this so Mexico here I come.

I'm very nervous and I think that is normal. It's a major change and we should be concerned and nervous. I've thought about this for 3 yrs as well. I have a friend that lost 127lbs with the band.

Yep it's scary but I'm going for it! Because I'm tired of having the internal conversation of "I hate being fat". Kudos to you for losing weight a couple of times. Yeah you gained it back which is a bummer but with the wls you probably won't this time.

It's a big decision to make. I had never had surgery before either and I was scared outta my mind there for a while, but everything worked out well. I made a list of pros and cons and realized that many of the cons were things that I could help reduce the risk of after surgery. For example, you can help decrease your risk of leaks by following your doctor's plan strictly, you can decrease your risk of blood clots by walking often, and you can decrease your risk of pneumonia by using your incentive spirometer often. I didn't want to end up with diabetes in a few years and I know that's the road I was headed down because it runs rampant in my extended family. The risks of having diabetes are incredibly high too - sores that don't heal, losing your eyesight, hurting your kidneys. For me, the risks of surgery were not as high as the risks of letting myself continue at my weight.

I'm only a few weeks out still, but even through the hard days I am thankful for my sleeve. I feel like I'm starting to be able to really get back and active in my life without the low energy and weight holding me back as much. It's a hard road, but well worth it. I hope that you find the answers you are looking for and are able to figure out what works for you.

Hey thanks for the feed back! I've had so many changes recently, we moved from AZ to CA one of my long time dreams was to live in CA and so here we are husbands got a great job with insurance that will cover wls (yippie) last time when I looked into we were going to have to self pay..we even withdrew from his 401K to pay for it after ins denied but as I mentioned I thought of it as a "sign" well the only sign I see is that I'm still fat and not happy. I have conquered many things in my life I quit smoking at the drop of a hat when I joined the army and never picked it back up but for a short time when my Mother passed away. But why can't I conquer this? Sleeve Master I appreciate you showing the light that yes if we follow the Doc orders more than likely things will be ok. I just know that it's a BIG deal and I'm really thinking this over (3years):)maybe to much thinking:) hehehe.. But I realize the change and effect this will have on my life as well as my family. I have known 2 people (thier) spouses who have had bypass and have had a terrible time which has scared the HELL out of me. I know it's time to put my big girl panties on and get on with it. I do believe the sleeve is sounding like the best of both worlds? Can you tell me why the sleeve over the other 2 procedure for you guys? thanks again it really has made my day that you all took the time to read and reply.

As a Navy veteran, I understand about not always having been overweight. Reality is, however, I've been "obese" for many years. For the longest time I felt that having gastric bypass surgery was ridiculously extreme. Who in their right mind would do that to their insides??? I also had no interest in the lap-band...no desire to have plastic bits and pieces inside me! (And I know too many people who've had it and failed, or had significant issues.) Over the years I tried almost every diet known to man...Weight Watchers (multiple times), Atkins, Nutrasystem, etc etc. I'd lose 20 or 30 pounds, stop losing, get frustrated and quit, and gain 30 or 40 back. When I hit 350 pounds, I decided I was just always going to be fat....I was going to be diagnosed with diabetes (I was "pre-diabetic" already), and my blood pressure was edging up towards the point of being hypertensive. I was just going to have to deal with it.

And then I watched a program called "My 600 lb Life", earlier this year. There were four episodes, each following a different gastric bypass patient over the course of 7 years. At the beginning they were each at least 650 lbs, and chose to have bypass surgery in order to get their weight off, and their lives back in control. They were each portrayed in such human terms....and I realized that, unless I made some drastic changes, and quick, I was going to end up being that heavy. I signed up for Weight Watchers yet again, and managed to lose 20 pounds. When I quit losing (yet again), I decided dieting wasn't going to cut it for me....I needed something more dramatic....and, for the first time, I began investigating weight loss surgery. I looked at numerous programs located in the Boston area, and ended up choosing the program at Beth Israel Deaconess....a marvelous choice!. I initially thought I would have gastric bypass surgery (believe it or not), but ultimately chose to have the "sleeve", after discussing with my surgeon.

Now I'm 8 weeks post-op, and am so incredibly grateful I had the opportunity to have surgery!! My wife has been incredibly supportive, and the program at BIDMC is awesome. I'm religious about following my surgeon's instructions, and am thrilled with the results! I've lost just under 70 pounds since my first visit with the surgeon, and am down 3 pants/shirts sizes since my surgery! I've had no major issues eating...I've learned when to stop, in order to avoid the discomfort of over-eating (trust me...you don't want to eat to the point of being over-full!!)...and I'm enjoying the process of reintroducing "regular" foods to my diet. Yes...there have been difficult days...no doubt about it. The first few days after surgery were miserable. The first 3 weeks after surgery I was exhausted much of the time. There are days when hormones get the better of me (hormones are stored in fatty tissue, so when you burn fat quickly, you often get bursts of hormones released, affecting your mood). But, even with all of that, I wouldn't trade my sleeve for anything in the world!! Its my new best friend, and I work hard to take good care of it. To have surgery was, without a doubt, the best decision I've made in a very long time!!

As for "why the sleeve".....I wanted to avoid the malabsorption issues, commonly seen with gastric bypass surgery, if at all possible. Also, the idea of limiting the sensation of hunger (by removing the majority of the part of the stomach that produces ghrelin, dramatically reducing the amount of ghrelin present in the body) was also very attractive.

Yeah I did the sleeve because I didn't like the malabsorption part of the bypass and the higher risks of bypass. I decided against the band because I didn't want a foreign body in me for life that has a port under your skin that you have to fill with solution. That part wierded me out.