I read some interesting comments today and I wanted to make something really clear.

Out of all these people around the globe that are on this website, there are going to be some of us that have found post op, that this surgery was the wrong decision.

If you want this website to be honest and truthful, a source of good solid information for people considering surgery and a source of support for people post op, then everyone's experiences should be welcome.

The reason's I think this surgery was wrong for me has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with my post op complications!

And as for comments about people who regret their surgeries and have complications because:

• "houses were dirty"

• "they didn't follow instructions"

• "they haven't seen the great results yet"

• "they are just negative people and negative people are more vocal

So, just let me tell you this, some of us simply made a mistake.

We thought this was a good plan, we took advice, did our research, attended the seminars and weigh ins (in my case, two years attending).

We met our surgeons, we discussed our pre existing conditions, we spoke to our family and friends.

I myself have a counsellor, did CBT counselling for the entire two years pre op and am deemed emotionally and mentally sound. (just as an aside, my NHS CBT counsellor did not agree with this surgery).

I checked with my pain mgt team about the efficacy of my medications post op.

And it was still a mistake!

And so what?

It happens. And people like me should be able to explain these things without others trying to negate our admission of this mistake by offering excuses as to why we are unhappy with our decision.

I could have floated onto a cloud, had magical unicorns lick away my stomach, and woke up in paradise fully healed, sipping a cocktail in the sun and I would still tell you that this was a mistake for ME. And for many of my friends.

It doesn't matter how many years post op I get, I will consider this a mistake.

My house is not dirty, I followed instructions to the letter, I consider my bariatric discharge booklet my life guideline and I never variate.

I keep in touch with anyone and everyone in my medical care stream that might be helpful.

And complications happened. And yes, to many of us in our bariatric system. But again, it was not the complications that disturb us.

We all have different reasons for regretting it.

Most of us feel that we were misinformed, which doesn't help. My neighbour regrets her bypass because of her now permanent diarrhea and no improvement in her diabetes. She tells me that she has to think about food most of the day just to keep herself fed (choosing the right foods so as not to vomit), and she could have simply dieted harder if she had known she would have to think of food all day. She is three years post op and she still struggles with dehydration. Her hair never grew back after the initial drop out.

I myself am only 9 weeks post op and have had complications so I can't know what my future holds.

I miss eating quickly and simply in a way that doesn't have to be well thought out.

I want to be able to eat a full salad, maybe even with dressings, without worrying about which component might not agree with me.

I want to be able to eat any kind of meat I want cooked how I want in the quantity I want.

I want to drink beverages with my meals.

I miss a morning coffee or afternoon tea. I miss ice tea. (I know other people can drink it but I can't now).

I don't want to have to plan my food day meticulously or be different from others around me eating.

I want my medications to work again in the way they did pre op to control my fibromyalgia symptoms.

And I have definitely seen weightloss results. As I was lying there starving to death for seven weeks, I have lost all but 20lbs of my expected and required excess weight to satisfy my healthcare team. ( I am still only getting around 500 cals a day in, but have constant diarrhea so who knows how much stays in).

I now look "normal" except for the grey pallor in my skin and the nappy I now have to wear because of fecal incontinence (my IBS-d was totally controlled before surgery).

I am six dress sizes smaller but can only leave my house if I don't eat anything and wear adult protection in case of Water causing an "accident". Or in case I become faint from lack of food and fall.

So I do actually feel that had I read a forum entry like this, I might have thought twice.

And that's a good thing. If people are scared, that's okay. Let them hear more than just "don't worry, I was fine, you will be too!" Because maybe they won't!

So this is not about complications, it's about people.

One size does not fit all. Some of us should have simply accepted our weight, or worked harder to diet it off. Had I taken in only 300 to 500 calories a day for 9 weeks pre op, I would have lost all this weight anyway.

If you are happy, well done! If you are dead set on going ahead, ignore this. If you are a high BMI person (think 600lb life), God bless you, this may save your life, if you are a food addict, I feel your pain.

You will still have to diet post op! You will still have to exercise.

If you are undecided, then simply take a breath, think about it, really examine your food issues. Could you do more to lose weight? Could you move a bit more and eat a bit less?

Anyway, I am where I am and I plan to make the best of what I have left. And I intend to keep making sure that pre op people have a good think and post op people like me have someone they can talk to.

Thanks to everyone who is supporting me.

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I believe in a pre-op post you indicated you were 90% incapacitated and homebound because of your illnesses. You also said you knew the risks but it was worth it. You were also encouraged to go to the hospital right after surgery when you were experiencing complications and you didn't feel like waiting there all day. You didn't follow up with problems you were having but now blame the care you received and the infection control at the hospital. I honestly can't believe this thread is still active. We all know you regret surgery and are miserable but please stop blaming your surgeon, NHS or suggesting those of us who have surgery could have lost weight on our own.

Interesting. I've been following this now very long thread because I'm pre op and want to hear all the perspectives. I looked back and found the post in question and you're right, this is the post.

• GinaCampbell

  Junior Guru

• Posts: 344
• Joined: May 2016
• Gender: Female
• Location: ENGLAND
• Surgery: Gastric Sleeve
• Surgery Date: May 2016
• Height: 5 feet 2 inches
• Starting Weight: 266 lbs
• Weight Lost: 76 lbs
• Current Weight: 190 lbs
• Goal Weight: 125 lbs
• BMI: 34.7

• @Mention

Posted May 28, 2016 - 6:36 AM

#9

My daughter thinks that I have not given conventional dieting enough of a chance. She feels that I could lose weight normally if I tried harder. I explained that I am addicted to food, cannot stop overeating and that my disability prevents me from exercising. I now am 95% bedbound. She just sees this surgery as a shortcut to weightloss. Also she feels that after surgery that I will simply overeat again so it won't be successful.

No, she is not obese.

Thank you all for being so supportive, it really helps.

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Gina, it sounds like you had a LOT of health problems before the surgery and now you're trying to scare others away with your horror story but you're not giving the full picture. If you're truly trying to "inform the public", you should include the backstory as well.

I believe in a pre-op post you indicated you were 90% incapacitated and homebound because of your illnesses. You also said you knew the risks but it was worth it. You were also encouraged to go to the hospital right after surgery when you were experiencing complications and you didn't feel like waiting there all day. You didn't follow up with problems you were having but now blame the care you received and the infection control at the hospital. I honestly can't believe this thread is still active. We all know you regret surgery and are miserable but please stop blaming your surgeon, NHS or suggesting those of us who have surgery could have lost weight on our own.

Interesting. I've been following this now very long thread because I'm pre op and want to hear all the perspectives. I looked back and found the post in question and you're right, this is the post.

• GinaCampbell

  Junior Guru

• Posts: 344
• Joined: May 2016
• Gender: Female
• Location: ENGLAND
• Surgery: Gastric Sleeve
• Surgery Date: May 2016
• Height: 5 feet 2 inches
• Starting Weight: 266 lbs
• Weight Lost: 76 lbs
• Current Weight: 190 lbs
• Goal Weight: 125 lbs
• BMI: 34.7

• @Mention

Posted May 28, 2016 - 6:36 AM[/size]

#9

My daughter thinks that I have not given conventional dieting enough of a chance. She feels that I could lose weight normally if I tried harder. I explained that I am addicted to food, cannot stop overeating and that my disability prevents me from exercising. I now am 95% bedbound. She just sees this surgery as a shortcut to weightloss. Also she feels that after surgery that I will simply overeat again so it won't be successful.

No, she is not obese.

Thank you all for being so supportive, it really helps.

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Gina, it sounds like you had a LOT of health problems before the surgery and now you're trying to scare others away with your horror story but you're not giving the full picture. If you're truly trying to "inform the public", you should include the backstory as well.

Well, now. Isn't that interesting? If one was already 95% bed ridden and in such shoddy health, why would one bla... Oh. Never mind.

If I were mentally, emotionally and physically strong enough to "suck it up", I wouldn't need surgery myself. I am bedbound and housebound so cannot exercise, or even walk but a few steps a day, because of severe fibromyalgia and cfs. That's why I am having surgery. I also have a bowel condition and severe IBS D. Everyday, what I eat is a struggle because of the effect it has on my body. Yes, I am weak and yes, I am reaching out and whining. Because I am alone, no one understands and I am sad. So I came here to ask for help. I did not get fat from being indulgent, I got fat because I can no longer move. I haven't posted all of this because I didn't think I had to.

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And HERE you state you already had IBS and severe bowel problems pre-op?

Post op you blamed the sleeve?

Now it's possible CDif?

Color me confused.

At the end of the day Gina doesn't want any advice or help from us. I tried weeks ago to give advice but she just becomes aggressive/ defensive and downright rude. Not being funny Gina but you need some serious help. Mentally. You need some counselling. You think I'm on the side of the NHS but in one of my first posts I told you to take it further. Your trust pays millions every year in insurance policies for people who try and sue. Get a solicitor if you think it's the fault of the hospital. Get a second opinion. Go to a different hospital. Do anything you can but PLEASE STOP having a go at people who are only trying to help!!!

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Edited August 27, 20169 yr by madadams

Thank you all for your kind wishes. Of course I new that I would be healing and therefore restricted at 9 weeks (now 10). But if you read these forums, some people are eating quite alot at three months out. My nutritionist said that I would be "eating normally at six weeks out, just less". No mention of problem foods, intolerances etc. Upon discharge after surgery, then the booklet is issued to me discussing the food stages in detail and that "meat and lettuce" might be problem foods.

I take your point that maybe a year from now, I might be eating better. Or I might not.

Again, I will never, ever have a different opinion. 6 months, 6 years. Never.

This was wrong for me. I want to be free to choose how, when, where I eat and drink. I made a mistake, I made a bad decision.

I am stuck with this forever now and that makes me sad but it is done.

Just trying to live with it now.

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Exactly. I was under the impression that I would be able to eat anything - just in smaller amounts. That really isn't the case. I feel like I have set myself up for having digestive problems for the rest of my life. Also, I can't ever just eat. I have to worry about eating too fast, not chewing enough, whether the food I am going to eat will digest properly or whether it will contribute to the reflux that I now have after VSG that I didn't have before. I am two months out and regret doing this to myself. I am feeling less regret than I did immediately afterwards and I've been lucky so far (knock on wood) to avoid some of the major complications that others have had. I lost 35 pounds the month after surgery and haven't lost any more weight since then. I haven't gained any either, but I could have lost 35 pounds and kept it off without this surgery.

If I could go back to before the surgery I would talk myself out of it.

You have to admit, after reading thousands of "sleeved Sunday, in work Monday, I love my sleeve, happy days" posts. Which are discussed "ad nauseum", I might have missed some posts regarding in depth, post op mental, emotional and physical complications.

We all have lives, even me. There are only so many hours a day to research this topic. I asked my team in depth questions. I got the same answers most people here give. "You'll be fine!", "It's a stage!", "follow your program!".

Yes, yes, and yes! It's like there is a cult of the almighty Sleeve and any negative talk is met with, "Give it time!" and "You'll feel differently later."

I have even met people who say they love their sleeve and talk about how wonderful it is and then later will tell you about their complications - acid reflux, food aversions, vomiting, and then when I say, "woah! Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?!!?" and they will just say it's no big deal and change the subject.

I know someone that I talked to before surgery. After I had the VSG she told me she has an atrophied kidney - (probably because of more than 9 years on PPIs that she's been taking for reflux.) I said that would have been nice to know before surgery. She said she wasn't sure it was the PPIs that caused the kidney damage. Oh, and she only throws up once a week because of reflux - it's not that bad. That's right - she didn't tell me that last part until after I got a sleeve. [ btw, "ad nauseum" - nice choice of words, Gina]

I went to a post-op support group last week and met a woman who had a VSG 7 years ago. During the support group, she was talking about the joys of having a sleeve and she brought a friend who is planning to get one in October. But... on the way out the door to our cars I asked her about her reflux: "worse than ever" she said. She is on more medication than she was before the sleeve.

Sleeve groupies. It's the cult of the sleeved. I swear if I end up liking this sleeve later - not sure I will - but if I do, I will never be a sleeve groupie. I will be honest with the pre-ops.

When I b*tch about my reflux, I get "didn't you know that was a complication of the sleeve?" Well, yes, but I didn't know it was a permanent one, or that I was likely to develop it forever if I didn't have it already.

Yes, yes, and yes! It's like there is a cult of the almighty Sleeve and any negative talk is met with, "Give it time!" and "You'll feel differently later."

A thousand times THIS!! People who offer kind, supportive and encouraging words should definitely be taken out back and shot.

Shame on them!!!

You have to admit, after reading thousands of "sleeved Sunday, in work Monday, I love my sleeve, happy days" posts. Which are discussed "ad nauseum", I might have missed some posts regarding in depth, post op mental, emotional and physical complications.

We all have lives, even me. There are only so many hours a day to research this topic. I asked my team in depth questions. I got the same answers most people here give. "You'll be fine!", "It's a stage!", "follow your program!".

Yes, yes, and yes! It's like there is a cult of the almighty Sleeve and any negative talk is met with, "Give it time!" and "You'll feel differently later."

I have even met people who say they love their sleeve and talk about how wonderful it is and then later will tell you about their complications - acid reflux, food aversions, vomiting, and then when I say, "woah! Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?!!?" and they will just say it's no big deal and change the subject.

I know someone that I talked to before surgery. After I had the VSG she told me she has an atrophied kidney - (probably because of more than 9 years on PPIs that she's been taking for reflux.) I said that would have been nice to know before surgery. She said she wasn't sure it was the PPIs that caused the kidney damage. Oh, and she only throws up once a week because of reflux - it's not that bad. That's right - she didn't tell me that last part until after I got a sleeve. [ btw, "ad nauseum" - nice choice of words, Gina]

I went to a post-op support group last week and met a woman who had a VSG 7 years ago. During the support group, she was talking about the joys of having a sleeve and she brought a friend who is planning to get one in October. But... on the way out the door to our cars I asked her about her reflux: "worse than ever" she said. She is on more medication than she was before the sleeve.

Sleeve groupies. It's the cult of the sleeved. I swear if I end up liking this sleeve later - not sure I will - but if I do, I will never be a sleeve groupie. I will be honest with the pre-ops.

When I b*tch about my reflux, I get "didn't you know that was a complication of the sleeve?" Well, yes, but I didn't know it was a permanent one, or that I was likely to develop it forever if I didn't have it already.

but I don't have reflux, food aversions, vomiting or any of that mess. I am OFF all prescription medications. my diabetes is resolved or in remission. so you know - these things do not happen for everyone. I *can* eat anything - in small amounts - and I have the sleeve which makes it possible for me to follow a healthy diet without being hangry. it has been nothing but wonderful for me, and I'd say probably for the vast majority who do not even post on boards but go on with their new normal lives.

if I had developed reflux I would have sought out revision to bypass. I wouldn't want to have to deal with daily reflux.

Anyone who got major surgery for weight loss and expected to eat anything a few months post-op clearly had their heads up their asses! I'm sorry but I'm sick of the whining and bitching about what you can't eat! You were obese because you ate whatever you wanted! As you should have known before having surgery - the sleeve is just a tool - you have to do the work! If people don't realize that before surgery - that's all on them! You should know the risks too! The risks that are far less than if you remain obese by the way!!!

Edited August 27, 20169 yr by KristenLe

@@silverwhitemoon You are 2 months post-op but already know you will have reflux forever? Hmmm...too bad you didn't have that future prediction ability prior to surgery!

[emoji52]

Edited August 27, 20169 yr by john925

She's kinda like Penny from 600 lb life... drama queen, doesn't want help, wants to blame everything on everyone else and wants to stay overweight, as well as eat whatever she wants and then be in denial about an eating disorder and blame it on everything else..

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She's kinda like Penny from 600 lb life... drama queen, doesn't want help, wants to blame everything on everyone else and wants to stay overweight, as well as eat whatever she wants and then be in denial about an eating disorder and blame it on everything else..

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Now I have to go re-watch this one.

There's no need for personal insults, in my opinion.

Sincerely,

The Queen of the Sleeve Cult

I'm a month out. I can't really say that I should not have done it. I am having trouble with not being able to keep anything down esp Protein shakes. My stomach is still not accepting food with out getting upset. I'm not giving up just yet. I haven't even starting excersizing yet because feeling tired and drained for not getting in the protein. Even though my stomach is unhappy, I have to keep going. I refuse to give up on me. I did this for me. Starting in September I'm going to the gym, regardless how I'm feeling. I took a big step in having my procedure, so I have to keep trying. There is some kind of protein out there that's not that bad or one that will stay down. Looking to future. Good luck to you all

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