What Do You Want to Know Before WLS?

[Alex Brecher 10,486]

You can get a good amount of information about weight loss surgery: how the procedure goes, what the post-op diet includes, and the average amount of weight loss you can expect.

Still, there’s always some uncertainty surrounding weight loss surgery. Will you be able to tolerate certain foods after it? Will your GERD or diabetes resolve? Will you develop complications? Will the recovery hurt a lot?

If you haven’t yet gotten weight loss surgery and you’re holding back, what’s holding you back? If you were able to choose one of those impossible questions to get answered, which one would it be?

[Josey Quinn 187]

I had my gastric sleeve surgery 8 months ago. As of today, I've lost 111 pounds, which puts me 10 pounds away from goal.

What I really wanted to know before surgery was:

• How would surgery change my everyday life with food?
• How would I react emotionally to a radically different way of eating and fast weight loss?
• Would I feel tired and rundown?
• Would I really be able to exercise?
• How would my friends, family, and coworkers react to my new eating regimen and weight loss?

[summerset 5,261]

Still, there’s always some uncertainty surrounding weight loss surgery. Will you be able to tolerate certain foods after it? Will your GERD or diabetes resolve? Will you develop complications? Will the recovery hurt a lot?

I would like to have known exactly all of that and more - however, there aren't surefire answers to these questions as it all varies a great deal from patient to patient.

I now think that maybe these not-really-answerable questions have been the reason I postponed revision for over a year. I couldn't even know for sure if it would really solve the problem I was getting revision for in the first place (reflux). There was a good chance, yes, but no guarantee.

[Dub 9,922]

What I'd like to have known the most.....the very most.....is something that I didn't have the vision to see back then.

What I'd loved for someone to do was to lean in and whisper in my ear, "Dude....you are struggling mightily just to get through each day. You are hurting all the time. You body is betraying your fat lifestyle. You are a ticking time bomb. You are taxing those who love you very heavily. Guess what ?.....Every bit of that will be hugely improved in months. Every single bit of that."

This knowledge would have made the delays leading up to surgery much more tolerable. It would have made me laugh all the way through the short and simple 14 day liver shrink diet. It would have made me laugh at any fear or discomfort. I would have pushed my way to the front of the line and popped in my own IV needle and wheeled myself to the operating room.

Life is so much better now.

In Every Single Way.

That's what I wish I could've known.................

[SuperSparkly72 116]

@@Dub I SO agree that life is infinitely better on the other side of WLS. I am 7.5 months out and over 120#s down in the last year and I am grateful every day for my bypass.

Things I worried about before surgery came from articles I read:

[SuperSparkly72 116]

I posted too soon!

Things I worried about before surgery came from articles I read

1. Do people really experience more depression after surgery?

2. Do marriages really fail when one partner makes such a drastic change?

3. Do you really lose friends who can't handle the changes you make?

I know for others this has been a reality. For me, I have been blessed to have my life just get better. But knowing to ask the questions before the surgery and being prepared helped me to keep my eyes open for any potential problems.