Hi!

I am new to the VSG community. I have been thinking about a lap band for 10+ years, but my sister informed me the sleeve procedure about a month ago.

So I have decided to actually pursue the single incision sleeve procedure and I need to do my due diligence and ask if anyone that has had the sleeve procedure done, do they have any regrets about it? If so, what are they? Has anyone had the single incision procedure done? Likes/dislikes about it?

Like most of you guys, I will have to go to Mexico in order to afford the surgery (completely excluded from my policy from work and I couldn't find another policy on Healthcare.gov that didn't exclude it)!

I have basically OCD'ed researched about the sleeve procedure and just wanted to introduce myself and ask a few questions. Everything that I have read so far on this forum has been positive, aside from a few haters (which are everywhere)!

I look forward to hearing back from you guys and hearing about your experiences too!

Thanks so much!

Sally

Hi! I was sleeved 6/30/15 - SW 300 CW 158 - I HAVE NO REGRETS!!! I did not have the single incision, there were three tiny incisions. I didn't have any issues after surgery and was amazed at how little time it took to heal and go back to work. I wish you the best of luck!!!

Thank you!

My sister and I are both going to see Dr. Illan on May 25th for our sleeves! We aren't taking much time off work either, as most of the time off will be traveling there & back, plus the four days in BariatricPal's hands.

I am so excited and nervous too! We have started to adjust our current eating habits to what post-sleeve life will be like. So far so good too! Which makes me extremely hopeful for our future eating habits. As this is a tool for success, not a solution. As well as a preventative measure for both of us, as our mom had weight-induced diabetes and hypertension.

32 days before we leave!

On 4/6/2017 at 11:11 AM, Navigating the Wilderness said:

I've had both the band and the sleeve. I personally found the band to be worthless. I had the vsg 2 months back, and it has helped much more so than the band.

Having said that I can say, and I really want to drive it home, that neither surgery will do much for you if you are not prepared to stick with the eating diet.

My advice to you is to find a post-op diet recommendation and follow it, not for one week, or one month, but maybe 6 months or so. If after six months, you still feel like you can follow it, go through with the surgery. If not, take some time and reassess everything.

Some people find when they have VSG they lose their appetite, this did not happen with me, so from a dieting standpoint I don't really feel any different 2 months post op than I did pre-op. Of course the first couple weeks when you are doing the majority of your healing, the inflammation will definitely present restriction.

I suppose if I tried to jam 6 tacos in I would have discomfort, but I have never had a problem eating anything in any rational amount and feeling like I needed to throw up afterwards, but then again, I don't force feed myself until busting either.

The fact is most food if chewed well will just push through the pyloric valve and go into the intestines if you keep eating. It will especially do so if you drink liquid right before a meal. I say this because I am 100% convinced that the physical sleeve is maybe 20% of the success, while diet and exercise account for 80%. It may even be more like a 10%-90% split. I'm sure there are some people who will disagree, so I will qualify all of this by saying it is just my opinion.

I respect that is your opinion, however scientists have found that the VSG alters metabolic and hormonal processes in our brains and bodies, too.

If a person without gastric surgery eats as little as someone with, it causes a stress reaction starting in the brain. That stress reaction tells the body it's being harmed. (Which is why if you test drive a bariatric eating plan before surgery, make sure to consult with your Nut or doc to determine your calorie goal.

Why?

Bariatric patients, without that stress response, are able to eat less and lose the weight without the brain's stress defense mechanism sabotaging the effort.

Granted, the study I'm including (the most recent I've read) is a rat study, but it aligns neatly with observed differences between caloric restriction alone (what you experienced with lap band) vs. bariatric surgeries like VSG, DS, and RnY.

You can read about it here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4415587/