Just looking for some reassurance. I went in thinking I wanted a gastric sleeve, and my surgeon basically told me I wouldn’t lose the weight and I would gain it back. His recommendation is gastric bypass. I am petrified of the surgery, and long term implications or problems I could have as a result. I should be excited about the opportunity to change my life, but instead I am scared I won’t like what my life turns into. Would love to hear some long term success stories. Thanks in advance.

I’m 2 days post op gastric bypass (sorry, not a long term success to share). I wanted to say , though, that that was my thought process too and my PA said “ listen, I’m not going to tell you what to do, I’m going to give you the facts. The bottom line is is that you have to be happy, because you’re going to keep coming back and checking in with me and I don’t want to see you with regret having chosen the sleeve and not bypass. “

Because of my history of weight gain and loss and eating disorders, bypass was the better option for me. I’m home, I spent 1 night in the hospital and have no regrets at this point in time. I knew myself well enough to know that if I got the sleeve, at some point, the chances of me regaining weight were higher than if I did the bypass. Everyone has a different experience; for me, I don’t look at dumping syndrome as a bad thing. To me it’s a tool to listen to my body and an assistant for making good choices. I went into this with a lot of information. People have complained about calcium deficiencies, but I learned that this could be because they weren’t the taking their vitamins. I work with a girl who doesn’t take her vitamins on the weekends, doesn’t like to exercise, drinks with a straw (no no!), makes not so great food choices, no drinks alcohol. She’s the kind of person who may, down the road, say how it didn’t work for her. I plan on being a success story.

This was my first surgery, I was petrified! I went into the operating room and fell asleep and woke up in recovery. I was nauseous for a couple of hours, but that was it. The pain was nothing worse than I would have expected. Read all of the good and bad stories, learn why some people had bad experiences, was it something they could have prevented, was it because of a previous medical condition, etc,.

The best of luck to you! You’ll make the right choice for yourself. Be honest with yourself, keep a journal, make goals to stick to, and feel free to reach out to folks because you’re not alone!

Hi Annie,

I haven't had my surgery yet, and like ZGal said, I also dont have a long term success to share. At my first appointment with the surgeon I was sure that I wanted the sleeve, but the more research I did, I came to the conclusion that the best for me is the RNY and I already told my surgeon's office of the change. There's an old saying that say the best consumer is an educated consumer. I think the waiting period no matter how long it may seem at times give us the opportunity to research and to figure out what the best option is. I don't think dumping syndrome will be an issue for me as I have already stopped eating or drinking any sugary food for more than a month now.

You should ask your surgeon the percentage of his patients who gain the weight back from the sleeve or RNY, and percentage of revision from sleeve to RNY he does.

Wishing you the best.

ZGal gives an update on how you are doing. I would like to know and wishing you much success.

1 minute ago, SusieQ2019 said:

Hi Annie,

I haven't had my surgery yet, and like ZGal said, I also dont have a long term success to share. At my first appointment with the surgeon I was sure that I wanted the sleeve, but the more research I did, I came to the conclusion that the best for me is the RNY and I already told my surgeon's office of the change. There's an old saying that say the best consumer is an educated consumer. I think the waiting period no matter how long it may seem at times give us the opportunity to research and to figure out what the best option is. I don't think dumping syndrome will be an issue for me as I have already stopped eating or drinking any sugary food for more than a month now.

You should ask your surgeon the percentage of his patients who gain the weight back from the sleeve or RNY, and percentage of revision from sleeve to RNY he does.

Wishing you the best.

ZGal gives an update on how you are doing. I would like to know and wishing you much success.

Will do! And I will second what you said about the educated consumer! My doctor and nurses were surprised that I was as educated as I was, because they’ve seen so many people go into this without all of the facts. That’s the stuff, I think, that makes for regrets later on.

Thanks to you both! I definitely have educated myself... seriously, possibly overeducated myself? I start to get obsessive about researching all the possible worst case scenarios. Which kind of sucks the excitement out of making change like this. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like I’m scared to see any positives.

Hi Annie! I’m also Annie! Wow!

I’m a little over 7 months out and I’ve lost just about 80lbs. I originally was sure I wanted the sleeve, but after researching the statistics about regain and looking at my eating patterns and how those would be impacted by sleeve vs bypass, I chose bypass. If you have any questions about the bypass experience/the first year let me know! I just wanted to say hi from a fellow Annie :)

On 03/09/2019 at 17:29, AnnieD78 said:

Thanks to you both! I definitely have educated myself... seriously, possibly overeducated myself? I start to get obsessive about researching all the possible worst case scenarios. Which kind of sucks the excitement out of making change like this. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like I’m scared to see any positives.

This is 100000% me. Obsessive research fueled by my neuroses=my approach to any and everything!

1 minute ago, AEdoesRnY said:

8 minutes ago, AnnieD78 said:

Thanks to you both! I definitely have educated myself... seriously, possibly overeducated myself? I start to get obsessive about researching all the possible worst case scenarios. Which kind of sucks the excitement out of making change like this. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like I’m scared to see any positives.

This is 100000% me. Obsessive research fueled by my neuroses=my approach to any and everything!

Lol! It’s so annoying. You should have seen me when my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

So.... were you ok anxiety wise before and after the procedure? Have you been able to get excited?

03/09/2019 05:40 PM, AnnieD78 said:

This is 100000% me. Obsessive research fueled by my neuroses=my approach to any and everything!

Lol! It’s so annoying. You should have seen me when my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

So.... were you ok anxiety wise before and after the procedure? Have you been able to get excited?

I definitely had my anxiety moments in the wait between first appointment and surgery, but I tried to use my mindfulness techniques and redirect my thoughts via journaling away from anxiety and toward who I might be and what I might do without the weight holding me back.

It’s been amazing how many things I’ve tried and how much more I’ve been living since I had surgery. So many things I’ve been wanting to do forever that I got to check off my list, the kinds of clothing I get to wear now, and everything. Heck, I just spent hours at the Mall of America HAPPILY trying on clothes all over the place and buying size 12s and Ls in “normal” stores. It was a little overwhelming to have so many choices but also so exciting! I don’t usually post pics of myself on here but I’ll whip up a before/after in just a moment if that’d be helpful! :)

First pic is from late June/early July around highest weight of 282.4. Second pic from today trying on clothes at 204.6. Pardon the weird face, that’s my “hmm should I get this?” face :)

I think my goal is to lose another 25-30 if I can :)

So, not to comment on my own vanity photos BUT I’ve been so mired in a monster plateau for like 3-4+ weeks and it’s been easy to stop realizing how much progress I’ve really made. So, I’m going to say wow, what a difference!!

1 minute ago, AEdoesRnY said:

So, not to comment on my own vanity photos BUT I’ve been so mired in a monster plateau for like 3-4+ weeks and it’s been easy to stop realizing how much progress I’ve really made. So, I’m going to say wow, what a difference...right???

LOL yes, you seriously look incredible!!

I can’t even fathom wearing a size 12. That would be amazing in itself! How long after surgery did you start to feel “normal” again? And how old are you? You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want. ?. I’m 41. Just hoping I can bounce back from surgery now that I am not exactly young anymore.

Journaling is a good idea... I need to write down the reasons I’m doing this. So I can focus on THOSE and not all these complications that probably won’t even happen to me.

On 03/09/2019 at 18:07, AnnieD78 said:

LOL yes, you seriously look incredible!!

I can’t even fathom wearing a size 12. That would be amazing in itself! How long after surgery did you start to feel “normal” again? And how old are you? You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want. ?. I’m 41. Just hoping I can bounce back from surgery now that I am not exactly young anymore.

Journaling is a good idea... I need to write down the reasons I’m doing this. So I can focus on THOSE and not all these complications that probably won’t even happen to me.

Yeah I have to remind myself that I was a size 24 before surgery, and it’s been easy for me to adjust to my “new normal” and today was a big reminder of how far I’ve come.

Later tonight I’ll pull out my surgery journal and find my favorite prompts I used. It’s also been a nice thing to look back on along the way.

I think I felt normal by day four or five after surgery. Days 1-3 were blerg but not terrible and there was a very clear improvement by day four post, and I felt totally normal by day five and beyond. I got a bit tired of liquids and I had a weird rash for a few weeks but other than that it was no problem!

Oh, and I just turned 32!!

Also feel free to message me or tag me on this thread when you have those anxiety moments and want to bounce them off someone else! I know for me it was/is easy to spiral at times and just being able to get it all on paper/in a message really helped me/helps me!

2 minutes ago, AEdoesRnY said:

Also feel free to message me or tag me on this thread when you have those anxiety moments and want to bounce them off someone else! I know for me it was/is easy to spiral at times and just being able to get it all on paper/in a message really helped me/helps me!

That is so nice, thank you very much. Half of this is not having anyone to talk through it with. My family isn’t exactly supportive.... they’re not NOT supportive, though. If that makes sense.

03/09/2019 06:21 PM, AnnieD78 said:

That is so nice, thank you very much. Half of this is not having anyone to talk through it with. My family isn’t exactly supportive.... they’re not NOT supportive, though. If that makes sense.

I didn’t tell my mom until a month or two before surgery because there’s SO much baggage between us when it comes to weight. After surgery I set some specific rules for my family and what kinds of things they could say/mention re: surgery, and that’s helped me a lot. It’s hard because none of them struggle with weight beyond like wanting to lose 10-15 lbs so they didn’t and couldn’t and can’t understand the decision or the process.

 I find the journaling to be a helpful way to have a dialogue with myself when I don’t have someone else to talk it through with! I also find it helpful to just let my mind vomit out all the things I am terrified about so then I can take a step back and weed through what is rational and worth considering versus what is just my anxiety brain doing its thing, you know?