Hi all~

As you can tell I'm super new. I've just started the process for bypass surgery (I picked a spectacular time, huh?). I've been reading this site up and down, but it's a bit difficult sorting through stories and advice from people who have had different surgeries than bypass. What's some things you wish you knew about post surgery and life after? If you didn't have the insurance mandated wait period, how long was it from first appointment to surgery date (if it makes a difference, I'm going through Beth Israel in Boston) And for those who suffered from GERD prior - did the surgery actually help?
I've seen a lot of the things about dumping syndrome and problems with lack of nutrients, but would you do it again if you could? One of my biggest concerns is loose skin due to rapid weight loss - has that been a big issue for anyone here? Thank you all!

I wish I would have known that having gastric bypass really wasn't going to be anything like I thought it would be. My journey has been very different than the youtube videos I binged watched and it's been significantly easier than I thought. Easy is probably not the right word, but problem free. Basically I can eat anything, nothing makes me sick except maybe eggs and sometimes anything with too much oil like salmon. I have only experienced dumping in terms of a rapid heartbeat with upset stomach but NOTHING like I read about. I am almost 1.5 years out and have never thrown up, not once. I can eat steak, rice, pasta, bread, no problem. I just dont have any of the scary problems I read about. So if I would have known I would have done it 10 years ago!! I had severe acid reflux before the surgery and NONE after. So yes it's been the best thing I ever did for myself. As far as skin, sure you'll have saggy skin but it sure as hell beats being 100 pounds overweight.

11 minutes ago, jasmineinmymind said:

I wish I would have known that having gastric bypass really wasn't going to be anything like I thought it would be. My journey has been very different than the youtube videos I binged watched and it's been significantly easier than I thought. Easy is probably not the right word, but problem free. Basically I can eat anything, nothing makes me sick except maybe eggs and sometimes anything with too much oil like salmon. I have only experienced dumping in terms of a rapid heartbeat with upset stomach but NOTHING like I read about. I am almost 1.5 years out and have never thrown up, not once. I can eat steak, rice, Pasta, bread, no problem. I just dont have any of the scary problems I read about. So if I would have known I would have done it 10 years ago!! I had severe acid reflux before the surgery and NONE after. So yes it's been the best thing I ever did for myself. As far as skin, sure you'll have saggy skin but it sure as hell beats being 100 pounds overweight.

I read this comment and didn’t realize until I read this that this is my same scenario. I was very scared and when I went into the surgery and during recovery and the first three months I was depressed and had given up everything I had ever eaten. But slowly I have tried things and realized that I can have almost everything I had pre surgery. Which for some people (as I’ve read) can’t but I am thankful I can as I am aiming to live a balanced life and have a healthy relationship with food. I have found that because I can have all food I have started counseling to deal with my food issues because now, more than ever, I need to learn how to have a balanced and healthy relationship. But knowing I HAVE to hit a protein and water goal has been very nice in helping me. Thanks for writing this reply! I am glad to know other people feel this way in that all the research and horror stories do not happen to everyone and that you can live a balanced life with gastric bypass.

@jasmineinmymind,
You are really lucky! Although I wish your sort of journey on everyone, not everyone’s ends up being like this. Agreed about the loose skin

I wish I knew a lot of things before surgery! While I did lose the weight I wanted and kept up with vitamins I had SEVERE anemia and have to get iron infusions. Also another major thing that happened was because my body wasn’t absorbing the vitamins properly my teeth literally fell apart. Cracking and breaking every one of them. I didn’t have great teeth before surgery but they were manageable and I went to the dentist religiously. I ended up having to have all of my teeth removed and opted to have implants placed instead of dentures because I’m young. I wish I had known about this before hand because my oral surgery took me 3 years to save for and was over 40k ?

2 minutes ago, JJ925 said:

Also another major thing that happened was because my body wasn’t absorbing the vitamins properly my teeth literally fell apart. Cracking and breaking every one of them. I didn’t have great teeth before surgery but they were manageable and I went to the dentist religiously. I ended up having to have all of my teeth removed and opted to have implants placed instead of dentures because I’m young. I wish I had known about this before hand because my oral surgery took me 3 years to save for and was over 40k ?

Yikes - someone posts about this a couple times a year, so this isn't very common (my dentist said he's never seen it in his patients who've had WLS). BUT...I know it happens to some. Sorry it happened to you!

On 5/17/2020 at 7:16 PM, KayLow42 said:

I read this comment and didn’t realize until I read this that this is my same scenario. I was very scared and when I went into the surgery and during recovery and the first three months I was depressed and had given up everything I had ever eaten. But slowly I have tried things and realized that I can have almost everything I had pre surgery. Which for some people (as I’ve read) can’t but I am thankful I can as I am aiming to live a balanced life and have a healthy relationship with food. I have found that because I can have all food I have started counseling to deal with my food issues because now, more than ever, I need to learn how to have a balanced and healthy relationship. But knowing I HAVE to hit a Protein and Water goal has been very nice in helping me. Thanks for writing this reply! I am glad to know other people feel this way in that all the research and horror stories do not happen to everyone and that you can live a balanced life with gastric bypass.

I have found it to be really uncommon. I have had no change in my appetite either and Im pretty much hungry all the time and have been since day one. Its pretty annoying but I guess it's better than everything making me sick. Everyone is just so different. You really cant predict the outcome as it's drastically different depending on a huge variety of factors.