Hi Everyone!

I am new to this site and looking for opinions.

I have the lapband currently (surgery was 2009). I have had many problems since day one. It was hard to navigate around the restrictions. One day a food would work, the next I was throwing up. Years of throwing up has caused scar tissue and GERD. At surgery date I was 220 and the lowest I got was 157. I had all liquid taken out of the band and I have now gained - I am 190 now.

So, I am now having the band removed. I am debating just having it removed and carry on with life and try on my own (diet and exercise). Or, get the Mini Gastric Bypass. The mini bypass because of the scar tissue (they bypass that part of the stomach) and because of the GERD. I want off of medication and I never want to feel heartburn again.

However, as I go through these threads, I am hearing about "dumping" that sounds crazy awful and that people are soooo hungry all the time and can eat and eat and eat? And people saying they have "accidents" in their pants? I don't understand. Can you live a normal life with bypass? Can I go to a work function and have a glass of wine, eat a proper meal (a quarter or half of it) without worrying I am going to be in major pain or have an accident? And will i be able to stop eating??

Thanks for any information you can provide me so i can make a decision either way!

Welcome to the forums.

Dumping happens to 20-50% [source] of post-ops, depending on the surgeon, specifics of the operation, and individual variations that can be dramatic. So, no one can predict if you will get it or not. The source above will describe the symptoms.

I am fortunately a dumper. It is a terrific negative reinforcement tool: Eat the wrong thing, dump. It takes an amazingly few times to learn lessons. It's not an E ticket ride.

"Accidents" in the pants people describe are flatulence that isn't quite flatulence. That's as specific as I care to get. I know non-ops this happens to, but we tend to be a bit more gassy, so such is slightly more likely for it to happen to us.

I live a normal life, or as normal as someone as 'off' as me can have. I've lived a normal life since I healed from surgery 17+ years ago. Of course, the meaning of 'normal' has changed dramatically. Normal used to mean binge eating and doing nothing. Now it means generally eating good food on plan and doing amazing stuff.

You need to evaluate your surgical options to determine which issues you want, which you are willing to risk, and which food plan you think you can sustain joyfully the rest of your life. That last bit it is the critical part.

Good luck,

Tek

Thank you. That is good to know that you had the surgery 17 years ago, you kept the weight off, and you live a normal life. Understood normal life cannot be nachos, pizza and wings:) Although it sounds like if you want a slice of pizza, go for it...just make healthy choices.

My question is, if you can eat without restriction, what is the difference between the surgery and just following a healthy diet?

Many thanks

I still have my restriction. It hasn't really changed for me.

Any time I try to eat one bite too many it's a huge mistake. So I don't try to do it anymore. Apparently this is why my restriction is the same.

I have had pizza, nachos, both the bog-standard types. I just can't eat much. Or often.

I still stay on plan consistently, but not perfectly.

I *think* I focused on doing it as good as I could the first year while losing weight. Doing the right thing and being rewarded with weight loss is a terrific form of positive reinforcement. Now it's my normal.

Hope this helps,

Tek

I'm only three months post-op, so I can't speak to the long-term life of a gastric bypass patient, but based on what I've seen of my experiences and what others have said on here, most people live a fairly "normal" life after gastric bypass.

As The Greater Fool said, not everybody gets dumping syndrome, and a lot of the people who do see it as a benefit of surgery because it deters them from eating certain foods. I don't even know if I get dumping syndrome because I haven't tried eating anything that would cause it (I was told to stay under 15 grams of sugar and 15 grams of fat in any meal to avoid dumping). If you are someone who gets dumping syndrome, it's not something that happens every day; you can control it by not eating the foods that cause it -- which are often the same types of foods that cause weight gain.

Hunger varies a lot from one person to the next. "Head hunger" is a thing for any type of WLS, and you may already know about that from your lapband. Most gastric bypass patients maintain some amount of restriction for life, and most say that if they eat the foods they're supposed to eat (focusing on lean protein and veggies) and follow the rules about not drinking with or right after meals, they get full with a much smaller amount than they used to. There are certain foods that people call "slider foods" because they go down easily in larger quantities, and you have to be careful with those because they can cause weight gain.

I don't think "accidents" are all that common. "Accidents" are associated with dumping syndrome, so if you eat the wrong things (foods with too much sugar and/or fat), it can happen, but again, for most people, it's not something that happens all the time. The opposite problem is actually much more common.

Drinking can be an issue. Alcohol has a stronger effect on gastric bypass patients, so we can't drink much, and drinking at all is generally not recommended (especially in the first year). After the first year, you probably could have a glass of wine, but you'd need to be really careful not to drink too much.

I just had family visit and they don't know about my gastric bypass surgery. I was able to serve "normal" meals all week and eat small amounts, and my family didn't seem to suspect a thing (maybe they did and just didn't say anything, I don't know -- but they raved about the food I served). Omelets and low-fat chicken sausage for breakfast. Grilled chicken salad for lunch. BBQ chicken and ribs (with sugar-free BBQ sauce on mine) for dinner. There are some things a gastric bypass patient probably won't be able to eat, like fried foods or bread, but there's lots of "normal" food that we can eat.

All that being said, your weight is relatively low. I don't know your BMI since you didn't enter your height, but my highest weight was 341 pounds and my weight the day of surgery was 270, so I had a lot more weight to lose than you. On the other hand, GERD seems to be a big factor for you that wasn't an issue for me. Only you can decide if it's worth the risks for you based on your own situation. Even at my high weight, it was a hard decision for me that took a long time to make. Maybe you could have the band removed and see how you do on your own before you make that decision?

Thank you so much for the advice! That certainly helps.

You have lost 111 pounds since July 16, 2020?

4 minutes ago, TrueNorth1 said:

Thank you so much for the advice! That certainly helps.

You have lost 111 pounds since July 16, 2020?

No, I lost about 70 pounds before surgery, and 47 pounds since July 16 (I’m at 224 pounds now, but I’m only updating my profile in 10-pound increments).

Wow, that's inspiring. So you are happy you made the decision?

1 hour ago, TrueNorth1 said:

Wow, that's inspiring. So you are happy you made the decision?

So far, sure, but I think it’s still a little early to say. I’ve had major improvements to my health (my blood pressure and blood sugar are fantastic, almost getting too low) and I’m wearing clothing sizes I haven’t been able to wear since high school. I have these nagging thoughts, though, that I may be doing well now, but can I really keep it up forever? What if I gain back most or all of the weight as I have with so many other diets? What if I went through all of this only to end up back where I started? Only time will tell.

Can you gain all the weight back with bypass? I know you can gain some based on what you eat but I would think it comes right back out?

I am more worried about future issues when I am older. Malnutrition. Am I paying a lot of money to bring on other issues. Have I learned enough from the band to do this a second time.

11 minutes ago, TrueNorth1 said:

Can you gain all the weight back with bypass? I know you can gain some based on what you eat but I would think it comes right back out?

I am more worried about future issues when I am older. Malnutrition. Am I paying a lot of money to bring on other issues. Have I learned enough from the band to do this a second time.

It's unusual, but it can happen. And it would still be very disappointing to have significant regain, even if it's only, say, half. I've heard that almost everyone has a small amount of regain (10-20 pounds) from their lowest, and I would be ok with that if I hit my goal, but not much more than that.