I think I’ve been reading too many negative posts about WLS. And now I am having anxiety. I just need a little reassurance.
FEARS:

I won’t wake up after surgery

I won’t lose weight

I’ll have a lot of loose skin and look worse than I do now.

I’ll have some type of major issue after surgery.

I’ll be in excruciating pain.

I know these fears are normal and I know most of this stuff isn’t true I would just like to hear some positive stories.

Girl you got this. those are all normal fears. Let me tell you the pain is not all that bad. I wish i was going through it again. I had my surgery 8 years ago and i am trying to get a REVISiON. Just got authorization for appointment. Now i am hoping they approve my REVISION. You will be fine.

It’s so normal to have these fears! I was close to having WLS about 10 years ago, but cancelled due to fear. I’m now about a year and a half out, and only regret not doing it sooner. My recovery was a breeze. I took 3 weeks off work, but could have gone back after two. Pain was minimal, more fatigue than anything else. I carefully followed my team’s plan and have lost at a steady rate. I started at 286 and am now at my doctor’s goal of 155. Loose skin was definitely a thing, and I had plastic surgery to take care of that two weeks ago. Even if I hadn’t been able to have PS, I would take the loose skin over the 131 extra pounds any day! The process isn’t easy, but so very worth it. I can walk, run, hike, bike, and dance with my husband. I can walk in to any store and buy clothes that I love rather than trying to find something that fits me. I’m so glad I conquered my fear to do this, it is worth it in every way.

1 hour ago, Hopefulin2021 said:

I think I’ve been reading too many negative posts about WLS. And now I am having anxiety. I just need a little reassurance.
FEARS:

I won’t wake up after surgery

I won’t lose weight

I’ll have a lot of loose skin and look worse than I do now.

I’ll have some type of major issue after surgery.

I’ll be in excruciating pain.

I know these fears are normal and I know most of this stuff isn’t true I would just like to hear some positive stories.

1. You will wake up, believe It! own it! In fact, you may even ask did you have surgery yet because it will feel like you just your eyes!

2. You absolutely will lose weight, believe it! own it!

* subtle disclaimer: Do not be surprised if you leave the hospital heavier than when you entered. This is not a failure of anything, it’s just your body retaining the fluids that were given to you. It’s an artificial inflation of your weight so IMHO don’t even bother thinking about it.

3. Loose skin be damned! Even it with it you’ll be smoking hot with a new slimmer silhouette plus renewed confidence (you can fix loose skin later if you even have any)

4. You are likely to have low possibility or no possibility of complications at all (if you look at statistics that are published) And if you have any complications great or small, please immediately contact your doctors ! don’t wait or ask the Internet.

5. Work with your team to make sure you have a pain management schedule put together before you even go into surgery. It’s possible to wake up feeling no pain.

These fears are all completely normal, I had the same ones plus a few more,

You can do it! Good Luck ❤️

Edited January 28, 20215 yr by GreenTealael
Typos, missing words ?

50 minutes ago, kristieshannon said:

It’s so normal to have these fears! I was close to having WLS about 10 years ago, but cancelled due to fear. I’m now about a year and a half out, and only regret not doing it sooner. My recovery was a breeze. I took 3 weeks off work, but could have gone back after two. Pain was minimal, more fatigue than anything else. I carefully followed my team’s plan and have lost at a steady rate. I started at 286 and am now at my doctor’s goal of 155. Loose skin was definitely a thing, and I had plastic surgery to take care of that two weeks ago. Even if I hadn’t been able to have PS, I would take the loose skin over the 131 extra pounds any day! The process isn’t easy, but so very worth it. I can walk, run, hike, bike, and dance with my husband. I can walk in to any store and buy clothes that I love rather than trying to find something that fits me. I’m so glad I conquered my fear to do this, it is worth it in every way.

That is awesome thank you so much for this. I’m not going to cancel or anything but it is nice to know that everyone doesn’t have a horrible experience.

1 hour ago, YESSYISAWESOME said:

Girl you got this. those are all normal fears. Let me tell you the pain is not all that bad. I wish i was going through it again. I had my surgery 8 years ago and i am trying to get a REVISiON. Just got authorization for appointment. Now i am hoping they approve my REVISION. You will be fine.

I know and I know deep down inside I’ll be fine. Thank you so much for replying it is much appreciated.

31 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

1. You will wake up at the surgeon in fact you may even ask did you have surgery yet because it will f el like you just your eyes!

2. You absolutely will lose weight. Do not be surprised if you leave the hospital heavier than you started your body retaining the fluids that were given to you. It’s an artificial inflation of your weight so IMHO don’t even bother thinking about it.

3. Loose skin be damned! Even it with it you’ll smoking hot with a new slimmer silhouette plus you can fix loose skin later if you can have any

4. Likely to have low possibility or possibility of complications at all (if you look at statistics that are published) And if you have any complications great or small, please immediately contact your doctors ! don’t wait or ask the Internet

5. Work with your team to make sure you have your pain management schedule put together before you even go into surgery. It’s pose to wake up feeling no pain

These fears are all completely normal, I had the same ones plus a few more,

You can do it! Good Luck ❤️

I am so appreciative of these comments. I feel like no one arounds me understand and keep saying I’ll be fine. Like I know that but sometimes I just want to talk about my fears and feel comfortable in doing so. Again thanks for the awesome advice and words of encouragement, trust me it goes a long way.

There are many WLS patients that do fine on just Tylenol post-op. I was one of them ?. And you will lose! It is so worth it - you will feel so much lighter on your feet, and have much more energy than before.

56 minutes ago, Elidh said:

There are many WLS patients that do fine on just Tylenol post-op. I was one of them

I'm another!

Hi! My surgery also involved a hernia repair and went fine. Took no pain meds after 1 day hospital stay. went back to work in 3 days. little to no pain but very tired for quite a while. I am 4 months out now and have lost 104 pounds. I too wish I would have done it sooner. There will be some adjustments(drink slow, eat slow etc.) but it gets better quickly. Definitely worth it. Will change your life. ?

6 hours ago, Hopefulin2021 said:

I think I’ve been reading too many negative posts about WLS. And now I am having anxiety. I just need a little reassurance.
FEARS:

I won’t wake up after surgery

I won’t lose weight

I’ll have a lot of loose skin and look worse than I do now.

I’ll have some type of major issue after surgery.

I’ll be in excruciating pain.

I know these fears are normal and I know most of this stuff isn’t true I would just like to hear some positive stories.

yes you'll wake up. The mortality rate on RNY is 0.3% (it's even lower on sleeve - can't remember the stat on that one, though). So you have a 99.7% chance of pulling through just fine. And you will. These have become very routine and safe surgeries. People have died during tonsillectomies or having their wisdom teeth extracted. But how often does that happen? Hardly ever. And same with WLS. You've been thoroughly checked out physically - or will be by the time you go to surgery. If there were any red flags, they'd have cancelled or delayed the surgery. You will be fine.

You will lose weight as long as you stick to the plan. It's when people stray and let bad habits creep back in that they run into trouble - either quit losing weight or start gaining it back. Just stay committed and you'll do fine.

yes - if you lose 100 lbs, which looks like your goal, you will most likely have loose skin. I had a ton of it (I've since had it removed). But it was easy to hide in clothes - no one knew it was there but me (I've attached a picture of me BEFORE I had plastic surgery. Betcha can't see any loose skin. And no, it didn't look great - but it looked better than when I weighed almost 400 lbs! I think almost all of us who are a ways out would take the loose skin any day of the week over being morbidly obese again. ANY DAY!! In the grand scheme of things, the loose skin is actually pretty minor. In retrospect, I wonder why I wasted even one brain cell worrying about it.

Major issues aren't very common. And most (maybe all?) are fixable.

Most of us have little to no pain with these surgeries. A minority of people do have some pain, but not excruciating. They'll send you home with pain meds (I didn't even open mine, to be honest - I felt fine) - so if you're one of the unfortunate ones who has pain, just take the pain meds to keep on top of it. It'll last at most a few days.

And here I am, at the time having lost 235 lbs (I've since gained back 20), and BEFORE I had my loose skin removed...