After a couple of false starts, I made the call today for my initial consultation. I attended a seminar in the past where I was scared off by all of the possible negative results. Kiss your Mickey D’s diet Coke’s goodbye. Your peanut butter cups. Any red meat. I wasn’t sure I could give up all my favorite foods forever. It also didn’t help that my family practice physician was dead set against it. (Anyone run into that snafu?). So I went on another yo-yo up/yo-yo down diet, once again ending up weighing more than I ever have before. Reading what people write in this forum makes me believe that J can be successful and frankly, I’m out of other options. My question is, has anyone regretted having the surgery? I’m in the fact finding portion of my journey and would really like to know.

2 minutes ago, PolkSDA said:

This concerns me if true. My sleeve was done robotically and I was in the OR for a bit over 4 hours. I question what they could have performed in 20-30 minutes. Different procedure?

The surgery itself takes only about 20 minutes for VSG, from what I heard from an interview with a bariatric surgeon.

1 minute ago, lizonaplane said:

The surgery itself takes only about 20 minutes for VSG, from what I heard from an interview with a bariatric surgeon.

Hmmm.... then I wonder why I was in there for so long. There was no indication from either the surgeon or other staff that there had been any difficulties with my surgery, and there were no major issues following the procedure. Then again, my surgeon appears to be somewhat OCD and overly meticulous. Maybe he was triple-tying sutures or making bows. ?

Edited May 3, 20215 yr by PolkSDA

14 hours ago, Mariem502 said:

I had my surgery on 4-26 and I am honestly feeling like I did everything for nothing, just some scares on my fat stomach! I am still hungry and I am only supposed to be able to tolerate 2-4oz at a time yesterday I was so thirsty and drink like 3 bottles of sugar free diet tea and 4 bottles of Water really didn’t think that was normal so just to see today I ate a cup of rice and nothing??? I think my surgeon just cut my stomach open and did nothing, my husband said the surgery took like 20 minutes! I’m sure I still have the same stomach and now feel so hopeless after I was so hopeful ???

P.S. my RNY took about an hour. VSG is not as complicated, so they can probably do it in under an hour. Twenty minutes doesn't sound right, though. Is he sure it was just 20 minutes? If so, I'd ask the surgeon about that...

EDITED to add that I just read the comment above about VSG normally taking about 20 minutes - so maybe this is accurate after all..

Edited May 3, 20215 yr by catwoman7

My surgery took 30-40 minutes.

As many have said, I just regret not having it sooner. However, the year of covid delays actually were a good thing for me as I went into it totally certain it was what I wanted, and I was as mentally prepared as I could have been. If I'd had the surgery as initially planned, I might've felt some regret as I just don't think I was mentally ready and it was all a bit rushed for such a big decision (2 months from initial consult to first surgery date).

Now that I've had it and experienced good weight loss (although not done yet), I do have the occasional thought of 'why couldn't I just do this without surgery', but I always go back to having struggled for 20 years, I know I couldn't have done it without and my food addiction would've continued for the rest of my life. I regret needing it in the first place, but I don't regret having the surgery.

My surgery took 2 plus hours, but I had a hiatal hernia repair done as well and the surgeon said they had a lot of issues getting through my abdominal wall because it was so tough and over developed. I’ve watched this surgery from start to finish on medical tutorial videos, it was about 45 mins with that particular surgeon. There are a number of different things that can cause a surgery to take a longer or shorter time period than others such as bleeding, needing to move fat and the liver, anything else that may need a repair, etc. it is not a one size fits all procedure.

I regret having mine. Yes im on this site trying to not regret it so much looking for ideas on what to eat how to keep up with my water intake non of which is working. I had surgery (rny) on march 2nd 2021 i have done nothing but been nausous since puking every day and ending up in the er almost weekly since. I can not eat anything with out puking after drinking even i puke after. Yes they have check my pouch over for ulcers and everything is fine. But i very much regret having this done

On 4/28/2021 at 2:08 AM, Roses436 said:

My GP believes all it takes is sheer willpower -as in “Just start eating healthy and exercising”. Looks like I’ll need to find a more supportive doctor. As for red meat, the woman giving her testimony at the info meeting said she had a lot of trouble digesting it and it seemed to stay in her stomach for a long time.
I’m so glad to read all the positive comments and honest answers. Thank-you.

A lot of what sits well with some and not with others is totally up to the person. Pre op, I was so afraid that I was going to have an aversion to foods that I enjoyed afterwards, but I have yet to encounter something that I used to like that I can't eat now. I have had eggs, red meat, shrimp, chicken... they all taste just fine. At first I thought there was something wrong with me, but it's just different with each person.

The only thing that I used to love that just seems weird now is coffee. I used to drink like 3-4 cups a day with very little milk, and I have tried it maybe twice and it just tastes strange to me - like heavy and thick. I can still have it, it doesn't make me sick or anything, but I have also learned to live without it and have realized that its just not something I need anymore!

I had my surgery on 3/22/2021 and i definitely regret it. I am hoping that I won’t feel that way as time goes on but I have been miserable since surgery. I can only keep liquids down, nothing is appealing to me anymore, I pretty much have stopped eating all together because it’s too frustrating and i just get sick anyway

Edited May 25, 20215 yr by A. Will

On 05/25/2021 at 13:29, A. Will said:

I had my surgery on 3/22/2021 and i definitely regret it. I am hoping that I won’t feel that way as time goes on but I have been miserable since surgery. I can only keep liquids down, nothing is appealing to me anymore, I pretty much have stopped eating all together because it’s too frustrating and i just get sick anyway

Have you had any testing to check for strictures?

15 minutes ago, Soon2bFit21 said:

Have you had any testing to check for strictures?

I went and got upper GI testing done and I was told that everything looked normal and I was healing well. My surgeon just keeps telling me everything is "normal" I am finding it hard to believe.

It continues to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Yes I ran into the PCP snafu and here is my take on it: I told him I had given the matter a lot of thought before approaching him with it and was determined to get it done and he could either help me or I’d find another doctor that would.

Don’t be afraid to FIRE your doctor if the two of you don’t agree on what treatment plan works best for you. They work FOR YOU. Not the other way around.

Yes I regret it and I wished I have never done it, I lost weight , I am thin but I'm not healthy. 3 years post op gbp and I'm battling what I suspect reactive hypoglycemia and dumping and vitamin issues. I am a wreck, I would advice nobody to get the surgery.

6 minutes ago, Regret2190 said:

I am a wreck, I would advice nobody to get the surgery.

Poor advice. Everyone reacts differently. Just because procedure X didn't work for you doesn't mean it won't work for someone else. Conversely, just because procedure Y *DID* work for you, it doesn't guarantee it will work for anyone else.

Even if you do your due diligence and your medical team is capable, there will always be a small percentage of people that have unforeseen side effects or complications to any procedure. While it is unfortunate to fall into that percentage, that doesn't invalidate the procedure.

52 minutes ago, Regret2190 said:

Yes I regret it and I wished I have never done it, I lost weight , I am thin but I'm not healthy. 3 years post op gbp and I'm battling what I suspect reactive hypoglycemia and dumping and Vitamin issues. I am a wreck, I would advice nobody to get the surgery.

those things should all be treatable. I have RH - I'm just supposed to eat protein about every three hours - and if I eat a carb, I'm supposed to eat a protein with it. Dumping can usually be prevented by avoiding or severely limiting sugar. And vitamins - are injections or increased dosages not working? Have you been working with your medical team on these?