I am BRAND NEW so please bear with me!

I am 61 years old and 65 lbs overweight -- I have a BMI of 37 (not diabetic but have GERD, high BP and cholesterol, both controlled by meds). I have been overweight ALL of my adult life minus 3 years when I successfully lost 55 lbs on WW -- I kept most of it off for about 2 years. Since then I have gained that plus 10 lbs. I like WW -- I like recording what I eat and enjoy the meetings, but have not been successful since that one time in spite of re-joining eleventy-million times.... (I never got to "lifetime" when I lost the 55 lbs -- I just stopped going after the majority of the weight was gone. So in fairness to WW, I never followed through on their entire program.)

I have a hiatal hernia that now must be fixed by surgery -- I had an internal bleed that made me severely anemic and in the hospital for 5 days. While there I met with a Thoracic surgeon who confirmed I would need surgery -- and she asked me if I would consider Bariatric Surgery at the same time. What? YES! Of course! Let's DO it! And then... I found out about dumping.

I have a SEVERE fear of vomiting -- I literally have thrown up less than 10 times in my 61 years (many times I should have but I fight it -- which just makes me more miserable). I would almost rather die than barf.

I have read everything I can about "dumping" and I find myself asking: why would I do ANYTHING that might increase the risk that I will vomit? Granted, WW is slow and tedious, but I can do so without fear of dumping. Also, the thing that keeps coming through when I read about bariatric surgery is that it is not the SURGERY that makes you lose weight, it is the nutritional program and long term lifestyle changes that make you lose weight.

Anyway, I'm just super scared about dumping and also question having two pretty intense stomach surgeries at the same time. (Heck, I will lose weight from the hernia surgery alone -- maybe use that as a jumping board to really get back into WW?)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated -- and sorry to go on so about WW -- I know this is not a forum about other weight loss programs.

Cheers and thanks,

Peanut120

8 hours ago, Peanut120 said:

I am BRAND NEW so please bear with me!

I am 61 years old and 65 lbs overweight -- I have a BMI of 37 (not diabetic but have GERD, high BP and cholesterol, both controlled by meds). I have been overweight ALL of my adult life minus 3 years when I successfully lost 55 lbs on WW -- I kept most of it off for about 2 years. Since then I have gained that plus 10 lbs. I like WW -- I like recording what I eat and enjoy the meetings, but have not been successful since that one time in spite of re-joining eleventy-million times.... (I never got to "lifetime" when I lost the 55 lbs -- I just stopped going after the majority of the weight was gone. So in fairness to WW, I never followed through on their entire program.)

I have a hiatal hernia that now must be fixed by surgery -- I had an internal bleed that made me severely anemic and in the hospital for 5 days. While there I met with a Thoracic surgeon who confirmed I would need surgery -- and she asked me if I would consider Bariatric Surgery at the same time. What? YES! Of course! Let's DO it! And then... I found out about dumping.

I have a SEVERE fear of vomiting -- I literally have thrown up less than 10 times in my 61 years (many times I should have but I fight it -- which just makes me more miserable). I would almost rather die than barf.

I have read everything I can about "dumping" and I find myself asking: why would I do ANYTHING that might increase the risk that I will vomit? Granted, WW is slow and tedious, but I can do so without fear of dumping. Also, the thing that keeps coming through when I read about bariatric surgery is that it is not the SURGERY that makes you lose weight, it is the nutritional program and long term lifestyle changes that make you lose weight.

Anyway, I'm just super scared about dumping and also question having two pretty intense stomach surgeries at the same time. (Heck, I will lose weight from the hernia surgery alone -- maybe use that as a jumping board to really get back into WW?)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated -- and sorry to go on so about WW -- I know this is not a forum about other weight loss programs.

Cheers and thanks,

Peanut120

Dumping Syndrome is generally linked to Gastric Bypass. It's from your food going from your stomach to your small intestines too fast. There is also only something like a 25% chance of you even having it. Gastric Sleeve has far less chances of that happening because your intestines aren't messed with but if you eat too fast then yeah, you'll feel like vomiting. Doesn't mean you will, but you may gag a bit. Also, drinking will cause your stomach to empty faster and could 1. make you hungry faster and 2. cause a dumping episode because you sent the food too fast through your system with the drink. If you DO decide to go the surgery route, you have to decide on whether you want the 25% of getting dumping syndrome with Gastric Bypass or the 30% your GERD will get worse with the Sleeve

Edited May 18, 20215 yr by NovaLuna
spelling error

about 30% of people with gastric bypass dump. You'll also find dumpers among sleeve patients, but it's much less common with sleeve. Which means 70% of bypassers (and even more sleevers) don't dump.

Dumping is caused by eating too much sugar (or for some people, too much fat) in one sitting, so to control it you just don't eat a ton of sugar (or fat) in one sitting, which we shouldn't be doing anyway.

in addition, vomiting after surgery is much easier than it was before. For one thing, we have tiny stomachs so there's not much in there to vomit. For another, you don't have much acid in your stomach, either, so you don't get that horrible taste in your mouth. I don't dread vomiting as much as I did pre-surgery.

I don't dump (never have), but I've thrown up. I did most often during the first two or three months after surgery as I was learning what my new stomach tolerated and how much it could handle. Now, I know. And now, I rarely throw up - probably not much more than I did pre-surgery, which was not very often.

P.S. I just read Nova Luna's response. Yes - the most common side effect with sleeve is GERD. About 30% of sleevers develop GERD - and/or it gets worse after sleeve (if you had it before). So there's that. Bypass often improves if not outright cures GERD. So basically, the stats on potential dumping (bypass) vs potentially having your GERD get worse (sleeve) are about the same.

Edited May 18, 20215 yr by catwoman7

I’m going to reiterate what was said by catwoman. I also hated vomiting. It is so much easier now! No heaving stomachache, nearly no acid. I’ve had it happen a few times when I’ve had one bite too many. It comes up easy and you feel way better once you do. It’s a good lessen to learn, to slow down and not take just one more bite when your body tells you it is full.

I had to revise to bypass and I cannot vomit and I am also a dumper. One bite too many is just as bad for me as a dumping episode.

17 hours ago, Peanut120 said:

Anyway, I'm just super scared about dumping and also question having two pretty intense stomach surgeries at the same time. (Heck, I will lose weight from the hernia surgery alone -- maybe use that as a jumping board to really get back into WW?)

Just chiming in to say that it's pretty common to have a hiatal hernia fixed at the same time as bariatric surgery. I had both and a lot of posters on here have as well. I definitely wouldn't let that be the deal-breaker, your surgeon has likely done this double-surgery many times.

Edited May 18, 20215 yr by Jaelzion

OK, I haven't had a gastric bypass. I had a Loop DS, but I can only throw up if there's something in my stomach. Actually, last week, I had an episode of nausea, and would have vomited if I could, but I couldn't. I have an umbilical hernia that caused that.
My cousin, however, had a gastric bypass and she can't vomit at all.
I can say vomiting is quite different after surgery too.. It's not the big dramatic thing like before.

This was one of my big fears, too, that deterred me from getting WLS sooner. I had read a lot of people's personal WLS experiences, and many of them seemed to talk about their pouch ruling their lives, and stuff about how they never know how their pouch will like something they ate, etc. I really hate vomiting and I was afraid that if I had WLS, it would happen all the time.

I am 10 months out and I haven't vomited a single time since surgery. There were a few close calls (early on, it's not uncommon for a bite of a dense/dry food like meat to get sort of stuck on the way down, which is very uncomfortable and can result in nausea, but in my case every time this happened, it worked its way down eventually). I have been extremely careful about what I eat, so I'm not even sure if I get dumping syndrome. My surgeon said I should make sure not to exceed 15 grams of sugar or 15 grams of fat in one meal to avoid dumping. I've stuck with that and haven't had any issues. I actually see it as a benefit of the surgery that fear of dumping keeps me in line. There have been some occasions where I ate a few bites more than I should have, but I didn't vomit -- just felt kind of stuffed for a while.

Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing how your individual body will respond to the surgery, but there's a good chance that if you stick to your plan, you won't have to worry about vomiting.

I just wanted to chime in because I am an EXPERIENCED DUMPER! This is not a title I hold proudly, by the way. I still dump sometimes for no reason at all. It has been the worst thing about this surgery, by far. They do say that gastric bypass has the most chance for dumping, but it most certainly can happen for sleeve patients, too. I am post bypass, but I still have to fight dumping nearly every day. Caffeine is a big trigger, sweets, fried anything and of course meat products. I wasn't told until after I had the surgery that a lot of gastric bypass patients cannot consume meat. This decision should not be taken lightly. I wish I could be this super supporter of WLS, but it's certainly not for everyone.

Talk to your doctor, please. Ask a TON of questions. Bring a notepad of everything you wanna know. Ask about things that happen to the small percent of people, because you could be that person. Like me. I promise the result will be worth it, but sometimes people don't want to pay the price of pain. ALSO - I don't vomit like I normally do. Because my stomach is so small, I usually regurgitate and food just falls out. OR if I have to "vomit" really hard, I have to cough to make my stomach push up enough to empty it. I usually blow blood vessels in my eyes because of how hard I need to cough.

GOOD LUCK!

12 hours ago, TheAngryMeow said:

Many MANY thanks to you AngryMeow and EVERYONE who responded. I wanted to fill everyone in but I'm not sure how to do that without creating a new topic? (Sorry -- I'm really message-board-challenged!)

In any case I had a great ZOOM meeting with my Bariatric Surgeon and the bottom line is:

1. I have an Incarcerated type III paraesophegeal hernia which he tells me "of the 22 types of Hiatal Hernia, this one is the worst" (go big or go home, that's me). SO I definitely need both the Hernia and Bariatric (gastric bypass) surgery in order to ensure the hernia does not come back.

2. HOWEVER, he said that if I can lose 20-30 lbs by the time the surgery would happen (August-September) that he would NOT do the surgery and would NOT recommend it.

SO. I am accepting his challenge and continuing with my WW journey (I've already lost 13 lbs) and am determined to stay the course and lose the weight before the end of the summer. I know it's a lot to lose but I also know I can do it.

My very strong preference is and has been to not have the surgery -- and if the threat of having it is what I need to get my proverbial weight management sh*t together, than so be it. THANKS AGAIN TO ALL! ❤️

12 hours ago, TheAngryMeow said:

On 5/18/2021 at 5:11 AM, NovaLuna said:

Dumping Syndrome is generally linked to Gastric Bypass. It's from your food going from your stomach to your small intestines too fast. There is also only something like a 25% chance of you even having it. Gastric Sleeve has far less chances of that happening because your intestines aren't messed with but if you eat too fast then yeah, you'll feel like vomiting. Doesn't mean you will, but you may gag a bit. Also, drinking will cause your stomach to empty faster and could 1. make you hungry faster and 2. cause a dumping episode because you sent the food too fast through your system with the drink. If you DO decide to go the surgery route, you have to decide on whether you want the 25% of getting dumping syndrome with Gastric Bypass or the 30% your GERD will get worse with the Sleeve

On 5/18/2021 at 2:41 PM, STLoser said:

OK, I haven't had a gastric bypass. I had a Loop DS, but I can only throw up if there's something in my stomach. Actually, last week, I had an episode of nausea, and would have vomited if I could, but I couldn't. I have an umbilical hernia that caused that.
My cousin, however, had a gastric bypass and she can't vomit at all.
I can say vomiting is quite different after surgery too.. It's not the big dramatic thing like before.

One thing no one has mentioned is about your question about losing weight without the surgery: I can lose weight really easily, but I can't keep it off. WLS resets your "metabolic set point" so it's easier to keep the weight off, though many people regain some weight. I've previously lost 50 and 100 lbs, but both times gained almost all of it back within a few years. I'm having surgery to give myself a better chance to keep weight off.

I am ten weeks out and have returned to eating almost anything I would have eaten while counting calories pre surgery and I have been lucky enough to not vomit at all so far. I had iron stomach before surgery and I think that is still true. I can also eat more than I should at this point though so it’s not all a good thing. I have to measure my food to make sure I don’t eat too Much because it doesn’t hurt my stomach.

Edited May 21, 20215 yr by ShoppGirl

I had bypass on April 14. There is indeed a steep learning curve as to what foods your new stomach can handle, but that is to be expected. However, my surgeon said some people never experience dumping at all. Personally, I have been very careful about what I’m eating and so far, so good!

6 hours ago, lizonaplane said:

One thing no one has mentioned is about your question about losing weight without the surgery: I can lose weight really easily, but I can't keep it off. WLS resets your "metabolic set point" so it's easier to keep the weight off, though many people regain some weight. I've previously lost 50 and 100 lbs, but both times gained almost all of it back within a few years. I'm having surgery to give myself a better chance to keep weight off.

Yes, the Doctor told me about this (and I've read about it as well) but I have been at a healthier set point for a very long time (10 years) and am confident I can get back there again. I know it takes a long time to "reset" your set point, but I know it can be done and I'm willing to really work hard to avoid the surgery. I like that my surgeon is challenging me to lose the weight so that I don't have to have the surgery - I really appreciate his honesty. (He said that although the two surgeries are frequently done together, it still means there is more risk, and having only one of the surgeries is preferable.)

Thank you for your response -- everything everyone has said has been excellent "food for thought" (ha ha).