Hi..my name is Glenda J Pierce and I just found this forum by searching things they dont tell you about gastric bypass. This is my story and I am wondering if anyone who had gastric bypass when it was in early stages of RNY in 2001has experienced any of the same issues and are afraid to talk about it because you are ashamed. I was for 15 years until it started making me sick..I came near death in april 2016. First let me preface this by fianlly getting sent to a Gastric Bypass Surgeon who literally said to me"this is why they dont do those kind of surgeries anymore".

I had RNY in 2002. Old school style. And I fought for my life in 2015.. I'm pretty stable right now but hate what I've done to myself and hate being sick all the time. I'm still fighting to get about 20lbs off of regain while fighting malnutrition arms deficiencies. I get sick all the time after eating or if I don't or can't eat. I'd love to make internet friends with someone who understands too.

Sorry I have never posted on a blog before and hit something that made this post before i was done..I had gastric bypass rouxny in 2001. I was 260 at a height of 5'4". I had 3 young children and was ashamed to go most places they wanted to go..camping, amusement parks, flying etc due to my being obese and having the comorbidities that go with it such as ankle, knee, joint pain from the weight my legs were carrying and shoulder/neck pain from the set of boobs I was carrying. I went in to see the surgeon in November 2000. I weighed 240 and didnt have the BMI i should have to qualify for bypass surgery to be covered by my insurance. The doc said "you came at a great time! It's the holidays go home eat whatever you want and come back to see me after the first of the year" So I did and I gained the 10 pounds i needed plus another 10 pounds. I was qualified for surgery. I had to pass a basic psychological exam which I told the truth at(i was doing it to enjoy having fun with my kids and get healthy not for vanity)Do you know back then they didnt tell you that you needed to drink protein shakes or take supplements the rest of your life. I know you are not believing me right now but its true. Thats why I would like to talk to anyone who had the same surgery same year I did. I adjusted to my new life of eating 2 oz of baby food, had the diararrhea all the time when i ate something i wasnt suppose to. All the normal things they still can not change. Gastric bypass is not a "cheaters program" it is a lifestyle adjustment not only for you but for your family also. I had just lost my way I expressed my emotions all my life at 33. I felt like I lost my best friend. I didnt know how to replace it so i ended up with alchohol addiction for 5 straight years of my kids most precious lives that I had this surgery to enjoy with. Totally f****d up I know. Then I became addicted to pain killers..then some street drugs..you see where all this is going right? I was the perfect goal weight of 140 why wasnt I happy and enjoying my family? Fast forward from 2002(it took me a year to lose the weight and have abdominal plasty) to 2016. My kids are grown now and my husband took a job over 12 hours away from my family and the only "real live" friends I knew. Something broke in me that I started exhibiting physically. From April -August just 5 months I was down to 93 pounds hadnt eaten by mouth in 5 months because I was now consitpated instead of diararrhea and when i couldnt put anything more down I stopped eating. For 2 years i was labeled as "failure to thrive". Any specialist be gastroenterologist to neurologists to psychiatrists could not figure out what was wrong with me. I literally had every test done possible in those 2 years. Finally I was sent to a gastric bypass surgeon who said "this is why they dont do those surgeries anymore" Well hello did someone notify me a patient who had been through it that progress had been made and things were totally different now? ABSOLUTELY NOT. to be continued...

omg paws i just got your reply while i was trying to finish my post. I would love to chat more with you

Yes boofcat. I'm in recovery for addiction as well. Pawsalmighty@gmail.com send me an email

So the gastric bypass surgeon said you have a choice outta 3. "1. you can stay on a feeding tube the rest of your life. 2. You can die or 3. you can do a gastric bypass reversal to keep things from getting worse I can't undo the damage that has been done" Are you f*****n kidding me? With those 3 choices i chose the gastric bypass reversal. I was able to eat got up to 178 pounds. I was beginning to see the "fat Glenda that no man would hold a door open for again". So far the doing the gastric bypass without supplements and protein shakes has caused me to be an addict to other things, ruin a marriage, neuropathy and tremors from Vit B deficient, The feeding tube issue and being on "death row" for 2 years which caused problems in my present marriage but I have the most reasonable awesome man in the world who now understands everything. It has caused my brain to have white spots due to vitamin and mineral deficienct, has caused me to be diagnosed with anemia having blood transmissions done, has caused me to be diagnosed with iron deficiency and received iron infusions. Nobody believes that this is my real life because of this surgery. I am hear to tell you it is. It happened to me

just saw your post will email you

It sounds like at least a chunk of this is due to not taking supplements and developing an alcohol and painkiller addiction rather than the surgery itself. I'm sorry that you did not get better advice and support from your surgeon.

Ty catwoman. It has been a long and painful Road

My big concern is not the addiction replacement I have battled that and one what concerns me is my whole body seems to be shutting down one system at a time

Continue with the guidance both physical and psychological that you need. Keep at it one day at a time.

Do your own research.

Good luck,

Tek

Thank you Tek. Yes it is a physical and psychological road that never ends.

I am sorry that you have suffered so much. I think it is important for all of us to know what can go wrong with these surgeries so that hopefully people will know what kind of aftercare they need and to ask for help if things aren't going well before it gets out of control. I wish you the best on recovering from all of this!

They certainly do perform RNY gastric bypasses now. It's still the gold standard. Some doctors talk their patients into the sleeve because it's easier for the surgeon, not necessarily better for the patient.

I had RNY in 1990. Back then RNY surgery involved stapling between pouch and stomach, not separation. It was open surgery and I was in the hospital for 7 days. I had no pre-op or post-op nutritional guidance. I was handed a 1-page low-cal diet and told not to throw up. Two follow visits post-surgery were to check the incision and I was then left to my own devices. I learned on my own to take vitamin and mineral supplements; no one told me. I lost about 75 lbs from a high weight of 319, stopped losing after about six months, but kept the weight off for about five years before starting to gain it all back again.

For the past 20 years, I've yoyo-ed with countless diets and food plans but always return to that same high setpoint. I'm now 73 years old and am going to give it another shot. My knees and hips are shot, I've got a pacemaker, and I figure I'll die within a few years if I can't lose all this excess weight.

I first learned about revision surgery about a year ago, just before COVID hit. This spring I followed up with a hospital bariatric clinic about 2 hours from my home. I've been on a liver-reducing diet for three months. I had a barium swallow a couple of weeks ago that revealed that the staples had given way and there was a fistula between the pouch and stomach, which explains why I stopped losing weight from the RNY. I had an endoscopy today and had a conversation with the surgeon who told me that the leak occurred because of peristalsis of my stomach, not (as I thought) because I ruined it due to up-chucking too often. The new surgical methods are much improved and there is extensive pre-op and post-op guidance and follow-up.

I will have my psych evaluation in two weeks. I'm within 2 pounds of my prescribed pre-op diet, but don't have a surgery date yet for the revision.

I do not want to fail again, so I will probably seek therapy for food addiction even if it is not recommended during the psych evalutation.

Where did you have your surgery in 2001?

I had RNY around 1990 at St. Luke's Hospital in Milwaukee, WI. I don't recall the surgeon's name. I kept the weight off for five years and gradually regained all I had lost in the following years.

I had my gastric bypass 2017/2018 I can’t remember right now but I too have struggled and found myself addicted to pain meds which began a few years prior when I got my sleeve done. I struggled with low energy since my diagnosis of sleep apnea I began taking them for my back pain but abused them to help me stay up throughout the day just to make it through a day of work. When my body changed after the bypass where I was always tired during the day and couldn’t sleep at night I began an addiction to sleeping pills. I am struggling right now as we speak it’s been 9 months due to pregnancy I just had my baby in May and I’ve already found myself back to taking pills to help me get through the day along with my back pain. At this point I haven’t started taking any vitamins yet or trying to do things differently because all I feel is tired no energy completely down and not wanting to do anything. I only got through these last weeks because I began taking these pills. Now I find myself depressed because the doctor will no longer prescribe them. I know it’s nothing compared to what you went through but I just wanted to share my story and say my life has changed as well since the surgeries and I still continue to struggle.