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Weight loss surgery-- Anyone had it? What was your experience like? I've been considering it myself and I'd like to know what your story was pre/during/post operation.
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Aug 1, 2020 01:51
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| # ? May 3, 2024 18:18 |
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I had a lap band put in many years ago. It wasn't too bad of a recovery. It was an odd sensation though and I never really lost very much weight - I went from about 250 to maybe 190 at the best, but eventually sort of hit equilibrium at about 220. I'd feel really crappy when I overate, but I'd do it anyway. Also, the band did nothing to help prevent liquid calories such as ice cream, etc, and things would get "stuck" in the band and feel really uncomfortable and I'd basically vomit it back up. Would not recommend. Maybe two years ago, I started having really bad heartburn. GI doc blamed the lapband, saying it had slipped. Surgeon that installed it said no, it's fine, it's right where we installed it, right where it should be. Cue second opinions, etc, and ultimately I decided to have it taken out. Didn't really solve the heartburn but the pain is maybe a little bit better. Weight was holding at around 220ish until some life stress took me to 230, and then Covid19 really did me in and I went from 230 to 254. Ultimately, an expensive cluster gently caress. There is really no magic pill or solution, and many people are unsuccessful with weight loss surgery but it works for some. If you haven't read The Obesity Code by Jason Fung, I would start there. I've seen many people find success with some version of keto combined with intermittent fasting or especially longer fasts. I've only done 24 hour fasts and need to suck it up and work up the nerve to try 3-5 day fasts, it seems to really help people, but mentally it's a challenge. I do believe that most of us who are overweight have high insulin resistance and very broken hormonal systems and he quotes a variety of studies to back up that theory.
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Aug 5, 2020 05:03
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My mother had gastric bypass when I was young. She is 5’2 and weighed three hundred pounds. I am an adult now, and while I don’t know her exact weight, she is now on the lighter side of appropriate for her age and height. She’s pretty much a poster child of the procedure.
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Aug 31, 2020 05:40
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Thirteen Orphans posted:My mother had gastric bypass when I was young. She is 5’2 and weighed three hundred pounds. I am an adult now, and while I don’t know her exact weight, she is now on the lighter side of appropriate for her age and height. She’s pretty much a poster child of the procedure. A gastric bypass or roux on y and a gastric band are different procedures. The only way to loose weight is exercise more or eat less. Everything else is an excuse for not eating less or exercising more. Dogatron fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Sep 11, 2020 |
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Sep 11, 2020 00:03
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Dogatron posted:A gastric bypass or roux on y and a gastric band are different procedures. I am aware of that. OP asked about our experiences of weight loss surgery and that was mine, her bypass.
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Sep 15, 2020 07:14
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I had gastric bypass (the full roux en y flavor) back in 2013. I topped out at 509 before surgery; I'm 6'5" (and a guy) so while I will always enormous all over, it was a real problem. Further compounding these problems are some birth defects in my feet and legs that make exercise a painful enterprise; bike riding (which is what I do now) is ok but good loving luck finding a bike that can support that kind of weight. My problem is that, genetically, it's not terribly easy for me to lose weight. I changed how I ate, I did find a (horrifically expensive) bike that I could use for exercise, and had a fantastic support system in my wife. Despite all these things, the weight doesn't fall off of me like it does for other people, and I'm a little pissed off by that still to this day. I'm not sure what the insurance process looks like now, but back then I had a battery of things I had to do in order to qualify. This included losing about 30lbs prior to surgery (which took several months of consuming nothing but sawdust and air; it sucked), being cleared by a psychologist, seeing a nutritionist, and the normal gauntlet of pre-op labwork and whatnot. I finally got the go ahead and secured a hospital with an operating room that had a table weight that could support my rear end; the local hospital near where I lived topped out at 350 so that wasn't going to be a thing. The surgery itself was more or less like any normal surgical experience I've ever heard about. This was the only surgery I've ever had so I don't have a lot of personal experience upon which to base comparisons. I checked in, I grabbed a tent to cover myself (  ) and they give you an IV and other fun accessories, meds (usually Versed) to relax you, and then they wheel you into the OR. You do a bed transfer (which required several dudes to assist) and then the anesthesiologist gives you the good poo poo. After this point, you're obviously out which is when the catheter and additional accessories are placed. The catheter in particular is something I asked about during pre-op as I did not need to be conscious for a stranger shoving things into my p-dude.I woke up a couple of hours later in post-op where a nurse monitored me constantly until the anesthesia had worn off to the point where I was back in control of my own breathing and the pain meds they were providing weren't causing breathing issues. I think got transferred to a normal hospital room where I would be for the next two nights. During the rest of the day after surgery and into the next, you're not allowed to have anything by mouth. This is the same rule that you had to follow for 12 hours before surgery. You get fluids via the IV and they measure urine output, but you've never had dry mouth like you will during this time. No ice chips, no nothing because they have to wait for the initial swelling to go down before they can take an x-ray of your new plumbing to make sure there are no leaks. During that time, you will be required to get up and walk. This is good and helps the healing. Thus, about 36 hours since I had ingested anything by mouth and about 20 hours after surgery itself, I got wheeled down to the radiology suite and given the first molecules of anything that had crossed my lips in the better part of two days. It was a barium milkshake that makes your new innards light up like Times Square on an x-ray and while it doesn't taste good, it is nectar of the gods simply because it has moisture in your mouth. The NPO (nothing by mouth) order stands until the radiologist, king dickhead that he is, gets around to reviewing your x-ray with your surgeon. This took a couple more hours of misery, so I'd have your surgeon on speed-dial to make sure your case is a priority to him/her. Finally, the green light was given and I could have ice chips, small sips of water, and bone broth or jello for protein. Another night in the hospital to make sure nothing went awry and I was sent home to begin recovery. Soreness is common; my surgery was done laparoscopically and I generally heal quickly so I didn't have a lot of issues that Tylenol couldn't take care of. You've got to be gentle in the beginning and not pick stuff up, etc. Normal post-surgery restrictions. The post-op diet generally consists of a couple of weeks of broth, a couple weeks of pureed foods, a couple weeks of soft foods, and then small portions of normal food. While this sounds miserable, because your stomach is now a fraction of its original size, you're really not hungry. The weight starts falling off during this period as a result. Vitamins and protein are key to make sure your hair doesn't fall out and the rest of your body systems don't fritz out. My personal experience was that after a couple of weeks I was able to do normal food (well chewed as they teach you in pre-op) which freaked my wife out badly. She didn't want me tearing a hole in my new plumbing (specifically the anastomosis that is created when they connect your esophagus to the newly created stomach compartment). Thankfully I never had a problem and was deeply tuned into what my body was telling me. You get full a lot quicker and anything with a lot of sugar will give you dumping syndrome which you can look up but it feels like hell for about a half hour. It's a process so follow your doc's directions and recognize that this is wholesale lifestyle change and not a quick fix because you're fat. I bottomed out at 315, so almost 200lbs down. I will never be a normal-sized person so this was completely fine with me. My endurance is 500% better than it was, which means I can enjoy normal activities like walking around with my wife. My cholesterol and other blood work items were never bad to begin with thanks to genetics; however, those same genetics hosed me over with my feet so the pain is better because there's less weight but it will never be fully gone, thus making exercise a continual struggle. I enjoy traveling and so I fit a lot better in airplane seats, though it will always remain a challenge for me because of how tall I am. I did gain about 30lb beyond that back and plateaued there for several years. This year, thanks to pandemic quarantine and copious amounts of drinking I've put another 30lb back on that I am actively working on getting back off. I will not go back to the way I was before and, again, I have a truly amazing support system in my wife that is dedicated to helping me. Cutting the drinking back and removing as much sugar as possible plus the exercise I do should help, but it's going to be a forever struggle and I have to remember that this is a lifestyle and get back into the swing of things. Pandemic is a lovely excuse to compromise everything I put in to this point. Anyway, aside from that wall of text, I encourage people who suffer from weight issues and are truly prepared to make the lifestyle change and alter how you think about eating to go for it. But recognize that it's not a one-trick pony. If you don't stick with it, as I've experienced this year, you can absolutely put yourself on a path to go right back to where you were.
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Sep 16, 2020 14:26
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Thank you for sharing your experience. It’s an impressive thing to go through!
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Oct 17, 2020 17:11
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I cant share first hand experince but i know someone well who went through with it. he was at about 400lbs and 5-3 so he was huge. his dad died because he was bed ridden and it shook him so he started trying to diet and exercise but he needed the help of the lap band surgery. the first thing they had him do was to lose like 25lbs on his own then before the surgery he could only eat broth for about 2 weeks and that is supposidly a big deal breaker for most people. after his surgery he kept up with excersise and dieting and it hes alot better off. he just recently had the surgery to remove the extra skin and he had to pay out of pocket for it. it took him about 10 yrs to save up for it.
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Oct 19, 2020 20:24
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My spouse's cousin went from being a plus sized sex worker who would travel around the midwest to meet certain fetish needs to merely being a midwestern housewife due to the surgery. Don't drink soda or carbonated beverages. My take is that is can take you from "your loved ones need to have an intervention" to "merely incredibly overweight'. Which is a solid start for a lot of goons. I'm not knocking it, I just want to set reasonable limits based off what I've seen.
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Oct 27, 2020 03:41
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sorry op i dont have any experience with weight loss surgery
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Oct 27, 2020 06:11
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I had a Sleeve Gastrectomy in 2017, went from ~270 to 180 on my own, back to 230, then down to around 145-150. Surgery was pretty straightforward, didn't do an IV even until i was in the OR. Spent one night in the hospital then went home the next day. It took me a while to learn to re-eat and lots of puking if i ate too fast, stuck to the plan carefully and i'm happy i did. I'll get more details in here if i remember.
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Jan 12, 2021 18:44
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| # ? May 3, 2024 18:18 |
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I have had three relatives get gastric bypasses. One died a couple years later of organ failure after drinking regularly and taking tylenol regularly. Ten years later, the second nearly died and needed a liver transplant after continuing to drink regularly after the surgery. The third relative got the message and gave up alcohol. I highly recommend giving up alcohol if you get this surgery. Not every surgeon will tell you your liver and kidneys will damage more easily - hell, maybe it's genetic and won't affect everyone the same - but this surgery was basically lifesaving for these people and it's a goddamn shame to kill yourself afterwards without knowing you're doing so until your liver fails. This is not a caution against doing it. It extended the lives of two people very dear to me, who are still alive now after about twenty years. I just wish they'd known that alcohol was going to damage them more than before. I have not read medical papers on this, it's strictly anecdotal, but in the end some of the many doctors who saved the life of the one who got the transplant did seem to be saying this was something discovered about gastric bypasses after these relatives got them (being 20 years ago they were pretty early adopters). Interested in what more knowledgable people could say about this really.
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Jan 18, 2021 19:01
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