<p>Has anyone had weight loss surgery or are you close to someone who has had it? I am considering a sleeve gastrectomy, which is a newer procedure. </p>
<p>Of course, there is a lot to think about but I’m so tired of being so big and fighting so hard to get off even five pounds when I have about a hundred pounds to go. Not to mention my cycle of gaining back more than I have lost each time. </p>
<p>I don’t know anyone in “real life” who has had this surgery. If anyone wants to talk about their experiences or the experiences of a loved one, good or bad, I’d love to talk with you. You can post here or, if you’re more comfortable, PM me. </p>
<p>I know two people who have had weight loss surgery, one — male --a bit over a year ago and the other --female – about five years ago. I don’t know what specific techniques either one used. But I do know that within a year of the surgery both developed serious drinking problems when neither had been alcoholic before. And I mean serious. So serious that their respective spouses gave them an ultimatum to do something about it or the marriage was over. Thankfully both tried Alcoholics Anonymous and both are doing well now, though they’ve both also gained back some of their weight. But one of them told me that her doctor said the odds of developing a drinking problem after weight-loss surgery was about 30% IIRC, and that no one really knew why so many of these surgeries generated drinking problems. Just something to be aware of and talk to your doctor about. </p>
<p>The other thing both of them told me was that sagging skin folds after losing weight were uncomfortable, unsightly, and would take another major surgery to fix. Now both of these people are in their fifties so maybe youthful skin reacts differently, I don’t know. But I do know that both are considering this round of surgery now, but have been put off by the expense of it, as it is considered cosmetic and not covered by their insurance in either case.</p>
<p>A family member of mine had lap band, not gastric sleeve. We went out to dinner recently and I felt so sorry for her. She would eat, and after several minutes or so, I noticed her making some very odd faces. She would just nod at the conversation, and finally she would leave the table. She’d come back, all was well, eat some more, and then I got the impression that her mouth was full. She would sit there for some inexplicable reason like that until, finally, she’d go to the restroom. This repeated several times. I finally found out that at times, the food she eats literally backs up! I guess she was hoping to be able to re-swallow it each time, but it wasn’t happening. After I knew what was going on, I started to feel sick when she would start this next round.</p>
<p>Personally, if that was happening to me, I’d rather go without eating that meal than go through that repeated exercise. It was rather gross, and I say this about someone I love dearly. Her spouse brought up the possibility of having the lap band reversed, but she didn’t want to entertain this notion. I really feel for her.</p>
<p>I have no idea what is involved in a gastric sleeve operation.</p>
<p>BDA, I don’t drink alcohol by choice. In fact, it’s been over 15 years since I’ve had a drink. But it’s certainly something I will talk about with my therapist. That 30% figure is rather daunting. The excess skin is another daunting issue. I hope your friends are doing well now. Thank you for sharing their experience.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4, That sounds horrific. Absolutely that is my worst fear. I’m not a candidate for the lap band, which I suppose is good in some ways but at least it’s reversible. The surgery I am a candidate for is not reversible. Good grief, this is a tough decision. Thank you for sharing that with me.</p>
<p>DH had lap band about one year ago.
The first 2 months post lap band were not smooth. Lots of discomfort and two episodes of pain/vomiting due to eating too much too fast.</p>
<p>Fine since then, he’s down maybe 60 lbs and will lose more but now slowly. Eats less carbs more protein, eats smaller amounts more often. He’s ditched some meds and decreased others. DH and his docs are happy with his progress.</p>
<p>Pugmadkate- can you share what makes you unable to have a lap band?</p>
<p>One had a stomach reduction surgery and also lost over 100 pounds but after a couple of years she gained it all back because what was left of her stomach apparently stretched out and she was able to eat larger and larger meals to the point of eating her normal amount which was too much and the wrong kind of food. </p>
<p>Another one had the band, which apparently worked to help her lose quite a lot for a while, but after a couple of years she gained it all back since the band ended up failing (and she didn’t control what she was eating). </p>
<p>This same person then had a different kind of surgery (can’t remember the kind but it also was ‘new’ which a lot of them seem to be - it was irreversible), had it done by a flake doctor in a location she shouldn’t have gone to, had complications, and nearly died because she couldn’t keep anything down. She had to feed herself liquids through a feeding tube for quite a while. She had some corrections done by a reputable doc at a reputable place and is now healthy again - i.e. she can eat. She lost quite a bit weight and so far it’s still off. She was very miserable for about a year after the botched surgery. Given her choices in food I wouldn’t be surprised to see her eventually somehow put the weight back on if her revised gastric system would allow that.</p>
<p>Just be very careful of what you have done. Only have it done by a reputable doc at a reputable location. Research what the success/failure rates are, for example, 5 years down the road, because with some of these people lose at first but end up gaining it back when things slowly stretch back out and adapt and they don’t change their eating habits (i.e. eat too much of the wrong things).</p>
<p>Pugmadkate, several of my co-workers have had this surgery.</p>
<p>The women it seems to be very apparent in. The ones that I knew were very much over weight before. A few of them are still a bit ‘heavy’ but must have lost at least a hundred pounds so far. I do know that most of them go to the gym several times a week to help speed up the process and loose more weight. The one girl has lost so much weight I didn’t recognize her from one year to the next. I do believe she may have had something done with the excess skin, not sure what.</p>
<p>There is one male co-worker who had it done, and I noticed it at first, but he seems to have put the weight back on over the past few years. I might just be imagining it. </p>
<p>None of these folks have turned into alcoholics and to my knowledge they all say they would do it again. Just keep in mind if you do have it done, it’s not enough by itself. You have to change eating and exercising habits or the weight will come back.</p>
<p>I did see a show about the alcohol issue. I wonder if in part it may be related to the fact that some of these people have the surgery, but never address the issues that led to their morbid obesity in the first place. So one maladaptive way of coping was taken from them by virtue of the surgery, so they had to replace it with something else to help them deal with the pain which caused the problem to begin with.</p>
<p>Another reason they gave (and I think this was a show about gastric bypass) was that by virtue of their new anatomy, the alcohol was absorbed or metabolized differently, and this contributed to their new drinking behavior.</p>
<p>Sorry I can’t remember more details than that.</p>
<p>I have a friend who recently had the surgery - which type I am not sure. What was so surprising to me is how little she is able to eat. She had the surgery in January and is still only able to eat 7-8 ounces per meal, 3 meals a day, no snacks. She has been disappointed in how slowly she is losing weight - she has had some roadblocks to exercise though.</p>
<p>The very large company I work for pays for this surgery for employees. I know more than 15 people who’ve had it, (mostly gastric by-pass and some lap bands) and only one has kept the weight off. (a man and he has been at a normal weight for at least 8 years) Everyone else has ballooned back up to almost where they began and has had side effects. One person has never returned to work because her intestines don’t work very well anymore and she said they did something to a nerve during surgery. And I know of at least 2 people with full blown alcoholism and neither were heavy drinkers… (that I knew of anyway). The serious side effect of developing alcoholism, doesn’t seem to be well known, but after speaking with a bariatric nurse, she assured me it is a very serious possibility. Make sure you consider this option very carefully.</p>
<p>I have heard “second hand” of success in people I don’t know well. One friend and one lady who worked at the same company as me had some type of bypass (I forget which one). One lost enough weight to shop at “regular stores”, she slowly gained it all back eating lots of small and high calorie (ice cream) meals. The other lost some, had surgery for the excess skin/hernia and now weighs more than before, she says she loves food too much.
I think it must be very difficult to be keep off the weight. Good Luck, hope you are one of the success stories.</p>
<p>I know someone who has had the gastric bypass. The someone lost a lot of weight, I believe that it was well over 100 pounds. There are a many problems…loss of iron needing infusions fairly often, and some serious (and humiliating) stomach problems. This is not an easy fix.</p>
<p>Can you spend two months at a weight loss retreat and spend time working out and settle for more health and a less ldrastic weight loss? I also know two people who had stomach reduction or lap band. One gained all the weight back, one ended upnwith dreadful health issues and seems to have chronic reflux and pain issues…l,</p>
<p>musicmom, The doctor I saw basically said that because of my age and family history (my father is one of ten children and nine struggle with obesity), he would not recommend the lap-band but rather would recommend the sleeve gastrectomy. He didn’t go into detail beyond that and I must admit, although this is probably irrational, I don’t like the idea of a medical device being left in me as the lap-band is.</p>
<p>Appreciate the info.<br>
I admit the thought of a hunk of synthetic band thingy left inside me would difficult for me also. For my DH, not an issue at all.</p>
<p>I have a friend that tried stomach stapling many years ago. It worked for a while and then it didn’t. I don’t really know how it works other than it makes it smaller. I assume that they take the staples out at some point. At any rate he gained it back.</p>
<p>What got him to lose a ton of weight was getting diagnosed with diabetes. He then lost 30 pounds in a month and has made tremendous progress in losing weight and getting fit. BTW, this guy knows every weight-loss technique there is. He just wasn’t doing them.</p>
<p>I’ve lost 75 pounds. There is a little saggy skin. I would like to lose ten more and then I don’t think that it would be safe to lose any more. I can hide the saggy skin with a t-shirt or maybe get it fixed surgically if I care enough about it - which I probably won’t.</p>
<p>A friend of mine had lap-band and wound up with severe vitamin deficiencies that led to other major health issues. I know someone else who had it done because she had another underlying medical issue and it seems to have worked well for her. She has kept most of the weight off. </p>
<p>Gastric surgery scared the heck out of me. I was not willing to go there. It’s too much of a risk with my complicated medical history. I’m down 91 and would like to lose another 20-25. At this point my motivation is staying alive and beating the genetic hand I’ve been given. I carried much of this weight around for the past years – but now it needs to be gone for good. I have found that the skin on my arms and legs has firmed up pretty well, but that’s not the case with my stomach (which is where I carry my weight). Am not going to get that cosmetically repaired.</p>
<p>I would research the daylights out of this and get multiple opinions from doctors who specialize in these procedures. Do the risks of the surgery and its aftermath outweigh the health risks if you don’t have it done?</p>
<p>I recall the conversation with a friend who said the surgery was the most important piece of her redefinition of how she approached food as part of her life. She felt it was the surgery kickstart was the only way she could succeed in losing the 100 or so pounds that had taken her younger brother’s life (he was 300 overweight and had a fatal heart attack).
To me as her friend she was successful meeting her goals. So it surprised me to hear her say she still saw herself in her mirror as very overweight for a year, as if nothing had changed! To see herself and believe she weighed 110 pounds less took her an entire year. When she said that I got a hint of the depth of this struggle for her . She said it is much more than the mechanical weight loss. But glad she did it.</p>
<p>She said the surgery was key to changing "everything " about the role of food in her life. It was hard work but she emphasized the new behaviors required lots of thought and family adjustments from her spouse who is slightly overweight but was used to her as a cook providing lots of food always. She has only one child but already empty-nested, so that absence helped her reprogram herself over the half year following surgery. She said the surgery was “the easy part” compared to all the behavior changes about how food fit into her household.</p>
<p>I have a friend from years ago who was always heavy, got up to 400 pounds. Was diabetic, used a walker, doctors told him - you wont live to see ypur kids graduate, marry, etc. </p>
<p>He had the surgery (not sure what kind) last December and shares his progress via a private Facebook group. He has lost 100 pounds so far, has started exercising (which for him is merely walking up stairs and walking very slowly on a treadmill) and we cheer him on in the group. He seems to be doing quite fine, and is doing this the right way and dealing with why he overate in the first place. I have no idea whether he will need surgery to deal with skin folds, but that seems like the least of one’s worries at that point. Good luck.</p>
<p>Pudmadkate,
I want to give you LOTS of kudos for wanting to take some step to resolve your weight/life situation. </p>
<p>Have you tried other methods where you have actual trained support to help you lose weight? (not just on your own). Weight watchers and a regular support group to attend? A physical trainer or physical therapist of some sort to monitor, guide and motivate you? An online support group??? Or all of the above?</p>
<p>It can be really hard to tackle this on your own. But if you truly have the desire, you can have a degree of success when you have accountability. To a doctor, to a weight loss buddy, to a Weight Watchers leader, to a physical trainer/nutritionist (they don’t just work with physically “buff” people who want to get more buff!!!) who will start at step one with you???</p>