Gastric Bypass

[Guest (Lightsider)]

I am post op gastric bypass since summer 2011. I have lost just a wee bit over 160 lbs. I am going to make my self available for those who have questions about the procedure. There might be a huge pause in my activity after the 19th of this month because I am going to have adominalplasty to strengthen stomach muscles and remove excess skin. I will go from a 50 inch waist to a 40 inch waist. I will have a 4 week recovery time.

So if you have any questions please feel free to ask away. I will do my best to answer them.

-Nicole

[JJ]

Congratz on that weight loss Nicole. I'd love to hear how removing that excess skin goes,. I have a bit myself after a 200+ loss. And congratz on keeping it off. Gastic bypass gives you a tool but you have to do the work to lose the weight and to keep it off.

Johnny

[Guest (Lightsider)]

Hi Johnny, That is the key...it is a tool. It sure has been a life changer. The next biggest thing is I started looking at food differently. Instead of getting an unhealthy snack like chips...I now go grab an apple or tomato. Seeing a nutritionist was very important in this who process as well. Some people think Oh I will just get a gastric bypass and lose weight...but is so much more than that. :-)

[Guest Emily89]

Gratz on the weight loss!

I have a stomach wrap last year and lost 130ish pounds, still got a long way to go though, another 70 and I should be at a nice healthy weight to move on with my life!

Did you have a small relapse after a while before re-evaluating your diet and loosing more?

Ems xx

[Guest (Lightsider)]

Hi Emily, My relapse? Well not sure what to call it. I was actually eating too little! I had my protein up in the right areas. So that was ok. Veggies was in check but my Carb intake per day was near zero and I almost fainted a few times before they figured it out. Now I eat some pasta eat day and some breads and I feel great! You deserve some congrats on your weightloss. That is just awesome. I remember when I hit the 100 lb weight loss mark and it felt great.

So..no..no relapse. I am lucky if I can get 1000 calories in a day. My attitude towards food changed a lot. I used to use it for comfort...that sort of thing. Now I see it as something that keeps me alive and healthy.

[JJ]

My experience has been somewhat the same. I have to eat more because I am dedicated-obsessed-about keeping up my daily 3 1/2 hour hikes which consume around 1500 calories a day because of the terrain. I also do pushups. A couple of months ago an internist did an exam an told me I had too little body fat and need to up my intake. (But I had the best physical including full metabolism and liver workups of my life so it hasn't caused any problems). I don't feel too thin-because of all that skin maybe I never would-but it has been a real struggle to eat even as much as I exercise away a day-except one day a week when I eat all I want. That day still keeps me burning well. But I have found increasing intake and maintaining weight to be a greater challenge than taking it off was. I still enjoy food but I enjoy the way I have arranged my diet now and I don't eat for comfort or emotional reasons anymore. My main emotion about food is probably a fear that I will somehow fall back into the old patterns and that would be unthinkable for me.

But finding a balance and what will work for you as a lifelong pattern is a challenge.As long as you have stopped the relapse and dealt with it then it isn't a thing to beat yourself up about. In truth nothing is worth beating yourself up is it? Accomplishes nothing .

Congratz on the weight loss too. Feels great doesn't it?

Do you two have times it seems almost unreal. Like it's a dream? While other times it seems as if the time before was the dream-albeit a bad one?

Johnny

[Guest Emily89]

Yep I know the fainting feeling.... Joined gym and 3rd day was slightly bemused to wake up on my back with the gym instructor staring down at me! Whoops

Pasta and protein shakes have now become a massive part of my everyday life!

Can't complain though, every pound off is a pound closer to being myself!

Ems xx

[Guest (Lightsider)]

Just an update since I last posted this. I had an abdominalplasty on 19th of November. It was supposed to be only panniculectomy, which is only when the excess skin below the belly button is removed. (a much simpler procedure). This area of the body is otherwise known as the apron. But the Surgeon went above and beyond what insurance would cover. Here is a break down of what this wonderful man did free of charge: (Keep in mind that he was only paid for a simple apron removal and repair of one Hernia. He did not see the second hernia until mid surgery. )

1. Laced up the stomach muscles. Often times pregnant women post child birth or the severally obese get a separation in the "Six pack" right up the center. So they go in and put in several layers of lacing. Think of a corset but under the skin.

2. Repaired two surgical hernias from when I had lathroscopic gastric bypass in 2011. They never totally healed.

3. Pulled the skin up vertically from the bikini area.

4. Went above the belly button and pulled all the skin down. (This was just below the rib cage actually so the entire trunk was pulled tight.)

5. Instead of an over all tube shape or V-Shape he gave me an hour glass figure.

A total of 15 lbs was removed during surgery and since surgery I dropped another 5 lbs for a total of 180 lbs lost.

I am still recovering and will be for about another 3 to 4 weeks. But I can already see some results. I have a mid section of an 18 year old! I am so grateful to this man. He changed my life for the better for the rest of my life all because in his own words..."It was the right thing to do for her." as he told my friend before I woke up from surgery.

He is truly a friend of the trans community and his staff is totally awesome. Thank you Dr. Stiller. (Dr. Geoff Stiller is a cosmetic surgeon who works out of Spokane, Moscow, ID and Pullman Wa.)

While I am happy with all of this, I have to admit there is a lot mental change that comes with this. I have never really been thin before so, I am now getting used to a new me. I never really thought that would be a big thing.

[Guest Kelly-087]

Ive lost.. close to 90 lbs since the time I was 18.

I plan to lose more. Im about about between 185-195 depending on what the day is like. I still think Im fat but my Doctor feels Im at a pretty healthy weight.

[Guest (Lightsider)]

Awesome. 90 lbs is no small achievement.

[Guest spunky monkey]

hello,

in 2004 i lost a cousin who was my weight maybe a bit more too a blood clot she got from a bruise on her stomach,it broke off and went too her heart and killed her instantly

i had a lapband installed and that was the worse descion i have ever made in my life...i was constantly sick and having the band emptied and refilled was both annoying and costly

june 2011 the lap band slipped 2 inches and blocked off my stomach completely and i had too have emergency surgery too remove it and too sew up the tears from the slippage.

my surgeon suggested stomach by pass surgery be done so i was told it was about a year till i get my surgery date and its getting close but i know its closer too 500 days than 365 but im close...

i dont feel sexy at the weight of 250 pounds and 5ft 6 inches but once i have the surgery done my whole attitude towards eating and exercise improve because i know its working

congrats ladies on your weight loss and ill be drawing hope from your achievements.

love rachelle

[Guest (Lightsider)]

I am sorry you lost your cousin. Sometimes the loss of another life drives us to live. Hugs.

Lapband is not nearly as successful as by-pass. I won't lie, both carry a serious risk of death but the odds are very low Some report 1 in 500 chance but I think it is even lower than that. and that includes death with 30 days of the surgery. For me it was an all or nothing decision and it paid off for me. Just for clarification...did you have the surgery or are you going to get the surgery? Sounds like you are planning for it.

Lapband kind of freaked me out as well because it is foreign object and they do often slip and choke things off. So I skipped that one...

My first 2 months post surgery were bad. I thought I was going to die. In those two months I lost 80 lbs. I had zero appetite. I was nauseated for the first month. Probably more due to dehydration. So hydrate hydrate hydrate! They pushed the protein first mantra. So that starved me of vital carbs I needed and that became apparent around 3 months ago when I nearly fainted due to low blood sugar. That was corrected as I learned about slow release carbs like apples and even pasta. Other than recovering from the current surgery I just had I feel tons better.

With lapband the success of weight loss is not as great as with bypass...or even the newer gastric sleeve. Gastric is in the 70 percent of excess weight loss where as lapband is close to 60 percent. For me I am at 90 percent excess weight lost. Closing in on 100 percent by at least Feb of this coming year. Obviously your miles will very.

It is vitally important to work as close as you can with a dietitian. This is some serious stuff and life changing. Oh and counseling can not be understated. Being in counseling for GID is one thing...try wrapping your mind around seeing some one appear in the mirror that you have never seen before. Well in my case...I see my mothers face. People also treat you differently when you lose weight. You are no longer the unseen. People want to interact with me and I am not used that. Society does treat overweight people horribly...as if they don't exist. They will deny they do but I have seen it first hand. The social swing is fast and swift. I have spent many hours with my counselor trying to work this out in my head. Many people do not think this will happen or they ignore it and depression sits in and they gain much of the weight back because the change scares them.

I know of one gastric bypass patient who is purposely eating all the things he should not and putting the weight back on. His attitude towards food did not change. It is a tool...the rest is up to us.

[Bulldog1948]

This past week, a close friend of mine had a massive heart attack. He weighs 600+ pds. He's 60 yrs old and married.

His wife was at work when the heart attack hit him He was able to dial 911. But the ems were freaking out because they knew that they could never carry him out through the trailer door, But, somehow, he was able to walk out the front door and sit down on a chair on their porch and was waiting on the squad. Then he walked down the steps and helped pull himself up into the squad vehicle. Pleaase note; that we live in a rural area where all ems are firemen are volunteers.

When they got him to the hospital, they called in a heart specialist. The heart dr told his family that he had never tried to put a stent into such a big man before and wasn't sure that he could. But, the wife said do it and God would guide his hands. Well, he got 2 stents in and was all smiles when he came out and told the family. But, there was also a 4 inch blood clot in one of his lungs. He's on a resporator. But, they're going to remove it and try to put in a tryake tube. He's still in the super critical stage and in the high ICU range. He may or may not make it, only God knows.

Mike

[Guest (Lightsider)]

Gees. I am sorry to hear that happened. Puts things in perspective... Which is mor dangerous? Bypass or being morbid obesity