Gastric Bypass in 2 months

[fontofnoknowledge]

I would like to know if anyone on here has had a Gastric Bypass. I have jumped through all the hoops and am now just waiting for surgery date which should be in the next 8 Weeks. I would like to hear from anyone who has had a Bypass or Sleeve . (Not a band it's a very different Operation) .
It appears to be a very taboo subject on MN - (I have even felt the need to name change) and despite there being hundreds of threads on the latest diet, there is surprisingly little about the only scientifically proven longterm sustainable weight loss treatment for those with obesity or morbid obesity.
I am after any advice for the immediate post op period and the process of moving from liquids to solids and any other advice really.

[intuition]

Have a look at WLSinfo. Great site. And WLS groups on FB.

I had mine almost 5 years ago. Best thing I ever did but really not easy. You need lots of support and I found the FB WLS groups the best place for support.

Good luck!

[Elusiveone]

Not had one but want to wish you luck. Ive gone through all the hoops and waiting on a gastric sleeve in a few months to

[starryeyed19]

My ex husband had a sleeve operation whilst we were still married. He's lost a lot of weight on it but definitely has to be very careful about what he eats

[Ilove]

Me. I had mine Dec 21st 2016. 16 months ago.

NHS in Leeds. Last person done for a very long time in Leeds because of the government edict that all elective sturgery should be cancelled.

I’ve lost 10 stones.

[QOD]

Me. 7 years ago on Friday last week 👍🏻
Gone from 20 1/2 stone to 12 1/2
Now 14 1/2. Yiu do usually bounce back up a bit. Still have the same eating disorder/issues but it’s a life saver
I feel nauseous if I eat too much sugar or fat, I’ll be in awful pain and vomit if something gets stuck (annoyingly can be something healthy)
Affects eating out but it’s a small price for life
I am a size 16 again at the mo ( was 24/26) and I can see people look at me when I order a starter only
Best advice, don’t worry about it.
Some people get all het up about ordering adult meals or paying adult price at a buffet and eating a small child portion. I just remember all those ones I out ate everyone else
Children’s menus are shockingly unhealthy. I can’t eat them as mostly fried battered and chips type meals
Starters are my thing
It knocks you out after as basically you’re starving painlessly as you lose weight
My hospital are fabulous at follow up
I take prescription vitamins (for elderly and infirm) iron, calcium and vitamin D as I’m now deficient. I also have B12 every 3 months as you WILL eventually become deficient. Can take years but happens
You can’t absorb all the goodness from food after hence supplements
It’s not the easy route. It wasn’t easy. It isn’t easy. But it works
Good luck

[AnythingConsidered]

I had a gastric bypass 5 days ago.

Had previously had a band resulting in 8 stone loss, but it slipped after 5 years, led to lots of complications and issues, so it was removed in 2015.

Took 3 years of hoop jumping, classes, psych assessments etc, but so glad I had it done.

As per pp, highly recommend WLSInfo page (they have specific pages for each treatment too) as this is full of people waiting, just had, and years out, and explain some of the challenges you might face.

Despite what people think, it is not the easy route and better success with any WLS treatment comes from resolving your issues with food, sticking to your teams advice, eating protein/veg/carb & working WITH the procedure you've had done.

I have to take 2 x multi vitamins daily for the rest of my life.

Pain after the op is okay.. for me it was manageable with paracetamol in day and codine and night, but this stopped at day 3. Have to inject for 16 days.

I have found that being active (walking a short 15 min twice a day) is really helping with trapped gas & movement, and making me feel that I am getting stronger every day.

I had to do 2 days of liquids (water, sugar free squash, tea, coffee and milk), then introduce sloppy foods. Have been told I need to take in 1pt of milk a day. Right now I am eating:

• Breakfast: half a Arla 20g protein yoghurt pot (made sloppy by adding milk) with 1 tbsp of skim milk powder
  
• Mid-morning: having 100ml of milk either cold or warmed with Horlicks/Highlights sachet
  
• Lunch: half a bottle of Slimfast/own brand meal replacement shake
  
• mid-afternoon: can't manage or having 100ml of milk either cold or warmed with Horlicks/Highlights sachet
  
• early evening: 150ml of soup (I'm using the highest protein, fresh soups I can find) then adding multivitamins, plain protein yoghurt and skim milk powder to boost it further.
  

I tried porridge and it was a disaster, but everyone different. high protein yoghurt, milk and Marvel skimmed Milk powder will be your friend to getting your protein up at this stage.

Sipping water constantly has really helped keep constipation at bay, mouth from drying and energy levels. But it's tough to do.

[QOD]

Interesting fact. If you puke, there’s no bile as it’s not your old detached tummy that you use anymore
If you feel travel sick, it’s in your old tummy and you can’t puke it up.
Super weird

[fontofnoknowledge]

Wow thanks everyone for the positive replies. I was very hesitant about posting on here because of the usual 'ear less move more' brigade (really ? I'd never thought of that !) .. I have done a HUGE amount of research and although my BMI is at tr lower end of normal for this procedure (38 with sleep apnoea and serious joint issues) I know it's right for me - having gained and lost the same 5 stone 3 times.
I have great hospital support but just wanted to hear from people who had been there. Thank you all again.
Btw- if you get a chance have a look at Rachel Batterham (Professor of obesity research at UCL) and her fabulous documentary about the politics and prejudice of Bariatric surgery in the NHS.. it's truly shocking that they are prepared to pay the cost of type 2 diabetes but constantly refuse people life changing and life saving surgery. A real eye opener. She also shows how most of the 'facts' believed by the general public are in fact untrue and just another way to shame those with obesity.

[C2205]

I'm Hong to have the gastric bypass but am wondering - what hoops do you have to jump through before they'll do the op? My weight yoyos from time to time, i've a very high bmi painful joints and a very bad back. I'm feeling very positive that this is the way to go - I'm more scared they'll say no/refuse so any insight into the before procedure you cab give me would be hugely appreciated xx

[GuildedLily]

Hi Font. I am having mini bypass on may 21st. I dont know anyone else in my shoes so was glad to see this thread, thanks.

I am having it done privately as in my area the nhs dont fund. i'm going to Belgium which is a bit scary but its going to save my life so i've got to go for it.

I decided to have it done after hearing a breast cancer surgeon being interviewed by Jenny Murray on radio 4. JM said she'd had breast cancer and was very remiss in not losing weight which would reduce her risk of recurrence. The surgeon then said she shouldn't be too hard on herself as once you got over a bmi of 35 it was virtually impossible to lose weight and keep it off long term as the body had an inbuilt mechanism to stop you losing more than 10% of your bodyweight and statistically only 1 in 800 people can do it.

I had never heard that before.

About 5 years of futility on my part would have been saved if someone had filled me in.

My bmi is 46 and the stats for i over 40 are 1 in 1350 can lose weight longterm without surgery.....so i'm going for it.

I also have to find some long term help with the bingeing mindset but not sure how to do that yet!

[fontofnoknowledge]

Hi All . Thanks so much for all your info. Especially to Anythingconsidered . You told me exactly what I was after. Good luck for your continued recovery.
Yes GuildedLilly I think if the rest of the people on the diet, loss, gain, roundabout knew the statistical likelihood of reaching and maintaining a healthy BMI once your BMI reaches 35 - then perhaps a bit more pressure could be bought to bear on the NHS. Which surely has an obligation to look at the financial cost/benefit of Bariatric surgery let alone the health /welfare aspect which is huge.

[AnythingConsidered]

**C2205 - every NHS region has its own set of criteria (& as BuilderLily says, some dont offer it at all).

In my case I had to:

• get referral from GP
  

• get accepted into Weight Management Service criteria (you can usually Google your local service requirements)
  

• one accepted, visit a consultant, Nutrionist & Psychotherapist (all in one day)
  

• keep a food diary for 2 weeks
  

• visit a consultant, Nutrionist & Psychotherapist (all in one day)
  

• the appts and food diary was then used to get accepted into the programme
  

• attend a 12 week course - ran every other Thursday and lasted half a day, from 9:30-12:30. The sessions each focused on a different subject, but focused on why we eat, how it's not your fault, the way in which fat is stigmatized, mindful eating, what are your triggers to eat, why you have always yo-yo'd etc with a real emphasis on WLS not being the easy/quick fix answer
  

• meet consultant, Nutrionist & Psychotherapist (all in one day) half way through the course
  

• hit a 10% weight loss target goal (I didn't and so the process was delayed for 3 months until I did)
  

• final visit to consultant, Nutrionist & Psychotherapist (all in one day). Got told I had met criteria, but it had to go forward to the committee
  

• 4 weeks later for my case wss reviewed at committee meeting)
  

• get accepted for surgery
  

• visit a surgeon & Nutrionist (one day)
  

• get surgery date (our waiting list was 6 months & I prayed there were no cancellations)
  

At each stage of the journey I was weighed. It was instilled into me that there was very little room for movement from the goal weight. In our region they wanted to see you could lose weight and that you had made changes in your life following the course to know how to maintain it.

The process was long (took 2 years in total), but i think the stuff I had to do has set me up for success, unlike a couple of online people I know who had bands as they didn't want to weight but never actually dealt with their food issues.

The team were all amazing.
It took so long beqcuse I missed the goal weight, the course included a 3 week shutdown over Xmas (hard to diet over Xmas!) and it took 8-12 weeks between each scheduled appt. But, I am so happy I did it.

[C2205]

Anythingconsidered thankyou so much. I'm in Ireland so no idea how the process works over here yet. Having that insight will help once I do get called etc of what I could expect so thankyou xx

[Sofabitch]

I had my sleeve yesterday.

[FabulouslyGlamorousFerret]

Our PCT (or whatever they called now) stipulates a 12 mth weight management programme, 10 sessions with a dietitian, 1 psych and and three group sessions. Alongside this you need to lose 10% of you excess weight.

Good luck OP

[GuildedLily]

Congratulations, @sofabitch how are you feeling today? Did you have it on the NHS? I leave for Belgium for mine a month today.

[Sofabitch]

No, I went privately. I'm finding it incredibly hard right now. But only day 2 and just about to be discharged from hospital.

[GuildedLily]

Oh I hope you feel better soon....if it helps I have young DC and they told me not in any circumstances to let them come to Belgium as I will feel shocking for the first 3 days and will need to rest, but will start to feel better and on day 5 will feel well enough to fly home by myself and look after the dcs. Hope it passes quickly xx

[Sofabitch]

Thanks that gives me some hope then!

X

[AnythingConsidered]

Sofabitch it's day 9 for me today & I am feeling so much better than day 3/4.

For me day 6 was a big turning point to feeling more human. Still slow walking, tender & wary... but not feeling like someone had beaten me up with a baseball bat!

Hopefully not too far until you start returning to some level of normality.

Keep sipping and do a couple of 10-15min slow walks each day... it was preached to me by the team and the WLS boards & I think it's worked!

[Sofabitch]

Thank you @AnythingConsidered

Today I really do feel beaten up and a little discouraged. DH made Shepards pie for the children and despite not being at all hungry I felt a little sad that I couldnt eat any yet. But have blended a little bit.

DH Goes back to work Tuesday, so I'm hoping to feel more human by then. My mum said she would come over for a few days if needed.

Its strange to have not eaten for days yet not really be hungry. I had 20mls of chicken and vegtable soup at lunch time blended and i could still feel it several hours later. When I had one tea spoon of yoghurt.

I want nothing more than to sink into a hot bath to ease this aches. I'm sure one stitch is pulling more than the others. It kinda indents when I stand

[GuildedLily]

Hope you had some sleep and are feeling ok today, sonof

[GuildedLily]

Grr autocorrect! Sofabitch!

[fontofnoknowledge]

Thanks everyone for all the contributions. I am really excited to be so close to my Op whilst also being naturally apprehensive.
My wait has been nowhere near as long as most of yours.
Just to give others hope.. this is my journey;
January 2017 : Went to GP and asked for a referral to Bariatric programme . I had been 3 yrs at weight watchers and had got nowhere..
Referral made to a large teaching hospital 2 hrs from my home. (Nearest place and out of county. ) No service in my county.
Referral refused by Bariatric centre as my BMI was only 39. (!!!)
February 2017 . GP called me back in and explained I needed a co-morbidity under a BMI of 40.
I have had sleep problems for a long time so she referred me to a sleep clinic . diagnosed with sleep apnea. ,

April 2017 re- referred. Im accepted . Sent a 16 page questionnaire to complete.
Sent an appointment to start the mandatory Tier 3 programme. This consisted of 3 x 2 hr appointments.

August 2018 . First one was a one to one with a dietician. Where we set some goals. Mine were to get fitter, increase walking step rate 500 steps more each week until I reach 6000, per day and to get my sleep apnea under control by continuing to use breathing machine. No weight loss target. Very informative meeting. Group discussion on our own diet demons and suggestions as to how to overcome them.

Nov 2019 : 2nd appointment a complete patronising waste of time. 4 hr round trip, to sit in a group meeting and be told how to read a food label . (I'm fat, not stupid !).
Jan 2018 . 3 rd appointment - discussion on different types of surgery. (informative for some maybe but information everyone should have found out for themselves on the web - and all re-iterated 4 months later in personal consultation with the surgeon )so literally a waste of time.

April 2018 :Appointment for multi disciplinary meeting. All day. Psychologist, Dietician, Surgeon.

Two weeks later sent appointment for OP in June.

So whole process - ignoring the false start for not qualifying initially. 1 yr 2 months from going to visit the GP, to Operation.

This is obscene. I refuse to be 'grateful' although of course do feel lucky that my particular PCT is fairly swift with the whole process compared to many others.
. It's hugely prejudiced behaviour from a national health care provider for people with genuine life threatening medical conditions that can and will kill us. No other health condition in the NHS is treated in this way.

There is a deliberate hoop to jump through with Tier 3.. to be honest , the whole six month procedure, spread out over 3 x 2h appointments that could have been done in one 3 hr appointment. (Some trusts demand 12 months - a deliberate discouragement from going down the NHS pathway)
My own dietitian at Tier 3 admitted that it was 'a box that had to be ticked' . The box being the NICE requirement of six months of dietary and psychological help... this is literally pointless. The surgeon who is doing my operation is on TV talking to a professor of obesity admitting that their is no difference in outcomes between those who pay and are not obliged to go through Tier 3 and those on NHS pathway who do.
Which begs the question why ? Just to satisfy the daily mail readers who believe we have all made ourselves fat on purpose and therefore should not be helped without making it difficult. ? This is an operation to save lives for fuck sake. NOT a cosmetic procedure so we can all look good on the beach. !

Without a doubt there is a benefit to be had with Psychological and dietary support but this is without doubt far more effective AFTER the operation than before.

The majority of us who are prepared to put ourselves through a big, life changing operation to deal with obesity, are extremely well versed in what a calorie is. We all know you have to move more and eat less - but once you reach 'obese' the 'moving' slows to almost zero mostly because of joint pain,
Incontinence , chaffing, etc - all things that are extremely unpleasant whilst moving.
Having the operation, losing the weight and having diet, exercise and psychological support whilst doing this is by far more effective in successful outcome. (Luckily my PCT does both)


But we are fat, obese. Some of us have spent years hiding away, standing at the back, keeping quiet because of societies view that we are guilty of 'bringing it on ourselves ' .. so we accept that a deliberate delay in treating a life threatening condition , of six months.. to please people who know nothing about how the condition arose and has no positive increase in outcome - is OK and we should say thank you.

If people with heart conditions bought on by fatty diet (that hadn't caused obesity- this is not an uncommon scenario as bad diet does not always cause obesity) were told they couldn't have a Bypass until they had sat through 3 sessions of dietary advice deliberately delivered over six months when it could have been done in 3 hrs and had no discernible improvement in clinical outcome.. then there would be outrage. However we are fat, so it's ok.

Something has to change. !
Acceptance that Bypass and Sleeve work. It is scientifically proven that it is the only realistic option for the obese and morbidly obese to maintain a healthy body weight. :

King's College London
Summary:
The chance of an obese person attaining normal body weight is 1 in 210 for men and 1 in 124 for women, increasing to 1 in 1,290 for men and 1 in 677 for women with severe obesity, according to a new study. The findings suggest that current weight management programs focused on dieting and exercise are not effective in tackling obesity at population level.

The operation works and pays for itself in 2 yrs (one year for those suffering from type2 diabetes as it puts 82% into remission.)
In a country with the NHS on its knees with lack of funding and Obesity a national epidemic that is getting worse and costing the NHS millions in the treatment of associated disease and medication, there should surely be a DUTY by PCTs to increase the availability of Bariatric surgery not decrease it (as has happened in my Bariatric centre) .

It makes my blood boil. Anyone interested should watch Professor Rachel Batterhams brilliant documentary.. all based on scientific fact. Not Ill informed nonsense based on prejudice and ignorance.

Rant over

[Sofabitch]

Thank you. I'm definitely in less pain, I'd say more uncomfortable today!

It is good to chat to others!