Contemplating bariatric surgery.... advice?

[Seriouslyconfused3]

Hi as the title states I am contemplating a gastric sleeve. I am a serial yo yo dieter and my metabolism is fucked. I have pcos and have tried Xenical, saxenda etc- successful until I stop using and the weight piles back on.

I’ve seen an endocrinologist and he said that, in his opinion, sometimes surgery is the only viable option. I’d be paying for it myself as I don’t quite meet the nhs criteria yet.

I’m miserable- I don’t lose weight unless I starve myself ie 600 calories a day and then I’m even more unhappy. I’m worried about my health in the long term, but then the prospect of surgery scares me too.

Any advice from those who have been there before?

Hi @MindBodyChocolate and thanks.

I saw you were looking for recs in London/South; I had Mr Alhamdani @ Streamline Surgical. Can’t recommend him personally or the clinic as a whole highly enough. I have been so well supported and he is the nicest man on earth as well as a brilliant surgeon. He’s very strict though! But I needed that.

Don’t work for them I promise

Hi all. Great thread and some great information and tips given. I'm at the start of my journey and have been in discussions with a surgeon. My preference has always been the sleeve but for some reason i can't seem to say an absolute yes to it. There is something at the back of my mind that makes me think i may regret not choosing the bypass. Can anyone tell me why they chose the prodecure that they did and any regrets for not choosing the other! I was hoping my surgeon would tell me i was better suited to one than the other but he said the choice was up to me as i was a candidate for both. Many thanks

My initial consultation is on Sunday @nowsthetime and I think I'll be asking for a bypass. A few of the Facebook groups I'm on have lots of people who had sleeves and had that revised to a bypass but I'm not sure why.

Has anyone had their surgery completed by Mr Sanjay Agrawal? His bio seems good and one of the hospitals he works at is really close to my house, but I can't find much more in the way of reviews.

Hi @nowsthetime

I chose the bypass because a) I suffered from reflux which can be aggravated by the sleeve (not always!) and b) I had so much weight to lose and my surgeon felt the bypass would give me the best chance. Everyone is different and plenty of people lose lots of weight with the sleeve. I also saw a number of people having sleeves revised for bypass and I didn’t want two surgeries.

Finally, I also chose the bypass because I wanted the threat of dumping syndrome to put me off sweet things! Sounds mad I know

My consultation was moved to this evening and I have a provisional date of October 24th for the sleeve.

It hadn't even dawned on me that I'd need to self isolate, so I'm trying to work out how I'm going to do that at the moment but where there's a will there's a way.

That’s great @BillyAndTheSillies which hospital are you using? I’m still waiting on my date I’m guessing with the creeping Covid figures I might have a wait

Is it worth looking around for another surgeon elsewhere?

I'd resigned myself that if I was offered a date today I'd just snap it up if it was before flu season. I was offered October 10th or 24th but took the 24th so that I wasn't having to self isolate for my youngest's 1st birthday and it ties in with half term, my in-laws are going to take my eldest away so I can recover at home.

The only sensible choice for me was Spire London East, it's only 5 minutes from my house and the surgeon I've been placed with is one of the best in the country.

I really hope you get a date soon, the wait must be horrible.

That’s great @BillyAndTheSillies. Im happy staying with my company- they’ve been great so far but I am starting to consider changing from a sleeve to a bypass am going to speak to the clinic next week and see what they think.

How's everyone getting on at the moment? I just had my pre-op's and covid swabs booked in.

The surgeon is currently cancelling this week's surgeries though as someone in his house is displaying symptoms so everyone is waiting on an update as to how this will plan out.

Billy it sounds stressful having the uncertainty hanging over you.

I had my op on Tuesday last week, so nearly a week ago. Recovery has generally been good, I’ve been sleeping a lot more than before.

I didn’t eat or drink anything from Monday to Friday and actually didn’t notice or think about it. On water, protein shakes/water, herbal tea and clear smooth soups/stocks now. My mouth is so hungry! I miss chewing. I have twice since I’ve been home chewed a small bite of something to spit it out. My stomach isn’t hungry though, but I really just want to press fast forward on the liquid phase before I can actually eat something again.

Are you able to move about ok Hyaluronic? Was there much pain ?

I'm now a week away from surgery (totally, completely and utterly terrified) and I'm booking in work for 8 days after - I need to go down a few steps and sit in a chair.

I had my surgery cancelled end of August and then delayed again so in total I've been isolating (apart from a 24 hour gap between isolations) for 7 weeks now.

I've been eating 1500 calories a day for 2 years now and losing weight stupidly slowly - so I've really enjoyed being able to eat whatever the fuck I want I've eaten stuff I only eat once a year at Christmas- cheese, nuts, fruit cake - and I've had take away about 20 times - including pizza which I never eat.

So hello to 7 extra pounds in a month - it takes me 6 months to lose 7 pounds ! Thankfully after next week I don't have to worry about this shit again

So thanks to @afaloren I've got a date for a sleeve with Mr Alhamdani via Streamline! Still 8 weeks or so to go but nerves kicking in already, coupled with complete excitement that this will be the last summer I spend fat, hot and sweaty in unattractive clothes, avoiding physical activity for fear that I get even hotter and sweatier ☹️

Thanks for the tip @afaloren. Mr Alhamdani seems really nice and listened to me wittering on for ages!!

Ahhh @MindBodyChocolate so exciting! Oh, I so hope you have a good experience. I am sure you will. Mine has been brilliant. Love the dieticians there too.

Get ready to be endlessly commanded to do 90 minutes of activity every day for the rest of your life It’s his gold standard!

I’ve already had the 90 mins activity talk!! He was very strict about it - but that’s a good thing for me I think.

Yes Laurie I’m mobile and sleeping well, but tiredness can come on pretty quickly. I slept for 12/13hrs most nights this week, and it’s felt like just getting the liquids and protein in is a full time job! I’m back to work tomorrow so I’ll let you know how I get on, a little apprehensive.

13.5lbs down!

I'm so selfishly glad you're going back to work quick so I know what it's like - that's just 10 days off

I'm sleeping terribly because my knees/back hurt so much - it would be amazing if I got to sleep 13 hours in a night (last night I got 5 according to my fit bit )

Hope being back at work is ok for you.

MonkeysandParrots

How are you doing now?

I have to stop eating at 6am on Monday morning - no idea how I'm going to get through 2 days of work on no food before the op 😱

Last day before the OP and day two of no food I'm drinking a lot of coffee to keep away for doing work

Only two days not eating before the op!! Fancy swapping? You've got this though, it'll be so worth it.

My pre op liver reduction diet is 14 days of four ready made slim fasts a day. Nothing more and nothing less - apart from 3 litres of water. Dreading it.

I’m so sorry @LaurieFairyCake, only just seen this! Good luck for tomorrow, excited for you!

@BillyAndTheSillies the LRD is ok, I messed around with different days of shakes/food in the first week but, for the second week, I did just Huel 4x a day and it was ok. You’ll be fine.

As for me, I’m doing well, at a total loss of 2st 9lb since my heaviest weight 2 weeks before the op. I’m running (well shuffling) 3 times a week, having 2 PT strength sessions a week and am also trying the gym. Food is ok, I’m hitting 80g of protein and between 1000 - 1200 calories a day. Overall I’m pleased with my progress, admittedly it’s not the quickest but slow and steady is cool.

No regrets at all, wish I’d thought of doing this years ago.

@MonkeysandParrots that's amazing! How many weeks post op are you?

My surgeons secretary said he's feeling a little more confident that things will still be able to go ahead in October. At my second consultation on Friday he had warned me to prepare for it being cancelled if a lockdown was announced.

That's 2 days of not eating anything - I would literally bite your right arm off to have a slim fast shake

I'm getting a bit grumpy now as I'm so damn hungry

Wonderful weight loss Monkeys, so pleased to hear you're able to exercise so much

Oh wow, that's intense!!!

Good luck for tomorrow, it'll all be worth it.

@BillyAndTheSillies I had my op on July 31st, the weight loss is from ore liver reduction diet as I lost 18lbs on th

Oops, sorry, that was a bit gibberish, pressed return too soon! Basically, the total weight loss is from my heaviest weight just before I started the liver reduction diet.