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?

Good luck @MindBodyChocolate you'll be fine.

Make sure you are stocked up with lots of flavoured water and consommé for the first few days. I also really like the boullion powder as a hot drink.

Also calpol 6+ has been my saviour- so much easier and nicer than effervescent paracetamol.

Thanks for the tips - I’ll get my own bottle of calpol!

Weirdly, I’ve found the lrd ok - I’ve been on milk diet and have even carried on cooking the rest of the family’s meals without so much of a lick of a spoon. Quite proud of myself as I am a terrible picker, snacker and greedy guts normally. It makes me more confident I can adapt to a life post sleeve. I know it’ll be tough but the lrd has hopefully given me a push in the right direction.

Fingers crossed for the COVID test. I’ve barely bloody been anywhere for ages so it’d better be negative!!

So glad to read this thread and see so many others are going down this route/have gone down it. I've been saying I'd love to get it down for a few months then thinking of all the things that could go wrong and deciding that it's too dangerous and I can't do it. But this past few weeks I'm getting more and more determined to just do it.

The scariest part for me is that I can't afford UK prices so I am going with Get Slim in Turkey which has been mentioned on this thread. I'm part of their facebook group and their feedback is really great, they don't delete negative reviews (very few of them anyway and only mild, nothing too scary) and have a lot of great success stories. There are also so many people local to me who have had it done and all say they highly recommend it with Get Slim.

I had to add my DP to the group so he could see for himself the results and feedback as he too was worried about me travelling abroad for surgery but now he's fully onboard and considering it for himself too!

So I have the support in place at home, a travel companion in my best friend (recommended to take someone with you for the support while travelling) and due to some good luck this past few months I have the money put aside to go ahead with it. The only thing stopping me now is Covid. I'd hate to catch it and have to cancel my surgery or else catch it while trying to recover. So had initially decided on March 2021 but reading this thread I have just mentioned to DP that I feel that I want to just do it and stop overthinking and delaying it. So as soon as Xmas is paid for I am going to book.

@MindBodyChocolate
Hope all went well for you today and look forward to hearing your update

How is everyone doing?

I've just had my last heparin injection - my DH has been a star giving them and they didn't hurt but I still hated them!

Also got the go-ahead from my surgeon to try solid tablets as I kept throwing up one of my antidepressants. They are going down much better than crushed or liquid so generally feeling better.

I've started using my fitness pal to track what I'm eating and make sure I keep the calories down to 1000 a day.

I'm finding Ella's Kitchen baby food pouches brilliant and a good amount.

Sounding good @CoronaCurls I am still in a stall so I’ve asked dh to confiscate my scales because I was getting obsessed

@Seriouslyconfused3 my friend who had the surgery last year said in her stalls her measurements kept decreasing even when the weight didn't shift. So might be well worth doing your measurements every other week & seeing the positives of the hips/waist/thighs etc shrinking.

Thanks @Kamma89 I might start tracking that as was getting a bit fed up. How’s everyone else getting on?

How long have you been in a stall for seriously? It’s really difficult, I know I’ve become addicted to the weighing scales going down too. Just want to snap my fingers and fast forward to when I’m at my goal! Especially with how this year is generally with Lockdown.

Has anyone had any feedback from friends/family yet who’ve noticed the weight loss? I haven’t seen my closest friends for a little while with lockdown, in one element I kind of don’t want to see them until I’ve lost more.

For those of you who have had the surgery, is anyone thinking about plastic surgery yet?

@NotTheToothFairy22 I am also going abroad due to U.K. prices.

I’m not going Turkey though, I’m not a good flyer and didn’t fancy the longer flight. Everything I’ve seen from Get Slim has been quite positive! (I’m in the group also)

I’ve just paid for my flights and deposits for Feb half term feels more real now!

@GingerBreadNurse it’s been about two weeks. Definitely losing inches though- I have a waist again everyone who I’ve seen has told me I’ve lost weight and I’m back in some older small clothes!how far out are you now?

Hi everyone, thought I'd do a quick update... I am now sleeved! Had my op on Friday about 1pm ish. I'm now starting to feel human again. I can't believe how rough I felt for the 24 hours post-op. I think I'd spent so long thinking and planning the longer term things like purées and soft foods, exercise etc that I didn't think about the immediate aftermath! I feel lucky though that I'm already feeling a lot more normal albeit with the help of a lot of liquid paracetamol. Still feeling pretty gassy from both ends unfortunately so am hoping that will start to dissipate soon too.

I've also ended up with 8 keyhole wounds... Did you all have this many? I didn't end up having my hernia done as surgeon said it didn't need it and given how I felt straight after the op, I'm glad I didn't have anything else done!

Are there any tips for the first week? Going to try my first purée tomorrow.

Congratulations @MindBodyChocolate. I felt grim for 4 days as inflammation meant I couldn't even sip water! But it does get better quite quickly I think. 8 incisions sounds like a lot, I had 4 but I'm sure there was a good reason for it. I'm 3 weeks out & 3 of the 4 incisions are almost invisible, but my surgeon used steroid injections as an extra precaution as he sewed up.

Obviously follow whatever medical advice you've been given but puree so soon doesn't sound right. First 2 weeks, most people are liquid only. I certainly couldn't have tolerated anything thicker comfortably before then.

Hope you heal well & enjoy the crazy ride to come

Thanks @Kamma89 - I'm with Streamline and they recommend starting on thin sloppy purees when you get home. I've just had a few teaspoons of runny reddybrek which seems to have settled ok.

My 8 incisions all look pretty small so I don't mind as such - just seems like loads! I do have a small hernia tho from previous surgery so this may have affected it. I'll ask surgeon when he calls, out of interest.

Hello @MindBodyChocolate you are hopefully past the worst!

I felt awful for the 1st weekend too, but now at 2 1/2 weeks post op I'm feeling loads better and managed a walk round the park today.

I have 6 incisions, all healing well now.

I have discovered I'm a rubbish burper i wish I could burp at will but I just can't and according to my mum I was rubbish even as a baby 😕

I had some porridge today which was lovely, and am living on Ella's Kitchen pouches which are a good amount.

I'm still finding that im quite queasy first thing, but I think it's because I'm hungry but I just can't feel it.

Thanks @coronacurls - yes, it felt good to have a short walk just round the block today. Been trying to stay mobile during the day but am now back in bed which is lovely :)

The hunger thing is weird... My stomach is gurgling away like mad now and sounds hungry but I'm pretty sure I'm not. Who knew it would be so hard to work when I'm hungry or full?! Am hoping I'll get more in tune with this when I eventually get on to normal food.

I am booked for my surgery for the end of January. I am fucking bricking it.

I wish I could afford to have it done here in the UK but I really can't so I've booked with GetSlim in Turkey. It's not the surgeon I'm doubting/scared of, it's the flying after surgery even though they give blood thinners. Not to mention the fact that they recently had an earthquake so there's that to dear too!!

I just want it over with and to be home again. Lots of travel involved tho as no direct flights sadly at this time of year. Hoping all goes well and I'm not travelling back home feeling like utter shite.

Congrats to all who have had theirs recently.

@NotTheToothFairy22 I had a gastric sleeve with Get Slim last week. It went fine and I'm home and settled now. The only thing I would say (and possibly depends on which hospital you go to) is it is not like the UK at all. Especially the theatre which you will be awake when you're taken into. The care is good and thorough though.

The aftershocks from the earthquake also didn't make me feel massively settled although nobody seemed that bothered!

Has anyone had any experience of stalls yet? I’m getting so paranoid!!

@LadyShmuck I would be a nervous wreck if there was an earthquake or aftershocks while I am there. Did you arrive after it?

Which hospital were you at? I'm booked for Ekol with Dr Ismail, I hope that's the right choice.

I had a laparoscopy this year which I was awake in the theatre for so I'm not bothered by that, as long as they give me somethng to calm my nerves beforehand!!

Glad you had a good experience, or at least not a terrible one. I know it's Turkey so am not expecting it to be the same as a hospital here. I'll just be glad to get it done and begin a healthier journey.

How are you getting on with liquids? Is there anything you wish you had questioned before you left?

Stalls are totally normal. I cried on the phone to the dietician when I thought I had stopped losing weight, partly because my surgeon (who I love) is very particular about timelines and things and I was scared I would be letting him down. She talked me down and convinced me it would start moving again if I just followed the programme and she was right, it did. Try not to fret. Trust the process.

@MindBodyChocolate my incisions are basically invisible now and I have another set because I needed a second op for a minor complication. They have really faded so much at almost two years post-op.

@NotTheToothFairy22 I went to Gozde, I wish I'd gone to Ekol to be honest but they had no availability and these were the only dates I could do.

I went the Sunday after the Earthquake.

One of the Get Slim ladies had previously worked at the Ekol hospital and she said it was a better hospital, Gozde is a bit run down, despite the very glam pictures everyone posts.

I also ended up having a load of gallstones that I knew nothing about so chose to have my gallbladder removed too, I only had about 15 minutes to make the decision which felt a bit rushed.

The liquid stage is going OK so far, I don't mind it yet and I'm not hungry at all which is such a strange feeling.

You're given a lot of info, but you're also given print outs of all the info too so I had plenty to look back on and you can email the team after for any queries and they're quick to respond. You will have quite a lot of drugs to bring home so make sure you have space in your suitcase.

Overall I would recommend it, I think I just didn't know what to expect and I travelled alone so it was a bit lonely at times.

Best thing I ever did, only had about 3 stone to lose and this was the ‘easy’ bit, but it was keeping it off that was the issue and I couldn’t have done that without surgery.

I still eat whatever I want whenever I want it - just in smaller amounts. Also had multiple deficiencies since surgery but nothing a few vitamins can’t fix.

I also walked right into the operating theatre in a Nuffield hospital in the UK!

It was weird at first but fine. I just hadn't expected it.