Bariatric surgery thread 3

[HotSteppa]

Relocating to shiny new thread for all those going through or considering weightless surgery in all its forms.

Facebook is where most of the online WLS stuff is

Hiya! I stared my LDR on 21st my surgery is the 4th Jan in the uk. I’m having a sleeve. If you fancy it would we could buddy up? Drop me a pm if you do.

I’ve joined a few Facebook groups. They’re a little overwhelming because there are so many people but the posts are mostly informative 😁

Hiya, I attempted to send you a pm the other day ( I read your previous post) but maybe it didn’t get through. I’ve only ever lurked on these sites so perhaps I did it wrong.
I went down the REDDIT Rabbit hole last night. It’s very active on there. It certainly sent some nerves rattling.🤣 Would be great to buddy up. I’m having a sleeve too. I’ll try and pm again if not please pm
me. Hope LSD going well.

Hi all started my pre op diet on Boxing Day and gastric sleeve on the 9th.

Did anyone feel dizzy and lethargic doing the pre op , I feel like a space cadet

Did anyone else feel unwell with pre op diet?

It’s a dramatic difference in food in take so it might just take some time to adjust. I was find on the LRD but I’ve done VLCDs before and have felt like you describe.
Are you drinking shakes with caffeine in them? Or drinking lots of coffee?

The first few days of LRD are yhe hardest. Are you doing food or shakes? Are you also (like a lot of us!) going cold turkey from diet coke/Pepsi max? A few days in & I felt much better.

I think that's what I'm worrying about more than anything else ( I'm booked for early March.) I teach online, so I need to be all singing, all dancing for my students and lethargic spaced out me won't be able to do a good job.

I'll take 2 weeks off after surgery, but will be doing a 4 week LRD. How on earth do people get through it and still be with it at work?

I’m doing VLCD and reduced my caffeine intake

@Starlightdarkness yup i had a goodbye to my favourite foods a week before and went from overeating and eating like crap for a week to not many calories and carbs at all

@ZestFest Im in Australia and work in a school so that’ll have this time off no way I could have taught today , I had to get my DH to put the baby in her car seat I felt so out of it. So Maybe don’t eat all the food before pre op as the difference has been huge for me

Has anyone ordered or already got their post surgery multi vitamins? Ive just ordered 3 month supply of Baricol because I want my life to be as simple as possible and dont want to take tons of different stuff. Apparently you dont need extra b12 with these although you do still need a bit more iron so I will order those seaprately

Im worried about whether there is tons of duty to pay for them though because they're pricey as it is.

I'm on chewable centrum (15 days post op) my nurse is very happy with that at this stage.

Before you get this surgery have a long think about whether the side effects are worth it. I had a BMI of 40.8 I'm 15 months out my BMI is 21 and I'm still dropping weight. I'm now having to take old people nutrition shakes , I'm malnourished and can't fight off infections well enough. I've had flu symptoms for weeks which is further impacting my ability to eat. I can't even eat child portions of food. I might be thin now but it's gone the other way where I have to make so much effort maintaining my weight. It's not the easy way out at all!

Can you explain a bit more about this

Are you on supplements, did you have a sleeve? What is the reason you cant eat, is it painful or you're sick?

What has your nurse and surgeon said and who did you go with?

It's a rare complication on forums I've read a few people get this but it's more likely to be bypass I had the sleeve people with the bypass can get it reversed my stomach is gone . I'm going for another endoscopy to have a look at what's going on it might be they removed too much . I'm going to the GP again tomorrow I just have zero interest in food , I can easily not eat I have to physically make myself and I get full off nothing. I have to eat 6-8 times a day. My surgeon has said oh you will gain 10 percent back as nearly everyone does but right now I'm still losing and I don't have much left to play with. It's easy to let it slide while you still have fat stores left. I take multivitamins and I'm on fresbuin shakes which I have 3 a day I have the appetite of a 90 year old and I'm 29 years old.

I was previously obese but previously had a good immune system. I'm not trying to put people off just warning it's not all rainbows and sunshine for everyone. I know others who need PIC line, tpn feeds and others who get by on NG so I'm not so unlucky yet.

The people I know who have sleeves also say they have to set reminders to eat and are eating very small meals of about 6 to 8 times a day so I would have expected that

And are they confirming they have removed too much? What is too much?

I wouldnt have thought a bypass was reversible myself but I get that with a sleeve your stomach is gone, it is quite a worry

Cant you just have higher calories within your small meals, like higher fat items?

Actually Im so overweight I have no idea what a BMI of 21 is, is that underweight?

At 15 months out my restriction should be less tight. I cannot eat a saucer full of food, by this time I should be on 3 meals and 2 snacks. I have a very active job so don't have time to be constantly eating small meals then waiting 30 mins for a drink . A BMI of 18.5- 25 is healthy mine is 21 but I'm still losing weight quite fast. I've lost another 20lbs in 3 months. Considering the average loss from the sleeve is 70 percent excess weight I'm on 120 percent. I eat whatever I want the problem is I can't eat enough. I never was a grazer to begin with. I spend more time worrying about food than when I was fat.

The problem is I feel sick and full off tiny amounts even with stomach protectors.

It's a rare complication but it's completely changed my life.

I hope you find some sort of a solution. I think I need to ask about this complication and how to prevent it

Has anyone had WLS who has also had previous, unrelated abdominal surgery?

When I was 14 (I'm 39, now!) I had a burst appendix and a subsequent emergency laparotomy. Because of this the private surgeon I spoke to said that it would push the price up from ~10k to ~20k, thus, unaffordable.

I was devastated.

I asked this, previous gallbladder removal, c section and Laparotomy. My surgeon wasn't worried in the slightest. All went perfectly and didn't even need paracetamol after the first 24hours.

@Starlightdarkness, can I ask where you got your surgery?

What company and surgeon did you use by the way?

I used Simon Dexter at Nuffield Leeds via Tonic. I'm a medic so I'm very fussy and would absolutely reccomeded them. I was very well looked after, no pain killers needed after discharge and great support from the tonic team. I had initial daily calls with the nurse, I'm now down to weekly and frequent calls from the nutritionist, psychologist and personal trainer.

I had my gallbladder out via keyhole with Spire Manchester (via the NHS) in Nov 2019 and I had my sleeve done privately in the same hospital, also via keyhole. Zero issues or cost changes because of having extra surgeries on my stomach.

I went to spire Manchester too. No issues with my previous appendectomy or c-sections.

Oh yeah I forgot I'd also had a c section which obviously didn't bother them!

I had my gallbladder removed prior to having a sleeve as well as 2 separate hernia repair operations and there was no difference in cost.

I would speak to another surgeon!