Bariatric surgery thread 4

[HangerLaneGyratorySystem]

I'm not the OP but I just accidentally took the last post on thread 3 and some people including me were in the middle of conversations! Hope you can find your way over here!

Im on omeprazole twice a day

Im still 2 stone overweight so I have a way to go yet, but Im in no rush, I can see it steadily coming off, I weigh myself every month or so, sometimes theres a loss and sometimes there isnt but its all downward.

The surgeon told me that he expected a stone a month, so in my head it seems slow and most people do lose a stone a month on average but I am older and I do no exercise so thats the reason I suspect.

Good advice. I will get onto that! Did you have any hair loss?

@Worriedmum159 I'm only 5/6 weeks post op so too early to tell yet, from what people say that's usually 3-6 months after isn't it. My mum had a sleeve 2 years ago and had bare minimum loss you couldn't tell at all and they say it's genetic + protein so I'm praying I take after mum and it's not a big problem x

I started taking bariatric supplements and extra biotin and collagen 5 months before my op because thats when I started the diet to try to 'replicate' what I thought it would be like post op

However at 3 months post op on the dot is when my hair started falling out, huge huge amounts of it. People said they didnt notice but I thought my hair looked visibly thinner, as well as feeling it

Im now just gone 10 months and I would say its thickening up again, Im not losing it now, so just a matter of time I hope for it to start re growing the bits I lost. I think it was around the 8-9 month time that the loss slowed down.

I dont believe theres a single thing you can do, to stop it, its just part of the process, just expect it and accept it, get your hairdresser on board to ccut it int a way to give volume, get the right thickening products in and ride it through

@bellac11 thank you. What supplements would you recommend? Most online stuff is American and they have a really different approach.

@BabyB19 fingers crossed! I’ve just cancelled a haircut next week - I have long hair so will get it looped after the op and see how it goes.

My provider has recommendations and sheets about amounts

I use Baricol chewable, you order them from Sweden. Im meant to take another iron supplement on top of that but I never have and my iron was fine at the 6 months check

I also take biotin with extra b6 and I take magnesium with d3, zinc and something else in it, cant remember.

The Baricol is all in one (apart from the iron) and I just couldnt cope with the myriad of combinations if you dont take something like that. Plus the amounts, along with other medication I take its hard work to remember it all and fit it in

I dont really like them but they're tolerable. I take them first thing with a cuppa and let them dissolve in my mouth, I cant bear to chew them because they're very chalky

I was told to find an A-Z vitamin tablet ( I am currently taking the Boots version). I take 2 tablets a day ( usual dose is one).
All ok so far! I had a sleeve in Sept 22.

I was told this too @dinghymum I take the Asda own brand a-z and take two instead of 1, also take iron, calcium and vitamin d daily as advised. It seems to vary so much, I was advised by my consultant and dietician that taking biotin won't really do much for the hair and it's the protein and genetics that that's down too, but a lot of people take biotin and I'm sure they said it can interfere with other tablets but I'm not 100% on that bit. How has your weightloss been after just over a year?

Hello @BabyB19. I lost 8 stone in the first year but seem to have put half a stone back on so currently I'm down 7.5 stone. At my annual review I had lost 65% of my excess weight which is apparently very good for someone of my age! ( I was over 60 when I had the op).
I need to make sure no more weight creeps on so am planning to up my exercise. This is more complicated because of other health issues.
But I feel so much better in myself and I have had lots of health benefits.

Interested to hear that you have done so well over 60 @dinghymum Ive just had a sleeve I’m over 60 and there’s not a lot of info from others who have the surgery at this age.

I was 59 when I had a sleeve and nearly 61 when I had it revised to a mini gastric bypass. I've lost 6 stone overall but I needed to lose 12 (was 24 stone). The 6 stone has been a lifesaver as I was practically immobile before, couldn't get up off the sofa without struggling to breathe, but I am quite disappointed overall. I'm just thinking get to the next half stone loss now and take it from there.

I was in my early 50s, earlier this year when I had my sleeve. My next birthday will be the first in over 35 years where Im not overweight/obese.

Looking at pictures of me years ago, my god I regret not doing this sooner. I just didnt apply it to myself, that I would be having something like this or doing something like this, it seemed alien

Decades where I could have been slim and healthy

Never mind, it is what it is. I have hit a 8 stone 4lb loss today and have just under 2 stone to go.

Everyone says dont lose any more but my BMI is still 'overweight' so I think I should get to a healthy weight (if I can get there)

I think I will probably live forever now with annoying GERD and I have gall bladder rumblings and a scan confirmed stones. But I will need to manage those things, the benefits outweigh these two issues.