[QUOTE=Qwakkeddup]
Gastric Bypass Surgery
Hello again, I have decided at this time to put my Guest membership to good use. I guess this could be a poll asking for factual information. So I am putting it here in GQ. I would like to hear from people who have actually had Gastric Bypass Surgery. My wife seems to think we could get the family doctor to recommend the procedure for me. I am 5ft 8in in my shoes. I usually weigh in from 285-295 lbs. Suffer from sleep apnea. I can’t use the cpap machine. I am diabetic on pills, Doctor wants to put me on shots. Chronically fatigued. I have been suffering an unusual amount of “infections” in the last five years. From pneumonia, to a staph infection type cyst. I smoke 2 packs a day. Have had lung problems since I was a child. Asthma, Bronchitis, Smokers cough. I have been diagnosed as Bi-polar. Although one doctor said that was a load of BS. One family doctor, two psychiatrist, say yes, one counselor said no, the counselor was the only one who actually did a half-hour interveiw with me.
So for the doctors out there, do I sound like a candidate? As I am not looking for direct medical advice, a maybe yes, or probably not, will suffice. Or a list of factors that would allow you to reccomend it. How severe do I have to be before it becomes, Medically neccesary, as opposed to voluntary? I know the stomache is “stapled”, What happens to the part that is sectioned off? Is it actually cut out, or just partitioned off?
For the folks who have been through it or know someone who has gone through this…
- Was it a good experience?
- Was it a bad experience?
- How long did it take you off your feet?
- How fast did it affect your weight?
- Did it change your general outlook?
- How long did it take for you to acclimate to the changes in your body?
I want to have an Idea if this is somthing I would want to work towards. What I could reasonably expect in the real world for The good the bad and the ugly of this procedure.
Thank you in advance. Qwakkeddup
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I had gastric bypass surgery (laproscopic) done 6 1/2 weeks ago. I am 5’2" tall and weighed close to 260 lbs. For five years I had suffered from type II diabetes. My knees were killing me.
My dieting history began in fourth grade when my pediatrician put me on Tenuate diet pills. Since then my weight has been up and down…mostly up from my early 20’s on. I was slender in high school and college, then got married and whoosh…the more badly he treated me the fatter I got.
As an adult, I have had exactly two reprieves…losing enough weight to be considered slender. I have the curse of “a pretty face”, so people would always say, “You have such a pretty face…” Yeah. I know when they trailed off what they were thinking. “If only you could lose some weight.”
I have been on hundreds of diets. No one could ever hate me more than I have hated myself. “If I only had more willpower…”, “If only…”. Yeah. I have enough willpower that my second marriage is a success, that I returned to college and graduated Summa Cum Laude, that I own a successful business that just celebrated it’s tenth anniversary…that I am worthy of good friends… Only the fat was/is my obsession and no matter what else is/was good in my life the fat negated it. It held me back…it’s been my demon.
Earlier this year I decided that I’d had enough. I didn’t want to live anothe day fat. I couldn’t diet anymore…I just lost hope. So, I cut my wrists.
Thank God I didn’t succeed in killing myself. My husband and I decided that I was going to have this surgery even though our insurance company had turned us down for the past year. “Why have money if you can’t spend it on what you need?” he said. So we paid close to $30,000 out of pocket.
Prior to the operation, I had several meetings with the surgeon, a psychologist and registered dietician.
The surgeon told me that for a few days following the surgery I would feel as though I’d been hit by a truck. He was right. I hurt like a son of a bitch, but they were not stingy at all with the pain medication.
Even though it hurt, I was up and sitting in a chair the evening of the surgery. The next morning, I was walking up and down the halls. It wasn’t easy, but, hey, I wanted to get out of the hospital ASAP.
They kept me for four days because I had a 101 + fever that just wouldn’t go down. One of the things they were concerned about was pnemonia, so I had to blow into this respiratory exercise thing-y every hour. That hurt! But, it had to be done…
By the third day, the IV was the thing that hurt the most! They took out the drain in my belly which felt weird…like a giant snake they were pulling from my guts. But, I have to admit, I laughed when the surgeon did it. (I love my surgeon…he’s got talent and bedside manner which I appreciate very much!)
My blood sugar levels dropped considerably, from the 260’s to the 150’s then the 130’s…some days to as low as 113. Something strange did happen. I didn’t wear my contact lenses in the hospital (I wear gas permeables). Oh, I had my glasses, but didn’t wear them much because there wasn’t anything I wanted to see that clearly. (I couldn’t concentrate enough to watch television or read.) When I did put my glasses on, I noticed that things looked fuzzy, but chalked that up to the pain meds.
But, when I got home and put my contacts back in I noticed that things were really, really, really fuzzy. I tried putting my glasses on on top of the contacts and things were much clearer. So, off I go ASAP to the opthalmologist who said that my prescription had nearly tripled. Turns out that high blood sugars swell the lenses in your eye up. The low sugars had changed the lenses in my eyes. So, I am still going back to the opthalmologist nearly every week getting a new eyeglass prescription. Thankfully the prescription is going back to where I originally was. But, you should have seen the Coke bottle lenses on the glasses I had to wear the first couple of weeks post-op.
I only took pain pills for a few days after I got home and that was only late at night. I had trouble sleeping for the first few weeks as well. But that passed. I think it’s because I couldn’t lie on my left side or on my stomach and I’m a stomach sleeper. But, that passed as well. Now I can lie on my tummy.
Right now, I am “weirded out” with the changes in my body. I have completely lost my appetite. I have to force myself to eat the foods the dietician has recommended for me. It’s hard to believe. ME? Not hungry? Wow.
My pants size has gone from a 24 to a 20 and my shoe size has gone from a 7 1/2 to a 6 1/2. That’s after losing just over 40 lbs. Unbelievable.
I went back to work a week after the surgery. But I have a home office, so I was able to quit when I was tired.
I hope this helps you.
This surgery has given me hope.
My boss, co-workers and friends are treating me with newfound respect. My only regret is that i didn’t choose to have the surgery a few years ago.