Does anyone regret having had Gastric Bypass?

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  • DaisyandTip1
    DaisyandTip1 Posts: 3
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    I am now 5 weeks post RNY surgery. I regret having this surgery so much. My hormones are completely messed up, I'm depressed to the max, hate my life, hate not being able to have something good to eat in order to feel at least a little better. Am tired of the constant tracking of what time to drink water, what time to try to eat (which usually means two bites of something before I feel sick or get sick), and tired of the whole nine yards. I am hating myself for not trying harder to lose weight with diet and exercise. I would never recommend this surgery for anyone. I'd rather die obese than to live like this.
  • DaisyandTip1
    DaisyandTip1 Posts: 3
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    So what you are saying is that because you have determined that this site is pro-bariatric surgery (which is only your opinion), then no one has the right to post how THEY feel about having bariatric surgery and regretting it. I had no idea that you were the administrator and/or creator of this site!
  • onwarddownward
    onwarddownward Posts: 1,683 Member
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    If you go back through this thread, you'll see that it is years old. I read the thread just now and there were a bunch of posts pointing out that regret and depression can be a problem in the early stages.

    I'd sure suggest that you talk with your doc about it. I'm sure they can help you overcome it.
  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
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    Re your insurance company paying for it - since you are not as obese as some, have they given you problems paying for it? thats the problem i had a while back.
  • DaisyandTip1
    DaisyandTip1 Posts: 3
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    I'm new to this page and forgot to look at the date of the posts...feel very dumb now. But I will be seeing the bariatric clinic next week and am hoping they can help me through this - thank you
  • amyk0202
    amyk0202 Posts: 667 Member
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    I am now 5 weeks post RNY surgery. I regret having this surgery so much. My hormones are completely messed up, I'm depressed to the max, hate my life, hate not being able to have something good to eat in order to feel at least a little better. Am tired of the constant tracking of what time to drink water, what time to try to eat (which usually means two bites of something before I feel sick or get sick), and tired of the whole nine yards. I am hating myself for not trying harder to lose weight with diet and exercise. I would never recommend this surgery for anyone. I'd rather die obese than to live like this.

    I didn't have a Gastric Bypass, I had a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, but in the very beginning I did have some of those same feelings. My family was all still able to eat regular foods. I had my surgery right around Easter & I was drinking broth & protein powder while everyone else had a big dinner & candy. Part of making the surgery successful for you is changing your thinking about eating and finding ways to make yourself feel better without food being part of the equation. I'm over a year out now & I'm so happy. I know that I will have to track my food forever, but I can live life now without my weight controlling me. I'm glad to see you have an appointment with your doctor. My hospital has support groups for bariatric patients. Maybe see if your doctor can recommend something in your area. Just keep it up & as time goes on & the weight comes off, things will get better.
  • onwarddownward
    onwarddownward Posts: 1,683 Member
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    I'm new to this page and forgot to look at the date of the posts...feel very dumb now. But I will be seeing the bariatric clinic next week and am hoping they can help me through this - thank you

    Don't feel dumb. You are just in a tough spot right now. Hang in there. This is a big learning curve and you're new here too. You're going to be ok.

    Hugs.
  • belovedideas
    belovedideas Posts: 1
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    Let me just preface this rant with the declaration that I don't believe weight loss surgery leads to overall good health. It may provide you with short term or drastic weight loss but it will cause side effects that make it not worth the pain and suffering. Don't bother leaving me a comment to the contrary. I've heard it all. I've been called "bitter" and "a failure" and been yelled at for discouraging people form getting this "life saving surgery". I will glance at your comment and delete it.

    That being said, let me tell you about overful pouch syndrome. It feels like dumping but it ain't. It's when the pouch stretches too far and too much food needs to be processed. The symptoms are frightening: rapid heart pounding, weakness, dizziness, pain, pressure,and a sudden need to raise your legs higher than your heart no matter where you are.

    Now, you mean-spritied, pro-wls cheerleaders are going to say that I should have learned by now exactly how much food I can tolerate. Let me school you. I am able to tolerate less and less food over time. I had my rny gastric bypass in 2006. I can now tolerate half of what I could eat when I first started this awful "journey". Different foods cause different reactions under different circumstances. It's always a surprise. I can eat and process less and less food.

    One might think this is good news. One might expect me to be delightfully thin by now.
    WRONG.
    I fight fatigue due to my inability to take in enough food to give me the energy I need to live my life.
    I can't tolerate protein shakes and never could.
    My metabolism has slowed to accommodate my miniscule portions of food. I'm a sluggish, tired, cranky *kitten* for a major portion of my day.
    I have to load up on sugar and salt just to give me the energy to teach my classes.
    When I'm hungry I can never eat enough to truly satisfy my hunger. The overfull pouch symptoms begin before I can get enough food into my body.
    And so it goes...

    Special occasions are difficult. Going out to eat is difficult. Social eating is difficult.
    I have to gauge when I've had enough and put the fork down in time. Since there is a delayed reaction between swallowing and the food reaching my poor pouch, I often take a few bites too many. I pay dearly for every mis-bite.

    Different foods produce different levels of discomfort. Sometimes I can eat a big salad. Sometimes I can eat lots of fruit. Sometimes I'm wrong and mere orange juice will cause the symptoms. It's a crap shoot every time I pick up a fork.

    This weekend my brother and sister in law are visiting from Vermont. We had a lovely dinner at a Thai fusion place in Montclair. After dinner we went around the corner to Coldstone Creamery. We each got child's portions of dessert. We just wanted a taste. I took one spoonful too many. I had to explain why I was sighing and burping and roughly exhaling as I drove home.

    I hate the weight loss surgery sales pitch. I was promised one thing and am experiencing another.
    Satiety is not possible with water, I don't care what the literature says.
    Protein shakes are odious. I am nauseated by them after the first sip.
    All the tricks for feeling satisfied on a subsistence level of food don't work.

    Our bodies are more complex than what the wls people want you to believe. Feeling satisfied after a meal is not just a function of the pouch or the stomach. Our bodies signal their need for food in many ways. Trying to cheat that system leads to a deficit, a debt, a bill that we have to pay to our bodies. Living on post-wls diets lead to problems, I don't care what the cheerleaders tell you. Some of them outright lie. Some are experiencing symptoms that their doctors won't admit are directly related to their weight loss surgery. Some are so delirious from being thin they ignore other areas of their physical existence. Many have stalled or gained weight back and disappear from the scene for fear of the shaming that comes from the cheerleaders and the medical people themselves.

    My brother and sister in law are here with Theodore and Tilly Bear of the Teddy Bear Monastery founded by my brother. I'd like to enjoy their visit without having the burden of worrying that one bite too many will give me heart attack symptoms. That's not how it goes with wls. I'll be spending huge portions of their visit in major discomfort. I notice it more when I'm with people and when I'm eating outside the home.

    Wls is the forever-*kitten*-you for being fat. It is the forever-*kitten*-you for being convinced that one has an eating disorder that only surgery can keep in check.

    Every single time I eat I am reminded of my decision to alter my insides in an effort to be acceptably thin. I am reminded of my decision that I needed surgery to help me manage my eating because I decided I was untrustworthy as a self-caretaker.

    Every single time I eat.
    Every single day.
  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
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    Belovedideas - thank you for writing that. I too was going for the WLS in 2003, I went all the way up to the part where you see if insurance will cover you and three times i was denied. that was a signal that it wasn't meant to be. but i am glad that it didn't happen because basically i thought to myself, this is no way to live, do i really want to spend the rest of my life having to chew food 20 times and liquify it in my mouth? do i really want to be a guinea pig (really do they have enough long range patients to make a qualifable study to make a valid report to see if WLS is good or not? no. i think when WLS patients live thier lives, then they can.. but for now, its guinea pigs really. I dont think i want to live life with my insides cut up.. i mean really if you have to tear up your insides in order to control your eating, thats pretty severe. However, even those few things are no match for what you are going thru.. thank you for letting me know. I believe you on that.
  • Ralphrabbit
    Ralphrabbit Posts: 351 Member
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    Oh yes felt more dreadful than I had ever felt before with nausea & never wanted to eat at all!! It passes after time - hence I am still here & doing the battle! Worth it in the end though.....
  • summersbest
    summersbest Posts: 194 Member
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    I just celebrated my one year anniversary and do not regret the surgery one single bit. Only wish I had had it sooner. I have lost 100lbs. and feel great. Is it possible for me to gain it back? Absolutely. But I took the time that was needed beforehand to research the surgery and knew what I was in for in the long run. Many people go in with the attitude that surgery is the magical answer to their weight problem and forget that it only works as well as you work it.

    I make healthy choices for my meals and snacks, focusing mainly on protein, and measure everything. I have accepted that this is a way of life for me in order not to regain. I take the necessary daily vitamins and work out when I can. I suffer from fibromyalgia so working out daily is a struggle for me. I lost all my weight from eating properly. I also make sure to get in all my fluids for the day as I find this really helps with the weight loss. I can no longer drink plain water since the surgery but am fine with Crystal Light or diet juices. And because of all of this, I can splurge once in a while and have the pizza and chocolate in moderation.

    This surgery gave me a jump start on my weight loss but it's totally up to me to use the tools provided to be a success down the road. ~
  • Gw3nJa
    Gw3nJa Posts: 40 Member
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    I was thinking about creating a new topic for this question, but I figure maybe I'll ask my question here instead.

    To those of you who have had, or have thought about having, the gastric bypass surgery, or even lap band, or anything alike... why? I'm not criticizing or anything, I'm just wondering.... why'd you do it? Or why do you WANT to do it? It's a TON of money, a LOT of pain, and you STILL have to diet - extremely, at that - and exercise after healing. Like I said, I'm not criticizing... I've thought about doing one of these surgeries myself at one point, then I researched and researched and found that the first few months (even a year or two!) you have to go on a pretty extreme diet, and ease your way into eating new foods.... if you could do that POST-op, why not just do it all by yourself anyway? How much do the surgeries REALLY help? And for those who have to lose some weight in order to even get the surgeries done... why not just continue to do it yourself instead of putting yourself through all that?

    Love and Alohas,
    Ihilani Kapuniai

    My mom is looking into it and wants to have this surgery. She's a diabetic and in a slew of medications for everything under the sun. Despite her being at a lower weight she is in far worse health. Losing the weight would get her off a bunch of meds get her healthy and in turn save a lot of money. Her biggest fear I think is that if she lost it traditionally that she wouldn't keep it off. Even if you do gain weight with those I know that it's not the full amount.
    I mean I don't want to do it myself. But seeing her in tears talking about how much pains she's in, I can at least emphasize and hope she can have this surgery.
  • jantura
    jantura Posts: 14 Member
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    Bump so my dear SIL sees this
  • jantura
    jantura Posts: 14 Member
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    Bumping again
  • clt052902
    clt052902 Posts: 6
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    I had the gastric sleeve. I did it because I wasn't losing weight on diet alone. I barely ate anything and rarely ate junk. we bake a lot in my house but nothing I tried worked. I had a lot of medical problems and my surgery was covered by my insurance since it was a medical necessity. yes I do have days when I think what on earth was I thinking and others I feel great and am glad I did it. for me it's been 8 weeks and I have lost 37 pounds. I have come off 7 medications alone. it really varies from person to person as to why they do this and what is their motivation but for me I wanted to feel better and needed help doing it since the dieting wasn't helping. had my surgery not been covered by insurance I would not have been able to do this and I am very grateful it was.
  • padams2359
    padams2359 Posts: 1,093 Member
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    Maybe 2 of the 20 or so people that I know that have had this surgery have not gained back the weight they lost, and in many cases more than they lost post surgery. It is unfortunate, but it is a fact. I just wonder what happens long term. I watched my wife's grandparents live into their 80's, nether of them had weight problems, had all of their stomachs eat like birds for the last few years of their lives. They were not poor or starving, they, just like many older people, did not have much of an appetite. They had the ability to get all of the nutrients out of the food that they were eating. What happens when you only have 1/4 or 1/8th of your stomach. Are there long term studies of the effects of this surgery? I mean 20 or 30 years, on people that are now in their 60s to 80s.

    At least a sleeve can be removed, or adjusted. I don't think a bypass can be reversed.
  • paulei1975
    paulei1975 Posts: 52 Member
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    I have 2 friends who went through with it, and both of them stated that it was the best decision they ever made. They also look amazing.
  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
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    Maybe 2 of the 20 or so people that I know that have had this surgery have not gained back the weight they lost, and in many cases more than they lost post surgery. It is unfortunate, but it is a fact. I just wonder what happens long term. I watched my wife's grandparents live into their 80's, nether of them had weight problems, had all of their stomachs eat like birds for the last few years of their lives. They were not poor or starving, they, just like many older people, did not have much of an appetite. They had the ability to get all of the nutrients out of the food that they were eating. What happens when you only have 1/4 or 1/8th of your stomach. Are there long term studies of the effects of this surgery? I mean 20 or 30 years, on people that are now in their 60s to 80s.

    At least a sleeve can be removed, or adjusted. I don't think a bypass can be reversed.

    Why did those 18 people regain the weight?
  • padams2359
    padams2359 Posts: 1,093 Member
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    Overrating little by little until they stretched their stomachs back. I agree with the above post. Deal with the psychological reasons for overeating, and refocus that to something else.

    Everything takes effort. I have had 3 back surgeries. There is never a time that I am not totally aware of my limitations. How I move, what I lift, or how I lift things. I didn't go through all of that to screw things up. I have degenerative disk disease. I may need surgery again one day. Who knows, but it is not going to be from doing something I know I shouldn't be doing. My boys are 17 and 14. I have not picked up my second son since he was 2 years old. He was 11 lbs, and two weeks early. He was always a big child. That wasn't easy. Try telling a hurt and crying 2 year old that you can't pick them up.
  • thebr0kenwriter
    thebr0kenwriter Posts: 9 Member
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    I will be having the vertical sleeve surgery on Nov 6 at Duke.

    The vertical sleeve is not a removable, reversible surgery. They remove 85% of the stomach which includes the hormone that creates hunger and appetite. It has recently became more popular of the surgeries. I know at least a dozen people who have had a form of WLS and they said it was the best thing they ever did. A friend had it done due to stomach cancer and he is a completely (more positive) person.

    I also, lost 120lbs of my own. From 2011-2012, exercising 3hrs a day and restricting calories. What happened? I gained all but 10lbs of it back despite exercising still. Losing weight naturally is not always the permanent fix for everyone. Some need help. Losing weight naturally does not erase your appetite, which is one reason I have chosen WLS for.

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