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Ladytazz
on 8/27/19 12:40 am
Topic: RE: Desperate and asking for help

I agree with the others. Get a second opinion. I would have a hard time accepting that nothing more could be done. I would take that as a personal challenge and make it my mission to find a surgeon who could help.

I will keep you in my prayers that you are able to find someone who can help you.

WLS 10/28/2002 Revision 7/23/2010

High Weight  (2002) 240 Revision Weight (2010) 220 Current Weight 115.

Ladytazz
on 8/27/19 12:35 am
Topic: RE: Pre op jitters and maybe a little panic

How did the surgery go? Revisions are usually more complex but with an experienced surgeon I am sure you will be fine.

I had a revision 9 years ago and fortunately it solved all the issues I had been having. I am sure yours will be successful as well.

WLS 10/28/2002 Revision 7/23/2010

High Weight  (2002) 240 Revision Weight (2010) 220 Current Weight 115.

goddessgrrl
on 8/26/19 11:19 pm, edited 8/26/19 4:19 pm - VA
Topic: RE: Do-Over!

Please don?t be so afraid of dumping. I had RNY in 2012 and I have never thrown up! I?ve had diarrhea from eating fish that wasn?t wholesome but in that case, better out than in. You will learn than you feel so awful when you eat sugar (not just your tummy; I have hallucinated after eating sugar) that it simply is not worth it. I highly recommend Overeaters Anonymous is you can talk with like minded people about emotional eating. Good luck!

View more of my photos at ObesityHelp.com

 

     

goddessgrrl
on 8/26/19 9:39 pm, edited 8/26/19 2:44 pm - VA
Topic: RE: Desperate and asking for help

I understand much of what you've been through. I have depression too. In 2012 I had mini-incision roux-en-Y and I loved it. I went from 257 to 130 and I felt like I was walking on air. I went off Zoloft after being on it from 1995-2018. I?m back up to 206 now and I will not live like this. I don?t care what it takes, I?m going to get revision surgery and this weight is coming off again. I?ve been going to the gym about twice a week for the past month. It kills me to do it but I will not go back to being fat. I would rather be dead.

View more of my photos at ObesityHelp.com

 

     

tonitunes
on 8/26/19 4:05 pm - Paris, AR
Topic: RE: Desperate and asking for help

Oh that's a fantastic idea. I guess that for some reason I had it in my mind that if I contacted anyone else I would have start all over from the beginning again, and I'm already out about $2K in tests just to get approved for the surgery that failed.

Sparklekitty, Science-Loving Derby Hag
on 8/26/19 3:54 pm
RNY on 08/05/19
Topic: RE: Desperate and asking for help

I would strongly suggest getting a second opinion. See if you can get copies of your surgical reports and imaging, and look into hospitals outside of your home state, such as Mayo Clinic.

Sparklekitty / Julie / Nerdy Little Secret (#42)
Roller derby - cycling - triathlon
VSG 2013, RNY conversion 2019 due to GERD. Trendweight here!

tonitunes
on 8/25/19 7:11 pm - Paris, AR
Topic: RE: Desperate and asking for help

Thank you so much for your response. I went to what is considered the "best" weight loss surgery center in all of Western Arkansas, so I truly do not know about those options. Maybe I should go in and send a message through their contact website and ask him about those. I just know when I asked, he simply said that basically, I was out of luck.

I broke out into tears when they told me after waking up from surgery, I quite literally was sobbing like a baby. I don't think I've fully recovered from that shock yet.

courtnado
on 8/25/19 6:28 pm
Topic: RE: Desperate and asking for help

So even a vertical sleeve is out? Lapband?

I get it. Totally. I had the archaic stapling 35 years ago and promptly lost all the weight but I was young and over the ensuing years and 4 children and some years later, I had developed maladaptive eating and had gained back the weight. I took prescription diet pills every time I piled weight on, and your doctor is absolutely right--they are useless as a long term solution. Whenever I stopped, I gained the weight back at alarming speed and ended up heavier than from before. Initially, diet pills like phentermine and the others completely destroy your appetite and for me there was the added bonus of high energy, creativity and euphoria. That lasts a week if you're lucky. These drugs are also habit forming and tolerance is developed quickly. People with addictive tendencies (me), will begin to abuse them when tolerance sets in. My experience might be extreme but my diet pills took me on a long and painful journey of addiction to much stronger amphetamine. I never lost weight on these drugs because I would eat nothing for the initial days and when I went off, my metabolism was inhibited and my appetite was enormous.

I am having revision tomorrow, and I fear that they will wake me and tell me they can't do it for some reason. I can't imagine how devastating that must have been.

I think you should get a second opinion from a surgeon who specializes in revision surgery. I waited for years to have my revision because I couldn't accept the fact that I couldn't do it myself. It was wasted time because whatever is necessary to do this, I just didn't have.

I think the worse thing a person could hear is that nothing can be done. Perhaps it was beyond your surgeon's skillset, or creative abilities. Perhaps not.

Thank you for sharing and don't give up!

courtnado
on 8/25/19 5:56 pm
Topic: Pre op jitters and maybe a little panic

Probably not a good idea but I have spent the day before my revision surgery watching YouTube videos of other VBG to RNY revisions and the word I keep hearing is "complex".

Ugh. My VBG is 35 years old and I can't imagine the scar tissue that must be in there. The band has to be removed under all of that scar tissue and there is a hiatal hernia to deal with. I am 53 years old and not the picture of sterling health. I doubt I will sleep tonight and have fleeting thoughts of don't do it!

My doctor is extremely reputable and specializes in revisions. He looks like he is in his 20s, which is not comforting, but he assures me that he is not much younger than me. I asked him about the complexity and his response was "oh yeah, it will be a pain in the ass, but I've done a lot of revisions."

Ultimately, his confidence is what gives me the courage to go through with this. Whenever I am on an airplane with a lot of turbulence, I look at the flight attendants. If they are gossiping about their weekend or yawning, I know everything is okay. My doc is yawning so this is good. Plus, he only reserved the OR for 2 hours. I take this as another good sign.

I will show up tomorrow, board the plane and let the pilot fly it. But if anyone feels like sending a prayer up for me, that would be good too.

I will see you guys on the other side!

Courtney

tonitunes
on 8/25/19 2:17 pm - Paris, AR
Topic: Desperate and asking for help

Be forewarned, this may end up being a fairly long post but I have been lurking for a while and now it's time to stop putting things off and seek the help I need because obviously, I cannot do this on my own anymore. Also, there is some personal information included in the post but I feel it is important in understanding my situation.

I'm a 48 year old female living in the river valley. I had gastric bypass surgery in my early 30's and it was a resounding success. I went from around 350lbs down to around 180. Fast forward around 4 years and I did a few things I am not proud of, and as a result, my husband and I had some major issues. It looked like our marriage was ending and that, compounded with my untreated clinical depression, led me to attempt suicide. After my stint in the hospital, I came home and spiraled down into more and more of a depression. Thanks to some wonderful friends I was able to get medical care and start medical and therapy treatment for my depression. Over time my husband and I worked things out as well, but by this time the damage was done and I had begun to gain back all the weight I had lost.

I think at this point I was in denial that I was gaining it back. Things sorta went past in a blur and the next thing I know I'm back up over 300 lbs again.

I tried to lose weight on my own at this point but nothing I seem to do works. I find it difficult to exercise because of the intense pain. My back, knees, and hips all hurt me to the point of tears if I try to stand more than around 10 to 15 minutes at a time. I have developed tye 2 diabetes and I have high blood pressure. When I try to follow a traditional "diet plan" I find myself hungry 24/7.

At this point, I looked into a revision for my original surgery in hopes of curbing my appetite enough to get back on track with weight loss and to loose enough where I could exercise and help it along. It was determined that my pouch had dilated to around 4 times the size it should be, and my stoma was 3 times the size it should be. Luckily I do have really good insurance, I have Humana addon for Medicare. However, after going through all of the requirements for surgery with Roller Weight Loss, I was taken into surgery, only to wake up and be told that nothing could be done. They said that my original limb was too short and it was taken around back behind my stomach rather than in front of it, so there is literally no way to revise it. I was offered the ROSE procedure, however, I was told that it runs around $7K, and insurance does not cover it. Besides, the research I have done on the ROSE does not look that promising in the first place.

Feeling desperate, I asked my PCP about putting me on weight loss medication, and she refused due to the fact that 1) I have high blood pressure and she said that those medications make it even worse and 2) she said that once a person goes off weight loss medication, they tend to gain it all back.

Right now I feel like because of screwing up my original surgery all is lost and I'm doomed to just die as I am. My doctor points out to me that I can do this. She uses the fact that I was able to give up smoking 20+ years ago cold turkey as proof that I have the will power. This is not like that, though. I have tried and tried again and I just can't seem to do it on my own.

I guess I hope that one of you may have some suggestions that I have not thought of yet.

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