Questions to ask yourself as a Pre-Op

Not sure if many from the Indiana board travel to the other boards, but there has been a rash of heated arguments over the DS vs RNY.  A DSer posted this to the main board and it is excellent, so I thought I would post it here as well.  I don't see a lot of DSers from the Indiana area here, and I'm not sure if it's because only one surgeon in the Indy area performs the DS (Dr. Inman) so a lot of people don't know about it.  Anyway, regardless of which surgery someone has, these questions are important and relevant to all. Take care, and good luck to us all in our WLS journey! Lyndia 1)  Ask yourself have you REALLY done your homework about the path you are going down? 2)  Did you know about all the weight loss surgeries available to you?  Do you understand the differences?  Have you read about how successful they are?  Have you read about the complications?  Have you read about the lifestyle changes each surgery will require?  Do you understand how they are different? 3)  Did you interview more than one surgeon, especially if that surgeon only performs one of the types of surgeries available? 4)  Do you know about the risks?  Did you ask your surgeon how many surgeries he or she has performed?  What about their mortality rate?  What about side effects?  Have you visited a weight loss surgery regret site?  Do you know about the unhappy as well as the happy people?  Did you ask your surgeon how they were trained?  For how long?  Where?  With whom? 5)  Do you truly understand this is a life altering event?  Are you prepared to do whatever you need to stay healthy and lead a productive life? 6)  Is your mind ready for this?  Have you been honest with yourself and your surgeon about how you got to your current weight??  Are you ready to hit your food issues head on? 7) Are you financially prepared to supplement appropriately, with vitamins, protein, etc. for the rest of your life? 8) Have you attended a support group meeting or have you met post ops (from ALL weight loss surgeries) in real life to find out how they live with their choice? If you answer no to any of these questions, I suggest you take a step back and keep researching before you set that date.

The relationship with food, is definately one that needs to be explored, before surgery.  When I had my surgery St. V's classes focused on aftercare.  No one ever mentioned that I may have emotional issues after.  I never realized how much I used food as my "drug".  I ate when I was happy, sad, frustrated, angry, stressed out , bored and especially at night when I couldn't sleep.  I used food as an escape.  The fact that I can't use food to cope with life, has been my biggest problem since surgery.  People always said  I was laid back, easy going, always helpful, never wanted confrontations.  Well that was because I could eat it all away.  Now I can't and I'm having to deal with issues that upset me, make me angry, stress me out.  People that have known me for a long time, say I've changed.  I tend to say what I think now, which doesn't go over well, when I've always been the "get along" kind of girl.  I have had terrible issues with insomnia since surgery.  I started to take ambien, and involuntarily got in my truck at 3:30 in the morning and hit a pole.  No more ambien for me.  I'm going to counseling now, have done it in the past, but now without food I have to learn new ways to cope, to handle stress.  The weight loss part has been easy for me.  I'm under goal,  a "success" story.  The emotional part has been hard.  I look at before pictures of me.  I was miserable because I was so heavy, but I was happy, life was good.  Now, I'm proud of my weight loss and don't want to go back to the old self, but learning to live with the new self is hard.   Again this is just me and my experience.  I don't here much about the emotional sides to WLS very often.  I used to laugh when I heard people talking about transfer of addictions.  I kind of did that with the Ambien.  I am not taking anything to alter my mood or to help with insomnia now.  I am facing all my "stuff" head on.  I didn't realize I had any "stuff" to work on before surgery.  I was so wrong.   If anyone asks me if I've had any complications, I am truthful.  I tell them "not pysically, but emotionally its been rough".  I think its important that pre-ops know this.  It isn't a "fun ride" all the time.  If you deal with emotional eating get help before surgery.  If your not sure if you do, start checking, become aware of when you eat and why.    Would I do it all over?  Some days I do think, man it was easier to live in a heavy body and not deal with life, but it wasn't fair to me, my family, or anyone I deal with.  People are just going to have to learn to live with the new me, like it or not.  I have to learn to live with the new me.  The old easy going, helpful, do anything for anyone, Sarah is gone.  The new " I need this, that is not o.k., stop, I don't want to hear all your problems, doesn't take crap from anyone" Sarah is here.    Thi****s all areas of my life, friends, family, job.  I have to find a happy medium.  I'm working on it.   My family has been really supportive, thank heaven for them.  i couldn't have made it through this without them.  Would I do it again? Yes Sarah