New with concerns

Hi, I'm Gladgrad, I'm so excited to be here ...

About me ...

After some research and talking to my Doctor I was referred to the Kaiser Bariatric program, lap band was what I was interested in, but Kaiser in my area no longer does them. They said they have removed so many that they don't believe it is a good option. So my choices through my insurance are Roux-En-Y or Gastric Sleeve. My surgeon recommended the sleeve for me. After many appointments, meetings with nutritionists, a psych evaluation, and having met my pre-op weight loss goal, I am now cleared to schedule my procedure. (I will schedule it on Oct, 20, 2016)

Now I'm getting a little worried. I pray I don't feel like I'm starving all the time. I am also worried about my head hunger, eating too much, or too fast, and throwing up, excess skin ... you know, stuff like that. I guess I'm just nervous in general, this is a big decision. 

Last night on this site a post opper (2 months out) said she had eaten a 7 oz steak and two hours later was hungry again. If that is how I will feel, I might as well keep my stomach.

How hard is it? I've watched a lot of youtube video diary's. It seems hard, but they all have this weight loss euphoria that seems to overshadow it. Guess I'm looking for some insight. Given the chance, would you do it again??

Thanks for reading.

I'm 2.5 years out and I definitely don't feel like I'm hungry all the time.  In fact, I'm hungry very infrequently.  I did experience some hunger off and on in the first year, but it was acid every time and went away with a few weeks of taking a PPI.  

People often mistake hunger for other things.  Thirst, acid, their head trying to lie to them.  We feel things in our brains after all.  If you treat hunger like it isn't an emergency, it won't be.  

I know that when I eat correctly - which means mainly dense protein, I feel satisfied until the next meal time.  My body knows when I will let it eat, so that's when it tells me it's hungry.  

That all said, I did have to face the reality that surgery only changed my stomach.  I had undiagnosed Binge Eating Disorder that was beaten back thanks to surgery but came back in full force when my dad died in April.  Thankfully I'd been working with a therapist since just before surgery and had gotten a lot better at taking care of myself, so I went to the doctor, got diagnosed, and got started on medication that has helped significantly.  

I would do it again, and twice on Sunday.  No questions asked.  The surgery gave me the space I needed to finally work to fix my brain.  It let me stop being so obsessed with eating and hating myself.  That space allowed me to form an awesome exercise habit, great self-care practices, lost almost 150 pounds (and still losing), and really work to become the person I didn't even know that I wanted to be.  Sure, I've still got an eating disorder, but I NEVER would have done anything about it prior to VSG - I would have just kept eating myself to death. 

You do have to be super careful to eat correctly, especially immediately post-op, but it's actually very easy.  Measure up your food in the kitchen, put it on your plate, and then that's all you get to eat.  I never felt that I was at risk for eating too much, or even too fast.  I had an issue with some spasming that caused me to throw up around 3 months post-op, but that's the only "complication" I've had.  Excess skin is just a fact of life - better than obesity.  Hair loss happens because your body thinks it's dying and saves energy by not making hair for a little while - there's no treatment for this, and it will pass and your hair will grow back.  Some people don't have excess skin, some people don't have hair loss.  

Thank you.

Oh, and invariably someone will ask me, "but couldn't you have done it without surgery?"

And, in my opinion, the only answer that matters is, "I didn't."  I'll never know if I could have done this without surgery, since I will never be a person who didn't have this surgery.  I know that pre-op Gwen didn't do what post-op Gwen has done, and I much prefer the life of post-op Gwen.  

The fact that I couldn't do it on my own for the past 30+ years, proved to me I need help. 

Having a VSG is a wonderful tool.  But it is solely a tool.  The hardest thing to do is to maintain.  My appetite has really never  came back.  The most important thing is to not substitute a new addiction for the food you left behind.  Me, I had the misfortune of crazy life happening and used alcohol to try to soothe myself.  Ends up addiction can be a big issue after surgery-no matter which one you have.  So my greatest recommendation is to always keep up with support, and always follow the diet.  You got this!

I agree with everyone posts. Just remember that at 2 months out, your nerves haven't healed completely. If you are wait to stop eating until you "feel" full... DONT.  SERIOUSLY! Measure and weigh everything. Your nerves can't tell your brain it's full, or that it's hungry. They have been damaged and are healing. It's usually acid in the stomach that makes you "feel" hungry. We can't trust how we feel (unless it's pain) to determine hunger or fullness. This is true even before surgery or we would have stopped eating when full :) 

One of the reasons we become overweight, (at least me !) is that we misread our bodies signals. If I get a taste /craving for salt, my body is saying it's thirsty, not, I need salt, gimme a whole bag of Dorito's  :) 

Head hunger is a very real thing. Emotional triggers to eat happens... But this tool gives you the help you need to realize that you do have issues that caused you to eat, and to come up with ways to deal with it. 

Its not magic. It is work. It is the hardest thing you will do. Not the surgery, but the work of changing into the person you want to be. VSG, it's just the first step that makes it possible. 

I'm still pretty new at this, but am at goal after 6.5 months.  Could I have gotten here without my "tool"? Maybe, but not as fast and once at goal I'd be back to my old habits (been there, done that).  It is true that you don't recognize true fullness for the first few months while healing so you have to follow your surgeons guidelines and weigh/measure everything.  I get very full now with 3 ounces of dense protein and can't really eat anymore.  My son is a chef and cooked for us last night - I truly enjoyed the meal, but had to stop after my 3 ounces of yummy short-ribs.  I find myself eating so much less than I used to but enjoying it more.

Someone asked me recently if I could have my surgery reversed and I said no but why would I want to?  It is the best decision I ever made - I feel great and for the first time in my life I am in control of what I eat.

There is still the risk of going back to old habits once goal is reached with WLS - it's really important to remember that.  There will always be that risk unless the underlying causes for those habits are addressed.  

Even with the lap band all of those things would still have been a concern.  Despite the dumb GERD I am a big fan of the sleeve as a lapband replacement.  That's the biggest issue with the sleeve; about 20-27% of people develop  GERD postoperatively.  Generally it isn't an issue, however it's good to be aware of the possibility.

As for being starving, as I've found since I started posting here, it really depends on how hunger affects you personally, which no one can predict.  I had zip hunger 1.5 years out, however since the GERD is getting worse it's gotten bad.  

The biggest thing with the sleeve is that you must be very careful in maintenance and you will always have to watch what you eat, counting calories.  

Is it hard?  Maybe? I didn't think so, but other than my current GERD and a bit of Harvey;s (my stomach) early post-op grumpiness early on I did very well.  Certainly being morbidly obese was far more difficult, really.  What's hard is the "behavioral surgery" rather than dealing with the after-effects of the operation.  You have to change how you look at food regardless of surgery, and that part is difficult.  Talk to people who are many years out from their surgery, because they will be able to answer that question better.  Everything is easy in the first year - it's after 1 year (regardless of surgery) that things get harder.