What do you wish?

That is an amazing list, and a great idea! I believe I will do something like that for myself, both pre- and post-op.

Your number #16 made me chuckle. When I was a young child and my father would tell me "You know, there are children starving in Africa!" when I refused to finish my food, I would always say (please excuse how harsh this came out) "Yes, and they'll be starving whether I eat this food or not, won't they?". I can very much relate to that. Also, because I was raised on the 'clean your plate' mentality, it is something I refuse to push on my children. I believe that over eating is something we learn from a young age in situations like that, and it is so hard to break that mentality.

With the hormonal changes, how bad was it for you? I've heard some people say it was pretty bad, others have said not at all. I know that I could land anywhere on that spectrum, I just like to have more input.

When you weighed in at 1 week, did you find that you had lost, gained, or maintained your weight?

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond! I really appreciate it.

I don't really remember any hormonal changes. I was, however, seeing a therapist weekly at that time and I'm sure this helped a LOT to keep me more even keeled. I didn't go through any weepy periods, I didn't experience a "what the hell did I do to myself" phase, I wasn't depressed. So... that's me. It probably helped that I never had issues drinking, through!

Day of surgery TrendWeight tells me I was 292.4. One week later I was 287.7.

I am super happy with my VSG and I'm happy with my decision.

At the time, I liked the simplicity of it. All it did was remove most of my stomach, nothing else would get changed. That appealed to me.

At the time, I did NOT know about the risk of GERD/acid reflux with VSG. Thankfully, I have zero history of this, so even if I had known it wouldn't have changed my choice. And, thankfully, it hasn't been an issue for me. Knock on wood.

I strongly believe that VSG and RNY are both excellent surgeries and that someone who works hard to fix their brain will be successful with either. If I had to make the choice between VSG and RNY today, I'd still choose VSG because I, personally, am not interested in malabsorption, nor do I have a history of diabetes or acid. However, I believe that I'd be 100% happy with the RNY if that had been what I needed to do.

I know this is something that is more suited for my doctor, but I'm going to ask anyway.

Also, I'm going to put it out there that please don't feel like your answer will determine what I will and won't do. I'm just curious about your input, because you've been there and done it lol. I will be consulting either my surgeon or my physician about it.

Anyhow, with the acid reflux, I know you said is something you never struggled with prior. I used to struggle with it. It's been off and on, but hasn't been an issue for roughly 7 years, maybe even 8. I had it once as a child. It went away with a short amount of time. Then, again, I (unbeknownst to me at the time) had it for roughly 6-8 months. I had randomly lost my voice, and it took over 6 months for me to get it back. I went to an ENT who looked in my throat and saw how red and affected it was. We discovered that I was having acid reflux in my sleep at night, and because I was laying down, it would just sit there and was damaging my esophagus, which was causing the laryngitis. Anyhow, this was easily fixed by simply not eating so late at night.

In your opinion, does something like those 2 brief times with reflux mean I should consider RNY over VSG? I would really prefer VSG... RNY does intimidate me more. Again, this is something I will speak with my doctor about, but I'm just curious what you think?

So.. it sounds like you do have reflux, you've just learned how to manage it by not eating late at night.

From everything I've read on OH over the years, all the personal stories of reflux and revisions due to reflux, if I had your history, I would NOT get the VSG.

Pre-op, I felt the way you feel. RNY was really intimidating and scary. Like I said, I liked the simplicity of the VSG and was worried about the lack of it with the RNY. But GERD is no joke and esophageal cancer is even less of a joke. It's just not worth the risk. And, knowing what I now know, the RNY is a great surgery and there are so many people here who have done phenomenally well with it. It doesn't intimidate me the way that it used to. If I did develop acid issues, I wouldn't be scared/worried about revising to RNY. It would suck to have to revise, but I wouldn't be bothered by needing the RNY.

The reason the acid is an issue with VSG is because of Boyle's Law. Simply put, when you decrease volume in a space, you increase the pressure in that space. Since VSG maintains the sphincters at the top and bottom of the stomach (cardiac and pyloric), it is a confined space with decreased volume and, therefore, increased pressure. For some people, this increase of pressure will cause acid reflux, Barrett's esophagus, etc. With the RNY, the pyloric sphincter isn't maintained, so it's not a concern.

I am not a doctor and, yes, clearly this is a question to best ask your doctor, but given your stated history, I, personally, would not choose the VSG.

I won't repeat a lot of the others - good advice already. I was very happy I used the pre-op stage to give up caffeine and soda. I drank a lot of diet cola before surgery and I would have been miserable having to give it up at the same time as the surgery.

What I would have changed: I would have taken the pre op phase more seriously and focused on losing more weight. I started off strong but then when the holidays came I developed the mind set that I wouldn't be able to eat my favorites anymore and ended up gaining back about 7 lbs. My surgery was scheduled for the week between Xmas and New Year's which was perfect for my insurance but not for my head. I really wish I had not strayed because I just had to lose those pounds all over again after surgery. Now I realize that thinking was so flawed (do searches on 'food funeral') but I didn't get it at the time.

I attend a monthly support group through the hospital. I find it helpful to hear what others are going through and it helps me stay on track when sometimes I feel my will is weakening.

I also was in therapy pre op and the first few months post op. I had initially gone to work through the stress in my life and it turned out my therapist had done work with eating disorders already at a large center. She gave great advice on how I would handle the emotional part and how to work through the stress.

I am happy I chose VSG. I do have friends who have lost faster and gotten to goal quicker with RNY so sometimes I wonder if that's what I should have done. I am 8 months out and still have a lot to lose. But I also don't have any of the disgestive or malnutrition issues that they've had so overall I'm happy. I'm at the stage now where the loss is super slow and I'm fighting for every pound.

Just for the record, my program also says no NSAIDs for VSG. I know from the support group a few people who've not followed that advice have ended up in the hospital. So check with your doctor if you think you need them.

Good luck and stick around through your journey. The people here have helped me immensely by sharing their experiences.