diabetic and looking into bypass or sleeve...

Im 40, diabetic, and worried about my health... but regardless of how worried I cannot control my eating.  Ive had a lapband placed and removed with no success.  I felt like a pow during the 10 day diet and I believe it made  me an emotional eater.  Questions I have are... do you all follow a strict diet after full recovery... if yes.. how if you couldnt do it on your own prior.. if no... what can you never eat again no matter how bad you want it... and lastly.. any diabetics that surgery did not instantly cure?

There are certain guidelines to meet after 'full recovery' but I am not at that stage yet so I cannot say too much about it as I am just a couple of weeks post op. The surgery helps with appetite suppression...you do not feel hungry all the time and just a little bit of food fills you right up.

I had the RNY and I need to watch my fat and sugar intake...high fat and high sugar foods can cause dumping syndrom and it is not a fun experience.

As far as the 'instant cure' with my RNY, I did not get it. The possibility of it was a huge factor for me in deciding which surgery to with. I was put on insulin last year and have been taking very high doses since then. I was told that the more insulin you take and the longer you have been taking it can effect your chances of the instant cure. Whether this is true or not, I really cannot say BUT I can tell you that my sugars have been more under control since the surgery. I am taking 500mg of metformin everyday and before surgery I was taking 240+ units of two types of insulin plus 2000mg of metformin and I think 100mg of Januvia everyday. To go from that to almost nothing has been a miracle and I do not regret my decision at all.

Good luck to you.

Thank you!  

May I suggest a couple of things to help you in your decision. Up at the top next to MY OH you will see a magnifying glass. Click on it and you can search any topic that has been discussed on here. I know this question has been asked in the past. It may help give you some good insight. The other thing is cross post this on the rny and sleeve board as well. Best of luck.

Thank you.  I have losted on the diabetes group but it appears that folks dont often head that way.  Last topic was in dec. ;)  i will post in the surgery type pages though.  

That would give you some good information plus the search feature will also help you find a lot. Also here is another source for you look at. https://asmbs.org/

Both surgeries are fabulous.  I had an RNY -- so I can only speak to it.  Before my surgery, I was an insulin dependent diabetic (insulin 3x per day) and also on 1000 mg of metformin 2x per day.  My A1c was generally in the 6 to 7 range -- with a crazy high 9.8 being my highest when I wasn't doing anything as I should have been --- including taking my medications correctly.  After surgery, I am no longer on any medications for diabetes and my A1c ranges from 4.5 to 5.1.  I am in remission.

I do follow a strict diet after my surgery.  I do this because I personally didn't have my guts rearranged not to be successful. It is a choice.  I believe at this point I could eat anything I want -- but I don't choose to do that.  I don't think I could possibly eat the same quantity that I used to eat -- but I still weigh and measure everything since I have a very messed up idea of portion sizes.  It's been a real learning experience!!  As a food addict in recovery,  I have been 100% on plan 100% of the time.  Could I have done this before surgery?  No -- because I didn't.  

I hope this helps you.

I'm pretty strict with my post op diet after recovery, but not incredibly strict. I do screw up sometimes, more time than I 'd like to, but I don't beat myself up about it & use it as a learning lesson to find ways not to screw it up again, or if I do, to not fall off the deep end & stay there.

What helps is keeping the carbs in check , logging everything in mfp & realizing that I do eat out of emotion, stress, etc & recognize the problem & take steps that didn't involve food. In the past I wasn't doing that much analyzing. I just ate my feelings down.

I wouldn't have been able to do this without my tool because the hunger pangs would really get overpowering sometimes. Like it would physically hurt & my body just screamed for me to eat, often it was the junk stuff that I had no business eating anyway. The hunger is there but its more diluted, it's I'm hungry feed me when you get a chance, there's no hurry kind of thing.

Lastly I am still diabetic, I wasn't automatically taken off my medicine right away. I had already made changes to my diet prior to surgery, so I was already off insulin for quite some time & was down to the pills, as time went on & the weight dropped my dosage was lowered till finally I'm on the lowest dosage available. When the rest of the weight comes off I hope to be off of them totally, hopefully this year.

There's no food that I can never eat, but there are foods I shouldn't eat or at least not go overboard on them. You have to be constantly on top of it cuz its real easy to take a bite here or there & b4 you know it you're gaining. I'm still in weight loss mode, so I know maintenance will be the start of my next phase in my weight loss journey. Good Luck on yours!

In the long term, no surgery is going to control what you put in your mouth.  I haven't found anything that I CAN'T eat, although there are some things that a choose not to eat.  If you have issues with emotional eating, that has to be addressed outside of the surgery, perhaps with a good therapist or a group setting like Overeaters Anonymous.

On the diabetes, I had the sleeve.  I was on Actos and Byetta prior to surgery and was diagnosed with diabetes for about three years, although I suspect I had it for several years before that.  I was off of all diabetic meds immediately after surgery.  If your diabetes is severe or you've had it for a long time, the RNY or DS would be better choices to get diabetes into remission.

You should also research a form of WLS called the Duodenal Switch. The DS has the very BEST stats for total, permanent remission of diabetes--around 98% of diabetics achieve total remission.

I don't follow a 'strict' diet since my DS. I DO eat protein first, and I'm mindful of my carbs, but there are no 'forbidden' foods for most DSers. (Anyone can develop specific intolerances, but they're rare.) As long as I eat mostly protein and fat, it doesn't seem to matter of open I eat, or how much.