10 years out and FAT!

I had my surgery in 1997. Lost 140 pounds in under a year. Three years later it started coming back on. I started at 349, got down to 210. By July of 2007 I was up to 329. I started phentramine and am now at 281. I have had such a hard time dealing with the feeling of failure and embarrasment. It has taken such an emotional toll on me. When I origionally had it done I thought I'll never fail. Ya right. Young and dumb. I went to see a doctor this week to see if there's anything surgically they can do. I'm 10 years older, wiser and ready to make a serious change.  Tommorrow I had a upper GI test to see where I'm at physically. Anyone else gain that much that soon back?? Sorry about spelling,kids on my lap.

Hi I'm new to this group and looking for some kind of help. I had RnY surgery in december 2003.I was 304lbs when i had it and by January 2005 was about 175 lbs. Since then i have slowly managed to gain almost all my wight back. I now weigh 269 and can not seem to get it under control. I am so embaressed and ashamed to even admitt i let this happen. I had a major compication when i had my surgery and I feel like i failed so bad. I had initially decided to have the surgery because at the time i had a 10 month old and i could not imagine him having to grow up with a fat mom and the mom that is too fat and tired to participate in activites with him and who just has to watch from the bench. Now he is 5 and i also have a 1 year old now and i feel like im in the same  situation only this time i do not have the option of surgery. I dont really know how to get started now that i am this fat again. I have lost my determination and motivation. Hopefully i can get some encoragement from this group and it does make me feel better to know i am not the only one to have gained all the weight back. anyway thanks and good luck with your test>

Sounds like were in the same boat. I have a 5 and 2 year old. I don't want to be the "fat mom" that my kids get teased about. I know I can make it work this time. I don't know if the surgeon will do a DS?  And if he would , would my insurance pay for it. I can't imagine going through surgey again adn all that sickess again. YUCK|!!! I have such guilt and anger about the whole damn thing. I havne't even told my husband I'm looking into this. I'm scared the DS looks like a major surgery after a RNY and what about the side effects. But then again what about being fat my whole life. Have you contacted a doctor yet??  I get to talk to the doc tomorrow about the test and see if they found anything "wrong " to warrent a revision. Good luck to you also! Your not the only one out there.

I am 4 1/2 years post op for gastric bypass surgery and have regained the 106 lbs I lost.  I went back to my surgeon today and he told me only 10% gain back all the weight.  Talk about feeling bad.  Finding information, research and hearing what others have experienced has been difficult.  Sounds like insurance would never cover any further procedures, so would be out of pocket.  Has anyone ever had a lap band after bypass?             

I am 4 years out and have gained back 1/2 of what I lost. It is so depressing!! But I did call my health insurance company (a different one from the one I had when the surgery was first done). They said that I would qualify again!! Only thing is, I will have to go through all of that preparation again that took about 6 months. I'm very much considering it, after I save up enough vacation days from work. I wish you the best.

sammie.... I'm currently researching having an RNY and also have a 5 and 2 yr old. I have not had WLS yet. If you had to do it over again would you have a DS? Why the DS...do they have less failures?

Nope, I would stick with my LapBand

The DS does have less failures statistically.  And they have a very active message board with lots of folks on there willing to share the facts.  Go visit that forum. You will get all the info you need.  I had the Rny over 4 years ago and have done really well with it.  But at times it has been a great deal of hard work, and knowing what I know now if given the option I probably would have chosen the DS.   Good luck with your research and whatever surgery you choose. 

To be fair, the DS does seem to have much less failure associated with it, but it is also not performed very much.

I'm not sure where you are with things now.  I was just reading what you wrote which reminded me of myself a couple months ago.  I had lost 123 lbs & was at a weight I hadn't seen since I was i my 20's.  I am now 51.  I was on top of the world!  After I hit my 2 year mark, I slowly started gaining weight back.  I ended up gaining 60lbs back.  I felt like you, that I was a failure and ashamed.  I faked being sick on X-mas because I just couldn't face my family.  Then I heard about Dr. Ellner that performs the Stomaphyx surgery.  I emailed her with my story.  This was on X-mas weekend.  She emailed me back within a couple of hours.  We went back & forth all weekend.  How many Dr.'s would do this?  She was the most compassionat doctor I had ever met.  Anyway, she told me that it wasn't my fault.  I had 2 stomach scopes that I sent to her but she said that she needed more than that.  She had a surgeon do the scope & had him take the measurements she needed.  She called me right away to tell me that my pouch had been made too large & my stoma was too large.  I asked if I had done this & she said 60% doctor & 40% me.    I also had leterally no follow up when I had my surgery.  Dr. Ellner said this is like giving you a new sportscar & having you drive it from Alaska to Florida without a map.  You have a tool but no one has shown you how to use it.  She also asked if I would interview with the media.  The message is.....IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT....there are many reasons why pouches are bigger & stoma's are stretched.  Once your stoma is stretched you eat and it goes right through you so you are always hungry.  We want to get the message out that there is a "second chance" out there for those of us that didn't get where we wanted to get the first time.  I had a Stomaphyx done on Feb 26, 2008.  I have lost 15 lbs since then & love getting on the scales again.  I have wonderful follow up procedures and it is a very different story this time.  I am happy again and starting to crawl out from under my rock.  Don't feel ashamed, it is not you!!!  If you want to talk please feel free to call me at 907-479-714 or email me at [email protected].  Yes...I am in Alaska.  I hope I have enlighted you and given you some hope that there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel