VSG 2 years out never reached my Goal.

I had Lap Band surgery in 2008.  Absolutely hated it.  Lost 17 lbs and gained 14 lbs.    I had a revision to VG in 2009.  Never reached my goal.  I should have known that I needed to see a Therapist early before the VG.  I guess I thought I could lose the weight on my own without help.  I believe that I have ADD and I know that I have Major Depression, according to my Psychiatrist.   I'm going to ask my Therapist if she can test me for ADD.   

Don't know if this is a stupid question or not.  Could the ADD have something to do with not reaching my goal and continually eating white carbs? 

Right now, I'm so confused about whether I should get another revision to DS.  Or really work with my VSG. 

The closest DS Surgeon is Dr. Stewart in Denton, Texas.  I would love the DS with the Mal-absorption part.   I just don't like the idea of my doctor living out of state.  What if I have an   emergency?  No Doctors here in Oklahoma that do the DS.  I would have to drive all the way to Texas to see my doc.

Will my insurance cover my revision to DS?   They did not cover the VSG, I had to do self pay. 

Any suggestions, comments?

Could part of the problem be that you only weighed 204 lbs. to begin with? I had a RNY and did not know that all RNYs are different. They make the bypass shorter or longer, the pouch different sizes and even the stoma hole different depending on your surgery weight. Could your surgeon have given you a large gastric pouch? Are you sure that white carbs are the problem? I know you don't have any malabsorption with a VSG but would they actually give you a long bypass if you only weigh 204? I think your starting weights make the surgeons do a surgery that really doesn't help. Do you know the specifics of your surgery? Most surgeons don't tell their patients before surgery what they are going to do. Most patients don't ask and never know...as long as it works. I think you should know what your surgeon is going to do.
Good luck to you,
Linda

I think there are a zillion five reasons why folks dont reach goals, some things we can control, some things not as much.

I have ADD.  Carbs were a huge go-to food before I had surgery. 

I think you can find many reasons to blame your carb eating on, but the fact is, girlie, no surgery in and of itself is going to change your WANTS.  I still crave things that arent the best choices for me.  I have had to set up structure in my life so that 90 percent of the time the choices of food I make are optimum nutrition choices.  I may have an "anything goes" *MEAL* once a month, because I cant handle it more than that, or my control of the stituation slips. 

I think at the weight you are at, you may have a really hard time getting insurance to cover you.  And I honestly dont think that with the distress that you have been through with not losing your weight, that having gas/or possibly diarrhea as a consequence of continuing to eat carbs is going to be a deterrent. 

If you scour the DS board, you find folks who DO gain weight back, and the fix for them is going back to low carb.

Which brings us to the beginning of the cycle. 

Good luck.  I would really enourage you to continue with your therapist.  The longer we look for reasons for our behavior instead of looking for ways to help change our behavior, the longer the struggle goes on. 

its nice to know why,  but its not necessary for change.  You might not know how gasoline makes a car go, or pushing the button on the microwave cooks things, or how the voice gets from cell phone to cell phone, but you know that those things are true, they will work. 

Good luck.  I really wish some peace for you.

I remember you Brandilynn.  You have done great.  Congratulations. 

All I know is that I am have Major Depression according to my Pychiatrist.  I am really 50/50 on this, DS.  I need to get set free from the bondage of carbs and I know I have to go cold turkey.  Sometimes I do it.  Then I go back to them. 

I just don't know what I'm going to do at this point.  I have to get some Peace and things in order in my life before I decide to go under the knife. 

Thanks for your input.  

 In order to get your carbs under control, you first need to get your depression under control.

Lack of seratonin in your brain is a big cause of depression. One way to get Serotonin to release into your brain is eating carbs.  That is why sugary foods are so comforting.

You need to learn to take a step back and understand why you are eating what you are eating and when you are eating it.

Once you get carbs under control then you can make an informed decision about if you want to get surgery.

Best of luck

Catnip

I totally agree Catnip.  I must get it under control.  I am doing that as a matter of fact,  I have lost 5 lbs already.  


Thanks so much for you reply!!!

 

Hi there - I agree with Catnip...you may want to consider continuing to work with your therapist and work through your depression before jumping into a nother surgery.

I am waiting for a revision from my band (due to several slips) and also work with a therapist on 'me'...the inner me, dealing with issues beyond weight and I have found it very helpful. :)

You can do this...you are worth this...and this is your time. :)

Best of luck, Girl...thinking of you!

Brandilynn
I'll bet your sleeve is smaller than hers.  You weighed 267 lbs. before surgery and she only weighed 204 lbs.  Surgeries are based on surgical weight.  Not highest weight.  Not hormone levels.  Not family history.  It is the BMI on the day of surgery.  I met a woman the other day that had a VSG.  She was very morbidly obese.  They made her sleeve is so small that she can almost not drink water.  She has rapidly lost 80 lbs.  Now they are going to stretch her sleeve.  If you had such good control over food, why did you not just change your behavior? Why did you not just go low carb?  Why didn't you just structure your life?  You must have eaten 600 calories more per day more than she did to weigh 63 lbs. more before surgery.  Your surgery is working...count your blessings!  Eating low carb decreases insulin and decreases hunger.  but too big a sleeve allows someone to eat more before they feel full.  A smaller sleeve won't allow a person to eat as much.  It is more than behavior.  If you can't eat as much during an "anything goes meal" you won't impede your weight loss. If your sleeve is larger you can do quite a bit of damage.  Tri

I do not have any quibble with sleeve size, although when it comes to carby foods, well anything that is not dense protein period, I can eat an amazing amount.  And I do not mean 3 ounces of amazing, I mean amazing amounts.  *CAN* eat, do not, but can.  Why do not? Because I risked my life for an elective surgery to help me so that *some* could be enough.  I have eaten measured amounts since I got to solids because left to my own devices - my want is bigger than my need.

I *did not* have such good control before, that's why I was nearly pushing 300 pounds. I had insane hunger and could not/would not be satisfied with weentzy portions for long enough to actually maintain.  I did actually go low carb before surgery, multiple times, it did not cure my insane hunger.  I did structure my life but I did not see changes that made any diference to continue.  I am not sure if your surgery addresses the hunger issue, but for me the VSG made my hunger reasonable, not panicked like it was, and within the frame of a reasonable hunger, I set up structure and practiced making good/better/best habits. Always make good/better/best?  No, because I am a human, but - I risked a lot on this surgery, there was not going to be a do-over, I had to do all I could with this one chance I had. 

I can eat ****POTS of food in an anything goes meal. I can put on a good 15 pounds over a vacation if I do not actually make good/better/best choices. 

I have watched her since before she had her VSG, and her struggles, and her responses.  I get that you do not appreciate my heart to be helpful, and you do not need to, because we are not besties, we do not have to be, but we all have our ways to *attempt* to be helpful.  My concern for her is the same as it has always been, that whatever her choice of surgery, revision, that carrying on with therapy will be a good thing.  I also am very familiar with the danger of looking for "full." My full changes depending on the day, my stress level, et cetera. The premeasuring takes away the trying to decide if I am full or not.  I have a measured amount and the answer is "its enough."  I had this surgery so some could be enough and I did not have to keep searching for full, but I had to train myself what "enough" meant, and what it meant was - a measured amount.

Every day I count my blessings, and I also know that every day I have to take advantage of and be protective of my "sobriety" because I know too well the lure of foods that change my body chemistry, do nothing nutritious for my body, and hook me by the nose once I let them into my every day life. 

I am 2 years out and while surgery did help with my ravenous hunger, at this point  its about my choices, more than it is about my sleeve size.  I realize that is not how it is for everyone, but that *is* how it is for me.  So, I hear you working on saying my whole behavior is based on the size of my sleeve, but I will not agree - because the size of my sleeve does not change what I choose to eat, how I choose to self-soothe when I am freaked out or pissed off, or if I move my body purposefully daily. 

But we can definitely agree to disagree, because that's fine and dandy too.

And just one more thing to add..

I only offer what I have had to do to protect me and my interests.  The implication isnt that "if only you would do these things, you would have a magical time" the intent is

I have a seriously screwed up relationship with food.

I have used foods to change my moods, attitudes, and to numb out.  Surgery was going to fix my capacity for a bit so I could get used to smaller portions, but it was NEVER going to change my disordered behavior with food.

And all I have to offer is anything that has been helpful for me, and my point still stands, my wish for BBGIOKC is to keep on with sorting out her behaviors and to be honest with herself about whether another risk is going to be the risk worth taking.  No one can answer that for her, but the more revisions a person has and surgeries in general, complications rise. That is just what it is. 

And again, I do wish her some peace on whatever her decision is.  I have been watching her and her struggles for a while and have been for her since the beginning.  That has not changed.

You are amazing!!
You have such insight and wonderful words.