Why my RNY failed. Repost from Main Board.

Thought this looked good.  Saw this on the Main Board and will just repost here.  Some of these really hit home (though they seem more directed toward women).  Think we all can relate.  Brian

1. Assume you are different, and what works for the successful people doesn’t or won’t work for you.

2. Make excuses. For everything. Tell everyone you know how your predicament isn’t your fault.

3. Don’t exercise. You are a busy person and don’t have time. Besides, you hate it.

4. End every excuse-filled sentence with “I must be doing something right, I’m still losing weight.”

5. Test the limits of your surgery. Overeat. Graze.

6. Eat sugar. You can get used to a little nausea.

7. Eat bread, rice, potatoes & pasta. You shouldn’t have to deprive yourself of anything.

8. Fall for the packaging and advertising gimmicks. “All natural” means it’s good for me, right?

9. Whine. Think and talk about all the things you have to give up. Dwell on them.

10. Take the cheapest vitamins you can find. Stop taking them after a year because you are tired of the routine.

11. Don’t follow any advice or directions from your surgeon or anyone else. You know best.

12. Eat that holiday candy. It would be a shame for it to go to waste.

13. Don’t use your pouch. Try diet pills instead.

14. Forget protein. It tastes bad. Bring on the sandwiches!

15. Don’t educate yourself. Just follow your doctors blindly.

16. Drink soda. Preferably with meals. It’s just too hard not to drink something for that half hour three times a day.

17. Smoke. You’re an adult and you have that right.

18. Eat everything offered to you when visiting others. You wouldn’t want to hurt their feelings.

19. Drink alcohol. Daily. You have earned the right to enjoy yourself.

20. Be content with losing 50% of your excess. Losing the other 50% is too much work, and you didn’t do this to have to be on a diet for the rest of your life.

in all fairness you forgot a few: 21) My stoma stretched out an d all the food I ate dumped into my intestines right away, causing me to be constantly hungry.  This biological hunger (as opposed to head hunger) was too much for me to bare and I ate to satisfy it. 22)  There was a staple line disruption or a fistula from my pouch to my blind stomach, which caused food I ate to be "spread" out to both the old and new stomach so that it undid my RNY.   Just pointing out that not everyone that fails with the RNY fails because they are weak willed....sometimes the surgery fails them. Scott

Well it seems that she should add anther number and the statement should be 'See #2'.  Seems like she's just making MORE excuses on failure and feeling a tab bit sorry for herself.  She should quit posting about how much of a failure her surgery is and DO something about it.   A swift kick in the ass should do the trick.   I tried to sell an ass kicking on Ebay one time but they cancelled my auction!  :)(http://www.othercinema.com/otherzine/otherzine4/auction.html)

All bull****ting aside though, no weight loss surgery is going to cure obesity.  It's up to the individual to sweat the small stuff like vitamins, exercise, protein intake, exercise, moderation, oh and I can't forget exercise.   Anyone that doesn't create at least some type of minimal exercise routine post-op is setting themselves up for failure. 

I had my original RNY on 11-16-2000 but complained to my surgeon  that I seemed to be gaining weight after 18 mos of following the rules.  He told me that that was just the "bounce back" weight and that many patients regain 30% of what they lost.  So, I believed him but continued to gain weight.  I wish he had scoped me then.  I had a scope done in the summer of 2004 for a different reason but the internist found that I did have a staple line disruption.  I'll never know when it occured, but I'll always suspect it happened within those first 18 months.  I had a revision on 01-21-05 but I won't get into the problems I've had losing weight since then.  That's something I'm going to have to get help on from my shrink and probably from an addiction counselor or behavioral therapist. I just seem to leave myself wide open for disparaging comments. Also, I seem to be having trouble with the spacing of my letters in my words when I type on ObestiyHelp within the last week.  I don't know if it's being transmitted that way, but it looks odd as I'm typing it.  I don't have any problems with my typing anywhere else except this site.  I was just wondering if anyone's having the same problem.

After looking at what I just typed and transmitted to ObesityHelp, it appears fine.

Hi sjbob.   Man I'm really sorry to hear that happened to you.  I'm surely not going to offer up any disparaging comments.   That's not what this board is for.  It's for support and everyone on here can relate.  We all have the 'fat guy' that still lives within the dark corners of our mind and we all got into the boat we were / are in because we're addicts.   Addicts to food that is.

When they did your surgery in 2000 they just ran a staple line down the sectioned part of the stomach and didn't actually seperate the pouch?   I guess with newer RNYs they actually section off the pouch away from the 'old' stomach.  At least that's what I was told and that's what I viewed in the video that I watched of an actual surgery.

Did your surgeon really tell you that all his patients regain 30% of their weight.   I was told by my surgeon and another surgeon that I met at an OH conferance that anything over 20% regain is considered a failure in their eyes.  I would have to agree with them.  If I regained 20% of the weight I lost I would put back on 60 pounds.   In my eyes that's unacceptable.   I won't lie to you it is a DAILY struggle for me to keep the weight off.   I do exercise more than most people but I also eat pretty anything I want now.  I eat what I want in MODERATION.  Now most of what I do eat now is healthy (with an occasional Coke, candy bar, donut, etc.) but I absolutely make sure to get my protein, water and vitamins in EVERY day.  

I've actually looked around to see if there was a therapist in my area that specializes in food addictions.   I know I have a problem with food.  The surgery has pretty much put a huge band-aid on the problem but it can and will bleed again if I don't tend to the 'wound' if you know what I mean.   I want to get to the bottom of the addiction that I have and see what can be done to fix it.  What caused me to overeat?  Were there any underlying issues that caused the weight gain?   etc. etc.

Hang in there man.  

This has always been and will continue to be a great site for support.  I don't think rocks were thrown.  We all say things in the wrong way some times (hey were guys).  Also when we point a finger at someone there are always 3 fingers pointing back at ourselves.  Like it has been said, we all are dealing with addictions here in someways or another.  I felt this list was good for self exam (esp myself...those darn carbs and sugar).  Concerning RNY surgery, my surgeon said that (don't quote me), about 70% reach their goal weight.  He also said that after a couple of years, of that 70%, on average, most tended to regain 10% of what they had lost.  I think I am a prime example.  I was about 290# at surgery.  Got down to 190# and then gain back about 10#.  I'm sitting at 200.  Very normal for WLS.  Just my thoughts...Brian

1  I will be seeing my new shrink again on 01-10-08 and she does outpatient work from a behavioral center that treats addictions.  I don't know if they treat food addictions.  The last time I looked into food addiction centers about 15 years ago, there were very few of them in the country.  And, most ins did not cover inpatient care.  I'm hoping a may be able to see an addiction counselor at least for a little while.   2  I don't think there was anything wrong or disparaging with the original post.  Please remember that I'm bipolar and sometimes that illness gets the best of me despite my meds.  Luckily, those instances have been rare since I've been on my current dosage of Welbutrin.  I just sometimes have a self-deprecating sense of humor--kind of like the old fat guy within poking fun at himself rather than being joked about by others.  The problem with that thinking is that it was often wrong.  The person expecting the deprecating remarks was selling other people short.  Other than comedians, most people don't make those kind of remarks around fat people. 3  I love coming here for support and I like to contribut whenever I can.