(Old) Newbie

Hi, everyone ~ I've recently joined OH, and been wandering around to several different boards, searching for a "home".  Finally decided I would start here, and see if any of you might have some of the info I'm looking for.

About me:  Turned 60 in Oct., overweight all my life, now slightly over 300 (hanging my head in shame over that number), BMI around 51-53, and plenty of co-morbidities.  To name a few, bipolar (well-controlled for years), hypothyroidism, high blood pressure, arthritis, climbing cholesteral, and probably a few other -isms I'm forgetting.  Overall, I'm very fat and very miserable, wondering when my obesity will finally catch up with me, and I'll have that stroke or heart attack that lurks.  Sorry for being so "morbid", but I guess that's why it's called morbid obesity, right?

I've resisted even considering WLS for a long time, but sometime in Dec., I decided this might be my only chance to get my act together, and buy myself a few more years.  I have a wonderful husband, a 17-year old son who still needs me (yes, 17; you read that right!), and I want to stick around to enjoy life a little longer.  So, I'm looking at the types of surgery my insurance will cover (RNY & lap band for sure), what type of surgery would be best given my physical condition and weight, and who/where I want to do this.  I've been reading and researching almost non-stop, but I'm still not sure which way to go.  Soooo. . . to make a very short story long (I'm good at that, as you'll discover ), I'm hoping someone here at OH who's been in similar cir****tances will share their experiences with me.

If you're still reading, thanks for hanging in there with me!

Beth

Hi...I had RNY and love it. I had it done 4 years ago. The only regret I have is I didn't do it sooner!!

Good luck...hope you find the surgery that will work best for you.

Welcome to OFF (Over Fifties Forum). We are a very friendly group. There isn't all the drama you will find on the other boards. We are here to help and support each other no matter what the situation is. I hope you hang around and get to know us better. Most everyone posts in the AM....I am always later it seems!!

HUGS....connie d

Thanks so much for the warm welcome, Connie!  In reading this board, I really liked the warmth and obvious friendship going on here.  And btw, thanks for clariying "OFF"; I've been wondering what the heck that was, LOL!

Beth

Come on in Beth. We saved you a spot. This a great place to discuss weight loss surgery. We'll give it to you straight.  My only regret about weight loss surgery was that I didn't get to goal- but I'm still much better off with 100 pounds gone. I had my surgery 4 years ago when I was 53.
I'm assuming from your nickname that you live in Texas- am I wrong?
WELCOME!
Julia

Julia, thanks so much for responding.  I already feel welcome here, and I appreciate everyone sharing their stories with me. 

I'm sorry you didn't reach your goal, but like you, I'd be thrilled with dropping 100 pounds.  That's sure nothing to sneeze at!  To be honest, I don't even know if I have a definite goal, other than to lose weight.  Height/weight charts put me at around 125 - 130, but I'm pretty sure I will never see those numbers; I'd be really happy if I could get below 200.

Yes, I'm a native Texan, LOL!  My dad always called me his San Antonio Rose, and my husband graduated from the University of Texas, thus "LonghornRose". 

Thanks again for the warm welcome.  I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone.

Beth

Had my surgery ( RnY) at age 62 almost 4 years ago...best thing I did for myself..."cured" my diabetes 2 ( was about to be put on insulin, which was a reason I chose to have the RnY surgery)...I still have fibro and osteo-arthritis, and chronic pain and fatigue, so good days/bad days are the norm. But now that I am retired, I thank my weight loss, although not brilliant like some of the younger ones, as hypothyroidism, my screwed up metabolism from yo-yo dieting since age 13, and age means weight loss after surgery, just like on all my more recent supervised clinical diet programs (which cost me a fortune over the years), was excruciatingly slow, so a bit disappointing from the vanity point as wanted to be SLIM...Not so, still technically obese, but so much better off healthwise than before surgery...

You may want to pursue the Rny or the Gastric Sleeve as people tend to have less success with the bands, which can slip and are higher maintenance what with fills and unfills, as once you have RnY or the Sleeve, it's matter of losing weight and getting your supplements in according to your bloodwork done (at least once a year as you are further out... more often when just out of surgery)  Those are my 25 cents, but perhaps the band may be a good choice for you...be dedicated in your research and then decide, fully enlightened, on the surgery best for you and your lifestyle...

The fact that I am still about 40 lbs away from my "ideal" weight in no way means that I am not happy with what I have lost :  I was over 316 lbs when I started this journey, 274 lbs at surgery, and a low of 209.8 lbs, and now at 238 lbs, so yep, I regained some....and yes, at this stage to lose weight, I have to go on a more conventional diet again but am aiming only for a loss of 10-15-20 lbs ( whatever is possible) as I am resigned to never getting to my goal weight as I approach 67 years of age, but I still look darn good in pictures, and nobody stares at me anymore because I am the fattest person around...and there are all the small victories like not wearing the armchair on you hips when you get u*****t having to ask for a belt extender when you fly, and being able to slide into booths in restaurants....

RnY or the Sleeve, WLS   is just a "restart button" helping you lose weight for a "honeymoon period" of about 10-18-24 months ( depending on the individual, for me was only 10 months after very slow weight loss, frustrating at times, with no stalls, then just stopped)...Now I have to be careful as can eat everything again, but in smaller volumes as still have restriction although no more malabsorption of calories ( Unlike the DS'ers) so I have to be very vigilant and must go back to basics ( breakfast lunch and dinner, no snacks, no carbs such as desserts nor any "whites", and basically protein, veg/ fruit 3 times a day.. Sensible eating at our age!

The supplements I am on are a multivite every day, Vit  B12 ( 1000 mcgm 3 times a week sub-lingual) and now an iron supplement as am low on iron ( haven't been eating all the meat I used to do and seem to have slowly become more vegetarian out of laziness, now am concentrating more on fish and meats again instead of eggs and legumes/beans and cheese and shrimps)...I am, as have been for 30 years, on my hypothyroid med ( Levothyroxin) but am off my blood pressure and diabetes meds I was on prior to WLS...I also take Calcium (1200mg a day) and Vit D (3000 IU daily)...and that's it: really easy as far as "supplementation" especially compared to DS'ers who generally do have  better weight loss achievement and maintenance because they keep their malabsorption of calories and meds forever but have to supplement and eat more...

I chose RnY as getting older, thought about little old ladies who eat like birds, maybe have dementia and forget to eat and take their supplements or are not properly supervised in Seniors residences, and since WLS tends to be badly understood re maintenance by Seniors residence staff ( not to mention the general medical professionals), I felt RnY probably gave less weight loss now , but easier to handle when I was older and not as good an advocate for my own health ( I have no children nor a fave niece to take care of me as I lose my mental sharpness and get placed in a "home" in maybe 15 -20 years from now!)

Good Luck and ask all the questions you want on this forum and other surgery specific ones as well...we are all here to help and encourage you....

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your sharing your WL journey with me.  It's definitely helpful to me in figuring out where I'm going.  I've already pretty much discounted the lap band, after reading about all the complications that come up down the line, plus the indefinite dependency on having it filled or unfilled.  I hate the thought of the port, too; seems like way too much risk of infection.

One of the things I hadn't thought about was how the surgery would impact me further down the line, such as the need for supplements, etc.  I think I tend not to think very far in the future, because with my weight, I've always thought there wouldn't be one for me.    Thanks for giving me the insight into this aspect of my decision.

Thanks again for reaching out to me; I really appreciate all the information I've received here!

Beth

I would suggest having RNY because you, like me and many others on this forum, are super morbidly obese.  YOu need something that will get you a big drop really quickly and RNY will do that without having to go in for fills.  I started out at over 500 pounds, lost, on my own, down to 339 or so, and had RNY in 2007, I think.  And am down to 145.  YOu just have to understand that RNY gives you about a year of fast weightloss, and then it slows down and soon, by the end of the second year, your body starts absorbing a little better.  So, while you have the big weightloss, work at changing your eating habits, and exercise.  

You guys have really made me feel welcome here, and given me so much good information to consider.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I have lots of work to do, including working on my relationship with food.  Some days I do really well, other days not so much.  Stress seems to be a big trigger for me, and I've got to learn a better way of dealing with it, instead of eating.  Anyone else have this problem, and how do you deal with it?

Looking forward to getting to know everyone here.

Beth