Time to stop lurking...
Hello there.
I've been reading, researching, and combing the forms for a while now. I'm planning on attending a seminar this weekend so I figure now is a good time to introduce myself and get any input anyone may have.
I had surgery (RNY) in 2002, and it worked like a dream. Between the surgery and the effort I put in I was able to reach my goal. I never became "skinny" but I was 170 lbs and loving it. I could physically do anything I wanted to do and the aches and pains were gone. Life was great.
Then I had a bottom out. That's the only thing I can call it. (I found out later) I have bipolar disorder and I was not on any form of medication at the time and I fell into a massive depressive state and I went back to my old friend, food, to comfort me. I also basically locked myself in the house and refused to go anywhere. This was in 2005/2006. Over the course of that year I managed to put back on every bit of weight that I worked so hard to take off.
Eventually I was diagnosed with bipolar and put on medication, and since I have regulated. It was a long hard road finding out what was wrong, but I have managed to go since 2010 now and not have any extreme peaks or dips, also we watch my meds regularly and if anything starts to develop, we tweak as needed.
Now I'm 43 years old and my health is deteriorating fast. I have heart problems on both sides of my family, I have diabetics on my fathers side. I now have high blood pressure myself and arthritis that is making it increasingly difficult to even walk. I am up to 330 lbs now and am 5' 5". I have been told that if I lost weight I would quite possibly bring my blood pressure back under control and avoid the problems other members of my family have had. In addition, I could get around a lot better. Just this past year it has gotten to where I can no longer walk up a flight of stairs. If I do, I get to the top and I'm already gasping for air and my heart is pounding. Recently I've had another complication added in that I'm swelling. Even on water pills my legs are horribly swollen at night. Often, they are even still swollen of a morning when I wake. To be blunt, I'm scared if I don't do something I won't live much longer.
I've been reading and studying and I am interested in getting a revision done. I imagine I have stretched my stomach out to it's pre-surgery size because I find myself hungry just as I was before the surgery. I can eat just as much and I am ravenous just a couple hours after I eat just as I was before the first surgery.
I kinda feel this is my last hope. Not being able to properly exercise is making it hard to get anything going, and sitting here I feel a gnawing hunger that drives me mad.
I scheduled to attend the seminar at Rollar Weight Loss & Advanced Surgery Center in Fayetteville Arkansas. I am covered by Humana Gold Plus.
I would like to get any input you may have. Think I might be a candidate? Did I just screw myself out of any hope? I have been told by some people that because it wasn't the surgery that failed me, it was me that failed the surgery that I'm doomed and there is nothing that can be done.
Thanks for any insight/suggestions you may have.
Toni
The first thing you need to do is find out if your pouch or stoma is stretched. (It's far more likely your stoma has stretched than your pouch.) Sadly, there just aren't any good ways to fix a stretched stoma.
You also need to research the various ways an RNY can be revised. The most effective revision is to convert your RNY to a DS (duodenal switch), but this is also the most complicated form of revision, and very few surgeons perform it. There's a list of them here, somewhere---try running s search. If you can't find it, LMK and I'll post it again.
Some things you might want to think about when deciding if you want to do a revision, and what kind: the DS has the very best long-term stats for resolving or preventing diabetes and high cholesterol. Since you have a family history of diabetes and heart problems, this might be the better choice for you. Also, with the DS you can take NSAIDs for your arthritis. (What have you been taking, since RNYers aren't supposed to take NSAIDs?) Also, the DS completely removes from the body most of the tissue that produces the 'hunger hormone', ghrelin. I know my pre-op and post-op hunger are VERY different.
And finally, you say "I have been told by some people that because it wasn't the surgery that failed me, it was me that failed the surgery that I'm doomed and there is nothing that can be done." I say "Bull****". Read this article:
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4416773/quotDoes-the- Patient-Fail-the-Procedure-or-Does-the/
Dr. Roslin is one of the surgeons who does do the RNY-toDS revision.
I LOVE YOU!!!
I have gone the past 5 good years beating myself up over the fact that I failed. I went through the gauntlet of emotions all from I should have seen it coming and stopped to I should have known I was spiraling down into depression and went to see someone then. I spoke with one doctor in Washington when I was living there and he was the one to strait out tell me that there was nothing that could be done since I was the one who didn't comply.
I didn't even seriously look into having something done until my heart problems began. I had one grandparent who had a stroke, one who had a heart attack. Both parents are struggling with crazy high blood pressure and mine wasn't responding to medication. Not to mention it shot up out of the blue. That's when I became scared. I'm only 43.
I have looked into revisions. The DS is the one that interested me the most. But I'm not sure how feasible it is seeing as where I live. I'm afraid there may be no one even relatively close by that handles this.
I know Dr. Roller does revisions, but I'm not sure what types. We are calling the office tomorrow to find out before we waste their time and ours and drive all the way from Paris (where I actually live) to Fayetteville (where they are located) only to find out that this is another dead end.
It is SO worth traveling however far you must in order to have a good, experienced revision specialist. Any revision is riskier than a 'virgin' procedure, but sewing duodenal tissue is VERY tricky---I've heard it compared to sewing wet tissue paper. This is where most leaks occur. Do NOT be someone's first revision! In fact, it's better to not be someone's 50th.
I hate to say this but I had no idea I was not suppose to take NSAID's after my surgery. This is not something I was ever told, and sadly I didn't look it up myself. My doctor has known all along that I had gastric bypass in 02 and I have been on NSAID's since 05 for my arthritis.
What I take, twice daily, is Naproxen.
I would love to feel full again and not have that gnawing hunger. I know once I could start getting the weight off like I did the first time I would be able to get around again better and start exercising. Right now I feel like I'm on a killer loop of too tired and too much pain and too winded to do much, yet need to in order to loose weight.
I've thought many times of just giving up.
I take naproxen twice every single day, and have for, oh, 20+ years now. (I was dx'd with extensive arthritis at age 20.)
My post-op hunger is VERY different from my pre-op hunger. Pre-op, I was ALWAYS hungry. Post-op, I get hungry, but it's what I think 'normal' people have, and I actually get full and satisfied. I most definitely still enjoy food---perhaps even more than I did pre-op. But my tastes have changed. I've discovered I don't really like cake, but I can throw down on some deviled eggs. (*grin*)
