Have to make a decision about RNY right NOW, panicking!

I am looking for guidance. I sort of have a gun to my head right now to have my RNY gastric bypass before the end of the year due to insurance reasons, but I am still not absolutely sure I want to have the surgery. Some of it is fear, but some of it is also the fact that I feel like I haven't tried hard enough to lose it naturally.

So, I currently have BCBSM, and after Jan 1 I will be switched to United Healthcare due to an acquisition of my company. I was told by more surgeon that it is highly unlikely that I will get approved by UHC if I wait to have the surgery, but BCBSM will definitely cover it and I have already met all my deductibles for the year. Today I set a surgery date for 12/18/17 out of sheer panic, and all I have to do before surgery is get an EKG and a signature from my PCP.

My dilemma is this: I am a 5'6" female, age 30, currently weighting 228 lbs. I have a BMI of 37, starting weight was 255 (BMI 41) at the beginning of my mandatory 6 month diet. During month 4, I saw an endocrinologist and was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). She put me on Metformin and Synthroid, and I immediately felt like I had more energy and the weight started coming off way quicker than before. I feel less hungry, less depressed, and better able to make healthy choices. I am wondering if I can just follow a healthier diet on my own now that my thyroid isn't ruining everything! I talked to my surgeon today and he told me that the chances of me succeeding in losing more than 50 lbs without surgery was about 3%. My weight loss with the Metformin and Synthroid is starting to plateau now, but I am not sure if it is just because I have been making bad eating choices since Thanksgiving or if it is because my body is now used to the medicine and I will go back to struggling to lose weight even when eating sensibly. My PCP is against me having the surgery and thinks I just need to put my mind to it, but he is a skinny dude and not an expert in the field. My endocrinologist thinks the hormone changes from RNY would help with my Hashimoto's and PCOS, so she is for it. My surgeon says I am obviously not going to die without surgery because my BMI is not super high, but he doesn't think based on my genetics/family history/comorbidities that I will be able to get below 200 lbs on my own. He says he has done surgeries on women like me and they were very happy with their decision.

If you were in my shoes, what would you do? Is a RNY too much of a nuclear option for me? I can't do the sleeve because of my history of reflux and ulcers, so I am torn.

I have PCOS and Hashimotos also. Do the surgery! You will feel so much better. My PCOS symptoms have disappeared. I feel so good.

Your chances of losing 50 pounds without surgery and keeping if off for more than five years are 5%.

You either get the surgery and accept whatever risks and side effects might happen or you continue your life at a BMI of 37 which will go up as you get older.

Your chances of losing the weight and keeping off for life with RNY are about 50%.

With surgery, you do the diet and exercise or the weight comes back. It is just easier when you are not hungry, are limited in what you can eat at one time, and when the calories from the food you do eat are not completely absorbed.

Malabsorption for RNY goes away after about two years. The capacity of the pou*****reases. It gets harder every year for me to maintain my weight loss.

I can say- I have had PCOS and this was one of my reasons for having surgery. With the insulin resistance it was VERY hard for me to lose weight. This has been a life long struggle for me.

I felt at the end of my rope and I was prepared for surgery attending support groups, seeing a nutritionist. The 'bad' eating doesn't get fixed with this surgery. All the mental emotional dependency on food also does not get fixed. For me- the bad eating was derailed for a period of 6-8 months because 1) I was eating to survive, 2) I was trying to get weight off as fast as possible. But all that comes back at least for me it did.

I'm 2 years out now. I do not regret this one bit. It is hard though.

I have had complications and two additional surgeries. Gallbladder went bad, hernia/twisted bowel also.

You have to ask yourself if this is something you can manage long term. You will need to eat protein forward for the rest of your life. you will need to limit your carbs or you will start to gain back and your health will suffer. you will HAVE to take your vitamins consistently for the rest of your life. you will have to drink a TON of liquids a day.

hope this helps with your decision some.

Everyone on this site went with surgery, because it was impossible to maintain loss without it. Most of us were champs at losing weight, but we couldn't keep it off before ELA. The odds of anyone morbidly obese losing significant weight and keeping it off without surgery are extremely remote.

Most of us explored surgery and put it off, thinking we could do it on our own. I looked into it five years earlier, and put it off. I wish I hadn't. I really wasted those years being morbidly obese.

boy - that is a tough one. If you were morbidly obese, like I was, I'd say do it. At your weight, it's not a life-or-death thing. On the one hand, the other posters are right - it's really tough to lose & maintain weight on your own. On the other hand, I had to be in right frame of mind to be successful with this, and I'm not sure I would have been if I'd have had it 10 years earlier (which is when I first started thinking about it). I'm not sure what to tell you, other than I was really glad I did this. Good luck with your decision. And my employer is doing the same thing - we'll have another insurance company in January, and unlike the last one, it will NOT cover bariatric surgery, so I'm very glad I had it when I did.

I had my surgery at 48.

Before that I never had problem losing weight. Maintaining the loss for more that 2-3 years was my problem.

RNY does not guarantee person will maintain. I know way too many people IRL that regained all the weight they lost. Really. But with RNY as a tool - I have a fighting chance to maintain. I personally regained 35 lbs, but going back to basics and commiting to proper diet allowed me to lose the regain and maintain. But it is every day work.

If you are really committed to change and willing to do whatever it takes- go with it.

If not - don't do it. Like with any surgery there is always possiblity of complications. You need to be sure you can handle anything that comes your way.

Expect the best, be prepared for the worst.

Good luck.

At 30, I weighed between 198 and 217.

I had lost weight to 170 a few times before that, but eventually, I always regained back into that range. By 34, my weight range was between 250 and 290. I know that because at 34, I lost 70 pounds to reach 220 -- because I hoped it would help me to get pregnant since I was diagnosed with PCOS.

It worked. I had a perfect baby -- gained a ton as I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 7 months and they put me on insulin.

After my son was born, I was in the 270 to 300 range for a year or two. I considered surgery several times. Once, I lost 40 pounds, so I decided that I just wasn't trying hard enough. Surgery seemed so drastic.

I gained that back and more.

Along the way I acquired Type II diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, fatty liver disease ... and lost time. Never underestimate the value of your time.

My biggest regret is that I waited to have surgery until "it was bad enough" -- looking back, it makes absolutely no sense. I wish I had gone through surgery in my early 30's, before my BMI was super high and before the effects of being fat had started to catch up with me.

I absolutely have no regrets about having WLS -- only that I didn't do it sooner.

I have PCOS.. except I was on the worst end of that rope. Due to PCOS my chances for cancer of the uterus were very high and sadly I ended up with Uterine cancer. I had to get a total hysterectomy as well as cervix removal. I tried everything to loose weight, and honestly the only time my body would loose is if I ate less than 800 calories, and cut out all but 10g carbs a day. I was starving all the time, miserable and felt horrible.

I opted for the surgery because weight was slowly taking over my life. And with RNY at least eating 800 cals I had the chance to not have the searing hunger that accompanied me pre-surgery. I was on metformin, but honestly.. I told myself I would rather trade in those drugs for just vitamins if it meant I could be healthier. RNY almost always cures diabetes type II so that ws another plus in my book.

Between high BP, diabetes type II, PCOS, Cancer, and a body that was slowly breaking down due to weight. The clear choice was surgery for me. It's been tough, and I still have head hunger on the bad days. But I've learned to make better choices, and I love to see my body change little by little. Good luck with which ever you choose, but I vote for surgery if you get the chance.

I can not recommend this surgery high enough. It was exactly what I needed. Follow the plan it will work! I would do it all again!

I was a diabetic, not anymore, I had high blood pressure, not anymore, I am very very healthy and it has only been 5 months! Can't weight to see what the next year has in store for me!