I've lost 60 lbs, but it's not worth it.

I'm so sorry, it sounds awful. You are in the LA area, perhaps you should get a second opinion with Dr. Keshishian (sp?). People travel from all over to have revisions done by him, he may be able to help. Just a thought, good luck.

Miss Eye, I'm so sorry.  It sounds like you have really suffered.  Thank you for sharing your story. 

I appreciate you sharing your story and I will pray for you as you make your way through this medical journey.

I will tell you that, while I feel for your and all you have gone through, I am offended that you would equate this life-altering decision of VSG that so many of us have made with a change in hairstyle or a pair of new boots. I admit to doing several things for vanity's sake--highlight my hair, buy new jewelry, match my purse to my outfit. But I would NEVER alter my internal organs on a whim or because I had a high school reunion coming up and wanted the high school QB to notice me (I married him, but that's a story for another time...).


I had VSG because I felt 30 years older than I was. My joints ached from years of excess weight, my metabolism was shot because of years of yo-yo dieting, and my family history of diabetes was on its way to becoming a prophecy. Additionally, I was regularly dealing with bouts of depression along with reactive hypoglycemia.

Please don't allow your negative experience to negate the serious decision that so many of us struggled with and ultimately chose. It is not an easy choice for anyone to go under the knife knowing that the complications you are currently suffering are a possibility. We knew it could happen, but it was important enough to us that we did it anyway.

Again, I empathize with you. But you are being unfair to the rest of us. It's not vanity. It's our life.

Thanks so much for sharing your story, I am sorry you have gone through so much and I pray that you are on your way to recovery.

I have questioned myself over and over again about having this surgery for vanity reasons. I have no co-morbidities right now, but I know it is just a matter of time. My father and his sister both died of heart attacks, hypertension runs on both sides of my family. My mother, father, 2 of my brothers,my aunts and uncles have it. Diabetes runs on my mother's side of the family, my aunt and uncle have it. How I have made it this far without any co-morbidities is purely by the GRACE OF GOD. If I don't do something soon, I will have one if not both of those diseases.

I plan to have this surgery to be healthy and to be here for my daughter. I want to see her grow up and have children, I want to see her children's children. My great grandmother lived to be 105, she lived long enough to watch my daughter turn 1 and God willing I will live a long a prosperous life too with the help of this surgery.


Again, wishing you nothing but the best. God Bless You!!!

I am so sorry for your complications and pain.  I can't imagine what you must be going through.  I feel very blessed to have had no complications and a quick recovery.

I think it's unfair to issue such a warning when complications such as yours are extremely rare (again I can't imagine what you must be enduring, and I'm so sorry).  We all know we are taking a risk, and we all assume it won't happen to us.  The fact is that it can. 

Vanity played only a tiny role in my decision to pursue wls.  I weighed almost 300 lbs.  I was borderline diabetic and took diabetes medication in an effort to prevent full blown diabetes.  My knees are ruined.  My weight caused secondary fertility problems for which I suffered with for 8 years until fertility treatments gave me twins.  There is an 11 year difference in our son and our girls because of my weight.  My blood pressure was horrible.  I had developed sleep apnea and slept with a cpap. I felt terrible all the time.  I had no energy to do anything with the children I waited so long for.  Vanity had little to nothing to do with it.  I had been this way since I was pregnant with my first child almost 22 years ago.  I had tried almost every diet known to man...most more than once.  I just couldn't do it, and I felt like a failure.  I had been on medication for depression, and I didn't feel as though I was a good wife, mother, daughter, sister, teacher, friend because I didn't have the energy or ability to do everything that I needed and wanted to do.

My grandmother and uncle were both overweight.  They both died of heart disease.  I was unfortunate enough to be the one to find my grandmother's dead body.  I will never get over that as long as I live.  My father has always battled his weight.  He developed Type 2 diabetes several years ago, and was never able to control his eating and gain control of his diabetes.  Then one day he played golf and his golf shoes put a blister on his foot.  That turned into a sore that never healed even though he did pursue medical care for it.  Eventually he had to have all of his toes amputated on that foot.  He has had nothing but trouble ever since.  His neuropothy is almost unbearable for him.   I was determined not to let that happen to me.  I was not going to have my children find my dead body or deal with me losing limbs because of my weight.  Vanity had nothing to do with it.

I still can't tell you enough how sorry I am for your complications. I pray that you heal and recover quickly and completely.  God bless you.

I'm so sorry you've suffered so much.  As a pp said, you are the unlucky one who falls into the very small number of people with  serious complications.  I know we all worried about it prior to surgery, and I hope that most of us did our research and made the best decision that we could at the time.  Knowing the risks, it still felt worth the risk to me in order to improve the quality of my life (and my family's) so dramatically.  I know, though, that that is much easier for me to say sitting on this side of surgery with no complications.

I wish you the very best--you've had a hard, unfair road.  I hope your health improves, and that in the long term you are able to experience better times with the decision you made.

Peace.  

i came to this forum today full of confusion on whether or not i should have a VSG.  i've been reading about complications lately and it's been turning me off the surgery.  i wanted a sign.  and this was the first post i saw.  i thought this is definitely a sign.  i can't do this surgery it's too risky.  i am not morbidly obese and only have hypertension so i am sure i will survive.

then i got a call from my step mom.  my dad had a second heart attack tonight (he's only 61 and this is his second in three years and he's also had a stroke).  i'm devastated and crying my eyes out.  but i think that's the real sign telling me i need to do this VSG.  i can't live my life in fear worrying about having a heart attack like him, because i was too afraid to make a change to give myself a fighting chance.  i know the high blood pressure is from weight gain because as soon as i gained weight it changed.  i always have shortness of breath.  i want to be able to exercise and take care of myself so that when i'm his age i'm not hanging on the edge of life.

i hope you pull through with flying colors.  i understand how you must feel right now and really regret it.  i don't blame you.  like others have said, once you are feeling better (and i know you will!)  you will feel better about the surgery you did and be proud of yourself for making a positive change in your life.  you have already lost sixty pounds!  your life is going to be so much better once this problem is solved, and it will be solved.  i really believe it will. 

sending healing energy your way!
((hugs))

(((HUGS)))

All I can say is don't try to look for "signs" to make a decision for you.  Learn all the facts you can, read the good and the bad stories, talk to your doctor, interview surgeons.... then make the best decision you can with the information that you have.  That's all that any of us can do.  Trying to read tea leaves will only make you frustrated as mixed messages are inevitable.  Take charge of this decision!!

Good luck to you!!

Miss_eye,

Thanks for posting about your experience.  You will definitately be in my prayers.  I found your post exceptionally helpful as someone who is pre-op and weighing the cost/benefit analysis of WLS.  Your post may not be as helpful for people who are post-op or who are SMO or have other co-morbidities that pose a significant threat of death.  But for someone who is a "lightweight" with no co-morbidities, it is extremely helpful to hear stories like yours just to put this all into perspective.  I love coming to this board to hear the good the bad and the ugly of weight loss and am grateful for your courage in sharing your story. 

On a somewhat different note.  I wonder if there are any weight loss forums out there that are not wholly WLS related.  I love the source of support that OH provides, but think it would be helpful if there were a similar resource out there to motivate people and help them discuss alternatives to surgery (If I remember correctly, years ago OH had a non surgery forum-I wonder what happened to it??) ..I've also searched the web for obesity and weight loss forums but the vast majority of sites that pop up are ALL WLS focused.  I can't help but think the profit motive for WLS is part of the reason why WLS is dominating most of the online resources right now--just a thought.

I used to read/post on the three fat chicks forum.  They have pretty active boards that are not WLS-focused.  They do have a serperate sub-forum for WLS, but the majority of the forum is not.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/

:)