New to the VSG forum

I was over on the DS forum because up until last week thats the surgery I was getting. However I have since seen my surgeon and I am having some issues with dehydration according to my last labs and he is worried that I will have even worse problems with the malabsorption portion of the DS. So we are going to look at doing it in stages, starting with just the sleeve.  I am scheduled right now for surgery on February 1st. Its not exactly how I wanted this to go but I would rather be healthy doing this than have to worry about being on IVs for liquids and nutrition. Plus we figured that if I can make the sleeve work for me I wouldn't need the intestinal re-arranging stage. (Keeping my fingers crossed as well as doing tons of research and keeping to the goals set by the dietician.) I am a lightweight with only 102 pounds left to lose but everything I have read so far says that sleeve is good for people who need a jumpstart to move on to the DS or RNY and for lightweights. 
Right now I am on high cholesterol, high blood pressure, GERD, and depression medication as well as asthma meds, and allergy tabs. I see my PCP tomorrow and may be going on magnesium for the dehydration to see if that helps. I used to taking a lot of pills now so not too worried about switching to taking lots of vitamins instead. Anyway, thats me in a nutshell. Looking forward to being on the losers bench soon.

Welcome to the VSG board, hopefully this will work for you and you won't need to go further. Good luck and best wishes.

Penny

thanks Penny :D

I'm new to this forum also so welcome! I too have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, GERD and now my sugar is dangerously close to diabetes. I've been researching and checking online regarding the different surgeries and my doctor and I both believe that the sleeve is best for me also. I don't have a surgery date yet but hopeful to have it soon. Good luck and I look forward to seeing you here more.

Good luck and thank you for the welcome. I understand about the blood sugar thing too. Mine is all over the place at the moment but on average I'm at 150+ fasting blood glucose level. Hoping and praying that the VSG will take care of that too. (fingers crossed for both of us)

Welcome, Kahlana!  You have come to the right place to learn everything there is to know about living the sleeved life.  This is a great group of folks, and we love our sleeves!  Many, many of us have lost all our excess weight with just the sleeve, so you may very well be able to, as well.  Best wishes on your journey :-)
--Dorothy

Thank you and you can bet Ill be reading like crazy for the next 7 weeks lol

First of all, welcome to the VSG forum. And second, it sounds like you plan to have DS after VSG. I was wondering if there is a reason you think you can't get to goal with VSG alone?

Actually the plan was to do the DS first but after my last lab results (for my cholesterol and other stuff going on) they found that I am having some dehydration issues NOW. I havent even had surgery for weight loss yet :( Definitely NOT what I wanted to hear because one of the reasons I wanted the DS to start with was so that I didn't have to have a second operation later on down the road if for whatever reason I needed it.  But  the DS has been taken off the table as an option for me at this time or at least having it done all at once is due to my pcp and surgeon being concerned about the dehydration that I'm dealing with.  At this point my surgeon and dietician are both very confident I can make any weight loss surgery work for me because of my progress over the last six months with all the rules and regs I was given by them, the insurance company, and that I set for myself trying to get ready for having DS surgery. Unfortunately, my body refused to go along with the plan for the DS so the plan had to be revised. The revised plan means a VSG for now and a switch IF NEEDED further down the road. I am doing my research and trying to get as prepared as possible for the VSG and will do everything in my power to not have to be revised to the DS later on down the road. But that is in the future and for now I just want to get ready for the changes I am about to go through with the VSG.

Which from all I have read so far, is pretty much the same for the DS just a LOT less vitamin supplementation (barring any issues being discovered in upcoming labs.) That and I will be able to eat simple carbs without the problem with gas and diarhea that DS'ers deal with. Yes I know, they will slow down my weight loss and I have already cut out as much as I possibly can in the last 6 months, have trained myself to eat my protein first, and am still taking my ADEKs (normie doseage for now). I guess my thought is that if the VSG is the first stage of a DS then continuing on as if I were having the entire DS will not be bad necessarily. Which could be completely wrong thinking so i am open to correction on that front definitely.

I'm only 3 months out but so far VSG has been great. My doctor told me that weight loss on VSG can be a little slower than DS or bypass but he said that if I stick with the plan, there is no reason I shouldn't lose all my excess weight with VSG. And it certainly sounds like you are mentally ready to make the necessary changes (some you've already made) to make this work for you.  I truly hope it works out as well for you and hopefully this will be the only surgery you have to have. But whatever the situation ends up being, I wish you success.

Good Luck,

Mandy