Hiatal hernia

Hi guys, 

My Mom just saw the dr and he wants to do RNY to fix her hiatal hernia.  She also has sleep apnea and hypertension.  She is nervous to have it done because she is afraid she will lose too much wt LOL and that she is too old.  She is 50 yo.  Can you guys give her advice.  I have tried but the only thing she can think of is becoming malnourished due to being a lightweight.

mamdy

I was 61, sleep apnea, high BP, high cholesteral and a lightweight.  I turned out fine and have my life back.  I had 2 huge hernias that were repaired with my RNY.

Do you recall how much time this added to your surgery? What about your recovery?

Thx

surgery did take a little longer but that was mostly because of adhesions from previous surgeries (3).  Recovery, I needed Lasix 2x to get rid of fluid and had a little problem with O2 but that wasn't related to the hernias.  I was still able to go home on schedule.  Once home, I did great.

My surgery was 45 min. long which is typical for sleeves so I think the hiatal hernia repair added at most 5 min. to the surgery time.

Well, I know I looked pretty guant for a while but I don't think my wrinkles are any worse than anyone else's my age. 

I sure wish I had done it at 50 instead of 60. 

I  had my RNY almost 7 weeks ago...I am 50 yo. I also have mild sleep apnea (very mild). I find that because I started out as a lightweight that my weight loss does not compare to the heavier people. My doctor had absolutely no fear I would lose too much, or become malnourished. I am so thankful that I was able to have this surgery as a tool. Oh, and the surgery went great with zero complications.

Hey Mandy,  I too just had my RNY 9 weeks ago and I also had a hiatal hernia repaired at the same time. I had high blood pressure, acid reflux (really bad) and I had severe sleep apnea.    I still sleep using my Bi-Pap machine but it gets harder and harder to ignore the fact that I really need to have the pressure adjusted.   I am 51 yo and I came thru the surgery just fine.  I have already dropped 29 lbs since surgery and it makes me feel wonderful.  I still have another 60 lbs to lose but I know I can do it.  My face has slimmed down alot but I don't have any more wrinkles than I started with...just a bit of crows feet and a bit of laugh lines...

This surgery was so worth it to me.  I would recommend anyone who

It's a common worry but it doesn't work like that. I think people think "he had it and lost 200 so if I have it, I'll lose 200 too and I only need to lose 100". But it really, really doesn't work like that.

What happens is that the surgery resets your body's internal set point some how (probably something to do with leptin levels) and so instead of your body fighting to keep your weight at 200 or 250 or whatever her weight is, it now fights to keep her body near a normal weight.

In fact, while lightweights are statistically more likely to get to a normal BMI, there are still plenty who don't. You still have to follow the rules and your metabolism still might me messed up enough that even surgery isn't quite enough and you find yourself 10 or 20 pounds higher than you ideally want to be. Just like heavyweights.

I will tell you that at one point I was training for triathlons and burning over 2000 calories a day. And I was maintaining my weight just fine. Yeah, sometimes I had to work at it a bit to make sure i got enough calories but it was surprisingly easy to eat that much and I know people with RnY who need to eat a lot more (mostly taller and younger and guys) and they are totally able to do it.

So if we can eat 2000 to 4000 calories a day after WLS, there really isn't any reason your mom couldn't eat whatever she needed to eat (which is probably going to be way less than that).