I want to know what I'm truly getting myself into, the good, bad and the ugly.

Hi, I am having my consult on Friday. By way of health complications, what are you dealing with after the sleeve (besides the wonderful weight loss)? I want to know it all, the truth of it all. I am what they consider a lightweight, no comorbidities, had to gain 15- 20 lbs to have my insurance cover it. I am currently 219 5'3 (need to get to 226, will likely wear some heavy clothes and be good), I normally hover around 190/195ish. Would you do this surgery again if you were 60 lbs overweight (and this is 60 lbs I cannot get off, and won't get off. I have yoyo'ed there for 20 years, so the reality of losing just isn't there, well, losing it and keeping it off that is.) My family has histories of high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes... the list goes on, I am a big girl, I soooooo need your advice on this, please help. This decision is driving me nutts, especially seeing all the issues that people are having as a result of the procedure. I just don't know if I am headed down the right path, I need to make a decision. I either stay fat the rest of my life and get over it and just accept it (but my health is actually good at this point), or possibly do a surgery with who knows what I will end up having once I'm on the other side, could be wonderful, could pick up some health issues? Scary. Help! 

Other people on this forum will probably disagree, but if I were 190 with no comorbidities I would make sure I had exhausted EVERY option to lose weight without surgery. I am only five days post op so my point of view will probably change. It wasn't until I got to a regular weight of 273 for 10 yrs (at 5'2") with high BP and cholesterol and lots of muscle/skeletal issues that I even considered WLS.  The surgery itself was painful and scary for me and my body still really hurts. This is not an easy thing to do. And there can be long term complications. Right now I have a bruise the size of a softball on my stomach and several others all over my body, and I just feel WEIRD and anxious.

That being said, have you tried seeing a counselor who specializes in eating disorders? Looked for an exercise you don't hate (mine is belly dancing class)? Tried low carb lifestyle? Figured out what is causing your lifestyle to be unhealthy? I really think counseling could help you if you haven't tried it yet.

WLS is wonderful for a lot of people, but if I had had another way to combat my weight I would have tried anything rather than go through this. Whatever you decide I wish you the best of luck.

Health issues as a result of the sleeve? None for me, unless you count blood pressure going from out of control to normal, and arthritis resolving, as "issues."

Keep in mind that people are more likely to post about problems they have, as they are seeking information, reassurance, sympathy, etc. -- people hardly ever post that things are going great and they have no problems. As someone else said, if you get your purse stolen, you will probably post something on Facebook, tweet about how horrible it was, whatever - but no one ever gets on Facebook or twitter or a forum and says, "I walked around all day and no one stole my purse!"

I would do this surgery again every year for the rest of my life if I had to. No question.

I am 5'3" and was 218 the day of surgery, down from 235 when I started the 6-mo. pre-op process.   

The good:  YES, I would have done this if I'd known about all the benefits when I was "only" 200 lbs.  A million times yes!  I too was able to stay fairly healthy at a higher weight...until I got into my mid-40's and then it got worse and worse as the years went by.  I had the surgery when I was 51 and I'm so happy I did it.  

The bad:  I developed some pretty bad reflux issues.  Pre-WLS I was evidently having lots of acid issues too...I just always thought it was hunger, never identified it as acid.  So in a way, the surgery was good for me because it got me on meds to deal with the acid.  

The ugly: for me it has to be the hair loss and the excess skin.  My hair loss has been really bad :-(  However, my husband had the surgery 3 months ago and hasn't lost a hair off his head...the brat!  And we can already tell he's not going to have the excess skin issues that I'm having.  

Other than a bit of acid, neither my husband or I have any issues or complications post-op.  We both wish we'd done this years ago.

The truth is that no I would not do it if I had to only lose 60 lbs.  But having said that, it is purely up to you whether you want to go through this surgery and it is for no one else to judge you on your decision.

I went into this and I was 125lbs overweight, high cholesterol, high blood pressure that was not controlled by medication, breathing problems, ready to go on type II diabetes medication, heart issues.  I was basically told that if I did not have surgery that I was not going to be around much longer as my body was starting to have all kinds of problems.

18 months later, I have been maintaining the same weight for the past 10 months.  I am on no prescription medications, I can eat anything that I want but I choose to eat high protein, low carb and feel better.  If I eat a lot of carbs, noodles, pasta, bread, I just don't feel good afterwards so I just stay away from it.  If I eat too many chips then I start craving other carbs.  During the "honeymoon" stage, I learned to change my eating habits and now it is second nature but I am not fooling myself, I can not go back to eating the way I was before or I will put the weight back on and will be back in the same boat I was before and it was sinking very quickly.

One thing I have a problem with now that I did not have a problem with before is that it is hard for me to drink water.  I use to love to drink water and now, it turns my stomach.

I wish you all the luck in the world.

I think this is a great tool.  I would recommend it.  I know you are on the lightweight side, but really this tool helps a lot!

The Good: It makes eating smaller portions for a long period of time possible without intense impossible to overcome physical cravings

The Bad: Recovery is hard.  The first several days are painful.  You will need to be careful about what you eat.  You might have some reflux problems if you eat to quickly

The Ugly: It does not take away the emotional / mental cravings.  I think most people who become so overweight have some underlying issue that is causing the overeating.  This surgery does not fix that.  You need to figure that part out otherwise you can still have a very unhealthy relationship with food.  Maintenance I also expect to not be a breeze.

I think it's great that you are taking charge of your health before it gets any worse! I'm also 5'3" but I waited until I was 323 pounds (still without any serious comorbidities, thankfully) to make the decision to have WLS. I have a strong family history of type II diabetes and I was one good donut binge from having it myself. I think perhaps if I'd known about VSG (I was terrified of gastric bypass and had heard bad things about lap band) I might have made the decision earlier... Who knows.

I have had no issues post-op. I had NO pain or nausea whatsoever; I never took meds for either once I left the hospital. I had a lot of fatigue for probably 6-8 weeks after surgery, but for the last 5+ weeks, my energy level has soared! I'm a little over 3 months out and haven't experienced any remarkable increase in hair loss yet - I monitor this daily though, haha. I'm thrilled with my progress and the lack of hunger. It's still hard work, maybe even harder than before surgery, planning meals, making sure I get in all my protein, fluids, vitamins, etc. I feel like I'm a lot more sensitive to the ill effects when I don't drink enough, for example.

One of the selling points for the sleeve, for me, was that long term complications are rare - unlike DS-ers and RNY-ers that can have a lot of problems with malabsorption of vitamins and such. The downside for us, though, is that we have to be a LOT more vigilant, it seems, about diet and exercise in order to maintain the weight loss. I've read a lot on here and other message boards/blogs about regain and I'm doing my best to educate myself and form good habits so that I'm prepared.

Good luck!

I was 227 pounds the day they wheeled me into surgery. That was nearly three weeks ago and I would do it again in a heartbeat. While I agree that other options should be tried, sometimes WLS is the way to go. Good luck to you whatever you decide.

I am four months out.  

Immediately post-op I had to take pain killers for just a few days.  I've had to take about 5-6 nausea meds in the entire four months.  

I had a weird complication around the 3 month mark where I was having very strong restriction.  I ended up getting an anti-spasmodic from my surgeon and that sorted everything out in about a week.  I did have to go back to liquids for three days and purees for another three days just to give my stomach time to unclench from whatever had irritated it.  But now everything is GREAT.  So this was just a weird glitch.  

I'm feeling great and my life is better in ways that I didn't even know it wasn't great in before.  I exercise a LOT, I eat great food in small amounts, I'm happy and healthy, my weight is going steadily down, I have so much energy and enthusiasm.  

Oh.  And I've lost just about 80 pounds since January and my high weight.  But that's sort of secondary to all the other awesome changes in my life.  

(In my opinion, the sleeve will really shine when I get to maintenance.  Right now, I'm just working on creating a sustainable way of life and eating for myself that I'll be able to maintain once I reach my goal.  I'm not interested in something unsustainable now, just to lose weight as fast as possible, because then I'll not be able to stick with that for the rest of my life and that will lead to regain and put me right back where I started.)

Preface: the only complications that I have had are constipation, normal stalls, slight Vitamin D deficiency, and my emotions are all over the map. You never know what's going to happen. You can have no complications, complications from not following doctor's orders, or complications from the surgery itself.

Would I have it done again or if I only had 60 pounds to lose - absolutely. I am 5'5.5''. I started my journey at 245. Tomorrow, I am 6 months out and will weigh in around 175.  That's a 70 pound weight loss, and i would be happy to live the rest of my life here at this weight - im going to keep working at it. However, at this weight I am no longer on Birth Control to control my PCOS b/c I am completely regular. I am not on blood pressure any more, im not pre-diabetic, and I am off all cholesterol medications. 

Point is if I could have lost that 60 pounds by myself and kept it off I would have. I always told the doctor I would do the work to lose the 100 pounds i needed to if insurance would cover to shrink my stomach once I got there. Unfortunately, with my body, it all came back no matter what i did. The sleeve drastically changes all of your stuff inside - thats a technical medical term "stuff" LOL - regarding the portion of your stomach that's removed, your grehlin and other hormones that can help you achieve your goals. I could not do it on my own. I needed help. This has helped me tremendously.

There are risks to everything in life. You have to for yourself decide if you are willing to assume those risks for your desired outcome. no one can decide for you. Even though you have no health issus now, what happens down the line later if and when they do happen b/c of excessive weight? I think it would be much harder to do it later rather than now.

Life after surgery is not cake and cookies (hahaha pun intended). Its hard work, its lifestyle change, and its commitment. The sleeve is a tool not an end all be all. Hopefully in the first year you learn how to change your lifestyle and incorporate healthy eating habits and moderate activity to keep yourself healthy as you say you are.

I guess if i were in your shoes i would think this "if i decide no, am i ready to change everything else tomorrow to do it naturally, or stay the way I am?". You have to decide what you want.

I wish you luck in whatever you decide b/c the decision is for YOU and no one else.