People having WLS and are information challenged

I am amazed everyday when I read posts of so many people having such life altering surgery and have little or no information on how this surgery works.  Everyday people post "I am 10 days, two weeks or one month out and I am not losing weight."  They talk about being depressed or feeling like this surgery is a failure.  I cannot imagine going into any WLS so blindly without researching the surgery they are having.  Many say their surgeons gave them little or no information.  Doesn't matter.  You have to be accountable and be your own advocate and be prepared so you wont be so shocked or devastated when you realize this is not a cure of any kind.   Many want instant gratification of weight loss the minute they are off the table and in a week panic because they didn't lose 20, 30 or 40 pounds.  By having information can make or break how your journey and success is going to be. 

 

I agree. People's unrealistic expectations fascinate me. And we definitely have to be own own advocates. I hope most of us have chosen the best cutter to do the surgery. If their aftercare program stinks, find another and/or do your own research. The ASMBS has a lot of great information on their website.

I know.  I am amazed too when people say they are angry or depressed because they've only lost 15 lbs in the first two weeks or 60 lbs in three months or something.  I wish surgeons would talk to patients about what to expect and make sure their expectations are realistic.  It's just not possible to lose 100 lbs in the first month post op.

When my wife and I decided that we wanted this surgery I did a ton of research.  What surgery to have, recovery process, expected amount of weight to lose.  That;s how I found this site and it was the best thing that I ever could have done.  Our surgeons and NUT's are great. They have given us lots of good info.  My surgeon told me not to be surprised if I get a stall and not to be surprised if I only lose 2-3 lbs a weeks if that.  He told me that I could possibly lose more but not to count on it.  He told me about all the possible complications.   I will admit, my first 3 weeks post op have been awful. Way worse than I imagined.  I feel like the only thing that I was unrealistic about was when I thought that I would be able to go back to work after 2 weeks.  YEAH RIGHT!!!!  I read on here that some people do go back after that short of a period of time but it wasn't in the cards for me like that. 

I originally tried to have WLS 15 years ago and my insurance denied it.  I had been researching since way back then. For a long time I was against it because I thought.... people just needed to try harder to lose weight (including myself) instead of permanently screwing with their insides.  I know now how stupid and ignorant that thinking was but I educated myself by researching everything I could and now I am more enlightened. 

I consider myself a newbie still.  Its a learning experience.  I'm ready for it. :)  But researching was the best thing that I ever did. I can't imagine going into this and not researching anything.

I cant speak for anybody but myself, but I went through 3 months worth of pre op classes. i learned a lot through those classes. But nobodys perfect. Some people do a lot of research, others dont do much. Each person has their own hangups. maybe after 5 or 6 years worth of going through different things, we might know all the answers but until then we also may have a lot of questions. This is not suppose to be a place to question peoples research but a place to discuss wls. I mean no disrepect to anyone but I had to speak my mind on wls knowledge and research.

Sorry Debbie, but once you have been on here for awhile you will see that members don't get to call the shots on what gets posted.  You cannot correlate having hang-ups to lack of information.  Two different things.  I stand my ground and I appreciate your input.   

And you should stand your ground in what you believe. I'm just saying that I feel like I am being put down for my question, that's all. I will also stand my ground. Sometimes newbies, like me, may need a little more encouragement.  I dont have people at home to go through this process with me, so it helps to read and ask questions on here. Thank you for the input and the responses that have been on here.

For me, my main worry for newbies here is when they abdicate their responsibility, relying on their surgeons to advise and do everything for them.

Surgeons are cutters - most of them now employ people for support and follow up but some of those employees seem to be very lacking in information about this surgery and what we need to do long term

There is a reason so many people regain a large proportion of their weight and/or get life threatening deficiencies - mainly, they sit back and let the surgery do ALL the work for them.    They don't learn how to live this life for the rest of their life.   They don't see pass the first couple of years and don't educate themselves on healthy living - not just eating, but exercise, vitamins etc.   

NO ONE is more invested in your health and well being than you!   Your doctor is not living with you, making your decisions for you and if you are going to undertake this HUGE decision to re-arrange your digestive system you'd better learn what that doctor is doing to you and what your responsiblities in this are - because they are MANY!

I agree..to a point.

You can do all the research in the world, ask your surgeon, dr, dietician, nurse as many questions before having surgery, but when it all starts to happen to you, its a different story.

I dont want to ever have a second thought about posting a question on this website because of the fear that some people here would have negative feelings about me/my question. I thought this was a safe place.

Sometimes things do come up that even throughout all of your research, you didnt learn about. We all should be perfectly happy to be able to ask(even sometimes "dumb") questions on here. There are so many people that have lived through it, so us newbies have a wealth of knowledge at our hands. But I dont want to be persecuted for once in a while asking something that I should probably already know.

We go through a lot right before and after surgery. Tonnes and tonnes of information is thrown at us. You cant expect everyone to rememmber it all.

Just my opinion. Sorry for any dumb questions I may have posted.

-Kendra