Introducing myself

[Janis]

Hello,

My name is Janis. I've been considering weight loss surgery since 2006. I didn't realize it has been that long but that is when I joined OH.

There are a couple of reasons I haven't had surgery. First, I couldn't make up my mind what kind of surgery I wanted to have. Just about the time I would decide, I'd read a post about something negative and there would go my decision. I've definitely decided I will not have the Rny or band. If that is all there is then I will take my chances as I am now. I fluctuate between the VSG and the DS. I really not sure I could be a good DSer but I fear the VSG will not be "enough" for me.

Secondly, my health insurance has an exemption for obesity surgery. I can afford self pay but I am concerned about complications and if my insurance would cover the extra charges. I've read about some people who spend weeks in the hospital and who can't return to work for months and that scares me. I am on my own and a big problem could bankrupt me.

A few years ago, I lost a significant amount of weight and have slowly gained back about 20 lbs. I am 5'8" and went from around 355 to 255 and I'm back to 275. When I lost, I told myself that if I began to regain I would definitely have surgery; that I would not allow myself to gain all of it back. Well, here I am fighting regain but still hesitant about surgery.

So that is where I am now. I am going to seriously explore surgery without committing just yet. Hopefully I can get some insight about complications and insurance coverage. In the meantime, I am trying my best to at least stay at my current weight and not continue to gain. I believe low carb, moderate protein & fat is the best way for me to eat but oh those carbs.

Janis

[Brandilynn]

Amen to the carbs..boo that they are magnetic! :}

I think you are doing good by yourself to make sure you make the right choice for you!! It kind of bugs me when folks say "go ahead, get the vsg, you can always just continue on with the DS" because while yea, you *can,* it would be great on a body and a psyche to not have to go through multiple surgeries. :s

My insurance would not cover anything but Roux-en-Y or the band, and neither of those were good options for me. I also, had not been MO for long enough for them, which turned out to be a blessing, as I have not been incredibly impressed with the local doctors doing the sleeve, and especially nearly 3 years ago, the fella who had done the most had done 5.

So, anyway. Good on you !

[Janis]

Brandi,
Yes, I don't want to have the VSG with the thought of the DS later if needed. In a way, I think that would be setting myself up for failure.

I am going to first find out about the local docs because it would be much easier for me to have surgery close to home. Since I will self pay, I could go anywhere I want so will consider that option if local doesn't work out.

Janis

[Avonlea]

I joined OH about the same time you did, and I JUST had the VSG. I waffled back and forth on the VSG vs DS for literally years. I finally went with the VSG. But I agree, those are really the only two options I would consider.

[Janis]

Avonlea,

It is great to hear I am not the only person to give long term consideration to this surgery. If you don't mind saying, why did you finally decide to go with surgery and pick the VSG.

Janis

[Deleted]

Hi Janis,
Just wanted to say welcome and keep reading everything! I was a self pay person as well, and was unemployed (DH is the sole earner at the moment, though hopefully not much longer) and I had similar fears of the "what if's?" I wasn't afraid of dying, I was afraid of financially devastating complications.. while talking it out with my husband, I came to realize that worst case, and we are up against a wall tall enough that we have to declare bankruptcy, we still have a roof, a car, and I have my health vs the very poor future I was looking at, at the time. My health was worth so much more than money, in short.

I also am a big DS proponent, and if you are questioning yourself- that's a good thing, now is not the time for the rose colored glasses of perfection, when we are all very short of that save for the calmest times in our lives.

[Janis]

Hi Jo, Thanks for the welcome.

I'm sure most self pays feel the same as I do about finances. I am a worrier in general. Also I'm 56 years and nearing retirement. I'd hate to lose my savings but if I don't I may not have a long retirement to look forward to.

Janis

[Happy966]

Janis,

I am a little nervous to reply - I am only 5 months out - and I am no WLS expert. I personally never considered anything the removed my pyloric valve, and I was scared of long-term complications with the band.

For me, I knew that I was able to lose a reasonable weight if I ate a reasonable number of calories - say 1,200 - and could probably maintain a reasonable weight on 1,600. Instead, I was probably consuming closer to 2,900-3,500.

I felt VSG would be sufficient because I could lose weight fairly easily just by cutting calories, and I didn't have other conditions that would have made malabsorbtion necessary. I don't have a goal of being "thin" and I have food issues that I would rather deal with outside of any malabsorbtion. I need to have a sane relationship with food, and I was afraid to rely in any respect on malabsorbtion - that it might give my crazy thinking too much free rein. This is just me, I just really understand my weirdnesses about food. I was also afraid of the more extensive nature of the surgery and the long-term need for supplements. This is just me, this is how I made my decision.

The DS has better stats that VSG and doesn't get the respect it deserves, It should definitely be considered. Especially (IMHO) over RNY. Good luck to you!!

[Janis]

Happy,

Thanks for your response. I simply won't have the RNY so that decision has been made. I also think the DS is a good surgery I'm just not sure if it is a good choice for me. I'm not disregarding it but think the VSG is better for me.

Janis

[Deleted]

Hi Janis!

any other health issues? PCOS, diabetes?

[Avonlea]

Feb 2, 2012 13:52:45 GMT -5 Janis said:

It is great to hear I am not the only person to give long term consideration to this surgery. If you don't mind saying, why did you finally decide to go with surgery and pick the VSG.

Sure. First of all, I'm not a heavyweight. My BMI was 43 at time of surgery. That was the highest it has been in my life. When I first started looking into surgery, my BMI was 39. If I had been a heavyweight, I think I would have gone with the DS.

I have older relatives who have osteoperosis, iron issues, and autoimmune disorders. I also have some known genetic markers for some of those diseases, so I know I'm at risk. I already have problems with anemia -- my iron is always showing as borderline anemic. Same with Vitamin D, though that responds well to supplementation. I'm only in my 30s, and hope to have a long life ahead of me, and I worried about my medical history and the long-term malabsorption.

Also, I've always been an exerciser. One of the things I've observed in the years I've been watching is that successful VSGers seem to exercise regularly. I feel like that is something I can and want to do. I'm looking forward to the day I can run again, or do yoga.

Finally, after a long time of watching and observing, I feel like I have the traits that make a successful VSGer: willing to track food, likes exercise, etc.

I am a supporter of the DS, and think it's a great surgery, so I think you can't really go wrong.

Why did I finally start to do it? Because during the time I was mulling it over, I just watched my weight creep up. I had always been athletic and used to exercise regularly, but as my weight went up, I lost the ability to do that (and thus gained more weight). I have a history of super morbid obesity in my family and I knew I was headed there.

[loulou7]

Hi Janis.

Both surgeries are good choices, it just depends on *how much* surgery you need, and how you want your post-operative lifestyle to look. I've seen the VSG described as a "fix it and forget it" surgery, because except for just eating smaller amounts and taking a couple of extra nutritional supplements, your life goes on pretty much as before and you can eat whatever your stomach can hold.

I think the DS requires a little more *committment*, if that makes sense, in that you have to seriously monitor nutritional levels, take a larger number of supplements daily, and there are some dietary changes that many people have to make in order to avoid unpleasant side effects ( the DS folks can tell you more about those, and I don't think EVERYONE has to deal with them, just some who chose to eat certain types of foods, I believe). That said, most people who have had the DS are very pleased with their outcomes, and so are the VSG folks. So either way, you're probably going to be pretty happy with the results.

Good luck in making your decision.

[Avonlea]

You probably already know this, but the DS has hands-down the best long-term weight loss outcome. We don't really know the long-term stats for the VSG. The current numbers I've heard is about 55% EWL at 5 years, which is a little better than RNY but not nearly as good as the DS.

[califsleevin]

Hi Janis, and welcome. Like you, I had been a long time contemplator of WLS, since mid 2003 in my case. That's when my wife and I decided to get serious about our mutual problem and work toward WLS, primarily the DS at that point as our research had already pretty much rejected the RNY, and even then the bands weren't really worth of consideration. We started thru the typical six month diet/exercise program required by the insurance prior to attempting approval, which was a long shot then for the DS. Upshot of it all was that I was able to lose a fair bit of my problem and we finally self paid for my wife's DS a couple of years later.

Like you, I lost around 100 lb and gained some of it back, but was able to maintain the majority of that loss for several years, trying to decide if WLS would be necessary, and if so, would the VSG on its own be enough for me. In the meantime, I continued tweaking the diet towards a basic healthy balanced long term diet, maximizing nutrition while minimizing calories, but couldn't get much below the 26-2800 calorie per day range on any sustainable basis; stability and lack of additional regain indicated that the VSG would be a good match for me, and when our insurance finally started covering the VSG, that was the tipping point toward seriously reconsidering it.

As a relative lightweight (BMI of 42 at surgery time) the weight came off fairly easily over about seven months without any of the extreme diets that some do - I averaged about 1100 calories along with a fair balance between good carbs and fats above the requisite protein, though my activitiy/exercise levels are probably somewhat above average.

My doc's perspective is that even with the DS, the VSG part contributes the majority of the weight loss while the switch part is the key to the DS's regain resistance, so if you feel that you have the regain arrested, then the VSG is a good choice, but it does seem to be more up to us to keep the weight off long term with its help.

[Janis]

Thanks for sharing the reasoning behind your decisions.

I do have diabetes and I know that the DS is better for long term control. I was diagnosed about 6 years ago and so far I've had good control but do take medication. Part of me just wants to wait and see if some new innovation comes along - maybe a magic weight loss pill! In the meantime, I struggle to hold my weight and not regain what I've previously lost.

I am going to go to the introductory sessions I have planned this month and see how it goes.

Janis