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Bariatric Surgery & Weight Loss: Meet others & Share

Posted by Amanda Burnett @amandaa, Jun 24, 2022

Welcome to the Bariatric Surgery & Weight Loss group, a space for support, practical information, and answers to your questions from members like you about bariatric surgery, weight-related medical conditions, weight loss and healthy living. I am Amanda and I will be your moderator for this group. I have had the surgery myself and have a very real and close connection to the topic.

Pull up a chair and a healthy snack and let’s chat. Why not start by introducing yourself? What’s your story?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Bariatric Surgery & Weight Loss Support Group.

Mentor
Laurie, Volunteer Mentor | @roch | Nov 8 4:13am
In reply to @amberine "Hello my name is Amber. I had gastric bypass rueny on 9/23 developed dumping syndrome while..." + (show)
@amberine

Hello my name is Amber. I had gastric bypass rueny on 9/23 developed dumping syndrome while in the hospital. Weightloss was steady but now has stopped for 2 weeks. I also have been back since for dehydration. I have been having these episodes and hoping someone can assure me of normal or maybe has had this issue since. Yesterday I got really hot, then lightheaded which lead to a hollow feeling in my chest. I left work early and laid down. This morning it continues so dizzy unless I'm horizontal. Every time I stand or my eyes move side to side it feels like vertigo. My blood sugars are normal my water intake and food are fine. I write into my surgeon. Again. Has anyone expiernced this at all? I'm hoping so to find some answers

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@amberine
I think you have thought about the obvious. Dehydration and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) were the first thing I thought of while reading your post. Another option is low iron. If you not keeping a food / liquid diary, you should start so providers can verify you're getting enough protein and fluids.

If your surgeon does not have answer, follow up with your care team or primary provider about your symptoms.

REPLY
joysmiley64 | @joysmiley64 | Nov 17 8:09am
In reply to @victoriafox23 "Hello! My name is Victoria. I am from northern Wisconsin. I am just starting my weight..." + (show)
@victoriafox23

Hello! My name is Victoria. I am from northern Wisconsin. I am just starting my weight loss journey. My current weight is 260 lb. My highest was 275 lb. I am hoping to get approved for surgery. I have been on ozempic for 3 years, and my weight loss has stoped. I have not met the surgeon yet. I am nervous for the long road to the surgery and after the surgery. I am diabetic and have MS. I am hoping to eliminate a lot of the medications I am on for diabetes and focus on my MS diagnosis. I have been on insulin for 2 years and I’m over it. Little more about me. I am married with 5 cats and 1 dog. I love working in animal rescue. I am disabled. I enjoy going for walks when it’s nice out. I’m hoping to just change my life and work on bettering my health.

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Hi, my name is Joyce. I live in Northern Wisconsin also. I am also Diabetic since I found out in 2006. When I started my weight loss journey back in February of this year, I weighed 270. I lost 30 pounds before having my Roux NY surgery in August. I started out drinking 2 protein shakes a day with one good meal. I started doing chair exercises with youtube videos as I have had trouble with lower back pain and shoulder pain.
After my surgery, I have lost 36 more pounds with a total of 66 all together. I was taken off my slow acting Insulin, Lantus. I am currently on a sliding scale with my slow acting Insulin at meal times. Recently, I have had trouble keeping my numbers down since I started eating regular meals. The doctor put me back on the slow acting at 5 units in the morning to help regulate my numbers. I have had success with this, but I am hoping with more weight loss that I can get off all insulin. I just have to watch my carb intake.
One thing I have learned, is that sweets are a no no! I get dumping syndrome from eating anything with a lot of sugar.
Victoria, you are the first person that I have met, that is a Diabetic on here, and we have much in common.

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3 replies
Mentor
Laurie, Volunteer Mentor | @roch | Nov 17 9:36am
In reply to @joysmiley64 "Hi, my name is Joyce. I live in Northern Wisconsin also. I am also Diabetic since..." + (show)
@joysmiley64

Hi, my name is Joyce. I live in Northern Wisconsin also. I am also Diabetic since I found out in 2006. When I started my weight loss journey back in February of this year, I weighed 270. I lost 30 pounds before having my Roux NY surgery in August. I started out drinking 2 protein shakes a day with one good meal. I started doing chair exercises with youtube videos as I have had trouble with lower back pain and shoulder pain.
After my surgery, I have lost 36 more pounds with a total of 66 all together. I was taken off my slow acting Insulin, Lantus. I am currently on a sliding scale with my slow acting Insulin at meal times. Recently, I have had trouble keeping my numbers down since I started eating regular meals. The doctor put me back on the slow acting at 5 units in the morning to help regulate my numbers. I have had success with this, but I am hoping with more weight loss that I can get off all insulin. I just have to watch my carb intake.
One thing I have learned, is that sweets are a no no! I get dumping syndrome from eating anything with a lot of sugar.
Victoria, you are the first person that I have met, that is a Diabetic on here, and we have much in common.

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@joysmiley64
I like the idea of exercising to videos at home. I have done chair yoga exercise to videos. I live in MN so like WI, during winter it is sometimes hard to get to a organized exercise class. It is great option to do exercises at home.

REPLY
victoriafox23 | @victoriafox23 | Nov 17 10:49am
In reply to @joysmiley64 "Hi, my name is Joyce. I live in Northern Wisconsin also. I am also Diabetic since..." + (show)
@joysmiley64

Hi, my name is Joyce. I live in Northern Wisconsin also. I am also Diabetic since I found out in 2006. When I started my weight loss journey back in February of this year, I weighed 270. I lost 30 pounds before having my Roux NY surgery in August. I started out drinking 2 protein shakes a day with one good meal. I started doing chair exercises with youtube videos as I have had trouble with lower back pain and shoulder pain.
After my surgery, I have lost 36 more pounds with a total of 66 all together. I was taken off my slow acting Insulin, Lantus. I am currently on a sliding scale with my slow acting Insulin at meal times. Recently, I have had trouble keeping my numbers down since I started eating regular meals. The doctor put me back on the slow acting at 5 units in the morning to help regulate my numbers. I have had success with this, but I am hoping with more weight loss that I can get off all insulin. I just have to watch my carb intake.
One thing I have learned, is that sweets are a no no! I get dumping syndrome from eating anything with a lot of sugar.
Victoria, you are the first person that I have met, that is a Diabetic on here, and we have much in common.

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So much in common! I would love to hear more about your experience!

REPLY
svang26 | @svang26 | 3 days ago

I'm interested to learn if anyone has had any difficulties with surgery; which one you went with and why.
I've been debating if Bariatric surgery is the right path for me as I've always struggled with my weight since I was 15. I played soccer from middle to high school (6+ years) and still couldn't shed pounds. I was also a very late bloomer when it came to my menstrual and at 18, I finally found out I was diagnosed with PCOS with my first menstrual being 19 with the help of some medicine.
I saw my friend go through the process and she looks great so that motivated me a bit.
Thank you~

REPLY
jc76 | @jc76 | 3 days ago
In reply to @joysmiley64 "Hi, my name is Joyce. I live in Northern Wisconsin also. I am also Diabetic since..." + (show)
@joysmiley64

Hi, my name is Joyce. I live in Northern Wisconsin also. I am also Diabetic since I found out in 2006. When I started my weight loss journey back in February of this year, I weighed 270. I lost 30 pounds before having my Roux NY surgery in August. I started out drinking 2 protein shakes a day with one good meal. I started doing chair exercises with youtube videos as I have had trouble with lower back pain and shoulder pain.
After my surgery, I have lost 36 more pounds with a total of 66 all together. I was taken off my slow acting Insulin, Lantus. I am currently on a sliding scale with my slow acting Insulin at meal times. Recently, I have had trouble keeping my numbers down since I started eating regular meals. The doctor put me back on the slow acting at 5 units in the morning to help regulate my numbers. I have had success with this, but I am hoping with more weight loss that I can get off all insulin. I just have to watch my carb intake.
One thing I have learned, is that sweets are a no no! I get dumping syndrome from eating anything with a lot of sugar.
Victoria, you are the first person that I have met, that is a Diabetic on here, and we have much in common.

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joysmiley64
You are a great person to have on MCC and an inspiration. Your journey and what you accomplished is outstanding and you should be proud of yourself.

My wife is a diabetic 1.5. She had 3 stomach surgeries and they caused damage to her vegas nerve and she became a diabetic 1.5.

So we as a family deal with her diabetes and weight every day. What makes hers so hard to control is the stomach surgeries caused digestive issues and her food is not processed as it should. So she goes through the dumping issues you mentioned.

Being a 1.5 diabetic means sometimes her pancreas will send insulin. The problem with this is she bolo's her insulin based on what she eats. Thus when pancreas sends insulin she can have very far ranging glucose levels going from high to low and reverse.

I am trying to work with her on losing weight and exercising but she does not like to exercise like I do and loves chocolate. I wish she had your determination but some have it and some don't.

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melindanorman | @melindanorman | 2 days ago
In reply to @ellerodri "Hi Everyone! My name is Liz, I live in Northwest Florida (Destin) on the beautiful emerald..." + (show)
@ellerodri

Hi Everyone!

My name is Liz, I live in Northwest Florida (Destin) on the beautiful emerald coast. I am traveling to Mayo in Jacksonville for my surgery in September with Dr. Bowers to fix a failing nissen fundoplication by doing a bypass.

Excited and nervous. Hoping to find new friends here close by for support and friendship.

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Hi Liz. My name is Melinda and I live in Mary Esther, FL. I, too, was a patient at Mayo in Jacksonville for about 1.5 years until they dropped me when I asked for a different doctor. It's been about a year and I'm struggling to find someone new. Local dr's don't know what to do or won't see me because I've been to Mayo. I have a family member who is going to inquire with her dr at Mayo in Minnesota and see if there's anything I can do. Your story intrigued me-especially with where you live (by me!). May I ask what you originally had the nissen fundoplication for and where you had that done? I have GERD and am having a terrible time with lots of different symptoms. I believe I will ultimately need some type of stomach surgery, but I have to find a competent dr who can evaluate me and my issues. Thank you for your time.

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1 reply
jc76 | @jc76 | 1 day ago
In reply to @melindanorman "Hi Liz. My name is Melinda and I live in Mary Esther, FL. I, too, was..." + (show)
@melindanorman

Hi Liz. My name is Melinda and I live in Mary Esther, FL. I, too, was a patient at Mayo in Jacksonville for about 1.5 years until they dropped me when I asked for a different doctor. It's been about a year and I'm struggling to find someone new. Local dr's don't know what to do or won't see me because I've been to Mayo. I have a family member who is going to inquire with her dr at Mayo in Minnesota and see if there's anything I can do. Your story intrigued me-especially with where you live (by me!). May I ask what you originally had the nissen fundoplication for and where you had that done? I have GERD and am having a terrible time with lots of different symptoms. I believe I will ultimately need some type of stomach surgery, but I have to find a competent dr who can evaluate me and my issues. Thank you for your time.

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@melindanorman
I don't know your case, but did you go to Patient Advocacy?

Patient Advocacy can at least address this on your behalf. There is a patient advocacy at Mayo Jacksonville.

I have used them in past and found they will do everything to help solve the issue.

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christine5 | @christine5 | 1 day ago

Hi, my name is.
Christine and I am looking at the gastric sleeve. I was told basically that I had to have it. Because I have to have total hip replacement and my BMI is too high for them to operate. I feel kind of forced to. I'm adjusting and feel like it could be a really good thing. I'm afraid of dumping syndrome. And I'm afraid of having a lot of hanging skin at the insurance company won't pay to take off. I don't want to look gross to my husband I only gained weight after 2012 after my aortic dissection. I was very thin before that. Having Marfan syndrome I was very thin all my life but after 30 days in a coma things just changed. I hope that this works for me. And I'm just terrified about the whole thing.

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1 reply
Mentor
Laurie, Volunteer Mentor | @roch | 1 day ago
In reply to @christine5 "Hi, my name is. Christine and I am looking at the gastric sleeve. I was told..." + (show)
@christine5

Hi, my name is.
Christine and I am looking at the gastric sleeve. I was told basically that I had to have it. Because I have to have total hip replacement and my BMI is too high for them to operate. I feel kind of forced to. I'm adjusting and feel like it could be a really good thing. I'm afraid of dumping syndrome. And I'm afraid of having a lot of hanging skin at the insurance company won't pay to take off. I don't want to look gross to my husband I only gained weight after 2012 after my aortic dissection. I was very thin before that. Having Marfan syndrome I was very thin all my life but after 30 days in a coma things just changed. I hope that this works for me. And I'm just terrified about the whole thing.

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@christine5

Welcome Christine.
Gastric sleeve is definitely a weight loss tool when combined with lifestyle changes. It is important to find a program that provides education and support before and after your surgery.

Have you met with a provider about your weight loss options?

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