Surgery, Anyone?

[catndogma01]

Has anyone here had gastric bypass surgery?

[cooki]

i havent had it but I would be VERY intrested in hearing about anyone who has I am looking into having it done but am a little nervous about it.
Take Care,
~Cooki

[SamQKitty]

I haven't had it myself, but a very close friend had the gastric bypass surgery. She has been quite pleased with it.

Personally though, having seen what she's been through because of it, I would never consider it. She can no longer eat normally...only a few bites at a time. She's had to have several follow-up surgeries; some of them to remove the excess skin that was hanging off her body because she lost the weight so fast, but some of the surgeries were as a direct result of the gastric bypass surgery. She also now has frequent diarrhea, which I understand is a common side effect of this surgery.

On the other hand, my friend weighed well over 300 pounds before the surgery, and she's only 5 feet tall. She now weighs 120. And, as I said above, she thinks it was worth it.

Just be sure you consider all factors before making the final decision. It's not for everybody.

[karenortwein]

I would do it in a heart beat, but I am not morbidly obese or at least 100 lbs over with other health problems, which you have to be. I'm about 50 pounds overweight.

[scbagrrrl]

I know three women that have had it done, all more than a year after surgery and each of them wishes that they had NOT had it done. Problems range from losing most of their hair (despite taking supplements), to horrible gas that is uncontrollable, to body odor from the body not breaking down foods, to complications digesting food and infections.

I could go on about their scenarios, but to sum up their experiences, the doctors are not being upfront about the side-effects and how likely they are to encounter them. As it's not something that can be reversed very easily, please weigh ALL your options and research the situation carefully. There are a lot of new procedures on the forefront that are a lot less drastic and produce better results - ie Large Volume Liposuction.

Just please be fully informed before doing anything so drastic!