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I used a very basic sports-bra type thing I bought at M&S. One of the incisions is right up by your bra line so that can be a bit uncomfortable with an underwire.

That sounds sensible, if your reflux has already resulted in Barrett's you really don't want to risk it. Many gastric bypass patients will experience an improvement in their reflux issues after surgery since the removal of the pyloric valve will reduce the pressure. Personally I haven't noticed...

Same for me as Sam - I only got to see the anaesthetist on the actual day of surgery. Makes sense that the pre-op would be before the anaesthetist, the tests that are done during the pre-op are primarily to check that you can handle anaesthesia.

Which surgery he/she recommends will depend on a number of factors: your start weight/how much you need to loose, any comorbidities you have, and most importantly: your eating habits. Someone with bad acid reflux would for example usually be advised against a sleeve since that will increase the...

To clarify: I don't mean it's good to splurge on bad stuff, I have just noticed that when I consistently hovered around 600-800 cals a day things were a lot more sluggish than when I stopped counting obsessively and had days when the calorie intake went up to say 1200-1500 here and there. I...

It's "common/bad luck for things to be left in"? Uhm, I think that says something about their practices - I would assume there was some form of checklist procedure in place in theatre to avoid exactly that? In terms of the chocolate, I've noticed that sometimes when I've been bad I actually...

Completely understand. The early days are indeed very tough, but you just have to push through. Take it easy, get lots of rest and be kind to yourself. Feeling down and weepy is also very common, it is a side effect of the anaesthesia. Like I said - I regretted it every day in the beginning. I...

It does get better. Like you I had never had surgery before and the experience left me a bit shell-shocked. It was definitely more painful and a longer recovery than what I thought it would be. I regretted it every day for two months (I had a lot of issues with severe food aversion, difficulty...

In that case I think it is just your mind playing tricks on you. It can be difficult in the beginning to sense what "full" is, because you are 1. still getting used to the pouch and 2. things are still very swollen at 2 months out. In my case as well, years of overeating had almost worn out my...

My pouch size was 30ccs too, so I think that's fairly standard. 20ccs sounds veeeery small. Could you explain what you mean by "not feeling any restriction"? Do you mean you can eat too much in one sitting? That you can eat too much throughout the day? That you have a hard time telling when you...

No worries at all happy to help - I know when I went into this process I was sooooo nervous and it really helped knowing what to expect. If you want a more detailed account of what happens at the pre-op and actual day of surgery you can find that in my diary (...

I should stress, however, that all surgeons have their own style so things may well differ between them even in terms of what happens at the various appointments. Like I said earlier - Chang for example sticks to the LRD before surgery whereas Prof Patel doesn't like his patients to do that. Not...

My first appointment with the bariatric nurse was basically just talking through my medical history etc and get me "signed in". So that was over pretty quickly. For the actual meeting with the surgeon (which was much later), the appointment started out with a meeting with his nurse (different...

Yes, I believe that is him, the name rings a bell. Be prepared that the appointment might not be with the surgeon itself but with one of his staff (i.e. anyone else in the team such as a bariatric nurse). They will list the name of who is responsible for the clinic (i.e. the surgeon) but it...

Thank you. Yes, it's definitely greatly improved my health and quality of life. If you have any other questions just give me a shout - good luck with everything!

No, for the surgical pathway I was referred straight to King's, so I'm not entirely sure how many (if any) tests you'll need to repeat I'm afraid. The tier 3 at King's is a couple of meetings with the dietitians over a period, but unlike many other hospitals they don't put weight loss...

I think you can request a particular surgeon if you want to (I was told by the dietitian I could swap if I wanted at least). But if you don't have your heart set on a particular surgeon just go with whoever they give you. I had Prof Patel and he was amazing - VERY thorough surgeon who is also...

I wouldn't get too hung up on the "consideration" phrasing - until your surgeon has given the final go-ahead and you are on the actual waiting list, it's only natural to use that terminology. Be prepared that the wait at King's is quite long, and be prepared that the "18 weeks" they tell you...

I've also lost a lot of hair. Mine was super thick to begin with luckily, so to people who meet me for the first time it probably just looks normal - but for me the difference is drastic. The hair loss is not so bad anymore though (I'm 8 months out now) so hopefully it will slowly but surely get...

Glad to hear you are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! I've only ever had one surgery (the bypass itself) and have other than that been lucky enough to be relatively healthy, so when I had a long, rough recovery it really shook me. Never felt so helpless before and like you I...