Long Termers

[Yvessa]

Chris's why not ask your team for help?

 

[widdershins]

Chrisa - this is exactly what the long termers section is for...once we're passed the excitement of the early days, we need to support one another.

As Yve has said - are you able to ask your team for help? Are there any local support groups you can attend?

We (or, I!) am mostly here, and read more than post, like yourself. Dont feel bad about it - come on here, and we can all support one another.

 

[fjsinc]

Hiya. Me dropping in. Someone else from the past . Not feeling like contributing much, post op life, has just become life. Still massively struggling with baby weight. Actually I gained after William was born. So I'm hardly the poster girl for bariatric surgery. Feel like I'm back at square one still. Really getting to grips with my diet, but seeing zero results on the scale. I think i might be broken, haha. I don't dump easily, and even when i do, its not very severe. I do have occational late dumping which is way worse. But random things cause it. Do wonder how you are all doing, nice to see some familiar names. Don't know anyone here now

 

[Joanne79]

Hiya. Me dropping in. Someone else from the past . Not feeling like contributing much, post op life, has just become life. Still massively struggling with baby weight. Actually I gained after William was born. So I'm hardly the poster girl for bariatric surgery. Feel like I'm back at square one still. Really getting to grips with my diet, but seeing zero results on the scale. I think i might be broken, haha. I don't dump easily, and even when i do, its not very severe. I do have occational late dumping which is way worse. But random things cause it. Do wonder how you are all doing, nice to see some familiar names. Don't know anyone here now

Hello!

I'm in the same boat, except I don't have the reasons of having a bay for my regain, just old habits.
I was here before my surgery a few years back, but similarly, don't know anyone now.
I think it's good for us all to be able to share our experiences, I thought I was alone in falling back into bad eating and experiencing ergain, but it's actually reassuring to hear that it happens to a few of us. We need to stick together and get ourselves sorted!!
xXx

 

[chrisa]

Thank you ladies for your replies my hours are long and erratic 730 am to 10pm no specific breaks so we eat where n when we can. I always take healthy stuff most days take a meal I have made from scratch but frozen its the other crap I can graze on that's not good OH I do still have fruit as well but its biscuits n crisps don't get me wrong its not huge amounts and I try to have rich tea now rather than a chocolate one. Its a head battle I do not want to return to where I came from. I got a letter yesterday when I finished work from the hospital just stating to my doc that I am due my yearly bloods and weigh in. I am classed as discharged and under my own GP the hospital will only be back on board if my bloods are not right but that letter is specifically to gp just I am copied into it.

 

[widdershins]

Chrisa - I feel your pain regarding being discharged from your team. I think I have abandonment issues...!!!

Fiona - lovely to see you back! Keep posting, its good to see others from a few years ago

Joanne - having 'long termers' post, can have a domino effect - we dont know who is reading, and, hopefully, if someone from your era (that sounds like you're ancient, its not meant to sound like that) sees you posting, it may encourage them.

 

[fjsinc]

Nice to see you too. I got discharged after 10 months, i didn't stop losing until i got pregnant at 16 months post op. Feel quite abandoned too. They font even check my bloods are up to date.There is no support about making surgery work long term. Its like we're expected to have learned all our lovely new good habits just by our guts being rearranged. Well a lifetime of food addiction does not go away that easily.

 

[chrisa]

I wish I had stayed off sweet things all together. They said it was ok to have a small bit in proportion but it opens the flood gates. That's when the fight really starts xx Lovely to see some friends on here I appreciate all the comments. I am more conscious of the weight than before my op lol that's the head for ya xx

 

[widdershins]

How are we all doing?

 

[Bonita S]

Just found this thread. I'm a long termer and had pretty much anything that can go wrong go wrong. Wounds bursting open, serious infections, internal bleeding, haemorrhaging, Hernia's, Malapsorption, Seven open operations, Gall Bladder removal, Punctured Bowel & Liver, Adhesions to weight gain, Fistula's and now I have two stomachs, revision due on the 17th of Sept to correct that, stomachs & Bowel are now lying in another very large Hernia which will be fixed at a later date. I'm pretty sure I can offer advice should anybody need it.

One thing I will say is I noticed a few here say that they feel abandoned by their teams, to them I would say if you are worried about anything at all then get a referral via your GP to your local hospitals Bariatric team, they will deal with it if it needs is and all major hospitals have a team in place.

Got to admit I thought in the six years since I was bypassed I'd have thought GP's would be more clued up than they were back when I had mine, seems they are not. My GP didn't have a clue as to why you need to go on the LSD or the need for aftercare blood testing. As I've been through it all once and know what's in front of me this time you can be assured he knows now...lol

 

[widdershins]

Crikey, you've been through the mill, Bonita!
Thanks for sharing on this thread - we desperately need long termers to stay around, to share experiences ask/answer questions...

I agree, GP's are not very well informed when it comes to WLS - but then, I don't think its particularly a common occurence for them, is it?

 

[Bonita S]

Yes you did suggest that Mazza after the original thread. There are other long termers that are moderators so they help in the running of the forum and its much appreciated but what about developing the forum, keeping it real. As everyone says there are few of us long termers here. Is it the members who drive from the bottom up, the mods who lead or indeed who leads? No-one taking the lead means no development. Does a single member become in danger of being tarred with the who the heck do they think they are badge if they try to lead? I don't have any insight into forum management never been asked to be a moderator nor expected to be, so can only try as a member.

So I stand up willing to be counted. There are so few of us about I think it would be difficult to get long termers sections going in every type of wls and wrap/sleeve maybe are so new as to not have many long termers available. Why not start one section for all if it proves popular then it could be split out.

There thats my 5 pennorth. I really care and want to develop the forum to meet everyone's needs before we all leave and go somewhere else to try to get the very rare long term information that may be out there. Because I really believe we need it, so many don't do brilliantly the further out they get and few know what to do if they have problems and how to start to see it is a problem in many cases.
Access to medical research shows me at the 10 year stage after wls became more routine in the UK (2002) revision is on the rapid increase, regain is prolific and people start to look for new solutions to an obesity crisis that wls is not proving to be the holy grail for it was first thought. Diabetic problems are not resolved 'permanently' and some are now experiencing onset of diabetic complications as they thought their diabetes was 'cured' so stopped their checks often on the advice of their doctors. 10 years is nothing in terms of research and medical development who knows what faces us and isn't the best place to start to find out information from many many people who have experienced things first hand. We are not medical but it is happening to us. If more people tell us they are OK it puts it all in perspective, if people tell us they have problems and the solutions they found or seek its helpful.


Anyhow thats enough from me

M

I'm on other forums where there are loads of old timers as in my case or long termers which is perhaps the best terminology...lol I think that in a lot of cases people that start the journey together tend to stay together, certainly a lot of those bypassed at Walsall Manor around the same time as me do keep in touch via social media and we do compare notes.

What is becoming increasingly obvious is that many five years plus are presenting very different problems and some are having difficulties (only this week we have lost one of our ladies due to severe malabsorbtion), so with that in mind maybe it is a good idea to have a separate place that long termers can exchange information. I do think it would also be very helpful for those just starting out, we do need to know what to look out for and I do seriously think some of the long termers know more than the Bariatric teams...

 

[tranquil_butterfly]

Hi Bonita was the lady who passed a Walsall patient?

TBx

 

[skinimum]

Hi all! I'm 2 years next month post band removal and RNY.

All good, maintaining well. Really happy and fit.

Just wanted to put a positive note but it's only 2 years!!

 

[ThinnerJemima]

I'm just over three years now but it feels like thirty. Every day I'm reminded of my surgery, the problems are really starting to get to me, compounded with now having to fight for my corrective surgery at the hospital where my surgeon has spend over 18 months trying to get me to agree to it, oh the irony!!

Still can't eat and not feeding so am gradually on the slide. I've had recent infusions of the usual suspects, but my deficiency is there somewhere as I'm just so tired.

I am finally beginning to question just was this worth it.

 

[weegie]

I'm just over three years now but it feels like thirty. Every day I'm reminded of my surgery, the problems are really starting to get to me, compounded with now having to fight for my corrective surgery at the hospital where my surgeon has spend over 18 months trying to get me to agree to it, oh the irony!! Still can't eat and not feeding so am gradually on the slide. I've had recent infusions of the usual suspects, but my deficiency is there somewhere as I'm just so tired. I am finally beginning to question just was this worth it.

My heart goes out to you Jemima. I pray you will get your corrective surgery as soon as possible. What on earth can hold this up when you surgeon advises it and knows what problems you have? I don't get it. It's now bordering on negligence. Can you get your local MP involved?

Sending you a big hug, wishing there was something I could say or do to improve your situation. X

 

[Kar8858]

Thanks for posting long termers x

 

[Besel]

Yes, thank you long termers.

Very helpful to hear how your are doing after the first years.

 

[chrisa]

I suppose even though I have had a regain that I seem to have no deficiency at all. My letter arrived 2 weeks ago form the hospital to my gp to put me on the chronic diseas list where we need annual blood tests. ,Mine are scheduled for Tuesday moirning along with my B12 I WILL BE A PIN CUSHION. iT says only if they find anything will they need to consult the hospital so they have left me as usual in the hands of my GP who knows nowt basically about the surgery. 2 nurses I know and a locum dictor I ince saw have done a thesis paper on bariatrics and have always been interested in problems associated with the Bypass op.

Nice to see people posting again xx

 

[chrisa]

Forgot to ask has anyone heard from Alex? How is she doing I do so hope she is recovering?
xx