Questions,Questions,Questions…
Hi, I am new to this group. Can someone please help me? I can’t
decide which surgery to do. I have the choice of RNY, VBG, or lap
band. Well, i guess I don’t really have a choice since my insuance
only covers 2 of them, but what do you guys think is the best
surgery? I know RNY is the “gold standard” but I am terrified of
it. I am about 110 overweight. RNY is appealing, because it seems
to have a great sucess rate, but I can’t imagine the intestines being
cut. How bad is the malabsorption, and the hair loss?? I think teh
hairloss scares me the most! VBG seems to have the reputation of
being likely to fail. The lap band is the one that appeals to me the
most, but is the one my insurance won’t cover so I would probably
have to self pay to a doctor in Mexico. I am so worried, I don’t
know what to do. I could settle for the VBG, but I hear conflicting
stories. I have heard it has a similar success rate as the RNY and
then I hear the success rate is very low. One last question, If
someone has RNY, would the chronic malabsorption eventually kill them?
I know a lot of dumb questions, but I can’t find satisfactory answers
anywhere. If anyone can’t point me in the right direction, I would
really appreciate it.
Thanks and God Bless,
Erica
August 29th, 2004 at 12:18 am
I don’t post much and my surgery is Oct 1. But this post about hair loss is one
I wanted to respond to. Barb you made the comment Who cares if you lose every
strand of hair……… I totally understand that worrying about hair loss may
seem irrelevant to some but to me it is one thing that concerned me when I heard
of it. Just about all my life I have been fat. I always thought my blonde hair (
helped now by my hairdresser) and my blue eyes were all I ever had going for me
in the looks department. I also know that I am not having this wls for my looks
even though being concerned about hair loss makes it look as though I am. I
think sometimes maybe thinking or worrying about the hair loss is a way to keep
me from worrying about anything bad happening with the surgery or the pain and
things afterwards. I know the concern of hairloss is a minor thing and may seem
silly to some but it is still there for me and maybe some others.
Thelma
August 29th, 2004 at 8:11 am
<<I know the concern of hairloss is a minor thing and may seem silly to
some but it is still there for me and maybe some others.
Hair loss wasn’t something I was concerned about pre-op. I didn’t think
it would bother me too much if it did happen, and honestly, I thought it
wouldn’t happen to me.
Around 4 months out it started shedding. Now I’m about 9 months out
(almost to the day) and it is still coming out at what I would consider
far too much. However, my family and friends assure me that they can’t
tell.
My hairdresser (bless her heart) assured me that the normal person
looses between 100-300 hairs a day. Would anyone be alarmed if I told
them, the next day I tried to count all the hairs that came out of my
head. *laughs*
If you lose hair because of your surgery you -will- notice it. I still
sometimes think that my family and friends are just “being nice” when
they tell me they don’t. But I’m willing to wager that even if they are,
it’s not so bad.
I am starting to see a lot of re-growth though; little hairs stick up at
my scalp and make me look like I have really bad static electricity!
But that little bit of growth assures me that it’s not the end of the
world, and I certainly wont go bald.
Though, I do have days when it really really bothers me, and days when I
don’t care.
So, for anyone out there worried about hair-loss, know that it’s
something that may happen to you. However, out of all the side-effects
or possible complications from this surgery it isn’t something that
should be at the top of your “concerns” list.
-Kyndra
August 29th, 2004 at 7:11 pm
Thelma:
I understand where you are coming from. At 350#’s, my long, healthy
strawberry blonde hair was constantly getting compliments. That was my
security blanket. I thought that if my hair looked good, it didn’t matter
that I was so fat that I couldn’t fit into a movie theater seat. When I had
my surgery in May of ‘01, I was worried too!
I did lose hair about 4 months out. It seemed that it was all falling out,
but only I saw that. Everyone who knew me did not notice any difference. I
won’t lie to you…it was an awful experience, but guess what, it grows
back. I have the thick “gorgeous” hair that I had prior to surgery, and I
am still getting compliments on it…as well as my new 150# lighter body!!
If I can help, I’m here!
Good luck on the 1st and may God be with you and comfort you.
God Bless,
Pam Cannata
e-mail: pamcannata@…
August 30th, 2004 at 8:26 pm
Man do I hear you about the hair thing!! I had a major meltdown last month over
just finding more gray in it than I thought I ought to have! In fact- the hair
loss was the one side effect that took me the longest to decides I could deal
wit hand have the surgery. I had an RNY. I am going into my 4th month post op
and haven’t lost any yet. I had it recommended to me take Strong Start prenatal
vitamins and it would help. I’ve been taking them (your PCP has to prescribe
them) and so far no hair loss, it may be working. It certainly doesn’t hurt to
take them, we have to take vitamins anyway!
Sla`inte~
Mickeyºoº
Postop
Dr. Rehnke
May 10, 2002- Reborn!
BMI started at 63 now 50!