Christable

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I am a 44 years old lady who have had bariatric surgeries. I have decided to sshare my story with the hope to find anyone out there that may be going through similar things and can advise but more than anything I am hoping my story would help people on their bariatric surgery journey, help them make informed decision/choice.

I had adjustable Gastric Band in July 2009 which failed then I had Gastric Bypass in March 2015. I initially lost a bit of weight but put all back on and even more, so in 2017 I decided to convert to DS. I had DS in October 2017 and all was good for a while. I lost weight extremely fast, confidence shot up, entire wardrobe changed, I could finally wear anything I wanted or liked. I changed jobs and was having a great time then around May 2018 I started to feel unwell, very lethargic, Sob and barely had appetite. I was admitted into hospital beginning of July 2018 and I was in for 5 months discharged for few weeks then back in for 2 months and it’s been in and out of hospital for me since then. I had NJ feeding for a long time and was tube feeding at home. I was diagnosed with Malnutrition due to Malabsorption. Severe defficiencies in different vitamins, minerals and micronutrients and have been having infusions since then. I have been living with Picc Lines which has given several complications such as sepsis and DVT. The severe Vitamin D deficiency has caused Osteopenia, I had a fall while on one of my hospital admissions and sustained spine fracture, thankfully did not affect mobility but still suffer pain from it.

I had a revision surgery in 2019 to lengthen my common channel which seemed to work, after 6 months I started to put on weight and the NJ feeding tube I had for nutritional support was taken out. Although, some of my symptoms persisted such as severe bloating (pregnant looking) offensive stool, frequent toilet habits, I was grateful to God, I was finally no longer underweight. 

I stopped working in July 2018 and only was well enough to return to work end of August 2022 which only lasted for 6 weeks. I started to feel unwell again in October 2022 and was admitted into hospital beginning of November 2022 and only just got discharged first week of February 2023 (3months in). 

I need not say this has affected every aspect of my life, my career, finances, relationship (lack of it) and social life. I am still on my journey and I believe I would be well again. 

I am not trying to scare anyone, my story may not be your story, there are good amount of people who are leaving perfectly normal lives post DS. I just want anyone considering to have DS to do extensive research, be aware of it’s likely side effects so when you choose you would be making an informed choice.

There are hardly posts out about people having side effects of DS, I wonder if that is a true reflection of how well people are doing post DS or people are not just sharing their stories. 

I would like to hear from DS patients that are doing well or having challenges, I welcome any advice.

I wish you all the best in your bariatric surgery choices and journey.