Bariatric Surgery Gone Wrong

Here's another story about weight loss surgery regrets. Thanks to the reader who wrote this in the post about weight loss surgery gone wrong.


I was only 23 when I decided to have bariatric surgery. I am writing this because I have been through the worst year + of my life. I had went for the whole big thing. Rerouting and such. The surgeon pretty much terrified me in to believing this was the only solution, that if done any other way, if something went wrong, it may not be able to be fixed. So with full confidence I showed up for surgery and thought it would be the end to my "problems". I was most certainly mistaken. A three day stay in the hospital turned in to 16 days. During my initial surgery, my epidural block fell out! I can remember them transferring me from the operating table to the stretcher. I was screaming, "please help me! someone. please, it hurts!". I do not remember an entire week of my life, in which I am told I almost died and was very nasty.

After the first surgery I was in a lot of pain, they took me for a test and left me in a wheel chair to drink this chalky liquid in a freezing hallway until the tech was done with his lunch. Turns out the pouch wasn't sewed well enough and anything that they were making me consume was just flowing right through me. Back in for surgery number two. Apparently they cut me open and I threw up in my lung cavity. It started to crush my lung. I was in the ICU for 5 days, almost had a heart attack and eventually needed to have a PIC line installed. Ending my stay I was sent home with one tube still hanging out. For an entire month. They only tell you the good things about surgery, never the bad.

It has been over a year and I have spent every holiday in the hospital and visit the ER at least once a month. I have had my gallbladder out, a hernia removed, countless times where I was internally bleeding from an ulcer or something was stuck in my small intestine. I have stopped counting the tubes of blood they have taken. It has been upwards of 24 tubes in two weeks. I recently found out that I am unable to retain iron. Therefore, I will need iron IV therapy for the rest of my life. And regardless of all the pain, the worst part is the emotional toll it leaves. The nightmares will never go away. I am going to have to deal with multiple issues for the rest of your life. No one tells you that this surgery doesn't fix anything. If you were self conscious before, guess what, you still are after. It is awful. If the surgery will save your life, go for it, but please, read stories from both sides first and take the time to think about it. Best wishes.

Weight Loss Surgery Complications

I'm reposting a comment here about one person's horrible experience with weight loss surgery. It's a scary experience and needs to be heard. Thanks for your story!

I have been through 12 months of hell. I am pleased finally I have found someone who wants to hear about weight loss surgery gone wrong. I want to scream to anyone considering it, "DON'T DO IT".
I researched for 12 months before deciding on a Gastric Sleeve Resection. I decided a lap band wasn't for me as I trave overseas a lot and one surgeon said as I was not prepared to give up biscuits it would not work for me. 2 surgeons recommended the sleeve so I went for it.
Within 36 hours of surgery I began getting extreme pain in my transverse colon. (My diagnosis as that is the only realistic explanation, but who am I? I just live with the pain.)
I was told maybe I had kidney stones. Then maybe gall bladder. Then I had a leak (haematoma) from the staple line and the liver was affected.
Then my appendix was alledgedly gangrene.
Then I got a staph infection in the wound where the appendix was taken out.
Because of my constipation, I can't drink enough water in 24 hours, I needed a haemoroidectomy. Ohh the agony when I got 2 anal infections.
Hello, why all these infections? Ohh I have developed a blood disorder, Auto immune nutropenia (diagnosed by a bone marrow biopsy, more pain)and this means I am suseptible to infections.
Then my calcium levels in my blood are high. Oh hyperparathyroidism. We have to remove the parathyroid adenomas.
5 weeks later, anotehr staph infection. 10 days in hospital on antibiotic drips as I cant take oral antibiotics or a lot of tablets including anti arthritic tablets after weight loss surgery.
Was I told this pre surgery? No way.
Have I lost weight? Sure. I mena when you throw up at every family event and any time you eat more than 100 grams of food you sure lose weight.
I have lost 53kilos in less than a year, but have had months off work. I have had to use my holiday leave for sick leave.
Anybody considering weight loss surgery, talk to me at darlingwenda@hotmail.com
I will talk you out of it!!
The true story needs to be told. No one wants to hear it.

Better than Weight Loss Surgery?

There's an encouraging article today in the Los Angeles Times about scientists working on a procedure that would be much safer than weight loss surgery. It involves disrupting the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve tells us when we're hungry, it's the communication path between the stomach and the brain. See the full article here. Here's an excerpt;

WEIGHT loss surgery works, but is so invasive and has such unpleasant long-term side effects that it's recommended for only a fraction of the obese population, and even many in that group are reluctant to undergo the surgery. In hunting for a simpler and safer alternative, researchers have zeroed in on a nerve that carries much of the communication between brain and gut.

Disrupting this communication, they believe, could lead to safe, effective and sustained weight loss -- mainly by cutting off signals from the gut that tell the brain it's time to eat....

Two different methods of disrupting the vagus nerve are now in clinical trials. One method, vagotomy, simply cuts the nerve and permanently disables it. The other, vagal nerve blocking, uses an electric current to periodically confuse the nerve and prevent it from transmitting signals. Preliminary results suggest that both methods help to safely reduce excess body weight by about 20% on average within six months of therapy.

photo by Marcusrg

Weight Loss Surgery Gone Wrong?

Hello Isadora,
I stumbled upon your website tonight and read a couple of the stories. One of my best friends actually has a very inspiring weight loss story; he went from 270 to 170 pounds over the course of 1.5 years by eating right and engaging in almost excessive exercise. Do you think this is the kind of story that might fit on your blog? If so, I'll encourage him to send it in.
On another topic, I run a blog on the topic of weight loss surgery in Fort Worth texas. I would like for it to eventually become an authoritative site on weight loss surgeons and processes in the Fort Worth, TX area. It will eventually feature local doctors, reviews of their medical histories, etc. I think that if we participated in a Blogroll link exchange the portion of your readership that resides in Texas would benefit, and all of my readership would benefit. Please tell me what you think! You can find my blog at liposuctionfortworth.net. Keep up the inspiring stories,
Ian

Hi Ian,
Sure, ask your friend to email their story. But if you had read more here you would know I'm not a fan of surgery as the best way to lose weight. I can relate to the people who choose to go this route, but there is so much persuasive money and so many commercial websites already devoted to promoting surgery that I'd like to stay away from it and focus on the stories where people have lost weight without medical intervention.

But your note makes me want to ask readers who have had a weight loss operation - where things did not go well - to comment below.

Please don't send me stories of success with this (unless they are extremely sincere) - this would surely attract a ton of spam. I would delete these comments. Here, I'm just interested in cases where surgery did not lead to success.

The beautiful photo above is by Rubyran.

Ron Lester Talks Weight Loss Surgery

Ron Lester has lost almost 350 pounds. He used to weigh 508. He chose the weight loss surgery route. About seven years ago he went in for a gastric bypass surgery operation. Since then in his early and mid thirties, he has undergone 17 plastic surgeries to remove his excess skin.

Lester was interviewed this morning on the Today Show. He's also featured today on the Inside Edition at 4:30pm on CBS. Lastly, you can catch him on the newstands this week in People Magazine, page 105.

He's got a website at Ron Lester Online. Here you can see a video bio of his acting history and hear about his weight loss journey. (Check his videos page for more good bio perspectives.) He's best known for his role in the film Varsity Blues but he is finding it difficult to change identities in Hollywood now. He has had to change agents as he is is no longer the 'new John Candy' and he needs to find new roles that suit his new identity.

Weight Loss Surgery is Scary

There's a young woman who went ahead with a gastric bypass operation seven weeks ago. She is also one of the best writers I've encountered anywhere online.

She has been blogging about her weight loss struggles for over two years.

She made the decision to go ahead with weight loss surgery after much thought. And before she went through with it she had horrible second thoughts. But she went ahead with the operation on November 7th. A few days later she told us how painful it was. However, since November 20th she has not posted at all. Her blog seems to be abandoned and a lot of her readers (including myself) are very worried about her.

Her site is at Hello, I am Fat.

Update January 19th: Relief and good news. She's back and just posted on her blog again. She's lost a lot of weight already, still having a very hard time post-surgery but appears to be recovering and feeling better each day.

No More Binge Eating for Boston Guy

Chris Stockbridge was all set to get weight loss surgery a couple of months ago. He weighed 340 pounds and wanted to lose more than a hundred pounds.

But the story happened to get out that he was binge eating as his surgery approached. The Boston Herald took photos of him binge eating at a buffet. And many radio stations interviewed him.

His doctor was upset with him. He thought he was setting a bad example for other people who were about to get weight loss surgery. But he's since found out that it's quite common for people to go on a big binge before their planned weight loss surgery.

However the doctor was upset and told him he had to lose forty pounds first on his own, before he would accept him for weight loss surgery.

The good news is that Chris Stockbridge has now lost 56 pounds (in less than three months) and he had changed his mind about taking the surgery route. He thinks he may now be able to lose all his excess weight with the lifestyle change he's made over the past few weeks.

See the full and very interesting story at CalorieLab.

Obesity Surgery has High Risks

A new study has found that four out of every ten people who undergo weight loss surgery experience complications within half a year. Many of these complications are so serious they have to go to emergency rooms.

The average cost of the surgery and six months of follow-up is $29,921. But for patients with complications that require re-admission to hospital, the average cost is $65,031.

Past studies found that ten to twenty percent of people had problems after the surgery. But this study done by federal researchers found that forty percent had complications within 180 days of surgery. The most common ailments include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal hernias, infections, pneumonia, respiratory failure and leaking of gastric juices.

Is it a Fat Belly or a Cyst?

Here's an incredible story of one woman who went to her doctor repeatedly, complaining of a huge and swollen stomach. He told her she was overweight and prescribed weight-loss pills (Duramine) to her.

Finally, after many months, and in huge pain, she was taken by ambulance to the hospital where they found an ovarian cyst that weighed more than 30 pounds; more than four newborn babies! The cyst was safely removed.

Her weight dropped from 163 to 126 pounds after the surgery. This woman, 44, had had three children in the past.

Her lawyer said the case was not about failure to diagnose an ovarian cyst.

"It's about a failure to recognise she had an abnormal and undoubtedly a very distended abdomen," he said.

"The woman was visibly upset on the first day of the hearing yesterday as she described her symptoms, including having a "humungous" stomach, bloating and pain."

Expert witness Gerald Young, an Auckland doctor with a special interest in surgery, said Dr S made several moderate to serious departures from accepted professional standards, including his failure to calculate the patient's body mass index and take her waist measurement as a baseline before prescribing Duromine.