Honesty About Weight Loss Surgery: Roux-En-Y

In May of 2000, I was one of the many people in the United States to get something called a Roux-En-Y Gastric bypass. You hear horror stories and success stories when people talk about getting weight loss surgery done, so I would like to share my own experience that is completely honest about pro's and con's.

A person who says that getting a gastric bypass is the easy way, doesn't have a clue what they are talking about. This surgery is life changing on a fundamental level, emotionally as well as physically. I have lost over 200lbs, and gained what I feel is wisdom. Hind sight can be more than 20/20 if you look closely.

If your surgeon is good, they will ask you to keep a food diary for three to six months before the operation so they can be sure it's a required surgery and not something that can be taken care of with diet and nutrition counseling.

They will send you to nutrition classes to teach you how to rethink what you eat, looking for the hidden problems with the foods you've been writing in your journal even though you'll be getting the procedure. The reason they do this, is so you can make sure you have proper eating habits after your recovery.

I personally was not allowed to eat anything 24 hours prior, or drink anything 12 hours prior to mine being done. However, surgeons may differ on what they ask you to do or not to do.

After the surgery, I woke in recovery with little to no problems. I had an umbilical hernia repaired at the same time that was rather severe so my incision was roughly a foot long. When they released me, I still didn't feel much of the pain because I was on something called Roxicet in liquid form. I was able to take that medication for about a week, after it was gone the pain was intense.