Question concerning post-op after care (LONG)

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone- I had a consult with a new PCP today to see if I liked

him and if he would be willing to refer me for DS surgery. He seemed

open to the idea. He is only a little familiar with WLS and has

almost no knowledge about DS which concerns me, but since there in

only one doctor in my area performing DS I am not surprised. He made

a few comments that I would love your input on.

-He asked if I would be willing to try Zenical (spelled wrong I

think) during the time before I had the surgery so that I could feel

what it would be like to malabsorb fat. I have heard terrible things

about Zenical...are they true and after surgery is it similar to

being on this drug?

-He also suggested that I find a bariatric surgeon in this area for

after care as well as having a PCP. Since I live about 6 hours away

from Dr. Gagner he felt it would be necessary to have a surgeon up

here. I know many of you have had this surgery far away from home.

Have you found that you needed a back-up surgeon for after care as

well as your PCP?

-Also, he mentioned that when I go for a surgical consult I would

have to go prepared with my future eating and exercise goals and

plans for after surgery. Claiming I would have to have a definate

regime planned and agreed to by the surgeon before I would ever be

approved fo surgery. Is this right?

-And lastly, he was very compassionate and truly feels obesity is a

disease and the treatment of obesity as a disease is often

neglected...yada yada yada..which was nice to hear, but he went off

on a tangent about how obese people are missing some shut off valve

in our brains which tell us to stop eating etc. I jumped in and

explained that I have never been a binge eater or an excessive over

eater (even though doctors tend not to believe that) and I have just

kept gaining anyway. Don't get me wrong, I haven't always eaten the

best food for me, but many of you can agree with me when I say that I

have very skinny friends who eat a lot more then I do. He looked at

me, said... " hmmmm....well...if you are not a binge eater or excessive

over eater then I'm not sure WLS will work for you. " This isn't true

is it? I swear I have seen posts by others here who were not huge

eaters prior to surgery and still managed to lose weight with the DS.

I would really like you input and ideas on this and I do apologize

for this being such a long post.

Take care,

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone- I had a consult with a new PCP today to see if I liked

him and if he would be willing to refer me for DS surgery. He seemed

open to the idea. He is only a little familiar with WLS and has

almost no knowledge about DS which concerns me, but since there in

only one doctor in my area performing DS I am not surprised. He made

a few comments that I would love your input on.

-He asked if I would be willing to try Zenical (spelled wrong I

think) during the time before I had the surgery so that I could feel

what it would be like to malabsorb fat. I have heard terrible things

about Zenical...are they true and after surgery is it similar to

being on this drug?

-He also suggested that I find a bariatric surgeon in this area for

after care as well as having a PCP. Since I live about 6 hours away

from Dr. Gagner he felt it would be necessary to have a surgeon up

here. I know many of you have had this surgery far away from home.

Have you found that you needed a back-up surgeon for after care as

well as your PCP?

-Also, he mentioned that when I go for a surgical consult I would

have to go prepared with my future eating and exercise goals and

plans for after surgery. Claiming I would have to have a definate

regime planned and agreed to by the surgeon before I would ever be

approved fo surgery. Is this right?

-And lastly, he was very compassionate and truly feels obesity is a

disease and the treatment of obesity as a disease is often

neglected...yada yada yada..which was nice to hear, but he went off

on a tangent about how obese people are missing some shut off valve

in our brains which tell us to stop eating etc. I jumped in and

explained that I have never been a binge eater or an excessive over

eater (even though doctors tend not to believe that) and I have just

kept gaining anyway. Don't get me wrong, I haven't always eaten the

best food for me, but many of you can agree with me when I say that I

have very skinny friends who eat a lot more then I do. He looked at

me, said... " hmmmm....well...if you are not a binge eater or excessive

over eater then I'm not sure WLS will work for you. " This isn't true

is it? I swear I have seen posts by others here who were not huge

eaters prior to surgery and still managed to lose weight with the DS.

I would really like you input and ideas on this and I do apologize

for this being such a long post.

Take care,

[Guest guest]

,

I don't know about some of your other questions (I'm not post-op,

so hopefully somebody can answer), but I do know about

Xenical. Xenical works through 1) malabsorption of fat (30%, I

believe) and 2) negative reinforcement. When I took Xenical and

ate no- or low-fat, I had no problems, except for a little gas (and I

mean a little). When I took Xenical and ate a lot of fat...well, let's

just say that I'm glad I was home. I only took it as an

experiment. It was pretty harmless. Unlike other diet drugs

(phentermine, meridia, etc.) you don't have to take it for a few

days or weeks to see how you'll react...you'll know after your first

meal. I would just hope that your doc can give you a sample...it

usually isn't covered by insurance and I think I was charged $75

for a 1-month supply that I never used.

Good Luck!

> -He asked if I would be willing to try Zenical (spelled wrong I

> think) during the time before I had the surgery so that I could

feel

> what it would be like to malabsorb fat. I have heard terrible

things

> about Zenical...are they true and after surgery is it similar to

> being on this drug?

>