star0210
Well-Known Member
I have the same back issues. Before my VSG in March 2010 I was up to 293 lbs and my back problems were getting worse. When it would go out I was bedridden for days at a time in excruciating pain. I had the sleeve and I lost down to about 150lbs. I was working out with a personal trainer 3x/week trying to strengthen my core to help my back. In the summer of 2011 while working out I blew out the disc. It ruptured and shards of it were lodged in my spinal canal. I couldn't stand and I couldn't walk. Off to surgery I went. It was great..I woke up from that and for the first time in over 10 yrs I had NO pain! That lasted about a year until one morning I bent down to get something out of a cabinet and when I went to stand back up I felt something "give" and just like that the pain was back.
Aside from my back issues, I got really sick with severe anemia although I didn't know at the time that's what was wrong with me. In January 2012, I went to the ER after I had passed out 3 times back to back and the 2nd time I hit my head really hard on a window ledge. I suspected it was caused by low iron, but at the ER they said they couldn't find anything wrong with me and that my labs all came back normal. I specifically asked about my iron levels and they said they were normal. I had no reason not to believe them. So I chalked it up as a fluke incident and went about my business. Over that year I felt worse and worse...I was FREEZING all the time...painfully so. I would take 3 hot baths a day and in the heat of the summer I was in sweatpants and a sweatshirt with a jacket on top of that. I would go outside like that and sit in the sun trying to warm up. I was addicted to sonic ice and pistachios and coffee...that's basically what I existed on. I couldn't sleep..at night my legs would drive me crazy with symptoms like RLS. During this time is when I think my metabolism got pretty broken. In December of 2012 I saw my gyno and decided to have a hysterectomy because my uterus was prolapsed. I thought maybe that could be contributing to my back pain. It was during the pre-op blood work for the hysterectomy that we found out how anemic I was. We discussed my periods and realized that was the culprit of the anemia..,excessive heavy bleeding. I never really noticed it had gotten heavier but I guess it slowly happened over time. After the surgery my levels dropped even more so I had a 6hr iron infusion and within 2 weeks I fely like a whole new person.
My point in writing ALL of this is to say that when life stuff happened, and there's a whole other part I didn't talk about, I stopped being diligent about following my program. I stopped making sure I was getting in enough protein or fluids. Some days I didn't eat at all. I didn't lose anymore weight but I wasn't gaining either. After I finally got well in March 2013, I started eating more normally but still not following or tracking what I was eating. But we were eating healthy foods. Meat and veggies mostly. Not many carbs. But I did Eat a lot of fruit. I ended up gaining back 40-50 lbs. back up to 201. With the added weight my back problems started getting worse again also. I did still have some restriction but not nearly as much and I felt like I could eat way more than I should be able to eat. I said...time to go back to basics. Protein, low low carb, lots of fluid. 600-800 calories a day. Couldn't lose a lb. I've had several back procedures over the last year. I was even scheduled to have my lower back fused this past summer but I decided not to go through with it. I'm having some decent success with radio frequency ablations.
That's when I decided to have another surgery to stop the re-gain and hopefully lose it all.
On November 28th I had a partial re-sleeve and added the switch part. So VSG to DS conversion. Had I known then what was going to transpire in my life after my VSG, I would have had the DS to begin with. The loss now is super super slow...and I don't know if I'll ever reach goal of a normal BMI. The scale hasn't moved really in close to 3weeks now. I have lost some inches though.
Having said all of that, I do think the VSG is a very good option for some people. But we are definitely seeing more and more people dealing with regain once they get further out and seeking revisions. I know a girl who was sleeved around the same time as me and she's gained all of her weight back. Once the sleeve relaxes and stretches out some, it's real easy to eat too much. It will never stretch out to what is was before...but enough to pack in the calories.
Anyway, now I'm rambling. You need to do what you feel will work for you based on your lifestyle, eating habits, metabolism, etc. I'm glad you're ditching the band and I'm glad you didn't choose RNY. If VSG is your choice, I wish you all the success in the world. Just know that while it will be easy at first and the weight will come off pretty quick, know that keeping it off down the road will take LOTS of work and effort.
