Thank you for the what you need to know about surgery thread

[jerseygirl69]

This is deja-vu for me. When I had surgery my equally MO best friend threatened herself with the DS and actually scared herself into losing as much weight as I did. For a while, she was even doing better than me. She got down to about 160 and looked great. In the meanwhile I moved to Vegas and she came to visit a year later. She had gained it all back.

Moral of the story? If you get down to 160, work harder to maintain it than you did to lose in the first place!

That's the one thing I will be jealous of re: DSers. And maybe I will fail at this and have to do WLS. But I have to go with my gut.

 

[Larra]

No one here has a problem with you going with your gut. That's exactly what all of us did, it's just that our guts went in a different direction than yours, or at least where yours is directing you for the time being. Nothing wrong with that! The issue of possible sleep apnea is a separate issue. Note that not one person has criticized you for deciding not to have bariatric surgery at this time, but everyone is concerned about the potential damage to your health that untreated sleep apnea could cause. And you can't get it treated unless and until you get it diagnosed
Let's suppose you don't have sleep apnea - though your description sure sounds convincing to me. Let's suppose you get tested and you don't have it? You lose nothing. Now suppose you DO have sleep apnea and you don't get tested and treated. What do you stand to lose in that scenario? A lot, including your life.

 

[JackieOnLine]

very true - I'm currently reading a book called The Promise of Sleep and the doctor who wrote it has a lot of examples of how deadly it can be - and how treatable.

but our culture doesn't take sleep seriously.

 

[Sheanie]

The last successful diet I went on pre-DS was Dr Gott's No Flour No Sugar diet. Bought the book, cooked the dates, 100% all the way. Lost 75#, took a breather for 3 months. During those 3 months, I regained 50#. Then I gained up to my all-time high weight of over 250#. Don't know exactly how far over 250 I actually got because I do not own a scale. But in Vegas, I was very sick. Sleep apnea, T2D, skin infections in the folds, hip joints clicking, knees swollen, feet were huge, high BP, high cholesterol, beginnings of heart disease, exercise induced asthma, arthritis, depression. I knew one more failed dieting attempt would push me over the edge of sanity. I knew in my bones that I would be dead within 5 years, I was eating myself to death. That was May 2009. For me, the DS has been a life saving decision. I will live to meet my future grandchildren. IF my kids ever birth any, that is.

 

[KathyF]

Since it is going to take you a while to lose weight and the risks from sleep apnea is more immediate, I would suggest that you go ahead and get tested and treated for it now. If it resolves with weight loss then you will be able to stop treatment but will be in a better place health wise than if you had let your possible apnea go untreated.