First of all, thanks for this forum. I have found some good info here, and to be honest, it is a little overwhelming so please bear with me if I am asking something that is really common or silly, etc. =)
So I have been looking at surgeries since about mid Dec, and I am scheduled to see the doctor in February, so I haven't had the first consult yet. I have turned in the info & they agreed to set me up with a consultation. I want to be prepared before I go in.
I am currently comparing RNY and Lap band procedures. I am hoping to lose about 150 since I am so short. I don't have diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease. My only medical issue is my back pain and my gall bladder attacks. I also take medication for anxiety, but that is improving.
My questions are specifically for RNY or Lap band:
1. I read a lot about hair loss. Is this something that can be avoided with proper vitamins? How much hair loss are we talking about? (is it noticeable?)
2. I read a lot about "dumping". I have semi-frequent gall bladder attacks (1-2/month). Chills, sweating, awful diarrhea and violent vomiting followed by nearly passing out from exhaustion from the vomiting and then sleeping for 10-12 hours solid. It's awful and the pain is extreme. How does this compare to dumping? I ask because the thought of having more of these episodes is really frightening to me.
3. When I was doing diets and such, I was told to never go below ~1100 calories a day because it would induce "starvation mode" and cause your body to consume your muscle instead of fat. Does this affect WLS patients at all?
4. I have also read about long term dietary limitations up to a point. I can't find too much info on life after say 5 years. Does a RNY mean you can never eat certain foods again in your lifetime? Or does it mean you are just restricted to how much of certain foods you can eat?
I ask because, and please don't hate me for this, but I enjoy cooking and eating with my family. I want to continue to eat with my family for holiday meals and birthday cakes. I cake give up 95% of my portions, but I want to still experience a taste of cake or a holiday cookie or a slice of thanksgiving turkey. I read about RNY being hard on the stomach's ability to digest processed foods and sugars and just want more info on this for the long term, say 5-10 years down the road.
Basically, bottom line is: does RNY mean you can never have a (very small) slice of birthday cake again? Does your stomach completely reject all sugars?
And again, please, please don't yell at me for my silly questions. I am not asking if i can eat candy every day. I got fat by eating too much of EVERYTHING... lol. Mostly fast food and fried food, to be honest. But I hate the thought of giving up a whole food group forever. I do not have a sweet tooth at all, candy, ice cream and sweets have always given me a headache since I was a child. I eat sweets very sparsely (holidays, birthdays only) and much prefer the giant sandwich to anything sugary. I just want to know how it might work out.
But like i said, I am definitely ok with restricting how much I eat, but am not too keen on saying No to an entire type of food forever.
Thank you again for reading this huge post. I am truly sorry if my questions are ignorant or shallow, I am still reading up on all this stuff and I am just trying to find out the details. I plan to ask these questions to my doctor in Feb also. I just want to weigh my options (pun intended...)