Do NOT have an RNY if...

First. This post is for Pre-Ops. I am also not trying to start ANY surgery wars in any way. It's just that lately I have seen so many posts from RNY newbies that really confund me. So I hope this helps in the spirit intended. If I offend....Apologies up front.

Do NOT have an RNY if:
You are NOT willing to research on your own what the surgery is and how it works.

Are NOT committed to taking Vitamins every day for the rest of your life (NOT doing so WIL L be deadly.)

Are NOT willing to learn to eat healthy and cut back on your carbs and sugars. If you do not do so you may run the risk of dumping, but you also run the more serious risk of (later on) developing reactive Hypoglycemia

Are NOT willing to really educate yourself on how to read a food lable. Learn what the carbs are, how to figure in Net Fiber sugar grams and what kind etc.

Are NOT willing to eat... While we cannot eat like other surgeries you DO have to eat healthy. Eating 400-700 calories after 5-6 months hoping to speed up your weight loss doesn't help.

Are not willing to learn that after about 2-3 years is when the HARD work REALLY begins with the RNY...This is when problems like Reactive Hypogycemia, Regain and other problems really rear their ugly head.

Are NOT willing to cook for yourself/family. Even if you never cooked before, you can learn to make everything from Birthday Cake to cheesecake and beef wellington and everything in between (Delicious meatloaf wih Garlic Mashed cauliflower etc) most restaurants put a lot of sugar or extra carbs in much of their food. Half the time my family doesn't even know I am serving them Turkey or Pork meatloaf (with some oatmeal in it) or Sweet Potatoe pie made with Splenda, etc.  We just made a batch of Gluten Free Snickerdoodles and I made a batch of "regular" (white flour full sugar) ones and let the family choose which they liked better... (Didn't tell them which was which!) all of them picked the Gluten Free/Splenda ones...Go figure!

You are NOT willing to advocate for yourself with ALL medical personel. Not all doctors realize what blood labs we need, so you have to educate yourself and LEARN what your numbers mean and what they should be at. (B12, D, and a host of others!)

If you hope that RNY will keep you "honest" (IE: You hope you get 'sick' from eating cake or "bad" food)...That is called dumping. Most surgeons make it seem like every RNY person dumps, when in reality ONLY about 30% of us do.... More than likely you WILL be able to eat PLENTY  of "bad" food (cake, ice cream, candy bars)  You will regain the weight....You will get horrible reactive Hypoglycemia for life.

Do not have the RNY if you have NOT researched all 4 Weight Loss surgery types and what would work best for you! (If you are a stress eater or a binger...RNY is NOT for you at all.)
DS is a wonderful surgery and I know many wish they could get it...(Work with the folks on the DS boards, they can help you fight your insurance or find a cheaper way to pay for it.)

If only restriction is what you are looking for, than maybe the "Sleeve" would be better? Really research your choices...This is for life.


RNY can be a wonderful surgery if you learn to use it as a TOOL...You have only a vary narrow window (called a "Honeymoon Period") for about a year, when the weight will really come off and things will seem hunky dory...This is when YOU the paitient should be learning to read lables, eat healthy, get into a routine of some kind of exercise or stress reduction.

I have RNY and I really do love it. I have no regrets but then I did all of the above (researched, I advocate for myself, make sure I get the proper labs, I label read EVERYTHING, eat low carb, I am a rabid gym rat, etc.)

And yes, there ARE certain things that just seem to happen for most of us RNYers...
1) Constipation
2) more and more folks being diagnosed with Reactive Hypoglycemia.

Both can be managed, but you should be aware of them. So often newbies (understandably) Only seem to worry about the first few weeks, or months. They worry each time the scale "stalls" for more than 10 minutes, or if they can eat more than 1/2 cup of food or loose skin.... Yes, all these things happen. Hopefully you are here to research Weight Loss Surgery because you want to be HEALTHY. So make sure that you are an informed consumer! Do not go into ANY Weight Loss Surgery "blind" or just trusting your Surgeon blindly.

Obviously...If you are Post Op RNY...The RNY forums are a really nice comfy home with some great folks there.

Best of luck to everyone on their Weight Loss journey...
Warmly,
Jackie

Very good points.  In fact, I think many of these things apply to all WLS types, not just RNY.  I gotta add a couple.

If you are not willing to take vitamins, even big ones or chewable ones that don't taste so good, don't have WLS.  If you are only willing to take vitamins that taste like candy, don't have WLS.

If you have no way to pay for vitamins or to pay to get labs done, don't have WLS.  If you have a job that you might not have forever (does anyone have true job security these days?) and would be unable to pay for these things if you lost your job for any reason, don't have WLS until you figure out how you'd pay for the necessities (including vitamins and labs) if you lost your job one day.

thanks Kelly!

As always you are absolutely right!

Do NOT consider RNY if you think Flintstones and Tums (or Viactive) are all you need for your vitamins (EVEN IF THAT IS WHAT YOUR SURGEON SAYS!!! S/He is WRONG!) I couldn't find it on the ASMB site (The American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric medicine) but they have a minimum vitamin (and calcium) requirement and Flintstones (or Gummy ANYTHING) and/or Tums or Viactive are huge no-no's!

You MUST educate yourself on vitamins, what we need and WHY we need them.
Andrea has a degree in vitamin stuff and her site is a easy to learn "class room" of information!
> http://wlsvitagarten.com/

Also VitaLady, Poet Kelly and a few other folks are very good at being helpful in understanding Lab results and vitamin questions. they are Gold Mines of information.

Flintstones = Baaaaaaaaaaaad.
Calcium Carbonate= baaaaaaaad.


Warmly,
Jackie

Here is the ASMBS nutritional guide:

nutrition.otago.ac.nz/__data/assets/file/0005/4784/Bariatric NutritionReading.pdf

This post needs a Like button!!!!

 I underscore that this applies to any surgery.

No one can guarantee that they will have resources for vitamins, etc. But the fact is, that this has to be a priority over cell phones, cable (cigarettes) and other things that people find the funds for under difficult cir****tances and financially lean times.

Cooking at home with quality ingredients saves money and the whole family would benefit healthwise.

Health and wellness has to become a lifelong committment.  

All the fake junk food is just as expensive and unhealthy as the real thing.  

t

 This post should be required reading! I'm pre surgery, but I've been doing research for years now. Ever since I first looked into the possibility that WLS might be an option for me.  I'm still learning new information every day and I'm only a month away from the procedure.

I'm glad my required group classes are over. I was getting tired of leaving them angry and frustrated. So many people have a 'magic wand' mentality going into this! I was literally amazed at some of the comments in group.  I held my tongue though. Every once in a while I would throw in a comment about hair loss, or malabsorption. Maybe some comments about gas, BM's, portal pain, vomiting on demand, the cost of plastic surgery, what ever I had been reading about before hand.  I think the group leader was glad to see me go. Especially when I made a comment about how it didn't seem to be very healthy mindset to go into this kind of a surgery with the plan that 'it can be reversed if it's too hard.'

I know I made a few people mad, but I really felt like everything was being glossed over. So many people were shocked by some of the things I said that they went home and started reading something other than their phamplets. Hopefully I started enough of them talking that it'll continue now that I'm gone.  It's one thing to cash a reality check before hand, people just need to be aware that they'll need to pay their reality taxes before the tax man starts knocking at their door..

Imho

Hi: Kaoz 789
                      I agree with you 100%, this surgery is not a fix all, it takes time, work and money to reach your goals.
At a meeting I would be seating right next to you, good job, keep asking questions.

88   

So many of these can be applicable to several procedures, for sure.  I just had Thanksgiving with a wls patient that didn't even know what RNY was.  He said his doc had something for him that was a gastric bypass and it was covered by his insurance.  He didn't look into it all, just said "sign me up".  I was astounded by how little he knows about how to keep himself healthy.  I just shut up before I had a complete hissy fit.  I'd like to point him to this thread, though, or this whold site, for that matter.

Good general information!