Fallen arches, ortho-arthritis

I currently am a VSG awaiting DS revision. i have gained back all of my weight that I lost when I had the VSG 5 years ago. I'm 47. Last year my body started falling apart. I now have inserts in my shoes, I'm on Celebrex all the time, and I have significant joint pain. I have also had a meniscus repair on my left knee.

I'm wondering how much of the "damage" can be undone after losing 100+ pounds. I realize my feet will never be the same, but I just would like the joint pain to be gone.

What was your experience post-op after losing the weight and your joints/feet.

I work out 3x a week, two of those days with a trainer. He has done wonder's strengthening my left knee, which had a procedure on it last year. 

Thanks!

It's impossible to say. Some people have joint pain disappear, others don't. It depends in part on how extensive the damage from the arthritis is, and how long you had it.

The bottoms of my feet used to hurt and hurt from carrying myself around all day.  After losing weight, honestly, I had forgotten what that felt like until recently because I am up and walking a lot more in my new teaching job.  It is taking some getting used to, so I can't say that will go away.  I did also have to buy inserts for my shoes and I have this permanent pain in the back part of my left heel which I am guessing is plantar fascitis or however you spell it.  I also have knee pain still but it isn't as bad as it was.  The cold weather does kill me and I have to spend a significant amount of time in the sauna and stretching to warm up before and after I workout or else I feel even more joint pain.  When I got tired of it all and I didn't workout...it was even worse, so I know I need the exercise and the movement but I have to be warm.

my joint and foot pain lessened as i lost weight. never fully gone but 90% gone in my case. as i had regain, the joint and foot pain returned. now that i'm losing the regain, the pain is going away again too. in my case there is a direct relationship between my weight and my joint/foot pain. 

i recently got a stand up desk as work. i use ortho inserts (OTC not custom) in my shoes and stand on a squishy mat. first couple of days were difficult and now i'm loving it. i have more energy and feel stronger. 

thanks for your responses. 

I also wear custom orthotics & I still wear them, but I probably need new ones since I've lost the weight. My joint pain wasn't much, I guess I got used to it?, but it's better with the weight loss. However even with the weight off I still get stiffness in my knee, mostly my left one. I'm guessing that the damage of being SMO over the years caused damage that'll probably be there for life. 

My friend also has knee problems & he started drinking apple cider vinegar & his pain is much better, but I think this is an alternative not proven theory but it does have benefits. I'm trying it out & see where it goes.

Maybe you should try some alternative methods. I do hope you'll give the vsg another shot b4 resorting to surgery, you've lost it b4, I'm sure you can lose it again. Good Luck in either case. 

Here's my experience---

Just prior to having my Ds back in '03, I saw the ortho doc about the TERRIBLe pain in both my knees. He told me the only thing he could possibly do to relieve my pain was two total knee replacements, but at my then-weight he had serious doubts about how successful that surgery would be. I said "Fine. I'm having WLS instead."

That was 12 years ago, and I'm still using my original knees. Yes, they DO still hurt, but they WORK. The pain level decreased as I lost weight, but it has increased as I have aged. Without my DS I wouldn't be around to complain about it, so---it's all good. (*grin*)

I still have hip pain, but it's way better than it was before.  I used to get cortisone injections and lived on Aleve, but I don't have to do any of that anymore.  Even on "bad" days, it's pretty tolerable.