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If you’re struggling with serious health problems resulting from obesity, if you’ve tried to lose weight for years without success, if you’re wondering if there is any hope to ever achieve a healthier weight and a healthier life…then perhaps you might consider getting gastric bypass surgery.

Gastric bypass surgery is a drastic method to lose weight, but it works. I have a friend, who we’ll call “Martin Bouvier” to protect his privacy, who has successfully gone through gastric bypass surgery and I asked him to share his experience. I hope that people who are facing serious health problems and trying hard to lose weight can get some inspiration and hope from Martin’s gastric bypass story.

Martin Bouvier had been overweight for most of his life, but four years ago, his health took a turn for the worse, and Martin’s weight and related health problems became a life-threatening situation.

At his heaviest, Martin was classified as “super obese,” weighing over 450 pounds. As a result of his weight, he had developed Type 2 diabetes, neuropathy (loss of sensation in his hands and feet) and congestive heart failure.

“I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2001,” said Martin. “In 2007, I’d been struggling with several months of not being able to breathe well as a result of the congestive heart failure. All of a sudden, one night my scrotum swelled up to the size of a watermelon. I tried to make some dietary changes, and I lost 100 pounds, but then regained 60 pounds of it after 6 months. My congestive heart failure was getting worse. My heart function was down to 10% and I was going to die.”

Martin’s doctors advised him to consider gastric bypass surgery, since his weight and health conditions made him a good candidate for this more extreme variety of surgery. “I literally was to the point where my life was at stake,” said Martin. “So I said, ‘what the heck,’ and decided to give the gastric bypass surgery a try. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

Getting surgery is never a simple matter, and Martin had some concerns about how it would go. His biggest fear was that after the surgery, he was worried that he would be starving and unable to eat. “That sounded like hell to me,” said Martin. “When food is your drug of choice and a necessity, it confuses things. I wasn’t concerned about dying from the surgery, because that was one of the risks. I considered dying to be preferable to living as a permanently disabled morbidly obese freak that people wouldn’t want to look at.”

There are three main types of gastric bypass surgery, and Martin needed to have the most complicated, drastic and risky of the three options: a biliopancreatic diversion with a duodenal switch.

“Even though the surgery was complicated, it had a high success rate and I was fortunate to have a rock star surgeon,” said Martin. “We tried a laparoscopic procedure at first, but ultimately they had to cut me open and do the more invasive duodenal switch procedure. My surgery went on for over 12 hours because there was a bowel leak, but they found it and fixed me up. When I woke up I was still intubated and couldn’t speak, and I kept gagging on the tube. It felt like I was choking, but my hands were in restraints as well so I couldn’t touch the tube. I wasn’t expecting that.”

Martin’s surgery was long and complicated, and he ultimately had to be in intensive care during his recovery. “The incision is about a foot long and hurt like hell,” said Martin.

Ultimately, the emotional complications were almost more surprising. “They make you see a psychiatric counselor for months before the surgery, to get ready for the possible emotional issues,” said Martin. “I felt guilty for needing a weight loss surgery at all. And I felt guilty for taking up a bed in an intensive care unit, while there were people in there who were dying through no fault of their own.”

Martin also said that he felt bad for his mother, who was worried for him the whole time. “I remember hearing my mom talking in my hospital room about how I had ‘emotional problems’ and how I ‘really liked cheeseburgers,’” said Martin. “That was hard to hear. You never want to put your mother through something like that, where she’s worried that her child is going to die.”

Despite some challenges along the way, Martin said that he has no regrets about choosing to do the bypass surgery. He’s lost over 200 pounds, and is down to 244 pounds – only 14 pounds away from his high school weight.

“I had a harder time with the surgery and recovery because we couldn’t do the laparoscopic option and they had to open me up,” said Martin. “At the time, while I was in intensive care, I remembered thinking ‘I wish I hadn’t done this.’ But then, after a couple weeks, and until this day, I have no regrets and I’m glad I did it. I would do it over again if I had to.”

If people are considering gastric bypass surgery, Martin says that from his experience, gastric bypass is a life-changing thing and he recommends it to people who are good candidates for the procedure.

“If you are going to die without it and have tried other options to lose weight, and you are morbidly obese or super obese like I was, then go for it,” said Martin.

Asked what has been most surprising about his new life after gastric bypass surgery, Martin said that his personal relationships and self-image have been different than he expected.

“Maybe this sounds strange, but back when I was fat, I thought people would like me more if I was thinner,” said Martin. “I’ve been called ‘hot’ by a couple of women, my confidence is way higher, my libido skyrocketed, I’ve had more dates post-surgery than all the years of my life combined, but I ultimately don’t feel any more well liked or loved. That surprised me. I always blamed being fat for people not liking me, but I’ve come to realize that some things about our personalities and personal relationships are independent of our weight.”

Martin’s friendships and personal relationships have been affected in surprising ways by his gastric bypass surgery. “There are now people I’ve known for only a short time who never knew me when I was fat, and they cannot imagine me as being fat,” said Martin. “In many ways, I still think of myself as fat. I still get nervous sitting on chairs for the first time even though I’m not likely to break a decent chair anymore. I like being able to cross my legs at the knee for the first time ever.”

Martin is still adjusting to his new life post-gastric bypass. As part of the complications from his Type 2 diabetes, Martin had to have a few toes amputated. “I had looked forward to running again, after the surgery, but I still can’t because of the toe amputations,” said Martin. “There are also a lot of side effects. A good side effect of gastric bypass surgery is that I don’t sweat nearly as much as I used to, and I feel cleaner all the time. The downside is, because they remove part of your stomach, it affects the way you digest food – and so you get a lot of gas and frequent diarrhea, but these things can be controlled with discipline and by paying attention to how you feel.”

The experience of getting gastric bypass surgery has totally changed how Martin sees himself, and it even affects his dreams. “Sometimes I forget what life was like before and sometimes I have nightmares that I’m still that way,” said Martin. “I also live in fear of getting fat again now that my weight has stopped dropping because in the past it would drop, plateau and then go back up.”

Martin said that his relationship with certain friends have become a bit strange as a result of his surgery. “I sometimes feel like some of my overweight friends want me to fail,” Martin said. “It’s like they think that by getting gastric bypass surgery, I cheated. And maybe in some ways I did, but I don’t care. The dead know it’s better to be alive and if you have to cheat to stay that way then just do it, you know?”

Learn more about Type 2 diabetes and gastric bypass surgery by reading Martin’s blog.