I am not 10 plus post op I am only 3 years. This is just how it affected me...
For me yep got much thinner,and so much healthier both mentally and physically.
Do I ever get vitamin and mineral deprived, oh yeah. I do so because I was given orders to take certain supplements and when I take them I am not deprived but at times I slack up and when I do my blood works shows it. The only vitamin I found I go deficient on even though I never slack up is B12. I get a shot q3m and at times I am critically low, so protocol is changed to q1m.
People can die from absolutely anything and I have no doubt many have. I do believe dieing down the road following a successful bypass is rather slim, especially if one is responsive to their body needs (taking supplements as ordered, et-cetera).
{Think child birth years ago.. death from birthing was not uncommon, today we still birth yet so few die, science and its wonders improves with time}
Years and years ago bypasses were much different that they are today, in those cases there were many poor outcomes short and long term. The procedure has changed drastically since.
I have met so many post-op bypass people. Some going back 10 or more years since their surgery. I have yet to meet one that did not go through it fine physically. I have met a few that have gone through it fine physically but mentally it was a mistake.
It is a serious life change a very positive one for the prepared and willing and a very negative one for the person who thinks quick fix.
It seems a quick fix, first month 20 or 30 pounds falls off the second another 20. Yet the loss slows in no time and many self included never meet their goal weight. For those like me who are still a bit chubbed it can be saddening. I personally am not saddened I kept the curves and feel good where I am. I wouldn't mind dropping a few more but I don't care either way I am so comfy in my body as is.
Just a personal view here but I noticed that people who live to eat rather than eat to live have the hardest time with this operation. If food focused gatherings are your main happy times you're in for a rude wake up call when you have this operation.
For me if I want pizza I eat pizza, if I want birthday cake I have it, craving salty chips with pms... I am so in that bag. (Probably why I never made it to goal LOL) Its about limits and learning your body all over.
Being thin is the least of all the benefits. Being healthier is the benefit of this surgery. Being able to walk from the car to the store and not having to be dropped off atthe entrance. Being able climb the steps without huffing and puffing. Most bypass patients are diabetic pre-surgery most are NOT diabetic post-surgery. Most are anovulatory pre-surgery, most are ovulatory post-surgery. Cholesterol becomes healthier, the risk of heart disease drastically decreases with weight loss. Arthritis symptoms improve. I could go and on. Most have low self-esteem, worth and value pre, most feel wow I can do nearly anything post surgery.
The ways in which bypass changed my life are many. All of them for the good. I do not think I am an odd case. I went to meetings and met so many post op and all have expressed to me the ways in which this operation changed them for the better.
I can't say how well medical science has compiled info about the health of post-op'ers 20 years and so because 20 years ago this operation was nothing like it is today.
Heck mine was only 3 years ago and I had open surgery, a few months later that same doc started doing lap on all his patients and for those pts. the procedure was even easier than mine. It is constantly improving. So when one finds info on a post-op person from 20 years ago chances are he or she did not have the operation as it is today and his or her response then is not comparible. | 
