Having trouble deciding which surgery....please help

Hey everyone!  This is my first post, but I've been reading the boards for a week or so.  I have just started my journey towards WLS.  At first, I thought that the sleeve sounded like the best option for me.  However, I attended the information seminar at my hospital today, and I'm now wavering between the sleeve and the bypass.  It would be great if I could hear people's opinions on the different types of surgeries, and why they chose the one they did. 

Thanks!

This is a copy/paste job because I am too lazy to type it again. ;o) Someone else was dealing with the same surgery types.

Bypass, it's a trade off. You'll lose the same with bypass as you will with a sleeve, statistically speaking. The trade off is faster weight loss with bypass in exchange for a lifetime of malabsorbing nutrition. You'll only malabsorb calories for 6-24 months but you'll malabsorb nutrition forever. With bypass you have high risks for vitamin deficiencies, reactive hypoglycemia, and dumping, you also risk bowel obstructions for life. About 3 years post op bypass you are seriously metabolically challenged so losing a pound 3 years post op is not like losing a pound today. And in the end you have to follow a sleeve diet to maintain anyway. So is the trade off worth it?

Bands are horrible surgery types, sleeves are the safest surgery type long term, bypass is great for people with severe reflux not caused by obesity or a hiatal hernia, and DS provides the best weight loss long term.

Sleeves... it removes Ghrelin produced by the stomach and Ghrelin is what tells your brain you are hungry. Most sleeved people don't experience hunger often. About the only time I do is if I eat a lot of white carbs. Then the blood sugar spikes cause hunger. But otherwise, I might experience stomach hunger a few times a year. Bypass requires lots of labs, sleeves require far fewer labs since we don't malabsorb.

Bypass folks often times dilate their stoma. Food acts like a water slide down their esophagus, through their pouch, and into their small intestine, they are always hungry and since they aren't malabsorbing anymore the regain starts. Since they are metabolically challenged they have a hard time losing that regain.

Sleeves... perfect restriction, your pyloric valve isn't stapled off so you have a fully functioning smaller stomach minus the Ghrelin.

Don't forget to check out DS if you are interested in malabsorption.

Not every one will say the band is bad research them all then decide  on what you find  out not what others say please reach er them all. all surgery's have risk. in some case on here you will only hear the bad i hope everyone that answers you will give the good along with the bad

Good for you on asking this question.  DO AS MUCH research as possible and make sure you make the right decision for YOU!!  

I would like to share this link with you:
www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4294177/PRE-OPS-THINK-TWICE-CUT-ONCE-OR-ELSE/#35371245

I chose the DS and it was the BEST decision for ME!  Good luck with your research!!

THINK TWICE, CUT ONCE -- YOU MAY NOT GET A SECOND CHANCE!

Asking on here what surgery is best for you is like me to ask you to buy underware  for me--it is impossible to do...everyone has different tastes and needs, and they have to pick accordingly...

For me--there is NO bad WLS,,,,I chose and love the band--the band is the redheaded ******* around here, but for me, because of a family history of Crohns disease, it would be the only option besides non-op for me.  And it worked...I will soon be 5yrs out and I have lost 220#...I am healthy and at a normal weight...(see avatar)...No complications and I don't malabsorb,I don't worry about strictures,and I haven't had a fill in over a year.

These are MY results...will they work for you--WHO KNOWS?
Will you be able to stick to the requirements of supplements FOR LIFE--WHO KNOWS?
Will you lose and regain over time?--WHO KNOWS

What I'm saying is that NO ONE SURGERY is a perfect thing...all have positive and negative sides.  Do your research.  Consult with a surgeon who does ALL types of surgery.  Read the UNBIASED research and results of medical studies.  Talk to those who have has each surgery.  And after all that info., do what YOU need to do to reach your goal and keep the weight off...because when it comes down to it, YOU are the only one who has to have, and live with, the decision you make

I agree with the other poster that you need you research all 4 procedures and look carefully at the pros and cons of each procedure and look at what post op life may be like with each procedure and then decide what would work best for you.
I was self pay when I had my surgery in June 08 so I could have had any of the procedures since insurance was not influencing my choices.
I did extensive research and untimately decided on the sleeve as the best option for me.
I had considered the band  (2005) but was told by the surgeon and by the Inamed folks themselves (makers of the band at the time) that with a history of Chrons the band was contraindicated. I also found during my research in 2008 that what I saw about bands eroding and slipping and ports flipping concerned me enough that I was not willing to take the risk. I also did not want to have to deal with having to get fills and taking the chance of not finding a "sweet spot" and being either overfilled or underfilled. Again it was my personal choice and not an indictment of the band per se.
As far as malabsorbtive procedures go I did not want RNY because the malabsorbtion of calories would last approximately 2 years and then decrease significantly but the malabsorbtion of vitamins would last forever (at least according to what I found when I looked in to it). I also did not want to risk "dumping" either to rely on it and not get it (only about 30% do) or to be afraid to eat certain foods because I would not know what might cause dumping.
I did not want DS for similar reasons (No dumping though) The whole issue of malabsorbtion scared me. I did not want to have to be vigilant about taking several doses of several different vitamins/minerals at different times throughout the day or risk significant health problems. I did not want to be at risk for having to take iron infusions. I did not want to risk having other health problems related to a surgery I had to get rid of my health problems in the first place. Also with DS while there is no dumping I saw repeated posts about folks have significant problems with loose stools, nasty gas etc from eating certain foods. No everyone with DS does not experience did but I saw the posts often enough that I decided the risks were not worth the "positive" of better chance of keeping the weight off.
For me the sleeve has allowed me to lead the most "normal" post op life I could have imagined. I can and do eat normal sized portions of about any food. I do not have to eat low fat, low calorie or low carb.
Some DS folks say sleeve folks have to watch what they eat like a hawk or that sleeve folks have to diet or eat toddler sized portions of food. This has not been my experience.
I had my surgery in June 2008. My BMI was over 51 when I started so I was not a lightweight. I lost 135 lbs (goal, actually below my original goal) in about 10 mos and have easily maintained that loss since.
Hope this helps.

I chose my surgery type not based on people's opinions (anecdotal evidence) but based on research and science.

The research clearly shows that the surgery with the best statistics for:

weight loss
maintenance of lost weight
resolution of diabetes

is the Dudodenal Switch.

I wanted to get this right the first time so I went with the science. All surgery types are not created equal.

www.DSFacts.com

~Becky

Becky is right research and facts are critically important in making your deicision. Also important is real life information from people that are living with each of these surgeries on a day to day basis.  After I researched all the fatual information about the procedures I spent time on each of forums on this site and listened (saw) was folks were posting about what life was like on a daily basis and that is ultimately helped me make my decision.
Yep initial weight loss was a factor
Yep stats about keeping it off was a factor
Yep ridding myself of comorbidities was a factor
but so was  being able to eat foods that I liked with no fears about nasty impact of what I was eating.
So was worries about what would would happen if I was not super vigilant about my vitamins and supplements
All surgeries are not created equal and when I weighed (yep that pun was intended) all the pros and cons VSG was the choice that made most sense to me and at going on over 2 1/2 years post op and close to 2 years of maintaining with no re-gain I have no reason to question my choice.

its going to be about your life style for the rest of your life post op,,,,DS is the most normal,,,i eat normal, live normal at 8 weeks, and I'm almost at normal weight, with my Como's disappearing,,and off meds. 

Definitely do a TON of research. At first I wanted the band, then RNY, then DS, then VSG.

After months and months of research, I decided that the only two surgeries I would ever get were the DS or VSG. There is just no benefit at all of RNY over either of these two surgeries, IMO.

Take as much time as you need. You will live with this decision for the rest of your life.

Good luck!