Another Survey

What is your starting weight and BMI  before DS? 

 How much weight did you lose?

Was it a revision?

Revision from what WLS?

My starting weight was 286, BMI of 44

I lost 145 lbs.

Totally virgin DS

36.8 BMI

80 pounds

virgin DS

Lightweight with 5 comorbidities

Starting weight 297, BMI 49

Ending weight 129, BMI 21

Virgin DS 

It seems to me that you lose more with virgin DS

Starting weight - 405   BMI - 67.4

Surgery day - 397

Today  - 165  BMI - 27.5

Weight lost - 232 pounds  

Virgin DS - 2/25/2009

Co-Morbidities: High Blood Pressure, sleep apnea - resolved post-DS.

WOW! How was your diet? Low carb for how long? Anyway you did really well.

I just did high protein moderate complex carbs for the first year.  With a DS, the only thing you really need to do is avoid simple carbs and simple sugars.Those are the only two things you absorb 100 percent of.  Negative reinforcement comes in the form of gas from hell an diarrhea.  This is the only surgery in which there are really no set dietary rules, except for protein and calcium intake.  You just have to become attuned to how your own body reacts to different foods, and learn to read your own labs.  Some DSer's have issues when they do carbs, some don't.  I increase carbs to slow weight loss, but for me it doesn't slow that much. I've had a very hard time putting the brakes on weight loss.  After nearly four years, I've figured out how to stabilize my weight, and even then, I'm shocked once in a while when I get on the scale and I've had a significant drop.  I once dropped ten pounds below target in my sleep, and had to *really* increase shakes and carbs to put it back on. Don't let *anyone* convince you to completely let go of your shakes.  That got me into protein calorie malnutrition. I can still switch losing on and off almost like a light switch.  Length of common channel is really what determines how powerful this thing is.  I have the shortest of "normal" at 75cm. I asked my surgeon for shorter, but she no longer does short CC's, and I don't think many, if any of the 75 worldwide surgeons do.  Too many revisions due to malnutrition issues.  I have been battling malnutrition issues myself for the past 6 months, but that was my own doing.  I was dealing with the decline and passing of my Mom, and didn't take care of myself as well as I should have. She passed in April, and my labs were drawn in May.  Worst labs I've ever had. Vit. D& K deficiencies, zinc, ferretin (iron), high PTH (indicates calcium leaching from bones), total protein deficiency although except for calcium, they were all just under normal ranges, that, compared to just having ongiong calcium issues.  I'm doing Cal/Mag powder in juice now, along with 50,000 IU D every other day.  Ordering the whole Vitalady package is a bit expensive for me, so I take the deficiency list and shop around on the Internet for the best deals I can get.  Lucky Vitamin is good for a lot of what I need, as well as eBay.  

Thanks Babe,I will sure depend on you guys after my surgery for support and advise. Wish me luck. My surgeon does 150 channel.

Your surgeon does 150 CC for everybody, or does he measure out using the Hess Method?  The 150 CC is the upper limit,  75 CC is the lower limit.  Your CC can fall anywhere in between.  Just giving a standard common channel really doesn't work, because everybody's different.  In order to have optimal results from the DS, your total smallintestine length needs to be measured during surgery,  then the lengths of the biliopancreatic and food channels are determined using the Hess equation.  The DS is tailor-made for each individual, so while we all have the DS, no one has exactly the same common channel length.