Shrinkage ?

I had a DS 4-13. Initially all was well. My weight loss was successful and rapid. In December my health started a rapid decline. Even tough I was vigilant in my care and follow up I ended up suffering from extreme malnutrition and severe protein deficiency. I had extreme edema that progressed to all over edema. I sought treatment from a different bariatric Doctor than the one who did the surgery due to location. I have been treated since by Cleveland Clinic which is great. I had to have a feeding tube inserted and am waiting for a revision of my DS. Here is my question...My new doctor did exploratory surgery when he inserted the feedng tube. He stated that my common channel is ONLY 80 cm. The Dr who did the surgery suddenly doesnt speak english well and has declined every written request I have made to obtain my medical records. I was repeatedly told prior to the surgery that he leaves the common channel a minimum of 150 cm. That was very important to me. My new doctor did say that the common channel could have shrunk. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?

WOW. I'm glad you are getting help.  I had my DS at the Clinic and they are a grat group of people.

I've never heard of shrinkage like that but it seems pretty unlikely that something like that would go from 150 to 80. It makes
me wonder what else they did. You might be able to contact the hospital you had your surgery at directly to get a copy of the 
surgical report. That is how I got mine from my surgery. 

I had mine approximately the same time. 4/15/13 and it has worked out pretty well for me. I'm sorry yours turned so badly. I 
hope they get it straightened out soon and you get healthy.

Pete

Dr Schauer at the Cl Clinic literally saved my life !!! When I went there I was way too weak to undergo the revision surgery. The insertion of the feeding tube alone was supposed to be done on an outpatient basis. I ended up in there for 5 days. When I first went to the CC er. I weighed 126 lbs. I gained at least 12 additional lbs in edema weight after that. Ultimately after the edema was under control I lost all the water weight and ended up at 113 lbs. I am struggling daily to keep my weight above 125 to be able to have the revision. 

On the  OR report  I got to bring back home I am able to see all the lengths, do you have anything on there? 

There are quit a few people with a 80cm common channel, that are doing very well and do not have malnutrition and severe protein deficiency. I'm curious about what your diet and supplement guidelines where,  did you eat 100-150 grams of protein per day, and did you take your supplements? 

I would ask my doctor to get in contact with your surgeon that did the DS, he may have better luck then you. 
I hope you can get your health turned around quickly. Good Luck

First of all, I'm kind of curious about who this doc is so others may be warned.

Second - thank goodness you found a doc to care for you!  Many do okay with 80 cc, however I believe it may be that their measurement may be by the Hess method that takes a percentage instead of a flat length, so their bodies can handle the shorter length fine.  It sounds like yours did neither and just eyeballed it.  YIKES.  I've never heard of a common channel shrinking...and especially wouldn't expect it to shrink that much.  That's half the original size!  I've heard more liklihood of it stretching.

For those of you that have had the DS. Have you heard of the Loop DS? My surgeon in SLC does this. It is supposed to help with the gas\diareaha issue as well and the malnutrition issues that come with the original\straight DS?

Really nervous about the bowel issues that can happen with a "regular" DS and this Loop avoids that........any feedback would be appreciated.

Malnutrition isn't an issue when patients take a special interest in their nutrition, and eat/supplement as they should.  The same goes for the gas/diarrhea issues.  They are reflective of what you eat, but it can take a long time to pinpoint all of the triggers, and they vary by person.  For that, I don't believe that surgeon's perspective of how much better than DS this new procedure is.  I am a public speaker, and never had an embarrassing moment due to my DS.  I also have a very diligent rule of not trying anything new during the work day, so I don't have such problems.  It really hasn't been that hard!

As for SADI - I prefer that name than the Loop DS (because it's not a DS), it may earn a prime spot one day, and it's up to the patients to decide if they want to take the risks associated with pioneering this procedure in it's infancy.

The bottom line is that there just isn't any long-term data about the SADI. That alone would make ME hesitate.

You've also got to realize that the SADI isn't going to give you the same sort of malabsorption of CALORIES the DS will. One of the big selling points of the DS, for me at least, is the high degree of fat malabsorption. With a traditional DS, we only absorb about 20% of the fat we eat, so we eat a LOT of fat. (I can't poop if I don't!) No one knows yet just how much fat malabsorption there is with the SADI, but it's GOT to be a lot more than with the true DS.

Form everything I've read, most surgeons doing the SADI leave a common channel of 250 cms. There is no alimentary limb, so as soon as food leaves the stomach it's in a 'normal' digestive tract, complete with gastric juices and bile. Normal digestion occurs for the whole 250 cms.

Here's the thing---the 'average' human had a small intestine of between 600 and 700 cms. However, so people vary a great deal from this 'average'. Over the years I've talked with people who had a small intestine as short as 400 cms, and greater than 900 cms.If someone can become morbidly obese with a gut as short as 400 cms, I'd not be confident that I could lose and maintain with a 250 cm. gut.

My surgeon used the Hess method, so he actually measured my small intestine and based the lengths of my alimentary limb, bilio-pancreatic limb, and common channel on that measurement. Mine measured 690 cms, and my common channel is 90 cms. After I finished healing and got acquainted with my designer guts, I've had no bowel issues to speak of. Any gastro-intestinal distress I have is due solely to my food choices, and yes, sometimes it's worth it. (*grin*)