New here
Hello everyone!
I am new here and want to introduce myself. I had a vsg in 2009 and lost 114lbs. I went from a bmi of 36 to 22 and I thought I had finally beat obesity.
over the last 7+ years I've moved all over the country for work, ran 7 half marathons and a full marathon, bought a house by myself, developed fibromyalgia, and became a crippling insomniac do to shift work. The weight crept on slowly. I had to eat more carbs to fuel my marathon training in 2012 and it never fell off. I still eat clean (maintain a strict gluten free lifestyle) and I'm still active than most people.
I feel like I woke up one day with a bmi of 35 and had no idea how I ended up in this fat suit. I am embarrassed to say that I failed.
So im considering a revision to a duodenal switch. However, I have a bmi of 35 with pcos, depression and insomnia. Any lightweights have issues with getting your ds covered by insurance? I have harvard pilgrim insurance.
I also was told by an obesity specialist that because I was so successful with my sleeve initially that if I had gastric bypass I likely would only lose 20-30 lbs. why would I go through all the pain of another surgery just to lost 30 lbs? How would my body react to a ds then?
anyone else have a similar story? Any advice of words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated!
thanks for reading!
You already have 1/2 the DS so it makes no sense to me to do anything else. And all you need to do is add the switch and that's not nearly as bad as doing the whole thing.
The real deal is that the sleeve is just another diet. To be successful long term you pretty much have to live on a starvation diet and do things like run marathons. And gastric bypass(RNY) is not the DS. Not even close. The DS is the best WLS out there today. Best results short and long term. Someday there will be something better but not today.
There are more than a few people out there who got the DS in 2 ops and reached goal. I am not saying you won't have to work at it but it can be done. First of all you would have to quit starving and eat lots of protein and fat. You have to be willing to give up carbs till you reach goal. After that you can see what you can eat without gaining.
You may or may not have insurance problems. Get your actual policy and read it yourself(EOC). If all else fails, you can always go to MX to Dr. Esquerra. Many have done this and he is very good.
Wow you are so right. I do have to starve myself and run marathons to be successful with the sleeve. I'm not not capable of living that way anymore. I am fully prepared to eat more fat and no carbs as I already follow a modified paleo diet. And yes my insurance does cover ds. It's just a matter of convincing my surgeon and my insurance to approve it. I'll keep you posted!
Thanks so much for the support!
on 9/26/16 1:05 pm
I was a relative lightweight with a BMI of 39 before surgery. I had a lightweight version of a DS called a SADi DS which allows for a longer common channel with presumably less malabsorption. The thinking is that for a lightweight, a full DS may be too much. It's also considered an upgraded version of an RNY since there is no dumping syndrome. Most people having the SADi are not lightweights, and it's been very effective so far.
I lost about 150lbs in 9 to 10 months, and have been in maintenance since. So far I'm about 2 years out and stable the past year within a range of a few pounds. I can gain or lose 7 or 8 lbs pretty quickly but I always gravitate back to the same weight range, which is much lower than I ever expected.
I'm not sure if my insurance will cover the lightweight version of ds. I hope this won't deter my surgeon from doing the surgery anyway. I'm also hoping he will resleeve me in the process. Fingers crossed!
i just can't help but think what weight I would be now if I hadn't had the sleeve. I bet I would have a much higher bmi.
The SADI/Loop is an experimental procedure and not usually covered by insurance. And there is no long term data on the results.
It says much for your lack of metabolism if starvation and marathons are not enough. You need the whole DS. Lightweight or not because as you said, it's not a lifestyle you can embrace forever.
If one doc won't do it, find another. You don't want to be resleeved unless there is no choice! You already settled. Don't do it again. Hold out for what you need.
It seems like we see at least one new person every week with a failed sleeve. Bottom line, it is the operation that failed, not you. As Patty said, it's just another permanent low fat, low carb, low calorie diet when you get right down to it, with a smaller stomach to help you at first. But once the sleeve stretches out, which is inevitable, it's all up to you, the diet and lots of exercise. In the long run, for most people, it just isn't sustainable.
The DS has the best statistics of any bariatric surgery for percentage excess weight loss, for maintaining that weight loss, and for resolution of almost all comorbidities. If your metabolism got you back to a bmi of 35 with all the effort you made, you need the DS and nothing but full DS. And if your present surgeon doesn't do the DS or won't do it for you, you need a different surgeon, not whatever less effective operation he might be willing to do (probably just what he's comfortable doing, not necessarily what works best for the patient).
As to whether or not you need a re-sleeve, that's something for you and your real DS surgeon to determine.
Larra
I'm not a dser, I just snoop around this board because the surgeon I'm having do my revision is a d.s surgeon and because I'm still thinking about it. I think you're a great candidate. I gained a lot of weight back with the sleeve. A lot of my reticence towards getting the d.s (but not all) is because I've been a vegetarian for a very long time, and I know I'd have to give that up if I got the d.s. Since you already seem to have a higher protein diet, you sound like a great candidate. If you do get the d.s please keep us updated on your progress and how it turns out for you.
