Please help..

so I went to a dr to get a second opinion on the DS or the Sadi/sips. The surgeon said he recommended the DS since I am a insulin dependent diabetic, but since I don't need to lose that much weight he would do a DS with a longer "something" so I wouldn't have as bad malabsorption issues. Or maybe he said "shorter" .. does anyone know what "something " is and have u heard of this? I wanted to do it but office manager called and don't take my secondary insurance!!

The longer "something" is called the common channel. That's the portion of your intestines that they shorten where you absorb nutrients (and calories). The longer the CC the less malabsorption you have. The standard CC is about 100 cm (that's what I have), but I've seen folks with as long as 200 and as short as 50.

Thank you so much for responding! So just to get it straight, the dr. I was seeing was probably wanting to do a shorter CC, that way I would absorb more of what I was eating? My fiancé was with me at the appointment and he insists the dr said " longer" but I swear he said "shorter". It was so much info we were being given that day between the 2 surgeries, it was overwhelming!

Your fiance was correct, he would leave it longer.

Liz

Fiance is right. The longer the channel the more you absorb. The shorter the channel the less you absorb.

It can be very overwhelming. Lots of information that most of us don't really understand (I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV).

Start researching and reading as much as you can about the different surgery options so you can make the most informed decision for you. You're the one who has to live with the surgery for the rest of your life. Don't let a doctor tell you what surgery is best for you. Gather as much information as you can so you can make the decision.

I had my surgery 15 years ago and I'm still learning.

Your doc was right about recommending the DS. How long is this CC he is talking about? I wouldn't want anything longer than 100cm because I would want to get rid of the diabetes for good!

Standard DS was a great recommendation for diabetes, since the DS has a permanent cure rate of 98%. This differs from the other procedures greatly.

With SADI, you may go into remission just because you lose weight, but we've not seen long term if diabetes returns like it does with other procedures. The DS configuration is so successful that they've been doing it (the intestinal part without the sleeve) in Europe on non-obese patients to resolve their diabetes successfully.

Chiming in late but if the goal is to come as close to sending your diabetes into remission then the DS is your best bet. I was on 45 units of humalog twice a day at my highest. Luckily, since it doesn't always work out this way I left the hospital post-DS off all my insulin. I don't think a longer CC will make a difference.

You might want to try and research a study out of the Cleveland Clinic called STAMPEDE. While most of the research I think is from overseas that study here found the DS best in causing diabetes to go into remission. I would say cured but my endocrinologist frowns on that even though my A1c's are around 4.