17 Years Post Surgery - Possible EPI - I need help!

Hello,

I'm coming up on my 17th anniversary of my DS surgery. For the most part I've maintained well. Except for this last year - I don't know why exactly. It could be a combination of many things. First of all, so much time has passed. Body changes and I guess possibly old habits returned? Also aging, which is no fun. There was significant stress losing a dear friend who was also our landlord. This necessitated our having to move - purchasing a home is never easy, and doing so while in grief mode was even worse. I also believe I have developed EPI - at first I thought it was a "radio disease" as many stations here in my area air commercials dealing with the symptoms. My primary care doctor referred me to a GI doctor because what I have is real. The incredible bloating, the actual pain, the even more unstable bowel habits. I am a mess.

I have also gained weight. I don't know how much, but I can tell in how I feel. I feel sluggish and tired and just not good. I have looked online for guidance with DS issues and all I've been able to find are things related to a month or two after surgery. And also for maintaining. I am at the point where I need legit guidance from people who know, who've lived it - like this group - how do I regroup, get on track and lose some weight?

Help!

Lisa in Scranton, PA

"yes, I actually DO need all these cats!"

Is your surgeon still in practice, as that should be the first place to go with potential DS problems? A good resource that I use for such questions (my wife is a 19-20 year DS,) is Dr. Keshishian's site, dssurgery.com. He has an extensive backlog of articles and blog posts on all things DS and DS related, though it isn't all that well organized and you just have to scan to find things of interest. But as it seems that the DS is somewhat of a hardwired EPI (at least they sometimes prescribe those enzymes for those who lose too much,) and if it is a "radio disease," he will likely cover it somewhere.

Hopefully, the your GI doc referral will have some knowledge of the DS, or have the curiosity to investigate it as needed to try to pick out the DS and non-DS issues involved. We have kept up with annual consults with Dr. Rabkin, which while they rarely come up with anything profound, are a way to keep current in his files and "keep him on retainer" so that if something odd like this comes up, our PCP can give him a call and query as to whether whatever of concern is possibly a DS (or sleeve, in my case) related issue.

Good luck in working through this. That this if something new after years of stability speaks to it probably being something new and unrelated to the DS, though odd things, like bowel obstructions, can happen many years post op (and not just to DSers, either.)