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Had my DS about 20 years ago and my CC is 75. I wish I would have gotten 50. That's what I wanted in the first place. I have never had any deficiencies and I still have to diet to keep the weight off. I have to work hard at it. I had very little free/easy weight loss immediately after the surgery too.
I hope this works out well for all of you.
I wish him the best and I hope he makes an appropriate choice. But you can't make anyone do anything. Maybe he is smart enough to make the right choice and maybe not, but seeing that all of you have had WLS, he certainly has resources available.
My thought, I wonder if he would take the supplements if he had the DS. Or would he be stubborn enough to refuse? If He won't take the pills, it is not the surgery for him.
As your family already knows the VSG is just another diet with a smaller stomach. I agree with you that your son needs malabsorbtion to be able to keep the weight off.
While I don't have a longer common channel (mine is 85 cm), I would advise you to join Facebook DS support groups if you haven't already to get more anecdotal testimonies before proceeding. Can you succeed with a longer CC? Yes. Will it be better than a sleeve? Yes. However, based on what I've seen, I'd say the discrepancy between long term regain and maintenance with a longer CC (200 or longer) versus shorter CC (100 or less) is a bit more serious than what you seem to believe. From what ive seen, there are many more people struggling to lose all their excess weight and prevent regain than their are people struggling with malnutrition.
As far as protein is concerned, your bougie size will play a role in this as well.
If anything, standard DS (100 cm CC) has some regain due to that measurement not being short *enough*. Dr Keshishian, one of the leading DS surgeons in the world, wrote an article on the Hess method and how it's still the best option when customizing CC lengths. The majority of his patients (around 75% I believe) are given a 75 cm CC. Some even shorter!
Diligence would be required while monitoring your blood work regardless of CC length, and you'd likely have to fine-tune your vitamin regimen to your individual needs.
Granted, a 37 bmi is on the shorter end for obesity and DS surgery. At the end its your body, and you have to do what's best for you, but I figured I'd offer a perspective that swings more toward the other side of the spectrum.
Best of luck my friend.
Sounds like that is working well for you... we're all different, and our doctors know what's best for each of us. You're making great progress.. best of luck ð?'
Definitely DS. At that weight it's extremely unlikely he'll be able to sustain the weight loss with any other surgery. I also recommend that he gets a shorter CC, which will make weight loss and maintenance even easier. Where are you located? A couple of good surgeons I reccomend are Dr Keshishian in California or Dr Elariny in Virginia.
As far as drinking is concerned, yes, I reccomend that the issue is addressed before proceeding with the operation. The rapid weight loss is hard on people's livers, and the last thing someone needs is alcohol to stress out the liver even further.
How bad is the drinking issue?
While I very much appreciate the thoughtful response, this thread is sort of redundant now, as I've already made my decision a while ago and chose to go with a 85 cm Common Channel DS. I felt that was the best option for me, I'm currently about 6 months post op, and have lost 119.5 pounds total. I currently weigh 181.5 and still losing. I'm approaching a normal bmi and my recovery was great. My only regret was not having the CC shortened further. My surgeon gave me the option to go down to 75 cm.
Actually...the real horror stories are those with really short common channels. I've read about it here on this site.
Such as malnutrition, muscle wasting, bone lose etc.... Many people have had to have their common channel lengthened. You'll be thin...but ill and wasting away. Goal should be healthy. I had a lot of concerns about that, and possible regain. After much discussion with my Dr. I'm going with a common channel of 200Cm. Granted my starting BMI is 37.....but I don't want the nutritional deficiencies, and I don't want to be ****ting my pants 5 times a day and nasty gas...lol.
Before surgery you're adsorbing through about 600+CM of small intestine. Going to 200 is pretty good for my situation, considering my BMI and I was contemplating just VSG. Talk with your Dr. Best of luck!
