How did you decide??

OK.. so how did you decide which surgery was right for you? I attended a seminar with Dr Husted back in December and ever since that time I have searched online for additional info on all of the procedures available. I am just undecided which surgery would be right for me. I have my consultation on 4/15/09 so hopefully after that I will have a better idea. I definately dont think that the lap band is right for me. Ive been leaning towards DS. I am just looking for any input. Thanks for listening.
Shea

I know you said you weren't leaning towards the band, but since that's what i have, it's what I'm going to tell you about.  I chose the band for a few reasons:
1.  I have no health issues that I had to get the weight off NOW, that being said...
2.  I am still young (35 is still young, right?!) so, I was in no hurry to get the weight off.  I wanted to lose it slow to lessen the chances of hair loss and loose skin.  I wanted to lose weight the same way I normally would...I just needed help keeping it off and feeling full.
3.  I also chose the lap band because it can be adjusted for life.  Not feeling as full as I did 3 years out?  Have an adjustment.  I don't think you can do that with any of the other surgeries...you would have to have a revision. 
Those are just a few reasons why I chose the band.  You do what is best for you!  I'll be supportive either way! 

  Hi. I chose the band for the same exact reason's that Kelly did.. I did not want my body parts rearranged because I'm a coward.. It took everything I had to have my band placed, I could never have done one of the other surgeries!! ever!!
  Good luck.. Vicki in a clambshell has had awesome results with the DS.. Tracy and Leslie have had awesome results with gastric bypass.. and we have all had good results with the band.. So I think its safe to say we got you covered support wise whichever surgery you pick!! Good luck!!
dawn

Shea...educate yourself! If you need to go to another seminar or two. I attended two of them and still could have learned more! Lol...I love my band and like Dawn and Kelly I wanted to do this slowly. That and the surgery was easier to recover from. for me. Good luck with whatever you decide! We are here for ya!

Hey Shea!
Well just like Dawn said, Leslie & I have had great results with the bypass and you can tell by Becca, Dawn, Vicki and many others that the band works for them.

My reasons and my husbands as well was gastric bypass all the way. He was almost 200 lbs overweight and was having alot of problems as far as breathing, arthritis & so on. His mom had gastric bypass over 20 yrs ago in Germany and had total success with it. Neither of us liked the idea of having to go for a fill ever so often and having to adjust to that fill. We wanted to have surgery once and change our eating habits once and not deal with it all the time. And at the time when he had his, the success rate for gastric bypass was greater (not sure what it is now) and his surgeon had performed more bypasses than bands.

I have a friend who had DS and she loves it completely but I have no knowledge about that procedure.

So in the end, whatever you choose, there is mucho support for you on here. Just research all the choices and see what appeals.

Best of luck to ya!

I had the DS on April 15, 2008 with Dr. Inman in Indianapolis, IN.

I chose to travel nearly 3 hours away to get this medical miracle because, simply, it is the best weight loss surgery available in my opinion.

DISCLAIMER - please understand that I will not bash any other surgeries and love my lapband and rny friends here on this board and in my community.  I will encourage them and say nothing bad about anyone's choice of surgery.  However, I will shout from the rooftops the benefits of the DS and hope none of you are offended by my enthusiasm or by me sharing my information when I am asked.  You all know I do not force it on anyone.  I was asked.  So here goes:

Before surgery I weighed 270 lbs and had diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, acid reflux, hip, knee and joint pain and breathing problems.  At almost a year out I can honestly and amazedly (if that's a word) say that ALL of those issues are resolved.  My research showed that the DS was the best surgery for long term weight loss and that sounded good to me.  I have been to my surgeon 2 times since my surgery for follow ups.  I will go again in June and then once a year for 10 years because I signed up for a study. 

Lapband sounded bad to me (just me girls don't get upset) because of the port under your skin, because of the high resurgery rate (approx. 70% at ten years) and the low long term weight loss (approx. 42% at ten years).  Again I wanted one surgery - one recovery and one weight loss phase.  After years of yoyo dieting, losing and regaining literally hundreds of pounds, I personally could not face another weight loss failure.  I knew the lapband would fail me.

RNY sounded like the best option and I was headed towards insurance approval for one until I discovered and researched the DS.  I had to even pay, out of pocket, $600 for my RNY surgeon's consultation and Norton Bariatric's psych and NUT fees.  It was worth it.  If I had the RNY I would have a pouch rather than a stomach, I would not be able to drink with my meals and would have to avoid sugar for fear of dumping, not because it slows my weight loss.  I would also have to diet to lose weight.  I have a male friend with the RNY right now who is on an 800 calorie diet to get his weight off.  I thought if I wanted to diet why would I need to have surgery?  The bypass portion of the surgery, my surgeon informed me, would only cause me to malabsorb 10% of my nutrients.  I asked about a distal bypass which would help me to malabsorb more and he said that would have to be a revision.   So the stats for the RNY weren't much better 65% EWL after 10 years.  Would I be happy with that? 

Then I sat in on Dr. Inman's seminar.  She performs all three surgeries and presented all in a very fact based way showing no better light on one over the others.  I had a meeting with her afterwards and told her that regardless of how she had to do my surgery open or lap, that I thought the DS was the best surgery hands down available.  She said she completely agreed.

Here I am nearly a year out of surgery.  I have lost somewhere around 80-85 lbs, and am living so well, I really don'****ch the scale every day.  Check out my ticker to see how much I've lost, I will after I submit this post.  I can bend over and breath at the same time.  I fit into regular sized clothing in any store I want to shop in.  I sit on my husband's lap without crushing him and my 16 year old picks me up whenever he wants to.  He was just last night dancing with me in the kitchen when he picked me up and swung me in a circle.  Life is good.

Downside.  Well, I guess it's that I can't eat gummy life savers without having stinky farts.  Hmmm, actually now that I think about it, I had pretty stinky farts before so not sure I can blame that on my DS.  What else gives me stinky farts, uh, nothing really.  I stick to mostly protein but am a sugar **** by nature so I have to exercise will power to stay away from that, or at least keep sugar free chocolate pudding around.

More downside, diarhea (sp) I actually had it right after surgery for my first BM and then again at about 6-8 weeks out when I had a milk shake at steak n shake.  Since then I will do that on purpose to get things moving when need be.  I have one bowel movement a day and it is well formed and smells no worse than it did before unless I've been into some kind of sugar alcohols. 

I love to talk about my DS, and would love to talk to you more.  You can pick my brain about anything you want to, nothing is off limits.  PM me and I will give you my cell phone number.

WHO SHOULD NOT HAVE THE DS.  If you cannot take vitamins or be an advocate for your own healthcare then you do not want the DS.  If you are intimidated by doctors and are afraid to tell them what you need and that they are wrong when they refer to your surgery as a gastric bypass you do not need a DS.  If you won't stick up for yourself and be your own advocate and take your vitamins you might want another surgery.

Finally, while the DS is IMHO the best weight loss surgery available with a great surgery comes great responsibility - take it seriously and make sure that no matter what you chose it is right for you.

I am 3 1/2 years out.  I chose the RNY.  I chose it because at 311 lbs I needed to lose it fast.  I had so many medical problems. As of today those problems are gone.   The band wasn't as good then as it is now.  I would now like to have a band with my RNY... just joking.  I had so much weight to lose and my surgeon recommended the bypass.  It was a hard decision.  I wanted the less invasive, just because of the risk but I am so glad for what I have.  It is just a tool like everyone says.  You do have to pay more attention but I honestly can say I no longer live on a diet.  I have changed my way of life.  Yea its amazing but your old demons do pop back out from no where.   I have gained about 15 lbs but I am ok with that.  My weight has stayed the same for a year and a half.  I have worn the same size clothes for the past 2 years.  I think I lost a little too much and my body has settled at 165-170 and it stays there.  I do weigh a lot.  I just don't want to became afraid of the scale again and wake up one day and be 50lbs over weight.

Good luck with your choice.
jane

The final issue for me was that I knew that I didn't eat because I was hungry and that IF I COULD HAVE DONE IT ON MY OWN I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN PUSHING 400 LBS!

I needed something that made me change the way I ate. The RNY was the only option for me. It has forced me to change the way I even think about food.

Now 2 1/2 yrs out and 200 lbs later, I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Wow! Thank you all for your greatcomments! I am still re-reading them. I love this board! Everyone is so helpful and replies so quick with their own opinions and experiences! I really appreciate any input. Thanks!

After I attended the seminar with Bluegrass Bariatrics I had a feeling that the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG) was right for me, however I did a great deal of reasearch to make my final decision.

As someone else mentioned, I don't want to offend anyone.  These are just a few of my reasons for making the decision I did.

Banding didn't interest me at all.  Optimal weight loss takes 3-5 years.  Patience is a virtue, but unfortunately, it isn't one of mine.  Also, potential complications increase over time.  At 39, I hope to have another 40 years left.  How long do bands last?  No one really knows.  They have only been around for 15 years.

At first, I really liked the thought of dumping and malabsorbtion with the RNY.  What better to keep me from eating sweets than dumping.  However, only about 30% of those with RNY dump.  I have come to greatly appreciate the fact I can eat anything I want.  I just don't want to eat much.  Malabsorbtion of calories sounds great, but the fact is that over time your body will adjust and begin absorbing more calories - possible all of them.  You will always malabsorb nutrients.  You must be diligent about taking all your vitamins.  I know some RNY patients who take 20 pills a day.  That has to get expensive.

My surgeon won't perform the DS because of a belief that the negative consequences are not out weighed by the positives, given that there are so many other possible surgeries.

The VSG has been performed for years and years both as treatment for ulcers and stomach cancer and as the first stage of the DS.  Actually, the VSG as a stand alone surgery happened because so many DS patients were so happy with the first stage of the procedure that they never had the second stage (malabsorbtion).  My surgeon said that at 1 year out patients with VSG have weight loss equal to or greater than those with RNY.  With VSG there are no fills, no sweet spot, just have the surgery and you are done.  You can also take any medications.  With RNY you can not take NSAIDS or time released meds.  There is a history of arthritis and reumatoid arthritis in my family, so the need for NSAIDS to releave chronic pain is likely at some point.  The portion of the stomach which produces Grehlin, the hunger hormone, is removed, so hunger is greatly diminished.  Some people have the return of mild hunger return after 6 months; for others it never returns.  I had a band patient tell me that she is always hungry.  I haven't been hungry since surgery - almost 7 months ago.  At my 6 month follow-up I had lost 90.5 pounds.  I love my sleeve.

With all that said, choosing a surgery is a very personal decision.  Research, research, research!  Choose the surgery that is right for YOU!

All the best in making your decision.

Ashley