Surgeon Suggesting Against VSG Due to Gastroparesis... Thoughts?

As someone who is getting ready to revise to bypass due to severe acid reflux, I agree with the other posters.. Trust me, I understand you don't want bypass. However, I can almost guarantee if you have VSG and develop chronic reflux you will rue rue the day you ever chose the sleeve over bypass. Regurgitating food, nausea, vomiting, your stomach feeling like it's on fire, refluxing by only drinking water, etc is no fun. I now have acid erosion on my teeth from having reflux for over 2 years.

Even though you are "healthy" now, it's only a matter of time before you will start to develop health problems.

I hope you are able to get the weight off without surgery but you're right stasticially speaking, the odds are agaubst you for being able to keep the weight off.

Acid reflux is no joke. Good luck in whatever you decide.

I am very sorry to hear about this. I hope the switch gives you the relief you deserve!

I definitely know that acid reflux is no joke. A couple members of my family have it, and even in its more mild stages it causes a ton of discomfort and pain. I can only imagine a more extreme case must be simply unbearable.

My frustration just comes from the fact that my current condition only shares the "reflux" bit with acid reflux... I feel absolutely none of the other symptoms, pain, or complications. I genuinely don't know that making my stomach smaller would suddenly give me acid reflux. But obviously it is a very legitimate risk!

If I ignore the surgeon's advice and go ahead with the sleeve, I would definitely regret it if the acid reflux came on. And I certainly wouldn't be able to say that I wasn't warned. Not a fun spot :/

I am having VSG in two weeks time specifically as a treatment for gastroparesis, not as a weight loss surgery per se.

Gastroparesis and reflux are two different things, although if you have reflux it might be secondary to gastroparesis and therefore VSG could help treat both. In fact, patients with both GERD and gastroparesis going into surgery are more likely to see reflux symptoms resolve than worsen.

The thing is that due to the relative rarity of gastroparesis, not many surgeons have a good understanding of it. I wouldn't blindly trust your surgeon. He doesn't seem up on current research.

This is very interesting, as I have seen similar research on gastroparesis. As far as GERD goes, I've for the most part seen that is gets worse... interesting that it sometimes doesn't.

Do you have a surgeon that suggested this path for you, or are you deciding it on your own based on your own research?

Best of luck with the surgery! I hope it helps alleviate your symptoms. Please report back with progress updates :)

I have gone for second opinion after second opinion (third, fourth opinions?). To tell you the truth, even gastroenterologists don't seem to understand gastroparesis very well.

The problem is that I have both gastroparesis and GERD as a result of probable nerve damage from many rounds of chemo (I was diagnosed with aggressive cancer a few years ago in my mid thirties but I am now in remission). So some gastroenterologists think I should do fundoplication but others say no because it will make the gastroparesis so much worse. There is consensus that the fundus is damaged. It appears clear that resection of the fundus will help resolve the condition but doing VSG for this reason is still experimental. So no, none of the surgeons in the US are willing to do surgery as a gastroparesis treatment.

For me, I had to think about both conditions and decide which was worse. Fundoplication would fix GERD but worsen gastroparesis.

VSG would fix gastroparesis but worsen GERD.

Well, I can live with GERD by taking PPIs and controlling my diet and lifestyle. Gastroparesis is life-ruining. It is so much worse than GERD that they are not even comparable.

Additionally, VSG cuts cancer risk in women and cuts risk of recurrence. I am willing to do anything to not recur and be able to raise my family.

I would not count on being able to control GERD with meds and diet. There are a LOT of people here on this site who've tried that, only to discover that the GERD was too much to live with.

RNY also reduces cancer risk. From my research, it's the weight loss-- NOT the type of surgery performed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2859193/

Amen to this post. My GERD was NOT controllable with meds and diet. My GERD was basically resistant to meds. A double dose of dexilant along with 300mg of zantac a day didn't do the trick. For some, GERD is controllable with meds, others aren't so lucky. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't take the chance.

So I went ahead and had VSG for gastroparesis (not specifically for weight loss) and I am cured of gastroparesis! It was basically instantaneous and so amazing. I watched the swallow test and could hardly believe my eyes. It previously took up to 72 hours to empty things from my esophagus/stomach into my intestines and now fluid flows right through in a matter of minutes.

Also, my GERD is about 80% better. Just like that! My doctor thinks I may be able to get off PPIs completely after being on high doses for over two decades. For the first time in dozens of years I can bend over and touch my toes without all of my stomach contents coming back into my throat/mouth.

Here is the thing. My GERD, discomfort, all that jazz, was secondary to gastroparesis. With the gastroparesis resolved the GERD improved and the doctor told me will probably get better and better. Thank God.