I had RNY GB in 2003. And years after my surgery I began having problems with iron-deficiency anemia, constipation, SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth), and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). These are all directly related to the GB. I have spoken with several very knowledgeable gastroenterologists and they feel that the GB caused Blind Loop Syndrome in my case. And I have to laugh because on another WLS forum a bariatric surgeon told me that GB does not create a blind loop -- it most certainly does.

Worse, these conditions have caused or contributed to downstream serious health conditions of chronic fatigue syndrome and other comorbid conditions. It is extremely difficult to eradicate SIBO and balance the gut microbiome. And, in fact, the imbalance that it causes predisposes the patient to weight gain.

Thusly, I favor the sleeve over the gastric bypass. The sleeve does not have a malabsorption component so the risk of nutritional deficiencies is decreased. It does not create a blind loop so SIBO and IBS are less of a risk. It is a far less complex surgery and therefore there is less that can go wrong.

I am certain the gastric bypass saved my life. And I do not regret the surgery. The sleeve was not available at the time but it is likely I would have chosen the bypass anyway since it is statistically results in greater weight loss. I would like to see statistics on weight regain between the two surgeries. I would like to see short-term and long-term statistics on complications between the two surgeries. My i is there is greater weight regain with the bypass than the sleeve.

Best of luck to you. It is scary to go through surgery. I know! I cancelled my first surgery date. But I am so glad that I finally did it. It provided me with many years of a quality of life that I would never have had if I were morbidly obese. And I honestly believe I would be dead now. Despite the setback, I am working to regain my health over SIBO and IBS and CFS. The future looks bright!

Good luck in your recovery.

Best for me when I was dealing with gas from surgery, was walking. Unfortunately the "surgery gas" pain are horrible and beside some pain meds, nothing can be done to help them. Unfortunately it ,at take some time for the body to absorb the gas.

The abdominal gas pain - the gas trapped inside our intestines, we eventually get it out (farting or burping lol) but the gas they used during surgery to be able to see inside us, is trapped in our body, outside of the intestines, and that gas can travel even to our shoulders (mine did) causing horrible pain.

First 24 hours were the worse, but depends how fast your body can deal with that, it may take fro 1-3 days.

Let me go ahead and give you the spoiler. You're going to stall. Your body's metabolism acts like a system, combined with appetite. As you lose weight at a rapid pace, your body freezes and says "oh sh&*!" It thinks you're starving, so it slows the metabolism way down while increasing your appetite. It's used to you being a certain way (eating large portions of terrible choices of food and not exercising). Once your body realizes that everything is normal where it's at, it "lines out" and goes back to normal again. Of course, everybody is a separate case and not all body mechanisms are the exact same.

The thing I personally learned about stalls is I hit a big one at six months for over a month. I learned that I was so crazy about avoiding carbs that I wasn't eating enough. I just happened to fall onto this by mistake. I went on vacation with the family to Disney and honestly had a few cheats. I came home and realized that all the walking and eating more carbs into my diet actually made me not only break the stall but lose 5 more pounds. After sharing this with my nutritionist (which she confirmed), started adding just a few more carbs into each meal, and started committing myself to 3-4 times of week of either cardio or going to the gym and doing a light full body/cardio. I haven't looked back since. I still hit little teeny tiny stalls, but nowhere close to that big 6 month one. And with eating carbs, there is a razor fine line of eating "enough" carbs and eating "too many" carbs.

The bottomline is this buddy: I agree with those who say this has to be a lifestyle change. Just as with sobriety, you have to take the mindset that failure is not an option. Just as we can't just have "1 beer", we also can't afford to go back to where we were pre-surgery. So this has to be a marathon (and not a foot race) that you make work for you, for the rest of your life. And not just a fad that lasts for one or two years. Nothing that I was doing was working for me: the portion size, the speed that I ate, the food choices I made, and the lack of any exercise. Since the surgery, I have had several moments of clarity regarding all of this, and did a complete 180. I am more proud of that, than the actual weight I'm losing (if that makes sense).

JoeyJo, I am so sorry to hear about your daughter. My daughter will have been gone due to cancer for 15 years on 3/22. There is nothing comparable to losing a child though we eventually learn to live with it. I envy you having your grandsons.

I lost 105 pounds originally but regained about 25 over 2019 while caring for my husband with dementia (he passed away in early January this year). I decided to lose 20 of them (the last 5 ends up being mostly my boobs, LOL). I went to WW for the third time in my life to have structure and accountability. I find it works well with WLS and having a VSG really makes a difference. I have lost 15 pounds since early December and am now at my WLS goal. I still want to drop a few more but am mostly back into all my clothes again.

Good luck to you - it is important to be as healthy as possible for yourself and your grandsons. I originally had VSG so I would be able to be a caretaker for my husband which I was until he had to go into long-term care 3 months before he died.

Hi JoeyJo,

So sorry to hear about your daughter and all that you have gone through this last year. Sending all my love to you and your grandsons.

Like you I had my surgery in back Oct of 2014 and am back after going from 145 to 186 (now down to 178). It is time I get back on track and treat the VSG as a tool like I am supposed. I think coming to the forums will help with accountability and being able to get/give support where needed.

Much love.