DS math

. . . . Yes, that's what I read.  But was she ingesting anything besides booze and drugs?  I wonder how much she would have gained if she hadn't had the DS? Sue

Is she talking about YOU, Sue?  hehe!

No...she wouldn't do that. I think she's talking about a train wreck of a person whose life is like a low-income version of Life with Brittney, but with more STD's and fewer marriages. This person did well at first and then decided that an all-booze diet with some scary drugs on the side would be just the ticket.  Perhaps we need to emphasize that the malabsorption works best with FATS and not so well with, say, cheap wine. Last I heard, she was saying that she thought the RnY would have been a better surgery.  So maybe we can hook her up with Jade or someone else with whom she has things in common. Sue

But since she quit drinking a couple of years ago, wouldn't the weight just magically come off since her DS tool is still available? Do you suppose that the main thing I am trying to point out is that the DS is GREAT for people who eat high fat.  It's no better than an RNY if the person is a SUGAR JUNKIE! The DS doesn't do anything for a person who consumes a lot of sugar, right???

Stoopid OH is not allowing me to click to where on the now 11 page thread this post came from, so I'm just going to guess that you are talking about a DSer *****lapsed in her alcoholism, recovered and is still above goal. There is a honeymoon period for DSers just as there is for RNYers, where the weight loss is easy.  The DS window is generally longer than the RNY window, but it does "close" (maybe not all the way, but mostly) after a while.  If she stopped drinking after her stomach stretched out, she will not necessarily be able to lose wight again as easily as before, because the majority of DS weight loss comes from the stomach restriction, not from the malabsorption -- that provides the maintenance of weight loss.  Some DSers (but fewer than RNYers) never get the really easy weight loss, especially as they get closer to goal.  Just like normies. I was not a sugar junkie pre-op, although I liked my desserts.  However, what was astonishing to me was that, along with the normalization of my insulin metabolism, came a change in my taste and desire for sugar.  Most of the time, I don't crave it at all.  I have tons of chocolate, cookies and candy in the house, and don't touch it -- I'm just not interested.  When I do chose to eat something sweet, I find that after a few bites, the taste becomes cloyingly sweet and I don't want to have any more.  Which is STILL kind of weird to me.  When I go out to eat with my husband, we have to negotiate dessert, because I don't like that many desserts and I only want a few bites anyway -- so he has to chose carefully!

I'll go along with that.  And not just cuz you're Sue's buddy, either!

Well, it depends on what she's doing in place of those alcohol calories. Since her addict self still shows so blaringly, I'm wondering if she's following anything remotely resembling a post-DS protocol. She screws up everything else she does, why not that too? *meow*  It's remotely possible her gut regrew lots of villi and reduced her degree of malabsorption. It's a lot more possible that her channel lengths (alimentary, biliary, common) were not the best-balanced for her. According to Dr. Hess, this is the single most important issue in getting optimum weight loss *and* maintenance out of a DS. I wouldn't go so far as to say the DS "doesn't do anything" for a sugar junkie, but yup, high consumption of fast-acting carbs is the way to outeat a DS fersure. When I read about post DS'ers with explosive DHR, uncontrollable gas, etc., my first questions (in my head, not always to them) are about scrutinizing their diet. Unrestricted refined carb  intake and lactose intolerance are two very common culprits in the icky bathroom issues, as well as unbalanced/overgrown gut flora. Once those issues are clarified, the incredibly vast majority of bathroom issues resolve.

I daresay that particular DS'er doesn't qualify as "typical" under any definition..... And not just concerning WLS. (Assuming, of course, that I know who you're talking about LOL)

Well, I thought since it was Sue's b'day and all!  hehe!  Ah, I guess ONE DAY of binge drinking and drugs won't cause a 50 lb. regain!  You GO, Sue!  

You got it, Elizabeth.  (I've been out all day, birthday'ing.) This particular DS'er is anything but normal on any scale.  However, in spite of all attempts to self-destruct over a period of about six years and a pre-op history that included drug and alcohol excesses, this particular DSer seems to have settled in at a loss of about 65% of her excess weight.   And that's the "average" good news for the RnY and a little better than the average good news for the band for the population in general.  (And in this case, we know we're dealing with an off-the-deep-end extreme.) My banded buddies and I who did not do well never got anywhere NEAR a loss of 65% of our excess weight.  And, a quick check of the Revisions Board, reveals that most of the people there seeking revisions would have loved at 65% excess weight loss six years out. But, in answer to jaredsmom's query...DS vs. other procedures for sugar junkies...I suggest taking yet another look at the person whose stats you brought up.  With which other WLS do you think she might have had a better than 65% excess weight loss at six or so years out?  (And no, "incarceration" is not a WLS...don't try it...I'm on to you!  LOL) Sue