Pre-ops: Make sure you learn about the DS before you chose your surgery!
It's worth looking into. I have Kaiser in CA & my denial was overturned.
Won against big bad (SoCal) Kaiser for a Duodenal Switch Haven't heard of DS? Kaiser wants it that way. Come on over & read the truth.
Hit goal (Normal BMI) on 2-10-11! I LOVE my DS!!
My approval process timeline:
02/12/09 - Dr. refused to refer me for WLS
03/03/09 - Vented/whined about it on another board, planned to just wait until next year & switch plans
Let's see what happens!
**updates in blog**
Hit goal (Normal BMI) on 2-10-11! I LOVE my DS!!
My approval process timeline:
02/12/09 - Dr. refused to refer me for WLS
03/03/09 - Vented/whined about it on another board, planned to just wait until next year & switch plans
Let's see what happens!
**updates in blog**
I am also in oregon. There are no DS doctors here. All the surgeons have decided to stop doing the DS all together becouse it is "too risky". But these are the same suregeons who let me hang for 2 years waiting to have SOMETHINg done, when it only took 32 days from first consult to surgery at the surgeon I ended up with. I was self pay and had to drive up to federal way washington (3 1/2 hours away) to get mine done. But god am I gratefull I did!
HW / SW / CW / GW 404 / 355 / 235 / 180
It is just as well that the OHSU group stopped doing the DS, and that you got yours up in WA, because for whatever reason, their outcomes often SUCKED. I don't know if it was patient selection, patient education, surgical technique, follow-up or what, but there were quite a few failures with Deveney, Patterson, O'Rourke, etc.
Thank you, Diana. Its been a while since we had this discussion on the main board. I, for one, would not have known about the DS if it were not for something that you wrote here. If you can educate even one person, its worth it.
* Take 1 DS, add a little p90x and stir :)5' 3" HW 293/SW 253/Goal 130/CW 128
StacysMom
on 10/25/09 12:09 am
on 10/25/09 12:09 am
Great info!
You forgot to mention that IF the RNY doesn't work out for someone, it is nearly impossible to revise to the DS because their stomach has been cut up into an unnatural pouch and the pyloric valve has been taken out of commission! Only a handful of surgeons in the world have the skill and experience to reconstruct the stomach and then create a sleeve.
The post RNY patient who has experienced regain (or never lost enough excess weight to begin with) is usually revised to a more malabsorptive version of the RNY called the ERNY with a common channel even SHORTER than most traditional DS patients and this leads to more vitamin and protein deficiencies, bowel and intestinal problems than their doctors used to scare them away from the DS in the first place!
Since more and more surgeons are adding the sleeve to their repertoire, even though they still do not do the DS, perhaps the sleeve is a better alternative than the RNY for those who don't have access to the DS. They will lose the synergistic effects of having restriction and malabsorption at the same time, but at least they won't get stuck with that pouch/stoma configuration which creates more problems down the line when it stretches out. And, the sleeve surgery is easy to convert to a DS, which hopefully more physicians will be performing in the future.
And then there's the Grehlin (hunger hormone) issue. The sleeve procedure removes the greater curvature of the stomach where Grehlin is produced. The RNY leaves the stomach (which has been cut away from the RNY pouch) still inside the patient, just floating there with no food going through it, but it's still churning out that Grehlin 24/7. It's called a "blind" stomach because it won't be able to be scoped in the future for other issues (cancer, etc.).
Everyone needs to thoroughly research all of the options currently available and not just get what some doctor wants to give them.
You forgot to mention that IF the RNY doesn't work out for someone, it is nearly impossible to revise to the DS because their stomach has been cut up into an unnatural pouch and the pyloric valve has been taken out of commission! Only a handful of surgeons in the world have the skill and experience to reconstruct the stomach and then create a sleeve.
The post RNY patient who has experienced regain (or never lost enough excess weight to begin with) is usually revised to a more malabsorptive version of the RNY called the ERNY with a common channel even SHORTER than most traditional DS patients and this leads to more vitamin and protein deficiencies, bowel and intestinal problems than their doctors used to scare them away from the DS in the first place!
Since more and more surgeons are adding the sleeve to their repertoire, even though they still do not do the DS, perhaps the sleeve is a better alternative than the RNY for those who don't have access to the DS. They will lose the synergistic effects of having restriction and malabsorption at the same time, but at least they won't get stuck with that pouch/stoma configuration which creates more problems down the line when it stretches out. And, the sleeve surgery is easy to convert to a DS, which hopefully more physicians will be performing in the future.
And then there's the Grehlin (hunger hormone) issue. The sleeve procedure removes the greater curvature of the stomach where Grehlin is produced. The RNY leaves the stomach (which has been cut away from the RNY pouch) still inside the patient, just floating there with no food going through it, but it's still churning out that Grehlin 24/7. It's called a "blind" stomach because it won't be able to be scoped in the future for other issues (cancer, etc.).
Everyone needs to thoroughly research all of the options currently available and not just get what some doctor wants to give them.
(deactivated member)
on 10/25/09 12:11 am - Woodbridge, VA
on 10/25/09 12:11 am - Woodbridge, VA
I didn't even get a normal DS - I have a much longer common channel than most (unintentionally; due to adhesions from a prior surgery) - and yet in 6 months, I have reaped the benefits.
I have type 2 diabetes, and before my surgery, my 2 most recent A1Cs were 8.1 and 7.9. By 3 months post-op, it was 5.4, and at 6 months, it is 5.1. I was on 2500mg metformin and 50mcg Januvia (sitagliptin) prior to surgery and am now off all meds.
I did not have extremely high cholesterol even before surgery (was always between 160-180 total), but at 6 months post-op, my total cholesterol is 112. And that is despite NEVER limiting my fat intake.
Oh, and I'm down 100 pounds from my highest known weight, and almost 90 pounds since the morning of surgery. Just a nice added benefit, as my primary goal in having WLS was to control my diabetes.
I would never recommend anything other than the DS to anyone with type 2 diabetes. Of course, I would never recommend anything other than the DS or VSG to anyone, period, unless there is a MAJOR medical reason otherwise.
I have type 2 diabetes, and before my surgery, my 2 most recent A1Cs were 8.1 and 7.9. By 3 months post-op, it was 5.4, and at 6 months, it is 5.1. I was on 2500mg metformin and 50mcg Januvia (sitagliptin) prior to surgery and am now off all meds.
I did not have extremely high cholesterol even before surgery (was always between 160-180 total), but at 6 months post-op, my total cholesterol is 112. And that is despite NEVER limiting my fat intake.
Oh, and I'm down 100 pounds from my highest known weight, and almost 90 pounds since the morning of surgery. Just a nice added benefit, as my primary goal in having WLS was to control my diabetes.
I would never recommend anything other than the DS to anyone with type 2 diabetes. Of course, I would never recommend anything other than the DS or VSG to anyone, period, unless there is a MAJOR medical reason otherwise.
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