Pre-ops: Make sure you learn about the DS before you chose your surgery!

For more info, check out these links:

http://www.dsfacts.com/Frequently-Asked-Questions.html

http://www.dsfacts.com/duodenal-switch-explained.html

http://www.dsfacts.com/articles.html

If not for you Diana and the DS folk  paying it forwards I'd have gone and got an RNY.  Now before the RNYer's out there start frothing at the mouth with hostility, know that I would have been a **** RNY patient!  For one I'd be forever trying to dislodge a lovely bit of protein from my pouch opening, I'd be vomiting constantly from eating too fast and too much and the idea of restriction makes the addict in me reach for another square of chocolate.  I know that in two years time I'd be gaining!

The DS offers me eating habits similar to the ones I have now i.e. high protein intake, high fat intake but with portion control....and weight loss.....seriously this is like stumbling onto a winning lottery ticket!  I know I can live well with minimal carbohydrate intake but I cannot live without steak, chicken and pork without having to masticate for a decade and then pray it won't lodge in my pouch opening.  I've spoken to dozens and dozens of RNY patients who happily live with this.  I'm not patient enough! 

For those with other surgery types I'm glad that you are happy with your choices but for me this is a choice closer to normality and it will allow me to have a safe and easy mechanism for weight loss for the rest of my life.

I want this sooo badly and I just love  Diana and the DS chicks and guys for letting me in on this option.  They have actually saved my life when you look at it logically.

Way to go honey!
xxxxxx

 As weird as it is for me to say this, I was considered a "lightweight" at 285 pounds. Every day life was hard for me with my two daughters, ages 5 and 2. I got out of breath easily and my joint pain in my knees, hips and ankles kept me from doing every day activities that a young mom enjoys.

I have lost 85 pounds in 7 months and am finally pain free and more energetic than ever!

Thanks to the amazing DS, I am finally able to chase my girls around, rake leaves for two hours so that we can jump in them, go for family bike rides, and I can't wait to play in the snow with them!!!

I love the fact that I am finally free of the guilt that I felt when eating delicious food. Let's face it, fat makes food taste better! I even indulge in the occasional dessert because I now have the self control to eat a small portion instead of the HUGE portions that I would consume pre-op. For example, last night I had two "fun-size" Halloween Snickers instead of the 7 or 8 that I would have before.

I was worried about how I compliant I would be with the vitamin regimen, but so far I have not missed a single dose. Thanks to these vitamins, I have not gotten sick in 7 months, even surrounded by two little coughing, runny-nosed sickies and the germs she brings home from school!

Sorry this is so long, but I just wanted to add my two cents. Hopefully more people will learn about this amazing surgery option with posts like these.

Thanks, Diana!

, Jules

Odds are, you COULD have had the DS if your insurance covered WLS in general.  I have helped many many people appeal DS exclusions and most of them win.  So sorry you didn't know that.  I guess you're stuck with what you have.

This post was not directed to you.  Did you ses the word "Pre-ops" as the first word in the title of this thread?  I am entitled to bash the hell out of other surgeries if I chose to do so -- and in order to highlight the MANY advantages of the DS over other surgeries, that's exactly what I do -- make a comparison.  If you don't like it, don't read my DS posts, or better yet, block me.  I'm not trying to be neighborly -- I'm trying to save people from ignorance and misinformation.

Nothing for you to see here .. move along.

Jealous much??  A new RNYer suffering with the consequences of your choice -- you really have no idea.

Block me, please -- it will be better for your mental health.

 I am jealous, but I also know that I made a choice - I did not have the energy to argue with insurance.. 

Live and learn...

However, that said, nothing you said Diana was rude or warranted that kind of response.

You're fine in my book

Actually, Googling "Gastric Bypass Complications" scared me to death.  Cut up my insides and gain weight again anyway?  That's a 45% chance I don't want to take.  All surgeries have complications.  And if you actually READ Diana's post, you'd see that most of the horror stories are perpetuated by surgeons who don't even DO the DS.  Like yours.

I, for one, am grateful for Diana's attitude and posting style.  It DID say "Pre-OP", didn't it?

ETA: Note who started the nastiness in this thread.  I thought is was DS'ers that were the *****es?

That being said. I don't think posting a bunch of negatives about the surgery most of us have is very neighborly. Cant you say what is good about the switch without saying what you think is negative about the RNY?? Being negative is NOT helpful.

Most of us have the RNY and will not be helped by you bashing it. It is now our reality. Be nice.

You can say whats good about the DS without saying bad things about the RNY.

Now, have a nice, healthy day.

You were NOT being NICE, you were being totally sarcastic, at least that how it comes across. 

This is a public forum and Diana or anyone else, for that matter, can and do, post negatives about all the surgeries.

Anyone with a brain in their head knows that any and all surgeries have risks!

All that Diana is trying to do here is point out that there are OPTIONS both to the type of surgery and to overturning insurance denials.  Thank God for people like Diana Cox that are willing to spend their valuable time helping people.

I think YOU need to find a new hobby!

Michele