10 years ago today I had my Gastric Bypass....And, it failed

Jesse, you only had surgery in 2009, 10 yes ago a DS was only for those who had sweet issues as were super obese.

-sigh- I know people who are 10+ years out who had the DS and they were not SMO. And no, it is not for sweets issues, with the DS you will absorb sweets 100%! Which means no weight loss.

I chose the RNY and I don't regret my decision! 2 yes ago, whe researching revisions I contemplated the BOB and a RNY revision. A dS was too drastic and would have been difficult according to both surgeons consulted based on my open RNY - and yea I spoke with a preimer DS doctor (Roslin).

"DS was too drastic" hahahaha and having your stomach stamped closed and left inside you and having a "pouch" created is less drastic?! And difficult? I can eat like a normal person, I just have to eat more meat. I don't have to worry about low fat or dumping like some RNY'ers do. And on the "talking to doctors" part, I do not care who or how many doctors you talked to. Just because they have the title of doctor before their name does NOT mean they know better/more. I hate seeing people take their doctors word for word. Might be why you ended up where you did.

I made the decision that was right for me plus I'm very anemic and don't want a lifetime of malabsorption issues not did o want to test fate and Maybe die (yes I know those that did and came close).

Good for you. And okay, you already obviously made your choice. But please do not speak like you know what you are talking about when you clearly do not. And so have I? Your point? RNY'er's, DS'ers, Lap-banders and so on. 


Just because you are further out then me does not mean you know more. And obviously you showed you don't even know when you think you do. I HATE seeing misinformation and the "I made the right choice for me, the DS is too drastic" **** being put out there. I've heard it over and over and its quite damn annoying.


-sigh- frustrates me.

plus I'm very anemic and don't want a lifetime of malabsorption issues

Heather, you DO know that while the RNY's malabsorption of calories generally ends about 24 months post-op, the malabsorption of micronutrients---i.e., vitamins and minerals---is permanent, right? And in the case of certain mirconutrients, even more serious than the malabsorption caused by the DS?

Just checking.

 I disagree that malabsorption ends at 24 mos.  

You're right, AND you're wrong.

The way the RNY is done, there's very little of the small bowel bypassed---but it's a very critical part of the upper section of the small intestine. I say it's a 'critical' part, because it's where many of the receptors for vital micronutrients are located. By 'micronutrients', I mean things like vitamins and minerals.

Those specific receptor sites CANNOT be replaced---so malaborption of micronutrients is, indeed, PERMANENT with the RNY. However, macronutrients---i.e., CALORIES---can be absorbed thoughtout the gut---and our bodies are very good at growing more villi in order to overcome the malabsorption of calories, especially when the bypass is of a very small per centage of gut, as is the case in the RNY.

In most healthy adults, the small bowel is well able to grow enough new villi to overcome the malabsorption of the macronutrients  of protein and carbohydrates caused by the RNY in 18-24 months. The small length of the BP limb in the RNY does, however, cause some small malabsorption of fats forever---but it seems to be insignificant long-term.

10+ years ago, DS as we know it today was even HARDER to come by (not many surgeons did it) and reserved for super morbidly obese people; people like me, who had "only" 120 pounds to lose, were not candidates. Many more surgeons at that time were still doing BPD with DS...and if you want to read some HORROR stories, look up people who had THAT surgery! The malabsorption with that was known to KILL more than a few people.

In the moment we make the BEST decision we can for our own cir****tances; not everyone wants/needs/is able to get a DS.

BTW: I had my RNY even longer ago than you OP; and yes, regain can and does happen. Hyper vigilance is the ONLY thing that keeps me at goal. Sometimes I do better with that than at others. By "hypervigilance" I don't mean STRICT DIETING; believe it or not, I eat a lot....and not all of it protein! By hypervigilance I mean doing what I know I should (eat a diet that is healthy for EVERYONE, not just WLSers) 90% of the time; being on guard against mindless/emotional eating; and nipping small regains in the bud before they become big regains.

Good luck.

Marilyn, I disagree with some of what you said. Yes, 10 years ago the DS was harder to get, and much harder to learn about---but it was not reserved for only SMO people. (On a different board, I know someone who had her DS at a BMI of 32, due to her diabetes.) Insurance companies might not have considered someone with "only" 120 to lose as good candidates, but surgeons did.

And---the BPD with DS is exactly the same surgery that we call simply the DS today. I think you're thinking of the BPD without the DS, also called the Scopinaro procedure. It was actually a pretty effective WLS, and is still done today---but it had some unpleasant side effects that Dr. Hess developed to DS to overcome.

f you really have a Scopinaro BPD, you have a very large pouch, distal RNY. It looks like this:



A true DS (sometimes called a BPD with DS/duodenal switch) looks like this:



There's not really much difference in the amount of malabsorption between the BPD and the DS---I think in this case, you're thinking of the old JIB, which did kill a lot of people. The JIB isn't 'related' to today's DS in any way, shape, form, or fashion.

Thank goodness you are still on this site MsBatt!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU.....I agree with you, the DS was hard to get and was reserved for the super obsese.  I saw a Dr (Mitchell Roslin) who did do it and STILL does it now, one of a few in the US. So, as much as people don't think I know what Im talking about, I do.  I never entertained it then, nor (really) now and both times I saw Dr. Mitchell Roslin, the premier DS doctor in the US.  

I have to agree with Beth. IMO I don't think it's so much that the surgery fails US - I think it's that WE fail our surgery. I am there too. I have gotten off-track and had regain. If you go back to old habits, and don't make the changes FOR LIFE, of course you will gain weight back. Regain is normal. HOW MUCH regain depends on your eating habits and lifestyle - and how willing you are to get back to the basics again. OF COURSE you can eat more as your pouch stretches. But, if you are eating the right things, and moving your body, your regain should be controllable.

 I'm glad you found something that works for you.  I know you weren't having an easy time of it before your BOB.  For what it's worth, I think that sometimes surgeries can fail, due to mechanical defect.  Sometimes they can fail because a patient just plain out-eats the surgery.  But it's not always this black-and-white.

Other times, and this is trickier, I think surgeries fail because they weren't the right choice for that patient to begin with.  I'm hesitant to lay that blame on the patient, though, because so many of them are willfully misled or allow themselves to be coerced to get a certain surgery by surgeons who don't perform all 4 major WLS, family doctors who aren't familiar with all the options, or trusted family members when another surgery would clearly be a better choice.  I'm not saying that this was the case for you, and I'm not saying it to advocate for any particular surgery, as we all have different genes and habits that contributed to needing a WLS in the first place.  It's one more reason why patients need to research *all* their options and discuss them with *lots* of people in order to get a full picture of what surgery would best fit *them* without coercion.  I think that we all see *this* kind of surgery "failure" all too often here.

It's a shame, and it hurts all of us when one of us regains.

Again, I'm glad you found your solution.  Be well