Time To Join the Losers Bench

Losing more and faster with sleeve?  Who could be more wrong??  It's not totally impossible, but at your size, the odds are working against you, especially for the sleeve.  Your body probably needs more than just to eat less.  You need to change your metabolism -- something that the RNY does in a short spurt for a couple of years, and the DS does for a lifetime.  Your doc didn't even mention DS??  You're the perfect DS candidate and he probably doesn't know how to do it, and he doesn't want to lose you as a customer.  The sleeve is the first part of the DS in the first place.  That's a pity, indeed.

Seriously, learn about the DS.  It's has the best stats of all procedures for the highest rate of weight loss and highest levels of maintenance.

Just to add to my first reply.

you have had replies from vets who have the lapband, RNY, the sleeve and the DS. So we don't have axes to grind! 

And we all think your surgeon is being a little less than open about this! 

We seriously need a Like button around here ;)

Sorry, but much of what you said is just YOUR opinion based on what is probably YOUR SURGEON'S preference for VSG because it is a much simpler surgery than RNY.

There are many reasons that RNY remains the most frequently performed WLS. (I do psych evals for a group of 3 surgeons who do all 3 surgeries, but the one doing the DS is retiring at the end of the year.)  Will it become more popular than RNY in 10-20 years? Maybe, maybe not.  It depends on how many people of the many who have had VSG in the last few years are able to LOSE all the weight they need to lose and to MAINTAIN that weight loss. The surgical group I work for still does 60-70% RNY, and about 25% band and VSG combined. Mother rest is lap band, which they will also stop doing at the end of the year.

I needed to lose almost 200 pounds, and if I were making my decision now instead of 7 years ago I would likely choose the VSG because I am so opposed to the vitamin malabsorption of the RNY (but sleeve wasn't an option for me back then).  MANY people, however, need the malabsorption component.

Th surgeons I work for strongly suggest that anyone with a BMI over 50 consider RNY and DS because the odds are against them losing all the weight they need/want with just VSG or band.  I sincerely hope you will be one of the ones who beats the odds, though.

Lora

I worry the results of any long-term studies for the VSG  will not be good. Now that it is the "in" surgery, many more surgeons are doing it and many more people are getting it. People who have no business doing it or having weight loss surgery at all. I think surgeons with excellent pre-op/post-op programs and excellent skills will have to tout their own success rate even more so since the data will be skewed.

With 350lbs to lose, your surgeon is selling you a pup with the VSG!   Each surgery has it's place (it's more science than popularity contest).

You really should reconsider your surgeon's choice and research the DS if you want to reach your goal weight and have the best chance of keeping it off!

I had an excellent result with the RNY because I was a lightweight and only had 100lbs to lose (I lost 120!) - however, if I were at your BMI, I wouldn't hesitate to have a DS and a VSG would be third on the list after RNY ...

Can you tell me what studies have found people lose weight faster with VSG?  I haven't seen that data yet.  And can you please explain why that would be the case?  I would think a surgery that has both restriction and malabsorption would lead to quicker weight loss than one that only has restriction.

Poet_kelly. Have you missed a word out of your first sentence? 

Oops!  I mean what studies show weight loss is faster with VSG.

At 600 pounds, the form of WLS most likely to get you to, and keep you at, a healthy weight is the Duodenal Switch. The DS has a VSG/Sleeve stomach, plus an intestinal bypass more aggressive than that of the RNY. It will make a dramatic, permanent change in your metabolism, and will forever cause you to only absorb a per centage of the calories you eat---about 50% of the protein, about 40% of the complex carbs, and around 80% of the fats.

Not all surgeons perform the DS, and I'm willing to bet your surgeon is one of them. Sadly, not all surgeons have complete, accurate about the DS, if they even know of it at all. Even those who do know but don't do rarely mention the DS. Would you expect the Ford dealer to tell you how great the new Lexus is?