Blind Loop Syndrome

I am need of advice from fellow WLS pals.  I had my RNY in May 2013 with complications at time of surgery.  Approximately, six months after surgery, I noticed a lot of grumpy pouch days which I shrugged and felt normal.  For approximately, a year, I've been going back and forth to the surgeon, hospital for diagnostic imaging and painful days and fed up.

I've been treated for a native under, limb ulcer, scoped, scanned and poked.  On October 20th, I had an exploratory lap for drop to my knees spastic pain that would happen about very other dy at first but since has decreased to every week/every other week before surgery.  The bari surgeon was convinced that I had a Peterson hernia.  Fortunately (?), he was wrong and adhesions were throughout on my liver and pouch.  

Now, I am being treated for Blind Loop Syndrome and finishing a Doxycycline course.  The only surgical options I've been given is reversing my bypass and/ or converting to a sleeve gastrectomy.  I'm devastated.  I've lost 120 pounds thus far and don't want to gain back.

My symptoms are nausea with meals, early satiety, pain with meals with pain when drinking water almost always.  I'm not able to tolerate many foods and am wasting away at best.  I remain with pain throughout my abdomen.  Since OR, I've had one spastic pain episode but other symptoms remain.

Questions for this with Blind Loop: Were these symptoms similar with your diagnosis?  What were your surgical options or procedure done to help you?

Apologies for the long post and I am grateful for any information.

kim

I hope you find your solution sooner rather than later. Try to do a little research on your own via google. Type in roux en y long term complications. Then add the word rare to your search. The number of possibilities are overwhelming. If any of the complications you see fit yours closely, make a note to yourself to talk to your surgeon about it. Even if nothing pans out, you will get a better understanding of what is going on inside your body and get the conversation going between you and your surgeon. Sorry I couldn't help more. Best of luck.

They found one when they found my gastrogastric fistula. 

Here is a good read.  It needs to be fixed

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2981163/

Mine was page 2 figure 1a     

Rotten foods gets stuck and ferments and becomes nasty in the blind limbs  

I  had SIBO, which is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth due the the fact that the bacteria was trapped in there.

My life was hell.  Along with horrible gas and constant diarrhea with accidents I also was sick due to the toxins.  It first happened in my first year post op when I developed reactive arthritis and dermatitis due to the toxins attacking my joints.

At 8 years I was so sick I couldn't get dressed.  It was because my body was being poisoned by the bacteria.  I could not stay on antibiotics full time and my only option was a revision.  I wasn't reversed but I was revised to reduce the malabsorption and eliminate the blind loop apparently.  My symptoms ended the day of the revision, except the fatigue and sickness which took a very long time.

I think it was about 2 years before I even began to feel like myself again.  A very slow recovery.  

I don't know if you are experiencing bacterial overgrowth or not.  A stool culture isn't really helpful because they only culture for a few strains of bacteria and there are billions out there that aren't tested for.  Basically I tell people that if you have chronic diarrhea and gas and taking Flagyl relieves it then most likely you have bacterial overgrowth.

Most people can take an antibiotic and then replenish with a good probiotic but that didn't help me because the bacteria would always overgrow due to having no place to go.  There was no other treatment for me other than surgery.

Every day I am thankful I had the surgery.  I truly believe that if I didn't I might be dead but I definitely would be wishing I was dead.  I had no life at all.

As far as regaining weight, I had gained 100 lbs before my revision. I truly did not care if I lost a pound as long as I got well.  My surgeon gave me a RNY pouch (from a large sleeve) and a subtotal gastrectomy, basically removing all of my stomach except the pouch.

Restriction has worked well for me and I lost all the weight I had gained plus some and I am able to keep it off as long as I avoid the refined carbs, mainly sugar and gluten products.  I am able to do that now because I don't get hungry like before and also because I have detoxed them from my system so I don't get the cravings I used to.

Thankfully, I have no personal experience with blind loop syndrome. In your shoes, I'd be reading everything I could find on Google, focusing on articles from places like Medscape, etc. Blind Loop Syndrome was one of the complications of the old JIB form of WLS (Jejunal-Ilieal Bypass), and the primary reason it's no longer performed. You need to get this fixed ASAP. It can be DEADLY.

You have a very good chance at maintaining your weight loss with a Sleeve, but even if you regain some, it's better than living with Blind Loop Syndrome.