Considering Surgery (leaning towards RNY) - Input? Advice?

Hello, 

I'm 23 years old. At 5.5 ft I weigh about 235 pounds. And I am very much struggling with my weight. 

I am considering trying to get surgery to help with me deal with this.

And I wanted to ask the members of this site whether you were satisfied with your results and experiences?

Is the post-op meal plan very difficult to stick to?

Is there a lot of pain throught this process?

Did you find the pros outweigh the cons?

I guess I'm just frightenend and want to know how viable this option really is :) Thanks

I had RNY and was very happy w it! I lost 110lbs. But u have to really look into weight loss surgery and weigh all your options. RNY is good if u have a sweet tooth cuz u can't have sugar or u will get dumping syndrome and trust me ya don't want tht! It's an awful feeling. There's also the gastric sleeve option. A good friend of mine had tht and was very successful! With tht option u don't get dumping syndrome from sugar. The best advice I could give u is look into all your weight loss surgery options and what works best for u. It's a life changing decision. Good luck!--- Lorie 

Hi Svetlana,

I'm in Belleville, ON Canada and just starting this process myself. My referral was submitted October 13th and I attended the Orientation Session in Kingston on Dec 4th but will have to go to Toronto for surgery. The first step in the process was much faster than I thought it would be but my decision was already made.

While I cannot directly answer your question I can share my thoughts and experiences up to this point. I have never had any kind of surgery before and I suffer from high level anxiety.

Here's what I'm hearing consistently across multiple blogs, forums, vlogs etc

1. Do your own research and ask a lot of questions - the community in general are pretty good about answering
2. It is a tool to help you make a life long, lifestyle changes (food choices and exercise being key) and if you don't continue with those changes you will gain the weight back
3. Everybody's experience is different (how they recover from surgery, weight loss, foods they can eat etc)
4. It won't fix other issues in your life, and if you are an emotional eater you need to deal with that stuff too
5. It can have a very positive impact on existing health issues

I'm sure other will chime with other points as well. 

Personally I have eliminated a lot of junk out of my diet and have not lost weight, so I know the weight will not come off without something drastic (and I do consider RYN drastic) but I'm 43 and I hurt all the time and I want to live or even just have enough energy to clean my house. My head is in the right place, it wasn't a year ago and I have the support system now, so it is the right decision, right time for me. 

I'm 5'3 and 315lbs today - 18 months after surgery I expect to be a much healthier weight.

Thank you :) 

This is really good input. I've been researching this for a while now, but I know it's better to join the discussion to hear other people's experience and advice. The info on the medical sites doesn't really do these personal reviews. 

It sounds like RNY is pretty effective, and so is the duodenal switch,  I'm going to my family doctor this Friday to see what he says.. But he usually just asks what I want and then gives me a referral, so I want to be prepared. 

How much problems does everyone have with nutrition levels and their upkeep? Is it a constant pain, or an occasional vitamin adjustment?

Svetlana

Once I was stable nutritionally, I've had to do little readjusting in the last 10 years since my DS.  Unfortunately, docs didn't have the best advice on nutritional needs and supplementation.  Fortunately, I had a lot of people out here who'd laid the path before me and happy to share.

I'm 2.5 years out from RNY. My experience has been almost as positive as one can have, but I did have some bumps in the road. My gallbladder went rogue on me 3 months after my RNY, and I've had two minor ulcers. I also had an incisional hernia that was repaired when my gallbladder was removed. This has been the extent of my negative experiences. 

First and foremost, you need to make sure your health insurance plan covers weight loss surgery. A lot of employers will have an exclusion for WLS, so even if the insurance company themselves ( like United Healthcare, for example ) covers it, the plan your or your spouse's employers chose may exclude WLS. 

Once you've verified coverage, you need to make sure you qualify for WLS. Generally, it's a 40 BMI with no co-morbidities or 35 BMI with co-morbidities including diabetes, GERD, high blood pressure, or some others listed on any number of websites...including this one. ( I was at a BMI of 53 so I qualified easily. )

To answer your questions simply: 

Yes

No

Not as much as you might think

Absolutely

The food plan isn't hard to follow if you truly commit to it and embrace your new normal. You HAVE to make sure your emotionally ready for the huge change to come. If you aren't in a good place mentally...you will not have as good results as others who were ready for surgery. I really can't stress this point enough. The surgery works if you work with it. It won't work without 100% commitment from you. 

Your pain level depends on you and your pain tolerance. I'm a big ol' weenie when it comes to pain, but I made it through without being too big of a baby. 

I hope you've read this noting your head with your internal monologue saying "Yes!! I'm SO ready for this!!" because if you have the right mindset and determination WLS can be the best thing you will EVER do for yourself.

I wish you well!! 

As young as you are - I would opt for VSG - the sleeve.  I had RNY and I wish I knew about VSG before I had my RNY. 

I think with good diet and exercise - VSG can offer the tool we need to lose weight while still preserving some full functionality of a stomach and semi normal life. 

Unless there is medical reason why you would need RNY - IMO - sleeve, when done right, would be my first choice. 

This is very interesting, thank you. 

And it seems the VSG can be redone to a RNY or DS later on if the weight loss is inefficient. 

That is a very good option to consider. Just reading the info online I tended to look for surgery with the most effective results, but with a BMI like mine a VSG will probably do wonders as well, without the malabsorbtion risks. 

Don't go into any surgery with the idea that it can or should be revised.  Revisions are complicated and risky.  Pick the surgery that fits best with your health, life style, and tolerances, and work the hell out of it. 

At five years post-op, the VSG and the RNY have pretty much identical maintained weight-loss stats. Go with the Sleeve unless you think you need malabsorption. (And if you need malabsorption, you're going to need it forever, so go with the DS. *grin*)