Would You Do It Again?

I'm one who developed GERD post VSG after never having a problem before surgery.  It's been a horrible year of tests, medication changes and constant heartburn and I'm looking at a revision to bypass before the end of summer.  With that said, would I do it again?  Without hesitation or a doubt, yes.  In a heartbeat.  I've lost 100+ pounds and in the past year have run 4 half-marathons and a handful of 10ks.  This surgery has given me a life I could only dream about and I'm grateful every day that I had the courage to take the step and a surgeon with the skills necessary to change my life.

Thank you so much guys! It has been so frustrating, being sober and bulimic free for 6.5 years I thought I would have soured right into the surgery, but the weight loss center obviously has different plans. I am learning so much on here. You all said exactly what I wanted to hear. I have lost 6 pounds in 3 weeks by staying on a 1700 calorie diet, so I'm trying to convince myself that I can do this by myself just in case they deny me. I would have such an easy time too. They screened me and I don't need a sleep study, I also don't need an EGD because I had one June 4th of last year. I have no health risks except for really bad GERD. The onlt drugs I take is Nexium for GERD. I weigh 285 and am 70" tall. I am JUST above the 40% BMI so I will still qualify. I can still lose about 10 pounds before I won't qualify. They won't even count my weigh-in on my first visit because I needed the psych evals, first. Thursday they are meeting to discuss whether or not I am "in" and if I am, I will post my starting weight and my goal weight. I haven't done that because I don't know the goal weight yet.

Love to all!

Also, I KNOW RNY is supposed to cure GERD, but in the last week or 2 I have read at least 3 people who said their heartburn, GERD, etc were bad AFTER RNY!

Shortly after RNY you can experience a slow motility in your new pouch and intestines.  The food has trouble emptying and moving through the digestive tract.  It can feel a lot like GERD.  It usually goes away in a few months when your system wakes up and gets with the new program.  RNY cured my severe GERD. I woke up pain free for the first time in over 25 years. I would have surgery again in a heartbeat!

This is just from my own experience, and I know others will disagree with me, but if I had GERD prior to surgery there is not a doubt in my mind that I would have chosen RNY over VSG.  

The VSG is contraindicated if you have GERD prior to surgery.

I'm with you.  If I had it before, I would have opted for the RNY.  It's a no brainer.  I never had any type of heartburn prior to my VSG, but I have bouts of it now.  It was worse during the first year after surgery and I took a prescription PPI for over a year.  I stopped taking it and it seems to have subsided.  I asked my surgeon about it and he says that about 10-30% of people who had no symptons of GERD before surgery will develop it after.  Unlucky you 

Very unlucky me.  I had a 24 hour pH study and my acid is elevated to 409% higher than normal.  I'm on Protonix in the morning, Dexilant at night and Zantac before bed and there's not a day I don't have acid symptoms.  In researching, my doctor said there is a gene mutation that if you have it, you are a rapid metabolizer of PPIs.  I was tested last week and I have it.  So, medication doesn't control my symptoms.  It took me a long time to accept it, but it seems like conversion to RNY is the only cure.  It's too bad, because I LOVE my sleeve. 

Wow, I didn't even know about the gene mutation factor.  I'm really sorry that you're going through this.  It must be awful.  Are you scheduled for a revision in the near future?

I had never heard of the gene mutation either but my medical team decided to have me tested after I blew through a series of PPIs without any relief.  I've been talking to my surgeon and we're looking at the end of June, beginning of July.  

Good luck to you.  I'm sure that you'll find relief with the RNY