Colonoscopy/Endoscopy

As long as I take my Protonix, life is good. Never noticed the reflux before. Now, if I don't take my Protonix (I tried to stop around month 4), I can tell the difference with certain foods. Sorry for the late reply - been on vacation.

That's reassuring. With my RNY I had to take Prilosec religiously. Since the takedown, I only have to take it if I eat something that my stomach isn't happy with. I can live with taking it everyday.

The only requirement my insurance company had pre-op was a psych eval. Which, having now been to a good psychiatrist, I realize was pretty pathetic. Lucky me.

My surgeon, however, required an upper endoscopy. I think part of it is just, literally, knowing what you're getting into. ;) But there's also the benefit of finding out if there are any problems. As you say in your last line, "as far as I know." The problem is, there are so many things that could be going on that you wouldn't know about, and it's good for the surgeon to find those out when you're not on the operating table. My surgeon discovered that I had an ulcer, so I had to postpone surgery for a month (sigh), treat the ulcer with Nexium (since it wasn't an h.pylori caused ulcer), and get a follow up endoscopy to make sure it had healed. I'm glad this was discovered and treated pre-op, since finding it mid-op might have required him to stop and not perform the VSG!

Thank you everyone!

I am not necessarily adverse to having a scope, it's just that I am on blood thinners and would have to make adjustments. In my experience, my specialists never communicate with one another and things like this are left to me to advocate.

I have had a few health issues this year and I'm so tired of being poked and prodded, but I'm also all too familiar with nasty medical surprises and appreciate the necessity.

For my original RNY I had to do an upper GI, endoscopy, and gall bladder sono (plus the psych, dietitian, supervised diet). The surgeon ordered the upper GI and gall bladder sono. My primary ordered the endoscopy as a requirement before he would send a letter. In my case, that was because I had a long history of heartburn though. Perhaps more surgeons are ordering the endo and colonoscopy more often now is because of things like GI cancers or polyps or ulcers are becoming more common at younger ages. Not sure... could be any number of things I suppose. But as an example, my husband's very first colonoscopy at 43 years young, they found stage 3 colorectal cancer. So, I guess better safe than sorry....even though that test is nobody's favorite....