Roux vs Sleeve

By the way, your stats inspire me and I see you had VSG!! Congratulations on all of your hard work!

Happy with the sleeve here. (My opinion) is that they are both powerful and effective tools when it comes to weight loss. What may be more important in determining the success in getting the job done--is in -considering the person using said "tool". Your dedication, determination, use of best practices (protein forward, hydration, avoiding slider foods, etc) and perseverance in daily progress over time will more strongly determine success than which "hammer" you use.

Wishing you well with whichever surgery you choose.

Thanks so much for this Miss150! That is exactly what the surgeon told me - that whichever surgery a person picks, the tool of surgery is only as powerful as the person who uses the tool. He said if given the chance over time, anybody can eat around it and not be successful. It's the surgery in combination with the other tools that makes a person have lifetime success and for that it doesn't matter which surgery is chosen. He said because of the malabsorption the RNY usually makes folks lose faster but it evens out with the sleeve losses at a certain point. One question, did you or do you have problems with heartburn or GERD?

An endoscopy was required as a part of my pre-op.The report read "evidence of mild reflux". Prior to WLS I did experience occasional heartburn. I have had no episodes of either since surgery- Go figure.

Well that is great to know!!! That makes me feel a whole lot better about the sleeve because that was my main concern. Thank you so much for alleviating that!

I was also given the choice but the surgeon said he leaned more toward RNY since I'd had some heartburn issues prior to surgery. So I went with that one, since I didn't want to risk them getting worse. Also, I liked that, at least at the time, RNY had a lot more long-term data behind it. I'm happy with my choice and would make the same choice today.

Hi catwoman7! Thanks so much for your response! This is what is making me second guess the choice of the sleeve. The only time I have heartburn now is when I eat bad food or a LOT of bad food. I don't know if I would consider that heartburn issues but I am very concerned about the potential for GERD with the sleeve and from what I understand if you get it after having the sleeve it's not like getting it when eating bad food, people get it from eating anything or even drinking water. Have you had any complications with your RNY? With choosing that surgery I am concerned about ulcers and the potential for things like osteoporosis from malabsorption of calcium. Should I be concerned about that? I know there are risks for everything and all of these are better risks than the risk of complications from being obese so I know no matter what I choose it will be better than the way I am now, I'm just weighing the risks of each.

I had a stricture (about 5% of RNY patients do), but that was an easy fix. Otherwise, no. I do have osteoporosis, but given my age and the fact it runs rampant in my family, I could have had that before surgery (I didn't test for it before surgery).

Okay well a structure doesn't seem so bad - I could deal with that. :)

I will chime in that any kind of heartburn is a huge red flag for VSG. People who never had heartburn could get it after VSG.

Either way you are rearranging body parts and except for a slightly different progression in diet immediately post-op, our weight loss and maintenance protocols are very similar.

I got RNY because I wasn't sure a mostly restrictive procedure would be enough for me to reach goal. I was at a point in my life... maybe I had ruined my metabolism- I don't know but even when dieting I didn't lose more than 10 pounds. I wanted the advantage of malabsorption to get me on my way. No regrets.

Good Luck