Regretting the DS

If you have a sleeve and not a Scorpinaro BPD stomach pouch, you can have your sleeve made smaller to increase your restriction.  I knew of another old-timer who had this done, and she explained that they used to make the sleeves much larger than they do today.

Same question is asked about once every month on the DS board for at least the past 2 years.  (I've been lurking a long time.)

I've never seen a post from anyone that regrets getting the DS.  Even those with complications usually only wish they'd gotten it done sooner.

It's part of why I'm getting the DS in 2 weeks.

It's true, Dawn -- we really ARE that happy with the DS.  Keep watching our board, and please step up and ask questions.  We're very open over there.

Hello,

I had a BPD/DS in 2002.  It was extremely successful and I lost 180 pounds and an incredible 144 inches.  That's a little more than 12 feet!  About one year ago I began having horrible problems with acid reflux.  I don't mean a little hearburn, I mean waking up with a mouth full of acid or asperating the acid into my lungs and not being able to catch my breath.  After many tests, CT scans, and MRIs, they found my body has constructed itself a fisutla that is dumping bile into my stomach and is resulting in the reflux.  It's so bad that I have developed pre-cancerous lesions in my esophagus and the reflux is literaly eating my esophagus.  My father died from esophageal cancer and my sister has problems too, so my risk factors are much higher.

Through research I have found that acid reflux is a common complication of the DS.  When the curve of the stomach is removed much of the acid producing part remains, but the acid has nowhere to go.  So, it comes up the esophagus.  (I'm not a doctor so forgive me if this is not technically correct)

So, now I am scheduled for a gastrectomy in which my stomach will be removed, except for about 2 ounces.  There is a whole list of other things they are going to repair like a hiatal hernia, undo the DS, 3 hernias, remove the fistula, and few more items I can't remember right now.

Anyway......I believe pre-ops should know that WLS is just a tool.  You can eventually regain weight if you don't change your eating habits and there are long term complications with all the surgeries.

Would I do it again?   Maybe I should wait to answer that question for about 3 months.  I was 48 years old when I had the BPD/DS and it cured all my co-morbidities and saved my life.  But now I am scheduled for a surgery on April 14th that will require 2 surgery teams, I will be in intensive care for 2 days then go back into surgery to be re-opened and re-tested and inspected.  I will be in the hospital for 7 to 10 days and up to several seeks.  This surgery has a mortality rate of about 20% to 25%.  When I am done and healed I will have a 2 ounce stomach (the rest will be removed) and plumbing that resembles an RNY, but not exactly.  Tough question!

Mike

Sorry to hear of your frustrations.  I suffer no reflux at all.  I know of a couple, check out Lori Black's profile about how chia seeds have done wonders for her reflux, amongst the many other benefits.

How big did your stomach start?  Mine was only 100cc's to start with, which is about 2 oz.  I know it stretches, but 2oz isn't that big a difference from those starting.

 I don't understand - in the modern DS procedure, the stomach is completely removed at the time of surgery.  All that is left is a small sleeve.   Maybe yours was left too large to begin with?   Or did you have the Scopinaro type procedure in which the stomach is more of a large pouch than an actual sleeve?  That's what it sounds like.  So, are they going to construct some kind of RNY pouch thing?

I have never heard of this thing happening.  It sounds awful.   Good luck with your surgery.

BTW, your surgeon is not on the duodenalswitch.com website of vetted, experienced surgeons who do the modern DS procedure.   I would think that a doctor who has been doing it since 2002 would be on there.   Now, I'm really wondering if you had the old style procedure which so many people have had terrible experiences with. 

Stacy...

His surgeon is on the OH website and has excellent reviews.

Your post is contradictory... you say "the stomach is completely removed" and then "all that is left is a small sleeve". The latter part is correct, the former is not.

The surgeon I have now is different than the surgeon who performed the DS.  He was very competent and a professor of surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University.  He is now retired.  What I had was a modern DS. 

I have been corresponding with Dr. Peter Crookes at USC who is a DS surgeon and one of the leading foregut surgeons in the country.  He has perfomed numerous surgeries to revise folks with DS to something resembling a RNY.  The problem is if a person has reflux pre-op DS, they will have worse reflux problems post-op.  The problem usually begins 7 to 8 years out.  They didn't know about this issue when I had my DS because they need lots of patients and lots of years to assemble the statistics.

Ummm, I had terrible GERD pre-op.  I still have it but it is improved to the point that I only take 1 PPI instead of 2 and sometimes skip a day.  I will be 5 years out in June so we will see what happens.

I am sorry to hear of your troubles.

Michele

Hi Mike,
Have you been on Prevacid or any of the other prescription meds for overproduction of acid at all since 2002?

Just curious, as I've been on and off them for a while now.

When I'm off of them, some days I wake up with acid-stomach. It's an awful feeling. A morning protein shake clears it up right away, though.

Were you given Prevacid (or the like) early out?

Thanks,
anne

P.S. Sorry to hear you're going to have your entire DS undone. I hope your weight doesn't come back. Looks like you'd lost lots.