RNY takedown (reversal)
without the takedown my family and my long time physician beleive I would not be here today to type this . If I had been told or had found thru my 6 months of research BEFORE I had my rny that it would have a chance to lead to ANY of these nuero and other issues not just in the short term but in the long term as well, I would have to not have any type of wls.
a quick snyopsis of my story
For 3.5 years and I had
1. An inability to eat ANY veggies and fruits (maybe applesauce)
2. An inability to eat any meat aside from sandwich meat
3. Vomiting daily at the least (yes despite chewing my food well and taking small bites)
4. Injecting myself twice a week with vitamin b12 and it having NO EFFECT on how I felt
5. 2 strictures, four endoscopies and no effect on my healthy (all the docs said everything looked good and I SHOULD be able to eat what I knew I could not)
6. Joint pain (nope, never really had joint pain pre rny)
7. The beginnings of what *I know* would eventually be reactive hypoglycemia
8. Inability to do either job because of memory problems. My mental processing speed tested in the 14th percentile. Both jobs required good memory and one required quick processing speed
9. The worst depression despite a slew of anti depressant drugs I tried
10. A loss of only 40 frickin pounds, thus now I was still morbidly obese AND sicker than I had ever been in my entire life
11. Dizziness for almost 4 years consistently. It finally started going away a few months after my takedown.
12. Rotting teeth that would take upwards of about $8000.00 to repair and that was quoted when I HAD dental insurance. I used to get compliments on my teeth all the time but the vomiting and dry mouth the 8 or so additional medications I was on left me with ugly, painful and rotting teeth.
13. Seizure activity that I NEVER had pre RNY
14. Unrelenting fatigue. To give you an idea, my daily choice of activity was EITHER taking a shower OR making a simple dinner for my family. If I made the mistake of doing both or anything extra, my body would make me pay dearly and for days upon days
15. Almost 80k of medical debt and no way to pay it
16. ICE cold feet and burning sensations in my palms aka peripheral neuropathy
17. Vision problems
18. Finally pain but mainly just in my upper right back which seems to have also been a form of peripheral neuropathy
hello, I started out at 266 today i am 144 i am 5'3" and yest was my 6mo mark.
My name is amanda and i have heard that it can be done. actually my d.r has told me i have to have it done but its rough waters bc hes has never actually had to do one so im a little iffy on that. i had my surgery march 14 2012 and three days later i started to go down hill getting very sick from march to june i spent over 50 days in the hospital. one stay was 15 days and my dr is 3hrs away so my kids were not happy. my new stomach actually closed up and i needed it streached twice then the third time is when they found an ulcer. but in may i had to have a feeding tube put in 2 weeks later i had to have it surgical put back in 3 weeks after that it fell out in the middle of the night and was to long everything closed back up again and had to have it surgical put back in again i do also have a marginal ulcer. solid intolerance is a big issue. my dr. wants me to try to keep eating hope that one time it will just work well i cant even eat a bite of food with out my chest hurting about right where the new stomach would be. i was in so much pain the other night i was in a ball on my bed in tears for 2 hrs two days later iwas still in pain just not enough to put me in tears so my dr. office said go to the closest er so i did they said probly gas. of course this hospial near me knows nothing about these surgeries thats why i have to drive 3hrs away. i am just so over getting sick i try something new and i get sick then i laydown and i will be down for hours. around my tube always stinks even with putting meds on it that the dr office told me to get from the store it bleeds every morning i wake up with dry blood draindown my belly and wet yuck blood around under the plastic around my tube. and its so sore around my tube i just wi**** to be over.. my kids wi**** to be over.. i cant work i had to stop going to college and feel like crap all the time im always dehydrated oh and after my 2 tube surgery a week later i had to go back for a blood transfution i was down 2 and having dr try to shove a tube in a hole that is closed up isnt the best either then after it starts bleeding so much it looks like u have a gun shot they finally say oh we cant get it back in. well anyway i know this was alot more then u asked about but my dr has told me the last 3 visits next visit we will talk about setting u up for surgery to reverse it but he also tells me EVEN AFTER THE REVERSAL I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO EAT STILL AND WILL STILL ALWAYS NEED THE FEEDING TUBE!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Amanda. I am new to this site and am just learning about the different boards here. I had my RNY in 2007 and I too had problems from the start. I went a whole year basically starving to death because my surgeon didn't figure out what was wrong. The only difference I had was that I had no pain in fact I had no feelings at all from my Molly button down and in my arms and hands. My doctor kept telling my husband and I that if there was something wrong with the surgery I would be in pain. I was in and out of the hospital and to different doctors and they all came to the same conclusion...there must be something wrong with my surgery.
It took a trip out to the Mayo Clinic and they said that I needed to reverse my RNY they would do it but my insurance wasn't accepted there and they also prefer the original surgeon to do the surgery because they know how they performed the surgery and where they put "everything". But they also suggested going on TPN which is nutrition through the vein as opposed to the feeding tube. They said if I gained some weight back or started to feel better in any way that would for sure indicate the need for reversal. Coming back home to mu surgeon with the information he still refused the possibility that the surgery was to blame but reluctantly put me on the TPN. It was like a lightswitch had been turned on. I started to feel a little better and the feelings started to comeback in my legs and abdomen and what did you know I began to feel the pain. Worse pain that I've ever felt from any past surgery or even childbirth. Here was my answer that we were looking for.
I went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and found Dr. Raper for a second opinion and he decided that a reversal was needed and usually are able to be performed. However in my case when he went in to do the reversal he saw that my stomach pouch had collapsed in on itself and he had to perform a gastrectomy. It was a long recovery due to the complications of going so long with that and all the malabsorption issues that I had but I'm getting better every day. I don't want to say that I regret my decision to having the RNY because of every horror story you hear there are 5 successful stories even though I secretly suffer to myself why I couldn't be one of those success stories. I do regret not getting a second opinion sooner and I do blame my doctor for the negligence of aftercare for not finding the problem. To me I felt that he dismissed all my symptoms telling me that I maybe suffering from anorexia and pica instead of taking responsibility of thinking that there may be something wrong with his surgery. He didn't want me to be a bad statistic on his record. He actually told a friend of mine that I was looking for attention. My answer to that was why would I go through a surgery and so much pain and distress if I could be anorexic from the beginning and saved myself all this trouble.
But anyway that's my story, sorry it is so long and quite boring but I wanted you to know that you are not the only one out there and you are not a failure. And if there are anyone else out there with similar symptoms just have that avenue explored before you just think you are crazy.
Good luck on the rest of your journey!
My name is Christy and I came across your story on one of the weight loss forums. After 11 years of complications from my gastric bypass, I'm scheduled to have my gastric bypass reversed on October 17th at the University of San Francisco. I've been reading everything I can find on the topic but it's such a rare surgery and there's very little information out there. I'd love to hear from you and find out how you're doing now. I'm very concerned about gaining all my weight back and the physical pain I experienced daily from my obesity. Have you been able to maintain a healthy weight? What type of "diet" have you been following to keep the weight off?
Reversing gastric bypass surgery is such a complicated and scary procedure. How do you feel now compared to your pre-reversal days? I'm so sick all of the time and weak from not being able to eat. I hope to regain my health and vitality after my surgery. Have you found this to be true? How is your health now?
I'm really hoping that you haven't changed your email and this letter makes it to you. I really appreciate your feedback and any and all advice and recommendations you give me.
Christy
