Lap Band vs RNY

Trouble adjusting to not having the cpap machine?  Heck no!!  Easiest thing I ever did was quit using it, and I'm glad it's gone!  As for official tests, the only think I hated more than wearing that incredibly romantic machine, was doing the sleep test in the first place.  My DW is a light sleeper, and was the one to recognize my sleep apnea in the first place.  She says I no longer quit breathing while sleeping, and I've quit snoring.  Needless to say, we're both sleeping better.  Me because I no longer have apnea and snore, and her because I'm quiet when I sleep and she's not worried I'll quit breathing. --Dave

I'm adding my two cents worth just to clarify a couple of points. 1st:  RNY is totally reversible.  Nothing is cut out, nothing is removed.  It's just rerouted.  Reversing an RNY is done only in very rare cases such as when the patient is dying from malnutrition from what ever cause.  I read about a woman who had to have it reversed 25 years later because she developed cancer in her intestines and had to remove a portion of them.   2nd:  Lap-band should still take a full compliment of vitamins because if you are only eating small amounts, you still don't get enough nutrients for optimal health.  That being said, RNY must take B-12 in a sublingual form FOREVER and lap-banders can absorb it normally, otherwise, everyone on a restricted diet of any type (Adkins, WW, Surgery) should all take extra vitamins. All procedures have the potential to succeed, all have the potential to fail.  Ultimately it is up to the patient and their level of commitment to succeed. Choose wisely for YOU! Dj

That's interesting I have never been told that I need to take anything more than an multi-vitamin except calcium becasue I am female (whether or not I have WLS) I went to all the nutrition classes and they just said a multi-vitamin was all wee needed. I guess I will have  to follow up with the nutritionist on that one.

I have been reading & researching WLS for years now.  During the 5 years it took me to get approved for surgery and for the last 2 years since surgery.  I have a friend whose doctor told her that post WLS all she needed was one Flintstone chewable and Tums.  There is soooo much info stating that Tums are worthless to RNYers but her doctor insists that the calcium citrate folks are nuts!  There is just too much information out there to believe that only one source is 100% correct; including ME!   I read an article that said that EVERYONE should take citrate.  The article was not addressed to the gastric bypass community...it was in a health newsletter addressed to every single person who is interested in his or her health. As one other person on this board once put it, I'd rather err on the side of caution.  After all, it's my health that suffers if the doctors don't have all of the answers at the moment I ask the question.  If they find out later that they have been giving information that they now believe to be wrong, they don't call everyone up & say so.  They (and we) learn new stuff every day.  Dr. Blackstone wants labs once per year, I want them more often.  Dr. Blackstone's nutritionist told you a multi and calcium was all you need while I was told (possibly by the same person, certainly in the same office) to take a multi, calcium citrate, iron, B-complex, and sublingual B-12.  Other research shows that calium needs to be paired with Vitamin D, so I added that to my regime.  My point in saying that we should all take the same vitamins is that the amount of food we are eating is too small to provide the amount of vitamins our bodies need.  Basically, you can't (or shouldn't) eat 6 servings of breads/cereals/grains, 3 servings of dairy, 6 servings of fruit/veggies, 80-120 grams of protien, etc, when you are only eating 1000-1200 calories per day.  It requires supplementation.  Lap-band was not an option for me when I had my surgery.  If it had been, I may have gone that way because my biggest fear was, and continues to be, malnutrition.  Because of that, I probably go overboard with supplements.  But I also watch my labs closely.  If I get too high (that hasn't happened yet!) I am prepared to cut back, but if I see that my numbers continue to decline, even though I'm still in "RANGE," I increase what ever it is that's slipping. YOU are your own best advocate.  Ask many questions of everyone and do what you're comfortable with, but do so because you understand, not because one person told you to do something. Best of luck and please post what Dr. B's nut says about the extra vitamins.  My husband had RNY 5 months ago and their program had changed quite a bit since mine but he was given the same list of vitamins.  I doesn't seem logical that they wouldn't want the Lap-banders to get the same vitamins. Ciao, Dj

I will have to look more into it, but at my last class they did have a list for the bypass patients and for the band patients, the by-pass patients had several on their list and the only thing on ours was a multi-vitamin. I know they mentioned that an average band patient during maintenance consumes 1200-1500 calories, and that is a normal amount of calories so I am assuming that is why there isn't the concern for malnutrition. I am recently banded and probably consume 700-900 calories a day right now, so I will get more info. about it. But your right WLS or not there are always more stuff we can take for optimal health.

I guess didn't think that the banders could consume that much, it does make sense though.  I probably eat that much now but it has taken 2 years to get here.   I went to the OH convention in Tucson in January.  Dr Simpson was one of the speakers.  He said that at 18 to 24 months, the malabsorbtive aspect of the RNY is gone (except for the B-12).  That our bodies figure out how to get around the rerouted intestine.  I haven't heard anyone else say that but it seems reasonable.  I had part of a lung removed and over the course of the next few years, the lung expanded so that my lung capacity is about 95% of what it used to be but they removed one third of the lung.  I know that our bodies are really good at fixing themselves.  I guess only time will tell which of the therories are correct.   Thanks for the info, Dj

That is cool to know about your lung expanding. My mom had a partial lung removal a year ago. The weight loss surgery must have seemed like a cake walk compared to that surgery for you. From what I understand the lung removal is one of the most painful surgeries you can have. It's been a year and my mom still gets pain in her back from the surgery. Ouch!! Left one heck of a scar too! Like a shark bite :)

I hope your mom gets better.  It did take a long time to get "all better."  The laproscopic RNY was much easier for lots of reasons but the number one reason...I found out about 10 years later that morphine doesn't work on me and that's all they would give me for pain!  The nurses accused me of lying just so I could get MORE!  Now, I never get morphine;  I'm a demerol only kind of a person.  It would have been nice if the staff had believed me.   My surgeon was great though.  My scar runs in a straight line from my sternum, right under my breast all the way to my arm pit.  The first surgeon wanted to give me the "shark bite" scar.  He was an Army pulmonologist and I was in the Air Force so I waited unil I got back to an Air Force base.  The Air Force surgeon was a thorasic specialist and he thought the smaller scar would serve the same purpose.  That surgery was nearly 19 years ago and I haven't had any problems since. Why did your mom have her surgery?  They thought I had cancer but it was just a Valley Fever scar.  Go figure!  Dj