PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN SLEEVED THAT WEIGHED MORE THAN 300 LB PLEASE HELP!

So I met with a surgeon yesterday and he said that he would recommend gastric bypass for me vs the sleeve because he doesn't think I will lose enough weight with the sleeve. I currently weigh 354 lbs. I am really set on the sleeve because my husband and I plan to have one more baby in 4-5 years and the malabsorption issues and dumping syndrome worry me with bypass. I just feel uncomfortable with my anatomy being rearranged. At the same time, I do need something that will work for me. If you were more than 300 lbs and have been sleeved please tell me your experience. No matter how far into you are or whether you were successful or not it would really help me. Even those of you that know someone in this situation, much appreciated!! Thanks!

ADDTNL INFO: I DO HAVE PCOS... that seemed to make a difference in another post

i got my sleeve last week and I started my journey weighing over 400lbs

 my surgeon said they sleeve was safer and allows you to take nsaid pain killers that most us heavy weights need for knee and back pain , you can take them after a few months with the sleeve but you can never take them again with the rny 

 there are also a few other meds that don't work with the rny

I know quite a few people, here and in my local group who were over 300 lbs when they were sleeved. I was over 300 when I met with my surgeon, and he was (obviously) fine with my getting the sleeve.

He did say that had I had diabetes or metabolic issues that he would have recommended RNY, but I also told him that for me, it was sleeve or nothing (I was already successfully losing weight pre-surgery, and what I was doing was sustainable, just slow and I'm trying to stave off a knee replacement)

I don't know enough about how the different surgeries affect PCOS...

If you really think the sleeve is best for you, and only you can make that choice, stand your ground. Tell the surgeon your concerns about malabsorption during pregnancy, etc. and let him know you're OK with slightly slower weight loss.

Both surgeries are effective, and I fully admit to strong bias in favour of the sleeve, even though it is often considered more drastic than RNY (because it is utterly irreversible, and the RNY is theoretically reversible). Personally, I feel rerouting my intestines is more dramatic :D - but I take their point.

I would get a second opinion. Speak with an experienced VSG surgeon. It is your body and you have once chance to get this right. I too did not feel comfortable rearranging what God made. I had a big stomach that needed to be "reset." That is why I chose VSG. I looked at every option and VSG just made sense to me. It shrinks your stomach and gets rid of the portion of your stomach that makes hunger hormones. VSG is quickly becoming the operation of choice. If after you have the operation it does not work for you (you do not lose enough weight), you can always convert to a Duodenum Switch (DS) with an additional operation. DS introduces malabsorption in addition to the restriction created by VSG. That is what my surgeon planned for me. However, I am happy to report that with VSG alone, I was able to go from 414 pounds to 193 pounds in about 15 months.  I hope it lasts. If it does not, I'll consider having a DS. 

wow, wow and WOW! What an inspiration! thank you all for your input, you don't know how much it helps

Hi. I replied to you over on the VSG forum before I saw this post, but I wanted to add that I also have PCOS. I am not diabetic, but since we were trying to conceive, my doctor had had me on Metformin to help with insulin resistance for years before the surgery. The morning after surgery, the endocrinologist said I no longer needed the Met. We have to be careful not to get pregnant for 12 months post-op, so it's too soon to know if my PCOS issues have resolved or lessened, but this surgery does have a metabolic component, too, even if it's not as clearly understood as RNY. Good luck!

I am currently about 470 lbs and have PCOS. I haven't had surgery yet, but I was fully on board with getting RNY UNTIL I met with my surgeon for the consultation! They told me that they are getting just as good of results (maybe just slightly lower) with the sleeve as with the bypass without all of the complications that come with the bypass. I also found out that after a few months the body figures out a way to start absorbing calories again like normal but never nutrients....

I have a 5 year old son and one of my main reasons for doing this is to be able to be the best mom that I can be for him. I feel that I have a better chance of doing that with the sleeve and not worrying about malabsorbtion and if there is some sort of major catastrophe at some point that might prevent me from getting all of the supplements that I would need to stay healthy (a bit dramatic, I know, but you DO have to think ab.out things like that!).

I have also heard people say that when deciding which surgery to have it is helpful to consider what type of eater you are. If you tend to be a junk food eater the RNY might be best for you because it pretty much prevents you from eating that kind of stuff anymore without getting horribly sick. If you are mainly a volume eater the sleeve might work best.

Good luck with your decision!

According to my surgeon, the sleeve started as the first step for people much larger than you. Then, they discovered that many people didn't need the second surgery.  So, he thinks it will become the standard.  He thinks the number of bypasses that he does will decrease as the sleeve increases.

I think all of these surgeries are drastic. I just didn't want to do something drastic with two organs when I can do something drastic with one.  I also don't want mal-absorption-  not even for a year.

I wonder if your surgeon is just less familiar with the sleeve surgery.  Perhaps, the other surgery is more in his comfort zone.  In that case, consider another surgeon.

Whatever procedure you get takes commitment from you.  You definitely can lose. I've seen people go from 400 to less than 200. I've seen people in their 70s succeed with this surgery.  The most common factor that I notice is that the attitude and commitment is strong.