RNY vrs DS trying to decide

so many mixed feelings.... I do have Gerd and surgeon says he thinks RNY is better for me , but the DS is what I originally wanted.. grrrrr help me hahaha going crazy......he dint say No way he just said may make GERD worse.....big choices think 2ce cut once u know .. I have to figure this out by monday bc they are sending for the aproval...all my pretests are done:)~~~~~

I had GERD before my DS.  I had GERD afterwards.  I take Protonix twice a day.  It doesn't bother meat all.

NO F'ING WAY I'd trade my DS for an RNY just for a "chance" of improving my GERD.

Here's what I tell people about how I chose the DS:

I was originally on track to have RNY back in 2002, but got derailed after preop testing revealed that I had pulmonary hypertension. It's a long story, but it's on my profile if you'd like to read about it.

Even though I was off the track for RNY, I continued to attend the program my then-surgeon required of all his patients. I'd paid for it, so I figured I could benefit from it anyhow :-).

I saw some disturbing trends there. This was a big group, as several surgeons sent patients to it. There was, of course, a cadre of very successful patients (all RNY). They finished their year of program and went on with their lives, and as far as anyone knew/knows, all is well.

There were a surprising number of people, though, who fought and fought and fought to comply with what was expected of them, and the weight didn't come off well. At every meeting, there was word of someone else in the hospital with this or that problem--usually an ulcer or a stricture.

I listened to stories of dumping episodes, of getting food stuck episodes, of the mental/emotional challenges of having to live on highly restricted diets.....and I thought, "There's not a chance in hell I could live with this." (I should add that I have a major vomiting phobia. I'll do just about anything to not vomit. Not a good thing in some cases.)

Well, time passed, I got fatter and sicker, and eventually (again, story in my profile), it came out that the pulmonary hypertension was caused by the fat on my torso squashing my heart and lungs. It went from, "You cannot have any surgery at all," to, "You must have surgery or die."

I came back here to OH, feeling desperate because the lap band wouldn't give me enough weight loss to have any real hope of curing what was ailing me, and the RNY seemed to me like foolish butchery for not enough good results.

Someone told me then about the duodenal switch, invited me over to the DS board, which at the time was pretty much brand new, and the rest was history.

What I like about the DS:

1. 98% cure rate for type II diabetes. This was a major biggie because I had very bad diabetes.
2. Normal stomach anatomy and function is maintained. The stomach is reduced in size, but the normal stomach outlet, the pyloric valve, remains intact and functioning. There is no "stoma" with the DS or the vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG).
3. The intestinal changes that are done in the DS "jump start" the body's metabolism. Mine was shot to hell from a lifetime of PCOS, dieting and other factors.
4. I'd already done many years of low fat, low carb, highly restrictive dieting and I knew I sucked at it. The DS gives an eating quality of life that I find easy to live with: eat a primarily animal protein based diet. I'm a happy carnivore :-). I had to learn to restrict my carb intake, but it was a lot easier to do when I could eat meat, cheese, fish, eggs, etc. with abandon, with little regard for fat content. (DS'ers only absorb about 20% of the fat they eat, so for most of us, fat is almost a "free" food.)

I felt so strongly about the superiority of the DS to any other procedure that I traveled and paid out of pocket to have it done, rather than have the RNY done fifteen minutes from home and covered by insurance. It's been four years, and so far, so good :-).

 

 

 Well said, Elizabeth.

As a RNYer, I have to say that if I could do it all again, I WOULD NOT have gastric bypass. I had trouble from day one: fainting, weakness, low blood pressure, feeling as if there was nothing for my body to draw upon for energy—just this empty sort of dead battery feeling. I put up with it because I figured it was just my body adjusting to a major, major surgery, and things would get better with time. 

But I was losing weight so it was all worthwhile, in my view.

Things got better around the third and fourth year out, but then I started having these terrifying episodes where I felt suddenly weak, confused, and very, very strange. Sort of, disconnected from reality in a way. Just weird. Of course, looking back, I now know that these were severe hypoglycemic episodes. But I didn't know this at the time. I mean, I've had hypoglycemic episodes before, I got them all the time presurgery if I went to long between meals, but nothing like this. 

Then came a time when I was just to weak to function. I found the slightest thing left me out of breath and exhausted. My doctor and I thought it was adrenal insufficiency and he put me on prednisone. I was on it (well, I was on cortef, actually) for two years. Long story, won't go into it, there were a lot of extenuating cir****tances throughout this time that kept me on the steroid. 

Now, here I am. I've gained back all my excess weight, I still struggle with weakness and fatigue, I have very bad blood sugar drops, my heart beats too fast (and no one knows why) and my ears ring in time with each heartbeat. I'm sick all the time. 

Granted, there were things that happened to me healthwise (and still are happening) that had more to do with the steroid use than anything else, but I have to wonder, if I didn't have so much trouble with dumping, would I even have gone on the steroid? I mean, looking back, I now see that my low blood pressure was due to fluids passing through my system too quickly, i.e., dumping. And my hypoglycemic episodes were due to foods passing through my system too quickly, i.e., dumping. 

Dumping sucks! Trust me, you do NOT want a stoma.

Lynda

Thank you all for you help , I need to hear it real, I am really feeling stronger about the DS , and will email my surgeon tomarrow and see what his thoughts on it are to pursue the DS.. I love it already bc of each of you:)  and your story's Thank you...

 Who is your surgeon? You'll need an experienced surgeon. The people on this messageboard can help you with that. They know who to avoid, and who is the best. They can help with traveling advice if you need to travel to have your surgery. And they can answer any questions you have regarding life after DS. Mainly, I would recommend just sticking around here and doing lots of reading. You'll learn lots.

Lynda

Dr Peter Crookes out of USC.. he did my sisters DS 6months ago.... ??

 Well, Dr. Crookes is listed as a DS surgeon on DSfacts.com. That website seems to be what everyone here goes by. 

It looks like you might not be too far from Drs. Ara Keshishian, and John Rabkin, who are supposed to be the best. It looks like you have some great options to choose from. Some people here have had to travel across the nation to see a good surgeon.

Lynda

You might have to be pretty forceful with him to "talk him into" doing a DS for you. Or maybe not, here's hoping. But yes, he is a known entity as a DS surgeon. I don't recall right now whether he's on the DS Facts list.

Crookes has a reputation for making patients DEMAND the DS and prove they understand it.  HE's a sweet guy...and very patient...but a hard sell.  And he's no longer the only game in town.  Keshishian is just a short drive down the freeway.

BUT ANYWAY...here's how you decide.  You go to the revisions board and try to find miserable RnY patients looking for a revision and then look for miserable DS patients looking for a revision and that will tell you what you need to know.

Sue