Confused-lost?

So i went to my doc today. Told him the problems i am having, the frustration. He then asks if i had considered any other option at the time of my surgery. I said no, i was scared enough and wanted the least invaisive. I then began asking questions about DS. He immediately went off. Telling me unless i wanna end up loosing way too much weight and all the deficencies that come with, to really reconsider. He even asked if i came on this site and what i have learned. I told him what i have read and found our regarding the DS. He then said, well you havent seen all the patients i have with tubes in them and pumping iron and other things in them when they loose too much weight. I was really thrown back. He then commented on how he did them in the beginning of his bariatric years, but seen way too much things go wroong and opted out of them being a part of his practice. He went on about how its all good the first few years but 10+ out and the seriousness kicks in. So any info from vets out there 5-10 years or more out would be great.

Gee!  A LapBand doctor who thinks the DS is a bad thing.  Now THAT'S ironic.

Maybe he was a cut and run surgeon.  Maybe he didn't follow up with them very well.  Maybe he has no idea how dreadfully ill--or dead--those people getting iron infusions would have been without the DS.  Maybe he just doesn't want to lose the sale.


I'm almost six years out.  I now have trouble when I eat overprocessed flour-based foods.  They make me feel lousy--they don't make me sick, they don't threaten my health.  So I choose NOT to eat them almost all the time.  I have more lactose intolerance than I did before...it IS an ethnic thing as well.  I have kidney stones that are PROBABLY the result of the DS...but my urologist says that MOST of his female stones patients are RnY people.  I have ALWAYS been  a little anemic (Thalassemia, another genetic thing) but now I'm keeping an eye on those numbers and getting an iron infusion when they aren't good.  My iron labs were worse when I had the band.

ALL my labs were worse with the band.  My esophagus was thrashed by the band and didn't start working again until eleven weeks after I had the POS removed.

I've had some regain...but not like with the band.  I have--at this point--kept off about 70% of my excess weight.  With the band, three years later, I weighed 3 pounds MORE than I did pre-op and I was very, very sick.

Tell your doctor I'm sorry that he had such a lousy follow up program and so many sick patients.  I'll put my labs up agains his any day.  I'll bet he'd BEG to trade with me.  lol

Sue

When I go to the support group meetings with my DS doctor, he shows recently published medical journal articles about the DS and how it compares to other wls. He himself has done over 1700 DS surgeries and has done them himself over 10 years.
I think he knows everything there is to know about the DS, and doesn't have all those concerns your lapband doctor has.
I think this is a case of a doctor listening to rumors, and not having his own experience.
I suggest you get a consult with a doctor who is expert on the DS and get the straight scoop.

So he's a ****ty non- DS surgeon (and I bet he's done hardly any of them anyway; they ALL say they "used to do the DS") with ****ty education and ****ty followup. How good that he knows this. Go find a real DS surgeon and get an honest consult. Real simple.

I'm not 5 years out yet, but I've been around long enough to see that your doc is trash-talking the surgery types he is too incompetent to perform himself. If you want an objective opinion from a surgeon you need to find a bariatric surgeon who is a VETTED  DS surgeon (note: DS bariatric surgeons also perform the band, VSG and RNY).

If you're in Cali Dr. Rabkin & Dr. Keshishian considered top-notch. See if you can get your consultation with one of them. 

The DS is difficult to perform, the ones qualified to do it are the "creme de la creme" of bariatric surgeons. Lots of surgeons claim they perform the DS but in truth they do not- if they're not listed on DSfacts be suspicious of that surgeron when they claim to have experience with the DS- be very, very suspicious!

He might have done them,,, but how long ago !!!?

He is trashing it because he does not DO them.    

GO to someone *****ally does them now!  The medical community is changing faster, new technology ... he is not keeping up with it if he really thinks that,,,

 He is being a stupid  surgeon,, by not learning the vitamin and nutrition part to keep them well !!!  HIS fault not the patients... their fault for not taking control of their OWN health...

THAT is what needed for  a DS patient..

I am stupid because I bought into the band to, and I am medical...  Learned my lesson,  No matter if they have DR in front of their name,, what is told me  I research  MYSELF...

Even with the ones I work with now ,  Because of the DS I have lost over 120 pounds,, now they ask for the "spitfire nurse"  because I challenge any procedure or complication and correct or concur with them....

Don't be a lamb...

OK off soapbox now....

We did try to warn you about him, yes?

If people with the DS don't take care of themselves, get their labs (once a year for me) and take the right amounts of the right vitamins and eat enough protein, yes, they will get sick. Of course, that's true for RNY as well, though our needs are greater and we can get sick quicker. So if he's seeing people who did not have good follow-up or decided they didn't need to take all those silly vitamins, yes, he will see some sick people. But there are excellent articles in the medical literature than document the longterm nutritional health of DS'ers, and the rate of problems is actually very low, and almost always due to noncompliance by the patient. Meaning, it's in your hands. He isn't seeing all the people who are doing well, because why would they come to him, a guy who isn't even doing the DS, when they're doing well? So he's seeing a skewed sample, and most likely a noncompliant sample as well.

So, for the THIRD time, I'll invite you to come to the support group meeting and meet some of us for yourself and see for yourself whether or not we are healthy and happy, or are we a bunch of emaciated, malnourished skeletons. I've already given you the info on time, etc twice, but if you've lost it, send me a pm. And anyone else in our area who wants to come is also welcome.

Larra

I see the ever patient Larra is showing signs of less patience with you. This must mean you aren't listening yet.

So what's it going to take for you to listen to us and ACT on the many decades of combined knowledge and experience we've been sharing with you? Your surgeon sucks. Why are you listening to him? He doesn't know WTF he's talking about.

Food for thought, should you be hungry.

Your doc is full of crap!

There are 10 year, 15 year and 20 year peer-reviewed studies on the DS. I believe that Dr. Hess' first DS patient is still alive and kicking.  DSFacts has a lot of the info and studies.

I am 6+ years out and I don't know if I will have problems at the 10 year mark but if I do, it was at least 5 years added to my life so no gripes here.

Most of the complaints I see are about weight regain, especially with patients 8 or mor years out.

Michele