Sleever here who has questions about the DS... I may need a revision...

I had the sleeve 7 months ago and I have ZERO restriction now.  I have NEVER eaten the food they tell you to stay away from and only noticed a problem when I started to feel like I was STARVINg all day.  I did a dense protein test and was able to eat THREE pieces of chicken with no restriction.  Anyway, my dr. has ordered an upper GI to see what is going on.  I have heard that it may be better go revise to a DS rather than a bypass if a revision is needed so I am turning to the DS-ers for some real info.  Can you explain in really basic terms what is it like to have the DS?  What are the no-no's?  What are the up sides?  Has anyone here gone from a sleeve to a DS?  Was the recovery hard?  Thanks so much.

LOTS of people have gone from the sleeve to the DS...in fact, for patients who are very heavy and/or high risk for long periods under a general anesthesia, some surgeons divide their DS into Part I--the sleeve, and Part II--the intestinal part.

USUALLY, the stand alone sleeve is smaller than the sleeve that goes with the DS...at least some surgeons do it that way.

A good place to start for information regarding the DS is DSfacts.com.

For me, having a DS is freedom. Freedom of knowing that if I gain weight because I have not been eating the DS diet all I need to do is to go back to basics and the weight will be lost. It is my hope that maintaining my weight will be easier. 

As for DS no no's, the biggest thing is carbs, especially simple carbs. The accepted DS rule of thumb is that DS'ers malabsorb about 80% of fat, 50% of protein, 50% of complex carbs (such as fruit, potatoes), and 0% of simple carbs (candy, flour, bread).  For some certain carbs such as flour, candy, and sugar alchols can cause gas and bowel discomfort.

Maddie

You need to look at the DS long term and not just about what you can and cannot eat. Because of the malabsorption, you need to be able to commit to a lifetime of vitamins, lab monitoring, eating the proper foods (high protein). You also need to be able to afford to do all these things for the rest of your life. The upside of the DS is that the malabsorption helps you maintain your weight loss.

Read dsfacts and read alot of the history posts on this board. Alot of people go from the sleeve to the DS. The DS is a lifetime commitment.

You also need to see if your surgeon does the DS.

thanks so much all

It sounds like you didn't get a good sleeve to start with. I couldn't eat 3 pieces of chicken today and my DS was over 5 years ago. Of course I have much less restriction than I had at first, but I still do have restriction. You shouldn't be able to eat so much, and you shouldn't feel like you're starving.
     I have no idea who your surgeon is, but I would caution you that, it all liklihood, it's probably someone who doesn't do the DS and who is going to try to convince you to revise to RNY rather than DS. This makes no sense at all as you would actually need more surgery to convert from the sleeve stomach to the RNY pouch, whereas with the DS you would just need the intestinal portion done...unless your sleeve is too big (which may be the case) and you need a re-sleeve. And you would lose all the advantages you got by choosing sleeve over RNY - no dumping, ability to take NSAIDs, etc. Then again, if this surgeon couldn't even get the sleeve right, do you really want him/her doing ANY further surgery on you?
     Get the upper GI for sure. Find out what's going on. But it's time for you to contact a real DS surgeon for advice and help. You can find a list of DS surgeons on dsfacts.com.

Larra

thank you