Had my consultation today. SO CONFUSED

Howdy OH. I had my consultation with the surgeon I have chosen today at 2pm. He came in we talked for a few minutes then he informed that the BEST surgery for me personally that he thought I would have the most success from was the Duodenal Switch. I kind of knew in the back of my head that I might have to go with the Gastric Bypass or something because of how much weight I have to lose and all the health problems I have. He also told me he would like to do a sleep study because he thinks I have sleep apena. I had said the other day to my dad that I thought I had it and I needed to go to the hospital because I couldn't breathe. My dad told me to wait awhile and see if it worsened but I went anyway because I feared it would get worse. Anyway I am just wondering how success people have been with DS. I think it could be great and I could be extremely successful but I am just afraid of having my insides re-routed. I am currently 337 and have diabetes and possibly sleep apena. I just need some reassurance. Thanks 
                       


                            -Alicia

Who is your surgeon? The DS is clearly the best WLS for weight loss and resolving the comorbids you mention, but it involves a lot of protein and vitamin supplementation - you want to go into it with your eyes open and understanding what you need to do to make and keep yourself healthy.

My surgeon is Dr Boyce in Knoxville Tennessee

I have read of others who had a DS from him, and I think of him as reputable.  It is a pretty good sign that he recommends the DS to you -- the incentives to him are that the other weight loss surgeries are easier for him to do and more lucrative to him (per hour of his labor), so it seems like he really does have your best interest in mind.  There is also evidence that people with type 2 diabetes who have a gastric bypass may have the diabetes remit, but years later more of them see it return, plus have more weight regain, and battle reactive hypoglycemia (which probably contributes to the weight regain).  The DS gives you the highest chance of resolving diabetes in the short term, and, more importantly, the long term.  People often have some regain from their lowest post-op weight even with the DS, but it still, by far, has the best rate of keeping off the most excess weight long-term compared to all other weight loss surgery types.

You could take some more time to think about it and investigate and read more about the DS until you get more comfortable and confident that it is the right thing for you.

 Dr. Boyce is my surgeon too. He's a great cutter although the nutrition advice from his office is pretty worthless. I am very happy with my surgery and my results. I've lost about 170 pounds and I'm 2 years out. My diabetes is under control without meds, my high blood pressure and high cholesterol are gone. Feel free to message me if you want more information. I'm not here very often... I mostly go to another site, but I'll be glad to talk with you too. 

 Alicia

It's a GREAT thing that you went to a doctor who can do the DS surgery.  Not all surgeons can.  The DS is the most effective surgery for weight loss, and most importantly o you, the CURE of diabetes.  

There are many of us here who only heard of the gastric bypass or LapBand when researching weight loss surgery, but decided on the DS once we were introduced to it and understood how the surgery works.

Your intestines are also "re-routed" with the gastric bypass, just in a different way.  Actually the effect that it causes (malabsoprtion, meaning you dont absorb all the calories in what you eat) goes away over time with the gastric bypass.  Not so with the DS.  What you should be more concerned about with gastric bypass is that they actually put a hole (called a stoma) in your stomach.  This can lead to problems with your stomach never staying full and crashing your blood sugar levels, which could leave you always hungry.  Not so with the DS.  We have a fully functioning (although smaller) stomach.

Pleease consider yourself very fortunate that your sugeon recommended this surgery to you.  The best place to research is here on this link to DSFacts.


http://www.dsfacts.com

 The DS has the best statistics for percentage of weight loss and lowest rates of regain, too.  It requires some work on your part with keeping healthy (bypass does too).  Docs and nutritionists arent the best resources for nutrition for DSers, but we share a lot out here.  Go to dsfacts.com to learn more.

 Hi,
You can also get more information on dsfacts.com it helped me.

Good luck,
Trish

Hi Alicia,

I had done all my research for the Gastric Bypass....Because I had not heard of the DS.

I came to OH to do more research and found a great bunch of people that had the DS, it just so happened that the surgeon that I chose happened to be their surgeon also.

I met them at a support group meeting in Cookeville and they explained the DS to me.  I was hooked.  More research more friends and here I am 2 years later loving my DS.

Also loving the great group of people that have helped me along the way.

Everyday I am thankful for the DS.

My surgeon is Dr Houston in Nashville.

Go to some DS support groups and meet some of those people and learn more about the DS.

Good Luck to you

Keep us posted

If you do have sleep apnea. losing weight is often the best thing to resolve it.  Not everybody who has WLS has their sleep apnea resolved. I am happy to report that I no longer have it.

I had 200 pounds of excess weight and knew I needed something drastic like the by-pass.  Yet the more I read about the DS, the more it sounded like something better for me.

I also went to Dr. Houston.  It's great to go to someone who does all the major surgeries.  They have a better idea of what is the best match for each individual.  If they insist on one, that may be a warning sign.  I'd ask why he thought it was best and not just because he said it was.

Best wishes.  Look for scientific sites to go along with the anecdotal "evidence" you get here