Revision from VSG to DS

Hello all,

I was sleeved in August 2007 and did great with it the first couple of years, went from 289 down to 169. Then the weight started to slowly creep back on over the past few years and I'm back up to 240. It seems to be getting harder and harder to lose the weight and I fear that I'll never be able to get back down to goal weight with just my sleeve.

I'm considering having a revision to the DS. I had thought about and researched the DS back in 2007 when I was looking at the different surgeries. I was worried about not being able to keep up with all the supplements/vitamins with the DS. So I chose to have the VSG, and it worked great for the first couple of years. 

For those who are 2 or more years out has it been easy for you to keep up with your supplements? Have you had any problems with deficiencies? What kind of advice do you have for keeping up with your supplements?

Are there any other people on here who've had a revision from VSG to DS? How was your experience? Any advice? What kind of issues have you had to deal with since your revision?

Thanks for any and all advice/tips/ helpful information :)

Hi there!

I was a straight DS back in Oct. 2008. I know several sleeves and it's a constant diet/exercise regimen for them to keep their weight down/off. The further out they get the more challenging it can be because the sleeves do stretch and without any malabsorption you are relying solely on restriction for weight loss. The sleeve is an excellent surgery--don't get me wrong, but it is something you have to be vigilant with in dieting and portion sizes, as I'm sure you know. :)

As for the DS and supplements, it takes time to get into a routine. Initially it's a challenge to get all the supplements in and on schedule but that comes with time. The really successful patients are the ones that get labwork done once a year (minimally) and watch the trends in their labs and adjust accordingly. Most of us follow a plan set up by Vitalady as a base and then tweak to our individual needs. 

It is work to keep up with it, I won't lie about that. But to me, it's easier than constantly fighting being fat. Prior to my surgery I hadn't reached the point where I had comorbidities that required medications or constant Dr. visits but I was headed there. To me, taking these supplements like I do is preventative medicine. I take about 40 pills per day, spread out in 6 doses. Most of them are small little pills and some, like calcium, are not as small. 

A lot of people talk about how you can eat "normally" once you have the DS and to an extent that is true. Most people don't know I've had surgery unless I tell them. They just think I eat small amounts of food. That said, at this point in my post-op life I'm eating fairly strict with high protein (two shakes a day) and fairly low-carb overall because I feel better that way. I don't need it to keep my weight off so much as I do it because I prefer how I feel eating that way. 

I'd recommend that while you are working on this revision process and making your decision that you start evaluating how you eat now and make some modifications. What habits have you slipped back into? A DS'er may have malabsorption on their side for things like fat but the flip-side of that is absorbing 100% of sugar. If you eat a lot of sugars (not just candy/sweets, but fruits even) or carby items then the surgery isn't going to be a fix-all for you. You will need to cut those out to get the weight off and maintain it. The DS is amazing and fixes so much but it's not foolproof and it does require modifying habits. :)

Thanks for the straight up truth about the DS! I need to know the good and the bad, and so far what you've said I think I can manage. Like you said it will be hard at first keeping up with the supplements, but if I get into a routine I think I can keep up with them. 

I do have an issue with carbs, not really sweets, but carbs in general. I've been working on trying to cut out carbs, and up my protein. I will take this issue into consideration when thinking about the revision. I'm just at my wits end with the sleeve and am hoping that the DS will help me lose the weight and actually help keep it off.

Thanks so much for all your tips and advice, I will seriously take them into consideration :)

I just revised my VSG to a DS Monday! And for me, it is way easier than the first surgery. Far less pain, more mobile. I am so lucky. If you are regaining and hate that, go for the DS. I hope you can get coverage for it, I did not. I would not have been considered obese enough and I had no co morbs, so I had to self pay the DS.

Congrats on your new DS! I'm glad to hear you are doing so well after your surgery and are in less pain than last time! What surgeon did you end up going to for your DS? How much was your self pay?

I won't have insurance again until this fall, so I'll have to see if they cover a revision to the DS. If they don't I might just have to pay for it myself. I paid for my sleeve out of pocket, and I'm glad I did it. It totally changed my life. It helped me become a more confident and more out going person, and see what a healthy life can be like. Now I just need the DS to help me maintain that healthy life!

Thanks for posting, I can't wait to hear more about your journey :)

I went to Dr. M Gagner in Montreal. It cost, let's just say, between 10 and 20 grand.

I was worse nutritionally the first couple of years as I was figuring what vitamin regimen was going to work best for me.  My surgeon was worthless and my PCP was clueless (but open to suggestion).  It was when I started paying more attention to the information being discovered and shared that I finally got control of things.  

If I'm off my routine for the day, I may forget a dose or two or three, but I try to make that the exception and not my norm.

Yeah that's one of my fears, figuring out what vitamin regimen will work for me! I don't want to get so deficient that it's hard to come back, especially with calcium. You can get bone density back!

That's great though that you've been maintaining for 6 years and are doing well!

thanks for posting!

Vitalady.com has a DS regimen in ready packed pouches that nobody has ever reported deficiencies that I've seen from using (unlike every other designer bariatric vitamin out there).  I highly recommend it, but it's pricey.  Get it for a few months and start piecing it together yourself from other sources once you know more.

You aren't kidding vitalady.com is spendy! But it is nice that they have them all pre packaged and tell you when to take each one and what vitamins you should take together and which to not take together. That is a good idea to order it to start out and then start putting the vitamins together.