Please help! I need advice!

DS all the way! Some RNY's end up revising to a DS.  Read some of the posts here.  I had my DS almost 12 weeks ago and am down 50 pounds.

I would go with the DS! But I would make sure my surgeon was very experienced in doing the DS and that his patients were doing well (like others have said).

As far as bathroom issues, I had terrible IBS before I had my surgery and since my DS I haven't had ANY problems with it!! With all the calcium I take I have to adjust my mag. Ox. To keep from being constipated.



I didn't have any complications after my surgery.



Well, here's a link to my 5 yr surgiversary post and my experience with the DS. It touches a little on everything I guess.

http://m.obesityhelp.com/forums/DS/4637703/My-5-year-surgiversary/



Read as much as you can! If your not sure, wait about having surgery until you are. If your not sure about your surgeon doing the DS find another surgeon. I waited close to a year longer than I would have if I would have went with the RNY. I found out about the DS right at the time I started my 6 mo. diet for the insurance co. I researched for over 6 mo. while waiting and trying to get approved. I used a different surgeon than I was going to get the RNY with. It was worth the wait!

I'm gonna read it right now, thanks!

I am a revision from the RNY to the DS. I had  so many issues with the RNY that have cleared up since having my DS. I wish I had done the DS first. I am 63 years old so not a spring chicken and I have had very few problems- I do have bowl issues when I eat the wrong thing. It doesn't take you long to figure out what they are. You will learn how to deal with those things on this site. I had my surgery March 19th and am down 52lbs post surgery. I am not the fastest loser but I am losing steadily and have already lost more with my DS in the past 4 months than I ever lost with the RNY. Research every thing you can get your hands on and make an informed decision. I had a wonderful surgeon and feel he did an excellent job with my surgery. I couldn't be happier!

Good luck with your decision!

Sharon

I peeked at your webpage and given your bmi, the DS is hands down your best choice. It isn't just a question of losing 30-50 more lbs, though that is probably true. It's also an issue of maintanence. The DS has the best statistics of any bariatric surgery for percentage excess weight loss, for MAINTAINING that weight loss, and for resolution of almost all comorbidities.

You asked about diet. The gastric bypass diet outined by my potential RNY surgeon back when was simple - three meals daily, no snacks, all meals to consist of nothing other than lean protein, maybe veggies if still have room after that, maybe fruit after that. No liquids with meals. The only liquids allowed ever were water, herbal tea, and crystal light type products. That was it. For life. Ask yourself, as I did back then, is this realistic? Is this something I can live with and stick to for the rest of my life? For me, it wasn't. I never doubted that I would lose weight with RNY, but I doubted very much that the weight would stay off. I met too many people both on line and IRL who did great initially, but their weight loss simply stopped well before they reached a normal weight and after that, they struggled to avoid regain. And many do regain - weight regain is the dirty little secret of gastric bypass.

With the DS, there is no set diet and no food that is forever forbidden. The key is to get in your protein first because we only absorb about 40-60% of the protein we consume. But since we absorb only about 20% of the fat we consume, we can eat any kind of protein, including any cut of meat, any kind of cheese, fish, pork, bacon, etc etc.

Carbs are well absorbed with both operations, so we do need to limit these. But overall, it's a much more normal, varied diet with the DS.

Both operations require taking certain vitamins and supplements for life, more with the DS, but you can get into trouble with either operation if you don't take your vitamins.

So consider yourself fortunate that your surgeon has advised you about the DS. We hear far too many stories about people who never heard of it, have a different operation and end up wishing they had had the DS when they had the chance. Yes, revisions can be done, but they are higher risk, harder to get insurance coverage, and not always possible. I hope you will step back from your previous plans and look at the DS with an open mind.

Larra

Thanks for the info Larra!

Do you eat carbs or fruit? How does your stomach react to them and to higher fat meats?

I eat fruit and have no reaction whatsoever. Carbs,as in sugar and white flour products give me very rumbly very stinky gas and looser stools and more of them. I usually have one or two bms in the morning and am done or one in the am and one in the pm and am done. I don't have trouble with accidents but I make sure to give myself plenty of time in the morning to eat,drink something cause that stimulates me to go. Now,when I have to go ,I have to go. That is why I give myself plenty of time in the am and watch the white flour carbs very carefully.

Higher fat meats? Um,wonderful! I have no problem with them and they go down and stay down great.

I also would have had nothing if the lap band or rny were all that were available.
Gl

I go to the bathroom ONCE a day most of the time is first thing in the morning. It smells different from pre op but what can I say **** STINKS! lol

If I eat carbs I have the tendency to blow my hubby out of the bed.. Nothing we cant live with. We have been together for eight years. I dont eat junk carbs very often so its not everyday I gas him up with my farts.

I have never once had an accident. I must admit the first months it was like acid rain shooting from my ass every few hours but once real food was introduced and my vitamins where steady (its a struggle) my poo became normal.

 

I used to have the lap band there for I had to live the a POUCH. id advise to do some research on the pouch verses the sleeve. I could not eat anything with the pouch.. my pouch was very picky, nothing stringy or fibrous shoot sometimes Jello was a challenge. With my sleeve I dont have any food intolerances. I can eat beef, pork, chicken, all the major proteins I can eat. I could only eat chicken with my pouch.

You will have to be committed to taking vitamins everyday. This is something I struggle with greatly. I take 31 vites a day. hopefully when I do my six month labs I will be able to drop some. I take SIX calcium every sheesh!

My biggest advice would be research. I jumped in the band without doing my research and boy was it horrible. My second chance I took my time and choose which surgery was best for my life and lifestyle. I like food I don't want to have this love hate relationship with food. With my DS I dont have too. I get to eat normal like preop in a since that nothing is low fat. I dont eat bread anymore because id rather fill my tiny tummy up with food that at least has flavor...

Im sorry im babbling now...

I am about to celebrate my seventh anniversary.   You've received lots of great advice from others here, and I don't have much to offer, except to reiterate that you should read, read, read!   As others mention, I have to take a great deal of vitamins every day.   I have to have iron infusions every year because I do not absorb, nor tolerate oral iron well.   Wheat products give me terrible gas and frequent BM's.  Too much sugar gives me diarrhea.   You would never know, if you dined with me, that I'd had weight loss surgery.   I still eat dessert, I still have a half a baked potato, I still eat dark chocolate, but I do it all in moderation - most of the time.  I eat a rich and varied diet - steak, cream, butter, seafood, chicken, lots of veggies.    I have not had to give up anything for my DS - just eat less of it.   If I watch my carbs a bit, my weight maintains itself.   I still have to sometimes go on a "carb detox" for a few weeks to lose a five pound or so regain, but it is SO much easier than my pre-DS life.    I feel like a normal person.   My DS has been an incredible gift, and I have been enormously grateful every single day of my post-op life for having had this surgery.   

"You would never know, if you dined with me, that I'd had weight loss surgery".  That is, by far, the most inspirational line I've read on these forums to date.

I had heard that before, and was what finalized my decision to have the DS.  At 3 months post op, I'm beginning to believe that that will one day actually be true for me!