Do I need to pick a new surgery for a revision

I had a RNY 10 yrs ago... over the yrs due to family health concerns ( my mother my biggest support system was diagnosed with leukemia) my food demons came back and I have gained quite a lot of my weight back ( enough that I do qualify for surgery once again) I have tried going back to basics with no budge on weight loss. I am depressed again and don't even want to leave my house. I am so disappointed and disgusted with myself that I let my food demons beat me once again. If I qualify for a revision do you need to pick a brand new surgery or can the surgeons just go in and make my pouch smaller again. If I need to pick a brand new surgery how many of you recommend the DS and do they do the DS now by Laparoscopic or is it still a full open surgery? Any help and advice would be much appreciated :)

If you read the Revision Forum, you will see that for most people, having a revision results in losing 20 pounds. That is mostly from the pre-op and post-op liquid diets.

The RNY weight loss comes easily at first because there is restriction plus malabsorption.

Your stomach before surgery easily could hold the amount of a two-liter bottle of soda. After surgery it was much smaller, perhaps as small as a grape. Then it matured and ended up holding between eight to twelve ounces of food. It is the size of a large egg.

There are procedures that make the pouch smaller or the stoma tighter. I have never heard of anyone having successful weight loss after those procedures.

Weight regain is depressing and also a reality. We all know people who had the surgery and gained all the weight back. You are not alone and have not failed. There is not a fool-proof surgery. DS gives lifetime malabsorption of fat, not malabsorption of carbs. Regain is a fact of life for everyone who does not follow a diet.

Asking this question on the DS forum is like going to a Baptist Church and asking if you need to get baptized. You are likely going to be told that DS is the answer, because that is what they believe is the answer.

Well, I agree with White Dove about one thing - tinkering with your gastric bypass is very unlikely to be of much benefit. Surgeons have tried making the pouch smaller, going more distal, etc, and most people don't lose much weight.

So yes, here in the Church of the DS, people WILL recommend that you consider revision to the DS, not just because we have it and we have done well with it, but also because, over the years, we've seen other people just like you get revised from a failed gastric bypass to the DS and do well with it.

Having said that, this is not a revision to be taken lightly. It is a complex, challenging operation with significant risks. It involves taking apart your entire gastric bypass, restoring the original anatomy, and THEN doing the full DS. There are very few DS surgeons who do this type of revision, so you will probably need to travel, depending on where you are. But there is no point in having an operation close to home if it's not going to help you. And, while the DS is usually done laparoscopically these days, revision of gastric bypass to DS is usually done open.

I guess from your screen name that you're in Canada. So I will recommend Dr. Gagner in Montreal. He is a very experienced DS surgeon who does do this specific type of revision.

Larra

Gagner is probably the only surgeon in Canada capable of doing the RNY to DS conversion. I've been told its a very complicated surgery and should only be done by someone with expertise in the DS. I do know my surgeon (Elariny in Fairfax VA) has done the conversion successfully.

I hope you find the answers you're looking for.