Help! RNY Surgery Failed.

I had my RNY surgery on August 6, 2002. I started out at 446 lbs. I got down to 296 lbs. in a year. I am now at 377 lbs. My surgeon, Dr. Glen Strickland in Columbia considers this a "sucess". He is unwilling to even discuss with me a revision or lapband. No other doctor will touch me since I have had the surgery. What can I do. I am left with the anemia and B12 deficency and still suffer all the effects of being morbidly obese. My back hurts, knees, sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes. Is there any hope for me?

You might want to look into the DS forum. I have struggled with my RNY and had many positive and encouraging comments from DS'ers who invited me to come check out their forum. According to them, there are lots of RNY patients who had revisions to the DS and had success. I haven't researched it yet because I know my insurance doesn't cover it and I know I can't afford self pay. There are few surgeons who can do this surgery and especially after you have already had the RNY. This is all just from what I have heard though so please research it and learn for yourself. I would hate to misinform you. Good luck Trish. I hope you find what you are looking for. Angela

Trish, Please don't give up. I know that it seems so hopeless for you right now but believe me when I tell you that you can lose more weight and you can get down to a healthy weight. I had my Rny surgery back in 2001 and only lost 70lbs. and by 2005 I had regained 60lbs. of it. My highest weight was 290lbs. before my surgery. My lowest weight was 195lbs. after surgery. I was looking into getting a revision done but my insurance would not pay for it. I felt like I was doomed to remain overweight for the rest of my life. I then found a new surgeon who took me in as his patient and told me that I did not need a revision and that my pouch was still intact and that all I needed to do was to relearn how to use my pouch to help me start losing weight again. I went to see this doctor back in May of 2006 and it is Oct. 2006 and so far I have lost 60lbs. of the 70lbs. that I regained. What helped me was to relearn how to eat right and to listen to my body and I have learned to add exercise to my life. The eating right and the exercise has helped me to steadily lose weight. It also helps me to attend support group meetings. Most days I wake up and I tell myself man I don't want to exercise today but then I tell myself to shutup and get dressed and get my butt to the gym. I exercise for an hour and 45 mins.5 x a week. 45mins in the gym and 45 mins. in the pool. After I have exercised I feel a lot better. We have to make ourselves a priority and we have to tell ourselves that I am worth whatever it takes to be happy, to get healthy, and to have peace in our lives. My words are mean't to help you and whoever else is having a hard time losing weight or gaining it back. Remember that you are a beautiful woman and you deserve all of the good things that life has to offer. We have to fight for what we want so you go for it girl! May God bless you and help you through your journey. Melody Davis

For those of us who start out at a larger BMI, the Duodenal Switch or the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy is a much better WLS. Statistics prove a higher success rate with the DS on patients with a high BMI as well as it being a sperior WLS. One huge advantage of VSG (Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy) and the DS (Duodenal Switch) is removal of the fundus which secretes the ghrelin hormone (the drive to eat) which continues to repeatedly tell you you're still hungry. With both of these surgeries the pylorus is preserved (No Dumping Syndrome when sugar or fats are eaten). As for me, my surgeon has decided to do my DS surgery in two parts. He feels this will be safer for me. He also thinks I may not need the intestinal switch if I can lose enough weight and I agree with him. You need to go to the DS and/or VSG boards. There are a lot of people on the DS boards that were RNY and had a revision to DS. They can give you all the information you are seeking. If your RNY WLS is not working for you, why continue to "re-learn" how to eat very little (isn't that a diet and we all know the failure rate of those). I have several good friends that have had WLS. One of my friends (BMI around 45 & 2 years out) had the RNY WLS and even though she had some set backs, she is very pleased with her decision (even though RNY and Lap Band were her only choices) and her 75% excess weight loss. Two of my friends (BMI of 55+ & 2+ years out) are both very pleased with their decision and with the 95-100% of their excess weight loss. In fact, after having the DS one of them is no longer type 2 diabetic. Many RNY surgeons won't suggest the DS or VSG because they don't know how to do them. For your surgeon to suggest anything else would be going agains't what he does; he is in fact only a RNY surgeon. I wouldn't go to an atheist to learn about Jesus Tina

I had a revision from failed RNY to DS with Dr. Husted/Dr. R. Rabkins in San Fran. I'm less than 2 months out, with picture perfect recovery and have lost 43 lbs already. I'd look into the DS if I were you. Who wants another WLS that can fail? Not me!!

I need to agree with the other responses....check out a revision to the DS. There are not has many surgeons that will do a revision to the DS because it is a more complicated surgery but they are out there. Join the DS forum or the duodenal switch group on yahoo. Both are great. The best RNY-DS revision surgeon I know of is Ara Keshishian in Delano, California. God bless, Kathie

If you need to do this as a self-pay, I can help you. gastricsandplastics.com is where I help those who need and want revisions. [email protected]