Failed Sleevers

Anyone failed with the Vertical Gastric Sleeve ?

I would encourage you to post this on the sleeve board as well.
I can't address having failed with the sleeve but I can address what my experience has been.
I am just about 13 mos out and have lost 135 lbs overall and have been able to maintain my loss for the past 2-3 mos.
I have had no problems post op and have not experienced GERD, vomitting, reflux or problems with eating or drinking that some folks appear to experience routinely.
That having been said I am aware that my "success" is dependent on my making good choices about my food intake and food choices.
This surgery for sure has allowed me to feel full faster and stay full longer. I am still responsible for what I eat, how much I eat, how often I eat and more importantly, why I eat.
Life has been stressful for me of late and it is easy to fall back in to my old patterns about using food in unhealthy ways.  I am having to been even more mindful about emotional state as it relates to my eating, however the sleeve makes it easier to make better choices.

No problem here either. I've lost 112 lbs. As the prior poster said though... I am also making good choices.

There are people who do not lose all of their weight. Typically they fall into the category of people with higher BMI's. I have several sleeve buddies that have lost over 170 lbs. One person in particular does say that she alone is responsible for not gaining control over her food issues.

Hunger is greatly reduced. The stomach will hardly stretch. There is minimal health risk associated with the procedure itself. No severe nutritional defficiencies. Cool huh...

Meg

How are u doing with ur gastric sleeve... I am scheduled to have it as well.  I am 333 5'2 so my bme is over 60.  I had to lose 10 lbs and i did 12.. Any pain nausea?

I am having a little pain and nasuea, but not unbearable. I am 5 days out and I feel great. Good luck and tell me how it goes

 Well, yes, I have had a failed vertical gastric sleeve...I don't think I failed though.  My surgery was 7/29/08 and to date I lost a whopping total of 50 pounds (24.6 of which were the first 6 days post op, so it was all fluid)....my bmi remains in the 35-36 range, so technically, I'm still severely obese (I started out with a bmi of 41) and I still have about 80 pounds to lose to even start to be near a realistic goal....

I was self-pay and I was hell-bent of making it work since I used my inheritance to pay for it, so I completely changed my diet, eat all the protein I'm supposed to and have a very healthy diet of veggies and some fruits, take all the vitamins, work out 6 days a week with cardio and 2 days a week with strength training, including 1 session with a trainer.  I have 1 nutritionist and 1 dietician, along with a MD monitoring everything I eat (counting calories, amount of carbs, simple sugars, etc.) --I have food journals for the entire year and don't cheat...I have every workout session logged and calories burned (using a calorie monitor)....I went for hypnotherapy for 6 weeks (to make sure I stayed positive, didn't turn addiction toward something else, deal with weight issues) and went to accupuncture for 3 months to try and jump start my  metabolism when I noticed i was not losing weight.  

I knew something wasn't right at 2 months into my 'journey' and immediately emailed the docs ...they said not to worry until 6 months--at 6 months I had not lost a single pound in 2 months and they were not concerned (but I was), so I upped my cardio and did some food combination juggling, then at my 1 year, the docs said, 'you need more patience'--I darn near decked them!   To date, I have not lost a single ounce in more than 7 months and no one can tell me why.....I did have an upper GI barium swallow at the 1 year and they said anatomically, everything was fine, but for some reason, I cannot lose weight (which is what I was scared of pre-op but everyone said "if you do your part, the weight will fall off of you--it cannot fail"...well, it did...for an entire year I gave up eating ALL desserts, didn't have a drop of alcohol, tea, sodas,didn't eat breads or pastas (I did substitute quinoa, a high-protein grain), didn't eat candy or junk food, never ate a single thing from a fast-food restaurant, and didn't use any sauces or condiments other than seasoning salt on things I cooked..I ate a 'normal' amount of calories for a bariatric patient (there is some crazy equation that was worked out for me and I was told to eat no more than 2000 cals a day and no less than 1000 or I would be in starvation mode)..everyone around me were amazed that I actually did what i was supposed to (and had I done that years ago, I never would have gotten fat!!), but I did completely change my lifestyle....I am 'healthy' according to blood pressure, cholesterol levels, bloodwork/labs...I'm just fat.....so after that 1 year check up I went right out and ate whatever I wanted for a week...no change in weight either....I think the aliens must have come an done something to me (obviously I'm kidding)

I am desperately searching for others who have honestly done what they were supposed to with this "tool" of WLS and got little to no results.....my hope is to figure out some commonalitty and find some surgeon/doctor/endocrinologist somewhere who wants to help the 'outllyers' like me (because the gal who had surgery same day as me has lost 165 pounds and by her own admission has not exercised a single minute--she's the success story while I'm the problem story......through my pleas on a variety of boards, I found one other person with virtually the same experience at the same time(different doc) and she's going nuts like me trying to figure it out...

So, yes, the surgery failed.   I don't know what to do next....It's crazy-making though--I did what I was supposed to and have very little to show for it (oh, i had no co-morbitities preop, so mine was mostly for appearance)......I had asked about a revision, but the surgeon said "that won't help you" and left it at that and said to wait about 3 years and see what happens (what??? 3 more YEARS???)....So I'm keeping on doing my exercise and eating appropriately, but we'll see what happens....

Any thoughts anyone has or any docs/medical professionals out there want to help someone who honestly did everything i could to succeed and still had no results....all responses are appreciated.....JPM

i only lost 50 pounds in 1 year....but i was cheating with sweets etc....i always think about food...and i can swallow them down...i thought i can't with the VSG ....am thinking a gastric bypass now...but not sure it is a good move.  feel free to PM me. as i might not check the board very often. tks, k.

Sorry you had such a hard time with the vsg. It is however the first part to the Duodenal Switch. Check the DS out on this site or got to dsfacts.com. There is a wealth of information on here. I want the ds but was told by the surgeon he will only do the VSG first then the DS in the future after weight loss.   Once you read some of these posts from post op dsers you will be amazed.  Good luck to you!

Wow I'm so sorry to heaar your story. Have you thought about Revising to the DS? The sleeve is the 1st part of that surgery & the DS is supposed to have the best results. Good luck to you.

 hi Didi & Yorkiemom....thanks for the suggestions about the DS--unfortunately my insurance won't cover any gastric bypass at all--I was self-pay for the first one and used every dime (and then some) so I don't have the option of even trying something else (unless someone wants to donate it which is highly unlikely!!) or until I win the lotto (I'm unemployed too)...I haven't done all the research that I should for the DS, but I had heard some great successes with others who had DS but I also heard that people don't seem to get great results if it's a revision like if they had it the first time.......I also would consider a conversion to the Rny (again, if I had $$)   I went for the sleeve gastric bypass the first time because there were no 'failures' ,less postop issues, and it was fully reversible--evidently 6' of my intestines were bypassed and the stomach was stapled along the lesser curvature and is the size of a magic marker (I saw it on the x-ray)--I guess not near enough.....It just ****** me off that I did everything that I was supposed to and got virtually nothing to show for it...I'm headed next to find every endocrinologist in the state that can help me figure this nutty metabolism/system I've got to work with (my insurance actually will pay for that!    Go figure!  
I will keep on searching--SOMEONE has to be able to help me!