Any failed DS?

I'm planning to have the DS in December with Dr. Marchesini in Brazil if all goes well... Because I research everything to death, and have read over and over that it's very rare to regain with the DS, I thought I'd read this forum, wondering if I'd find anyone who has regained after the DS. All I see are VGB and RNY regains. I'd like to make sure my views aren't skewed, so if any of you have regained after the DS, could you let me know? If so, how much? What happened to cause it? How did you deal with it? Did it come back off? Thanks in advance! I'd like to go into my new post-DS life with as much information under my belt as possible... Thanks again! Amanda

YOu might want to check on yahoogroups OSSG-gone_wrong as that group has a lot of information about failures, revisions and complications. Nancy 394/265/180

I am a new post op DS....I did tons of research!!! Literally months....I was unable to find more than 2 or 3 people out of hundreds and hundreds of profiles, etc....that had gained any. The risk is a lot lower of re-gain with the DS. The RNY has a bit of a tarnished rep on that note (according to the reports and reading what the Rny'ers say themselves on gaining most back). My cousin had the RNY last year, lost 135 pounds and is now in the midst of regaining. Others are successful, though I didn't want the risk, or the life of never eating anything with sugar, or always having to eat very few calories....(again, just from what I've heard at Dr. seminars, and on profiles, and in reports I've read) All you can do is keep researching, it's worth it....I'm glad I chose the DS. Good luck on whatever you choose. Our decision should be based on what we think is best for us. Don't let anyone else sway you, no matter what decision you make. Best wishes, Tonya

Yes, my DS failed. My name is Rick and 06/22/04 I had lap DS at OHSU in Portland, OR. Dr. Clifford Deveney was the surgeon. I am 52 and 5'8". My surgery wt. was 283.5, and within the first 3-4 mos. I lost about 40 lbs. to about 240, but stopped losing and now I am back up to 252.5. My common channel is alleged to be 100 cm. An upper GI shows that the fundus of my stomach was left too large. Unfortunately, that is the part of the stomach that is most distensible, so my pre-surgery appetite and capacity to eat a lot have returned. Deveney says he can do a revision, so I'm trying to decide on what to do next. I cannot afford to go to another doctor since I rely on Medicare. I checked with Dr. Keshishian who seems to be very good at revisions, and although he accepts Medicare, he also charges a $4810 program fee for revision surgery and follow up. I would also have to pay for airfare(s) to California and hotel. I did lots and lots of research, too, but nevertheless have still ended up with an unacceptable, paltry amount of weight loss in addition to the unpleasant malabsorption side-effects. I'm am extremely frustrated at this point, to put it mildly. Good luck. Rick

Hi Rick, I'm sorry for your failed DS. I can understand your frustration and know the pain very well of having a failed DS. Your story sounds almost like mine. I too stopped losing at about 3-4 months. I tried everything and just couldn't move the scale more then 15-20 up and down either way. I had my first DS performed by Dr. Keshishian and only lost about 45 lbs. It seems my stomach was left way to large also. I didn't get the normal banana shaped DS stomach. I went to Dr. Crookes at USC in Los Angeles for a revision as Dr. K hasn't performed any DS to DS stomach revisions. Dr. K wanted only to shorten my common channel. He had performed this cc shortening on one of his other patients who failed to loose even one lb from that revision and I just couldn't face another failed wls. I decided to gather some other opinons including that of Dr. Hess before he retired. I ended up going with the majority opinions of the most experienced DS surgeons which was to have Dr. Crookes reduce my stomach instead. I lost another 60 lbs with my revision for a total loss of 105 of the 120-125ish I needed to lose. I'm working on the last few lbs to try to reach 100% excess weight loss although I should/and will be happy with the 85% ewl I have reached. I'm back to diet and exercise as I really want to reach my goal. Up until now it's been more of a natural loss just trying to eat healthy and feeling satisfied with what I ate - the normal easy DS loss that most talk about. I also found the USC nutritionist very helpful for me to in this process. Right now I'm back to logging everything into fitday.com and my excel spreadsheet. I've had a bit of stall as it seems my thryoid has now gone haywire to try and stall things for me but I will prevail over this too. I know things will turn once they have my thyroid stabalized again. Up until my 4 year post op labs I had no indication of thyroid problems ever. I will have to say it was so much easier after the revision with both the recovery from surgery and to lose the weight. The biggest difference I felt was the appetite supression and satisfaction I feel after eating such small amounts. Sometimes after the first DS and before the revision I had that out of control hunger/craving thing that I couldn't seem to control even with low carb dieting. This all changed with the revision. I really think the smaller stomach reduced the hunger hormone gherlin. Dr. Anthone, Crookes and Kaufman are known to use a much smaller tube when cutting the DS stomach. Dr. Crookes (and I think Dr. Anthone) are very experienced in revisions and I know that Dr. Crookes, Dr. Rabkin are experienced at DS to DS stomach revisions which is very hard to find. If your surgeon is experienced in DS to DS stomach revisions you may want to go with him. It's one of the most difficult revisions due to the long line of staples down the vertical stomach of the DS so leaks are a higher risk they say. Dr. Crookes has a very low leak rate so I felt comfortable going with him and I sailed through the revision with no problems. Since I didn't have the best experience with Dr. K I can't say he'd be worth spending the excess program fee. IMHO he wasn't worth it to me and frankly other problems I've watched over the years I felt more comfortable in the hands of Dr. Crookes. I really did make the best decision going with Crookes for my revision and wish I would have gone to USC from the beginning. Good Luck to you. Cass 4/15/01 DS Dr.Keshsishian -45ish 253-208 bmi 43-36 5'2.5" 10/01/04 DS to DS revision Dr. Crookes -105 total BMI 26ish CW-148-153

Hi, Rick: I know it's been a few months since you posted this, but I wonder what you've decided to do about fixing your DS. I'd also like to invite you to post on the DS forum at obesity help. Please let us know how it is going. Good luck to you. Nancy

Whatever you decide, please don't base it on just one forum's profiles/posts...you will not get a complete picture from just 1 place, such as here...it's important to really spread out the research...some sites will be very "cheerleadery" and you won't really hear about the downside of any of the surgeries, and it's really important to do so prior to going under the knife. It always worries me when I see people say they've researched yet have only been reading 1 forum site (not saying you're one of them, just making a general comment). Nancy

Thanks for the concern Nancy. I am actually one of the people who have researched extensively. I've done a lot here, as well as at duodenalswitch.com, I've joined many Yahoo groups, and have devoured almost every other site I can find out there on the DS. Since I saw that this was specifically directed toward failures, and I haven't found much in the way of that, I thought I'd ask. Thanks for your input! ~Amanda

Amanda, I had rny im sept 04 and have only lost 80 lbs and have wondered if I should have had the ds then the first two people I talked to that had ds have already started gaining back weight so I'm not sure one is above all the others. I have sometimes wondered why the dsers seem to push there surgery so hard? I do agree though there are many rnyers that regain much of there weight back. I seem to hear stories about it all the time. MY opinion is weight regain or not enough loss is possible with any surgery. I am not saying base your decision on my two encounters just thought it might be helpful info. I truly believe with any surgery we have to learn to eat right for our own specific body and change our lifestyle forever rather you have ds,rny banding or whatever. Good luck on your journey and I wish you tons of success. Tina

Amanda, First, congratulations on your upcoming surgery. Second, when undergoing any one of the WLSs, NO MATTER what some may say, there ARE restricitions. Any one of the WLSs can and will work IF you work with them. I found out the hard way, that you MUST use the surgery as a tool and learn to eat to live and NOT llive to eat. Anyone can gain back weight on any of the surgeries. NONE of them are fail-safe!!! Just as with anything in life, one-size does NOT fit all!! Everyone is different and different WLSs work for different reasons. I know you have researched and are satified with your choice. That is wonderful, but please use your new tool wisely and you will be one of the great loosers that keep it off!! Patty