Has anyone had a straight reversal?

I am interested in hearing from people who have been through a reversal of their RNY. Please if you can enlighten me with your expeience I would so appciate it. I am so scared and unsure of my decison, I am scheduled for June 4th. It's coming up soon and i'm having second thoughts.

This is why i'm having the reversal;

My pain is in my upper abdomen, right in the center. Sometimes it goes straight through the back. It comes in attacks, like you'll be fine and you can feel it coming on and you'd better get somewhere and lay down cause when it gets bad it's such an uncontrolable pain you feel like you're going to die. I am absolutly not being dramatic here, I promise. I've had to call an ambulance on two occassions and been hospitalized up to 7 days for pain control and tests. They have run every test imaginable and have come back with nothing! I am so frustrated. The pain is real and it's a big red flag that something is wrong. My surgeon is at a loss and just doesn't know what else to do for me and is offering me the reversal to see if this takes care of the problem. Well i'm not dealing so good with that. I mean this a 5-6 hour surgery and a 2 week hospital stay with a 2% death rate! All this and MAYBE it will take care of my problem????

Please help me if you can. I'm calling tomorrow to try and get an appt for a second opinion. But i'd really like to hear from any of you who have had it done.

Jill

Have you asked about exploratory surgery to check for a kinked bowel or possibly a hernia in Peterson's space? Neither of these things can be seen with any x-ray, MRI, cat scan or anyother way. The internal hernia can hurt when the gut is caught, and then the gut can move and get free and then the pain gets better. Even a kink can come and go as the bowel moves as it digests and as you move about. Maybe you should ask?

It's interesting you pinpointed everything I've been experiencing. My surgeon thinks I have a kink? Sometime (or most of the time) after I eat, as the food moves it's very uncomfortable and sometimes pain comes with it. It's very frustrating. My surgeon is going to sit with a good radiologist to see what he can find. I hope they find something so they can fix me up. How do you know all this info? Have you experienced it yourself? Thanks!

A friend of mine who had RNY about 6 months before me had a kink in the bowel. It would be very painful for 2 hours, and suddenly painfree! He was thinking he was going crazy and his surgeon convinced him to allow an exploratory, which I know he didn't want to do. After a year of pain he decided to agree, and his bowel was kinked in 2 places and one had to be resectioned. After the surgery, he was feeling normal and hasn't had any more pain. It's been about 5 months since the exploratory.

I had a reversal of my RNY, about 4 weeks ago. The recovery for me was a little harder than the first surgery, but since I had my original surgery 6 weeks before - in essence I was recovering from 2 surgeries in a short period of time. I had my reversal surgery by a great surgeon who is very experienced in reversals and difficult cases - he is in Houston Texas and his name is Dr. Naaman. (he was not my original RNY surgeon)  His reversal of mine took 2 hours, I was in the hospital for 4 nights, and I can tell you that the reversal took care of all my problems. I'd talk to a surgeon like Dr. Naaman who deals with reversals and hard to solve problems - he should be able to help you. I was told that he solves cases other people can't solve. The reversal was the best thing I ever did for myself - worth it in every way. I have my health back. Feel free to ask me specific questions.  Debi

hi debi i just read your post about your revision... what did you revision too... or did you just undo your surgery back to normal anatomy? i'm having some problems with my surgery and wanted some info ...thanks

Well first off you'll never be back to your original anatomy. Too much has taken place. In my case, after my original surgeryI had a Fobi Pouch which is a small pouch with a ring around it, and my intestinal bypass (rny). So my "reversal" surgeon, put my intestines back as close as he could to being "normal", but I will always have some malabsorption because you'll never be completely back to the original way. I do not dump though.... They took the ring off my pouch, and joined my old stomach to the bottom of my pouch. In essence food passes through my pouch, into my old stomach portion. I still feel restriction and do still have to eat only 1/2 cup or less at a sitting. My stomach empties very slowly. I am still losing weight which is great, and I do not dump and I am obsorbing my nutrients again. My surgeon was Dr. Adam Naaman, in Houston Texas and I flew to him from Canada because he has done a lot of surgeries like this. Now that I have had the procedure I no longer see it as a reversal, cause I am no where near the way I was. I now call it a revision. They just made it easier to live, but I still reap the benetfits of part of it. If I eat too fast, or too much I still throw up like most bypass patients - so I know I need to be careful. Good luck and feel free to contact me anytime - I am here deb

THANKS DEBI.... I MAY NEED TO CONTACT YOU IN THE FUTURE.......GENA

I just had to reply to your original message as I was going back through all the revision posts because I am currently looking to revise a RNY. What really blows me away is that the symptoms you described are exactly what I experienced with my RNY. I had my original surgery back in 1990. Not long after that I too started experiencing the exact pain you describe it is just crazy. You can feel it in your back start to creep up and then it comes into your upper stomach. You have to loosen your bra. I've been living with this for 16 years now. I've been tested through endoscopy and tests and they find nothing. The pain doesn't usually last longer than an hour or so but the intensity is unelievable. Matter a fact I always describe it like this--It feels as if 2 people have each of of your intestines and are twisting it at each end. It is just a great to hear someone else has the same problem. I too am so frustrated. This doesn't happen very often anymore, but I still get it maybe 3 or 4 times a year.

 

If you get this reply please let me know how you are. If you had your revision or not?

 

Janie Rolfson