HOW MUCH IS TO MUCH WEIGHT TO GAIN BERFORE YOU CALL

Hi Everyone OK, to start with I'm agroraphboic so this is really hard for me to go out of my home Cali board to ask this. I am being sincerely serious about the whole thing. I would like to know how much weight is to much before you start talking to the dr. about a revision?  I was having stomach and intestinal problems so I went in for an upper endoscopy and a colonoscopy.   The gastro Dr. said that the stoma is way way to big.  He says it is basically wide open.     I was told by my nutritionist that the stoma opening should be about the size of a dime,  and he said it was way bigger then that. The day before my colonoscopy  my PCP dr. had mentioned a revision, no one had ever mentioned revision to me.  I have never reached my goal and was losing weight and went from 270 to 152 and I am now 194. I have gained this weight in less then 6 months.  After the endoscopy, colonoscopy and barrium swallow,  the dr. is suspecting crohns disease but also mentioned a revision.  Now mind you these dr's are not the surgeon that did my original RNY.  I have not been to see my surgeon that preformed the RNY,  as his office is quite a ways from my house and with the agoraphobia and panic attacks I am afraid to go and see him. Plus I am very ashamed of all the weight I have gained. Mind you I really don't eat very much at all. So I am a little stumped by this. The gastro dr. said that after my stomach is taken care of he wanted to talk to me about something other then a revision. Is the Stomaphyx not considerd a revision? I know I probably jumped around a little to much but my main question is how much weight put back on before talking about a revision and with what I have told you would you think the Stomaphyx is what is needed.  I know no one is a dr here and I am only looking for opinions and not medical advice. Thank you in advance for any advice or unprofessional input you could add to give me food for thought... well you know what I mean. Have a beautiful sunday evening.

I'm not sure there is a set answer on how much weight qualifies for revision.  I am in a similar position.  I started at 278 got down, stabilized at about 170 and now am at 207.  I went to see my MD because I am feeling uncomfortable with my weight again.  I discussed the stomaphyx with him, which seems like a good option, but I am struggling horribly with the idea of spending more money on my "weakness".  It really is amazing the psychological piece to all this.  How did you work thru your agoraphobia when you had your initial surgery?  I am also trying to get information on something called the ROSE procedure.  I would never have a complete revision.  I think the stoma shrinking procedures are more of a "tune up" ,   There are lots of very knowledgeable people that use this site, so I'm sure someone can answer some of your questions.  I just started looking at this site 4 weeks ago. 

Hi Pam. Thanks for posting back to me. I am very new to this site.  This is my first post. I get to afraid at times to post. As for the agoraphobia and the surgery, you know i'm not sure how I made it out to have it done. I think I must have been so excited about it that my fear dissapeared till the next day. Then it was all I could do to get out of there and back home. Thank good I had a private room and hubby stayed with me. I also had my xanax with me. I guess I was sort of sedated while I was there. I knew something had to be wrong with some part of my proccedure that I only dumped once in the 3 1/2 years out. I rarely eat enough to have gained the weight that's what made no sense to me. I would be lucky to get 700 calories a day and that's being generous, I was never hungery.  Yet the stoma is way to big, go figure. I have heard the term Rose proccedure but don't know what it is or if it is like the stomaphyx. I have research to do, but my gastro dr. said he had something he wants to talk to me about as far as the weight loss.,Says its new. Maybe that's what he is referring to. I thank you sincerely for your help. Have a wonderful day.

Hi Jody,  I too have been researching for an answer. I have been to a surgeon who suggested the stomaphyx and then I spoke with Dr. Schlesinger on the phone. He was the best source of information ever! Because I have only lost a small amount of weight and then started to regain I need a revision because not enough of my intestines has been bypassed. I am looking into the RNY Distal as it will bypass more of the intestine giving me more malabsorption- this will allow me to have a better weightloss.If your weight gain is caused because you have an enlarged stoma start checking with surgeons about the ROSE proceedure as this will not only make your stomach smaller but it will also make the opening into the stoma smaller. The Stomayx proceedure only makes the stomach itself smaller. At least thats my understanding of it all. I'm still learning. Find a surgeon in your area who is doing these proceedures. The ROSE and Stomaphyx are not revisions and are the least invasive of anything out there. The recovery is supposed to be minimal and it's usually a day proceedure. I hope this helps a little. Good luck with your journey! Sharon

Sharon  Thank you for the great advice. I will do that right away. I'm going to be 55 and I am really getting tired of carring the weight and being afraid to go out for fear of what others will think. I know it shouldn't bother me but it does something terrible. Then I have panic attacks and feel like I don't belong anywhere and find myself back home. I haven't done grocery shopping in over 17 years and I think I can count on both hands the amount of times I have gone out to someplace. Most of them are the dr. I tried to stall those also. Thanks again and good luck on your research also. Have a wonderful day.

Hi Jody, I understand the age thing- I am 57 so I feel like I have a window of opportunity to turn things around. I used to have terrible panic attacks and anxiety. I finally decided I didn't want to live like that anymore and I took control of my life. I started looking at what was causing the attacks. My Dr explained to me that the nerve endings at the base of our skull literally gets frayed and we need to help them to heal so I researched supplements that would help to heal those nerves. I took one day at a time , pushing myself a little more each day until one day my life was normal. I found that anxiety and panic attacks happen to a whole lot more people than we think. I felt like I was the only person out there suffering from this ordeal. I gleaned from all my friends who had also suffered from this disorder and used some of the advice that would work for me. Today, I feel like a normal person. I pick my battles very carefully as I never want to go back there again. It took me a little over 2 years to feel better.Whatever you do, don't let it take away anymore of your life than it already has. Take control of your life- you owe yourself that. As far as what other people think about your weight or mine or anyone elses- we might be heavy and that is our issue but trust me- they all have other issues to deal with- we just can't see them. And for the most part I would take mine any day over some of theirs!  Hope you have a wonderful day! Sharon

Sharon Thanks for the wonderful advice and post. I'm going to try what you have said. I really do feel like I have spent way to much time inside these walls and not out enjoying life. My poor hubby he trys so hard to get me to do what we use to do, like camping or fishing for the day or going to LasVegas or Laughlin to gamble. He's a great guy and has been so patient with me. I really feel he deserves so much more out of life also.  He won't even go fishing unless I push and push and then get his son or nephew to go with him. He doesn't think it's fair to go with out me, plus he says it's not as much fun. What a guy. When I was younger like 8 or 9 I was the same way and it took so much for my mom to get me out with friends to have fun. She even signed me up in Girl Scouts thinking it would help me to socialize with others. Heck I couldn't even spend the night at my cousins house without getting homesick. My parents would get up in the middle  of the night and drive about 45 tp 50 minutes amd pick me up. Some where a long the way I got over it and was quite the social butterfly until my parents passed away and that set me right back. So I guess it's time to try and regroup and get back to living again. I just hope it happens.  Thanks so much for your advice and kindness Sharon. ONE DAY AT A TIME! HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY MY FRIEND  THANK YOU

  I am looking to the revision myself. Everyone is different. I am 5'8'' I use to be 455 lost to 235 because of high risk back to back pregnancies was forced to gain to 352 I was refer by PCP nad Orthopedic Dr to have revision. You need to check on you BMI Mine is 52.3 if you are 35-40 or more then that qualifies under most insurences as long as you still have a co-morbidity codition like depression sleep apnea or diabeties. Good Luck.

Mary Terresa Thanks so much for the advice. Yes I do believe I am back to a bmi that would warrent the surgery, plus the co-morbidities of depression, asthma, panic disorder and others. I'm sorry to hear about the high risk preganacies. I hope all is well.   It was both my PCP and my Gastro Dr's that suggested a revision. Good luck to you and thanks again for taking the time to post back to me. Have a wonderful day!

I was originally down to 145 and regained up to 195, had my RNY revision on 2/27 and am home and doing okay I have lost 13 pounds so far if you count post op gas gain from the laparascopic part of the procedure and 3 if you don't. I couldn't have the ROSE or stomephyx because to my knowledge insurance dosen't pay for it and most of the clinical trials have now been filled, and i can't afford to pay out of pocket. my revision was fully covered by united helathcare, and i am very hapy thus far