A few Questions
On June 11, 2009 at 1:52 AM Pacific Time, chatty kathy wrote:
Hi, Of course I asked questions, followed diet and exercise regiments, Nothing worked for me. My dr. is puzzled and says 90% of excess weight is lost with the DS.. and I am his first failure. He says I should go back on an 800 calorie diet..........I just don't have the will any more. ..so first it failed me and now I have lost all interest in diets, etc and at 64, I don't think ANOTHER SURGERY is in the cards for me. Hey...at 64, you've got a lot of livin left.....maybe consider a 2nd surgical opinion?
Good luck!
Joyce Rny 2/11/03-> ERny 12/26/07-> Duodenal Switch 5/12/2010
www.dsfacts.com , www.dssurgery.com , & www.duodenalswitch.com
Hi Kathy,
I think I remember you from a long time ago -- perhaps before your DS -- on another board. I am very sorry you find yourself in this position -- and I don't believe there is nothing that can be done about it.
Can you please tell a little more about your surgery, your comorbidities, etc.? I am curious (OK, nosy) why Dr Engstrand concluded that you needed to have the DS in two parts. You were SMO, but not outrageously so. How long between your sleeve and your switch? Was it more than a year? If so, why? Did Engstrand revise your sleeve when he did the switch? Do you know what your measurements were?
There has recently been published evidence that there is no benefit from doing the DS in two parts in patients who are well enough to undergo the full procedure. My surgeon, Dr. Rabkin, never deliberately sets out to do it in two parts, as far as I know, even for people weighing 800 lbs.
I am very uncomfortable when I hear about the DS being done in 2 parts, unless there are compelling medical reasons for limiting the time on the operating table. While I have heard of Engstrand as a DS surgeon, I have not heard of more than a couple of his patients. I wonder how much experience with the DS he has.
800 calories per day sound utterly unreasonable to me. There must be some other answer. Have you considered going to another surgeon and getting a follow up? See if they can visualize how big your stomach is, how long your alimentary tract and common channel are? Unless you are eating a ridiculous amount of carbs, and a lot of it being sugar, it sounds like you either have an amazingly efficient aborption and metabolism, or your surgery wasn't done correctly (or at least, correctly for YOU).
I really really don't like it when the surgeon calls the patient a failure. It seems to be shifting the blame rather presumptuously.
While it is true that the DS has the highest success rate of all of the bariatric procedures, it is not perfect. Someone has to be the one it doesn't work for. HOWEVER, I wonder whether it is more likely that it is the patient's fault or the surgeon's, or nobody's, when it fails this badly?
Have you been over to the DS forum lately? You should come visit. There are several people who have regained some weight, but who have gotten the carbmonster and sugar **** under control, and have managed to lose weight "like a normal person." IF that is the problem, of course!
I'm glad to see you are still posting!
Diana
I think I remember you from a long time ago -- perhaps before your DS -- on another board. I am very sorry you find yourself in this position -- and I don't believe there is nothing that can be done about it.
Can you please tell a little more about your surgery, your comorbidities, etc.? I am curious (OK, nosy) why Dr Engstrand concluded that you needed to have the DS in two parts. You were SMO, but not outrageously so. How long between your sleeve and your switch? Was it more than a year? If so, why? Did Engstrand revise your sleeve when he did the switch? Do you know what your measurements were?
There has recently been published evidence that there is no benefit from doing the DS in two parts in patients who are well enough to undergo the full procedure. My surgeon, Dr. Rabkin, never deliberately sets out to do it in two parts, as far as I know, even for people weighing 800 lbs.
I am very uncomfortable when I hear about the DS being done in 2 parts, unless there are compelling medical reasons for limiting the time on the operating table. While I have heard of Engstrand as a DS surgeon, I have not heard of more than a couple of his patients. I wonder how much experience with the DS he has.
800 calories per day sound utterly unreasonable to me. There must be some other answer. Have you considered going to another surgeon and getting a follow up? See if they can visualize how big your stomach is, how long your alimentary tract and common channel are? Unless you are eating a ridiculous amount of carbs, and a lot of it being sugar, it sounds like you either have an amazingly efficient aborption and metabolism, or your surgery wasn't done correctly (or at least, correctly for YOU).
I really really don't like it when the surgeon calls the patient a failure. It seems to be shifting the blame rather presumptuously.
While it is true that the DS has the highest success rate of all of the bariatric procedures, it is not perfect. Someone has to be the one it doesn't work for. HOWEVER, I wonder whether it is more likely that it is the patient's fault or the surgeon's, or nobody's, when it fails this badly?
Have you been over to the DS forum lately? You should come visit. There are several people who have regained some weight, but who have gotten the carbmonster and sugar **** under control, and have managed to lose weight "like a normal person." IF that is the problem, of course!
I'm glad to see you are still posting!
Diana
mew6495
on 6/11/09 11:19 am - MI
on 6/11/09 11:19 am - MI
On June 9, 2009 at 11:54 AM Pacific Time, gigi2897 wrote:
Hi friends, I am new to this board but have a few questions for those of you that have been through this process. I currently have the lapband and actually love the progress I have made but my bady is not agreeing with the port and I have been living with pain for about 4 months now. The doctor and i have talked a bit about what i can do. The first option is to go in and revise the port. The problem with that is the port will be loose and will be trouble getting fills and such. The second option is to have the band and port removed and just try to keep the weight off on my own. This isn't really an option for me because I refuse to go back to being 350 pounds. The third option is to revise to the gastric bypass. This seems to be the most viable option for me. I have an appointment on Thursday with the surgeon to talk this through so I will see what he has to say but being the impatient person that I am I figured I would come on here and find out how this works from folks that have been there. So my first question is do you have to wait the 3 to 6 months that some doctors require for the original surgery? Do you have to jump through all the same hoops as you did the first time? I realize I will have to jump through insurance hoops so I am prepared for that. I am just curious about those that have been through this so if you would be so kind as to share your experiences with me I would appreciate it. Thanks to all!!Ginger
I had a revision to ERNY 10/08. I did not have to jump through all the hoops for my insurance. Just had to prove that it was medically necessary. I think it really is insurance specific. I would suggest calling them or going to their web site and find out what their criteria is for a revision.
If it is RNY you choose I would also recommend you talk to your surgeon about a distal or ERNY versus a proximal.
Good luck to you. Let us know how you make out.
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