BOB and having success

Bummer abouot your surgeon. Having no follow-up care SUCKS. I wish you'd found us here at OH back then---we might have been able to help you deal with your problems, find the right find of follow-up care, etc.

But you've got us now. (*smile*)

Hope it works well for you. We have quite a few BOBs on the Lapband Board - have you been over there?

That's why I love my band - control over my eating! I didn't realise weight gain could happen with the DS! Must be so frustrtaing to have major surgery and not get the effect you hoped for! The band is not the perfect surgery (nothing is!) but it can be wonderful! And if, as I assume, you are still getting the malabsorption of the DS - should be fantastic!

Kate

I am so confused now. I didn't know there were 2 versions of the BPD / DS.   I did lose weight and kept it off for 7 years.

I honestly think i am getting the weight benefit of having both surgeries. My Band doc said i lost 3 x more weight in the first month than expected.  I have 0cc in a 14cc band.  It is so nice to not be hungry.  I was hungry and eating constantly with the last surgery. I think i just out ate the surgery.

There's not, really. The BPD was the old procedure that the DS grew out of. A true DS is VERY different, but alas, your surgeon had a bad rep for telling people he was doing a true DS and actually doing the BPD instead. Is there any chance you have your surgical notes from the first surgery? How about the second, when your Band was fitted? Maybe you should ask your current surgeon exactly what he found when he did your Band.

 I may be wrong (Diana needs to step in here!  LOL), but it was my understanding the the MAIN difference between the old BPD-DS and the  new DS was that the new DS utilizes a sleeve stomach with the pyloric valve, where the old BPD-DS utilizes a large pouch.   I thought that in both versions, the remainder of the stomach which was cut away was physically removed, as opposed to the RNY, where the "blind" stomach is left floating inside you.    

It was my understanding that the intestinal hookups were basically the same.   In the old BPD-DS, the Bilopancreatic diversion was necessary because only a large pouch was left and the rest of the stomach was removed, so the digestive juices which are normally present in the stomach had to come from their place of origin, hence the "diversion".

Yes, the main difference is the sleeved stomach versus the pouch, and yes, in both procedures the rest of the stomach is removed. In the old BPD, the pouch actually held MORE than the sleeveded stomach of the DS. And yes, the intestinal part is pretty much the same, except I don't know if the 'Hess method' was used in the BPD. (Not all DS surgeons use it now, either.)

I'm not sure what exactly you're saying about the B-P "diversion"---it's the same in the BPD, the DS, and sorta-kinda the RNY, too. The duodenum is cut just above the common bile duct in the BPD and the DS, but of course is not cut at all in the RNY, since in the RNY it's still attached to the remnant stomach. In the BPD and the DS, that limb only carries digestive enzymes from the pancreas---and stomach juices are still carried by the "new" alimentary limb. This is *probably* why DSers absorb some vitamins and minerals that RNYers don't.

Your story is similar to mine.  I had the DS in 2002, too.  I lost a total of 120 lbs but I never kept it off.  I started gaining 10 to 15 lbs a year until I regained 100 lbs.  I also out ate the surgery.  I also had terrible diarrhea and gas so I decided to have my common channel lengthened and had my stomach reduced (RNY pouch).  I also like not being hungry, being satisfied with smaller amounts.  If it weren't for the diarrhea I would never had had surgery again but I was desperate for a normal life.
I am glad the band is working for you.

 I'm also wondering if you originally  had the modern DS surgery with the sleeve stomach.  Then the more appropriate revision would have been to resleeve (if the original sleeve was left too big) and then lengthen your common channel.  

It also sounds as if you had a version of the Scopinaro procedure just by your description of the revision and the diarrhea you were experiencing.   The way to know would be to find out if the remnant of your stomach was removed and if you originally had a pouch or a sleeve (which would utilize your pyloric valve).

Sorry to hear of your problems.   Quite a lot of the early BPD-DS patients have had the same complaints and want a "normal" life again.  It was a very problematic surgery, from what I have read.

I read my op report and I had a regular DS.  I had the sleeve with pyloric valve intact.  I think my stomach was left too big though.  I was almost always able to eat a lot.  That is why I wanted my stomach made smaller.  I figured if I could out eat a malabsorptive procedure then I really needed to have a small stomach.  As far as the diarrhea my surgeon told me that some people just had a bad reaction to malabsorption.  I had friends with the DS that hardly ever had a problem.  It didn't agree with me.

I don't remember anything about a sleeve.  I am not even sure what a sleeve is. I think i had the old BPD-DS.  I diffenently had some sort of WLS..  The only one who knows for sure is dead. I don't even know how i would go about getting those old records.  I to had horrible diarrhea and gas. I think the smell soaked into the bathroom wallpaper. lol.  I also had such bad anemia that i could hardly get out of bed. I was so tired 24/7.  There was days I literally couldn't get dressed.  So, anyway with the band i am doing better.  No more gas or diarrhea!!!  I was like you i could always eat quit abit didn't matter thou i still lost weight.

Dr. Sifers.. yeah some lawsuits are still pending against his estate.  I have heard that some people didn't get what they paid for . However, I  am pretty sure i did. I lost 125lbs in way less than a year.