HELP???

I have heard so many times that if you get a revision that the "restriction" alone is not good enough where you will lose weight.  Please someone tell me that is not true?!  Lie to me maybe?  SIGH!  My revision is scheduled for May 9th and they are just going to revise my restriction... stretched pouch and stoma.  Will I lose anything?  What do you think? 

What, exactly, are you having done? The Rose procedure? Stomaphyx? Neither of these have a very good track record. The Band over Bypass seems to work a little better, but them you're letting yourself in for all the added complications of the LapBand.

Have you considere a REAL revision, from the RNY to the DS? How much weight do you still have to lose? What medical issues?

Eleanore,

I really depends on your revision surgery that you are getting. Now there are some that have had their stomas tighten and lost little to no weight but if your compliant with the rules you may be able to lose some. I had a RNY to DS revision 12/08/10 and so far have lost 61 pounds and still losing I needed something that was going to go to bat for me and the DS gives me just that.

Sophia

I must be honest with you and so I am posting the wording from my Independent Medical Review (IMR) which was done when I was fighting for my revision to the duodenal switch. I can't say that I'm not panicking about whether or not I'm going to lose the weight with the duodenal switch, but I do know that I've lost better than with my FIRST REVISION. Feel free to check out my profile. I'm also posting the link to my IMR below.

A 37-year-old female enrollee has requested bariatric revision surgery (duodenal switch) for treatment of her obesity. Findings: The physician reviewer found that the medical literature supports the opinion that the performance of a revisional procedure similar to the initial operation will fail in many instances, because the basic problem is metabolic and not mechanical. Rapid gastric emptying, as seen in this patient's case, leads to an enhanced insulin response resulting in either hypoglycemia or hyperglycemic episodes, and the most dramatic rises and falls have been associated with small pouches and wide anastomoses. Duodenal switch is a medically appropriate solution to the problem. If this procedure is not performed, the patient's comorbididites will likely worsen. Thus, bariatric revision surgery (duodenal switch) is medically indicated for this patient.

http://wp.dmhc.ca.gov/imr/detail.asp?id=11477&optFor mat=html&cboDetermination=Overturned+Decision+of+Health+ Plan&cboMC=0&cboTreatment2=0&cboDiagnosis2=0& ;cboDT=0&cboType=Medical+Necessity&txtDetails=duoden al+switch

Well ladies.... the West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh is where I had the first RNY!  Now all they are going to do is put my insides back to the way it was when I first had the RNY in 2003 and fix the hernia.  They don't even want to do that for me... Dr. Gagne heads the clinic now and Dr. Pappasavas who did my first surgery is gone.  Plus I am not sure that my insurance would pay for a DS... I have military insurance... ChampVA.

If I don't lose anything I won't be surprised!  Put it that way.  Dr. Gagne said to me in our last appointment that "you might not lose any weight".  Good news even from him and he is the surgeon.  I am so DEPRESSED about my entire situation... I really am... and I do not like my surgeon.  Hard to get anyone else to follow your case though if they did not do your original surgery.  So I am going to make the best of what is happening.

I am scheduled to go under the SCOPE on May 9th... day after Mother's Day.  Oh well, maybe at least I won't have heartburn anymore after the procedure. 

My surgeon told me the same thing before my surgery.  In fact he said it twice.  I don't know if he said that because I failed so miserably with my first WLS or because he felt that my metabolism was so messed up from my previous weight loss.  My situation was different then yours but I have managed to lose all my excess weight.  Of course the big question is whether or not I will keep it off.  Time will tell.  Like I said, I don't have a good track record.