Revision from VSG to RNY

Thank you for the update. I have been wondering about you. So glad it is going well for you. I know taking that leap is scary...but not as scary as letting the acid continue to cause so much misery! I thought my case would be cut and dry like yours, but doesn't seem like it will be. Hoping my scope will clear up the queations about what is wrong. Please keep posting...as I am curious to see how you progress! 

Thanks! 

I will.  Good luck with your issue!  Hopefully you can keep your sleeve!

I am happy to be able to read your posts.  I am considering having a bypass.  I had a band which was removed in 2011 due to a bad slip. I had a sleeve done in 2013 and have had essentially no success with the sleeve. I attend Weigh****chers, exercise but am frustrated. I met with a surgeon this week who said I was a perfect candidate for a bypass.  Crazy to think of having yet another procedure! He said it's a matter of finding the right tool for each patient. I have an upper GI scheduled for next week so we'll see what my sleeve looks like and then a return visit with the surgeon.

I am happy to see that the bypass can cure reflux issues for many people. I don't have reflux issues but I had horrible! reflux with the band and the thought of that reoccurring is enough to terrify me! 

How is everything going now? Still doing well? 

Great!  Best decision I ever made. 

Thanks for the update. I woke up last night with acid in my throat. I'm 5 weeks out from the sleeve. It's good to know that if I need to convert to RNY it's not the end of the world, right?

-Anne

Sorry to bug you again, but....I am only five weeks out, but with the barely controlled GERD, this sleeve feels TIGHT. I always feel like I have food in my mouth and my throat feels tight and I'm always swallowing down something - it feels like there is something in the back of my throat all the time.  It is not as tight on good days. 

This tightness in my throat puts me on edge all day. 

Did you have that tightness with your GERD? Did it go away after the revision?

I never had tightness in my throat.  Swallowing became an issue for me since the acid splashing my esophagus basically eliminated my ability to swallow.  I did have pressure in my chest from the acid and at times it felt like I couldn't breathe, but my throat and my sleeve never felt tight.  

Sorry I can't be of more help.

I read somewhere that you're going to a GI dr.  I think you need to be honest about your symptoms and open to more surgery.  I know that you keep posting looking for someone . . . anyone to reassure you that YOUR acid will get better.  No one can (or should) give you that reassurance . . . just like I can't be sure that your acid will stay bad.  All I can tell you is my experience.  I wish now that I had been more open to revision.  Instead, I fought it for a year and wasted a year of my life feeling sick every single day.  All I would caution is that you don't rule out more surgery because you only wanted a sleeve and never wanted bypass.

Maybe I'm saying it wrong. I can't really feel my sleeve. It's probably just anxiety making my chest feel tight. But my throat feels like it's closed up. I drink a lot of warm decaf tea to kind of open it up. 

You've been a lot of help. Thanks :) 

I'm open to more surgery. It's not what I want, but I also don't want to trash my esophagus.  I wish I had done more pre-op testing and waited from band removal to sleeve.  I worry about the potential complications of bypass. But, then again, I've known a couple of people who have had bypass and they've done just fine.  

The tech that drew my blood for my latest labs started to tell me some horror stories about malabsorption but I stopped him. He works for the hospital, so he sees all the worst cases, of course. 

My ex-husband had open bypass 18 years ago and he's ok today - as far as I know. He had a problem with low protein and had to get b12 shots, but I suspect that's more because he wasn't taking care of himself.  But, he's lost a lot of weight and kept it off all these years and he's healthy.   

And I have a friend who had bypass and gained most of weight back later. She's healthy, though. She said her doc was very pleased by her last set of labs. 

I'll ask the GI how long I should wait. My surgeon told me to take PPIs for six months. I've heard that some people revise to bypass after just two to three months, but those folks can't keep food or water down because of the reflux. So far, I'm able to keep a lot of fluid down. I drink a lot. I'm hesitant to eat much because I'm not quite sure how much will go in there and if it goes up to the top of my stomach (I guess) acid comes up. My PCP encouraged me to try to eat more but I worry about acid. 

I did this so I could live a longer, healthier life, and hopefully live longer than my parents did. My mother died at 64 from heart failure after suffering with fluid retention in her abdomen for years. She had fatty liver, high blood pressure and fluid retention. So...when I developed fatty liver, high blood pressure and fluid retention at the age of 47.... I was a little freaked out. 

This GERD is awful, but bypass is the big unknown. Weight loss surgery is always a bit of a gamble, though, isn't it? 

So are you swallowing better now? 

Was it difficult to get a referral back to a bariatric surgeon? I havent seen my surgeon since my VSG surgery three years ago and I am now with a different PCP and medical group. I have had insane acid reflux since my initial surgery (which was a revision from Lapband to VSG). Now I am having severe abdominal pain. After a CT Scan we learned I have three Hernias but the doctor also suspects Gastic Outflow Obstruction. I havent yet met with the doctors I am being referred to to discuss where exactly these hernias are (one is hiatial, one is inaugural, unsure about the third) and how they impact my stomach sleeve. I would prefer to not see the general surgeon they are sending me to and would like to go back to mine or another bariatrict surgeon to trouble shoot the issues but I dont even know who I ask to request this. Thanks in advance for any advice.