Revision to RNY

Eating more than a small amount of sugar or carbs at once makes me feel awful, but this keeps me motivated to eat properly. Processed meats now turn my stomach and I find them disgusting, but this steers me toward healthier choices. High fat greasy foods upset my stomach and digestive system, but this keeps me from craving them as much as I used to. I have zero problems with chicken, fish, or anything else healthy to eat. So overall I consider RNY a complete success for me in that it steers me toward better food choices and punishes me for poor food choices. I have zero complaints about the "intolerances" I have developed, if you can even call them that. Food aversions is probably a better way to describe it.

I am NOT a revision, and from what I hear from a lot of RNY people, I am not a normal case.  But I have lots of trouble with dense protein, possibly my own fault, as maybe I don't chew enough.  Who knows. 

I get "sliming" a lot, which always makes me vomit until everything is up.  This has been caused by dense protein, my vitamins and sometimes for no reason that I can figure out. sigh

I do not dump sugar doesnt bother me in the least, and can eat all the dairy I want.

From reading the daily menu thread, you're one of the reasons I decided to pose the question.  I have no problems eating proteins, do not slime at all and have thrown up once since my surgery (and that was due to excess acid, and was not food related in any way).  Thanks for your honesty!!

Well, I wouldn't let MY story scare you away.  You read the daily menu thread, you have heard everyone saying that this is NOT normal.  That's me...NOT NORMAL

How's everything going? Have you figured out what you are going to do? I'm looking into getting the sleeve but already have GERD pretty bad. When I loose weight it goes away so I don't know what I should do. I really don't want the RNY. I have an appointment with a surgeon next week.

Hi!  Thanks for your response.  My original message was a while ago and I can't remember what info I included, so I'll put some info about me and my problem here in the hopes it will help you make a decision.  I'm 2 years 1 month post VSG.  Prior to surgery I had zero issues with Reflux or GERD (other than taking a random zantac when something didn't agree with me.)  About a year ago, I started having really bad reflux.  My surgeon put me on a variety of meds: Omeprazole 30 mg/Omeprazole 60 mg (30 in the am and 30 at night)/Omeprazole 30 mg and Protonix 40mg/Protonix 40mg and Dexilant 60mg/Protonix 40mg, Dexilant 60mg and Zantac 150/Protonix 40, Dexilant 60 Zantac 300 and finally Axid 30mg, Dexilant 60mg and Zantac 300.  None of these combinations resolved my acid.  In January of this year I had a manometry and pH study and it revealed that my acid was 409% higher than normal.  In March I had an endoscopy which showed two spots on my esophagus with damage from the acid.  Really long story short, I'm revising to RNY on 7/1.

I know there are a lot of people who will tell you that GERD resolves when you lose weight and that you will wake up from surgery acid-free.  I don't doubt their stories and am thrilled if that is the case.  But keep in mind, VSG is known to make acid worse.  I went from zero acid to levels 409% HIGHER than normal.  My sleeve is perfectly formed and my surgery was otherwise a success.  I have wonderful restriction, no food issues and am maintaining a 130lb weight loss (I was until I decided on surgery and started stress eating, but that's another issue and not caused by a "faulty" or poorly created sleeve as some will tell you).  I'm currently emotionally mourning the loss of my sleeve.  But I look at it this way, my sleeve and I are in a very dysfunctional relationship, and the only way to fix the problem is to end the relationship.  So I'm revising.

I don't want to sway you in any way, and ultimately it's your decision, but my life has been hell for the past year.  There isn't a day that goes by where I don't have heartburn or acid in my throat.  I've developed a cough from aspirating stomach acid into my lungs.  It's hindered my ability to exercise as I've had to stop more than once to throw up acid (by the way, the only time I've thrown up since surgery was when I was running and had acid rise up and choke me), I sleep sitting up because if I don't I have too much pressure in my chest and I wake up choking on acid (something I still do even if I sleep sitting up).  I will say that if I had any type of acid prior to surgery, and knew then what I know now, I would have gone RNY from the start.  I'm one of the unlucky few who developed GERD when it didn't exist before, but if I already had it, I don't know that I would have taken the chance with VSG.  The potential for increased acid, lifetime reliance on PPIs and potential esophageal cancer was enough to make me change my mind.  Good luck with whichever procedure you choose.  If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.  I'm an open book and have kind of made it my mission to share with others so they don't have to deal with the issues I've faced over the last 14 months.  Good luck!!

Thanks for the reply. I have had the choking on the acid during the night. What a scary feeling it is! The frustrating part about any of these surgeries is that nobody knows what's going to happen and it's different for everyone. If I get the VSG it could get better, could get worse! I don't know what to do. I guess I will talk to my surgeon next week. I have a feeling he will want to do the RNY but I really don't want to do that one. I have a lot to think about!

It's totally your decision, and I'm sure you can find a ton of people who disagree with me, but if you have acid so bad now that you wake up choking, I think the chance of it resolving completely with VSG is slim.  I know if I had had acid during my pre-op, my surgeon would have steered me to RNY and I would have consented, without hesitation. But that's just me and my surgeon.  Acid post VSG is a serious condition without very many treatment options. Yes, I wanted the sleeve, because, at the time, it was a better fit for me.  At the end of the day, I was at a point in my life where I was ready to lose the weight and if my only option would have been RNY, that's what I would have done.  Am I nervous about converting now?  You bet. And I fought it for a hell of a long time.  But it's mostly because I have the perfect sleeve and I'm afraid of the unknown.  Will I have food intolerance?  Will I dump??  Who knows. But when my surgeon looked at me and said "if you were my sister you would already have had revision surgery" I have to take that seriously.  As much as I fought and said, revision is 100% off the table, I'm now checking myself into the hospital because I am willing to take the chance to (1) finally, after a year of feeling miserable every single day, feel better; and (2) continue on my weight loss lifestyle.

Like I said before, good luck.  I know it's a hard decision, and I hope that you, when you weigh out the pros and cons of VSG, RNY or doing nothing, make the decision that's best for you!!

I just want to chime in here and say don't do the VSG if you already have acid reflux!! 

I am only 22 days post op sleeve, and not a doctor but it is fairly well known that the sleeve can, and often does, cause acid reflux.  

If you haven't talked to your doctor yet, please mention your acid reflux. 

-Anne 

I had an endoscopy done a couple of weeks ago and I have a pretty big hiatal hernia that was causing it. My surgeon is going to fix it. I only had the reflux when I laid down at night. I have had absolutely no problems since cutting out alcohol and nicotine and no eating a couple of hours before going to bed. Thanks for the info :)