Why did you choose this procedure over Lap Band, DS and Sleeve?

Looking for positive and negative experiences, as to why you chose this procedure over the others?

I wanted to best long term results and for me personally this seemed to be the way to go. I discussed the procedures at length with my surgeon and we agreed on the RNY.

Thank you. did you have any prior health issues or was it just about food intake? Trying to see "similar" ones with myself to try and go from there. I have High blood pressure, sleep apnea, high cholesterol, gallstones, I just feel heavy on my knees, can't really do much because everything hurts and my doctor has threatened me because my blood work showed my sugars as being 195

I did not have any comorbidities. I just had an excessive BMI, I think it was 49 at my first appointment. I have always been very active, camping, hiking, my kids were band kids in highschool and in the south its a BIG deal. Huge props built and hauled on the field and all 300+ pounds of me would be out there hauling stuff on the field.

Just explore your options, I know alot of places discourage the lap bands or don't do them any longer. Just due to so many being revised to sleeve or RNY. My recovery was extremely easy and I was back to work 9 days post op. Would've been sooner but my office had short hours b/c of the holidays so I took advantage.

Best of luck in your decision!

Thank you very much! I appreciate you elaborating a bit!

Sleeve wasn't really a thing 17 years ago, at least that I was aware of, but even if it were I would go with the RNY.

Lap-Band was an early front runner, but not for long. One of the selling points of the Band was that if anything went wrong, it would be easily reversed. That, for me, would have been a problem. My thoughts evolved: Well, when I lost all my weight, I could have the band removed so that I could eat like normal. Normal got me where I was. Why am I thinking about undoing this when I haven't even started? I realized that knowing there was an escape hatch was a problem. If, for whatever reason, I wasn't happy I could sabotage things so that it had to be removed.

There wasn't anyone in my area that did DS, but I had read a few DS horror stories, and they were more horrible than RNY horror stories. Some folks on websites I frequented (OH, later my own) talked about how they could eat as much of whatever they wanted. This too, was a problem for me because the idea that I, as a binge eater, could continue binge eating. I wanted to change my eating habits. If I binged I wanted the surgery to kick my ass. So, DS was out geographically and conflicted with my goals.

I chose RNY because I wanted a forever solution. Even though it can be theoretically reversed, my surgeon expressed it as imagine demolishing a house, then rebuilding it with the pieces. You may be able to do it, you may be able to live in it, but it will be a very different house. So, forever, check. It would restrict my portions, preventing and teaching me to eat appropriate portions. I also always felt my digestion was over achieving, so some malabsorption would be appreciated. Dumping was also appealing. If I went off plan I wanted my body putting me back on.

I gave this all a lot of thought, over and over, until I made a decision. Once I decided, that was it. Full speed ahead.

I had the usual issues in the first couple weeks. After that, pretty well. I relearned out to eat. I relearned what to eat.

I am doing well, I seem to have had a better time of it than I deserve.

ETA: I see you asked about health issues:

I had a very bad case of sleep apnea. When I woke from surgery, my Doc said "Did you know you have very bad sleep apnea?" That when I found out. Not long after, they had me take a sleep study. I have very bad sleep apnea, which was interesting because I never got anywhere near sleep.

They removed my Gaul Bladder, and fixed a Hiatal Hernia.

My Blood Pressure was solid.

I don't remember anything else.

Tek

Wow, 17 years ago! That is a lot of years of experience and I appreciate you sharing yours. I like the example you provided of the house and having to live in it. Puts things into a better perspective for me.

Thanks,

It's really 2 years of experience, then 15 years of the same month over and over

Tek

oh, Touche!!!

I would have considered the DS if my insurance covered it, but it did not. But at my starting weight (373 lbs), it probably would have been a decent choice for me.

I did not do sleeve for a couple of reasons - first, I had GERD prior to surgery, and they'll often recommend RNY to GERD sufferers since VSG can make it worse. Not always. And not even most of the time. But it happens to a significant enough minority that surgeons will often suggest you consider RNY instead. I didn't want to take the risk. Another reason was at the time i had surgery (5+ years ago), VSG was just becoming popular - it was taking the place of the lapband. I really didn't want to do something that was still pretty new. I was afraid it might turn into "Lapband 2", so between that and the GERD issue, that made my decision (I realize that DS has a sleeve stomach, btw....but I think they make them bigger in DS patients, so I'm not sure if the GERD risk is as big).

At this point, though, VSG has been around long enough that it's proven itself, so if it weren't for the GERD, I'd consider it - although I've been very happy with my RNY.

Lapband was already starting to be abandoned by the time I had surgery - some surgeons weren't doing it anymore because of all the problems people had with it. Actually, you'd probably be hard pressed to find ANY surgeon to place a lapband now, although apparently a few still do.