What are your pros and cons to this surgery?

Let me ask you this---If you don't over eat, then how have you come to weigh this much?

I'm not asking this to be mean or snarky. Everyone here is or has been morbidly obese, but we didn't all get there the same way. Some of us overate all the time, and could easily drop a lot of weight as long as we could stick to a good diet---we just had issues that made it really, really difficult for us to stick to a good diet. Others were born with really efficient metabolisms that could run our bodies on fewer calories than 'normal' people require, allowing us to store more of what we ate---and dieting just made our metabolisms increasing more efficient. And, scientists have recently discovered, some of us are able to extract more calories from the foods we eat, which works out about the same as having a really efficient metabolism, in that we can gain on less food than 'normal' people can.

If you truly don't overeat, and you don't eat junk, then---why do you think a restriction-only WLS is going to solve your problems? Sure, a Sleeve will make it much easier to stick to a low-calorie diet far longer, but if your metabolism is super-efficient, and/or you're extracting 120 calories from a supposedly 100-calorie portion, how do you expect to achieve long-term success?

After spending 35 of my 45 years on one diet or another, I knew that restriction alone was NOT going to give me the help I needed---I needed malabsorption, and I needed it FOREVER. Therefore, I chose the Duodenal Switch, the only form of WLS that provides permanent malabsorption of calories. (Both the RNY and the DS cause permanent malabsorption of certain vitamins and minerals.) The DS has a Sleeved stomach plus an intestinal bypass similar to, but more effective than, that of the RNY, and the very best long-term, maintained weight loss.

If you MUST choose between the RNY and the VSG, I'd go with the Sleeve. It will leave you a fully-functional stomach, has about the same average weight-loss as the RNY/gastric bypass, and fewer potential complications. ALso, it can easily be revised to a full DS should you decide you do need malabsorption long-term.

I'm am NOT saying you can't lose all the weight you want with the Sleeve, nor am I saying that you can't maintain that loss without malabsorption. I'm just saying that this is something you really need to think about before you have major surgery. Think twice, cut once.

I don't over eat for a person with MY size stomach.  I am not eating until I feel sick, I am not sitting and eating mass amounts of things until they are empty like a whole bag of chips, or a box of cookies.  When I say I am not eating junk, no salt, no sugar, low carbs this is NOW, its not been all my life or I wouldn't be heavy.

Restriction will work because it will make my stomach smaller and I will eat less.  So even though I eat good healthy foods, my portions are still bigger than I want them to be, but if I make them too small I am hungry to the point of physical discomfort and with physical side effects like being dizzy, having a headache...those kinds of things.  So everything I do, every step I take is gradual.  I have been dieting since I was 18 and I am turning 46, I could probably tell you the ins and out of every diet on the planet because I have been on most of them. 

I gained my weight very quickly in an abusive relationship.  I put on a 100 pounds the first year I was with my ex and 10 pounds a year for the next 10 years which of course is another 100 pounds.  I then found a wonderful man and after having children went on the depo shot which caused me to eat things I had never eaten and just throw my whole system out of whack, I gained 104 pounds (after losing 65 pounds with childbirth) in three months.  Then I have yo-yo'd like so many of us have.  I would lose and gaine and lose and gain more.  I was 85+ pounds lighter when I had radiation and then gained weight after that.

So here I am.  I have osteoarthritis, I am primarily immobile and I am working my program 7 days a week 24 hours a day.  I will see what my weight loss is in a week at my next NUT appointment.  But I do know the surgical intake Doctor thinks the sleeve is the best choice for me, not only for what it will do but also the fact that I am on NSAIDS to have even the mobility I do have.

My goal weight before surgery is 128 pounds less than it is now.  This is what the doctor and I have decided would be a safe weight so I wouldn't be getting the sleeve at this size anyway, and if they do surgery at 400 pounds I should be able to hit all the weight loss goals I have in mind as I will certainly be much more mobile at that point too. :)

Thank you for your questions and the opportunity to explain myself further. :) I appreciate your support and thoughtfulness in making sure I am looking at things seriously and realistically. :)

Okay, that explains things some. Trust me, I understand hunger---pre-op, I was hungry ALL THE TIME.I'm glad to say that removing 90% of my stomach made a big change in my hunger. Oh, I still get hungry, every 2-3 hours, in fact. But it's not the same---it's not that constant, grinding hunger I lived with for 45 years. (I went on my first doctor-supervised diet at 9, my first diet pills at 11. I KNOW about dieting. *grin*)

I also know about life with a Sleeve, and how it changes over time. I have a Sleeve, as the stomach portion of my DS. The first few months, I was full and satisfied on almost nothing. At 11 years out, no one watching me eat would think I'd had WLS. I can eat a small salad, an 8-ounce steak, a few bites of baked potato, a roll, and a few bites of dessert---and drink a glass or two of tea with it. Had I been born with a normal metabolism, that would be good---that's how 'normal' people eat. However, I was born with a super-efficient metabolism, and pre-op, when I ate like that, I gained weight. LOTS of weight. Fortunately, my DS 'broke' my metabolism back to normal.

I too rely on NSAIDs to function. I have extensive arthritis, not to mention all the damage to my weight-bearing joints a lifetime of being MO has caused. Yes, I'm am much more mobile than I was pre-op, but I still have a LOT of pain. Without NSAIDs---nope, don't want to go there!

I wish you much success---keep in touch!

Thanks for sharing your story, it really helps to encourage me. :)  I have been a dieter since childhood too as my mom was afraid to have fat children.  I wasn't out of the 100 pound range until I was 19.  Not sue what she was freaked about but wow I cant even imagine Onederland!  I would be happy at any weight that gives me the freedom to do the things I like to do.  Whatever the doctor and I decide I am going to work my hardest to make it work to the fullest!! :)

I'm 3 1/2 years out from surgery,and it was the best thing I ever did for myself.  In trying to be as forthright as possible, I have racked my brain to think of any cons, but there aren't any, for me.  My health is so vastly improved, and life is so much fuller and rewarding.  That doesn't mean there haven't been any struggles, but there are struggles with or without WLS, and any procedure.  The surgery went smoothly, I had very little pain, and the weight came off as I was following the plan I was given.  When I got into maintenance, it got harder to balance things, and as time went on, I got complacent.  Over the past few months, I put on a few pounds, which I am slowly losing now.  I absolutely needed WLS, as I was around 300 lbs and my health was consistenly deteriorating.  I could not seem to stick with anything to get the weight off.  When I made the decision to have WLS, I knew it would help me to lose the weight, but it was only a tool - the rest was up to me.  Best of luck with your decision making!

Thank you!!! The hardest part for me is trying to get my husband and three boys to be considerate and not bring junk into the house, or at least make sure that I have what I need so if they are snacking I can too but in a good way. 

Since I cant do much cooking I rely totally on my husband to provide nutritious meals which has been a struggle but I think he knows now how serious I am about things and as of late it has been going MUCH better which is giving me hope!!! :)

Thank you again for sharing your positive experience, it really helps to hear encouraging stories!! :)

Thank you, I am glad you had such great success!!! :)  Looking forward to some of my own in the near future!! :)

Pros?  IF you work the program, you get your life back.  And I am extremely grateful for every day now!

Cons (for me)? I was warned that my acid reflux might get worse with VSG and that bypass would effectively cure it.  I took the chance anyway on VSG, and now am stuck taking acid reducers every day.  Also, the restriction only works on food that's good for you!  If you currently eat a lot of sweets, liquid calories, chips, etc., then VSG isn't going to stop you.  

Thankfully I learned in "fat class" as I called it, LOL, not to drink my calories. This is my third time through the process so I have some knowledge which is good.  I don't drink soda, my sweets are apples or bananas, my salt intake is only almonds, walnuts, cashews mixed as I don't cook with or add salt to anything since before Thanksgiving.

I hear you about the reflux, sorry.  I get that if I have carbs or sweets and that's why I steer around them, its made a huge difference.  And If I do cave at a family function or something I pay with the reflux which is really bad so I really try to stay on track. 

Would you still do it again even with your reflux? Or would you choose a different surgery?

Would I do it again knowing that my reflux would get worse?  I think so, yes.  It's no big deal to take my Prilosec along with my vitamins every morning.  But definitely do tell your surgeon about the reflux - you may just have a hernia that's causing it, or you might get steered to bypass.  I did have a hiatal hernia caused by my crap band, which I was sure was the culprit, but turns out not so much.

If the reflux ever seriously endangers my health, I've been told that bypass is a good solution, but hopefully something even better will come along before then!