Has anyone had part of their intestine die?

Hi all!

A friend of mine who had her RNY surgery 6 years ago had part of her intestine die two years after her surgery.  She also told me a few others had the same problem.  They all had to have their gallbladders removed as well (I believe that was before the intestine problem). Also none of them had the laproscopic surgery.

Has anyone else had this happen to them? 

I have never heard anything about the intestine issues but having gallbladder troubles is very common after weight loss surgery.  In fact, if you've ever had any gallbladder issues pre-op then I would expect to have issues post-op.  Part of the pre-op testing is an ultrasound of your gallbladder and they look for stones.  Often, surgeons will remove the gallbladder at the same time as your WLS.

I have heard of problems with twisted or a blockage  intestines after surgery and its possible that this could cause the intestine to die  ... but I think  this complication is rare.  I have been told that as you loose weight and if your abdominal muscles are not toned than  the intestional could twist on themselves.  I guess this is a good reason to strengthen our abdominal muscles.

I do not believe this is a RNY complication only... I think its is possible for this to happen with any of the WLS procedures.

Helen

My mother is going in for an operation due to her diseased intestines. They will be removing the dead parts. Kind of a risky operation I was told. I was also told it was caused by Diverticulitis. All of my family members suffer from diverticulitis. Could she have been misdiagnosed or something? Not sure if that helps or not but, I know diverticulitis causes problems like that...
 

(my mother has never had WLS but has been obese all her life)

-Billie

Thank you everyone!  I really find it hard to believe that 3 people in the same area had the RNY surgery and all had the same problem.  I think that maybe since they all had open surgery (and didn't have their gallbladders taken out during surgery) maybe that was part of it.  I am going to ask my doc about it and see what she says.