Question:
What made you decide on the surgery you did? Did you regret the one you chose?
I just want to know what the deciding factors were for what surgery you have chosen, be it VBG, RNY, BPD/DS, etc. Did you regret the surgery you chose at all? Would you get the same one if you could do it over again? Thanks! — Jennifer Y. (posted on February 15, 2002)
February 14, 2002
I chose open RNY for a couple of reasons. It's the most "common"
of the WLS available and it was the one my surgeon was the most comfortable
with. Sugar has always been a demon for me - I could never sit down and
eat a bag of chocolate but I could certainly lay waste to a dozen doughnuts
over the course of a day! Where sugar was concerned, moderation was not in
my vocabulary! :) With RNY, sugar would be forever banned from my life and
I really needed that. I considered VBG but felt, for me, it would be too
easy to "eat around" the restriction. As for the BPD/DS, I did
some research on it and it sounded tempting but I discarded it for 2
reasons -- I couldn't find a surgeon within 300 miles to do it and I'd
still be able to eat all the foods that got me in trouble to begin with.
So, did I ever regret my choice. No. Like most of us at this site, I did
a lot of research and I knew going in that RNY was the best choice for me.
If I had to do it over again, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Despite some minor
complications, it's been the best thing I ever did for myself. Good Luck!
— Pam S.
February 14, 2002
I am with Pam, if a surgery didn't limit my sugar intake, there would be no
point. You need to think about HOW you eat - do you eat one huge meal a
day? Binge eat? Sugar/fat load? Eat lots all day long? I think this is
the best way to figure out what is best for you. It is a hard conversation
to have with yourself, however.
— M. A. B.
February 14, 2002
I wanted the adjustable band one. But unfortunatley I never heard about it
until after the "trials" were over. So I was screwed then. I
did'nt want to have my insides all cut up and all the things they do with
the RNY. I REALLY DID NOT WANT THAT AT ALL! I've had some really
"butchering" non WLS surgeries done in the past and did'nt want
to have anything as drastic as that again. "I still think the RNY is
pretty drastic and should never be done by anyone who can lose the weight
by other means". But I was to late for the trials for the band. My
health was failing fast and I needed to act, so I had a long process of
fighting for approval for the RNY. Once that was approved and a surgery
date set, I found that people could "finally" get surgery for the
band. CRAP! But what was done was done and I could'nt go through all this
approval crap again (it took 9 months of fighting Blue Choice Option). I'm
glad I had the RNY, don't get me wrong. But I would still rather have had
the band surgery.
I am very disappointed that I could'nt have that one.
— Danmark
February 14, 2002
I forgot to mention. I had the Open RNY and am not restricted alot on
sugar. I was hoping it would stop my sugar craving and eating. Has'nt
helped that much at all.
— Danmark
February 14, 2002
I really didn't have a Choice.
I had Open RNY Proximal. I have an almost 18 inch scar from sternum to
around to the bottom of my belly button. I say I didn't have a Choice
because of the surgeon I chose. He only performs that procedure. I chose
him because he is the only board certified Surgeon that does these type of
procedures in Kansas City plus he has done over 200 of them with only 2
deaths. Of those 2 deaths neither were attributed to the WLS. Other
Complications caused by their Obesity caused their Deaths, so I did not so
much get to choose my procedure as it chose me...
— sbinkerd1
February 14, 2002
One M-A-J-O-R factor in my decision was I knew I wanted the Laproscopic or
NOTHING at all. I am such a chicken when it comes to pain. I couldn't
handle the thought of being cut wide open. Hooray to all that have, I
admire you all, but I knew it wasn't for me. So I sought out a great Lap
RNY surgeon. In fact, he is so good, he is the teacher of the LAP surgery
at a major university hospital. I was very comfortable with that. I knew
between him and God, I was in good hands. So therefore, my decision was
made. It was just a matter of waiting to get in to see him, go thru the
process, get my surgery date, etc. Do I have any regrets? Absolutely not.
I am becoming a new person, and I love it. I DO have a hard time
accepting the fact that I will never again be able to sit down and eat a
huge meal all at once EVER AGAIN but that's a head game. The trade-off
will be well worth it. Best of luck in your decision.
— blank first name B.
February 14, 2002
I had open RNY November 29, 2001. I chose RNY because I wanted the
negative reinforcement of dumping to keep me honest. I haven't really
pushed it with sweets - I don't want to dump, just want to know that if I
do something bad I will receive almost instant feedback. I did, however,
dump from a tomato-based soup (I should have known better). Don't want to
experience that again.
I don't regret having the open surgery either. I weighed 346 pounds when I
had my surgery and I wanted my surgeon to have the best possible advantage
when doing the surgery. He also removed my gallbladder and reapaired an
umbilical hernia I didn't even know I had.
Would I do it again - you bet. The same procedure with the same surgeon
(and I had to drive 3 hours from home even though there are about nind
doctors here who do the surgery. This is absolutely the best thing I have
ever done for myself. By the way - I had lost 66 ppounds at 10 weeks
post-op.
Good luck with your surgery.
— Patty_Butler
February 15, 2002
Hi! I wanted laparoscopic first and foremost. I researched the RNY at
first but came upon the duodenalswitch in my research. At first, the
concept of having 2/3 of my stomach removed did NOT sit well with me. It
just seemed too 'drastic'. However, the more I thought about the normal
functioning of the stomach being retained, having the pyloric valve
retained to keep food in the stomach to be processed and even having 5 cm
or so of duodenum for absorption of essential vit/minerals (calcium and
iron are two of these), I reconsidered. The duodenum also plays a part in
saiety -- once the chyme hits the duodenum this initates a chemical cascade
that signals to the brain that one is 'full'. I can honestly say that I
wanted to feel FULL when I ate (I overate pre-op and never really got my
signals clear on this). I have been extremely satisfied with the surgery.
I do get full and have three meals a day and 1-2 snacks depending (try to
make them high protein). I wanted to feel satisifed long term post-op, not
just during the intial weight loss window. I also wanted to keep the
weight off without drastically altering my lifestyle (I walk avidly and am
active but don't work out at the gym. I've always eaten rather
nutritiously).
I had a remarkable recovery and wouldn't have changed anything. :) My
labwork has all been 'totally normal' and I'm a year post-op. I've lost a
total of 120 lbs (I technically have about 17 to go to the insurance chart
'goal', but would be happy right where I am). I feel GREAT and feel like I
have my life back again. I pretty much do eat whatever I want but focus on
protein first and stay away from sugars as much as possible. I haven't had
any bad reactions to foods although I've read that some post-op DS patients
do. All the best, (lap bpd/ds with gallbladder removal, January 25, 2001,
Dr. Gagner/Mt. Sinai/NYC, preop: 307 lbs/bmi 45, now: 188 lbs/bmi
27/size sweet 14-12),
— Teresa N.
February 15, 2002
I had open proximal RNY. I did a lot of research and soul search pre op and
really felt at the time it was the surgery for me. Now I really wish I
would have gone with a more distal RNY. I don't really have the dumping and
at 7 months post op have to fight to stick under 1500 calories a day. I'm
worried I'm going to fail. -Kim
— KimBo36
February 15, 2002
Hello! I am almost 7 months post op from LAP RNY. I've lost over 120 lbs
and am very happy about that. I, at first did dump very badly on sugar.
Not that I was eating it all the time, but I did have a few treats on
halloween, horrible experience. My only regret, and it's not really a
regret, is that I can't eat a whole meal with my family. They go out and
have salad, a nice meal and maybe desert, and I take four or five bites,
and I'm stuffed, even though I would like to eat more. I've had some food
issues,(chicken, fish, meats) things I couldn't eat that would make me
vomit, but I'm getting over that, and can basically eat almost anything.
But yes I am happy. I feel like a whole new person, oh and yes I do have
one more regret; That I didn't do it sooner! Best of luck to you!
— Carey N.
February 15, 2002
I had Open RNY-proximal done almost 7 months ago. I have lost 92 pounds so
far. I went from 244 to 152. I am happy with the results, however, I wanted
this surgery because of the dumping effect. I was a compulsive sweets
eater. I would eat junk instead of meals. I thought the dumping was
supposed to last forever. Wrong! I can eat anything and not dump. As a
matter of fact, I just asked a question about this a few minutes ago. I
wish my surgeon would have done a more distal surgery on me. From what I
have read, the more intestine you have removed, the more of a dumping
effect you have. But the down side is you also don't absord as many
vitamins and nutrients with distal. At any rate, it is now up to me to use
this "tool" to achieve my goal weight, I just hope I don't screw
it up too much! Good luck with the surgery you choose.
— Dawn H.
February 15, 2002
I had the duodenals switch (BPD/DS) 5 months ago and am very happy with the
results so far. I had no complications, have lost close to 90 pounds, and I
can eat anything I want--just in much smaller portions. I chose the DS for
these reasons:<P> 1. I needed the distal bypass in order to combat my
slow metabolism and be able to maintain my weightloss long-term.<P>
2. I wanted to be through with diets forever. I didn't want to worry about
fat grams, sugar grams, or calories EVER again. I did that for 25 years and
it only made me obese. It also made me feel guilty whenever I would eat a
"forbidden" food. The guilt was the worst. I don't need
it.<P> 3. I wanted to be able to keep my functional stomach with no
artificial opening (stoma) which carries risk factors of stoma closures,
food getting stuck, and repeated endoscopies which can over-enlarge the
stoma thereby ruining the satiated feeling of fullness. <p> 4. And
finally, I wanted to be able to eat normal amounts of food and enjoy my
meals with family and friends without feeling self-conscious and drawing
attention to myself because of the microscopic amount of food the RNY and
the Fobi pounch lets you eat. I just wanted to fit in, and I do.
<p>You will be told that DS patients can suffer from diahrrea, smelly
gas, nutritional deficiencies, etc. But I'm here to tell you I've suffered
none of the above. I'm healthier than I've been in years and I feel
wonderful. True, I do have more frequent bm's (2 or 3 in the morning), but
they are not diahrrea unless I over-indulge on a high-fat food. It's better
than being constipated, which is a condition I suffered my whole life--even
as a child. <b>Best wishes in your research. You're doing a good
thing by asking this question and you're also helping others in their own
research. God bless!
— artistmama
February 15, 2002
Dawn I always had a lot of sugar too and I'm only 4 weeks postop and even
though I had 200 cm bypasses which seems to be the maximum I don't have
dumping so far either even though I ate quite a bit of valentines
chocolate. I too was very disappointed because I thought I would finally be
over my addiction. I really haven't craved it to much and I just wanted to
know if I would dump. I worry later the cravings may come back. I wonder if
my years of high sugar consumption makes me immune to it.
— Candace F.
February 15, 2002
I had the duodenal switch for most of the same reasons the other DS posters
identified: (1) needed a distal bypass to counteract my metabolism; (2)
needed to stay away from anything which might make me more prone to vomit
than I already was; (3) did not want to risk dumping - I like food and did
not want that to change, just didn't want it destroying my life!; (4)
wanted to retain a normal stomach function. My surgery was 20 months ago,
I am 8 lbs. from goal, and don't regret a thing. If I want to lose more, I
will probably need to work at it, but if I don't lose any more, I can still
say this was absolutely the right choice for me! -Kate-
— kateseidel
February 15, 2002
At the time of my surgery, back in the dark ages, all that was offered to
me was distal RNY or VBG. From the actual people I saw, the VBG's were all
still heavy & vomited daily. The RNY's were all normal body weight
& vomited only when something stuck (rarely). The dumping feature
didn't interest me then as I was not a sugar eater at all. When I asked the
doc privately, he said, "With VBG you diet, with RNY you lose
wt." Hard choice, huh? I'm delighted I did it, as the sugar cravings
hit me at 2 yrs post-op. Being distal, I malabsorb lots, but I sorta made
it my focus to find out how to work around those problems and still
maintain my wt loss. I had to be revised at 5 yrs, and only had a repair
to the staple line, and didn't change anything else. I've held at goal wt
for 6+ years now, so I'm very comfy with the surgery I had.
— vitalady
February 15, 2002
Three years ago I had the BPD/DS. I think there were many reasons I chose
this all of which have been stated by others on this question. I didn't
want to "diet" anymore, and knew that with the RNY, eventually, I
would cheat and eat sugars and fats. I wanted to eventually be
"normal" in what I ate and how I ate. I've been at goal for 3
years now. Would I do it again? I don't think so. I'm one of the few
with many problems. Would I have changed it to the RNY? No, I don't think
I could live that way forever to be honest. I am almost 50/50 on whether I
would ever do this again given the choice again. I like being thin but, the
problems are many more than I ever had preop. I won't go into them all but
my profile has them all. The adjustable band seems the least invasive of
all of them and least risky but again, you have to go back to the doctor
every month after doing that. I really think this decision is a matter of
where "your" demons lie.
— Barbara H.
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