Question:
Having some panic attacks about removing my stomach

I've been reading more and more about complications of bariatric surgery and since talking to my husband (who all of a sudden woke up and realised that I am having the VSG done instead of the lap-band and now he's not 100% on board with me having my stomach cut and removed) I am concerned about the removal of the stomach affecting other organs. Has anyone had this surgery and any complications with removal of gall bladder or other organs or any additional complications?????? help!!!!!!!!!!!    — catherineangel (posted on December 10, 2009)

December 10, 2009
YES!!!! Be very careful and make sure you understand the risks! Please read my page. The gastric bypass has been a total nightmare for my husband and he has almost died several times since February. As a matter of fact, he just got out of the hospital today and he is on a feeding tube for 14 hours a day currently with NOTHING by mouth. Please read my page before you do this and know that not everyone comes out of this surgery okay.
   — help_my_hubby

December 10, 2009
If you have done any research at all, you would find the the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy is NOT a gastric bypass. I had one over a year ago and have lost over 100 pounds! I have had absolutely no ill effects from the procedure, and most people never do. You are not having your stomach removed, only trimmed. True, it is about 80 percent of the stomach that is removed in this procedure, but the 20 percent that remains is a fully functioning stomach, and NOT a pouch. The advantage to removing the 80 percent or so of the stomach that the surgeons take is that you lose most of your hunger creating hormones, zones that are prone to cancer, and areas of the stomach that are also prone to ulcers. Eventually, what remains will expand some, so you will be able to eat more than you would right out from surgery and will stop losing weight. How long this takes is completely up to you. Follow your dietary guidelines and you should lose all the weight that you want. Cheat, and you may find that your stomach is again too large for you to lose more weight. The same can be said for ANY of the other procedures. Generally, people do not have trouble with their gall bladder with this procedure. If you are PRONE to gall bladder issues, you may want to have your gall bladder removed at the same time of the surgery because rapid weight loss can TRIGGER problems with the gall bladder, but as I said before, most people who have the VSG do not have this problem. Gall bladder removal is REQUIRED for the Duodenal Switch, because many people who have had THAT surgical option have had issues with their gall bladder due to very rapid weight loss. The only real issue you may have to face with the VSG is what are known as "Strictures." A stricture is when the stomach or intestine turns on itself. It is sort of like when the old fashioned sausage makers use to make sausage using intestines from animals. They would twist the intestine to make a link of sausage after stuffing the intestine with meat. These strictures are just that: twists in the intestine. They are QUITE rare, and usually the chance of one occurring after the stomach expands slightly is very remote. It is actually very uncommon even before the stomach expands, and these are usually easily repaired by simply putting a fiber optic scope into the intestine through the stomach and removing the twist by pushing the scope through the stricture. The VSG is the SAFEST surgical option available to us today. It has been performed for DECADES to remove ulcers and stomach cancer, and VERY FEW people have died from it. You are MUCH more likely to have problems from the LAP BAND than you are the VSG. I hope this helps.
   — hubarlow

December 10, 2009
Please also know that not everyone has major complications either. And also notice her husband had the rny not vsg. I had the vsg on June 17, 2009. I have been very blessed with no complications and a weight loss of 107 lbs so far. For me I feel like death was staring me n the face either way. I was diabetic, had high blood pressure (taking 2 pills a day), high cholesterol, depression, no energy yadda yadda, I could go on and on. I knew in my heart that this was the choice for me and that God was looking over me. Just be at peace with your decision. You will still have a stomach, just a way smaller version =). It is kinda common to have your gall bladder removed after gastric surgery, however I havent had any problems. Good luck to you!!
   — callen3640

December 10, 2009
Hugh had some great information but he is giving you a bit of bad information. Hugh is wrong about what he says is the "REQUIRED" removal of the gall bladder. In fact, my gall bladder was working at 11% two years pre-operative but my surgeon decided to leave it in and now it works fine, no issues. My surgeon has done hundreds of DS surgeries and thousands of rny's. You weigh over 400 lbs, how much more weight will it take for you to realize you are going to die if you do not do something about it. Even if you live a long life how healthy do you think it will be? Let's say you live to be 80 or 90, healthy up until the day you die but weigh over 400 lbs, how long do you think you will be able to hold your weight up without assistance? You will end up using a walker, then in a wheel chair and one of those scooters. Here is a link to my page, http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/jrbreckenridge/ I was 570 lbs Oct. 2008, I lost 295 in exactly one year. I am now down 333 lbs, I weigh 237. I pray that you take a good hard look at your current and future you and pray about it, god doesn't steer us wrong. Just beware of Satan trying to lead you stray! GOOD LUCK & GOD BLESS- Jaime
   — Jaime Breckenridge

December 11, 2009
I had the VSG done a little over a year ago. I have NEVER regreted it. It has saved my life. I have lost 80 pounds so far, but would have lost much more if I had not gone through a very self-destructive period, but now I am back on track and losing very well. No complications here, but I have to tell you I was pretty darned healthy to begin with. It took me a whole year to prepare fot the surgery, and did everything I was told to do. I lost 40 pounds before surgery and my diabetes and high blood pressure were well controlled before surgery. My doctore had a battery of tests done on me to be sure my heart and lungs and all major organs were functioning well enough to go through the stress of surgery. You have to trust your surgeon that he knows what your body can handle, and you have to follow his advice. If you don't trust him, then you need to find another surgeon.
   — cydthekid50

December 11, 2009
Hi. Some second thoughts before a major operation are normal. I had a DS which involves removing most of the stomach. My surgeon routinely removes the gall bladder because he finds such a large number of gall bladder problems after DS that it saves wear and tear on both patient and surgeon to remove it at the time of the DS. In my case, he found a HUGE gallstone that would have started acting up soonist so he whipped that sucka out. Your millage may vary. The question here is- are these just normal pre any life changing event jitters-or-have you done enough research on this proceedure and the alternatives? I consulted with 3 surgeons before picking the one I wanted. I have other health problems so I talked about it with all my other doctors too. I am 5 feet 2 inches and was skating at close to 300 pounds when I started researching the surgery. This gave me the BMI of a battleship. When I went to the beach, Greenpeace tried to drag me back in the water. I had a million of these jokes. The doctors said the DS gave the most weight loss and the fastest weight loss for people as big as I was and was also the hardest to sabatoge. I am not trying to talk you into a DS. The DS also has a high rate of complictions. The doctors and I discussed that. I had some things going for me that pointed to a good chance of survival. One was I had no previous abdominal surgery. No scars or adhesions. What I'm trying to say is, the night before I went into the hospital, I felt I had done everything I could do or read or think to make sure that it would be a success. I had picked out a good surgeon, I had prepared myself the way he told me to, I had picked the proceedure that was best for me, the rest was in the hands of fate. Can you say that? And fate is a b***h. My wound opened up post-op requiring hot and cold running home health nurses for about 2 and 1/2 months. But this can happen with any abdominal operation, it happened to a friend of mine who had a hysterectomy. Then I spent some time adjusting to the new small stomach. It didn't like grease and it didn't like sweets any more. I loved sweets and grease. How do you think I once got up to 316 pounds? Eating celery? I tried to eat fried chicken and ice cream right after surgery. Lots of it. The result was it came back up. Vomiting. Lets be real. There will be vomiting if you don't play by the rules. I am 10 months post surgery. I tell people I miss food like a bad boyfriend. You ever have a bad boyfriend? No good, cheats on you, takes your money, crashes your car, but you love him anyway? Well I haven't and I never understood why other women put up with men like that? Now I have some insight. Ben and Jerry and Jimmy Dean are my Bad Boyfriends. I eat baked chicken and fruit Popsicles. Sometimes I take very small bites of the old bad foods and see how they go down. By this time one bite won't kill me. But the new stomach warns me- don't push it girl. It also seems to me you have not shared your research with your husband. Can you let him in on what you have read and have been talking to the surgeon and support groups about? Has he ever been to the surgeons office with you? My father went to the surgeons office with me once and that helped getting him on board with my plans. I hope this helps some. I may have rambled.
   — lucyfur

December 11, 2009
Hi. Some second thoughts before a major operation are normal. I had a DS which involves removing most of the stomach. My surgeon routinely removes the gall bladder because he finds such a large number of gall bladder problems after DS that it saves wear and tear on both patient and surgeon to remove it at the time of the DS. In my case, he found a HUGE gallstone that would have started acting up soonist so he whipped that sucka out. Your millage may vary. The question here is- are these just normal pre any life changing event jitters-or-have you done enough research on this proceedure and the alternatives? I consulted with 3 surgeons before picking the one I wanted. I have other health problems so I talked about it with all my other doctors too. I am 5 feet 2 inches and was skating at close to 300 pounds when I started researching the surgery. This gave me the BMI of a battleship. When I went to the beach, Greenpeace tried to drag me back in the water. I had a million of these jokes. The doctors said the DS gave the most weight loss and the fastest weight loss for people as big as I was and was also the hardest to sabatoge. I am not trying to talk you into a DS. The DS also has a high rate of complictions. The doctors and I discussed that. I had some things going for me that pointed to a good chance of survival. One was I had no previous abdominal surgery. No scars or adhesions. What I'm trying to say is, the night before I went into the hospital, I felt I had done everything I could do or read or think to make sure that it would be a success. I had picked out a good surgeon, I had prepared myself the way he told me to, I had picked the proceedure that was best for me, the rest was in the hands of fate. Can you say that? And fate is a b***h. My wound opened up post-op requiring hot and cold running home health nurses for about 2 and 1/2 months. But this can happen with any abdominal operation, it happened to a friend of mine who had a hysterectomy. Then I spent some time adjusting to the new small stomach. It didn't like grease and it didn't like sweets any more. I loved sweets and grease. How do you think I once got up to 316 pounds? Eating celery? I tried to eat fried chicken and ice cream right after surgery. Lots of it. The result was it came back up. Vomiting. Lets be real. There will be vomiting if you don't play by the rules. I am 10 months post surgery. I tell people I miss food like a bad boyfriend. You ever have a bad boyfriend? No good, cheats on you, takes your money, crashes your car, but you love him anyway? Well I haven't and I never understood why other women put up with men like that? Now I have some insight. Ben and Jerry and Jimmy Dean are my Bad Boyfriends. I eat baked chicken and fruit Popsicles. Sometimes I take very small bites of the old bad foods and see how they go down. By this time one bite won't kill me. But the new stomach warns me- don't push it girl. It also seems to me you have not shared your research with your husband. Can you let him in on what you have read and have been talking to the surgeon and support groups about? Has he ever been to the surgeons office with you? My father went to the surgeons office with me once and that helped getting him on board with my plans. I hope this helps some. I may have rambled.
   — lucyfur