Question:
Has anyone had the Laparascopic Sleeve Gastrectomy?

I am scheduled for a gastric bypass in September. But after significant research, I really thing the LSG is a better choice for me. I really don't want the significant malabsorption.    — jimslim (posted on August 5, 2008)

August 5, 2008
According to my surgeon, there is no significant malabsorption with RNY. What you eat you will absorb. Vitamins and calcium are daily meds to take but other then that?
   — waterlover

August 5, 2008
I had the gastric sleeve and love everything about it. I lost over 100% of my excess weight. Let me know if you have any questions (click on my username and you can send me a message that way). Also, you should visit the VSG (that's the official name of it, stands for vertical sleeve gastrectomy) forum here at OH. The url is: http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/VSG/ That's me on the front page of the before after picture. Anyway, just go to message board (on the left) and it will take you to the forum. I learned everything I needed to know about it.
   — Teresa V.

August 5, 2008
I have had the laparoscopic Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy on March 1. It has been a few days more than 5 months, and I have already lost 96 pounds with this procedure. I have had NOTHING but POSITIVE experiences with it. The surgery went WELL. I healed quickly. I did not experience a GREAT deal of pain, there was SOME, but it was not overwhelming. I did not experience any nausea or vomiting, and I can pretty much eat anything that I am not ALLERGIC to. I am able to take ALL of the medications that I need for my various conditions AND SEVERAL of them seem to have RESOLVED themselves with the SURGERY! My DIABETES is NO LONGER an ISSUE as is my ARTHRITIS! My FibroMyalgia and my Migraines have BOTH improved a great deal since the surgery, but they have not COMPLETELY dissipated. My Sleep Apnea also seems to have improved a great deal. It has improved to the point where I no longer use a machine to SLEEP! I am now just flushing my sinuses out with saline solution before I go to bed. This seems to do the trick for me. I do NOT require special supplements for the rest of my life. At the MOMENT, I am taking regular MULTIVITAMINS simply because I am not getting enough vitamins and minerals from my DIET. As soon as I reach my GOAL, and I begin to INGEST more FOOD, I will probably no longer NEED the multivitamins. My wife gets these for me from WALMART. There is no great expense involved. I will not require regular blood work for the rest of my life to ensure that I am getting the right amount of supplements in my diet. I don't have to worry about whether my insurance company will cover the supplements if I change jobs or insurance companies. I don't have to worry about if whether or not I can find a provider that will work with my insurance company if I move, or if I change insurance companies. I have had one of the simplest and SAFEST weight loss procedures AVAILABLE, and it is EFFECTIVE! It is almost EXACTLY as effective as the GASTRIC BYPASS! My research has shown that there is a FEW percentage points difference between the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy and the Gastric Bypass. It was CLOSE enough to be STATISTICALLY negligible! The ONLY COMMON procedure that is PRACTICALLY MORE effective is the DUODENAL SWITCH! The Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy is EASILY converted to the Duodenal Switch if you should decide that you NEED it LATER, although, I don't see that too many people SHOULD need it. The Gastric Bypass is NOT easily converted to the Duodenal Switch. In all honesty, the only reason I can see for doctors to STILL PERFORM the GASTRIC BYPASS is that the INSURANCE COMPANIES will often not PAY for the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy! Many still consider it to be an experimental surgery. The US hospitals have not been doing the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy for Weight Loss Surgery for 10 years yet. They HAVE been doing it LONGER for OTHER reasons and know it to be SAFE for THOSE. Central and South America and Europe has been doing the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy for Weight Loss for quite some time. The AMA and the FDA will not take the DATA from those countries and USE it to CERTIFY the procedure because they do not consider DATA from those countries to be RELIABLE! As if the US had the corner on the MARKET for RELIABILITY! We have had so many DRUG RECALLS lately due to falsified DATA by the DRUG COMPANIES that it isn't FUNNY! You would think that EUROPE would have some countries that might have some reliable data. Great Britain, perhaps? They have quite a few years of experience with the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy and have some useful data that could be used. But NO, the AMA will only use US DATA! So, we are STUCK with dealing with INSURANCE COMPANIES that will NOT approve a procedure because it is not approved by the AMA because THEY do not have reliable US DATA. Meanwhile, this is PROBABLY the BEST THING that people could be DOING for themselves AND the INSURANCE COMPANIES! The INSURANCE COMPANIES would not have to deal with paying out every MONTH for SUPPLEMENTS and CHECKUPS and DOCTOR VISITS and BLOOD WORK and ETCETERA, ETCETERA and ETCETERA! Just ONE surgery and a few follow up appointments, and THEY ARE DONE! No COMPLICATIONS! Less MONEY spent by the INSURANCE companies! This would be ONE time where ALL PARTIES involved would come out AHEAD. I did not go INTO my surgeon's office SEEKING the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. My wife and I were initially going to get the Lap Band procedure for me. The Surgeon sat us down and told us about the various options available. He told us about the Lap Band, the Vertical Banded Gastroplasty, the Gastric Bypass, and the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. I did not know that the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy even EXISTED as an option until I sat down to talk to my surgeon. As soon as he began to EXPLAIN the procedure to me, I KNEW that it was the procedure that I wanted! The only PROBLEM was that it was TWICE the expense of the LAP BAND procedure, and WE were paying out of POCKET! I SAY, "WE." I MEAN my WIFE. I am a Stay at Home DAD. I make very little money doing a FEW odd jobs on occasion. I may fix someone's VW BUG or old CHEVY when NO-ONE ELSE knows HOW to do so, or I may fix someone's COMPUTER for them. I may do some HANDYMAN work from time to time. I don't work much outside of the home because I get some severe Migraines, and I have FibroMyalgia that tends to interfere with how much work I CAN do. I only work when I CAN, and THEN, only when the work is AVAILABLE. So, my lovely wife, who is the breadwinner in the family and is a Nurse Practitioner, paid for my surgery. My lovely wife is FRUGAL. She gets this from her FATHER who is a SPENDTHRIFT! I love the man, but when HE takes US out for DINNER, he gives us a COUPON for a 2 for one meal, a $20.00 BILL and tells us that WE have to GIVE him the change BACK. He and HIS wife then take the IDENTICAL COUPON to the REGISTER at the CHEAPEST BUFFET in TOWN and the FOUR of us eat for under $20.00! After talking to the surgeon, we went home and my wife asked me what I thought. I told her, that although I liked the surgeon, I did not like the Lap Band Surgery, and what I WANTED was the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. Normally, I would have to do ALL SORTS of TALKING to try to convince my wife that MY way was the BETTER way. On THIS, I just kept my MOUTH SHUT and let HER do the RESEARCH! I KNEW that once she saw the RESEARCH, she would be CONVINCED! She was. Within a few days she agreed to BORROW the money to get the surgery done. She HAD enough for the LAP BAND. She needed to BORROW the REST so that I could get the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. She felt that it was so much BETTER that she was WILLING to BORROW money to get the procedure done! I was actually SHOCKED! I didn't even have to ASK! My wife is VERY intelligent. She had a 4.0 throughout her college career. She COULD have been a DOCTOR but chose NOT to be and became a Nurse Practitioner INSTEAD. My wife can do EVERYTHING that a Doctor can do EXCEPT surgery and deliver babies. The only reason she cannot deliver BABIES is that SOMETIMES that requires SURGERY. She doesn't WANT to do that ANYWAY. My lovely wife has had SEVERAL doctors ask her to QUIT where she is working and start up a practice with THEM because they were so IMPRESSED with HER ability to diagnose patients' illnesses. She has been the driving force behind MY diagnosis and treatment for MY illnesses. Without HER, I would probably be DEAD. If NOT, I would CERTAINLY not be as well off as I am NOW. I am being TREATED for my FibroMyalgia and Migraines and have had Weight Loss Surgery due to my wife. NO-ONE ELSE could figure out what I had. SHE figured it out and DROVE my medical providers to DIAGNOSING me and TREATING me. My wife did not want the LIFESTYLE of the doctor. She did not want to be on call 24/7. She cannot HANDLE that kind of pressure. She NEEDS her time off in the evening and her weekends. THIS is why she is a Nurse Practitioner. This is why she works at a community clinic and NOT in private practice. When the day is DONE, she goes HOME. When my highly intelligent wife saw the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, SHE chose to BORROW MONEY to have the procedure done for me. This, coming from a VERY FRUGAL WOMAN! I have a FRIEND who has had the GASTRIC BYPASS and has witnessed my experience with the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. While she is glad that she had her Gastric Bypass, and she would do it again, if she had a CHOICE, she would RATHER have the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy! She has seen MY experience and has compared it to HERS, and MINE was so much better than HERS that she is a bit JEALOUS! She STILL has problems with her pouch from time to time, and it has been well over a year. It has been almost TWO years now since her surgery. She STILL needs to be CAREFUL with what she eats. I hope this helps answer your questions. Sincerely, Hugh
   — hubarlow

August 5, 2008
I had VSG on May 28th of this year and I love my sleeve. I eat whatever I want and i have never gotten sick once. You just tend to eat a lot of very small meals!!!!! this procedure saved my life and it was effortless! Good luck to you. Jill
   — jyllyfysh

August 6, 2008
I had VSG, the same thing as LSG, on March 31 and have lost 69 lb. It is a wonderful surgery. The doctors I talked to before hand told me that they believe this will begin to overtake bypass as the surgery of choice because of the lack of long term effects that you can have with bypass, and the high maintenance with the band. You DO have malabsorption issues with bypass. I've not heard a doctor yet say that you wouldn't. With VSG you can eat whatever you want, just in much, much smaller quantities. Yes, you do still need to make good choices, or you won't be as successful as you can be, as with ANY weight loss surgery. WLS is just a tool. VSG is the only surgery where the ghrelin hormone, which makes you think you are hungry, is removed with the portion of your stomach that comes out. Remember, once bypass or VSG is done, it can't be undone. You need to be absolutely sure you are choosing what you can live with for the rest of your life. It is life changing and permanent. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions. I am very happy with my sleeve.
   — corky1057

August 7, 2008
You need to discuss pros and cons with your surgeon before you do either. Schedule an office visit specifically for this. My surgeon discussed it with me and considered my age, other physical problems, and recommended the by-pass. I can see a younger person with more of their life ahead wanting to opt for the sleeve or band. I was 57 and a half at the time of my by-pass two years ago.Yes, I take all my supplements religiously, get 20 grams of protein at each of three meals and an extra 20 to 40 a day in shakes or bars. Yes, I am vitamin D deficient and taking a megadose of it once a week. Do I regret my decision, not for one single minute in the two years since my by-pass. I have the added factor of Rheumatoid arthritis. I had to give up my lovely Celebrix; no NSAIDS for life Yes, I am unhappy with my sags and bags and am desperately trying to get insurance to cover the lower body as well as breast and upperbody and arm surgery. Somehow I will find the money for my face and neck and for the rest too if I can't appeal my way with the HMO. But every time I put on a size 8 or extra small and say , "Oh dear, this is getting baggy on me" instead of my former women's size 26 and pushing out at all the seams I know my remaining life will be a sweeter one! Only you and a caring surgeon can decide what's right for you.
   — jeanrenewed2006