Question:
Does anyone know how long the entire small intestine is?

I know of someone that had her entire small intestine bypassed and had to have a revision to bypass less of it. Does anyone know how many centimeters she would have had bypassed origionally to bypass the entire small intestine? Just wondering how much more drastic this was than a distal RNY.    — missysworld (posted on June 10, 2003)

June 9, 2003
The "average" small intestine is about 22 feet. One foot is about 30cm. There are 'standards' for RNY distal and proximal, but I forget what they are. Doctors who do the DS measure out the complete small intestine, then bypass the amount, based on factors such as starting weight, age, genetics, etc. Just to give you an idea of why this is important, when they measured my small intestines, the doc found that I had 7 feet more than the average person. A RNY distal wouldn't have been enough for me to lose weight. As a result, he left me with about 2 feet that absorbs fat and protein and about 10 feet that absorbs carbs. Hope you find this information helpful.
   — merri B.

June 9, 2003
The small intestine is usually between 17 and 23 feet long. If a person had their entire small intestine bypassed they would become extremely malnurished. Remember vitamins and minerals and calories are absorbed in the small intestine. If you bypassed the entire thing you would never absorb and vitamins or minerals. I had 150 centimeters bypassed which is about 5 feet. I see pretty much 100-150 seems to be becoming the norm. 150 centimeters is definitely enough to be successful. I hit goal in 5 months after surgery. The perfect example is Peter Herida. His start out weight was 803 pounds and had 150 cm bypassed. He lost over 560 pounds in the first 10 months. However, he followed the program he put protein first and exercised even at his size.
   — Linda A.

June 10, 2003
Origional poster here...your right my friend did become malnourished and her organs began to shut dow and she nearly died. Another poster just posted a question as to whether she should have this done as a revision. I warned her about my friend but I really fear for this woman, she sounds desperate. I hope she gets some good advice on here. I dont want anyone else to go through what this friend did.
   — missysworld