GeezerSue

Lol...at 7.5 years and maintaining a 125 pound loss, I like to think it HAS worked out for me.

Hi, Lady... I'm going to make this simple enough for ME to understand it. But I'll find a link for people who need that kind of info. You know how the Gastric Sleeve just makes the stomach smaller and you lose weight because you just can't get any more food IN? Well, that's the "upper half" of the DS, aka the Duodenal Switch. The "lower half" involves, essentially, rerouting your guts such that food goes down one pathway and "digestive juices" go down the other and they don't meet up until about the last 100cm of intestines. So, on the top half, you just cannot hold as much food as you once did. On the lower half, not all of what does get in gets absorbed. Generally, only about 20% of fats and oils get absorbed. So I can eat steak and eggs and bacon and have LOTS of butter on my gluten free pancakes (many of us do better with gluten-free carbs post-op) and have a cholesterol of 130, but...unfortunately, I absorb ALL of the carbs I eat, so I CAN get fat from living off of sugar. And, there are nutrients in the foods I don't absorb...which means I'm not absorbing those nutrients from my food, so I have to stay on top of taking supplements. Religiously. And having blood work a couple of times a year, at least. Religiously. In spite of that, I feel quite fortunate to have learned about the DS...another name for it is Gastric Resection Duodenal Switch. There are only a few doctors who do this surgery. And many who don't, badmouth it. But it is the malabsorption that this surgery proveds that has allowed me to weigh what I do. (Malabsorption is the GOAL of the DS. It is NOT malnutrition. Malnutrition is what happens when you don't have needed blood work and don't take supplements. They are essential.) Here's a link: http://www.dsfacts.com/ If there is someone here who is having a terrible time with the band, I hope this might help them.

Hi, Alex. Thanks for the anniversary reminder. It has been ten years since several of us at Spotlight Health whined and moaned that the boards were dominated by RnY people and Alex said, "Is that all you want? Your own board?" And, ten years later, Alex's board is thriving and Spotlight is long gone. Speaking of long gone... I was an early LapBand patient, 2002. The band had just been approved in the US, but my local doctor in Newport Beach, CA, had done a whole 30 or so. That's why I went to Roberto Rumbaut in Monterrey, Mexico. He had been part of the pre-FDA trials here and had placed well over a thousand bands at the time. My band worked well for about a year. I lost about 50-60 pounds. Then the problems began and I started bitching and moaning and barfing, and people kept telling me I had attitude or needed to learn how it worked, etc. I never knew if I was going to be able to eat or if it was all going to come back up. In restaurants, the FIRST thing I needed was a seat near the restroom AND if the restroom had only one stall, I had to find another restaurant. I have barfed in every restaurant parking lot in Southern California, I'm sure of it! I regained every pound, plus three...because that's what you do when all you can eat is Soup and ice cream....and half of THAT comes back up most of the time. I couldn't exercise if I had even drunk Water in the hour or so before my appointment with my trainer...because then I was barfing water. I finally decided, at the 2.5 year place, to revise to the DS. (Dr. Keshishian in Glendale, CA...but at that time, he was outside of Bakersfield...had done MANY band to DS revisions, so I felt safe.) Dr. Keshishian didn't have Huber needles so he told me to get the saline removed at a band doctor's. The fastest place for that for me was dr. verboonen in Tijuana. FORTUNATELY FOR ME, Verboonen was training a new x-ray guy, so we had a roomful of people. Verboonen was explaining to him how we would be able to see the barium go through very slowly and after the saline was removed, the barium would go through much faster. The four of us...my husband was there too...watched as the barium didn't go through at all. It went a bit of the way down and then nuthin'. It just sat there...a big ol' glump of radioactivity, paralyzed! lol Finally, I got to say, "SEE??? THAT'S what I've been telling everyone. My food gets stuck and just sits there. And then later, it comes up or goes down...but I can never predict which it will be." I was on one of those tables that moves to a complete upright position...Verboonen moved me up and I jumped a couple of times and finally, the barium moved. Even with the saline out, the barium didn't move very well. He took a deep breath and was preparing to explain to me what was happening and I said, "Esophageal dysmotility?" He said,"Thank God! You read a lot, don't you?" The band came out three weeks later, in November of 2005. As of my last doctor's visit, I was still down 125 pounds, seven and a half years later. (I'm not thin, never will be...but I can wear some mediums and some large sizes and I can MOVE. I don't need to make sure the restaurant has tables and not just booths. I know that if I'm out of town and my luggage is lost, I can find clothes anywhere. This is all good stuff.) The DS is not a worry-free procedure. If you are a passive personality, you should NEVER consider it. You must be VERY proactive, and NEVER settle for "my doctor says" unless you ALSO believe it. If you cannot challenge your doctor's decisions or demand explanations, do NOT get the DS. The esophageal dysmotility did not resolve right away. I think it was about eleven weeks, during which time I was convinced that the band had forever damaged my esophagus. But it is better now. Maybe 95%? I was lucky. So...the band works well for some people, but the last I read, over half the people who get one, have to have it removed. Although I have moved on from participating in wls boards, I did so for ten years. So I have "watched" hundreds...probably thousands...of people go through one wls procedure or another. My sister recently got the Gastric Sleeve. I would have kidnapped her if she had tried to go for the band...lol...but after watching me, there was no way she would have considered it. IMHO, the sleeve or the DS are the only way to go. Your opinion will probably vary. But you know, most of the people--not all, but most--who REALLY argued with me about my position on the band have since had their bands replaced or revised to other procedures. If you have one...good luck. But if you have one and it's giving you problems, do not let people talk you out of doing something that you feel you need to do to protect your health. GeezerSue

Actually, I became a member here almost eight years ago, so maybe YOU are stalking ME! (And all I did was post a link to the stories you told elsewhere.) the link

Be careful on this one, folks. She has been outed on OH using several names, being her own boyfriend, attacking those who are VERY helpful and deactivting and coming back insisting she is someone else, but making a few sloppy mistakes that inform us otherwise. Here's ONE of the threads....link Some of the OH old timers were less than welcoming as they remembered CheriGate...the "Princess of Poor Pitiful" who ended up incarcerated for hustling helpful folks out of cold hard cash. And where the hell is Donali!!! Sue

You also need to check into the sleeve--for just restriction--and the DS...for maximum results for resolving Diabetes. There are many normal weight people who have had part of the DS for JUST the diabtes resolution...so you really need to look at that, too. Try dsfacts.com

That may be a changeable position. Over the years, I have learned that getting the band removed is like breaking up a marriage or other relationship. At first, you kind of defend the guy because to call him names would cast doubt on YOUR decision to hook up with him in the first place. But, with a little distance and after meeting someone who DOES treat you right, you can finally say that the first guy was an asshole and you should never have put up with his BS for that long. For years now, I've watched "band survivors" go through those stages. They probably don't happen to EVERYONE, but be prepared that they could happen to you. Sue

Donali!! I kept getting the "come visit us again" emails and never did...until today...and there you are! I'm looking up exactly what you posted about for my sister, who--she must have been drunk at the time after watching ME suffer for three years--mentioned the LapBand. I've talked her down from that--her BMI is like 54 or something and she's old like me...it would merely be "the first step to her next surgery," as the band OFTEN (as we have learned) is--and I'm looking at those who have revised to the sleeve, as I think she'd do well with that. (She would not stay on top of the malabsorption issues and would be the first to say so. If she were here. Which I don't think she is. How's your life?!? You finished the patio, right? And that man came home? (Did we keep him or decide it was time to change HIM out, too?) I hope you are well. Sue

I'm not angry about my time being banded. I'm a little miffed at Allergan, because it lies and cons desperate fat women into making them rich. But I'm not mad enough to sell my stock! LOL

I didn't even click on the link. But funny you picked that one. I just met the OP in that thread at a DSer gathering in Santa Monica on Saturday! The band SURGERY is a safer SURGERY...and that accounts for, what, an hour or two of your life? What is NOT safer about the band is that each year, more previously successful banded people become unsuccessful as complications--which come later with the band than they do with other surgeries--develop. What is NOT safer about the band is that half of all the people who ARE banded are STILL Morbidly Obese and still dying from that disease. So the procedure? Sure...that hour of your life, you are definitely safer getting the band. But EFFECTIVE? Not so much and the rest of your life you pay for that hour of safety. What makes the band dangerous is that people who are dying from morbid obesity before getting banded are still dying from morbid obesity after banding...and yet, there cheerleaders keep cheering. I got rid of my band...but I sure didn't get rid of my STOCK in what is now Allergan. There's a sucker born every minute and the more people who believe their crap, the cushier MY retirement is. LOL Sue

I read your blog. What else do you have to do? And, since you are so capable of changing your life and overdoing on exercising...why the hell have ANY surgery? You live on YOUR side of 200 pounds and YOUR side of band experience and YOUR side of 30 years old...and somehow think you know more than I do. Maybe, someday, you'll know half as much. And I don't have charcoal panties...I have VS undies on right now. Maybe someday you''ll be there, too. Sue

So if I announce that I'm going to park on your lawn and flowers, then it's okay because I told you in advance I was going to be inappropriate? Nice to know if parking spaces are in short supply. The OH DS board is a place for DSers. There are--or were, I haven't looked lately--boards here for life after the band. So from what I've seen, it's still open to the likes of me. And...I still HAVE a band. In a baggie in my guest room. If your band erodes and you have to have it removed, do you want your membership here revoked? I'm here because the week Alex set up this site, he invited me (and others) to join and I did. He hasn't asked me to leave. I'm here because I was banded and have three years experience (which is apparently two more years experience than you have had) with the band and that experience makes my input at least as valuable as the input of those who have NOT had that experience. When I first tried to describe the symptoms of the complications the band was causing me, the local doctors had never had patients with those symptoms. FINALLY a doctor in Tijuana caught the malfunction on video. When someone says that they are having a problem no one here has had--because everyone here is, of course wildly successful and has lost all their excess weight with no complications--then it's a good thing when old-timers who have been through the wringer are there to help. I have been very busy lately and haven't been here to offer help. But I still get PMs/e-mails from people here and respond when I notice that I've received them. (Gee...I wonder why those people feel afraid of asking those questions on this board? Answer...they ask me because they don't feel strong enough to put up with the humiliation they get from their banded friends here.) Sue

My taste is as good as ever, too. That means your disapproval of me continues to be very reassuring. Just know that a a GOOD percentage of the posters here--your buddies--will be revising to another surgery. It's good of you to let them know how you will feel about them when that time comes. Sue

. THOSE are not the options. For many, many people, the options are being banded and remaining MO or having the DS and a normal BMI. . Not a healthy lifestyle change? Why is it that people who don't get how it all works proceed to tell us that is not healthy? Why is it that our doctors and our labs say we ARE healthy? What great secret do our detractors possess that hasn't been shared with the medical professionals who are dealing with us? Cantaloupe is not healthy for my sister because her tongue swells and she can't breathe. That doesn't mean *I* can't eat cantaloupe. Maybe steak and baked potato (with butter and sour cream, thank you) and veggies and a little candy (what I ate last night) makes you fat, but not me. Maybe it's unhealthy for YOU, but not for me or for other DSers. Lifestyle change like fitting in chairs and normal sized clothes and being able to buy a small RV with one tiny bed for my husband and me and we both fit in it? Lifestyle changes like the classes I just enrolled in because I can make the hike from the parking lot? Lifestyle changes like the clubs I just joined, knowing that I won't break the chairs? I should consider this unhealthy because I didn't diet and exercise and suffer to get there? I just can't hate me that much. If YOUR goal when having weight loss surgery was to have a procedure that would help you learn how to diet and how to call puking by cute names and how to change your original goals from losing weight to "NSV's," then the band was a very good choice. MY goal was to lose weight. I did. And I don't stink and some moron's saying I do is not only very insulting but demonstrative of the ignorance of some of the posters but it also has to potential to hurt some of your "friends" who are desperately seeking a way out of their nightmare. Way to go on support. Sue