Chellesy

2 hours ago, RickM said:

There are a number of Facebook groups for partial and total gastrectomy patients, which would be good to look into. One of the things that I found there is that bile reflux is a relatively common problem post op, which doesn't seem to be that common within the RNY population. Discussing this with my prospective surgeon, he told me that he has never had a problem with that if he kept the limb length over 60cm, which would be fairly typical in the RNY. He also wasn't restricted on choice of limb length as he would be under RNY rules; he could go shorter or longer as needed for the circumstance. Implicitly, this means that many surgeons who perform this procedure for non-weightloss purposes try to keep that limb length, and the associated malabsorption, short to minimize weight loss, but that brings the pouch and anastomosis closer to the bile ducts. Since you are in the BMI range that would normally qualify for WLS, this should not be an issue as you can benefit from the weightloss, but it is something to discuss with the surgeon.

RickM, thank you so much for such a in depth response. I really appreciate it. I had no idea there was even a choice of length for the limb. I will certainly discuss all of this with my surgeon tomorrow. And really, I already have issues with bile reflux thanks to the GP, so I'm used to it.

1 hour ago, toodlerue said:

I had a RNY because of a previous failed surgery (10 years ago) to correct my L shaped esophagus. 1/2 of my stomach was above my diaphragm. food was getting stuck just about every day. My BMI was about 34.

I didn't have to do any of the pre-op things that people with high BMI’s have to do. My doctor wasn’t a WLS surgeon. He was a thoracic surgeon & told me to find all of my info on the internet.

After I decided I wanted to do the surgery it was only 2 months til I had it.

Oh wow, that sucks, toodlerue! I'm so glad you were able to have the surgery. As GreenTealael said, I have more than one problem.. hadn't really gave that much thought but she is so right... so I'm hopeful he'll get to me quickly and fix me. I realize there's going to be a lot of discipline, etc... but I'm up for it. I already have to have a lot of it just for the Gastroparesis.

1 hour ago, GreenTealael said:

That depends entirely on your sugeon and insurance.

At a BMI of almost 40 you are considered obese not overweight. Whether you have it for one reason or another, weight and BMI will be used in your file and hard to ignore by a Bariatric surgeon.

But this may be to your advantage when trying to get approval from insurance. You'll want as many co morbidites (contributing factors) as possible so you can't be denied.

Self pay is a different set of rules and time lines.

Hopefully both health concerns can be resolved.

Good luck 💙

Thank you, GreenTealael. This gives me hope!

I have gastroparesis. My PCP suggested I look into bariatric surgery and I'm going to the consult tomorrow. From what I've seen via research, it can help. I am so very hopeful, as you guys know, GP is so awful!! If all goes as planned, I'm hoping to do the bypass surgery.

Hello, everyone. I'm new here and just starting the WLS journey.

I am curious if anyone here has had the gastric bypass surgery for anything other than weight loss? I have a chronic condition called Gastroparesis (paralysis of the stomach) and it has turned my life upside down. I won't go into the details or symptoms (cause there's a lot), but suffice it to say it is pretty awful, greatly affected motility and slowly killing me. I am also overweight, just shy of the 40 BMI mark. Weight loss would be an added bonus, but not my sole reason for looking into this. My PCP wanted me to speak to a bariatric surgeon to see if a bypass would help since it bypasses the paralyzed, useless part of my stomach. I have a consultation tomorrow.

I'm also wondering if this (medical, not weight management) might make the process go any quicker? I know you basically have several tests, speak to a psychologist, and diet, etc. Just wondering if anyone has gone through this for a different medical reason. Hope that makes some sense.