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Looking for RNY Bypass twins for 4/29/19 to compare, help and cheer each other throughout our new journeys!!!

Hello all, I may be wrong but after reading all of the comments, I believe I am the first Male in here. My name is James. I am 45, happily single with two kids grown and on their own, one with two girls of his own. Yep, I'm a grandpa. I will be going to Dr Illan at Bariatricpal MX, in Tijuana Mexico, on June 15. This will actually be my second surgery, I am doing a revision from VSG to the Mini Gastric Bypass. If any of you are interested I just FINALLY wrote my story in my profile if you're wondering why the revision. So most, if any, questions can be answered there. If anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask. Good luck to all on your upcoming surgeries and in your current battles with insurance. I refuse to deal with all the insurance bureaucracy so I am paying cash for the second time. i know most aren't able to do that, in fact I'm really not this time either, it is going on a credit card and I will deal with it later. haha My health is way more important than my credit score. Anyway, see you all around.

I will be going for VSG to MGB on June 15 with Dr Illan. I'm glad to hear yours is going so well. I had really bad reflux before my VSG but immediately after, it went away, I suppose I was one of the lucky ones in that regard, I hope it does not return. I am curious about the salads...I have tried every kind of lettuce there is, even shredded, and every time it causes severe pain and I throw it right back up. Did you not have this issue with the VSG or is it something that you can now handle since the revision? I would LOVE to be able to eat salads again.

Hello everyone.. I’m new to this group... I had a upper GI the end of April and my EGD this past Thursday.. I’m going back to the doctor on 5/22/19to discuss my next options. I had a sleeve done 8/2013 and of course like I have read there has been weight gain and reflux and sleep apnea. I am still on blood pressure meds and my CW is 227... wondering if this process will be the same as before? Is it a harder recovery? Will I loose a significant amount of weight? I do have BCBS insurance..Just wondering what to expect...Any feed back is welcomed.

My bypass was June 21st 2018. I started at 227 and now weigh 133. Honestly I don't want to lose anymore seeing I am 5"2. I eat what I want just cant eat much. I never seem to get hungry or at least not the hungry I've always been used to all my life. I have more energy than I've had in years and love being able to wear smaller cloths. I do have daily diarrhea no matter what I eat or how much. I hope this isn't something I'll have to deal with the rest of my life. Best of luck to you!!

So true; the surgeon that now runs our support group does a good business revising RNYs to the DS (as does the surgeon who did my VSG). They all have a place in the world, and different procedures work better for different patients. And, the surgeons tend to gravitate toward what they find works best for most of their patients. The VSG, while a straightforward procedure in concept, has lots of subtleties and nuances when you get into them in detail, and these take time and practice to master, so I can see some surgeons giving up on them if they are already well skilled with the RNY. OTH, several of the docs I have worked prefer the DS as they have developed those skills, and reserve the RNY for only specific cases where the DS or VSG isn't appropriate. It's all a big YMMV thing.

Some stretch, or growth or adaptation is to be expected - we don't stay at eating only 3 tablespoons forever. This doc gives a good idea of the progression of meal volume that can be expected, and is consistent with my experience - You may or may not get along with his prescription for countering this effect, but it is a viable one. In short, we need to learn to accommodate some increase in eating volume without allowing the calories to get out of hand - taking up that added volume with high bulk, low calorie veg is a good way to do it. As to which procedure to go for a revision, the first thing I would want to know is whether the stretch that your doc sees is unusual - sleeves done by docs early in the learning curve of doing sleeves (and 2012 is consistent with that for many surgeons) may have undue stretch if it wasn't formed well to begin with. Sometimes excess fundus (the stretchy part of the stomach that is largely removed with the VSG) is left behind at the top or bottom of the stomach, or other shaping issues may lead to the problem. If the sleeve is nominally well done, there is probably little to gain be resleeving it - you will lose some at the outset from low capacity due to surgical inflammation and the very restricted diet that we have early on, but overall you shouldn't expect great things from it. Likewise, a bypass is similar in its overall power to the sleeve, but does have some temporary caloric malabsorption that can help get a little extra weight off, but doesn't do any better when it comes to resisting regain; in some patients it is worse in that regard due to reactive hypoglycemia inducing more inter meal hunger. Overall, when I think in terms of revisions, I see a procedure that is more complicated than the original virgin WLS, and usually less effective overall (think in terms of your stomach originally having a capacity of 32-64 oz, and now a few years post op it may have a capacity around 6 oz, so there is less difference to play with. Being more complicated both in implementation and in the reason for doing it in the first place, I like to get a second, or even third, opinion on the matter - different surgeons have different experiences and perspectives on these things. There is also the aspect that while doing a virgin sleeve is a fairly straightforward procedure, and most surgeons are now fairly well up the learning curve in doing them, repairing or revising a faulty sleeve is another matter, so I would look to a surgeon who has done lots of them. In NJ, I would suggest Dr. David Greenbaum as a good guy to consult with. A final thought - what is the capacity of your sleeve now? How much chicken or steak (and nothing else) can you comfortably eat? We usually remain fairly restricted on firm meats for a long time, but can eat an almost unlimited amount of "sliders" - things that just slide on through with limited restriction, which are frequently also pretty junky.

Hi there We aren’t far apart - I started at 234, and am now 135-137 - nice and stable now for 9 months. I hit my goal, which was 154ish, in 6 months. I did work the thing pretty hard and seldom strayed from the eating plan, and honestly my loss was no slower than anyone else’s. I had previously had a gastric band which broke and I had slowly regained about 7-10lbs a year and was approachingbpre-band weight so had a bypass. I knew this was my last shot, so went for it! Totally reshaped my eating and started exercising. Started with an electric bicycle and, once some weight was off, started the Couch 2 5k app to start running. I run 3x a week now, cycle 3x a week, and gym 3-4 times a week. I love having lovely curves muscles now! You can do it - pick up sheer bloody-minded determination to bust a gut for 6 months over this (not literally of course!) and you’ll not be far off being able to try on every outfit in every shop!

Have jumped through all the insurance hoops, My surgery date is 6-12-2019 pending insurance approval, don't see any issues with approval since this is a revision due to complications of the lap band. Looking forward to finally feeling better and losing weight. My lap band has a slip and rather than fix it, my surgeon recommended a revision to the sleeve. Lost 50 lbs with the lap band, but slowly gained back most of my weight that I lost, although I did keep the 50lbs off for over 10 years. Looking forward to finally dropping this weight and keeping it off. Any pointers or advise would be greatly appreciated.

Hiya @jb1809 My surgeon only does RNY now - mostly because of the reflux issues but also the much higher incidence of weight regain with sleeve. Myself, I am a band to RNY revision. And the RNY is SO SO SO much better - a doddle by comparison! Sure, the surgery is a bit of a drag, but I love ‘working’ the RNY. I reached and surpassed my goals, but mostly this time, knowing it was my last shot, I have changed. My new style of eating - well, I am just starting to like it. I went on a 5 mile walk during the week (had some time to kill before a flight so walked to the airport, saved $50 on the cab as well!) and half way, needed a toilet stop, rationalised having it as a burger place, along with a burger. And was a bit surprised at how little enjoyment this once-staple-of-my-eating gave me! I so prefer the light feeling of eating healthy now. And the added taste to a salad from pomegranate seeds, or spices, or lime dressing, or olives. I never thought that would change! But - no lie here - it took consistent work. And I guess will require effort, some days, for a while yet! Good luck with it. You know you can lose weight - throw yourself in hook line and sinker, I reckon!!

Hi @Rappahannock 9 days out - woo hoo!! Congratulations and welcome to the losers bench! I am 18 months out (bypass, but the journey is pretty similar). You have a good eating plan? I didn’t as my surgeon just said ‘three meals a day, don’t snack EVER AGAIN’. But I got some off this site somehow and they sure helped. Even now, I eat off a small plate. I keep my portion size small - if I don’t it hurts. I imagine stretching my wee pouch and I certainly don’t want that. The Mediterranean diet - pretty closely describes my eating habits nowadays. But instead of being like a jail sentence as it was when it was ‘a diet’ now it is because that is the food I love! I have a beef burger (well, 1/4 of one) every now and then and mostly think ‘did I really used to love this sort of heavy, dense stuff?’. I love it that we chan change! Best of luck on your journey! Just one idea - in your signature, maybe add your weight, or your BMI? People can help you better when the inevitable questions arise, if they get a slightly fuller sense of your path...

I had VSG surgery on 3/18/19 had one week of smooth sailing and then all hell broke loose had every complication you can think of. I was subsequently converted to a bypass of 4/11/2019 and I am grateful that I have had no issues at all other then I still am having issues meeting my protein goals. The good news is i have lost 53 pounds and I am probably only another 30 from goal weight.

I had sleeve 10/2013, lost 60lbs, gained it back, had some reflux but not terrible. Was revised to rny 2/12/19, SW 230, CW 190, no complications, no food intolerances that I know of (haven’t had any sugar, pasta, bread or rice). So far so good.

Hey, I am so glad to see someone who has been through it and did great through the same surgery I soon hope to be going through. I am waiting for approval from the insurance companies to get the surgery done. My reflux is so much worse than when I got the sleeve surgery 0ct of 2016. I am not pleased seeing the Dr.say because of age and it being a revision surgery we will lose weight slowly. I am almost 64 .So I have to get in gear and get some of this weight off before surgery. But congratulations on your success. Allie

Hey , I had severe reflux before my sleeve in October 2016.After surgery only 6 weeks of relief from the reflux and then it was way worse than before to the point of taking 10 pills a day instead of 2. I am currently waiting for approval from my insurance companies for the RNY revision surgery and was just diagnosed with barrett's esophagus due to the reflux getting soooooo much worse. I can't wait to get the surgery done and praying for approval. Congratulations on your journey and your surgery appointment. Keep updating us on your progress. Oh i did lose 87 lbs the first year but gained 22 back. Still fighting to get the extra back off. Allie in SC

I had the same thing happen to me. I am hoping for my revision June 10. Severe reflux, a large pouch on the sleeve and a hernia. When I was complaining of the reflux my doctor said it was my fault because I gained weight. I have something sticking out of my stomach and he just said I don't know what it is. Thank God he did an upper GI and Endoscopy and found my problem. Sent from my LGLS991 using BariatricPal mobile app

Hi Y'all, I had VSG in April 2016. Lost 53 pounds since day of surgery weight bur regained 30 pounds. I've had terrible reflux and was diagnosed with Gerd, and I have a revision scheduled for July 15. Anyone else in this situation? Do you feel as excited about this time around as last time? I don't, and that's really bothering me...

Hi! I'm 52 and had ROUNY in March. My starting weight on surgery day was 235. I'm 210 right now. My doc says that due to my age and that I'm a sleeve revision, I will most likely lose slower than average. Yay me...lOL. The surgery was perfect and I was back at work in 4 days. Mo complications so far.

I decided on the sleeve, because it seemed like the less extreme of the two. I was very intimidated b the idea of the bypass, and my doctor said for my size the sleeve seemed like the better option anyway. I have days where I regret it, simply because I feel like I am failing. But other days I am glad I did it.

Let’s talk weight gain if you are researching. This thread is not to discourage you. Many people lose weight, have no complications and keep weight off long term. It’s a good idea to understand weight regain and reasons for revisions. Information is power. The work does not end after goal. This may help you get in a mindset that this is lifelong work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7zBjwtL51M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKBfkTqcwVo

Was given both options. Told I would lose more weight with the bypass but I also know that’s a little more serious of a surgery than the sleeve.

It would depend on why you need the revision, I think.

Hi everyone, Has anyone had or going to have a sleeve revision? If so re-sleeve or will you revised to gastric bypass?

Hi. I just had RNY gastric bypass 6 weeks ago. Was type 2 diabetic prior to the surgery, but they took me off my 2 diabetes meds immediately and my sugars have been in the 80s and 90s. In the first werk, they went down to 60, but that was improved by having more protein shakes. I also had GERD, which is why I chose the bypass. Good luck to you! Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

I’m considering and am grateful to all of you sharing your experiences. I went to a seminar 2 weeks ago. Yesterday I got a call saying my insurance will cover the surgery and I booked my first appointment. I’m thinking I’ll get a gastric bypass recommendation even with my 37 BMI because I have had GERD even before I was heavy and I am Type 2, asthmatic, and have sleep apnea and slightly high BP. However, I am in my sixties and have had 2 GYN surgeries and gallbladder back when they flayed you open like a fish so maybe I won’t even be a candidate. What do they do about medications after surgery? I am on 2 diabetes medicines (non-insulin) and my blood sugar drops if I go past meal times without eating.