Hello,

I have been researching the Band and I came upon DS and its getting many positive reviews as far as success rates. After reading much about it seems t that people are able to eat normally with out gaining weight back and not vomiting. (loose stools for a while though)I read that vitamins are needed for ever though. I was just wondering what people have heard about it.

My dr. said he does not see the "Switch" as being as effective. He is a man of few words so didn't say why and I didn't ask him.

There's a woman here on the boards, Geezer Sue, who unfortunately had to have her band removed due to erosion and when she had the surgery to do that, she opted to have the D/S done at the same time. You may want to PM her or read her threads.

Good Luck and Happy Holidays

Cindy

My sister Karen had the surgery over 5 years ago and she has lost over 300 lbs. It is a very drastic surgery and even though she has lost lots of weight - the malabsorption issues still plague her and she has developed high glycemic problems because she could eat tons of sugar based and carb based things without gaining weight - but it put her sugar out of whack and now she has to watch all of those things.

Excess skin has also been a huge issue for her and I know that even though she looks great - she is still bothered by the whole skin thing.

DS is great as it does not allow the person to gain weight back - but I am sure that I wanted to try the lapband over that when I researched it for myself.

Take care - Nancy

My dr. tells me that you have to be cut completely open for this surgery. It can't be done laparoscopically. It is Major Surgery, whereas the lap band is not. Like they said there is someone on here that had it done and probably could give you more info. It's definitely not even a consideration for me.

while the ressearch on DS seems to have great results, its not as popular due to the high death rate - higher than GB and much higher than LB

My dr. tells me that you have to be cut completely open for this surgery. It can't be done laparoscopically. It is Major Surgery, whereas the lap band is not. Like they said there is someone on here that had it done and probably could give you more info. It's definitely not even a consideration for me.

Dody, I answered you before when you asked this. Your surgeon is incorrect. My DS was done laproscopically. You do not have to have it open.

Sue has had this and I have had this. We both had our bands removed. If you click on my profile and search for all my post there is some good information with links and all. If you need anything more, please feel free to PM me. This board is a lapband board, so they know about lapband. If you want to know about the DS, there are a few boards I can direct you to.

Both surgerys are wonderful. You just have to choose which is right for you.

Good Luck!

while the ressearch on DS seems to have great results, its not as popular due to the high death rate - higher than GB and much higher than LB

It can't be higher than GB because it is GB. Just not RNY GB.

The reason the death rate is higher is because it is typically used for patients with a much higher BMI, which would obviously have more medical problems. And yes, the surgery is more invasive.

There's a woman here on the boards, Geezer Sue, who unfortunately had to have her band removed due to erosion and when she had the surgery to do that, she opted to have the D/S done at the same time. You may want to PM her or read her threads.

Good Luck and Happy Holidays

Cindy

Hi Cindy. Sue didn't have erosion of the band. She had esophogus motility issues. But Sue has alot more info than I do so track her down and check out her post (to the op).

OOOOps, thanks for correcting me on that. I got her mixed up with the others who had to have their bands removed at around the same time.

Thanks again for correcting my error. :-]

Happy Holidays

Cindy

I know, I think there was 2 others that went in the same day as Sue that did have it, so thats understandable!

Happy Holidays!

Dody, I answered you before when you asked this. Your surgeon is incorrect. My DS was done laproscopically. You do not have to have it open.

Sue has had this and I have had this. We both had our bands removed. If you click on my profile and search for all my post there is some good information with links and all. If you need anything more, please feel free to PM me. This board is a lapband board, so they know about lapband. If you want to know about the DS, there are a few boards I can direct you to.

Both surgerys are wonderful. You just have to choose which is right for you.

Good Luck!

My dr. must have misinformed me, but I'm not interested in either DS or GB surgery. I'm going to give the lapband a go and if it doesn't work it doesn't work. I have too many medical problems to ever get OK'ed for any other type of surgery, but I'm extremely glad you are doing so well.

Sorry Dody, I was directing the rest of that post to the original poster, who can feel free to get in touch with me or Sue. I'm sure she won't mind either.