Questions For Veterans

[ShouldBlittler 89]

Hello all,

I am new to this forum. I was reading on another forum about the sleeve, and they maintained that many people regret the decision at around 10 years out. Anyone have opinions/thoughts about this?

Thanks in advance!

[Foxbins 625]

I don't think you're going to find anyone here 10 years out--this forum is only about 3 years old and the VSG as a stand-alone procedure has only been done since about 2007.

[BlackBerryJuice 349]

Ditto what Foxbins said. Also, I am not entirely sure why the people would be regretting the surgery. The only major long-term issue I can foresee with a surgery that was uncomplicated would be regaining the weight. To be honest, even if I regain all my weight by 2020, I still don't see myself regretting the sleeve - after all, it would've given me a decade of NOT being obese.

[MINI-Me 196]

Hello all,

I am new to this forum. I was reading on another forum about the sleeve, and they maintained that many people regret the decision at around 10 years out. Anyone have opinions/thoughts about this?

Thanks in advance!

What forum did you read that on? I'd be curious to check it out. Thanks.

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,282]

I'd also like to see where this information is posted, please provide a link. I seriously have yet to find ANYONE who is in major regret of their sleeve any number of years out.

[ShouldBlittler 89]

Let me look. I SHOULD be able to find it...

[ShouldBlittler 89]

Let me know what you think.

http://suethsayings.blogspot.com/2010/05/gastric-sleeve-story.html

[MINI-Me 196]

Hmmmm ... interesting. I'm bias & I know that. Surgery was the only option for me & it gave me back my life.

But, reading this with my bias, I only see bias for WLS bashing. No real facts, only one or two stories of complications. Which, we all knew about before going down this path - there was a small chance we would end up being one of those statistics.

Yes, there may be some unknown complications in the future. (I bashed my knee when I was a little girl - healed just fine but in my late 30's and now 40's, gives me a heck of a time!) But, I know I would have died eventually from the weight. My side of the family is very obese - it was just a matter of time for me. Losing my dad before he was 65 was a wake-up call.

[BlackBerryJuice 349]

Let me know what you think.

http://suethsayings....eeve-story.html

I read that and then clicked on the blog she was talking about. I swear to god this person was (and maybe is - I haven't been very active here recently, so I'm not sure) a regular poster here. I recognized the picture of her on a bike in the mountains - it used to be her avatar. Any of the older members recall who this is?

ETA: also, on another note, just reading the author's comments to some of the posts, some of the things she says are not really relevant to VSG. E.g. she talks about this "post-gastrectomy syndrome," aka dumping. It's not that common; dumping is WAY more common with Roux-en-Y, and the type of gastrectomies that it occurs with is NOT the VSG type but rather the ones where the stomach is resected and reanastomosed to the small bowel. In VSG, the stomach is never reanastamosed to anything and the pyloric sphincter remains intact, assuming your surgeon has the faintest clue what s/he is doing.

[ShouldBlittler 89]

And about this:

http://suethsayings.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-is-and-what-isnt-about-weight-loss.html

[Oregondaisy 2,020]

Oh good grief!

That whole blog is ridiculous. I do have problems with anemia, and I know a lot of other sleevers do too. I take Iron and that takes care of it. It's the people who had RNY (gastric bypass) who have so much trouble with anemia because they don't absorb the Iron when they take it, and have to have iron infusions.

I hope that lady is able to keep her weight off with diet and exericise. Studies show the chances of that are pretty slim though.

yes, I do have to watch what I eat so I don't gain the weight back. I still can't eat huge portions, so as long as I don't eat a ton of junk food, it's not anything like before I was sleeved when I would lose 2 lbs every week and gain it back every weekend.

I'll be 3 years out in April and I stil love my sleeve.I don't see how that could ever possibly change.

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,282]

Hmmm... I'm reading her responses and wow in just the last 5 I've read I can see she's really misinformed on a lot of issues. Which makes it really hard for me to listen to pretty much anything she really has to say about any of the issue.

Here's a few just because:

"Landons Mommy, Losing hair is not a big deal and probably not true with the sleeve and leaks are pretty uncommon after the first week or so."

Losing hair IS true and very common with the VSG AND leaks can be detected up to MONTHS post op. This is ridiculous in itself...

Not true of the sleeve - this drastic surgery calls for the removal of 90 percent or more of the stomach, creating a Frankensteinian pouch which holds only a couple of ounces of food.

My sleeve removed around 85%, and I believe my Surgeon is one of the more aggressive when it comes to this. I don't believe surgeons remove "90% or more" of our stomachs. We wouldn't be left with anything! Anyway, this person has NEVER had WLS!! How am I supposed to take anything she says at face value. She says so herself, if you want the truth talk to a WLS patient of which you would like (ie, sleeve, RnY, band, etc...) and find one who is post 10 years. You will have a very hard time finding a VSG patient of more than 10 years out. Most partial gastrectomies at that time were solely for reasons of stomach cancers and ulcers.

Meh. I have no opinion of this blog other than it's really not something I personally would use as a means to get REAL research or information from.

[Catracks 865]

Let me know what you think.

http://suethsayings....eeve-story.html

This lady is an itch with a capital B. I've read her posts before and she is full of it. She is a militant anti-sleever and basicially anti Obesity Action Coalition and anti-WLS. She gathers data about worse case scenarios and shames/scares people into giving up the idea of WLS.

Try and disagree with her and feel the arrogant wrath come down.

[Catracks 865]

P.S. my doctor still only really does this surgery for cancer patients. I think I am his only weightloss sleeve patient. Insurance companies just recently starting approving this procedure for weightloss. I will thank her not to call my stomach a "Frankenstein pouch."

[missmeow 156]

I think it is really easy to dismiss her when you are happy with your results. However, if you read through her site, her main beef is with gastric bypass because she has lost many friends from it. I guess when you lose your friends to WLS, you might not have such a happy feeling about it. I think her vitriol against the band and sleeve might be misplaced because the complication and death rates are nowhere near those of gastric bypass.

However, she does have a point in that no one knows the complications 10, 20, 30 years down the road when long-term nutritional deficiencies start showing up. Unfortunately, none of the WLS forums or sites really address any of it other than positive. I guess my skepticism meter goes up when I see only good and no bad. It makes me wonder what is being hidden and why talking about the not so good things is taboo. I am also hesitant about the partial gastrectomies (and full) for cancer patients, especially when a good outcome is measured in 5 year increments. I think there is a distinct difference between someone who will die in 5 years due to cancer and someone who might have health concerns later in life due to obesity where the treatment of the obesity might shorten the lifespan. (I have no health concerns, period. So I am very much in a freak out place where it is like "what if I do this and die at 45 instead of 75 just to look pretty?" stage. It is probably drastically different for someone who has little to no mobility and is facing multiple health concerns.)

It probably sounds like I am trying to talk myself out of it, and probably to some extent it is, but I want to consider, decide, and go into this with my eyes wide open.