I'm in process of getting approval and trying to decide which one. Would love to hear feedback on why you sleeved. Thanks.

And, any bad acid reflux issues, I hear that's one common deciding factor, is anyone having really bad acid reflux?

I was one of those who originally was going for the lapband, mainly because I am younger and didn't want something permanently done to my insides. After researching thoroughly about all the complications, weight gain, etc that comes with a lot of lapband patients, I switched to the sleeve.

My reasons for not even considering gastric bypass?:

Didn't want my system rerouted.

A lot higher chance of dumping syndrome.

Malabsorption issues, which can lead to malnutrition.

The weight loss is just about the same as the sleeve.

Obstruction seems to happen more often, like with the lapband.

Going to support group meetings, I notice that people who had the bypass looked more sickly than ones who had the sleeve. Not everyone did, but just a trend I noticed.

Right now, I only get acid reflux when I have something with bad butter (like the buttery topping on popcorn), margarine is fine though. I don't have to take a daily pill for it, I just pop a couple of Tums when I have it and it goes away pretty quickly.

I am choosing GSV or RNY because the thought of rerouting my intestines scared the hell out of me. Also I was worried about malabsorption issues. I know a few people who have had RNY (and kept off the weight) but they always seem to look somewhat unhealthy.

I chose the sleeve over the bypass because it's the simplest operation of the two. No re-routing of my guts. I did a lot of research about the sleeve and found that the sleeve used to be part one of a two part surgery. Doctors discovered that the majority of patients lost enough weight on the sleeve portion that they didn't require the second step. Also with the sleeve, there is less likely hood of dumping syndrome (yes, sleevers can dump). Your sleeve cannot stretch (true!) and sleevers don't have the malabsorption issues that gastric bypassers do.

I did research for three years before making my decision and I recommend everyone do their own research. Talk to patients, go to support groups before surgery. Talk to surgeons, nurses who work with WLS patients. Talk to dieticians who work with WLS patients. Read on forums like VST.com. Watch youtube videos, etc.

Gosh, I hope that doesn't sound to preachy!

As with the above people, I also didn't want my insides rerouted. I also liked the permanence of it. With the bypass, you could get it undone. I liked how most of my stomach was removed. Never to be there again.

I was one of those who originally was going for the lapband, mainly because I am younger and didn't want something permanently done to my insides. After researching thoroughly about all the complications, weight gain, etc that comes with a lot of lapband patients, I switched to the sleeve.

My reasons for not even considering gastric bypass?:

Didn't want my system rerouted.

A lot higher chance of dumping syndrome.

Malabsorption issues, which can lead to malnutrition.

The weight loss is just about the same as the sleeve.

Obstruction seems to happen more often, like when the lapband.

Going to support group meetings, I notice that people who had the bypass looked more sickly than ones who had the sleeve. Not everyone did, but just a trend I noticed.

Right now, I only get acid reflux when I have something with bad butter (like the buttery topping on popcorn), margarine is fine though. I don't have to take a daily pill for it, I just pop a couple of Tums when I have it and it goes away pretty quickly.

I agree 100%!!!!

All the above, plus regain stats with the sleeve are a lot lower than RNY.

I wanted to get healthy and I felt with all of the complications and vitamins and supplements that are required to be taken after bypass that it just wasnt healthy. I also have a few friends that had the bypass and they lost the weight so fast that their skin was just hanging off of them and they really looked sick instead of thin. I am so glad I chose the sleeve!

I choose the sleeve because it is not as invasive as the gastric bypass. I really love that I don't have the malabsorption issues that the bypass patients have. My doctor did try to push the bypass on he kept throwing out the "golden standard" out there. But the sleeve just made so much sense to me.

I suffer with migraines and could not have the RNY because I take lots of different kinds of medicine to prevent and treat the headaches. The medicines would not get into my system properly with the bypass.

I was one of those who originally was going for the lapband' date=' mainly because I am younger and didn't want something permanently done to my insides. After researching thoroughly about all the complications, weight gain, etc that comes with a lot of lapband patients, I switched to the sleeve.

My reasons for not even considering gastric bypass?:

Didn't want my system rerouted.

A lot higher chance of dumping syndrome.

Malabsorption issues, which can lead to malnutrition.

The weight loss is just about the same as the sleeve.

Obstruction seems to happen more often, like when the lapband.

Going to support group meetings, I notice that people who had the bypass looked more sickly than ones who had the sleeve. Not everyone did, but just a trend I noticed.

Right now, I only get acid reflux when I have something with bad butter (like the buttery topping on popcorn), margarine is fine though. I don't have to take a daily pill for it, I just pop a couple of Tums when I have it and it goes away pretty quickly.[/quote']

Mina, I agree completely . I originally wanted lapband because I didn't want my organs rearranged and then my surgeon educated me about the sleeve. I'm having surgery on Tuesday so I can wait to see the results!

Sent from my iPhone using VST

I was one of those who originally was going for the lapband, mainly because I am younger and didn't want something permanently done to my insides. After researching thoroughly about all the complications, weight gain, etc that comes with a lot of lapband patients, I switched to the sleeve.

My reasons for not even considering gastric bypass?:

Didn't want my system rerouted.

A lot higher chance of dumping syndrome.

Malabsorption issues, which can lead to malnutrition.

The weight loss is just about the same as the sleeve.

Obstruction seems to happen more often, like with the lapband.

Going to support group meetings, I notice that people who had the bypass looked more sickly than ones who had the sleeve. Not everyone did, but just a trend I noticed.

Right now, I only get acid reflux when I have something with bad butter (like the buttery topping on popcorn), margarine is fine though. I don't have to take a daily pill for it, I just pop a couple of Tums when I have it and it goes away pretty quickly.

Spot on for me! Also, I like the fact of knowing that sometime in the distant future if I decide I want to have a cookie, a sliver of cake, or anything with sugar, I could do so without the feeling of becoming deathly ill from dumping syndrome.

Hey there

I agree with the others about the malabsoprtion and malnutrition. Just the idea of dealing with that and feeling sick from it with two little kids made it unappealing. I didn't want to deal with the serious complications of that either. Going to the doctor constantly for that would just suck. Also, the less invasive of the two surgeries is the gastric sleeve. It's less complicated, and the stats show that the complications and chance of death are much lower with the sleeve than with the bypass. These things made my decision easy. I do agree with the others who say that the weight loss is fairly close, especially 2 years out. Perhaps the excess weight loss is greater overall in the first year with the bypass but by year 2 it seems to be close to the same. That is a good indicator! :-)

I chose the sleeve because it made the most sense to me. Originally I was researching bypass, but switched to the sleeve. I was VERY uncomfortable with how the bypass reroutes your intestines, leaves a remnant stomach that CANNOT be endoscopied (if there is cancer or an ulcer in there they wouldn't know until it was too late), or the fact that you don't absorb the nutrients from everything you eat (and you can have so little). The malapsorbtion hurts more than it helps in my point of view and it was very scary to me. Once I decided on the sleeve it was like I was at peace with the decision and my stress level dramatically dropped.

The sleeve was one of the best decisions I have made for myself.

I was one of those who originally was going for the lapband, mainly because I am younger and didn't want something permanently done to my insides. After researching thoroughly about all the complications, weight gain, etc that comes with a lot of lapband patients, I switched to the sleeve.

My reasons for not even considering gastric bypass?:

Didn't want my system rerouted.

A lot higher chance of dumping syndrome.

Malabsorption issues, which can lead to malnutrition.

The weight loss is just about the same as the sleeve.

Obstruction seems to happen more often, like with the lapband.

Going to support group meetings, I notice that people who had the bypass looked more sickly than ones who had the sleeve. Not everyone did, but just a trend I noticed.

Right now, I only get acid reflux when I have something with bad butter (like the buttery topping on popcorn), margarine is fine though. I don't have to take a daily pill for it, I just pop a couple of Tums when I have it and it goes away pretty quickly.

These are the reason i choose to get the sleeve over the band and the RNY.

I was scheduled for a RNY & had studied every bit of info about the procedure I could get my hands on. I was so prepared & had jumped thru hoops to get insurance to cover it. I knew NOTHING about the sleeve & had never even considered it. One week prior to my already scheduled surgery I went for my final pre-op appt & my surgeon told me he had decided he no longer would be performing any RNY's. He told me the sleeve was my only option w/ him now or I could find a new surgeon. That would mean going thru the entire approval process again. I bawled my eyes out in his office. A week later I semi-blindly had my sleeve performed. I don't have any regrets now, having learned more about it vs. The RNY. It was a shock initially, but now I think.it was for the best.