Ive had the band, had great result with that until it slipped, since have gained all the weight back plus 100 lbs, now im getting ready to have weight loss surgery and cant decide if the sleeve or bypass is the best choice for me...how did you decide to go with the bypass...any info you can pass onto me is appreciated!!!! Im a mom of 4 active kids, I work full time, and im very excited for this new lifestyle just cant decide which is the best way for me to go..

I was all set to do the sleeve but then I started hearing about people who had sleeve to rny revisions. I was also more comfortable with rny because it has been done for so long; there's data on long -term weight loss. There's only about eight years of data on the sleeve, and that made me somewhat nervous.

I chose RNY because I felt I needed the 2 aspects of that surgery to have permanent weight loss. Malabsorption and the restrictive. The sleeve is only restrictive. You do have to commit to taking supplements for the rest of your life because with RNY you don't absorb Vitamins, Calcium from the food you eat.

Read the complications section in this forum and then go read the complications section in the vertical sleeve forum.

When I started To think about this 6 year's ago I wanted the band. It seemed the and safest. Then I started to read about the amiunt of people that switched to the rny and the problems . I also started to read a lot of surgeons will no longer do the lap bc if the problems. So I looked at the sleeve and I had surgeon say"do you have bad acid reflux now? " I said yes. She responded "Then you do not want the sleeve. Your life will be hell after" so that made up my mind.

My decision was based on a lot of factors

I had a significant amount of weight to loss

I have diabetes in my family didn't want it

I wanted long term success

I have a 3 year old and a hubby

It wasn't fair to them I didn't want to or was so limited due to my size

And my mom had rny 2 years before me and had great success.

And I heard several cases where sleeve people were going rny. I didn't want to chance multiple surgeries.

Surgery date 7/25/12

My bank manager has the band, and I have to say he's done good with it, as far as weight loss goes. He's lost 140lbs. But I also see him getting sick all the time and it's affecting his work. He eats badly - when we get takeout he'll order two or three different meals and take a couple bites of each, then throw them away. It's not healthy or nutritious food. He's a good man and very sweet but he's not being smart about his health. (I think if he had RNY and experienced dumping it would make him want to eat better - but you don't dump with the band)

Then, during my research, I read about people doing band to bypass conversions - there were a LOT of these. This made me think bypass might be the better option so my focus shifted solely to this. I continued to read all I could about it and seeking people out who had done it or were in the process of doing it. Then the seminar gave even more details on the options, the effects of each, and their success rates. I was able to ask the surgeon who did the seminar questions (he ended up being my surgeon). Bypass seemed by far the best option for me.

It's a personal choice and it's good to be fully informed before making it.

I wanted the best chance at long term success with the lowest risk of another surgery down the road. The sleeve did not appeal to me because its so "new" and there's no long term info on it. I originally thought I wanted a band until my surgeon staff showed me the difference in percentage of excess weight lost between the band and the bypass.

My doctor originally wanted me to go with the sleeve / duodenal switch because my BMI was 54.5. We changed to the RNY because of my pretty fierce GERD and a hiatal hernia. Also, I told him I didnt want a second surgery (duodenal switch) and since the "ds" is really just a bypass, I figured why go through two major surgeries to get the same thing done. So RNY on July 16.

I really wanted the sleeve, I have 2 friends who have done fabulously with it. My insurance won't cover it so bypass it is.