Yesterday I advised my Dr. I was going to Mexico for VSG and ....

[Water Nazi 61]

Eyes big...really? Meh

Gastric surgeries not common in Canada. Self pay is $20,000 they want BMI 40+ and surgeons few and far between.

Anywho he said call Dr Amson in Victoria and see what he has to say about it. After reading patient reviews I decided not to call. I doubt he would have picked the phone. I went to his website and this is what I found:

"the main disadvantage of this form of surgery is that it does not always produce the reduction in weight which people would wish for and, in the longer term, can result in weight regain. This is indeed true of any form of purely restrictive surgery, but is perhaps especially true in the case of the sleeve gastrectomy.

As this form of surgery does not provide any element of gastric bypass some patients may experience a disappointing weight loss or weight regain.High BMI patients will often require follow-up weight loss surgery to achieve their goal. Although this may be seen as a disadvantage by some patients, in many cases, this two procedure option not only produces the results that the patient wants but may also provide a lower overall risk for the patient. "

Firstly, going through the website I had the impression he views vsg as a stepping stone to an additional gastric surgery. hmm

Secondly I am not aware of any disappointing weight loss (on this forum) in the first year (other than people panicking during their stalls).

I know the vsg is a tool that one needs to work with but seems the ghrelin creeps back over time.

Looking for feedback from Veterans 2+yrs out.

Does the ghrelin creep back to a point where hunger overcomes control?

[Jdub 109]

Gastric sleeves are becoming more common in Canada, just the wait lists are astronomical as they tend to review on a case by case basis and will offer it to the 35+ BMI patients with co-morbidities before someone with out. I got put on a list in August 2012 for a program launching in January 2013. I just had my surgery performed on December 9 2013 in Canada and completely covered by medicare. I think I'm one of the lucky ones.... Good luck though!

Edited December 13, 2013 by Jdub

[PdxMan 4,292]

Hello, I am coming up on two and half years post-op. As far as the whole gherlin question though, I would highly advise not putting much stock in that being your cure to obesity and cravings. In my reading here and other research, people's issues with having a poor relationship with food and their ability to abuse food has little to do with gherlin.

Now, let me also say that I do feel my food craving is far reduced post surgery compared to pre, but I also know there are other contributing factors here. I have done a lot of self reflection as to why I abuse food and try to take a more conscience approach to what I put in my mouth.

Bottom line is having reduced gherlin is not going to prevent you from snacking or craving food. I was doing this just last night. I returned from a holiday party where I ate shrimp and chicken skewers with a little pad thai. It was delicious and I was full. But, when I got home, I walked over to the pantry and grabbed a box of Cheese-Its.

I stopped.

Why did I grab those? Was I hungry? No ... I was actually quite full. But yet, I stood there with a box of Cheese-Its. I put them back resolving to the fact that I do things just out of habit without even thinking. This is something that I just normally do when I walk in the door. I usually grab a quick snack when I get home because several hours have passed by and dinner won't be for another hour or so. I am fine with grabbing that snack, but I repeated that behavior when I wasn't even hungry.

That is just one of my problems. I don't necessarily eat when I am hungry. I eat because I repeat behaviors, bad or good. Lack of gherlin isn't going to help me here. What I need to do is be aware of what I am feeling when I do eat.

[Water Nazi 61]

Sorry, I worded my question wrong. Let's take the ghrelin issue off the table.

Wondering how the vets have done long term?

As an aside: Today I visited a forum called proboards.

They seem to be anti VSG pro DS. Now I'm questioning my sleeve decision. Back to the research. I still have time.

[kscdvm 78]

Water Nazi" data-cite="Water Nazi">

<p>Sorry, I worded my question wrong. Let's take the ghrelin issue off the table.</p> <p>Wondering how the vets have done long term?</p> <p>As an aside: Today I visited a forum called proboards</p> <p>They seem to be anti VSG pro DS. Now I'm questioning my sleeve decision. Back to the research. I still have time.</p>

I'm just a year out but couldn't be happier. I have a lot of restriction still and eating is almost like following a checklist to get my Protein and calories in. My BMI is now 22.9 and they don't want me to lose anymore.

I have a medical background and did not want a surgery that changed my anatomy so drastically. The sleeve maintains normal anatomy including important valves (pyloric valve) of your stomach. My surgeon found that some of his bypass patients were able to force food past the small pouch and into the small intestine because there is no functional valve anymore.

I would recommend the sleeve and consider a revision if you don't lose all you want. But some of us reach goal and beyond. (I weigh 12 lbs less than my original goal)

[Water Nazi 61]

I feel like the problems begin 18 months (give or take).

[Ms.AntiBand 2,984]

I'm a year out and the sleeve helped me losethe weight, but with out a lifestyle change .. FOREVER, I can see regaining the weight. I think the success stories on the forum are because people know this going in. There is no doubt a lot of failures, but I doubt they would hang out on a the forum and feel awful

Edited December 14, 2013 by Ms.AntiBand

[Water Nazi 61]

Good point

[moonlitestarbrite 902]

my doctor and hospital say there is a 20% failure rate across the board with WLS. 80% success rate is way higher than diets, but for the person who regains.. thats a 100% failure. my research said that in the past, vsg was a preliminary step for very very obese patients who were too sick for bypass. then they discovered that some people were able to lose a lot of weight with it. again, my doc said 70-80% of excess weight lost with vsg and 80-90% of excess weight lost with rnybp. he recommends that people with more than 100 pounds to lose get bp, but really, he leaves it up to he patient unless there is a medical reason to pick one over the other.

[Cabingirl 55]

The scientific evidence indicates that VSG has quite similar outcomes to RNY over time, with the exception of percentage of patients with hard-to-treat diabetics, in which case RNY outcomes are higher, and thus preferred. Failure rates are quite similar for both surgeries