Do any of you know the bougie size that was used in your weight loss surgery? Can any of you attribute your success or failure to that bougie size?

The bougie size used on my sleeve was a 38. I lost 100lbs very quickly but I started to lose restriction within 8 - 9 months. I am three years out and I am seeking a revision because I have regained most of the weight I lost.

A year ago I had to have a scope because if reflux disease and I was devastated to learn that stomach was large/normal. In fact, my gastroenterologist told me he would found it hard to believe that I'd had a sleeve gastrectomy if I hadn't told him.

I believe the bougie size plays a huge part in wether the sleeve will be successful long term. The sleeve will eventually stretch no matter what the initial bougie so the start size is extremely important. No matter what op you have it is the restriction that is the most important tool; if you lose that tool then it seems like your back to square one.

Xxx

I did read the study. Best practice guidelines, but not based on causation or correlation. So while I agree that one can say Ideally bougie size should be between 32-26, if they truly want us to believe that a larger than 36 size leads to weight re-gain then they should either perform correlations, or ideally a logistic regression that allows us to see what factors contribute to regain, and the role of bougie size in regain. At least in this version of the article, that was not provided.

This article speaks more to gaining consensus than using data to guide best practices. Small but important difference, IMHO.

I often write best practice documents for clients. But those documents list the ideal way to do things on one dimension at a time. if a client truly wants to know what combination of events leads to the best outcome, I have to create statistical models to quantify the role of each element in the outcome.

I am sure many things contribute to weight regain, including the ability of the fundus to grow back. I have read of cases where that has happened, and I think in many cases it was surgical error, not patient non-compliance. I also have no trouble agreeing that people may have different capacities for stomach stretching both before and after the surgery.

And of course, it's totally okay for us to have differing opinions on the bougie size issue as well . I'm just saying, the article doesn't demonstrate causation, and the fact that the difference in capacity is 1 tablespoon or less, some other facts may be at play if indeed bougie sizes contribute to weight re-gain--which latter fact was not demonstrated.

Okay enough geekery on my part!

IMHO, and I am a "40"... I defer to my surgeon. I want him to do it right, and of the two of us, he's the only one awake.

So, I don't KNOW if "40" is good or bad for me. But I can't get a "36" or "32" now, so I'll play with the cards I am delt!