I was sleeved 12/27/13 I'm down roughly 40 lbs and need to get rid of 60 more. My sleeve is not stretched due to scar tissue distorting the shape of the sleeve.

My options :

Re sleeve

Or

Bypass

Totally confused! Please any words of wisdom appreciated!

When I went for the sleeve it was easy to find many positive stories. The bypass procedure seems riskier.

Help!

Hello Ortega07,

I just converted from a sleeve to a bypass this past week, on June 2.

A few words about my situation: I was originally sleeved on March 14, 2014, and had two weeks of *perfect* recovery. I went back to work on day 4 post-op, had absolutely no pain, and went straight from the hospital to a support group I enjoyed because I wanted to see all my friends.

On day 15, I threw up 13 times. Though I didn't know it at the time, I'd developed a mechanical obstruction in my sleeve, which had folded over on itself and was preventing food and even liquids from going through. Every day since, I threw up between 4 and 12 times and I lost 93 lbs in 2.5 months due to, well, starvation. I also developed severe acid reflux, which kept me from sleeping most nights. I had to be tube-fed and barely held onto my job during the 10 weeks of hell that followed.

In my case, the decision to convert to bypass was relatively straightforward. I wanted a sleeve, not a bypass and was afraid of malabsorption. But the chances that the obstruction would return were relatively high with an exploratory surgery to save my sleeve and after so much suffering I was ready for anything that would help me rejoin the land of the living. Bypass was the much better bet.

What I wanted to share with you was the other part of my conversation with the surgeon. He kept emphasizing how much more weight I would lose with the bypass, and said that where the sleeve would have left me around 200 lbs, while the bypass would take me down to 175 or lower (I started at 330 lbs, which was a BMI of ~50). On a 5'7" frame, that's a big difference - 200 vs. 175 is the gap between a pretty "normal" silhouette and someone who still heads to the plus size department. (Not that I'm knocking someone who loses 130 lbs and gets down to that weight - both are a massive improvement over life at 330.) Although this didn't influence my medical decision to go with the bypass, it was interesting and acted as a sort of "bonus."

Given the situation you've described, it sounds like you need the additional "boost" of malabsorption the bypass provides to get closer to your goal weight. If your insurance will pay for the bypass, you'll have a lot more support post-surgery... and either option does involve an operation with risks and benefits. The other thing I can say on the other side of the surgery is that you do re-start the "honeymoon" phase of low appetite, basically no food intake during your hospital stay (and ok with it), etc.

The last thing I have to add is that you do NOT want a feeding tube placed during a conversion surgery (whether to bypass or a resleeve). I have one and it is so uncomfortable that I don't know how I'll stand the next 2 weeks until I can get it removed. But somehow life goes on, even when you're hurting.

I am so glad that you are on the road to recovery, I am hoping that all of your issues are resolved good luck.

ortega why would you want to convert??

My weight has halted and maintained for several months. After upper GI doc noticed due to scar tissue my stomach shape by my esophagus has changed and is now causing gerd. In addition my stomach has stretched bc the food isn't going down properly and if I eat at say 3pm the food doesn't go down until the next time I eat, so all that extra food is going into my stomach at one time. Hope that makes sense kinda wordy!

got it