Bypass or sleeve

[buttercupdobbs 1]

Finally scheduled for May 14 and still can't decide...please you guys help me my doctor suggested bypass because of heartburn and I'm not too sure if I get it that often that I can agree with him. So to me I only get it when I make poor or spicy food choices so with taking that kind of stuff out of my diet which I'm already working on and don't have it very often do you think that sleeve would an option or should I just stick with bypass...

[TLW 163]

I would first say, do some research. I personally chose bypass because it has been around for so long. There is a lot of research on long term results, where the sleeve is still relatively new, there is not too much research on it. You also want to consider your behavior. For me I felt that the bypass would encourage me to follow a healthy lifestyle more than a sleeve because it will restrict my food intake greatly, where the sleeve will reduce my intake, but will still allow me to eat whatever I want without consequence. Finally, I decided the bypass would be the best because I did not want to take the chance of having the sleeve fail and having to repeat this process for a bypass. Whatever you decide I wish you the best of luck. My surgery date is May 28.

[IcanMakeit 1,319]

I love my sleeve and am glad I did not have the bypass. I have lost more weight than I ever believed possible and am now enjoying better health than I have had for many, many years. But if my doctor had recommended the bypass instead of the sleeve, that would have carried weight with me. Only you can make the decision, but I definitely think that the surgeon's opinion should not be ignored. Although it has not been an issue for me, GERD is no joke.

[Martene81 383]

I'm scheduled for bypass May 27th and chose for all the same reasons @@TLW said ????

[Djmohr 6,965]

Here is the thing, if you get heartburn or reflux at all the sleeve can make that much worse very quickly. You must do your research and quickly.

I have read so many posts from people that made the decision to go with the sleeve even though it was recommended to do bypass and now they are having revisions to bypass anyway.

I originally had planned to go sleeve and after my doctor recommended bypass I was devastated. Then I researched the heck out of it and came to the conclusion that I was only going through this once if I could help it.

I went with bypass and have not regretted it once. I can eat anything I want, have never had dumping syndrome, have exceeded my weight loss expectations. I was removed off all heartburn and reflux medication within one month post op and have never had a single episode of heartburn/reflux/herd.

Good luck, and please do your research quickly.

[buttercupdobbs 1]

Thanks so much for all the comments. It makes me feel so much better knowing we all go thru the same issues.

[SleeveandRNYchica 1,155]

I had sleeve and developed gerd.... Now looking at a revision.... Not fun going through all this again. Good luck on your Journey. I did not have gerd presleeve. I wish I had read more information prior to.

[CAC89 1]

@@Djmohr -- What you said really helped solidify the decision to follow through with my surgery. I was struggling with this decision, and my doctor told me my insurance will only pay for lap-band or RNY & like you, I was devastated thinking about how extreme bypass seems. However, like you said.. if I am going to do this, I only want to do it once.

Thank you for your input!

[TinyMamiOf3kids 1,280]

I didn't want to be one of those to have multiple surgeries for the samething. I did my gastric bypass 5/30/12 my Tummy Tuck 5/8/14 and now breast lift no implants 6/30/15 I'm not repeating any surgeries.

[Djmohr 6,965]

@@TinyMamiOf3kids, nice work! I cannot wait until I can get the plastics going. I am a ways out, still have another 53 to go and then need to maintain for a while.

Wish I could get my arms done sooner. I have such terrible loose skin there, my arms were soooooo big when I was 315.

[vlbart 1]

I just had a sleeve on 4/6/15 and had a huge hiatal hernia which kept me miserable with Gerds for the past 7 yrs, my doc did a Nissen fundoplication procedure and fixed all of that mess I'm so happy with the results

[TinyMamiOf3kids 1,280]

Thanks I wanted to do my arms,but its not bad now. It seem to have disappeared with the rest of me lolz

[TinyMamiOf3kids 1,280]

Idk how to reply to a certain post. I clicked on it,but I see nothing.

[Karlnjax 163]

@Djmohr I love your feedback! I feel it's going to be very helpful since I am also going with the Bypass

[MSWMike 22]

I'm on the fence with this as well. On one hand, the sleeve is very appealing to me because I can eat more "normal" foods after surgery. However, there are significant cons: me going back to old habits, lack of long-term studies on its effectiveness, and potential revision to a full bypass later on (read that about 10% of people who do sleeve eventually get full bypass). On the other is the full bypass. This would force me to make permanent healthy changes in my life- and that to me is what this surgery/journey is about (like what @@TLW said). There's long-term data available to show its effectiveness and risks/complications are well documented. Your surgeon should also be able to help give you guidance as to what you choose based on their expertise. Then there's the insurance too- they may only cover 1 or 2 of the potential surgeries!