So far I have been to two bariatric seminars. Each time the surgeons, had negative information to share in regards to gastric bypass in comparison to the lap band and gastric sleeve. They repeatedly spoke about the complexity of the surgery, life long commitment to taking supplements and the increased possibility of leakage from stitches. I had originally settled on getting gastric sleeve, but found out my insurance does not cover it. This leaves me with two choices lap band or gastric bypass...or maybe I will need to come out of pocket for the sleeve. The doctors have kind of scared me away from the bypass. Does anyone mind sharing why they chose gastric bypass over the sleeve? Just curious and wondering if anyone had similar experience as me.

***correction...why MY insurance does not cover gastric sleeve.

Yes, I would definitely get some other surgeons' input on which they feel is best for your particular case. My surgeon has quit doing lapband b/c he's had to remove so many. He does both sleeve and bp and has done a lot of them. My guess is that the sleeve is quicker to perform, less meticulous and the doctor who pushed it over bp has not done many bypasses, at least recently. That would be a big drawback to me. And I wouldn't want a surgeon doing a bp on me if he was pushing the other so hard.

Great points Drmeow, I feel the same way. I want which ever surgeon I chose to have a lot of experience performing the procedure. I have my consultation later this week with a surgeon. So far I've decided to pass up the other two surgeons who spoke negatively about the bypass. I hope to have better luck this time around.

I was banded for 4 yrs, lost 80 pounds, but a slip occurred and had to have it removed a month ago. My heartburn and reflux worsened with the band. I initially wanted the sleeve, but due to my already existing reflux and heartburn, bypass was recommended. There is tons of long term data, and bypass gives me the added peace of mind that I will be less likely to develop diabetes which runs in my family. Bypass can be reversed, but sleeve can't. I feel very comfortable with my choice.

A lot of surgeons who are lesser experienced tend to push the sleeve over bypass because it is a more complicated surgery to perform and it takes longer, so if they are all about the $$, of course they want you to do lap band or sleeve which take less time to do. My surgeon is one of the top in his field and is even an inspector in deciding if a place meets the requirements for a Bariatric Center of excellence, and he says that by far, roux en y is the gold standard. It has decades of strong data showing it works and long term it stays off. It's proven to give patients 70-90% off their excess weight lost when the diet and program are followed where as the sleeve was 60-80% and the lap band was generally around 50%. It's a "trickier" procedure and if you are looking for someone to perform one, you want someone who has done at least 4,000, because the first couple of thousand they are just getting their craft fine tuned. GERD is another consideration as people who have never experienced GERD prior to surgery often do post op with the sleeve. Then there's the fact the sleeve and lap are just purely restrictive so if you don't eat in large volumes, this might not help as much as rny which also has the mal absorption which contrary to popular belief doesn't mean bad things. One of the positives of mal absorption is less calories are made available to use for energy and less fat and sugar can be absorbed so those are really good positives if you are like me who loves sugary foods. The possibility of dumping syndrome will also keep you from testing that boundary because it is absolutely unpleasant. So all that together is what made me go from sure I was going to go for sleeve to full on definitely doing rny. The track record for sleevers who switch to rny after not achieving their goals is another. I only want to have to do surgery once and I want to do it right the first time so I never have to go through it again.

Sajijoma, I hear ya. I want this to be a one and done deal as well. I have horrible heart burn issues, roux en y is my best option. I finally came upon a bariatric center that was open minded and supportive of my decision. I am still at the beginning stages, next is the psych evaluation. Thank you so much for your feedback!

I have not had surgery yet, but on my journey toward making a decision I met with my GI doctor to get his advice. I had been pretty set on the sleeve, but he told me that he would not trust the sleeve because it doesn't have the medical history behind it that the gastric bypass has.