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What made you chose bypass vs sleeve?



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I had Originally planned to do the sleeve, but after my consult I feel the bypass would be better bc of the long term evidence of keeping off the weight. Any input?

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I hope to eventually get a bypass for the same reason as well as the fact that I have GERD and diabetes runs in family.

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I was dead set on having the sleeve until I actually talked to my surgeon and he cleared my mind a little bit. My BMI would lower more than it would with the sleeve.

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I had severe acid reflux (GERD) prior to surgery and that is the reason why I had RNY gastric bypass surgery. The sleeve will only make this condition worse. Also RNY has been around the longest. It is almost the gold standard.

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I chose sleeve because that's what my doctor recommended. I thought I wanted lap band. Sleeve was perfect for me because I had relatively low BMI (42) and no insurance recognized comorbities. If your doctor is pushing you towards gastric bypass's listen to them and if your not sure get a second opinion. WLS is not one size fits all. If I had diabetes or GERD I would definitely considered gastric bypass.

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Ditto to all these. Acid reflux and Diabetes and never recommended bypass as best option for me.

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I was not a candidate for anything but bypass as I have autoimmune issues- rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Hughes syndrome.

And pretty much everyone I know personally had severe issues with the lap band and eventually had to have them removed.

Edited by LisaMergs

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My surgeon told me it was basically my choice. My BMI was only 43 and I didn't have any other issues yet, but after looking more at the statistics and knowing that I tend to enjoy sugary/fatty things I thought the risk of dumping would be beneficial to me. Plus I didn't want to risk not losing weight and having to go back in for a conversion to bypass.

As far as the lap band goes, I didn't really even want to entertain the idea of that. In 2014 more lap bands were removed than placed in the US.

Edited by kjwrn

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I recently heard of a balloon they insert in your stomach for a total of 6 months. My moms neighbor is no longer a surgery candidate because her weight is too high with her co- morbidities making it too dangerous. I'm trying to find a way to introduce this to her. She was denied surgery when she was around 400 lbs years ago, then fought for it , was approved and then lost her job. So sad. Now she is on disability. I wonder if Medicare covers surgery?

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It depends on the states probably, I think in Missouri I heard it is 80% covered and you would have to pay the 20% out of pocket

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I recently heard of a balloon they insert in your stomach for a total of 6 months. My moms neighbor is no longer a surgery candidate because her weight is too high with her co- morbidities making it too dangerous. I'm trying to find a way to introduce this to her. She was denied surgery when she was around 400 lbs years ago, then fought for it , was approved and then lost her job. So sad. Now she is on disability. I wonder if Medicare covers surgery?

I am in IL and on Medicare/Medicaid. My surgery and hospital stay is 100% covered and I only have a few copays on the medicare side that Medicaid usually picks up. I might have to pay for my nutritionist out of pocket because Medicare did not have it listed as a covered benefit but in the past Medicaid has picked those up for me.

As far as the original poster about the decision between rny and sleeve, I am having the same exchange of thoughts as I look for which would be the best. Right now I have a BMI of 56 so my surgeon is saying rny would be best. My father in law had the rny and honestly I can't see it helped me. I know it is only a tool but he lost 140 pounds and has regained 100 of it. But my mother in law had the band and hers is still working just fine and she looks amazing. I keep hearing from people that the rny is too dangerous and the sleeve is better. Last night I even met someone who went from 367 to 205 in one year on the sleeve. He said he lost about 50 preop but 11 months post op he is doing amazing.

I will probably keep researching and researching until it is time to lock in a decision.

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@@LisaMergs I heard of this too, when I went to a WLS Seminar last month. None of the Surgeons at the Bariatric Center for Excellence I am going to have done this yet. But they added it to the "options" and let everyone know at this point it is a self pay only procedure... i.e.. they know no Insurance is covering it. From what I could gather, they made it sound like it was a procedure for someone that needed to loose a little weight. Like someone that is 40lbs overweight, has money they don't know what to do with and a Class Reunion in 6 months. They also said it's completely an outpatient procedure. That's all I recall...

RE my comment on this post - Acid Reflux is the reason I am having RNY instead of a Sleeve. I was actually way more afraid of the RNY being done vs the Sleeve.. but when I found out it was my only option and the best option I guess.. I am not so afraid anymore. Needs to be done, I need my life back. ;-)

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I originally went thinking I would only do the band - then I heard that 50-60% of banders need secondary surgeries at some point due to complications and the weight loss is the lowest of the 3 options. My surgeon recommended the sleeve after reading my history and our discussion. I don't tend to eat sweets often so I don't need to have the added deterrent of dumping syndrome to my weight loss attempt. I also don't graze so the restriction only surgery is a good choice. The surgeon, nutritionist and psych along with the patient decide the best option in my practice. I just started my journey.

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Edited by KristenLe

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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