I had the sleeve about 8 years ago. I have gained most of my weight back now so I was thinking about finishing off my VSG with the DS now. To me it seems logical: Since I have already had a sleeve I am already half way there so why not just finish it off with a DS? Unfortunately, the surgeon that did my sleeve got killed in a plane crash about 3 years ago so now I am looking for a new surgeon. I have contacted a few places to see what there cost would be and whatnot so I can decide. When I contacted one of the places they tried to talk me out of it telling me that the DS is a very extreme procedure and it is performed only as a very last resort. They told me that usually the only time when they do a DS is if the patient is extremely obese and the patient is going to die at any moment if they do not do it. I am currently 350 lbs and 5'11" for a BMI of 49. Eight years ago when I had the sleeve I was 412 lbs for a BMI of 58.

The doctor said that DS patients have a very bad body odor for the rest of their life. He told me that he could always tell when a DS patient was in his office because he could smell them while they were sitting in their office. He said that if I got this procedure I would have social issues the rest of my life because I would always smell bad. I would in effect become a permanent pariah for the rest of my life. People would be ablel to smell me over a mile away! He said that I will have permanent diarrhea for the rest of my life and that my stools will be very foul smelling. It will be like after I go to the rest room it will smell really bad so that everyone will know that I was in the rest room. I can imagine going to church and having to sit by myself in a pew that is far away from anyone and having to use private rest rooms.

This doctor also said that since I have acid reflux that he could not do the DS on me. I have however found other surgeons that would be willing. This doctor recommend that I revise to a mini gastric bypass (not sure how that would be possible since the half of the stomach that would normally remain attached to the duodenum piece that would be attached downstream is already gone. I have also found another surgeon that has a different type of DS called the SADI-S that is supposed to be better for acid reflux people like myself but the weight loss results are not quite as good as a traditional DS.

What are your experiences? Is the DS really as bad as that one doctor says for your social life? Is this SADI-S a good thing? In my situation would mini gastric bypass be better (even though I am not sure how they would do it)?

I am concerned that you are taking such a drastic step physically without considering the mental/emotional aspect of your eating choices. If you gained your weight back with the sleeve, how will you prevent it this time? It can't be a solely physical solution - your body adjusts and your brain learns how to get the calories it wants, you've already proven that. Weight gain isn't solely a physical thing - the solution isn't solely physical either. It really worries me to see folks keep cutting away at themselves thinking the next surgery will be their nirvana, when what really needs to happen is dealing with the mental issues that drive the weight gain. From a personal perspective, I started looking into WLS two years ago and went in to therapy to deal with my compulsive eating issues before I had the surgery, and I think it's still a challenge even after all of that work. Just a thought, this isn't a judgment by any means, I found therapy to be really helpful and I'm so glad that I have that support right now as I deal with post-op stuff.

Amen! Above all, we have to commit to the commitment and constantly remind ourselves why we went under the knife in the first place.

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