Why did you choose the type of surgery you will have or might have? What factors were deciding factors for you?

7 hours ago, nenes78 said:

My surgeon had suggested bypass. I wanted sleeve. He had recommend it as it is malabsorption for life and that would achieve the greatest results he felt. I figured why change the plumbing and was willing to make the changes I needed. He said sleeve was fine as long as i remember that it was not malabosrption for life. After the one year checkup he said I was good and surpassed their expectation of my weight loss, I lost more than was expected from either surgery.

I remember you stated you had your surgery at West LA Kaiser, were you kept overnight? I'm only asking because I saw someone post that they were released the same day as surgery from this location. This concerns me.

I had a slipped lap band that needed to come out. My surgeon said he'd do either procedure, but it was preferred to revise a lap band to an RNY in one procedure than the sleeve, and I wanted it all done in one surgery since I live 4 hours away from my surgeon. Also, I had terrible GERD before my lap band so the surgeon suggested the RNY to help keep the GERD from coming back. So far, so good!

Thank you everyone for your stories. I'm still waiting on a call from my doctor for my first appointment, but I'm doing a ton of research beforehand (thus my reason for joining the forums!). My surgeon offers three surgeries: lap band, gastric sleeve, and gastric bypass. I'm torn between the sleeve and bypass. Some of my symptoms (besides being overweight, obviously):

• pre-diabetic
• PCOS
• fatty liver
• infertility
• acid reflux (mild to moderate - no GERD)

Those that had some (or all) of these symptoms, how soon did your symptoms get better or be resolved completely? I'm not looking for a quick fix, and I'm aware that this will entail a MAJOR lifestyle change, but I'm curious as to how soon some of the negative symptoms I currently have can start working themselves out.

Hi @KlaPV:

See below...

• pre-diabetic: tested and resolved by my 1 week post op appointment
• PCOS : n/a
• fatty liver: tested and resolved by my 3 month post op appointment
• infertility: I never checked if I was infertile (I'm 47 and we are done with kids!!), but my period was very sporadic pre-op for years, sometimes going months & months without it, and it was very, very light if/when I did get it. I thought perhaps I was transitioning to menopause. My first post-op period was within a month of surgery and it was HEAVY (so heavy I thought something was wrong, lol). Then I've been clockwork every since, every 4 weeks, with medium flow (just like when I was skinnier years ago).
• acid reflux (mild to moderate - no GERD): n/a**

** BTW, with your mild to moderate acid reflux you may want to lean bypass...??

12 hours ago, Flo-grown said:

I too wanted the bypass to lose the maximum amount of weight and my doctor felt I could achieve the same results with the sleeve even though I suffered from GERD. I trust my doctor and I'm very happy with my surgery. I have not had any issues with GERD since my surgery.

5'4"
Starting weight 297
VSG on 7/31/19
Surgery wt: 266
CW 206
GW 135

Me either, no more GERD. Hooray!

since you have acid reflux, you should seriously consider bypass. Sleeve doesn't make all reflux worse, but it happens to enough people that I'm not sure I'd want to risk it.

I never really liked the label "diabetic" that the doctor stuck on me since I only had a slightly elevated A1C, but I did take the metformin that he gave me. That label DID help me get approved for my surgery since it gave me a comorbidity so I guess he did me a favor. They had me stop the metformin two days before my surgery, and the last A1C I did was completely normal! Gastric bypass, and to some extent the sleeve, has worked wonders for many diabetics.

Bypass because I felt there was more long. Term research available

@ms.sss

Thank you for your insight. It's definite things that I need to bring up with my bariatric surgeon.

@catwoman7

I will bring this up with my bariatric surgeon and let it weigh in on my research.

3 hours ago, NYJenn said:

Bypass because I felt there was more long. Term research available

I agree. I just shudder when I hear about new meds or new procedures getting pulled because real life experience proves they were ineffective or dangerous. Gastric Bypass has been around for a long time and there is so much information now from decades of post op patients. The band was a disaster and most surgeons don't do it anymore. The sleeve seems great, but I just need to see more years of data before I am comfortable with the long term effectiveness. So for me, bypass was the best option, especially with my history of GERD.

On 1/15/2020 at 7:36 PM, Krimsonbutterflies said:

I remember you stated you had your surgery at West LA Kaiser, were you kept overnight? I'm only asking because I saw someone post that they were released the same day as surgery from this location. This concerns me.

Sorry I just noticed this. I was kept overnight. Surgery Wednesday, released Thursday.

My age is important. I don't need malabsorption when I already have some softening of hip bones. Sleeve for me.

I plan to have the lap band surgery. It does not seem to be as popular as the gastric sleeve or bypass surgeries but it seems the least invasive to me. Also, I am a late starter since I am 71. I am a food addict and eat often when I am not hungry. I know this surgery will be a tool and I will be making serious changes in my food. I have heart disease and type 2 diabetes. My goal is to correct the diabetes and lessen the work my heart has to do. I have done all steps except the psych evaluation and that is next week. I hope to have my surgery in early April.

7 hours ago, Mariyn said:

I plan to have the lap band surgery. It does not seem to be as popular as the gastric sleeve or bypass surgeries but it seems the least invasive to me. Also, I am a late starter since I am 71. I am a food addict and eat often when I am not hungry. I know this surgery will be a tool and I will be making serious changes in my food. I have heart disease and type 2 diabetes. My goal is to correct the diabetes and lessen the work my heart has to do. I have done all steps except the psych evaluation and that is next week. I hope to have my surgery in early April.

have you found a surgeon to do it? Just asking because a lot of them don't place lapbands anymore. I was surprised you found someone.

I originally went with sleeve for the same reasons many have posted here - I didn't like the idea of my intestines being rerouted, I didn't want the vitamin regimen for the rest of my life, and it just seemed more extreme than what I needed. However, I'm now less than a month away from getting a revision to gastric bypass, and I try not to feel angry that I didn't do that from the start (mostly because I've paid for 2 surgeries). Unfortunately I had to self-pay in Mexico, and my experience with that is that the doctors will basically agree with what you want and rarely take the time to consider your own personal needs. I live in Japan and there really isn't any doctor or program for me to use here, so I was stuck. The reality was even though I didn't have any co-morbidities, I had 150 pounds to lose and was a sugar addict. Bypass was probably the option I should have gone with from the beginning. But now I'm getting my surgery done in Tallinn (Estonia) from a very reputable place, and one of the reasons why I chose it is because the surgeon had a very specific plan for ME, as opposed to himself, like so many other surgeons.

One thing I know from my failed sleeve is that being (or having been) obese is like being an alcoholic - once one, always one (your fat cells never disappear, they just shrink, waiting to be filled again). You have to be vigilant about what your triggers are and how to avoid them. There will never be a time in the future when you can go back to how you were - it's just too easy to fall off the wagon. I know now that it's normal to always feel a little bit hungry, that if I feel full then I've eaten too much, and that I can never eat sweet things - once I start it's hard to stop. It's just better if I never start.