Need Advice! Please, Share Your Journey!

[TisTrue 12]

Stay Safe and Hopefully Well/Healthy Everyone!

Hi, I got the Loop Duodenal Switch almost a year ago, done June 2019. Please, if you post, say the surgery without abbreviating it, as I am not familiar with the initials/abbreviations of the surgeries, unless you want to post a list that would be appreciated too. I wanted to know if you ever experienced losing weight too fast. If so, did it ever slow down, or did you gain it back? I have been told that I might have to have revision surgery because I am losing at the same rate as when I first got surgery, which will be a year ago in June. I don't want another surgery, as it was pure hell the days and weeks after surgery, for multiple reasons. I was told that I could go as low as 95 lbs, but I am already at 134 now, supposedly one will slow down weight-loss once they have reached 50% of weight-loss or something to that degree for the Duodenal Switch Loop. I am just curious as to if you wouldn't mind sharing what your weight-loss journey has been like if it has been more than 1 year and especially if it has been more than 2 years. Were there any concerns over losing too fast? If so, what helped without a revision surgery? I have to say at one point weight-loss was fast, I was able to slow it down after I was told that I would need revision surgery after the 1 year mark, mostly by food journaling. This COVID-19 ridiculousness got me off track again of losing slowly even though I went back to journaling. I hate to say this but with my own journey, Although I start off by listening, I find that some of what a nurse/Dr. says sometimes is crap, so I want to make sure that the talk of me needing revision surgery is not more, crAp. What have you done, Help! I know that it may seem like a ridiculous thing to be alarmed about but I really can’t handle another surgery so I would like to know if this has happened to anyone else and what worked for you besides revision surgery. Thanks!

[rjan 163]

I'm only 5 weeks post-op for a sleeve, so I can't answer your questions.

However, I wanted to comment that I don't understand why they are so worried! Assuming your stats are correct and you're 4'11", 137 lbs is still overweight. And 113 lbs in 10 months is fast, but well within the range of what I have seen here.

How fast were you losing when they had you food journal and try to slow it down? What did you slow it down to? What have your calories been? Are you hungry, or still forcing yourself to eat? Are you having any other symptoms that indicate mal-absorption of Vitamins or some other problem?

Did insurance pay for your surgery, or did you self-pay? Do you have some particular reason to not trust the place you've been going, or just a general mistrust of doctors (which I get.)

[catwoman7 10,867]

the above poster is right - 95 lbs is a healthy weight for someone 4'11" tall. Maybe I'm missing something here ??? Also, why are they talking about doing revision surgery? You mean reverse the duodenal switch?

I was a slow loser from the get-go, so I can't relate to losing super fast, but the last 20 lbs or so were a bear to get off. My weight loss slowed to a crawl (we're talking like 2 lbs a month). I also gained 10 lbs after hitting my lowest weight, which I really needed to do, and I stabilized there for two years (I've since gained 10 more lbs with I did NOT want to do, but we're working on it...)

[NovaLuna 710]

5 hours ago, TisTrue said:

Stay Safe and Hopefully Well/Healthy Everyone!

Hi, I got the Loop Duodenal Switch almost a year ago, done June 2019. Please, if you post, say the surgery without abbreviating it, as I am not familiar with the initials/abbreviations of the surgeries, unless you want to post a list that would be appreciated too. I wanted to know if you ever experienced losing weight too fast. If so, did it ever slow down, or did you gain it back? I have been told that I might have to have revision surgery because I am losing at the same rate as when I first got surgery, which will be a year ago in June. I don't want another surgery, as it was pure hell the days and weeks after surgery, for multiple reasons. I was told that I could go as low as 95 lbs, but I am already at 134 now, supposedly one will slow down weight-loss once they have reached 50% of weight-loss or something to that degree for the Duodenal Switch Loop. I am just curious as to if you wouldn't mind sharing what your weight-loss journey has been like if it has been more than 1 year and especially if it has been more than 2 years. Were there any concerns over losing too fast? If so, what helped without a revision surgery? I have to say at one point weight-loss was fast, I was able to slow it down after I was told that I would need revision surgery after the 1 year mark, mostly by food journaling. This COVID-19 ridiculousness got me off track again of losing slowly even though I went back to journaling. I hate to say this but with my own journey, Although I start off by listening, I find that some of what a nurse/Dr. says sometimes is crap, so I want to make sure that the talk of me needing revision surgery is not more, crAp. What have you done, Help! I know that it may seem like a ridiculous thing to be alarmed about but I really can’t handle another surgery so I would like to know if this has happened to anyone else and what worked for you besides revision surgery. Thanks!

I'm not quite 3 months out of my surgery which is the Loop Duodenal Switch, same as you, but a potential revision is something I was worried about when I agreed to this surgery because I only know two people who got this surgery and BOTH needed revisions. 1. because he got a really bad malnutrition issue so they had to fix him back so it was essentially just the sleeve now (though his was, admittedly the DS not the Loop) and 2. because she went from being over 400 pounds to being 95 pounds in two years! She's 5'5. After her revision she's at a much healthier 123 now. She had originally had the Loop.

I, like yourself, very much do not want to go through a revision, but I figure if it happens then they'd just be fixing my intestines so the whole 'phases' wouldn't be necessary. I mean yeah, you'd have to eat lighter meals for a while, but they wouldn't be messing with your stomach for the revision so it's why I still went with the Loop. I won't like it if I have to eventually have a revision, but both of theirs happened in the second year so I'm not going to stress until then. Likely your weight loss will slow down eventually. You just still have some more to lose. For your height you could technically get down to 92 pounds and still be considered in the normal range. And if you don't like what the doctor says... get a second opinion. Especially if it's a surgery you don't want!

[TisTrue 12]

On 4/14/2020 at 10:39 PM, NovaLuna said:

I'm not quite 3 months out of my surgery which is the Loop Duodenal Switch, same as you, but a potential revision is something I was worried about when I agreed to this surgery because I only know two people who got this surgery and BOTH needed revisions. 1. because he got a really bad malnutrition issue so they had to fix him back so it was essentially just the sleeve now (though his was, admittedly the DS not the Loop) and 2. because she went from being over 400 pounds to being 95 pounds in two years! She's 5'5. After her revision she's at a much healthier 123 now. She had originally had the Loop.

I, like yourself, very much do not want to go through a revision, but I figure if it happens then they'd just be fixing my intestines so the whole 'phases' wouldn't be necessary. I mean yeah, you'd have to eat lighter meals for a while, but they wouldn't be messing with your stomach for the revision so it's why I still went with the Loop. I won't like it if I have to eventually have a revision, but both of theirs happened in the second year so I'm not going to stress until then. Likely your weight loss will slow down eventually. You just still have some more to lose. For your height you could technically get down to 92 pounds and still be considered in the normal range. And if you don't like what the doctor says... get a second opinion. Especially if it's a surgery you don't want!

Thank you for your response, I had not thought of the fact that if I really have to have another surgery it will not be on my tummy. That is great that you know people who has had the surgery so that you can take note of the expected possibilities.

[TisTrue 12]

On 4/14/2020 at 7:03 PM, rjan said:

I'm only 5 weeks post-op for a sleeve, so I can't answer your questions.

However, I wanted to comment that I don't understand why they are so worried! Assuming your stats are correct and you're 4'11", 137 lbs is still overweight. And 113 lbs in 10 months is fast, but well within the range of what I have seen here.

How fast were you losing when they had you food journal and try to slow it down? What did you slow it down to? What have your calories been? Are you hungry, or still forcing yourself to eat? Are you having any other symptoms that indicate mal-absorption of Vitamins or some other problem?

Did insurance pay for your surgery, or did you self-pay? Do you have some particular reason to not trust the place you've been going, or just a general mistrust of doctors (which I get.)

Yes, I am still overweight and I am in my range but the way that it has been explained is that I have hit this point too soon and should not be losing weight at this fast of a pace. I journaled on my own after my Dr. told me that I would most likely need revision surgery. All of my blood work, which is done every 3 months, always comes back great. I kept a food journal on my own and I was able to slow it down to a loss of 2-5 pounds per month. I was blessed enough that insurance paid for my surgery.