Has anyone gone with the Sleeve and experienced bad heartburn/GERD? Maybe you've wished you had gone with bypass instead? Tell me your sleeve/heartburn stories and what you've learned to avoid to calm the symptoms, or if you've had to switch to bypass... and are you glad you did?

that's the reason I went with bypass. Too many stories about people getting GERD with the sleeve - or people with existing GERD having it get worse. And a few of them ended up revising to bypass.

it doesn't happen to everyone. I think I remember reading that it happens to about 30%. But I was not willing to take the risk of ending up one of those 30%. Some people are - and many of them turn out lucky. It's kind of a crap shoot..

2 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

that's the reason I went with bypass. Too many stories about people getting GERD with the sleeve - or people with existing GERD having it get worse. And a few of them ended up revising to bypass.

it doesn't happen to everyone. I think I remember reading that it happens to about 30%. But I was not willing to take the risk of ending up one of those 30%. Some people are - and many of them turn out lucky. It's kind of a crap shoot..

Have you had any issues with your bypass? I'm very concerned about the finality of it. at least with the sleeve, you have the option to move to bypass. Have you experienced Mal-apsorbtion issues or dumping? Since you' underwent the procedure several years back, can you enjoy a wide variety of foods/quantity and do you feel "back to normal" without discomfort? Will I ever have a slice of pizza again?

1 minute ago, AJSassyPants said:

Have you had any issues with your bypass? I'm very concerned about the finality of it. at least with the sleeve, you have the option to move to bypass. Have you experienced Mal-apsorbtion issues or dumping? Since you' underwent the procedure several years back, can you enjoy a wide variety of foods/quantity and do you feel "back to normal" without discomfort? Will I ever have a slice of pizza again?

I've never dumped, and no absorption issues. With the exception of iron (some people can't absorb oral iron and have to have occasional infusions - but the vast majority of us do fine on oral iron). anyway, besides the iron, absorption issues are pretty uncommon as long as you keep on top of your vitamins.

as for eating, I can eat anything now except for really fatty meals. For example, before surgery, I used to love to go out for Friday night fish fries. These would consist of two or three pieces of breaded, deep-fried fish, French fries, cole slaw with mayo, and a roll with butter. No way could I eat that much fat now. I could maybe have half a fried fish filet. Anything I had with that would have to have little to no fat. Other than that, I have no restrictions - I can eat everything I ate before, just in smaller quantities. As an example of that, before surgery, my husband and I would get a large pizza and each eat half of it. Now I can only eat one or two pieces. I physically cannot eat any more than that at one sitting. But...that's fine. That's about what most of my never-been-obese women friends eat, so...

as far as "finality" - a couple of thoughts. RNY is technically reversible, although it's a complicated surgery and is only done if you have a serious medical issue that cannot be resolved another way. Sleeve is not reversible. The other part of your stomach is gone forever. As for revisions, the most straightforward one for sleeve is DS, since at one time the sleeve was the first phase of the DS back when they did the DS in two stages (they discovered a lot of people were able to lose their weight just with stage one, so they started offering that as a standalone surgery a few years back, and it pretty much replaced the lapband back when that went out of vogue). They also do VSG to RNY revisions, but that's mostly when there's an unresolvable GERD issue. RNY usually improves - if not outright cures - GERD (not always - but usually).

RNY can be converted to DS, but that's a complicated surgery that only a handful of surgeons do. To do that, they have to reverse the RNY, then do the sleeve, then do the intestinal bypass (stage 2) part of the DS. Although to be honest, most people with RNY don't get revisions. We do see some revisions from VSG to RNY because of GERD, though.

I've had the sleeve for 6 yrs and I have had gerd since day 1. My Dr never told me this was a side effect of sleeve. I am now on pantoprazole 2x a day and have had 2 endoscopies because of the gerd. If I had to do it over again I would of done intermittent fasting and very low carb to carnivore and not done surgery. I only lost 25 lbs and am doing IF to get the rest off.

10 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

I've never dumped, and no absorption issues. With the exception of Iron (some people can't absorb oral iron and have to have occasional infusions - but the vast majority of us do fine on oral iron). anyway, besides the iron, absorption issues are pretty uncommon as long as you keep on top of your Vitamins.

as for eating, I can eat anything now except for really fatty meals. For example, before surgery, I used to love to go out for Friday night fish fries. These would consist of two or three pieces of breaded, deep-fried fish, French fries, cole slaw with mayo, and a roll with butter. No way could I eat that much fat now. I could maybe have half a fried fish filet. Anything I had with that would have to have little to no fat. Other than that, I have no restrictions - I can eat everything I ate before, just in smaller quantities. As an example of that, before surgery, my husband and I would get a large pizza and each eat half of it. Now I can only eat one or two pieces. I physically cannot eat any more than that at one sitting. But...that's fine. That's about what most of my never-been-obese women friends eat, so...

as far as "finality" - a couple of thoughts. RNY is technically reversible, although it's a complicated surgery and is only done if you have a serious medical issue that cannot be resolved another way. Sleeve is not reversible. The other part of your stomach is gone forever. As for revisions, the most straightforward one for sleeve is DS, since at one time the sleeve was the first phase of the DS back when they did the DS in two stages (they discovered a lot of people were able to lose their weight just with stage one, so they started offering that as a standalone surgery a few years back, and it pretty much replaced the lapband back when that went out of vogue). They also do VSG to RNY revisions, but that's mostly when there's an unresolvable GERD issue. RNY usually improves - if not outright cures - GERD (not always - but usually).

RNY can be converted to DS, but that's a complicated surgery that only a handful of surgeons do. To do that, they have to reverse the RNY, then do the sleeve, then do the intestinal bypass (stage 2) part of the DS. Although to be honest, most people with RNY don't get revisions. We do see some revisions from VSG to RNY because of GERD, though.

10 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

I've never dumped, and no absorption issues. With the exception of Iron (some people can't absorb oral iron and have to have occasional infusions - but the vast majority of us do fine on oral iron). anyway, besides the iron, absorption issues are pretty uncommon as long as you keep on top of your Vitamins.

as for eating, I can eat anything now except for really fatty meals. For example, before surgery, I used to love to go out for Friday night fish fries. These would consist of two or three pieces of breaded, deep-fried fish, French fries, cole slaw with mayo, and a roll with butter. No way could I eat that much fat now. I could maybe have half a fried fish filet. Anything I had with that would have to have little to no fat. Other than that, I have no restrictions - I can eat everything I ate before, just in smaller quantities. As an example of that, before surgery, my husband and I would get a large pizza and each eat half of it. Now I can only eat one or two pieces. I physically cannot eat any more than that at one sitting. But...that's fine. That's about what most of my never-been-obese women friends eat, so...

as far as "finality" - a couple of thoughts. RNY is technically reversible, although it's a complicated surgery and is only done if you have a serious medical issue that cannot be resolved another way. Sleeve is not reversible. The other part of your stomach is gone forever. As for revisions, the most straightforward one for sleeve is DS, since at one time the sleeve was the first phase of the DS back when they did the DS in two stages (they discovered a lot of people were able to lose their weight just with stage one, so they started offering that as a standalone surgery a few years back, and it pretty much replaced the lapband back when that went out of vogue). They also do VSG to RNY revisions, but that's mostly when there's an unresolvable GERD issue. RNY usually improves - if not outright cures - GERD (not always - but usually).

RNY can be converted to DS, but that's a complicated surgery that only a handful of surgeons do. To do that, they have to reverse the RNY, then do the sleeve, then do the intestinal bypass (stage 2) part of the DS. Although to be honest, most people with RNY don't get revisions. We do see some revisions from VSG to RNY because of GERD, though.

This was SO helpful. THANK YOU. I hope you look and feel fabulous. Deep down I think the RNY is likely a better long term solution for me. I am struggling to bite the bullet since I am "thin" (yeah right) at 38-40 BM. and not what I always pictured a RNY candidate to be (like on My 600 Pound Life). Lots of self doubt if can i do this on my own without surgery. But I don't want to lose out on another year of my life when I could be on the road to health and fabulousness and the tool of surgery is so appealing when I've failed so many times. Have a wonderful holiday and Merry Christmas. Thank you again : )

10 hours ago, Sherry S said:

I've had the sleeve for 6 yrs and I have had gerd since day 1. My Dr never told me this was a side effect of sleeve. I am now on pantoprazole 2x a day and have had 2 endoscopies because of the gerd. If I had to do it over again I would of done intermittent fasting and very low carb to carnivore and not done surgery. I only lost 25 lbs and am doing IF to get the rest off.

This is SO good to know. It's a total crap shoot if the GERD will worsen or improve after surgery...but I've had issues even when I was thin...makiNG me think that I'll have issues without RNY. So sorry you haven't found much success with surgery and have suffered with acid- it can be such an uncomfortable and unbearable feeling. Any idea why the sleeve hasn't worked for dramatic weight loss? Did you follow strict diet protocols? Thanks in advance for sharing your story.

I had it so bad and did nothing about it - Finally called doctor and a little yellow pill to go with the blue pill fixed it

Only had to take them for a few weeks and it went away. DO NOT DO WHAT I DID get the pill. I ended up having to have my throat balloon surgery due to me letting it go to long - It sucked

5 hours ago, AJSassyPants said:

This was SO helpful. THANK YOU. I hope you look and feel fabulous. Deep down I think the RNY is likely a better long term solution for me. I am struggling to bite the bullet since I am "thin" (yeah right) at 38-40 BM. and not what I always pictured a RNY candidate to be (like on My 600 Pound Life). Lots of self doubt if can i do this on my own without surgery. But I don't want to lose out on another year of my life when I could be on the road to health and fabulousness and the tool of surgery is so appealing when I've failed so many times. Have a wonderful holiday and Merry Christmas. Thank you again : )

I think shows like "My 600 lb Life" give people some perceptions of WLS that aren't necessarily true. I went through the program with a pretty small group of people - there were maybe eight of us. I was BY FAR the biggest person in there. I would say the others weighed around 250-ish, give or take. In addition, I've co-lead the pre-op classes at my clinic for the last three or so years (that is, until COVID hit). I'd say the average class is around 25 people. Of those, maybe four or five appear to be over 300 lbs. Everyone else is in the 200s somewhere (or looks that way to me). Occasionally they'll get a person who looks like they might be in the low 400s. I've NEVER seen anyone who's the size of the people on "My 600 lb Life". I'm not even sure my clinic's surgeons would operate on someone that size. They probably refer them to a specialist like Dr. Now. But anyway, people at your BMI level do get RNY - esp those with a pre-existing GERD issue.

My GERD went away after the sleeve. No more acid reflux, no more GERD, no more taking Prilosec.

10 hours ago, AJSassyPants said:

This is SO good to know. It's a total crap shoot if the GERD will worsen or improve after surgery...but I've had issues even when I was thin...makiNG me think that I'll have issues without RNY. So sorry you haven't found much success with surgery and have suffered with acid- it can be such an uncomfortable and unbearable feeling. Any idea why the sleeve hasn't worked for dramatic weight loss? Did you follow strict diet protocols? Thanks in advance for sharing your story.

First of all Merry Christmas.

I never had GERD or stomach issues before the sleeve. I have had 2 endoscopies and I have non-healing ulcerated stricture of the esophagus which was caused from the GERD thus the 2 pantoprazole a day.

I now weigh 163, I forgot how to change my weight and ticker, and I did it by Intermittent Fasting - I eat only with in 8 hrs a day. I'm amazed how well it works and I do low carb. My goal is 142 lbs so 21 to go and I'm doing it by intermittent fasting. Lots of FB groups for it and info out there.

Research the good and the bad of surgery. I would also suggest before surgery trying IF and low carb. I don't know how much you have to loose, your age or health but with surgery there is no going back. Truthfully if I had to do it over again I wouldn't of had surgery. In truth I wanted an easy and fast fix. Surgery is not it. I have had to take stool softeners since surgery due to constipation. One good thing it did was normalize my BP which was only a little high.

I hope I've helped you a little with your choice and please remember there is no going back after surgery so research all you can and the Dr doing the surgery plays a big part.

I never had any heartburn/stomach acid issues... until I had my sleeve done in July. Once I allowed my omeprazole prescription to lapse (I didn't want to stay on it long term due to potentially serious long-term complications from the drug), oh boy... I was miserable. Heartburn, that awful taste of bile if I 'threw up in my mouth', I was having serious second thoughts. It was especially exacerbated by late-night eating or fried, fatty, or dairy foods.

Rather than go back on a PPI immediately, I first asked my doctor about alternatives to PPIs, and they suggested I try out Pepsid AC 1-2 times a day (once daily plus one additional proactively/reactively depending on a meal in question). It's actually made a huge difference. If I feel heartburn coming on or I'm about to have a spicy/fatty meal, I pop one (not exceeding 2x per day), and within 15 minutes or so all is well. It's been 2.5 months off PPIs and I'm surviving.

Being one that historically has indulged heavily in both very spicy and fried foods, it's definitely a struggle to rein in those impulses...

Keep in mind that h2 blockers like Pepcid don't decrease stomach acid production as much as PPIs do, so depending on your individual situation, Pepcid might not be effective. As always, consult with your physician, but there are options for controlling stomach acid, not to mention dietary changes.

I Had my sleeve surgery on nov 23 2020 and I have GERD. my doctor doesn’t understand what I’m going through. He only told me to take gaviscon which didn’t help at all because every time I take it I throw it up in like half an hour. the reason why he doesn’t understand me it’s because I’m only 17 and he thinks I’m overreacting. It’s been 2 months now and my GERD is not getting any better. i throw up almost anything I eat or drink everyday. I used to be on Nexium 40 2x a day but it turns out I’m allergic to one of the ingredients. I really need help because it came to the point where I literally fast everyday.

On 01/24/2021 at 04:15, JoriJori said:

I Had my sleeve surgery on nov 23 2020 and I have GERD. my doctor doesn’t understand what I’m going through. He only told me to take gaviscon which didn’t help at all because every time I take it I throw it up in like half an hour. the reason why he doesn’t understand me it’s because I’m only 17 and he thinks I’m overreacting. It’s been 2 months now and my GERD is not getting any better. i throw up almost anything I eat or drink everyday. I used to be on Nexium 40 2x a day but it turns out I’m allergic to one of the ingredients. I really need help because it came to the point where I literally fast everyday.

Sounds like you need to get a different doctor. I’m sorry you’re going through this, I hope you can find someone who listens. I thought you had to be at least 18 before you could get surgery?

On 1/28/2021 at 3:31 AM, Circus321 said:

Sounds like you need to get a different doctor. I’m sorry you’re going through this, I hope you can find someone who listens. I thought you had to be at least 18 before you could get surgery?

Thank you for caring. in my country they do weight loss surgeries starting from 12 years old.

On 12/24/2020 at 3:55 PM, Sherry S said:

I've had the sleeve for 6 yrs and I have had gerd since day 1. My Dr never told me this was a side effect of sleeve. I am now on pantoprazole 2x a day and have had 2 endoscopies because of the gerd. If I had to do it over again I would of done intermittent fasting and very low carb to carnivore and not done surgery. I only lost 25 lbs and am doing IF to get the rest off.

I hear you sister. No one tells you it's 30%, and no one tells you this isn't garden variety GERD. I call it VSG GERD - very different.