Hi all, I'm new. I'm from the UK. I'm trying to decide between a sleeve and a bypass. I think a bypass may be a better fit but I'm scared about getting urgent diarrhea and whether more foods are off limits with a bypass?

I think it's probably about the same for either but the bypass is a bit more scary because ts more invasive.

I know everyone is different and what happens to one person might not happen to another but I'm just trying to get a gauage. I know you have to learn your foods and if you try something new you would do it at home ......I suppose I'm looking for reassurance ..,and honesty lol ?

Deciding which surgery to have is not straight forward & it’s a good idea to ask for real life experiences to help you decide. Some factors will direct you more to one or the other more easily. Like some surgeons recommend bypass over sleeve if you have a larger amount of weight to lose. If you have reflux/gerd already the sleeve really isn’t for you. Then it becomes lifestyle choices, existing medical conditions, weight loss history, etc. that will influence your decision.

I had sleeve surgery even though I had occasional reflux. I experience it more now but it manifests differently. One of the reasons I chose the sleeve was because it would change my digestion the least but also because I could revise to a bypass if I needed in the future. My tummy has always been a sensitive (lactose, spice esp chilli, fatty or oily foods, etc.) because of the reflux, a parasite in my gut, an acid tummy & just me. Consequently, I thought I’d be more likely to end up with additional food limitations with a bypass.

27 months on & I’m happy with my sleeve. There are odd foods I’m not good with. Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes sit like a weight in my tummy. Dry meat & vegetables like char grilled ones cause the foamies & gagging. Oily fish upset me more now than before surgery. But this is very individual & you can’t predict it. Amusingly I’m way better with dairy than I was before - tossed that parasite with most of my tummy. I find it harder to find non spicy & non chilli food than foods I eat with my sleeve.

Foods you struggle to eat in the first couple of months after surgery may be fine later on. Your tummy can be sensitive to begin & you might have episodes of diarrhoea, vomiting, dumping, foamies. It can help if you introduce foods back into your diet slowly. Most of this is temporary or only if you eat a specific food & I just try to avoid those I know upset me. Some people, though, seem to have no issues with food at all. These experiences seem to be similar across the surgeries.

I remember my mother lamenting she didn’t know what food to buy when I visited her. The reality was she didn’t have to buy different foods or cook differently (mind you I’d always do the shopping & cooking when I’m there). I just bought my own yoghurt & protein bar snacks but otherwise we ate the same foods except she has dessert & slightly larger portions.

You may choose to make a lot of changes to your long term maintenance diet (I have - rarely have sweet cakes, biscuits or desserts, no fast foods, etc.). You may chose to go the moderation path & still include the odd take away, sweet treat, etc. Doesn’t matter what form your maintenance diet takes it just has to be sustainable for you & how you want to live your life.

Good luck with which ever surgery you choose.

Thank you so much for your reply. Really helpful. My stomach can be a bit sensitive too... That's what worries me a bit with a bypass?

diet plans are the same for both surgeries, so there won't be more restrictions for bypass than there are for sleeve (and once you're out a ways, there are no restrictions. That's not to say you won't have intolerances to certain foods (you might - or you might not - and that would be the case with either surgery), but beyond the first few weeks or months, there aren't any restrictions

since you have a sensitive stomach, I don't think either surgery is going to be better or worse. Don't forget that they remove 80% of your stomach with sleeve, so as far as your stomach goes, either surgery is going to be traumatic since they cut into it (or in the case of bypass, staple it off)

diarrhea isn't common with bypass. The opposite, constipation, is very common with both surgeries. I wouldn't worry about urgent diarrhea. You hear about that more with the DS, which you are not considering. It's not that it never happens with bypass or sleeve, but it's not very common.

19 hours ago, Lou51 said:

Hi all, I'm new. I'm from the UK. I'm trying to decide between a sleeve and a bypass. I think a bypass may be a better fit but I'm scared about getting urgent diarrhea and whether more foods are off limits with a bypass?

I think it's probably about the same for either but the bypass is a bit more scary because ts more invasive.

I know everyone is different and what happens to one person might not happen to another but I'm just trying to get a gauage. I know you have to learn your foods and if you try something new you would do it at home ......I suppose I'm looking for reassurance ..,and honesty lol ?

I've had both. I had the sleeve for 5 years and revise to a bypass just recently. The urgent diarrhea happened with the sleeve too, and some of them dump. I dumped with it, unfortunately. This is just for me... But if I had to do it all over again, I would skip the gastric sleeve and go RNY. Post-op sleeved, I was hungry from the beginning and not too long after I develop Gerd. I'm post-op RNY now and I don't feel hungry at all. The VSG surgery and RNY was basically the same pain level.

Having said that, they are both good choices. Not everyone develops Gerd from the sleeve.

Thank you both..... Can you tell me what DS is? And Gerd? Do you mean hunger?

For me, the choice came down to some non-physical things (i.e., the idea of my guts being rearranged with the RNY, or the stomach being removed for the sleeve). I considered my lifestyle. I travel quite a bit for work and am not always in control of the food put in front of me for a meal. I travel to remote parts of the third world, where culturally refusing something to eat or drink is seen as very rude and can impact my ability to do my job, so I've eaten some...things. Let's just leave it at that. I opted for the sleeve because with the larger stomach pouch post-op, I was less worried about dehydration and there is a lower chance of having dumping syndrome if I eat something too sugary or too fatty when I'm out.

Good luck with your choice, it is a difficult one!

PS...DS is a dudoneal switch and GERD is Gastro-esophegeal reflux disease (acid reflux)

Thank you, and thank you clarifying those terms ?