i went and saw my surgeon today to schedule my surgery date and i asked my docs opinion and he gave it to me. He said I was the perfect candidate for the RNY gastric bypass. i am just soooo confused I don't know what to do and feel like I need to make a decision and have no one to really talk to. Anyone have this situation?

My Dr recommended the RYN as well. I thank god everyday I made the RIGHT choice for me. I wanted to be more in control of the process. My mom did the bypass a few months after me and is having a very tough go of it, and not loosing well.

I would ask him as someone else suggested why? Research it more, both of them and present your case to him.

I told my Dr no, and found another one who recommended the band and supported me. DO what is right for you! Good luck!

Best of luck in your decision. Personally when I had my band done I wasn't even considering RNY, not because I don't "believe" in it but that it was just not that for me. I know 4 people who have had the RNY and are all 4-5+ years post op. I thought I would share some information on how everyone's experiences are different and it is just a tool and it affects bodies differently:

1) My best friend - lost ALL her excess weight and has kept it off, she has done fantastically. She does have some Iron absorption issues that she is working through as well as the standard malabsorption of other vitamins/minerals. She to this day still gets the dumping affect from eating high sugar/fat foods. Has not had PS.

2) My best friends cousin - she too lost all her excess weight. She however, has VERY BAD iron issues. So bad to the point where even the injections, oral supplements, etc. she was taking were not absorbing enough that she had to a have a partial blood transfusion. She will likely struggle with this for the rest of her life. (By the way, those iron injections in Canada are $400 a shot, not covered by medical). Has the other vitamin/mineral malabsorption issues. Has not had PS. Still suffers from dumping.

3) Friend - lost all her excess weight, suffers from dumping slightly, has had a PS. Do not know about her other issues (She went bitch mode and haven't talked to her in a few years).

4) Friend #3's sister - lost some of her excess weight, found a way to eat around RNY and gained a lot (if not most) of it back.

So as you can see everyone will have a different experience or result with either surgery. It's only a tool that you can work with. And yes there are the possible side effects of the band of erosion or slippage but the RNY has the side effects of dumping (and if you've ever seen someone dump oh my gosh it does not look fun), malabsorption, B12 shots, other possibilities (ie: friend who has to have mini-transfusions due to iron insufficiencies). Recovery time 1 week (band) vs 6 weeks (RNY) (and related to that, I lived with my best friend at the time of the RNY recovery and oh man it was not fun for her although if they do it lapriscopically now [?] then it may not be as bad but she had a big huge like 8" incision on her).

Of course I'm more band partial just because what I have seen first hand from my RNY friends, can both be successful if you work with them? You bet, you just need to decide what's right for you.

I know this is a band board, and right now I am still on the side of the band and that is why I am presenting my questions here where I am getting feedback from actual bandsters. In most of my reading I am finding that they are saying that the long term effects of the band are not known and that when you do need reoperation, it is usually from the band to a bypass and that it is a tricky thing to do because of the condition of the stomach. Please help me out with that one. I am hearing that the band after 5-7 years will need reoperation. I know too that many of the complications of bypass have been associated with the comorbidities that were present before surgery, I was wonderin if the nurse might address that one?

You guys are all very informative and have helped me out so much. I will keep you posted and would still like to receive comments as I am very open minded.

oh, my doc never said anything about there no longer being a dumping syndrome so I will have to ask about that. I thought the dumping was the whole point of making sure that you didn't eat sugar. Also I did want to add that I have been though both nutritional and emotional counseling and i am ready to commit to a healthy eating style and wol but I just am trying to find the best tool to help me do that. I also plan on attending support meetings at Park Ridge no matter what WLS I choose.

T. With the gastric bypass, etc. people have to be careful of mal absorbption for the rest of their lives. That was a major concern to me.

I was also worried because I knew in my heart of hearts I could eat around gastric by pass. With the band I will be able have a fill when I need it.

Just my opinion.

oh, my doc never said anything about there no longer being a dumping syndrome so I will have to ask about that. I thought the dumping was the whole point of making sure that you didn't eat sugar. Also I did want to add that I have been though both nutritional and emotional counseling and i am ready to commit to a healthy eating style and wol but I just am trying to find the best tool to help me do that. I also plan on attending support meetings at Park Ridge no matter what WLS I choose.

I have always thought that when a revision needed to be made in WLS it was usually from the gastric bypass to the band and not the other way around. I am not banded, however, in the research that I have done, what you have to remember is that with the gastric bypass, often times, the stomach stretches as times goes on. This is why people gain some of their weight back. As a result, they often have to get the lapband.

In most of my reading I am finding that they are saying that the long term effects of the band are not known and that when you do need reoperation, it is usually from the band to a bypass and that it is a tricky thing to do because of the condition of the stomach. Please help me out with that one. I am hearing that the band after 5-7 years will need reoperation. I know too that many of the complications of bypass have been associated with the comorbidities that were present before surgery, I was wonderin if the nurse might address that one?

I don't know where you are reading these things. Not only do you not have to have a re-operation in 5-7 years for the band, but there are people in one study who had their bands twelve years! There are also people who have had a problem with slippage or erosion and many of them were able to heal up and get a new band in as months, not years. There are others who decided to do a revision for RNY or another WLS and were quite able to.

OTOH, if you decide RNY is not for you, you can't have it undone and get a band.

Also, most of the complications of bypass are due to the malabsorption issues, not the co-morbidities. Maybe it was the mortality rate that is related to co-morbidities? RNY is often done on people with really high BMIs and serious co-morbidities and any surgery is more dangerous for them because of that. OTOH, it's not accurate to say that only they have a higher risk of dying than lap band patients. It's a more involved surgery -- organs are cut -- and it takes longer. Both of those things increase the mortality rate over an less invasive surgery that takes less time.

There definitely good reasons to get RNY but don't do it based on bad information.

Hope2be, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My doctor had suggested a bypass for me as well, and I was really set on receiving the lapband. Your response was EXACTLY what I needed to see. There are so many reasons (for me) why bypass is not ideal, and ultimately, that is all that matters.

OK, so I am about to have my surgery, and when I met with my surgeon last week, we discussed both band and bypass, so I just wanted to pass on what he said to me. I had previously been working with another surgeon, who seemed to be pushing me toward bypass, even though I had said I wanted the band. My new surgeon said that often, if a dr isn't as comfortable with one surgery or another, or as familiar with it because they don't do it as often, that they can push people toward the surgery that they are more familiar with. My new doc does both surgeries equally, so he looks at his patients histories and lives to see which surgery might be better. From what you've said about your dr, that he thinks that the kinks are still being worked out of the band, it seems like he might prefer bypass surgery.

Second, I am a huge sweet eater too, which was discussed. My doc said that, yes, the bypass can help with that problem because of dumping, but that the longer you have your bypass, the more variety of foods you can eat, and most people get back to being able to eat sweets. He said that he has had a lot of success with the band even with people that are sweet eaters, if they are diligent and get their fills. He said that it really depends on whether you're going to cheat with a candybar or with a hershey's kiss. The other thing to consider is that when you are on liquids, you will have the perfect opportunity to get unhooked from carbs. once you get unaddicted, then you might not have as big of a problem.

Third, and this was really the first thing I thought when I saw your post, is that you don't really weigh a whole lot. Don't take that the wrong way, please. What I mean is, you say weigh 225 and want to get down to 135. I don't know what your height is, but you seem to be less than 100 lbs overweight. I personally weigh 285, am 5'8, and so I have about 125 lbs to lose. The doctor said that with the bypass, he thinks that I would lose too much weight, and that he would have to teach me how to cheat so that he could slow it down. And from everything I've read about bypass (and I've read A LOT) it seems that it is not the best surgery for people with less weight to lose. The complications that come with it might be acceptable for someone who is 150 or 200+ lbs overweight and their life is at risk, but they aren't so acceptable when you aren't as big.

Last, at 37 (which is the new 27 so don't be offended), you might also want to consider how losing weight super quickly with the bypass will affect your body. Only you know your body, and your skin in particular, but the older we get, the less forgiving our skin is. You can get saggy skin with either surgery, but it seems more prevalent with bypass because you lose your weight much quicker. Perhaps this isn't a concern for you because you have more $$ to spend on getting everything fixed in the end, but I know that it is definitely a concern for me.

OK, so I think I've already written a book, but hopefully what I've said has helped your decision a little bit.

Hope2be, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My doctor had suggested a bypass for me as well, and I was really set on receiving the lapband. Your response was EXACTLY what I needed to see. There are so many reasons (for me) why bypass is not ideal, and ultimately, that is all that matters.

Did you know you can't really eat sugar with RYN? You will most likely experience the dumping syndrome. With the band you can eat everything just less of it. I would never have RYN. I really hope you get the support you need to make the right decision. Good luck.

Another plus for the band for me was the thought that the medical community may come up with better solutions for obesity in the future. My band can be removed and I can change to whatever is state of the art for obesity treatment later on. If I have major parts of my digestive tract removed, I would guess my future options would be more limited.