ryn vs sleeve help please...

As some of you know i am scheduled for bypass surgery july 1st.....that being said i am second guessing my decision and wondering if sleeve is better choice for me.....

So i have a bmi of 35(liteweight i think), i have lost weight in the past but always put it back on....

I do not have diabetes, or high blood pressure.....but i was gustational with my children...and diabetes runs rampid in my family....my father just passed away from it and the doctors have been on my case about losing weight or i will end up with it...

I would not say i am a huge sweet eater.... I am a carb a holic.....Do carbs make you dump...  I have 75 pounds to lose.....my like with the ryn is I am hoping that if i eat any carbs it makes me pay....and i am not sure how the sleeve would work with that....

All these posts on seizure, low blood sugar, etc have me very overwhelmed...and questioning my decision.....

any suggestions would be helpful...would you do the sleeve or the ryn?

Thanks in advance...

I had a RNY on May 25th and it wasn't my first choice.  I really wanted the sleeve....badly, but my GERD prevented that.  If I could chose, it would have been the sleeve.  The difference between the two is the malabsorption.  With the sleeve, all you get is the restrictive stomach.  You will still have to watch what you eat because you obviously have to meet your protein requirements, and you will still need to take vitamins, but you will be able to absorb more than with the RNY.  This includes vitamins AND calories.  I don't think you "dump" with the sleeve. 

There are plenty of other differences - you really should read up on them, but these are the biggest that I can think of right now.

Hope this helps!!

There is much more data on RNY than on sleeve history. RNY has been done for 40 years, whereas sleeve is only a couple of years old.  My mom developed diabetes at age 55.  She spent the past 33 years dealing with it, and complications added to the cause of death last month.  I was 59 when I had my RNY, and I figured I was likely to have a genetic component that would likely make me develop diabetes. My BMI was 39.5 with high bp, cholesterol issues, CPAP user for 15 years, etc.  My surgeon does both sleeve and RNY, and his surgical nurse said that limited data available still tends to lean toward the RNY for better wt loss.  If you have a major issue with diabetes in your family, as you stated, RNY is probably the best choice.  There are several people in my support group who only needed to lose around 100 pounds, but they elected RNY primarily to deal with ongoing diabetes issues.  DAVE

thank you dave...that is exactly what i wanted to know if i had a better chance to fight diabetes with ryn or with the sleeve.....that is a huge factor with me....but i was not sure....my risk is that much higher with diabetes because of the fact that i was gustational with my children....and its is rampid in my family....

I was borderline diabetic pre-op.  I had horrible gestational diabetes with both of my kids and gained close to 80 pounds with my oldest.  I haven't had any issues with my blood sugar since surgery at all.  I had horrible GERD pre-op.  The only reason I've had to take antacids since surgery is for an ulcer. 

If I had my choice I probably would of done the DS, but it wasn't covered by my insurance and I didn't want to fight it.  I chose the RNY because I felt I wouldn't be able to lose with restriction alone.  I wasn't SMO....yet but I was headed that way.  I didn't want to wait until my weight was higher and I was more miserable.  I have kids and I have to live for not only myself, but for them.  Dave is right the long term data on the RNY is better than the VSG.  I'm not saying the VSG isn't a wonderful surgery but it's not for everyone.  RNY isn't for everyone.  The only surgery I didn't consider was the band.  Not enough money in the world to make me get that.

My ONLY complaint about the RNY is not being able to take NSAIDS.   However, if you don't have chronic pain that shouldn't be too much of an issue for you.  People with problems such as RA, Fibro and Lupus run into issues post-op because we can't take NSAIDS and they help a lot with the pain.  That isn't enough to make me wish I had the VSG though.  There are alternatives to NSAIDS and my pain is well controlled for the most part.  

How old are your kids?  I always say I did this for my children.  I don't want to be the mom on the park bench watching them play.  I want to be the one running after them, playing with them.  This surgery is allowing me to be that mom.

my children are 3 and 7 ..... and my main reason for choosing ryn was because of the diabetes...I lost my dad two months ago and that was a wake up call for me.....I am self pay as i would take me about 5 years to get through all the hoops with our medical........and ds i never really looked in to it because where i did look my bmi was to low.....

I am going to Mexico... i have 4 friends who have had surgery there at dr.joya...2 having sleeve and 2 having ryn.... (all of them being successful)

do you know...do you dump on carbs??

I am worried that restriction enough is not enough for me that i need the dumping and the malabsortion....that is why i was leaning to ryn....

I find it really confusing on what vitamins to take (as my two friends who have it are 2 years and 4 years out and take nothing)....

So i feel so overwhelmed.....etc...

I am so thankful that i found this board....

I would hate to see their labs!  I do dump on carbs, but most people don't.  I dump on white carbs like breads, pasta and stuff like that.  Those were my vice pre-op so it's a great deterent.  Not everyone dumps though, be prepared for that.  I think the stats are like 30% of people dump after RNY.  Dumping was part of the reason I chose the RNY.  I was really sensitive to sugar pre-op so I figured I would be post-op.  I was right.  I needed the restriction annd malabsorption.  I had dieted before with no success so there was definitely some metabolic issues going on especially with me having PCOS. 

It is incredibly overwhelming, but it's not hard.  The vitamins aren't bad.  I obviously take more than someone who has had VSG or the Band, but it isn't hard to keep up with.  My vitamin schedule looks like this:

7AM- Multi-vitamin, Wellbutrin, B-12 Sublingual (every other day), D3 2,000IU
9AM-Iron
11AM-  Calcium 500mgs
1PM- Calcium 500mgs
3PM- Calcium 500mgs
5PM- Calcium 500mgs
7PM- Multi vitamin, probiotic, D3 2,000IU
9PM- Iron, Protonix, Seroquel, Flexeril

That's a typical day for me.  You're probably wondering why I take some much Calcium.  We need 1500-2000mgs according to the ASMBS.  I aim for 2000 since I have a family history of bone disease and I have chronically low Vitamin-D.  Also we can't absorb more than 500mgs of calcium at a time so I split them up and take them every two hours. 

The main thing you want to make sure is that you are getting the right kind of vitaimns.  For example, a lot of places sell Calcium Carbonate but we don't absorb that and need Calcium Citrate.  I don't buy special Bariatric Vitaimns.  My multivitamin is Centrum Silver.  


Any time you feel overwhelmed, post on here especially concerning vitamins.  There are so many veterans who provide invaluable information to us when we're figuring it all out.

Actually there is a lot of data on the sleeve its just not under as a weight loss surgery. Back in the day when you a person had really bad ulcers they would cut them out of the stomach sometimes leaving them with less than half a stomach.  I'm not sure what the surgery is under but it has lots of info because it has been done for many years.

I think you really need to check out the VSG forum and ask some questions on there.

thank you to all that replied.....i am going to read more tonight and hopefully get a clearer decision in my mind.....

 Dorky as it sounds, I'd highly suggest making a list of pros and cons. That's what I did, and that's how I ended up choosing the RNY. Good luck!