Has anyone ever thought.....

Has anyone ever thought about having the second stage of the DS done???  Whats everyones thoughts???

 You might want to visit the DS board. For me, I'd rather not have to deal with the medical follow-up needed due to the high degree of malabsorption, but if it were a choice between that and the obesity I was prepared to go that route. 

Thankfully the sleeve has already gotten me most of the way there in 6 months and I'm still losing well, so it isn't necessary for me.

Some folks really need the malabsorption, but the DS is a serious life-long commitment to being your own health advocate.

It's always in the back of my mind, and I suspect that a fair number of people here will ultimately have to do it if they can't get their demons under control. There is some reason to hope that regain resistance will be better with the sleeve than with the RNY, but the RNY isn't overly impressive in that regard to begin with.

The downside of doing an unplanned second stage DS (as opposed to doing it planned and scheduled due to health concerns over the long single stage procedure) is that unless you pull the trigger and go for the revision as soon as its apparent that regain is not being controlled and wait until you regain the majority of your lost weight or more, the results are not as good as if you do it early - and who's going to commit to that after gaining 10-20lb? Further, insurance usually won't cover it until you get back to the normal qualifying 35/40 BMI levels.

The DS was the only other procedure that I considered (my wife had one a few years ago and has done well with it - the follow up and dietary/supplementation issues are nothing compared to the issues of being 60+ BMI) but since I had already lost a decent amount of weight and maintained it long term pre-op (2-3 years is long term in the weight loss world where loss over a year is considered a "success") I decided that the risk of needing a revision was something that I could live with.

Honestly, no.

Not because I don't think it's a great option for some.

It's a simple fact that I would not be compliant. Not due to stupidity, or any lack of education on what is needed to stay compliant with DS, it's simply a matter of fact that the DS lifestyle is NOT something I would do nor do I want to do for the rest of my life.

I wanted normalcy, and my definition of normalcy is not taking 20-30 vitamins per day to ensure that I do not get deficient. That's the main reason. None of the other dietary issues bother me. I could live without carbs, and eat lots of fat and protein without issue, it's mainly the vitamin/supplement regimen that is not something that I am willing to live with for the rest of my life.

I researched it, I read success stories, I also read stories of regain and a couple of DS'ers not getting to goal.

I had no co-morbidities, nor and metabolic issues to contend with that could hinder my success. And, I've said it on here before, I would rather live with 20 more pounds than the DS lifestyle. I know that sounds foolish, BUT I know what I'm willing to live with.

This is more than likely to start a major conflict, and my comments will possibly garner a bunch of DS'ers to come in here and jump on me, and that's okay. So, I'll apologize ahead of time if your topic gets turned into an all out war.