ObesityHelp

Take this for what it's worth.  I am telling you up front that I am NOT an "Expert" on Weight Loss Surgery.  I encourage EVERYONE to RESEARCH EACH surgical option FOR THEMSELVES!  THIS is the information that I have found in MY research.  I have posted it here for people in an effort to help GUIDE folks and help them START their OWN journey into their OWN research.

There are a LOT of differences in the different types of surgical procedures.  There are a LOT of differences in different SURGEONS.  Some surgeons require more of their patients than others.  Some PROCEDURES require more of the patient than others.  You need to do some research and find the BEST fit for YOU.  I just had a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy 3 weeks ago.  My surgeon did NOT require me to lose weight.  I had a BMI of 43.6.  Now that isn't NEARLY as bad as many people.  Had I been HEAVIER, he may HAVE required it.  I don't know.  What I CAN tell you is that I was having problems with arthritis in my knees and my shoulder.  That was three weeks ago.  Now it is almost GONE.  There is just a TWINGE every now and again but NOTHING NEAR the constant agony that I was in before!  I was also a Diabetic 3 weeks ago.  I have had to DROP all of my diabetes medications a few days ago because the ONE glucovance pill that I was taking caused me to have my blood sugar to DROP to 53 POINTS!  My sugars are still a LITTLE high, but under 150 and WITHOUT medication!  In a FEW weeks with some MORE weight loss, I figure that my diabetes will be in COMPLETE remission!  I have lost 36 pounds in a little over 3 weeks with my surgery and it was done WITHOUT feeling HUNGRY! 

Here is a link to a site on AOL that gives you a brief overview of the most common weight loss surgeries plus one that is not quite so common.  It will give you an idea of what these surgeries are about but does not go into much detail.  Here is the link:  http://www.aolhealth.com/condition-center/obesity/weight-loss-surgery?icid=1615984945x1203971396x1200410494 .

From what I have learned, your MAIN options are the LapBand, the Vertical Banded Gastroplasty, the Gastric Bypass, The Duodenal Switch and the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy.  There are other options, I am sure, but these are the most common that I have found.  There are also combinations of these options ALSO available such as the Banded Duodenal Switch, the Banded Gastric Bypass, and the Banded Sleeve Gastrectomy.  The Banded options are basically the same as the Regular surgeries but they have a LapBand added as additional insurance in case of future need.

The LapBand: (http://www.obesityhelp.com/content/wlsurgery.html#LapBand) is well known.  It basically squeezes the stomach to make it smaller and creates a pouch with a restriction at the top of the stomach which fills quickly and empties slowly.  The advantages of this surgery are that it is reversible if needed and it is adjustable if needed.  It is a HIGHLY flexible procedure.  This surgery is well known and excepted by many insurance companies.  It may be best for people who have a history of cancer either themselves or in their family and may need to take chemo-therapy and for women in childbearing years who may become pregnant.  There are also other reasons for wanting this type of surgery, but I don't want to spend ALL day writing this.  There is an effective Excess body weight loss over 3 to 5 years of 50% to 60% noted in some studies.  The PROBLEM with this option is that there are sometimes complications with this device.  Some people have a reaction to the foreign object in their body.  People with immune issues should NOT have this device.  Lupus and MS patients for example, can have a reaction to the foreign body and it may trigger an immune system response.  Other issues with the LapBand are that it is common for the band to "Slip" on the stomach and cause the pouch to enlarge thus causing the person with the device to eat more and negating the purpose of the surgery.  Some surgeons have started stitching the band to the stomach to prevent this from happening.  It would be wise to ask your surgeon if you are considering this option if he does this.  Other times people have learned to "Eat around the Band" and force the food PAST the band to fill up the rest of the stomach and thus defeat the purpose of the band.  Actually, this is an issue with ALL weight loss surgeries.  All can be defeated by a patient who is either ignorant or intent on doing so.  It seems to be MORE common with the Banded options, however.  Another issue with Banded options is that occasionally the bands will erode the outside lining of the stomach causing damage to the stomach that often needs repairs and calls for a removal of the band and or a revision to some other type of weight loss option.  This happens in about less than 1% of the LapBand Surgeries but it IS something that needs to be taken into consideration.

I have recently stumbled upon an EXCELLENT video showing an operation that features a LapBand Weight Loss Surgery!   CAUTION!  THE VIDEO IS GRAPHIC!  IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH, I SUGGEST that you just START the video and put it in the background somewhere and LISTEN!  There is some GREAT INFORMATION given during the procedure and I found it to be QUITE FASCINATING!  The link can be found HERE: 
http://www.or-live.com/duluthclinic/2040/event/rnh.cfm?

 In the Vertical Banded Gastroplasty: (http://www.obesityhelp.com/content/wlsurgery.html#VBG) (commonly known as stomach stapling) the surgeon makes a cut into the stomach to create a pouch.  He sews the pouch and places a band at the bottom of the pouch.  This banded option has less chance of the band slipping since the cut in the stomach holds it into place.  It also has the advantage of being somewhat reversible but is not as easily reversible as the LapBand.  It is NOT as well known as it's more famous banded cousin, the LapBand.  There my be difficulties in getting this option with some insurance companies.  It has many of the advantages and disadvantages of the LapBand surgery with the exception that the Band does not tend to slip and let the pouch expand.

An excellent link that better explains the pros and cons of this procedure than I can can be found here: http://obesitysurgerynjnyct.com/weight-loss-surgery-options.html.   It also discusses some of the other procedures to some extent.

 The Gastric Bypass:  ( http://www.obesityhelp.com/content/wlsurgery.html#RNY) is made when the surgeon cuts the TOP of the stomach off and creates a pouch.  An OLDER version of this surgery left the stomach intact but had a line of staples that was used to create the pouch.  This method is no longer in use much if at all.  The surgeon then takes a length of intestine and BYPASSES it.  He takes the LOOSE end that is still attached to the intestines and sews it to the SIDE of the pouch that was created from the TOP of the stomach.  The BYPASSED intestine is then attached to the side of the intestine that was connected to the pouch so that BILE from the bile duct can empty bile from the liver into the intestine.  This option is often the DARLING of insurance companies.  Many companies that won't pay for any OTHER Weight Loss Surgeries will pay for THIS one.  THAT makes THIS surgery quite popular for many surgeons!  This surgery has the advantage of being a HIGHLY effective tool in the arsenal of weapons against the foe obesity!  It has an effective rate of weight loss and maintenance of 60 to 80% in some studies at 1 to 2 years.   The DOWNSIDE of this weight loss option is that there issues of malabsortion of minerals and vitamins due to the bypassed intestine.   This often leaves the patient reliant on his doctor for the special supplements required to maintain his or her health.  Other issues are dumping, nausea, and vomiting.  Dumping is basically when you have diarrhea that is caused by the intestine's inability to absorb the food that was eaten.  Along with the diarrhea can come intestinal cramping, sweating, palpitations and other unpleasant side effects.  Some people experience dumping with sweets. Others experience it with fats.  Each person seems to have their own issues but whatever they are, they cause them to excrete the food that they ate before it was fully digested.  Nausea and vomiting, while experienced by many in ALL weight loss surgeries is NOT experienced by ALL.  It does seem to be MORE PREVALENT in the GASTRIC BYPASS and DUODENAL SWITCH patients according to the research that I have seen.  The gas and foul smelling stool are also a result of the shortened digestive process due to the bypassed intestine in both the Gastric Bypass and the Duodenal Switch.

I have recently stumbled upon an EXCELLENT video showing an operation that features a Gastric Bypass (otherwise known as the Roux-en-Y)!   CAUTION!  THE VIDEO IS GRAPHIC!  IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH, I SUGGEST that you just START the video and put it in the background somewhere and LISTEN!  There is some GREAT INFORMATION given during the procedure and I found it to be QUITE FASCINATING!  The link can be found HERE: http://www.or-live.com/PinnacleHealth/2119/event/rnh.cfm?

"Mini Gastric Bypass": 
This was quite popular a while back but there where problems that were soon discovered that KEPT the procedure from REMAINING a popular option. You can read MORE about this procedure at this site: http://ezinearticles.com/?Mini-Gastric-Bypass---The-Ideal-Weight-Loss-Solution&id=361143 . What follows is a direct copy of the entry for the post on the Mini Gastric Bypass in the section defining the procedure under the Variations of the Gastric Bypass in WikiPedia. "Loop Gastric bypass ("Mini-gastric bypass"): The first use of the gastric bypass, in 1967, used a loop of small bowel for re-construction, rather than a Y-construction as is prevalent today. Although simpler to create, this approach allowed bile and pancreatic enzymes from the small bowel to enter the esophagus, sometimes causing severe inflammation and ulceration of either the stomach or the lower esophagus. If a leak into the abdomen occurs, this corrosive fluid can cause severe consequences. Numerous studies show the loop reconstruction (Billroth II gastrojejunostomy) works more safely when placed low on the stomach, but can be a disaster when placed adjacent to the esophagus. Thus even today thousands of "loops" are used for general surgical procedures such as ulcer surgery, stomach cancer and injury to the stomach, but bariatric surgeons abandoned use of the construction in the 1970s, when it was recognized that its risk is not justified for weight management. The Mini-Gastric Bypass, which uses the loop reconstruction, has been suggested as an alternative to the Roux en-Y procedure, due to the simplicity of its construction, which reduced the challenge of laparoscopic surgery. It is claimed that construction of a long tubular gastric pouch reduces the risk of inflammatory complications, and renders it as safe as the RNY technique." While it has been CLAIMED that the change to a longer tubular Gastric pouch reduces the risk of inflammatory complications, there is little research that PROVES it. If you are interested in having this procedure done, keep this in mind. The entry for Gastric Bypass in WikiPedia can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_bypass_surgery . Here is a short animation that shows what is done for the Mini Gastric Bypass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFQPLF9IjtI .

 The Duodenal Switch: (http://www.obesityhelp.com/content/wlsurgery.html#DS ) is the STRONGEST tool in this arsenal of weapons!  Many surgeons think it shouldn't be used lightly and often only recommend the procedure for people with a body mass index OVER 50!  In the Duodenal Switch, the surgeon REMOVES approximately 85% of the stomach including MOST of the region of the stomach that produces the hormone grehlin.  Grehlin is one of the hormones that create HUNGER.  Removing the section of the stomach that creates hunger is a HUGE feature of this procedure.  The surgeons then sew the rest of the stomach back together and create a tube shaped stomach that resists stretching.  The stomach varies in size depending on the surgeon and the patient but can be anywhere from 2 ounces to 6 ounces.  Perhaps more.  The next step of this procedure involves bypassing the intestine just like in the Gastric Bypass.  Instead of attaching the intestine to the SIDE of the stomach, it is attached to the BOTTOM of the stomach where the intestine used to exit.  The bypassed intestine is then sewn at one end near the liver and the far end of the intestine is sewn to the intestine that was attached to the stomach to pass bile to the intestines as it does in the gastric bypass.  This procedure is MORE efficient than the Gastric Bypass in losing weight.  This option has an effective rate of weight loss and maintenance of 70 to 90% in those same studies.  The downside when compared to the Gastric Bypass is that Insurance companies often do not know of this option and are often reluctant to pay for it.  This option has many of the same issues as the Gastric Bypass.  There are some severe malabsorbtion issues.  There are often issues with dumping, nausea, vomiting, GERD (acid reflux), gas and foul smelling stools.  Many surgeons have been reluctant to perform this surgery due to the severity of the complications that can arise.  This is why it is often reserved for those who are considered severely morbidly obese.  Many surgeons had looked for an alternative to this surgery which lead to what was initially considered a "Half Duodenal Switch" or as it later became known, the "Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy."

I have recently stumbled upon an EXCELLENT video showing an operation that features a Duodenal Switch!   CAUTION!  THE VIDEO IS GRAPHIC!  IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH, I SUGGEST that you do not watch!  There is NO AUDIO during the procedure but I found it to be QUITE FASCINATING!  It HELPS if you have STUDIED what goes on in this type of surgery since there is NO COMMENTARY. 

To get a better idea of what goes on in THIS type of surgery, I suggest you watch the videos for the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, which will give you an idea of what happens in the FIRST part of this surgery, and also watch the video for the Gastric Bypass which will give you an idea of what goes on in the SECOND part of the video for the SWITCH part.  THEN watch the videos that follow.

The link for the Sleeve segment of the surgery can be found HERE (it is a WMP download of a video clip that is approximately 9 minutes in length--be patient):  http://www.advancedobesitysurgery.com/images/Lap%20Duodenal%20Switch%20Full%20WMV.wmv

Here is where you can find the section on the SWITCH part of the procedure (this segment is only a WMP download of 3 minutes and 36 seconds long): http://www.advancedobesitysurgery.com/images/
Duodenal%20Switch%20D-I%20Clip%20WMV.wmv

A digitalized and sanitized "Cutaway view" of the procedure can be found here to help better visualize what this procedure is about.  The video has no voice-over or writing and is self explanatory.  It is only One minute and seven seconds long so take some time and view it.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRzchYqUETs&feature=related

Some of these clips and MORE information about this type of surgery and OTHERS can be found HERE: http://www.gastricbypasssanfrancisco.com/duodenal-switch-interactive.htm

 The Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy:  (http://www.obesityhelp.com/content/wlsurgery.html#VSG) (if you get the same picture as the Vertical Banded Gastroplasy, just scroll UP) is a GREAT tool to use in the fight against obesity.  While not QUITE as effective as the Duodenal Switch, it is often JUST as effective as the Gastric Bypass without the severity of the side effects of EITHER of those two options.  The Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy initially started as an attempt to create a safer Duodenal Switch alternative.  While early attempts were not as successful in weight loss reduction, this was mainly due to the fact that the surgeons were relying on the larger size stomach often used for the Duodenal Switch patients who often rely on the "Switch" part of the surgery for some of the weight loss.  Once the surgeons started reducing the size of the STOMACH, the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy became a much more effective tool at helping the patient loose weight.  In the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, the stomach is cut and approximately 85% of it is removed.  Just like the Duodenal Switch, most of the cells that produce the hormone grehlin are removed.  This eliminates most of the hunger that the patient used to have, if not all of it.  The stomach that is made from what is left is turned into a tube that is resistant to stretching.  This tube is often designed to hold from 2 to 4 ounces of food or liquid.  At this point the surgery is complete.  The surgeons just need to close up and the patient needs to recover.  The upside to this surgery is that it is simple and has one of the LOWEST rates of complications of all the weight loss surgeries.  It also has one of the HIGHEST rates of excess weight loss with one study in California coming in starting at 58% to 77.9% loss in a ONE to TWO year study and one doctor in England reporting that 100% of his patients had a weight loss and maintenance OVER 70% at 6 YEARS of living with the Sleeve.  He also reported that patients with hypertension, diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, obstructive sleep apnea, asthma, or arthritis were all cured or improved after surgery.  It has also been said that this is the ONLY recommended option for people with immune system problems.  People with diseases like Lupus or MS can have this procedure because there is NO foreign object placed in their body.  This also is one of the few recommended options for people with organ transplants.  People with transplants need their intestines to metabolize their anti rejection medications.  There are possible issues with GERD in this surgery as there are with the Duodenal Switch There are NO malabsorbtion issues with this surgery.  There are NO additional foul odors.  There is NO additional intestinal gas.  While nausea and vomiting is common in ALL weight loss surgeries, it is NO MORE PREVALENT in the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy than in most of the other options.  If needed, the Vertical Sleeve Gastrecomy can be easily converted to a Duodenal Switch should additional Weight Loss measures need to be taken at a later date.  This act is called a "Revision."  Having your Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy converted to a Duodenal Switch would be said to be having a, "Revision of your Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy to a Duodenal Switch."

The Biggest DOWNSIDE to the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy is that it is considered "Experimental" by many insurance companies.  While it has not been practiced HERE in the US as a weight loss option for very long (about 5 years or so) it has been done for QUITE a while in Central and South America and in Europe for quite some time.  The surgery has been used HERE in the US for OTHER reasons for QUITE a while.  It has been used QUITE effectively to treat stomach cancers and ulcers with good effect.  These treatments have been done in the US for quite some time.

Options for getting surgeries that are not paid for by insurance can be found if you are persistent.  You can sometimes petition the company and get them to reconsider with a doctor's explanation.  You can also self pay or take out a loan.  Many times, the surgeries are cheaper in Mexico or other central or South American countries.  Do some research to find your options.

I have recently stumbled upon an EXCELLENT video showing an operation that features a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy!  Credit for this find MUST go to geauxtigers!  I clicked on a post that geauxtigers had made telling of a Video of a VSG.  Here I found THIS GEM!  CAUTION!  THE VIDEO IS GRAPHIC!  IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH, I SUGGEST that you just START the video and put it in the background somewhere and LISTEN!  There is some GREAT INFORMATION given during the procedure and I found it to be QUITE FASCINATING!  The link can be found HERE: http://www.or-live.com/ololrmc/2002/event_flash/rnh.cfm?

 Whatever surgical option you choose, for whatever REASON you choose, we are ALL here for the same reason.  We are here to HELP and BE HELPED.  Please, let's respect each other.

 I hope this helps

 Hugh.

WELL, WHAT a WEEK!  

My week started with me at 328 pounds.  It ended with me at 318 pounds.  This is a loss of 11 POUNDS in ONE WEEK!  ALL THAT FROM A PROCEDURE THAT DOESN'T EVEN WORK!  Or so I have been told from a self proclaimed "Expert" in Weight Loss Surgeries.  To be fair, the "Expert" did say that I would lose weight to begin with but would regain it.  I have research that proves the "Expert" wrong so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  I ran into this rather unpleasant person while answering a request for information by a young lady that was forwarded to my email mailbox.  This was my REGULAR email mailbox and not the one associated with the account for this site.  The young lady had asked people why they chose their surgery.  I answered and gave her MY story.  MY story was about MY options.  MY options included the LapBand, the Vertical Banded Gastroplasty, the Gastric Bypass and the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy.  There are OTHER types of surgeries out there, but I was not OFFERED them and I did not KNOW of MOST of them so I did not MENTION them.  Almost as soon as I finished my post, I was attacked for spreading inaccuracies about a surgical procedure that I had never even HEARD about, let alone MENTION!  The procedure that I was wrongly accused of maligning was the Duodenal Switch which I LATER found out was the PRECURSOR to the very surgery that I had undergone, the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy!  The Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, I came to discover, is HALF of the Duodenal Switch!  In the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, the surgeons remove about 85% of your stomach including most of the section of the stomach that creates the substance called grehlin.  Grehlin is a hormone that is instrumental in producing HUNGER!  Without the cells that produce grehlin, you no longer feel hungry!  The surgeons remove most of the stomach, as I said before, and then sew what is left back into the shape of a tube that holds roughly about 4 ounces of food or liquid.  With the Vertical Sleeve Gastectomy, the surgery stops here.  With the duodenal switch, the surgeons continue and cut a length of intestine out (about 10 feet if I recall correctly) and "Bypass" it.  They hook the end of the intestine that is still attached to the rest of the intestine and hook it up to where the stomach empties into the intestine.  Now, both ends of the "Bypassed" intestine are free.  One end is still hooked up to the bile duct.  The Surgeons close the end closest to the bile duct and hook the end FARTHEST from the bile duct to the intestine that was just re-routed to bypass the section that they just connected.  Now let me say this:  I am just a layman.  I am NOT an expert.  I have just researched this and some of the information MAY be a little off.  I don't THINK it is.  I wouldn't bet my LIFE on it though.  TALK to your SURGEON before making any PERMANENT decisions based on MY information!  I counsel you to do the same regarding ANY information that you get from this website!

Now, the Duodenal Switch is a very powerful tool in the arsenal against the war against obesity.  The procedure, while often effective and with an Excess Body Weight Loss from 70% to 90%, has these issues: 

Malabsorbtion:  While often not as severe as that of the Gastric Bypass,  the Duodenal Switch usually leaves the patient reliant on vitamins to supplement their diet since they cannot get all their nutrients from the foods that they eat.  Occasionally, the Duodenal Switch patient may experience Malabsorbtion issues as severe as those found with the Gastric Bypass patients and he may require supplements that are supplied by his physician

Intestinal gas:  SOME patients suffer from severe bouts of cramping and flatulence due to intestinal gas caused by the undigested food being passed through the intestine made shorter for the switch part of the Duodenal Switch.

Severe nausea:  The nature and causes of this are often varied and unknown.  All weight loss surgeries report incidences of nausea.  It seems more severe with the Duodenal Switch and the Gastric Bypass.

Vomiting:  The nature and causes of this are also often varied and unknown.  All weight loss surgeries report incidences of vomiting.  It seems more severe with the Duodenal Switch and the Gastric Bypass.

There are also issues for people with immune system disorders and it is HIGHLY recommended that these people do NOT get this type of surgery.  Actually people with immune system disorders are really only recommended to get the VSG ONLY!  They are discouraged from getting the banded options as well as the gastric bypass.  The VSG is the ONLY option considered SAFE for people with immune system disorders!  Another group that is highly discouraged from getting this type of surgery are people who have transplanted organs.  Those people who need to take anti-rejection medications are HIGHLY discouraged from having this type of surgery due to the malabsorption issue affecting their medications.  MOST Weight Loss Surgeons prefer the VSG over the Duodenal Switch for people with a BMI under 50.  THIS is the primary reason the Duodenal Switch is not performed by most Weight Loss Surgeons!  They prefer to reserve the DS for those who need a more drastic weight loss regimen.  The same can often be said for the Gastric Bypass.  Many Surgeons seem to prefer to do the Gastric Bypass instead of the Duodenal Switch because it seems to be a simpler surgery for the SURGEON.  The Duodenal Switch is quite comlicated and takes quite a bit of time for the surgeon to complete.  Once again, I am not an EXPERT, but the nature of the two types of surgeries seems to suggest that a surgeon may be able to do MORE Gastric Bypass Surgeries in an allotted amount of time than Duodenal Switch Surgeries.  This MAY be a factor in the overwhelming popularity of the Gastric Bypass when compared to the Duodenal Switch.

Having gone through all that, I didn't KNOW this when I was BROAD SIDED by this person who attacked me from NOWHERE about a surgical option I wasn't even TALKING about!  Our initial discourse was HERE:  http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/a,messageboard/board_id,
4856/cat_id,4456/topic_id,3560305/action,replies/page,2/#28005580
 
After disengaging from combat I went back to my "Home" forum and the folks I had gotten to know if only somewhat in an effort to lick my wounds and find out what kind of person it was I had just run into.  I had my suspicions, but I wanted to know for SURE.  I wrote and posted a thread on the forum that I ignorantly posted in the wrong place.  I also ignorantly used the person's NAME in the post.  The person's name was quickly modified and I was notified that my post had violated the web site's Terms of Service.  I felt bad.  I had read them but frankly, legalese pretty much puts me to sleep mode any more and I sleep-walked my way through the document.  Although my eyes had passed over the words, they apparently didn't register.  I didn't mean to cause trouble with the thread, I just wanted moral support from "MY" people and to get a few, "You did Good's" and, "Yea, I had words with them before." kinds of statements.  In the first few HOURS the thread had something like 200 hits!  I was getting ALL KINDS of statements from folks about how they had dealings  with this person and the "Gang" or "Posse."  Most were posted on the thread but some were PRIVATE messages.  The private messages were telling me that they didn't want to post publicly because they didn't want to be a target.  This person and the "Posse" appears to have had a BIG impact on a certain forum.  They hang out there.  They are all members of this forum and have all had the same surgery.  They all seem to think that their surgery is superior to every one else's and ridicule and harass people who have a different opinion than theirs.  They claim that they are "correcting inaccuracies" but often the spew inaccuracies around themselves like a lawn sprinkler set on HIGH flow!

Once I found out what kind of person I was dealing with, I stopped posting on the poor girl's thread.  I waited until my wife came home and when I could get access to some ACCURATE information (My wife is a nurse Practitioner and has access to information the general public doesn't and knows how to SEARCH for medical information), I made one last post and again, I left the thread.  Then I waited for the "Expert" to come find me.  I was sure that the person would, because that person had that type of personality that just wouldn't leave well enough alone.  Sure enough, like CLOCKWORK, JUST ABOUT when I expected the person to show up, POP!  There they were!  DING!  NEXT ROUND!   The "Expert" started hammering at me again but this time, instead of trying to make her angry, I just tried to answer her questions as reasonably as I could.  I wasn't trying to win her over anymore.  I realized that I couldn't!  This round I was playing for POINTS!  I knew I was going to be judged by everyone who read the thread.  This time I wanted to be sure I got MY information out there so that people could see that I KNEW what I was talking about and that even though I was NEW to the forum, I WASN'T stupid!  The supposed "Expert" tried to WOW me with some documents that meant ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  I dissected them word for word, translated them into layman's terms and then LAUGHED!  I then brought out MY documents to support MY arguments and did the SAME!  MY documents, however, actually SUPPORTED my arguments!  I made the supposed "Expert" look foolish right there!  The exchange went on for a few turns after that but I pretty much stopped the exchange and asked folks not to post before it turned into a name calling contest because I did not want to stoop that low.  The supposed "Expert" however was all too HAPPY to go that low and began launching into just that.  I ignored the  thread until another moderator switched it from the VSG forum to the "RANTS and RAVES" forum which is where I SHOULD have posted it to begin with!  After the change of venue, the thread got NEW legs.  It had already broken the 1000 hit MARK and was CLIMBING!  It was nearing the 2000 hit mark!  I once again posted to the thread and explained what had happened and how this HUGELY POPULAR thread just POPPED into existence right in the Rants and Raves forum and pleaded yet again with people to NOT post to the thread!  At that point, a moderator contacted me and told me via the site's email feature that I could have the thread KILLED if I wanted to.  I told her that I didn't mind if folks SAW the thread, I just didn't want people POSTING to it and providing more TARGETS for this so called "EXPERT" and the POSSE!  At THAT point, the moderator LOCKED the thread.  The last time I saw it it was quickly approaching 3000 hits (at the time of this writing).  If you are curious, the thread can be found at: http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rantsandraves/a,messageboard/
action,replies/board_id,8418/cat_id,7617/topic_id,3561214/

Another EXCELLENT post I have stumbled on in an effort to MITIGATE the damage being done by my post was THIS one:  http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rantsandraves/a,messageboard/
action,replies/board_id,8418/cat_id,7617/topic_id,3563775/  .
I t seems to me to be a very concise and well written report about the differences between the various types of surgeries and what can be expected of them.  It explains the POSITIVES and the NEGATIVES of each Succinctly!

The profile for the person who wrote the article has some GREAT reseach that was used in writing the article and provides GREAT information on the VSG Sugery.  The link to her profile where the information is located is HERE:  http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/lkh/

What I don't understand is how the moderators can allow something like this to happen for so long?  It is obvious to ME that this person has had a BIG impact on this community and it seems to me that it has been mostly in a negative way.  This person seems to be so caustic that they drive people away from the very surgery that they claim they are trying to help people GET!  This does not help the people LOOKING at different surgical options, the Forum, or ObesityHelp.com!  I think something needs to be done to STOP this kind of behavior!

I have found a thread that gives useful information in helping find "TROLLS."  Trolls, I have recently discovered, are the "artificial personalities" or "alter egos" created by some people who don't want to be identified when they go to a forum or board to create trouble.  The link that follows gives some useful pointers in helping to identify a "TROLL":
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rantsandraves/a,messageboard/
action,replies/board_id,8418/cat_id,7617/topic_id,3537877/

Here is ANOTHER link that is quite amusing and educaional TOO!
This one tells of the different types of "Flame Warriors" you can find on forums like this!  the link can be found HERE:  http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/index.htm


Here is some interesting information that I stumbled upon posted on the VSG board about the LapBand procedure by a CURRENT LapBand owner who is preparing to undergo a revision to Sleeve Gastrectomy because the LapBand FAILED:  http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/VSG/a,messageboard/board_
id,5463/cat_id,5063/topic_id,3569649/action,replies/