RNY Regrets

with the maladsoprtion in RNY, you'd think it would take a huge effort to gain back all the weight.  lap band i can understand because it requires frequent adjustments to be optimal.

I think the VSG surgery itself has been done for decades, just as part of the duodenal switch ... surprising it took them so long to jsut stop with the VSG part and see how that went.

The caloric malabsorption of RNY is actually fairly minor, and temporary as (nutritional malab. is perm due to the section of intestine bypassed (calcium & iron are the biggies that need a lot of attention) After 2-3 years the caloric malabs. is basically gone as the intestinal villi adapt, but you have a stoma that  doesn't allow food to remain in the stomach long, so many find the ability/desire to eat more often.. add to that a phenomenon called "late dumping" which is just hypoglycemia with a fancy name, and that triggers the blood glucose high/lows leading to a need to eat more often. This side effect is seen more often years post op, and can be quite severe for some. Weight regain is often a combined failure of the mechanics of the surgery combined with behaviour of the person..

edit: interesting chart explaining the diff between the RNY and the other malabsorptive surgery, the DS:

http://www.dsfacts.com/Comparison-of-DS-and-RNY.html

Last edit!

This is a great transcript about failed WLS from an ASMBS conference which outlines some of the issues being discussed in bariatric circles in regards to the shortcomings of various surgeries, and the long-term consequences of them.. Skim past the band stuff- we all know that's not a good idea, and read on though the RNY vs VSG/DS ones. 

http://livingthedslife.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/revisions-%E 2%80%93-does-the-patient-fail-the-procedure-or-does-the-proc edure-fail-the-patient/

Great read!! Thanks for sharing.

One of the issues with malabsorption and regain a few years out with the RNY is that the body adjusts to the re routing and no longer mal absorbs the calories. However it never again absorbs the micronutrients. So you wind up getting the calories but lack many of the important nutrients. So the powerful tool of malabsorption goes away a few years out.

With RNY you are essentially shot gunning fat, cabs, and calories right into your intestines without the benefit of your stomach acid breaking it down before digestion in your intestines.

I know of two people who have undergone RNY.  One I know personally, and the other one I have heard about through a very reliable source.

The one I know lost 140-ish pounds, was doing great, and then for some reason decided to have cake one day.  Seriously.  That opened the floodgates for her.  Soon she was back to eating garbage carbs, like crackers a sleeve at a time, and larger-sized meals including rice and such.  How a sleeve of crackers could fit into an RNY pouch I will never know, but ...  She is struggling now, has regained some, and has stopped asking me how I'm doing.  She did caution me not to let that happen to me.

The other person is a woman who also lost a lot of weight after her procedure.  Apparently she had some unaddressed emotional stuff going on and was alcohol-prone beforehand.  She is now being divorced by her I've-had-enough husband, and she is slowly but steadily regaining lots of weight, mostly from alcohol consumption as I understand it from the reliable witness.  Apparently she also developed a crossover addiction to spending money.

I know this could happen with any WLS. 

My sis had RNY in 2005 and is a success story. She is still thin! However, she does have to get iron infusions that are expensive as hell now that she doesn't have insurance anymore. I feel so bad for her. It's a huge strain on her pocketbook and on her schedule. It's a time consuming process.

Not everyone I know with RNY is a success. A couple of ladies I know have regained most of their weight. One lady who was very large though has kept most of it off and I was surprised. I would say I know a mix of success and mix of failures. It's just one of those things. The VSG is bound to have plenty of failures. People eating 12x a day with donuts, cookies, high calorie foods and whatnot are going to gain their weight back even with a smaller tummy.

The VSG's advantage is that we don't run as high of a risk of vitamin deficiency, bowel obstructions, and some other major complications. We may not keep off all the weight 10 years down the road, or we might. It's one of those things that is so individual. But hopefully we at least won't be getting frequent and time consuming iron infusions to top it all off!

This is one of the things that scares me to death:   the prospect of regain.  I am going to keep going to my therapist and doing anything else I can to get my head in the right place...

That is why you must adopt this as a lifestyle and not just a journey. It is a new way of life, not a trip. There is no coming home if you are to be successful.

I used to work with 2 SMO MEN that had RNY back in the day. Both almost 15 years out....BOTH SMO again, bad bad mobility problems, cack to poppin pills for probs.  I inquired about RNY ...one guy says...DONT DO IT...YOU'LL BE MISERABLE YOUR WHOLE LIFE!! ..fast forward some 10 years MY turn at bat....boy did that guys words resonate with me...VSG wasn't even legit when I got it...so a bit harder to get it. But I only checked out VSG. Its been everything I expected and so so so much more! 

Now a girlfriend of mine had RNY ~a year after my VSG..around 9 months out..she had a bowel obstruction. She was so backed up her breathe smelled like dookie...I kid you not! Got it taken care of...today she's doin fan f-n tastic!  a helluva lot skinnier than I am. She's also only 5ft.,,what I keep tellin myself anyway...the beoootch!! lol.  She loves her weight loss...her RNY....I would never rain on HER parade...its workin for her and that's all that matters!