Have a date, still unsure Band or RNY
I have been in my weight loss program for almost a year, I had to do a 6 month supervised diet and at the end of the day decided to wait another 4 months to switch insurance companies to one that was less demanding with requirements.
I now have a surgery date of 2/11, but I need to decide between the two surgeries. There are plenty of pros and cons for both and I have a few days to ponder.
I'd be interested in others experience and good to hear from anyone who chose the band since it seems most here had bypass.
Thanks,
Mark
Greetings from the Men's Board!
I'm a RNY and can't complain about it too much. Made goal Tuesday - a little over nine months post op.
Going to throw out to you do keep doing your research but make your mind up before you get to OR! Think your doc would like to know what is going on as well!
All BS aside your decision is one you have to live with TFN. Make the best decision for Mark not anybody else. Both have their pros and cons so good luck and keep us posted.
Never, and I mean NEVER, trust a fart!! 
Love my RNY.
I wanted something that was forever. And I have a lot of weight to lose.
I wouldn't change it for the world.
It really matters how much you have to lose, what your insurance will cover and what surgery your Doctor will do.
Good Luck.
Surgical Date: 12/10/08 Open RNY
Goal Wt: 275
Present Wt: 224 LBS!!!!!!!
Ya, thats right, Im UNDER MY GOAL BY 50LBS!!
WOO HOO!!!!!!!
For awile all I could eat were soft foods. Then I developed bleeding ulcers and protein and vitamin deficiencies. I still have trouble with those issues and I have had a partial gastrectomy. I am destined to be fat. Not happy about that either.
But congratulations for researching. Check out the DS board too.
I saw this story. Thought it was really good. Some procedures could be used like revisions in the future. Brian
Bariatric invention marketed
Elizabeth Slowik
A Grand Rapids doctor has invented a new medical device that could become a lower-risk, lower-cost alternative to weight-loss surgery.
Dr. Randal Baker, a local bariatric surgeon, said he and his partners are negotiating with three well-known companies who are bidding to buy the rights to the device he invented, the patented Full Sense Bariatric Device.
The two-section implement, made of silicone and nitinol, sits at the end of the esophagus and just inside the stomach. It is inserted through the mouth by a flexible tube called an endoscope and kept in place by three sutures. Baker said the pressure of the lightweight device is enough to convince the brain that the stomach is full.
The device induced significant weight loss in animal trials in dogs, Baker said. Last month, he and two other doctors inserted the device into three people in Mexico. He said they reported losing 18 percent of excess body weight in less than three weeks, without overwhelming hunger.
“We think it actually works better than present surgeries," said Baker.
Combined, Baker and his partners, Dr. James Foote and Dr. Paul Kemmeter, have performed more than 5,000 bariatric surgeries in the Grand Rapids area. Baker is medical director of the Spectrum Health bariatric program.
“The advantages of this are that, number one, it doesn’t require surgery; number two, it’s completely reversible, it can be taken out; number three, eventually, we believe, it will be adjustable," Baker said.
The bariatric market is expected to grow to $6.4 billion worldwide by 2015, according to MedMarket Diligence, a medical business research firm. An estimated 205,000 people in the U.S. had bariatric surgery last year, which costs $17,000 to $25,000, according to the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery.
Baker and his partners are entering a field that’s drawing more attention as the limits of bariatric surgery become apparent. An article by ASMBS President Scott Shikora of Tufts University in the September edition of Bariatric Times noted that while the U.S. has millions of obese people, just 1 percent of them have had bariatric surgery. Most are put off by cost, complications and the drastic alteration of the digestive system. That leaves a huge, open market for approaches that are less complex and have fewer complications, Shikora wrote.
Among the contenders Shikora cites are the use of medical balloons in the stomach, gastric bands adjustable by radio waves, gastrointestinal sleeves inserted by endoscopy, and delivering electrical impulses to nerves in the digestive tract.
Mark,
I urge you to investigate a DS and get a consult with an actual DS surgeon. Two sites to examine include www.dsfacts.com and www.duodenalswitch.com There are a great many of the peer reviewed studies in the academic literature available on the dsfacts site including links to the full articles on the NIH - (National Institute of Health) website. You may also wish to visit us at the Duodenal Switch forum.
Here is a brief summary of what the medical literature indicates about the DS, as well as some of the inherent benefits of a pyloric preserving surgery.
1. Superior Excess Weight Loss
2. Superior Excess Weight Loss long term. - very low rates of regain even after 10 years.
3. Best Resolution of co-morbid conditions including Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, sleep apnea, etc.
4. No dumping as your pyloric valve is preserved and working.
5. Concerns about strictures are virtually eliminated as their is no stoma
6. No worry about marginal ulcers as your pyloric valve has been preserved.
7. No concern about NIPHS as your pyloric valve has been preserved (This is a rare, but potentially fatal complication of the RNY procedure)
8. No abnormal chewing as the VSG has a smaller, but fully functional stomach.
9. The switch part is reversible. The reason this is sometimes done (a fraction of 1%) is that people sometimes start to lose too much weight.
10. The lowest failure rate of any bariatric procedure with respect to not losing enough weight.
11. There is no blind stomach with the DS, so you can take NSAIDs and most OTC meds if you need them. Your stomach is totally accessible and can be scoped by a doctor.
I had a band, and it was horrible. What they don't tell you is that the band, although it is considered "reversible" will always leave a lot of scar tissue on the outside of your stomach. It has the highest failure rate of any of the common procedures. Chewing food excessively for the rest of your life does not seem bad when you first try it, but it is easy to get distracted and over time, you can spend a lot of time paying for that. 
It was really an unpleasant way to live and I think a lot of the early success of the band was due to the initial swelling from the surgery. It seemed to lose its effectiveness over time which could have been due to the scar tissue forming on the outside of the stomach. I needed ever more fills until eventually my stomach was closed off and I needed an emergency draining of the band to keep me from drowning on my own saliva. This happened twice after which I gave up and looked into a revision to the DS.
Both the RNY and the DS will require lifetime supplementation. What you need to supplement will be different for each and the DS may require a greater variety of supplements.
The DS may alter the smell of your BM and gas. It can be different, stronger or unchanged. There is a study showing no statistically significant differences in RNY and DS bathroom habits. Some doctors indicate that things like diarrhea are a drawback, but this is based on the earlier procedures that had a much smaller common channel and different re-routing of the intestines.
Simple sugars can cause gas in some DS folks. The impact varies and usually you have to overindulge to have a problem. Such things are usually managed fairly easily. Only 20% of fat calories are absorbed by DS patients, so a lot of fats become almost like free foods. This is why the DS folks are known for having such rich diets. I can have 5 slices of bacon and the net effect is like eating 1 slice for a normal person.
The DS community is very vocal about getting the facts out about this and other procedures. WLS is BIG Business and a lot of doctors will not give you accurate or straight answers that might sway you from doing what will generate money for them. Fewer doctors do the DS due to economic reasons. It is a more complicated procedure so to learn it takes longer. It also takes longer to perform, so instead of rolling people through the RNY / lap-band treadmill, the doctors will have to spend more time on each DS patient. A good surgeon will probably not do more than about 2 or 3 DS procedures in a day. This means less money for the surgeon. Even though all of the medical evidence clearly indicates that the DS is clinically superior with respect to efficacy, the avoidance of side-effects and the resolution of co-morbid conditions, the medical establishment pushes the RNY for financial reasons.
You need to do what is right for you. This is a major life decision and getting all the facts up front may keep you from becoming another revision statistic in a few years. People revise their surgeries to the DS. No one revises the DS to another procedure. If your insurance does not cover it, a lot of times you can appeal and win. I got the lap-band over 2 years ago because the insurer would not cover the DS and I did not want an RNY. If I had known then, what I know now, I would have fought that policy back then. The good news is, after I changed jobs, I got an insurance carrier that was DS friendly and would pay for my revision. I consider myself most fortunate and very blessed to have had this opportunity.
I wish you the best whatever you decide.
Peace,
William
I have been up most of the night, so I hope the typos are not too bad.
To teach something is to have it. To have something you must be it. Teach peace, for that is what you are.
To listen to me sing: www.youtube.com/watch
I wanted my gall bladder out at the same time. RNY doc would, lap-band doc wouldn't.
Lap band has to do adjustments ans each time you may very well have to go back to liquids and re adjust intake all over again each time.
Lap band can cheat without dumping; ie, milkshakes and such because all the original plumbing is still intact, just collared. Not a good option for me.
Medical science is now concluding that the bypass of the intestine just beyond the stomach of RNY is also a frequent cure for diabetes - it worked for me though i didn't know that at the time.
I wasn't looking for something reversable; I was looking for a new lease on life and I got it.
Now after two years of a relearning period, the dumping is less and I can eat a much wider range of foods. It is now up to me to continue to use the good habits i have relearned over the last two years or return to the old habits and regain the weight. And that would be incredibly dumb on my part.
Nothing tastes as good as being thin.
Both lap-band and RNY will get you results. I only wish I had done my RNY 10 years earlier.
Go with what works for you.
Joe
Having my gall bladder removed is appealing to me since I may need to go back for another surgery to remove this if I get the band, and hear that chances of that need increase after either weight loss surgery.
The other thing I didn't mention is my stats, I have about 70 lbs to lose, I've somehow managed to work my ass off at the gym and take 40 lbs off and maintain it this year. I was a 42 BMI at 298 at my consult last Feb, now I'm at 255. Goal is 180 lbs.
