How did you choose?

I was in the same boat (Band), and the reason I chose RNY was for the exact same reason - I already had one failed WLS, why potentially fail another? Not that the Sleeve fails - it appears to work fantastically for many people - but I was just paranoid about failing again.

I agree with the other posts, especially those regarding acid reflux. I too had severe GERD-to the point that I have something called a Shatzki's Ring from years of reflux, much of it silent. I need biannual esophageal dilations because of this ring. I also had every co-morbidity plus some except diabetes and I was pre-diabetic. I did the research pre-op regarding reflux results for VSG and RNY and had decided to go with RNY. When my surgeon wholeheartedly agreed with my decision I knew I had made the correct choice. Since my surgery on 9/18/13 I no longer wear CPAP, have gastroparesis (slow stomach emptying), high blood pressure, my joint/arthritis pain is less because of the decreased weight, I no longer need medication for my asthma, my BMI has gone from 39.2 to 24.3, and my acid reflux has improved (but is not totally gone)-because of the initial severity. I have lost a total of 78 lb with pre (17 lb) and post(61 lb.) surgery weight loss. I do want to caution that this is a faster weight loss pattern than normal from what I have read.

And last but not least, my friend had a VSG 2 months before my surgery and she is very disappointed that she did not choose the RNY. She is disappointed because her weight loss is slower, she continues to be hungry-even immediately after she eats, and she finds it easier to slide back into old habits.

I hope this is helpful and wish you the best on your journey to a new you. 

I am about a week post-op and had the RNY bypass. No matter what issues I'm having in regards to lack of appetite I'm really glad I did it. I did a lot of research before deciding I was going to do this and found that RNY had a very high success rate. The thing about it is that RNY has been around for a very long time so there were much more long term studies done to test the effectiveness of the surgery. I remember when I went to my seminar at the place I was going to have it done, they were talking about the sleeve. They said it was a good surgery however because its new they really haven't had much time to really figure out long term effects of the study. I had actually gone in thinking I would get the band but after hearing about how much more successful people who did RNY than the band especially long term it really stuck with me. Studies show that the bypass has more initial short term complications but on the long term has fewer complications. I'm young - 23 - and decided that I was done being overweight and decided that for long term success the bypass was for me as eventually I would be able to go back to eating pretty normally and still enjoy food even though right now its hard to see that. Good luck with whatever decision you make!