People gain weight back more easily with VSG

Well let me chime in with my 1cent, since I'm only 12 days out. I've been (almost) lured into ******g contests from both ways-RNY and LapBand with friends.

I have a friend who RNY 10 years ago....and has gained a significant amount of her weight back. A few years ago when I first told her that I was considering WLS, specifically VGS, she tried to discredit it to the point of saying it was no longer being offered. And I had to shoot her down on that. So I backed off the conversation with her until a few weeks before my surgery....and then I shared with her my decision. While she was happy for me, she then wanted to true up the virtues of RNY vs VSG. I nice-nastily reminded her that 1. her surgery was over 10 years ago and many things about WLS in general had changed 2. that my Drs offer RNY for extreme BMIs or conditions because of the great results theyve been getting with VSG in comparison.  Not much of a response to her on that!

My other friend has been considering LapBand for several years and was actually approved but later denied by her insurance company (something convulded). When she learned that I was having VSG she then wanted to have a comparison of the 2 surgeries...of which i was not interested. After listening to her for 20 minutes of an unwanted diatribe, I replied with I didn't choose lap band because at OUR SIZE , the results are entirely too slow. and since it's so many people are having to revise to VSG after lap band result failure, why not get it right the first time.


In both cases I wasn't looking for a ******g match or even asking their advice or approval....I just wanted to share my journey with them and get their support. Whatever surgery someone chooses is up to them....I just want do what I think is best for me!

 I was thinking about getting the lapband and thankfully my vsg friend talked me out of it and into vsg. I think that was a happy to have debate.

But I agree with everyone else. The oposite is true since the malabsorbtion thing only lasts 18 months with RNY and the pouch is all stretchy it is easier to eat more.

:)

I agree with the others that she was just trying to "one up" you in some roundabout way. Like kind of casually saying her surgery was superior. Of course we all feel like our surgery is best but it's so individual. RNY'ers who are successful in the long term love their surgeries and VSG'ers love theirs when they are successful as well.

And I agree that it's easier for an RNY'er to gain weight back. They lose their calorie malabsorption after like 2 years and if they don't change their diets--they are in essence eating more calories than before because the body is absorbing them. That means they will likely gain weight if they don't eat healthier to compensate for the fact their bodies are absorbing more calories at 2 years out then it was the first year. Also it's true that their pouches are pretty stretchy if you compare it to the sleeve. IF they overeat quite a bit, their pouches will stretch and so will their stoma. I think measuring portions after RNY is more important than even after VSG (although I think it is important for both).

One GREAT example I have for believing that RNY'ers stretch out much more than we do if they abuse their "tool" is a mom and daughter I know. The mom had VSG and the daughter had RNY within a year of each other. The daughter with RNY can eat 4 times the amount her mom can. Since they have both been avid measurers of food intake since both of their surgeries--I can't blame the daughter for abusing her pouch or anything. I believe the pouch maturation after RNY is quite a bit larger than after the sleeve.

EVERY person  I have ever known that had RNY gained all of their weight back...and then more.  I would never allow a surgeon to unnecessarily rearrange my intestines.  No way. Never. Ever.

 So she had regain after her RNY, but said you gain after VSG.  I think that is called "projecting".

LOL i think its funny that RNY people think their stoma trumps my pyloric valve!  Especiallly when they are 2+ years out and we both simply have restrictive only procedures. At the end of the day - if someone is going to gain weight back, it's not going to matter what surgery they had - they'll eat around their surgery. 

I'm glad I was forced to learn good habits from day 1.  I knew that if I had two years of Malabsorption, then had to figure it out, I'd be screwed.  That plus being terrified of someone rearranging my innards and the possibility of walking around with terrible gas and vitamin deficiencies...... well let me think for a moment.... VSG wins big time!

That said, any of us can eat around our surgery if we can't put down the food.  Nobody said putting down the food would be easy, they just said we'd have to if we wanted to be successful.