Why did you choose VSG over RNY?

I chose VSG because I have osteoarthritis, and feared a life without NSAIDs. I had my right knee replaced before I was 40, and my left knee is bad as well.  My grandmother also had early onset arthritis, and has it throughout her whole body, not just in weight-bearing joints. While I know it is controversial, my surgeon does allow his VSG patients to use NSAIDs but they are forever off limits to RNY gastric bypass patients. My surgeon and his team suggested that weight loss will relieve pressure from my knee, and possibly make that point moot (although with damage already done and my knee being bone on bone, I remain skeptical), but my Granny suffers debilitating pain in her shoulders and hands, completely unrelated to obesity (she's 140 pounds) and I didn't want to just trade one problem (weight) for another (uncontrollable pain). So VSG it was! :) 

There's so much research out there about RNY, and partial gastrectomies (VSG).. after reading just a little, I realized if I needed or wanted the malabsorption aspect, I would have a DS.. but never a RNY. Here's a great article (linked below, skim past the band info, that's obviously a very poor choice!) that goes into just some of it.. but frankly, at least in my opinion, there are only 2 really good options, the DS and the VSG, for many solid reasons. I spent a lot of time reading between up on the 3 effective surgeries, but RNY was very quickly removed from consideration.

http://weightlosssurgery.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=speak er&action=display&thread=3804

I was on a PPI prior to surgery, and knew at least for me- it was a life-long med. After VSG, no change, still  need the same dose.. and I have a very tight sleeve (still, even at 2.5yrs +.. credit that to a good surgeon.) Add that to the fact that the risk for marginal ulcers is very high with the RNY- which generally requires you to skip NSAIDs, which I would NOT appreciate esp as I get older, and the choice was pretty clear.

** editing to add, the link above is to a thread with Q&A's with a very experienced surgeon, very much worth a read through of the entire thread, not just the transcript of a the presented talk at an ASMBS conference.

Where's the dayum like button? :-)

Listen to INgirl and read that article! RNY patients seem to have a very hard time with hypoglycemia and hunger after they are some years out. This can cause serious health issues and weight regain. RNY gets rid of your pyloric valve. There are so many great reasons to keep your pyloric valve. Also, RNY patients lose their benefit of caloric malabsorption after about 2 years but you are forever malabsorbing vitamins/minerals. Not really a fair trade-off IMHO. So you have no more benefit to have RNY over the VSG over the long-term. If you need malabsorption, I strongly recommend the DS. I know not many surgeons offer it, but if you feel you need caloric malabsorption, you should definitely be looking into it strongly. This is your future health here and I urge you to read about ALL of your options. If you think restriction is what you need, then the VSG will give you that. I have a lot of restriction still by the Grace of God or some lucky star out there because I did not go to a very well-respected surgeon. In other words, I got VERY lucky. So please, choose your surgeon with great care and talk to some of their patients at a support group to see how well they are doing years out. See if they are pleased with their sleeve size, the program your surgeon offers, the aftercare, and etc. This will help you see if the surgeon you are choosing will give you what you need. Ask for their statistics on VSG patients. Good luck!