Hi everyone.. anyone here have duodenal switch?

Hi all.. I am researching the duodenal switch surgery for myself.. and I am in my (late) 20s. Generally, it seems the age for the DS surgery seems to be a little older. What made you decide to get the DS if you did? Or if you considered it and made another choice, what made you change your mind? I have done a lot of research on all of the surgeries.. and I would love some opinions of people around my age about your decisions and to hear about your experiences choosing.

I had the DS done nearly 5 months ago, when I was 20 (I am now 21).  I only know of 2 or 3 other 20-somethings off the top of my head that had the DS that post on this site. I think, generally speaking, anyone who gets WLS just tends to be older.  Combine that with the fact that the DS is just a more rare surgery, you end up with a very small group of 20-somethings that have had the DS. You can still make great friends on the site with the DSers that are older though, so don't fear the DS board.  The people there are a wealth of knowledge and always amazingly helpful.  I usually post on the DS board for surgery support, and I like this board for age-related support.  I chose the DS because of the long-term weight loss statistics.  I sucked at dieting and wanted to give myself the best chance at losing and keeping off the most weight possible.  Of course, I would have preferred to have not needed surgery at all, but so far, so good.  I eat a lot of protein, I don't have to worry about fats, and I am losing a lot of weight.

I didn't have DS but there's a woman who goes by MajorMom who has had it and loves it.  I believe she posts on the DS board.  She's very nice and a wealth of info!

I am 28 and going for the DS...hopefully surgery in March. I want the DS because of it has the highest percentage of excess weight loss.  I need that becuase I want to live with this surgery for another 60 years.  I need all of the weight to COME off and STAY off. jayme

i was 22 when i had my DS. and my cousin had it when she was 25 i think? when my surgeon presented the surgeries she boiled it down for me like this. if you are a meat and potatoes kind of person and you can't imagine living without that as a staple of your diet then the DS is for you.  one reason is that you must eat a large amount of protien in your diet and also with your stomach intact although smaller denser meats are processed more easily and are not likely to get stuck. if you are i big sugar eater then the RNY is more likely to help you out because of the adverse affect it hason your in terms of dumping to hinder consumption of sugars. (paraphrasing her of course) For me this was a no brainer, i could care less about sweets, i just ate too much too often of bad things. with a smaller but more normal sized stomach plus the malabsorbtion i can now eat very normally.  now of course there are many other things to consider like lifelong vitamin supplementation and annual blood work that must be done, but it was a trade off to be able to eat normally. i could not be happier with my choice and the fact that you are young should not be a problem. my surgeon didn't even bring it up in our meeting i did and she didn't even think twice about it because of my bmi and the amount i needed to lose. good luck in your research and check out the DS forum for some great info.