35 BMI, love sugary sweets - is DS good choice for me??

Hi - I am in the process of trying to get approval (which is doubtful) through my insurance for a revision to a DS from a lapband - and plan on getting a loan if not approved...I want it that bad. BUT I just read about a DSer that regained a bunch of weight because, unfortunately, she never felt full when eating sweets - so she kept eating & eating them. She regained 70 lbs! I'm concerned, for 2 reasons: 1) I thought you would be unable to "eat & eat" anything. 2) Don't you suffer from eating sweets?? Gas & the runs?? Shouldn't that discourage someone from eating them? I'm just wondering if I should rethink my choice.
Please HELP! Any advice will be appreciated!

No surgery will cause you to malabsorp simple carbs.  If there was I would be first in line.
I had the DS and never addressed my carb addiction and I regained 100lbs.  Pretty rare to see someone regain that much but my surgery may not have been done correctly.  This was 2002 and there weren't any "vetted" surgeons at that time.  The surgeon that did my surgery didn't like the DS and I think he may have tweaked it to keep it from being so dangerous in his mind.   I know he left my sleeve way too large.  Perhaps if I had a small sleeve I wouldn't have been able to eat enough to regain 100lbs but as it was I could eat as much at 8 years out as I ever could pre op.
Anyway, I have a bad carb addiction.  Once I start eating them I can't stop so I made the decision when I had my revision to totally avoid them.  Of course if I could have avoided them pre op I would never have needed surgery but the surgery does help in that I am never hungry.  With my first surgery I was always hungry, probably because of my sleeve size.
If you think you can eat them moderately then you should be fine.
BTW, I had horrible gas, bloating and diarrhea 24/7 and that wasn't enough to keep me from eating the carbs.  I also had chronic bacterial overgrowth so that didn't help but all the carbs I was eating made it a lot worse.   But I now dump and let me tell you, that is enough to make me never want to eat sugar again.

Thank you so much for your reply! You mention that you had a revision - and now you dump...did you revise to the RNY or gastric bypass? Just curious...If so, do you prefer that over the DS? Thanks so much!

Long story short.  I went back to my surgeon because I had been sick for years, fatigued to the point of being unable to function, housebound.  After undergoing every test imaginable I figured the cause must be the malabsorption.  I wasn't diligent with supplements and my follow up was not very good.  I did have my labs done yearly or more but they only checked the minimal stuff.  Again, I had my surgery in 2002 and a lot more is known now then was then.
Anyway I decided that I wanted to have my surgery reversed.  I got absolutely no benefit from it as I was again morbidly obese and lived with terrible side effects such as diarrhea, gas and bloating on a daily basis.  I went back to my original surgeon who, as I said, never liked the DS and has since stopped doing them (as the hospital has) because they had so many complications.  Of course they had so many complications because they had zero post op education and terrible follow up.
I was told that my surgery could not be reversed, only revised to lengthen my common channel so I wouldn't malabsorb as much.  He also offered to make my sleeve into a RNY pouch.  Since I had managed to regain 100lbs with malabsorption I was scared to death of what kind of damage I could do without it so I agreed.  He told me that I may not lose any weight with the surgery.  I don't know if he said that because he saw how miserably I had failed with my first WLS or because he thought my metabolism was shot after years of losing and gaining weight.  I didn't care, I just didn't want to gain any more weight.
While I was in the hospital I decided to follow the post op diet to the letter.  I decided that I wasn't going to have any refined carbs at all.  That was an easy decision since I didn't want to dump.  It was easier then I thought it would be once I detoxed off the carbs because my hunger is practically gone now.  I have not had any refined carbs since my surgery, which I am happier about then I am my weight loss.  I found out I dumped by accident when I bought regular syrup instead of sugar free.  Believe me, it is not an experience you want to ever have to go through if you can help it.
In hindsight I think I would have done much better with the DS if I had a longer common channel and a smaller sleeve.  Restriction seems to work well for me.  A little too well since I am under my goal and trying to regain some back.  I probably would have done a lot better with an experienced DS surgeon but that is water under the bridge.  Whatever you do find a good surgeon, one with a record of successful patients.  And be diligent about your supplements and labs.  I found out there are worse things then being obese. Malabsorption is nothing to take lightly.  I wish I had been more educated about what I was doing to my body but all I wanted was to lose the weight and at the time of my surgery I was told to take a multivitamin a day, 100 grams of protein, calcium citrate and chew a few ADEKs a day.  ADEKs are woefully lacking the amount of vitamins we need and at that time I didn't know it would be better to take them separately and didn't know where to get them anyway.  I don't know if Vitalady was in business at that time but there definitely wasn't a comprehensive list of vitamins to take or a way to get them all in one place.
Oh, and you asked if I preferred my pouch to the RNY.  I wish I still had my pyloric valve.  As I said, I would have probably done a lot better with a very small sleeve and longer common channel.  I hate dumping.  I have found that not only do I dump with sugar but too much fat and carbs and even too much sugar alcohols.  I have to be very careful about what I eat.  It does keep me on the straight and narrow, though, and gives me more incentive to stay away from refined carbs.  I wish I could have done that without the threat of dumping but apparently I couldn't.  Not everyone dumps, though.  I am also worried about reactive hypoglycemia, which I wouldn't have to worry about if I had a sleeve.

I read your post on the DS board too and wanted to welcome you to the LW board :)

As LadyTazz said uncontrolled sugary carbs will sabotage any WLS even the most powerful, DS. That being said, the DS will give you a better chance for long term success based on statistics. You have to decide if you can fix your head regarding sweets. But if you can do that, the DS would likely be a good option. You probably need the malabsorption now since you've already had a restrictive-only WLS. That's just a personal opinion and I'm sure sleevers can site folks that have been successful with band to sleeve revisions but I don't know if they had sugar and carb issues. As you are a revision and a person who has sugar issues, I'm thinking a malabsorptive surgery.  Just 2 cents worth.

--gina

I can't answer your DS questions.  Just wanted to welcome you to the LW Boards.

You will probably read more things that are wrong on the boards than is right, since most people come here when they have a problem and drop off when everything is going great!!

Good luck.

Linda

Welcome to our LW Board!!

I LOVE SWEETS!!!!!!!!  It is a constant battle and I have to really work to control the urge.   I can not have sweets in the house and with the help of my family I do pretty good when we are out.   Just this morning we went out for breakfast and I shared an order of  pancakes with my DD.  She ordered a chocolate chip one and I was going to too but she said Mom, "you know you will be sick if you do", so I changed my mind and ordered a plain one with SF syrup but I really wanted the chocolate chip one.

I'm 3 years out with my RNY and I still dump on sugar, sugar alcohols, and fats (not everyone does).  Not as bad as I used to but I always have that fear.  It can ruin your whole day so I have to talk myself into avoiding them.  I know my limits and believe me I stretch them as far as I can. For example:  I can eat 2 mini M&M cookies but the 3rd one would start the dumping and if I had a 4th I might as well call my day over.   2 small bites of cake with icing is my limit but if I really want it then I could spread it over the day...so extra cake at my house goes in the garbage!!!!

Dumping for me is the shakes, sweating, and so tired that I have to lay down. 

Good Luck with whatever you decide.   I suggest that once you have surgery that you completely decarb.  Eating bread, potatoes, rice, and pasta are  triggers for sweets and will hinder your maintenance too.

Welcome to the LW board...

I had the DS in January, my BMI when I went to the surgeon was 35.2. For me, it wasn't an issue of loving sweets, it was a case of needing NSAIDS after surgery and not wanting to possibly get reactive hypoglycemia. I am now a diet controlled (in remission) diabetic but was on an insulin pump pre-surgery and already suffered from reactive hypoglycemia within my diabetes. Did not want a surgery that would run the risk of upping those odds. So the RNY was not an option.

Since the sleeve was also not an option due to insurance, and I did not want the lapband, that left me with two real choices, the DS & the RNY. Given the NSAID issue and the RH, the RNY was also taken off the table.

Sweets don't bother me, carbs do...I adore bread, rice, potatoes, all the things that give me gas bad enough to peel paint off the walls now. So I had to learn to limit them. But it was my option to limit.

The sleeve potion of my DS is 4 oz and my common channel is 175 cc. I made my goal weight at one point this week. Right now I am a lb over my goal but I'll get it again.

The ONLY time I had the runs was the first couple of weeks after surgery while still on full liquids. Once I moved to semi soft solids, that cleared up and hasn't been an issue since. Gas is controlled by what you eat. If you decide to splurg, be prepared to pay the price.

You can read about my journey on my blog here (mini version, just click on my name)) or on my outside blog here.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do...for me the DS was the only option.

Liz

I have a sweet tooth. But it's not like it was pre-op. I think that's very important to keep in mind. Pre-op, our homeostatic system (that controls appetite and satiety) is broken. The surgery repairs it. So any behavior that is triggered primarily by either hunger or never feeling full will be much improved, if not completely cured.

But, if you are an emotional eater or have other psychological issues, they won't be cured and, if you don't deal with them, they can sabotage your weight loss.

Like the DSer you talk about it. She said the sweets didn't fill her up so she keep eating them. Okay, think about that for a moment. When you eat sweet food, it doesn't fill you up. What would a sane person do? They'd either not eat sweets ever or they'd eat them once in a while as a treat but know they won't feel satisfied so then they'd follow that by eating foods that did fill them up and not more sweets.

As for you "can't eat & eat," that's somewhat true. I can eat 4-6 oz of most foods. However, there are sliders foods that I can eat a lot more of. Popcorn is one. I can eat a whole bag. Also, I can eat 4-6 oz every hour. I don't because I'm not hungry an hour later (I was pre-op) but I could if I wanted to. Grazing can defeat any surgery.

I also don't suffer when I eat sweets. But I have a VSG, not RnY or a DS. But, there are people who eat things that make them suffer anyway. Again, this is a head issue. For most of us, the negative reinforcement of eating past full and eating sweets for some surgery types, is enough to stop those behaviors. For a few people, it's not.

Then, there are people who pick a surgery type just because it has negative consequences for eating certain foods and then they find out they are one of the people who doesn't have those consequences. For example, not everyone with RnY dumps. Not everyone with a DS gets diarrhea if they eat simple carbs. So... if you are getting those surgeries because you *want* those side-effects, just be aware you might not get them and be prepared to deal with that.

Thanks so much...all of you are so helpful in helping me make this decision. Thanks for the taking the time.:-)