Article on rate of sleeve "failure"

Interesting......

Like mini says..... I think we see this kind of results on our boards......

For me..... 

- I will continue to "Under eat my sleeves capacity" Putting positive pressure on your sleeve has to be the only way to physically increase it's size.

- Makes our newly created Maintenance Group and Doctor aftercare more important to the process.

- Really makes me more than ever want to be in the percentage that can maintain the weight. I'm not having any other procedures done. This is it.... fired my last bullet.

- I think more emphasis needs to be placed on how important the first months/year is to develop good habits for long term success. We read everyday on the main forum how people really abuse there sleeve, eating the wrong things and trying to eat as much food as the sleeve will let them.

Solidarity !!!!!

frisco

Hi Everyone!

Interesting... I have a fairly large capacity to my Sleeve... and you know what, I am thrilled with that.  I would not want to be only able to eat a couple of spoonfuls of things, I still LOVE food, and I am glad I can still enjoy it.

The amount I can eat now at 1.5 years is perfect, I can enjoy my food, but not pig out, and I can maintian easily.

Maintaining and being able to eat the way I did for the last year or so, plus eating some carbs and treats, is a dream come true for me.

I love this board, and I know it has helped me succeed.  I know it will help me remain diligent.  I love that I have 'learned' what it take to help my body maintain.    I hope I am not being naive, but so far, I could not be happier, I could live with this much food for the rest of my life.

Daily Special Carbs - tortila
Daily Special Snack -  M&M's
Daily Special Drink - Diet Coke (I know, I know...)
Weekly Special Take Out - Pizza or BBQ Chicken, or...

Being 'allowed' these things means I have no reason to go off plan...  and sometimes I can get away with more, and sometimes, I need to pull back a bit...

Man I    this Sleeve of mine!!

very interesting article. though i haven't fully "digested" it (hahah) it seems that the reasons for failure in some patients are not clear. They couldn't seem to connect it to stomach stretching or bougie size or ghrelin levels. This suggests that regain is more a behavioral and environmental issue. This is not intended as a criticism of those who suffer regain as it could happen to any of us. Some people live with enormous stress and the complexities of daily life are, in my humble opinion, much of the cause of the obesity epidemic.

We all know its possible to "eat around" our sleeves. We could all get ice cream and chips and candy bars and get in a boat load of calories in any day. Thats why Frisco is right that developing new habits and strategies and having good follow up and support is critical. I wonder if there is a study that considers the number of follow up visits to physician/nutirtionist in the five years after surgery for those who have significant regain or fail to lose adequately.

I guess I will always be living on the edge as far as eating is concerned. I always have - seeming to have a greater need for sweets than others and being more interested in the hors d'oevres than the company at many parties. Well so be it. guess i just will always have to be vigilant. I accept that. Gonna try to live with it. D

I love the outlook of this group, and this is a great topic. There is one thing I would like to point out as I may have resources you do not have. I work in health care. When researching this study, (I have slight ocd and a need to know) I found this is an Austrian study and you should know that they use a 45-65 f bougie in their operations, like they use for the DS. After the clinical studies done here and the UK it was decided that a smaller bougie was a better option when being used as a stand alone or staged procedure. This had a lower failure rate, albeit higher post surgery minor complications. Think slimeys lol. I think it would be a great help to people if they would have pointed out this study was done a few years ago, and where, and the standard bougie size of the patients studied. Just my 2 cents.
Summer

see this makes me have concern for the patients of doctors who today are doing bigger sleeves, they must have the same resources to know that a bigger sleeve is producing results that show more regain in patients... so is it their fear of leaks and getting sued the reason they choose to do larger sleeves??

here on the boards people keep telling patients whos doctors use 50 or 44   dont worry, but maybe they should be putting pressure on their surgeons to find out why they can eat alot more.. I hope in a couple years time we dont start seeing alot of people returning with regain that would be truely sad.

I'd sure be worried if my surgeon was going to use a large bougie on me.  Everyone is "tight" right after surgery.  It's 3 or 4 years down the road that really matters. 

As far as these studies go, I try to maintain a positive outlook for myself.  I've got to!  I know this maintaining thing is always gonna be tough, but at least I've got a fighting chance.  I just can't let negativism into my thoughts. 

I've got a friend that has a 40 bougie and she uses it as an excuse to overeat.  I swear, once she found out that it was a 40, it was all over for her.  She just quit trying.  I think some people have self defeatist attitudes.  Bottom line is she ain't willing to do what it takes.  She cannot eat THAT much more than I can, but every time I eat with her she starts whining about her sleeve size and stuffs down more mac n' cheese instead of meat.

And, no she doesn't need a PPI everyday like I do, but who's to say I wouldn't need one even with a little larger bougie.  That's a minor complication I'm willing to live with!

Laura

I agree, Linda! I actually bookmarked your post from a while back with the study where the smaller bougie size showed better results further out than the larger size. So, to me, it does seem to matter.

It also said the size of the sleeve (stretching) stabilized at 12 months.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/vsg/4237127/Interesting-test-i-found-they-did-in-Australia-presented-at/#34812725

eta: Also, you would have to look at each individual study and find out starting BMIs, bougie sizes, dietary plans, etc. There are sooooo many variables to take into account.

Thankyou for saving that i have stopped using the comp that i saved that info on and for the life of me i could not find it to show jen..

although it doesnt tell us much about how much they could eat, it does let us know at 2 yrs they could eat the same as 1 yr out and they concluded that it stablized.. i still think some days our sleeve lets us eat more than other days and from one meal to another at times.

Summer,
Thanks so much for the input.  It helps to have someone on the inside who can give us the kind of insight.  I have  a 36 bougie, and although I argued with my surgeon for a 32, he gave me a 36 anyway. Btw,  I LOVE your name :)
Adele

Ok now I am confused, I thought your name was Summer too?? The difference between a 32 and a 36 is not that much, but the difference between a 32 and a 50 is quite a bit. The difference between a 32 and a 36 is actually just a few eye droppers full. You can eat maybe a bite or two more than if you had had a 32. My tummy is probably much smaller, I had severe gastric ulcers and my surgeon said he had to be creative. It was suppose to be a 32 f bougie, But one end is smaller to cut out a bad ulcer that was there. But it has worked out for me. Obviously yours worked for you as well.
Summer