silverwhitemoon

How are you doing now?

Don't know what to say except sorry that you are struggling so much with everything. I know what it's like to want to eat everything in sight. I hate it. I struggle with it every day. Good luck to you.

Here's a question - just curious... Do people who can eat just about anything prior to surgery find that they can eat just about anything afterwards? And do people who have tummy issues pre-surgery find that after surgery their sleeve is still sensitive - or more sensitive than before? Or is there no correlation? Discuss..... -Anne

I'll let you know in a year, how does that sound? Is that the appropriate time?

Yes, yes, and yes! It's like there is a cult of the almighty Sleeve and any negative talk is met with, "Give it time!" and "You'll feel differently later." I have even met people who say they love their sleeve and talk about how wonderful it is and then later will tell you about their complications - acid reflux, food aversions, vomiting, and then when I say, "woah! Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?!!?" and they will just say it's no big deal and change the subject. I know someone that I talked to before surgery. After I had the VSG she told me she has an atrophied kidney - (probably because of more than 9 years on PPIs that she's been taking for reflux.) I said that would have been nice to know before surgery. She said she wasn't sure it was the PPIs that caused the kidney damage. Oh, and she only throws up once a week because of reflux - it's not that bad. That's right - she didn't tell me that last part until after I got a sleeve. [ btw, "ad nauseum" - nice choice of words, Gina] I went to a post-op support group last week and met a woman who had a VSG 7 years ago. During the support group, she was talking about the joys of having a sleeve and she brought a friend who is planning to get one in October. But... on the way out the door to our cars I asked her about her reflux: "worse than ever" she said. She is on more medication than she was before the sleeve. Sleeve groupies. It's the cult of the sleeved. I swear if I end up liking this sleeve later - not sure I will - but if I do, I will never be a sleeve groupie. I will be honest with the pre-ops. When I b*tch about my reflux, I get "didn't you know that was a complication of the sleeve?" Well, yes, but I didn't know it was a permanent one, or that I was likely to develop it forever if I didn't have it already.

Exactly. I was under the impression that I would be able to eat anything - just in smaller amounts. That really isn't the case. I feel like I have set myself up for having digestive problems for the rest of my life. Also, I can't ever just eat. I have to worry about eating too fast, not chewing enough, whether the food I am going to eat will digest properly or whether it will contribute to the reflux that I now have after VSG that I didn't have before. I am two months out and regret doing this to myself. I am feeling less regret than I did immediately afterwards and I've been lucky so far (knock on wood) to avoid some of the major complications that others have had. I lost 35 pounds the month after surgery and haven't lost any more weight since then. I haven't gained any either, but I could have lost 35 pounds and kept it off without this surgery. If I could go back to before the surgery I would talk myself out of it.

Frankly, I can't believe you found a doctor who would actually do the surgery. That is a low BMI. Yes, at 22 you could have done it yourself and kept it off. Maybe not 52 pounds, but 35? You'd be 155. That's a great weight. "Yes, at 22 you could have done it yourself and kept it off". I feel like this comment is pretty hypocritical. Regardless of age, if we could do it ourselves we wouldn't have resorted to surgery. I'm now 33 and have been doing it myself for 10 years, losing, gaining, losing etc. Why not do it now so she can save herself the heart ache of going through what so many of us have gone through for 10, 20, 30+ years? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App I said that because IF she can keep that off then that would always be preferable to surgery, with its possible risks and complications. And, she asked. Hypocritical? No. It would be hypocritical if I had similar stats to hers. I don't. I am much older and have a lot more weight to lose.

Why did you want to revise from sleeve to bypass?

I am so sorry that you are having all of those complications, but I have to say I LOVE everything you had to say and the way that you said it. I recently voiced my regrets about having this surgery and got blasted by the sleeve fans on this site. It is not a popular opinion, but someone should voice it. Thank you!

I sure hope so if I have to have one. I see your surgeon was Dr. Aceves - he was the partner of my surgeon - Dr. Juan Arellano.

Frankly, I can't believe you found a doctor who would actually do the surgery. That is a low BMI. Yes, at 22 you could have done it yourself and kept it off. Maybe not 52 pounds, but 35? You'd be 155. That's a great weight.

You vomit from time to time and you are ok with that? It sounds like you gave yourself an eating disorder by getting a sleeve.

Here's my story, it's kind of long but I'll try to keep it short. June 30th I found a revision surgeon in Mexico who was able to take out my band and do a sleeve in one surgery. He is board certified in bariatrics (in MX) and is the president of the Mexican College of Bariatrics. Anyway, shortly after surgery, I got horrible GERD. Started off with one prilosec a day, quickly moved to two, and Gaviscon for symptoms, then on to dexilant. After a couple of days the dexilant wasn't working completely and I had to add some pepcids at night. I went to a local bariatric surgeon and he told me that because I had the revision in one surgery, that there was absolutely no way that my sleeve was the right shape. He said that the surgeon would have had to cut around the area of the band, leaving an area where acid would get caught and cause GERD forever. He said my only options were either: to take PPIs forever for the GERD or revise to bypass. And, insurance would never cover the revision to bypass. He said it was too early to do any kind of contrast study and told me to come back in three months. Yesterday I ran across this story: https://houstonsleevesurgeon.com/interesting-case-severe-acid-reflux-after-gastric-sleeve-surgery/ This patient's case is so much like mine. She had GERD for 10 years and mine has just started, but similar. She was "placed on escalating doses of PPIs in hopeless attempts to control her symptoms" and had "an incompletely resected gastric sleeve". In other words, it was pretty much what the bariatric surgeon had told me: "A retained gastric fundus may contribute to intermittent relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter leading to reflux. Furthermore the gastric fundus may allow for an acid pocket to form in the vicinity of the gastric cardia leading to acid reflux. A retained gastric fundus may also cause delayed gastric emptying further exacerbating acid reflux. The gastric fundus is a posterior structure and it can easily be incompletely resected during sleeve surgery. " So, I contacted the doctor that wrote this and he wrote me back and we've emailed back and forth a bit. He is telling me that - if the surgeon left gastric fundus then it would be an easy fix to resect it and avoid conversion to bypass. He also said I would need endoscopy and a contrast study to determine what is going on with my sleeve. I see a GI on Tuesday and I hope he will help me with this. I'm excited about the prospect of getting rid of this GERD and keeping my sleeve, but this surgeon is in Houston. I'm in Florida. He suggested I find a reflux specialist or a surgeon here that could handle my case. If - the surgeon left fundus - I would have to find a surgeon here that would be willing to resect the fundus. That's clearly not the surgeon in town that told me "PPIs or bypass" I would have to find someone who would be willing to try the procedure that this Houston doc is suggesting. This is going to be difficult - and possibly expensive.

Are you talking about gas? or gastric reflux? I'm talking about acid reflux.

I was at my PCP's today and she gave me a funny look when I said the dexilant I'm taking wasn't taking care of all the acid and that I was taking two pepcid every night too. That's unusual I'm sure, but how unusual is it for a sleeve patient? I've had a local bariatric surgeon tell me that I will have no choice but to revise to bypass if the GERD is this bad at this point. My surgeon tells me nothing - just that it may improve, or might not. Is there anyone here who had really bad GERD after surgery that improved over time - even went away? Please, give me some hope. I really don't want another surgery. -Anne