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I had the sleeve and the revision to bypass. I had to have the revision due to so many complications that came about because of the sleeve. I started off at 421 pounds, and I am also having a hysterectomy (mine is March 6th). And I have PCOS. If it were me, I would choose a bypass over the sleeve. My one real regret is that I didn't just do the bypass to begin with. Recovery was way better and easier, so much less pain, all around better experience.

First, I'm wondering, why are you having the surgery? It doesn't sound like you're unhappy with how you look, you didn't mention if you have any comorbidities like joint pain, decreased mobility, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc, and you don't have stats (bmi) that would cause a lot of concern. Second, I've only seen 2 or 3 people on this entire site that have trouble with losing too much weight. Increase your calorie intake, maybe cut the workouts to half, and that shouldn't be an issue. But it's exceedingly rare. Third, you will likely have some regain. It's just par for the course. Not everyone does, but most people do to an extent. If you stick to the plan and move your body, it should be minimal, but it's unfortunately a reality. Lastly, you will shed hair. A lot of it. Most people do. There are a lucky few that don't, but it's a reality the majority of us can't escape. It happened with my first surgery and with my revision. I used volumizing and thickening shampoos and conditioners, cut my hair shorter (it was down to my butt when I had my surgery and I cut it to just touching my shoulders), and styled it a bit differently. And it was fine. Not one person could tell (except me) and once the shedding stopped, it started to regrow fairly quickly. It didn't come out in clumps, it was basically excessive shedding that I mostly saw when I was washing my hair in the shower. It's not like I was losing hair throughout the day and it was all over my clothes or anything.

I went that exact route and the bypass was the easiest recovery for me and with no side effects except constipation which is easy to treat. I take miralax (a tsp a day) is perfect for me. But I have to add the common "everyone is different" so this is my story. I had to go from band to vsg due to serious complications of the band, and then I had to go from vsg to rny due to developing severe gerd.I really think the band created that environment by damaging my esophagus before the sleeve. The best way for me to describe the rny revision is... Finally a feeling of normality. I feel so good and normal now, pre-any weight loss surgery normal except I can't eat as much. No severe gerd, no side effects, no hassle anything except taking daily vitamins which I always did anyway pre WLS.I hope this helps.

Oh no I'm so sorry to hear that. That is definitely upsetting news. I don't get why they wouldn't make the contact first with a phone call and explain before posting it on MyChart with no further information. I hope you get to find out sooner than later and that there is a revised plan. 🤗

I was 388 the day I went into my initial surgery. I had the sleeve and then revision to bypass due to complications. You can see all my stats in my signature. As of today, I've lost 160 pounds. My ideal weight (NOT my target weight, because my ideal weight makes me look sickly) is no higher than 155. The difference between that and what my surgery day weight was is 233 pounds. 65% of that 233 pounds would be 151 pounds, so I've already lost more than that. I have another 30 to go to hit my goal weight, and while it's slow going (I currently just started my 987964610 stall lol) I'll get there. Where there's a will, there's a way. You can do this. I've had 8 surgeries in the last year and a half....7 of them this year....5 of them because of complications. I have 1 more surgery scheduled for next year and then that should be it. And even with all my starts and stops because of surgeries and recovery time, I still lost 160 pounds. Imagine if I was able to just keep going and not have all these health issues.... Anyway, don't get in your head about averages and statistics and all that. Everyone's journey is different. Focus on your health, mobility, mood, and medication amounts drastically improving. Focus on how clothes look and fit on you, what sizes they drop to, and how you feel. These are called non scale victories, and they will absolutely SAVE YOU when you hit stalls. Focus on how you fit in a booth, or in "regular" seats in the movies or in doctor's offices. These things will tell you more than the scale ever will. Getting off meds, no longer having hypertension and diabetes, these were game changers for me.

They don't actually remove any bowel - they just bypass part of it - but the two parts meet up again about a foot from the stomach. He may have just made the "Y" shorter than usual - as in had the two parts meet up sooner. I'm not a revision patient, so there are probably others on here who know more than I do, but you may not be feeling full because of nerves being cut during surgery. If so, they regenerate fairly quickly. Plus you're eating soft foods, also. I didn't really start feeling restriction until about a month out when I started eating solid food. lastly, only about 30% of bypass patients dump. I never have - and know lots of others who don't, either. If you turn out to be a dumper, though, you can prevent it by not eating a lot of sugar or fat at one sitting (which we shouldn't be doing anyway...). I never worried about dumping (although at times I wish I DID dump since I have no problem eating tons of sugar at one sitting, unfortunately...)

I had issues similar to yours where I started with a sleeve in 7/2020 my body started going through severe issues that I couldn’t even hold down a sip of water causing me to vomit uncontrollably in the end of 8/2020 I went to use my restroom and I collapsed. My surgical team had me enter a rehab to try and help me build up my strength and put in a PICC line. I was in the rehab for 6 weeks and the team started to work with my insurance and got permission for a revision to a bypass.(my brain started to have issues with retaining short term memories due to lack of nutrition) Had the revision to bypass done in 3/2021 My body took forever to start to regulate and start to work the way it is supposed to. I pushed myself to do as much work with my brain to get back to “normal “ as much as possible and I’d say I am about 90% recovered. Physically I’m back to “normal” most days occasionally I’ll still have a nauseous day or some dumping but I was just at my dr last week and I am down just shy of 200lbs stay strong you will get through this Family members ask me if I could rewind time if I’d still go through with the surgery and I say I may have opted for the bypass instead of the sleeve but absolutely because if I didn’t get that weight off I know without a doubt I’d be dead within a few years so even with all these issues the surgery was worth it.

If you had a DS you are thought to absorb about 20% of the fat you eat, 60% of the protein you eat, and 100% of the carbs you eat. Your doctor should have explained this to you... The intestines can adapt some to the surgery over time, but most studies have shown DS patients continue to have malabsorption. That's the whole point of the surgery! In rare cases, there is a small number of patients who will lose more weight than they intend, or have excessive muscle wasting. The muscle wasting is normally due to not eating enough protein post surgery. A DS patient needs around 120 grams of protein a day, more if they workout trying to gain muscle. Are you taking your vitamins? Have you had your labs checked recently? In the case of someone who has lost more weight than they intended to with a DS, certain enzymes can be given to help them absorb more of the food they eat, or a surgical revision can be done to lengthen their common channel, giving them more length of small intestines to absorb calories from. Of the two, I'd try the enzymes first. If you gained up to 240 with the enzymes, clearly they were effective for you! So why not consider taking them on an alternating schedule, titrating the dose to slowly gain what you need, and then taper off of them and see if you can maintain?? If you want to do this with food you are probably looking at over 4,000 calories a day. That is going to be tough. You can only eat so much food in a day! DS patients usually don't count calories at all, we count macros because it is the macros that help us stay in our target range, since no one really knows exactly how many calories an individual with a DS surgery is going to absorb, we can only ballpark it. But you should be getting a LOT of protein and around 120-150 grams of fat, according to vets who have lived with this surgery for decades. To bulk, most people I know load up on carbs, which is not easy for a DS person unless you want to spend a lot of time in the bathroom, or you are lucky enough to actually tolerate a decent amount of carbs. But carbs will usually put weight on. If you want more people with DS to talk to, check the bariatricfacts.org forums. We are mostly DS people over there and most of the regular posters are vets. But be prepared, they are fans of straight talk and not everyone likes that!

I get that way too. I was like that after my sleeve, and now after my revision. I should be happy, I don’t have any GERD thus far but it’s like I’m just sad. I think this is almost just normal hormonal shifts. I feel down and out after every surgery I’ve ever had, as well as after my kids with postpartum depression. I wonder if it is just something that’s ingrained in me. Hoping you are getting back to yourself soon.

I have had both sleeve and then a bypass revision. I had to get revised because of GERD due to the sleeve. If you've had any type of gerd in the past, go bypass instead and save yourself years of pain and suffering. Both are life changing as in you lose weight, and it stops you from binging, but other than that, once you are are completely healed, I don't really see it being any different than living as a thin person. You still have to watch your weight, watch the things that you eat for health purposes. Be aware that one can eat around the sleeve. You can't eat around the bypass though. I think the only thing that is different than life pre-surgeries is that I have to use a daily multivitamin patch (so I don't have to deal with a lot of pills). I added one chewable adek after I had the bypass. If I had to do it over again I would skip the sleeve. At the time, I was afraid of the bypass. I got severe gerd from the sleeve but please know that not everybody gets gerd from the sleeve. Now I realize that having a bypass was absolutely nothing for me to be afraid of. It's been a problem/side affect-free experience. It resolved all my problems I had with my sleeve.

I was recently converted from a sleeve (6-10-2013) to a RNY (11-7-2023) because of GERD. Getting insurance to cover it took 8 months. 4 appeals. And Multiple calls and emails all the way up to the VP of the company. I work in medical education so I fought and fought and fought and finally proved they had an immense amount of bias towards obese individuals. They kept denying me because I "gained weight" and "just want to lose more weight" that I "don't have GERD". In that 8 months of proving I have GERD I had to have an EGD, Barium Swallow, Stress Test, Colonoscopy, and a PH Monitoring study (that was the really crazy one).... and they were positive for GERD. They kept insisting that no they weren't positive and if I just lost weight I wouldn't have heartburn. When I had my first sleeve I was 380 pounds I got down to 170 pounds in 2017. In 2022 when I started the program to get the revision I was 220. So yes I had gained some weight but NO I hadn't regained all my weight. My entire experience has been very eye-opening how quickly someone in insurance will deny obesity as a medical condition and say it is a lifestyle choice. Especially when the entire point of the conversion was to fix GERD and not lose weight! If you seek to have the revision my advice is keep all the framing on GERD. Don't even reference weight or weight loss. It has to be for GERD. Study that insurance companies weight loss surgery policy and reference it often. It is best practice to convert a sleeve to RNY to fix GERD. And craziness I had the conversion and haven't had GERD once since! Don't let them tell you no. If the tests prove you have GERD get the conversion.

Hey all! Hope everyone is doing well. I have my revision from a sleeve to a bypass yesterday. I’m hoping my severe GERD will be done now. This recovering even just one day post op is way worse than my sleeve was. He also fixed my hernia which had almost my whole stomach in my chest wall. I’m just super sore and ready to go home to recover!

Hoping to hop on the train too! I had a revision to a bypass on 11/28 for severe GERD, as well as a hiatal hernia repair. Almost my entire stomach was up in the chest wall he said. I am feeling pretty decent 4 days post op. I did lose 85lbs with my sleeve, and had gained a little back 10lbs. They did a full bypass but didn’t not take out as much bowel so that I don’t lose too much more weight and be malnourished they said. Any way, glad to find others in similar situations just like last time. :) Hope everyone is doing well!!!

only about 30% of bypass patients dump, and it can be prevented by not eating a ton of sugar or fat at one sitting. I've never dumped and I know lots of other bypass patients who've never dumped, either. I had some food intolerances the first few months but now the only thing my stomach doesn't seem to handle well is a really fatty meal. Something like a fish fry with fried fish, tartar sauce, French fries, a roll with butter, and coleslaw (as is a popular Friday night meal here in Wisconsin) would not sit well with me and might even send me into the bathroom. I could handle one or two of those things, but not all (like I could pre-surgery). I also can't eat tons of pasta or rice since it sits in my stomach like a brick, but I can eat SOME of it. I had some vomiting episodes the first couple of months after surgery if I ate too much or too fast or something that didn't agree with me, but since then, I don't think I vomit much more often than I did pre-surgery. Diarrhea isn't that common with bypass - and the adult diaper thing would be really rare - I almost never hear of that, and I've been on this site for about nine years. The opposite, constipation, is really common, though. A lot of us have to take daily Miralax or stool softeners to keep on top of it. yes I suppose constant vomiting could rot your teeth, but I'm not sure where you got that idea that bypass patients experience daily vomiting. I probably vomit 2 or 3 times a year. Plus vomiting now is much easier than it was pre-surgery. Your stomach is really small, so not much comes up. And besides that, you don't have nearly as much acid in your stomach (you can tell because what comes up tastes just like it did going down - you don't get that awful "vomit-y" taste any more after you vomit). Also, GERD is what can lead to Barrett's esphagus an/or esophagus cancer, and bypass usually improves if not outright cures GERD. That's why it's usually recommended over VSG for patients who have GERD. I should add that I'm not a revision patient, but I know of a lot of people who are from this site and similar sites. Most of them are very happy with their bypasses and aren't experiencing the complications that you're worried about (in fact, most don't have any complications at all). I hope you don't take this wrong, but you might want to do more research on the bypass because I think your views on it aren't that realistic. I wouldn't go so far as to say that no one has every experienced any of that stuff because I don't know for sure - maybe someone or a few people have - but we just don't hear about those things on here. If they happen, they're very rare, otherwise we'd hear about them given all the thousands of people who've been on this site over the years.

Thank you all for sharing your photos, they are so beautiful and motivational. I normally hate the idea of sharing photos of myself online, but in the spirit of sharing and support here goes. The last photo was taken last night.... I'm 4.5 months post, 25lbs to go before goal (thinking about revising my goal.)

So as you all know, I had my revision from sleeve to bypass on June 28th because of severe gerd, esophagitis, gastritis, and a ton of pre-cancerous polyps all through my stomach. I was put on 80mg of Nexium daily and still had a lot of pain and break through gerd issues. After the revision, the PPI was lowered to 40mg daily for 2 weeks and then on weeks 3 and 4, go to 40mg every other day and then completely stop at the beginning of week 5. Well here I am, doing the evry other day, and I had horrible gerd today!!! My throat was burning, my esophagus felt like I had acid in it, and I was MISERABLE. I had to take a Nexium (today was a day not to take it) and follow it up an hour later with a Pepcid before it went away. WTH????? I never ever had heartburn or gerd before the sleeve. Got the revision because it was supposed to fix it, and here I am, still dealing with it!!!!!!! I'm so over this. I'm not eating anything bad, following my diet to the letter, and I can't catch a break.

I had the sleeve surgery 9/26/16 and did well with it till I had my gallbladder removed in 2018 then I developed severe gastric reflux. My surgeon found that my bile duct got stuck open after they removed my gallbladder. With the bile constantly running in my sleeve it eroded it causing some precancerous changes. Once my insurance approved for a second surgery we went with changing over to a bypass in June of 2020 to fix the problem. I was very happy that we ended up doing the revision because I no longer had to sleep sitting up and my stalled weight loss finally started back up again and I was able to continue my weight loss journey. Fast forward to the present of this year I have been holding a good weight of between 137 to 145 lbs and no health issues really I just still struggled with dumping a lot cause my new pouch didn't always like food but I maintain weight with the help of shakes. Then in August of this year for some reason I just started getting where I didn't feel well and I dropped like 17 lb like it was nothing. I contacted my surgeon because I was concerned because of how weak and tired I had felt and I've noticed like vision changes my muscles or shrinking rapidly I was becoming dehydrated and all kinds of new things that I wasn't prepared for. My surgeon ordered a upper scope and a lower which come back very good. My lab showed that I did have a couple vitamin deficiencies so I increased my vitamins I actually have to go redo my labs here because I also ended up getting sick and went in the ER in my liver counts were high and they never been high before so we're checking those this week. But now I'm having a harder time eating and getting my body to absorb my nutrition even the protein shakes aren't helping maintain my body weight I am dropping weight still pretty rapidly I'm down to 124 lb now and my immune system seems to have been weakened because I get sick super easy and I try to stay away from other people otherwise that makes it harder on me and I guess get wiped out. I am currently waiting for my surgeon to call me back because I'm getting more concerned about how we come getting it's getting harder to do every daily things such as washing my hair folding my clothes and putting them away my muscles hurt and they're tired and weak and they get all cramped up. I'm blessed to have this surgery but I was never expecting that I would get this new very weird complication of just not being able to eat very well and to maintain weight. I trust my surgery team he's wonderful I'm hoping they can figure this out I'd really do not want a feeding tube or a PICC line I work with the public and that's even getting hard to do and I've almost thought about applying for disability until I get this figured out so I can quit losing weight by exertion. I'm just wondering is anybody else going through something like this or they just out of nowhere started losing weight again and they just can't seem to get it to stop. I'm worried not only for myself but for my family because my kids are still pretty young and I'm not ready to leave this world yet I still have a lot to live for. Hw: 268 SW 221lbs LW 124lns Height 5'2

those kinds of. things can certainly happen, but they're very rare. I wouldn't lose sleep over it. As someone else said, lots of people have revisions, and most of them have no problems at all.

I just made an account to answer this. I am two and a half weeks post op from gastric sleeve. I too have PCOS. I am 37 years old and my highest weight was 330. At surgery and after the pre-op diet I was down to 305. I'm currently 289 today. My comorbidities were hypertension, high cholesterol, newly onset GERD, and insulin resistance. (never made it into the diabetic range). I watched a ton of videos on youtube after I decided to have surgery. I watched the testimony of patients ranging from a few weeks out to twenty years. I also listened to bariatric surgeons discuss the process, pitfalls, and successes. My PCP had been talking to me about this surgery for three years and at first I declined because of all the people I knew of that experienced full weight regain. I only decided to have the surgery when I had determined that not being able to eat as much and what I want all the time was a small price to pay for my health and quality of life. Some things to consider between sleeve and bypass. Myth: Bypass patients are much more successful at keeping weight off. The sleeve is a newer surgery and was discovered as the first part of the duodenal switch. The 5 and 10 year outcomes for weight loss and regain tend to be around the same with the bypass slightly better. The sleeve is less punishing and is easier to 'stretch' out with poor eating habits but it can be done with the bypass as well. Overall, a change in relationship with food is a higher predictor of sustained weight loss than either surgery. The Switch is the surgery with the most rapid weight loss and sustained loss without regain but it is a heavily malabsorption procedure, carries the most risk of post operative complications, including dehydration and vitamin deficiency and requires a very strict regiment to sustain a healthy lifestyle. It can also result in some interesting bowel changes. Too rapid weightloss can also result in gallstones. Quite a few bariatric patients have had gallbladder removal after surgery. It should be noted that actual operative complications are low for all surgeries but not zero. Another controversial topic of sleeve vs gastric bypass is that the bypass is better for GERD. There are contradicting experiences for both surgeries. One thing is for sure you can certainly still have GERD with the bypass, although it seems revision from sleeve to bypass has worked to cure GERD for a lot of people. My GERD was very mild before surgery and so far I have not experienced any after. I am on a daily dosage of omerprazole but that's nothing new to what I was taking before. My triggers for GERD were fried foods and canned tomatoes. I know to stay away from that now. Keep in mind that the bypass is reversible in most cases while the sleeve is not. Also, the sleeve can be converted into a bypass or switch if complications arise or you fail to lose or sustain a meaningful amount of weight. There are very few options for bypass and switch if regain occurs outside of dietary changes, exercise and will power. Bypass patients can no longer consume NSAIDS, steriods, and possibly other medications after surgery for life. Switch and Bypass patients are more likely to experience dumping syndrome but Sleeve patients can also suffer from it. Constipation, diarrhea, and blockages and strictures can occur with all surgeries. Very minimal risk for long term serious complications. I have read quite a few posts that spoke about pain after surgery with the sleeve. Speaking for myself the only pain I experienced was gas after surgery from the surgeon introducing it into my abdomen during the procedure. I was given liquid pain meds but never took any, and no otc pains meds either. I felt discomfort from the surgery port sites for maybe a week. After that I was good. My surgery team has stayed on top of any side effects that could occur after surgery and I was very lucky. They gave me medicine for nausea before surgery, put an anti-nausea patch behind my ear also before surgery and discharged me with anti-nausea dissolveable meds. I took the meds for about a week though I never experience sickness and still luckily have not. I was a water drinker before surgery and can still easily drink water without any pain or nausea. Cold or hot temps don't seem to upset my stomach though some have reported either can cause pain. I am on the puree stage and things are going well. Really, experiences vary. I'd choose a doctor carefully and if possible speak to prior patients to get their experience pre and post op. I was lucky my Aunt had the procedure done the year before and could report on her experience. We chose the same surgeon. He had a 98% success rate. So after this long-winded wall of text I choose a sleeve because: I wanted a slower and steady weight loss. I did not want to re-route my insides. Had a co-worker suffer a bad bowel blockage with a bypass and had to have part of his intestine cut out. I did not want restrictions on not being able to take certain pain or treatment options should they become necessary in the future. I did not feel I have a dependent relationship with food. I ate too much of it. And sometimes the wrong things because they were easy and accessible. But I also enjoyed a lot of healthy foods. My kryptonite has always been lack of exercise and even skipping meals so that I overate when I did eat. I'm from the finish your plate generation, but I did not and do not rely on food for comfort, bordem or pleasure. Therefore, I felt and still feel that the more punishing procedures were not right for me.

OK, breathe. Lots of people have revision surgery for lots of reasons and the vast majority of them are *absolutely* fine. I'm sorry you're having this worry - I know you don't need that when you've had to go for an additional procedure. I hope everything will be good for you long term. 😍

Hey all! I had a sleeve in 2020, and am having a revision the end of this month to a bypass for severe GERD. I also have a gum obsession, always have. It is only a short time you can't have it (or straws which is my other obsession lol). Hoping everyone who has had surgery is feeling okay and on the mend! My doctor does a 2 week diet but unlike last time (different surgeon) they allow solid food, which is a plus. I'm not complaining. I'll eat soup and chicken for 2 weeks. The liquid was tough, after day 4ish it got better though. I was so hangry the first time around, I thought I'd lose it on my husband. He knew to tread lightly LOL

Literally was going to say the exact same thing! I associate it just like with having a baby. When I was pregnant, I heard EVERY horror story about traumatic births and dying babies. Does it happen? Absolutely. Do people share the worst typically with the world? Absolutely. It is okay to worry, and wonder if you will have complications. I had several with pregnancy and birth, and then with my sleeve (waiting for my revision to RNY this month!!).... Nerves are totally normal. Its okay to have a freak out moment but just remember that sometimes you come across the exception to the "normal experience" rule though that doesn't mean it is likely you will fall into that category as well. Also, you are doing EVERYTHING that you can do to make sure those complications don't happen. YOU GOT THIS! I've never had a TikTok but I had to stop getting on IG, (its my only social) because it was making me feel bad in so many ways. Sometimes maybe you just need a little break OP!

Good luck to those having surgery tomorrow and the next few days! I started my pre-op diet today, which I am not complaining about because you do get to eat some real food. Though all of it aggravates my GERD. Ugh I cannot wait for my revision. I hope it works and I wake up reflux free.

The pressure in our little sleeved tummies is different than the pressure in a regular tummy from the things I've read. This can cause reflux to happen. Plus the acid our stomach produce when larger is the same amount produced when smaller, so basically we have more acid than we need. There are better PPIs than Prilosec, have you tried Protonix or Dexilant? I have had much better luck with these. RNY revision for reflux is a good option for a permanent solution. They'll probably do imaging to prove you have reflux (an upper GI series) and an endoscopy to check out the status of your stomach and esophagus. Insurance usually requires these before considering approval of a revision. I wish you much luck in finding a solution!!

Possibly a hiatal hernia has developed, as GERD is a common symptom of that irrespective prior WLS history. An EGD (endoscopy) would establish that as well as anything else that is going on in there; possibly an imaging procedure like a barium swallow to look at shaping of the sleeve and associated connections can help to establish how things are flowing and why backups are happening. Your primary may order those things or refer you to a gastroenterologist to track down that problem, then they can start considering solutions - fix the hernia, resleeve to correct shaping problems or revise to an RNY.