male only Noob - Gastric Sleeve Option

[IrishSoul 18]

Hello,

I am approximately 295lbs and attending education classes for surgery. I was originally thinking band, but now thinking sleeve option is better fit for me.

Would be interested in hearing from folks who had one or the other done.

Pros & Cons

Side effects experienced and why you think you experience them.

How much weight lost during first month and monthly for first 6 months.

Just trying to figure out what surgery option is best. Next class is this Thursday.

I have diabetes type 2 and sugar levels have been very high lately. I need to get more exercise!

Thanks!

[rebecca b 19]

I love my sleeve, the reasons why? I no longer feel much physical hunger the head hunger i am working on. For the first time in my life I feel full after eating a very small meal. I don't have to worry about a artifical device in my body causing complications. I have lost 53lbs since dec 12th! My friends with the band have not acheived this in years of having the device. I was diabetic and now I am off all my meds, and 2 out of three of my pressure meds.

sleeved 12-19-11

[IrishSoul 18]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Very positive!

Do you burp/belch more than usual or have gas pains?

Thanks again.

[wkeller818 9]

Sleeve was a good fit for me. The band has lots of complications.I was recently told that doctors are removing more bands than they are putting in. The woman that had surgery the same day as me in august of 2011, had hers removed this past week. She was really torn the day of surgery because she was the only one getting the band. Now she regrets it. I am down to 252 from 386 before the sleeve. I have adjusted well. There are a few cons, but the pros far exceed the cons. You will see plenty of both posted on this site. Good luck to you.

[Afro_Cyster 74]

I get a small, under-the-breath burp, when I near my limit. That is my signal to stop eating. It does not hurt at all. No one even notices.

I have had an experience where I ate past my warning and belched until all the food was digested. But I was still in a learning phase - I didn't know the limits of my personal sleeve.

[RickM 1,747]

I started at around the same level as you, 292 at surgery, after having lost and maintained around 50lb several years before while my wife was going thru this. I lost about 33lb the first month, 14-15 each of the next couple months, and then about 10lb per month thereafter until I hit goal at about 190lb (actual goal was mid teens body fat %, the scale weight goal moved around some as I lost to account for the inevitable loss of some lean body mass.)

Overall, the journey has been smooth sailing - some Constipation issues early on (pretty much any of the WLS procedures will have some sort of GI issues simply from the change in dietary habits,) and I'm just now successfully cutting back and weaning off of the PPIs for reflux (most people seem to get off of them within a few weeks, but YMMV.)

Threat of complications is always on one's mind when going into these procedures and that is where there are some significant differences. While the bands tend to be simpler and quicker to install, they have a lot more complications down the road (on the order of 25% of the bands are ultimately removed due to poor weight loss or regain performance or to structural damage done to the stomach - there is a reason why most of these forums have boards dedicated to band revisions.) The sleeve, on the other hand can have some initial surgical complications by way of leaks or kinks/strictures in the stomach (and we're talking under 1% here,) they are overall rather trouble free as time progresses. Someone on one of these boards posted a great comparison from their surgeon: he told them that if they were to call him in five years time complaining of nausea, vomiting or other digestive distress, if they had a band he would tell them to go to the emergency room, but if they had a sleeve, he would tell them that they ate some bad fish.

Long term, the success of any of these WLS procedures comes down to a combination of personal efforts to adopt the lifestyle changes needed to maintain your weight once you have lost it, and the compatibility between you and the procedure. One may experience regain problems with any of these procedures (the DS to a lesser extent, but still possible,) but getting put back into the hospital for surgical complications months or years down the road is very uncommon except with the bands. Long term nutritional issues are going to be similar with both the bands and sleeve as both restrict the amount that you can consume which puts a premium on adopting healthy dietary habits and staying on top of whatever supplements are needed to flesh things out; supplementation is less of an issue than with the RNY and DS which have malabsorptive components that need to be compensated for (heck, most Americans are somewhat malnourished and should be supplementing some simply due to the crappy average American diet, so the sleeve and bands aren't a real big change from pre-op in that regard.)

Good luck and welcome to the club (whichever one you join,)

[PatrickG 5]

My wife got the band and I got the VSG. She has a lot more trouble eating solid meat than I do. In fact she avoids it most of the time. We have both lost approximately the same % of excess weight.

[IrishSoul 18]

Thanks everyone for sharing. I think the sleeve option makes sense for me and my life change.

Have my 3rd meeting this Tuesday, from there bloodwork, psych, dietician etc.

The start of a great journey.

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