SLEEVE, bypass, SLEEVE, I need advice, plz help!

[gracefulfaith 8]

Hey everyone, I'm 29 yrs old, 286, 5'6. I know I definitely want wls,I just keep going back & forth between gastric sleeve, and gastric bypass. Any and all thoughts are welcomed, & thanks in advance.

[920amy 409]

Well, obviously, this is a Sleeve board We might be a LITTLE biased One thing I liked about the sleeve over bypass, is sleeve doesn't rearrange your inards. Less down time, and faster recovery. Another thing is taht Sleeve can act as a 'gate-way' surgery. Of course both surgeries are permanent, once you do it, you can't go back. BUT, if you do sleeve and then feel like you didn't acheive all your goals, you can without too much trouble be revised to by pass. With bypass, you cannot revise to anything else, it's the end. Sleeve was developed actually because many patients taht were too big for by pass would get sleeved as a first step and then after they lost a significant amount of weight they would get the rest of the by pass. Most patients found taht they were losing enough with the sleeve alone though, and the surgery was born so to speak and offered as an independent surgery. So my opinion, do the sleeve, and if you're not happy, get revised.

[Threetimesacharm 1,400]

You will find that many are very successful with the sleeve. Since 85% of your stomach is removed it will be very hard to eat significant amounts of food to regain hense success. I agree to go the sleeve route first then convert if you have too. On the other hand if you have a significant amount to lose you may consider the bypass as it is said to be for those with a higher BMI.

[Homerun44 26]

020amy couldn't have said it any better she is right on the money with that post

[VSGKirk 855]

Sleeve was the clear choice for me as there are no malabsorption issues.

[Kristina J. 581]

Agree with all the above posts, but wanted to clarify that you actually can revise a gastric bypass to a duodenal switch, and most patients are successful after revision.

With that said, I would go sleeve too. I watched my Dad's gastric bypass fail as he managed to eat right through it. He was 400lbs, went down to 220 and now is back up to 300-320. He isn't the only one I know either :-/ I actually know about the revision option because of others in his support group that have or are revising after regaining. Not that regain can't happen with other surgeries, but bypass seems to easily stretch and accommodate poor eating habits for weight regain. And that's not even getting into the malabsorption issues, of which he had plenty as well. Overall, the sleeve just seems to be a safer choice. Good luck!!!

[cbd 78]

Sleeve was a clear choice for me. I don't want any bypassing of my nutrients. With the bypass they actually bypass a large portion of your small intestines. The small intestines is where most of your vitamins/nutrients are absorbed by your body before going into the large intestines. With the sleeve it does not interfere with your absorbsion of all the good stuff your body needs....it just restricts the amount you can eat. Good luck with your choice.

[gracefulfaith 8]

Thank u all so much for the advice. I agree, the malabsorption scares me. I came here, to this board so I can hear more good reasons as to why this is the right choice for me. Thank u for taking the time to help me....I'm gonna get SLEEVED!!!!! Yay!!!!!

[Kristina J. 581]

Congratulations!!! That is so exciting!!! Keep us updated!!!