Gastric Sleeve Vs. Gastric Bypass

[asauce413 8]

Hi everyone. I'm a 23 year old female. I weigh 221 pounds. I also am on medication for high cholesterol and GERD. I have met with the surgeon and initially thought I FOR SURE wanted the gastric sleeve surgery. I am now leaning towards gastric bypass after meeting someone who was my age and my size when she had gastric bypass and she had excellent long-term results. I am really torn and obviously need to make a decision before my surgeon submits everything to insurance. Thoughts?

[checkmeowt 27]

With GERD, the sleeve would not be recommended as it would make it much worse. The surgeon won't even offer it to you if he knows of it.

[asauce413 8]

Hmm..they are aware of my GERD and still said its ok. It's a very low severity of GERD that I just started taking medication for. I basically was getting heartburn once a week so they put me on meds. I did read the chances of GERD worsening with the sleeve are likely.

[James Marusek 5,244]

I had GERD and my doctor recommended RNY. Sleeve will only make the GERD worse.

[asauce413 8]

Thank you for your input! Did you have any issues with RNY? Complications?

[Djmohr 6,965]

@@asauce413

Definitely do your research on this. I have seen way too many people go the sleeve route and have to revise to bypass because of the Gerd/reflux issue.

I wanted sleeve surgery so badly that I was devastated when I was told that RNY was recommended vs. sleeve. I got a second opinion from my gastroenterologist who definitely supported the RNY. I read tons, got on sites like this one and began to understand the pros and cons of each surgery. For me, I wanted to go through this once and only once.

RNY has been a huge blessing for me. No complications, down 111lbs in 8.5 months with 34 to go. RNY cured my Gerd, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and stage 3 kidney disease.

Many surgeons will move forward with your sleeve surgery and certainly you can take medications to help you with it. You have to think about if that is what you really want knowing that the sleeve can make that condition much worse. Even people who have never had Gerd have gotten it with the sleeve. There is a reason that RNY is the gold standard for WLS and is recommended for people who suffer from Gerd.

You have to make the decision for yourself, I am just suggesting you continue to research like crazy. Do a search on revisions from sleeve to bypass. I bet you find lots of info to help you on your research journey.

Good luck to you!

[The Candidate 3,215]

I initially went into this deadset on the sleeve. But halfway through the approval process I changed my mind and will be getting the bypass on 07/29.

The main deciding factors for me included the GERD issue. I only have mild heartburn now, but when I do have it I am absolutely miserable. Yes, some people have this same malady and went on to have the sleeve and are perfectly fine now, with no problems in this regard. But there are also others who ended up having it get much worse post op. Some even suffer to the point that they chose to revise from sleeve to bypass. My intention, barring unforeseen complications, is to only have WLS once.

The other deciding point for me was that I came to the conclusion that malabsorption might be of some benefit to me. I don't want to induce dumping of course, but the fear of it might well help me keep my sweet tooth in check. I need all the help I can get. And since I'm already on a long term daily regimen of Vitamins I'm not worried about staying on top of any Vitamin deficiency. Plus I will also work with my PC to ensure that I have regular lab work done to ensure I'm getting the job done.

In the end the final choice is yours. Keep researching and talking to others and you'll eventually find the answer that is right for you.