Sleeve to DS

[onmyway11 43]

I was sleeved 1/17 I did great. My dr called me a “super acchiever” until my 2 year mark when I had gained 20 lbs back. After his pep talk i gained another 10. Sigh. Now I’m looking at DS and it’s appealing. Especially eliminating the hunger factor. My high weight was 283 lowest 171 current 205. My questions are is it too soon to start thinking about revising and if not would you all do it again. I love my sleeve no complications at all and an easy recovery wondering how recovery is vs the sleeve. Thanks in advance!

[dsdesigna 143]

I’m 4 years out from having the DS. I’m not sure where you heard that we have no hunger, it’s not true. At 205 I would not consider the DS as an option. It’s a huge life adjustment. The Vitamin regime alone is daunting. I take them three times a day!

If you aren’t already start using MyFitnessPal and track what you are eating. Make sure you aren’t drinking your calories. That’s the number one reason for regain with the sleeve.

If after a year of being diligent with your eating/drinking you have continued to gain then consider it. But be warned it’s very different than any other WLS.

Good luck.

[Postop 411]

12 hours ago, onmyway11 said:

I was sleeved 1/17 I did great. My dr called me a “super acchiever” until my 2 year mark when I had gained 20 lbs back. After his pep talk i gained another 10. Sigh. Now I’m looking at DS and it’s appealing. Especially eliminating the hunger factor. My high weight was 283 lowest 171 current 205. My questions are is it too soon to start thinking about revising and if not would you all do it again. I love my sleeve no complications at all and an easy recovery wondering how recovery is vs the sleeve. Thanks in advance!

This is the exact right time to do this. You're not too far out, your BMI needs to be at a point where your insurance co. won't balk...these are important reasons to do it now.

People I know who have done it haven't had too tough a recovery . Make sure your doctor has done the DS before (if you're doing the standard DS).

[RickM 1,752]

No, it is not too soon to be considering this. This is one of the considerations that I discussed with out surgeon - the prospect of doing the second half of the DS sometime in the future if needed, and his position is that it is best to do it before too much regain is experienced, as the "switch" part of the DS is more effective at helping to resist regain than it is to aid in the loss. IOW, as one informal rule of thumb that they often discussed in meetings is that the sleeve gets the weight off, while the switch keeps it off. That's not completely true - the switch does have some loss component to it, but call it 80% true. Also, most revisions aren't as effective at losing weight than a virgin procedure (you are already used to having reduced capacity, etc., and have worked around it...) so switching early plays into the strength of the DS.

The down side of "catching it early" is that insurance may not cover the second half if one hasn't regained to the standard 35/40 BMI level, and also the psych aspect of actually pulling the lever to revise rather than "I know I can do it without, just one more try..." That's a tough choice, but no, it isn't too early for best results.

[jppaul16438 9]

My doctor is talking about doing a DS on me in May also. Just finishing up the needed items for insurance, Its been almost 4 years since I had my sleeve,

Edited March 29, 2019 by jppaul16438

[disco stu 73]

I'm sleeve to DS (SIPs, actually.) . The recovery was a breeze. 1/10th that of sleeve. I was walking the same day and eating solid food two days later.

Best decision I ever made.