ANY DOCTORS TO explain medical terms like common channel length in bypass??

[New&Improved 1,780]

Hey there after speaking with my surgeon I'm confused and I'm not a medical person at all my speciality is computers....

I think the doctor said he was doing a bypass of 120cm and I think he was referring to the common channel length?

He said it's generally between 100-200cm?

Does anyone know what it means having a shorter length or longer length?

I think he said the shorter length still provides good weight loss but not the extreme Malabsorption of vitamins; still need Vitamins of course but not like major deficiency issues.

I don't quite understand the differences.

Thanks again.

(3.5 weeks till surgery)

[ANewStart4Me 20]

That is how much of the small intestines they bypass. 100-150cm is what my doctor said he normally aims for. 200cm seems extreme. Shorter length Without being a doctor and only watching them on tv haha, I assume you absorb more from what you eat etc. going longer you risk malabsorption but I would also guess you might dump easier.

My doctor did 100cm on me, first couple of weeks even this length dumping was crazy on liquid drinks like Protein Drinks, ensure drinks, up and go’s. Last 4 weeks has been really good until I drank an up n go too fast and instantly dumped it. I go Tuesday to check my Vitamins to make sure I am absorbing enough.

Here a link from one of the melbourne clinics that explain touch on length a tiny bit. http://www.melbournebariatrics.com.au/laparoscopic-gastric-bypass.html

[New&Improved 1,780]

3 minutes ago, ANewStart4Me said:

That is how much of the small intestines they bypass. 100-150cm is what my doctor said he normally aims for. 200cm seems extreme. Shorter length Without being a doctor and only watching them on tv haha, I assume you absorb more from what you eat etc. going longer you risk malabsorption but I would also guess you might dump easier.

My doctor did 100cm on me, first couple of weeks even this length dumping was crazy on liquid drinks like Protein Drinks, ensure drinks, up and go’s. Last 4 weeks has been really good until I drank an up n go too fast and instantly dumped it. I go Tuesday to check my Vitamins to make sure I am absorbing enough.

Here a link from one of the melbourne clinics that explain touch on length a tiny bit. http://www.melbournebariatrics.com.au/laparoscopic-gastric-bypass.html

How has your weight loss been? I do remember the number 120cm from surgeon..

[ANewStart4Me 20]

1 minute ago, Mikeyy said:

How has your weight loss been? I do remember the number 120cm from surgeon..

I have been happy with it so far. Had the typical 3 week stall but it only lasted 1 week. On surgery day I was 94 kilos, I only weigh myself on mondays, trying not to be ocd about the scales, so 5 days ago I was down to 81 kilos. First 2 weeks was the biggest drop 5 kilos, then it has been a consistent kilo a week once I got over the stall.

[New&Improved 1,780]

Are you Australian like me?

I'm still preop going for the RNY.

Started weight at 146kgs

Currently 126kgs

Got a few goals first of all to get below 100kgs then if I can get to 90kgs (200lbs) or below; I'll be sweet.

I'm tall guy 183cm/6ft

Excited

[ANewStart4Me 20]

Yeah, I’m in Victoria.

Pre op I was just on 100 at my heaviest. I then decided to take out top cover health insurance and start the ball rolling. In the 12 month wait period I tried duromine, dropped 12 kilos in 3 months but the lack of sleep just made me feel crazy. Was doing good and dropped another 2 kilos off duromine. Then the weight crept back. Over about 10 weeks I went from 86 to 96 kilos. So by the time I saw my surgeon I was so glad he had me booked into hospital 3 weeks from our first visit.

So far eating most things has gone really good. Only if I eat one bite too much I vomit a bit. Drinking enough is the bit I struggle the most with. Atm I can eat almost 1/2 to 3/4 of a small yoghurt now. So around 80ml. How much my taste in food changed was the biggest shock. The kids got kfc the other week, I stole one popcorn chicken, one chip, and a little pinch of skin and it all tasted disgusting, and I threw it up within few minutes. Tried a bit of ham cheese and Tomato pita bread and was horrible. Things I would normally love taste vile, I really hope it stays that way forever haha.

Try to have a variety of shakes and sugar, free jelly, different stuff to make smoothies when you come home from hospital. All the things I drank a lot of the first couple of weeks I can’t stomach now. They ones I switched up often I have no problem with now.

[New&Improved 1,780]

1 minute ago, ANewStart4Me said:

Yeah, I’m in Victoria.

Pre op I was just on 100 at my heaviest. I then decided to take out top cover health insurance and start the ball rolling. In the 12 month wait period I tried duromine, dropped 12 kilos in 3 months but the lack of sleep just made me feel crazy. Was doing good and dropped another 2 kilos off duromine. Then the weight crept back. Over about 10 weeks I went from 86 to 96 kilos. So by the time I saw my surgeon I was so glad he had me booked into hospital 3 weeks from our first visit.

So far eating most things has gone really good. Only if I eat one bite too much I vomit a bit. Drinking enough is the bit I struggle the most with. Atm I can eat almost 1/2 to 3/4 of a small yoghurt now. So around 80ml. How much my taste in food changed was the biggest shock. The kids got kfc the other week, I stole one popcorn chicken, one chip, and a little pinch of skin and it all tasted disgusting, and I threw it up within few minutes. Tried a bit of ham cheese and Tomato pita bread and was horrible. Things I would normally love taste vile, I really hope it stays that way forever haha.

Try to have a variety of shakes and sugar, free jelly, different stuff to make smoothies when you come home from hospital. All the things I drank a lot of the first couple of weeks I can’t stomach now. They ones I switched up often I have no problem with now.

Oh yeah I'm SA. I've been overweight since like teenage but getting older and some random on bus told me about the surgery and insurance so I did the same got the cover waited 12 months out.

Saw the surgeon roughly 3 months prior to the 12 months and my surgery is in just over 3 weeks but I felt like trying my own diet early.

Went from 146 to 126 in 5.5 weeks very strict diet almost no carbs.No sugar.no fat. High Protein. No junk at all..

Surgeon was very happy and said it will make surgery much easier for him and my recovery should be better with lower BMI..

this my first ever WLS & I've been reading this forum for over a year 1000s of posts

Feeling confident but a little scary to think how little volume you can take in the first few months like you said 80ml? And drinking like a litre a day vs so much I drink atm...

But I really feel this bypass Will give me the greatest chance of long term success!!!!

[RickM 1,747]

I found this abstract that explains some of this:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4743521/

What I read from it and other references that I found with a cursory search is that it doesn't seem to make a big difference what the limb lengths are (within normal standards.) I suspect that your doc is talking of the biliopancreatic limb (which is the one between the remnant stomach and the anastomosis with the roux limb from the pouch., though he could also be referring to the roux limb, as both are part of the "bypass".

The main thing that I have seen as a negative to shorter limbs is increased chances of bile reflux, as the distance between the bile ducts (emptying into the duodenum, below the remnant stomach) and the bottom of the pouch. But this seems to be in cases where the limbs are kept very short (as in under 60cm or so) to minimize weight loss in non-WLS surgery patients (such as for cancer or gastroparesis, so it is unlikely to be an issue with what your doc is talking about doing.

"Common channel" is not a term usually associated with the RNY, though it would refer to everything below the roux and bilio limbs, and would be however long your small intestine is (quite variable from person to person) minus the roux and bilio limbs. In the more heavily malabsorptive procedures such as the Duodenal Switch or the Distal RNY, that lower intestinal length - common channel - is the key figure and is usually in the 100-200 cm range, with the upper limbs being much longer and determined by initial overall intestinal length.

[ANewStart4Me 20]

7 hours ago, Mikeyy said:

Oh yeah I'm SA. I've been overweight since like teenage but getting older and some random on bus told me about the surgery and insurance so I did the same got the cover waited 12 months out.

Saw the surgeon roughly 3 months prior to the 12 months and my surgery is in just over 3 weeks but I felt like trying my own diet early.

Went from 146 to 126 in 5.5 weeks very strict diet almost no carbs.No sugar.no fat. High Protein. No junk at all..

Surgeon was very happy and said it will make surgery much easier for him and my recovery should be better with lower BMI..

this my first ever WLS & I've been reading this forum for over a year 1000s of posts

Feeling confident but a little scary to think how little volume you can take in the first few months like you said 80ml? And drinking like a litre a day vs so much I drink atm...

But I really feel this bypass Will give me the greatest chance of long term success!!!!

I’m normally a big drinker and would scull my drinks in one go. So this constant sipping is taking practise. I hope I have it better by the time summer hits. Few times I have done a slow gulp trying to quench my thirst and by the time you hit the third swallow you feel the pain and have to back off. It doesn’t last long but it does let you know to not keep going.

You will breeze through this. You have so much more information under your belt and are prepared than most people. 80ml seems crazy little but I am not hungry at all. At first it was a little weird when I would eat and not feel that full feeling, I don’t really get that satisfied feeling like I just had a really good meal, but I’m not dissatisfied either. You know when you have eaten too much but it still isn’t the same feeling of being full. Mentally that was probably the hardest bit at the start and head hunger. I would always snack on shapes after the kids went to bed and same time every night I would crave them even though I wasn’t hungry, just head hunger from the bad habit. Now I have a drink or chew my Vitamins at that time and it gies away, and I can happily eat a few bites of a meal and walk away not seeking that full feeling.

Message me anytime, I will support you anyway I can.