I have so many questions....

[Ainu]

Hello everyone, my name is Andrea and I I am currently going through the program for bariatric surgery. I was originally going for gastric bypass because it's the "gold standard" but the doctors are very keen on us knowing all of the options. That's how I learned about the duodenal switch. I had never heard of it before but it seems like it would fit best and I'm excited to learn as much as I can.

I have gone through this DS forum for days and I still so any questions. This is a huge surgery and a HUGE life change so I want all of my questions asked first, before the cutting.

1. The pooping, which I'm sure is on a lot of people's minds. I currently have the lovely mental image of having no control and it just constantly running down my legs for the rest of my life. While I'm sure that's not the case, it's still a great fear of mine. This will be TMI but I have amazing BMs and. I actually got a little sad at the idea of losing that. Obviously worth the sacrifice but not if I'm wearing a diaper...

Anyway, I'm a mass transit bus driver and I can't get to the bathroom instantly if I need to. I'm sure there are thousands of people who have had the surgery and don't carry their portable toilet around so I'm sure it's something I can work with.

2. The stomach noises. I was reading that a lot of people have extremely loud stomach noises after surgery and I'm wondering if that is something to really concern myself over.

3. Supplements. I've been reading A LOT about supplements and was wondering if anyone has tried the vitamin patches or the liquid multivitamins. Apparently the liquid claims to have a much higher absorption rate. I'm terrified of losing my hair and all of the other bad side effects. Can anyone tell me how much they spend a month of supplements?

4. Can you build muscle after surgery? I want to be fit, even athletic if I can be and muscle building is the way to go.

5. How long did it take before you felt "normal"?

I'm sorry for the rambling post. The power is out and I'm typing by candlelight on my phone like the dark ages. It's also super early in the morning here which is always a good time to start asking the internet for advice.

Thank you everyone for your help. This site has been so informative so far and I'm hoping to go into surgery knowing what the future will hold.

 

[Clematis]

Welcome!

1. Before DS I pooped once in the morning. After DS I pooped once in the morning. (However in the second and third months I did have a couple of episodes of mid-morning diarrhea as I reintroduced fats.) It smells no worse than poop before. Supplements, mainly calcium, make me constipated.

2. My stomach growled a lot in the first few months. Hardly at all after 6 months. No one ever mentioned that they heard it, and I used to ask.

3. Patches do not work. Liquids taste vile and will be expensive. (Don’t know if they work any better or not as well.) Hair loss has nothing to do with vitamins but with stress to the system from surgery and major, rapid weight loss. I’ve lost hair after every major diet in my life and from every surgery. Some aren’t affected by this. If you lose hair it immediately starts growing back. Supplements cost me about $75 but I use expensive heme iron.

4. Of course you can build muscle, well ya gotta exercise! I’m pretty ripped for my age.

5. I was walking a mile within 2 weeks and back to daily 4 mile walk and hour aerobics class within 8 weeks. Could have done it earlier but threw out my back 2 weeks after surgery from vacuuming. But I was TIRED. Major surgery and rapid weight loss knocks the stuffing out of you. Took me about 3 mo this to feel great.

That’s my story. Your mileage will vary, as they say.

Now a question for you: who’s your surgeon? Are you getting a true 2 anastomoses DS with limb lengths based on the Hess Method?

DS was the best decision I ever made!!!

 

[Ainu]

Welcome!

1. Before DS I pooped once in the morning. After DS I pooped once in the morning. (However in the second and third months I did have a couple of episodes of mid-morning diarrhea as I reintroduced fats.) It smells no worse than poop before. Supplements, mainly calcium, make me constipated.

2. My stomach growled a lot in the first few months. Hardly at all after 6 months. No one ever mentioned that they heard it, and I used to ask.

3. Patches do not work. Liquids taste vile and will be expensive. (Don’t know if they work any better or not as well.) Hair loss has nothing to do with vitamins but with stress to the system from surgery and major, rapid weight loss. I’ve lost hair after every major diet in my life and from every surgery. Some aren’t affected by this. If you lose hair it immediately starts growing back. Supplements cost me about $75 but I use expensive heme iron.

4. Of course you can build muscle, well ya gotta exercise! I’m pretty ripped for my age.

5. I was walking a mile within 2 weeks and back to daily 4 mile walk and hour aerobics class within 8 weeks. Could have done it earlier but threw out my back 2 weeks after surgery from vacuuming. But I was TIRED. Major surgery and rapid weight loss knocks the stuffing out of you. Took me about 3 mo this to feel great.

That’s my story. Your mileage will vary, as they say.

Now a question for you: who’s your surgeon? Are you getting a true 2 anastomoses DS with limb lengths based on the Hess Method?

DS was the best decision I ever made!!!

Thank you so much for your reply, it makes me feel much better knowing the bathroom won't rule my life. I've read the patches don't work but I figured I'd see what some other's think of it. I read in the form of someone who worked in FedEx and he was back on the road in a month or so which is also encouraging. I know fat stores a ton of toxins and hormones so you're releasing all of that back into the body. It won't feel great.

I'm going through the program through Geisinger and all of the surgeons are out of Danville, PA. I have a list of them (I think there are three or four) but it's too dark for me to find the book right now, I'll have to wait until the sun comes up.

As for which DS it is, I'm not 100% sure. I mentally switched from RNY to DS after my last visit and I need to make an extra appointment to ask. My insurance doesn't cover the loopDS but it does cover the proper one. I've been reading a lot of people getting the wrong surgery so I know to ask which one and how long my CC will be. I'm so glad I found thjs forum, there's so much information.

 

[Clematis]

Be very determined in making the surgeon spell out EXACTLY what he intends to do. Make him draw it on a piece of paper or take one of the diagrams you'll find on this site to him and say "I want this." If he is not doing the Hess Method, ask how long he intends to make the common channel. Insist on no longer than 100.

Try and get as much time off as possible as you can't stop the bus and run to the bathroom and you really don't know how your bowels will react in the first month or two.

Everyone is so very different, whether because they respond to this surgery differently or whether the surgery performed on them varies greatly. Who knows. Just keep in mind that many come to forums like this because they are having problems and want answers so it may appear that all DSers are having issues when it's just that people who have smooth sailing may not feel the need to seek out an online forum.

 

[Ainu]

Be very determined in making the surgeon spell out EXACTLY what he intends to do. Make him draw it on a piece of paper or take one of the diagrams you'll find on this site to him and say "I want this." If he is not doing the Hess Method, ask how long he intends to make the common channel. Insist on no longer than 100.

Try and get as much time off as possible as you can't stop the bus and run to the bathroom and you really don't know how your bowels will react in the first month or two.

Everyone is so very different, whether because they respond to this surgery differently or whether the surgery performed on them varies greatly. Who knows. Just keep in mind that many come to forums like this because they are having problems and want answers so it may appear that all DSers are having issues when it's just that people who have smooth sailing may not feel the need to seek out an online forum.

I understand that mentality. It's kind of like looking at reviews. Most people only take the time if something is wrong.

The Danville surgeons are:

Jon Gabrielsen, MD
David Parker, MD
Anthony Petrik, MD

Those are the three I can choose from. Now that my mind has gone to DS, in going to research the three and see which one has done it more often. I have seen good reviews on Petrick though.

What's really nice is the HR lady at my work has almost an entire family who's had bariatric surgery so she's extremely understanding. And my union president was also helping me with options for income while I'm out. I guess there's a sneaky way to get unemployment if you technically can work but...can't. I'll have to look into it. As long as I'm not rushing back so I can pay my bills I'll use whatever resources I can.

 

[Ainu]

A few more things about me I suppose.

I'm 28 and female. I'm currently 305lbs and really struggling to lose the 10% I need before surgery. My lowest is 190 after very, VERY strict ketogenic and I was absolutely miserable. I struggle with severe major depression, borderline personality disorder, and bipolar disoder which also make dieting extremely hard sometimes. It's most under control and I've even been able to go off my meds and mostly control the symptoms.

I also have degeneration in the discs in my spine. My mom has had 5 operations on her back and neck and it's terrifying to think that will be me some day if I can't get my weight under control. Both parents also have obesity related cancers and my mom has gout, diabetes, and stmach ulcers and rhumetoid arthritis. If I can have this one surgery now so save me from everything my parents are going through, it's worth it.

Right now I don't have any major comorbities to worry about and my last labs were....okay. not great but okay. My surgery evaluation is at the end of October where they check absolutely everything to make sure I'm a good candidate. I also have a psych eval the beginning of November to make sure I can mentally handle it.

 

[chevtow]

I'm the FedEx driver

#1-I won't lie, to this day I sometimes get very urgent signals to find a bathroom. I've never shit myself but I've used construction port a potties or just gone off route to find the closest bathroom. Doesn't happen often but as a bus driver it is something for you to consider.

#2 - My stomach makes a lot of noises but doesn't bother me

#3 - You'll need a lot of vitamins, I have no idea what I spend but my iron is about $40/month. Liquid and patches aren't viable long term. No matter what you do hair loss is a possibility. I didn't lose any that I noticed but I've never lost any with any of my surgeries. You need to decide if major back surgeries/being crippled is better/worse than temporary hair loss. I'd say being healthy trumps hair every time.

#4 - You absolutely can build muscle. I lift 5-7 days a week. My body composition is so much different now than 2 years ago - its amazing. Look at my avatar and to be vain -- I'm bigger now

#5 - I don't remember "normal". Normal like I felt when I was fat? I was always tired and sore then, so it was pretty much the same after surgery. I know by about 6-8 months it seemed like I had more energy, maybe because I was 100+ lbs lighter?

 

[BigGeekGirl]

1. What you eat determines how often and urgent the pooping is. I can easily control it.

I think about a year out I ate two entire rolls of summer sausage in an hour and had some oil leakage I couldn't control. But that was my fault.

After having my son it's harder to hold in gas as well. I had a fourth degree episiotomy which I'm sure impacted muscles.

But you'll be fine. I work with customers and travel both locally and cross country and give presentations no issues.

2. My stomach is noisey but even in a conference room it's usually only me noticing. Anywhere else I don't even hear it.

3. I take capsules vs. liquids or patches. I'm not sure of the cost as I choose to use an expensive option but it's under $100 a month.

4. Yes! I am 12+ years out of surgery and for years I lifted and had some great muscles. Then I had a family and I'm flabby again. Lol. I'm going to go back to lifting!

5. Normal? I took 6 weeks off. At 6 weeks I started working out slowly but was already walking every day. I had lost 100lbs in 5 months and 180 by the first year. I continued to lose until 18 months for a total of 265lbs lost. I have a new normal. I would have been able to do 80% of the things I do now at 400lbs. I run around apple orchards and pumpkin farms with my son. Take my dog for long walks and shop for hours. Plus run though airports dragging a laptop without missing a beat.

I had originally started researching lab band 14 years ago. I quickly realized it wouldn't work for me. No joke I cried. I didn't want RNY. I didn't want a pouch. I didn't want dumping. But I had resigned myself that it might be my fate. I had dismissed the DS as 'radical' without any research. As I was reading stories of RNYers on a site I stumbled upon a DSer who (accidentally?) posted their story on the RNY board. That changed my life. She talked about a full functioning stomach. She talked about maximizing your weight loss. She talked about the DS having the best results for those with high BMIs and long term. That changed my mind. From that moment on it was DS or bust.

Good luck in your decisions! I understand some docs are doing a mock DS so make sure if you want a DS you're getting the real thing.

 

[Ainu]

Thank you everyone for the responses. I'm glad to hear that there are other drivers/ travelers out there that have bounced back relatively quickly and easily. Thankfully, I have a bid at work the gives me many bathroom opportunities on my routes. I think the longest stretch I have without a convenient bathroom is 3 hours.

BigGeekGirl, I also thought the DS was "too radical' for me at first. The more I research it, the more I wonder why gastric bypass is the "gold standard." I really wasn't keen on the stoma and dumping syndrome. I also wasn't thrilled at so many cases of weight regain.

 

[Munchkin]

Welcome! And just be sure you get the real DS! Not a look alike that may or may not work!

One thing no one else addressed was the hair thing. It's individual. My sister was almost bald and I lost no hair. And hair loss comes with any major surgery.

 

[Clematis]

FYI: "Gold Standard" is not a medical term, it's a MARKETING TERM!! I too cringe when it's applied to the RNY which we all know now should be called the "Tarnished Brass Standard"

 

[Ainu]

FYI: "Gold Standard" is not a medical term, it's a MARKETING TERM!! I too cringe when it's applied to the RNY which we all know now should be called the "Tarnished Brass Standard"

You're right, it is a marketing term. It really draws attention away from other options that may be as good, if not much better.

I'm really glad I found this forum since 1. I wasn't familiar with the DS until I started all of this and 2. I definitely wasn't familiar with the knock off surgery that's easier on the surgeon and worse for the patient. While I'm relatively sure they do the proper DS I'll absolutely look into it and make sure everything is right.

 

[Ainu]

Another question, do you need to chew your food as well with the DS as we're being taught for RNY? With the sphincter still in place, I feel like I should be able to chew and swallow normally. And also take normal multis. My search for liquids and patches were for when I was going to have to get chewables. Everyone is saying they're doctors recommend Flintstones despite then being for children and not adults...it's like the doctors don't know they make chewables adult vitamins that are probably much more appropriate.

 

[Munchkin]

Another question, do you need to chew your food as well with the DS as we're being taught for RNY? With the sphincter still in place, I feel like I should be able to chew and swallow normally. And also take normal multis. My search for liquids and patches were for when I was going to have to get chewables. Everyone is saying they're doctors recommend Flintstones despite then being for children and not adults...it's like the doctors don't know they make chewables adult vitamins that are probably much more appropriate.

Do not even consider flintstones. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. You can chew and swallow anything that you could before. Right after surgery I had to take 1 at a time but now I can toss back a handful at a time. Immediately postop you do need to eat SLOWLY and chew well. But down the road, after you heal it's normal chewing and normal bites. I wax poetic about Flintstones... http://bariatricfacts.org/threads/i...dence-that-vets-know-more-than-surgeons.2454/

 

[southernlady]

Welcome @Ainu