Hi! My name is Christi and I am from NC. I had DS on May 25, but have a longer cc of about 300 cm. My recovery has been great with no major problems, and now I'm working on getting comfortable with different foods. I'm a LOT overwhelmed with the vitamin regime I'm meant to begin in less than a week and would love suggestions as to what people take and what brands/where they purchase them!
Recent DS Post-Op
- Thread starter Christi
- Start date
Clematis
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2015
- Messages
- 1,705
Welcome Christi! There are hundreds of posts on vitamins. Look under the Vitamins & Labs section. Most of us start with the Vitalady protocol, not what a nutritionist tells us (who almost always try to tell us to eat and supplement like someone with a RNY not a DS). Then when we get our first labs at 3 months, we adjust the quantities of vitamins to suit our unique needs. We get labs again at 6 months and then every 6 months for the rest of our lives, adjusting our vitamins as needed. It seems overwhelming at first but gets easy very quickly. Those of us who monitor ourselves don't have malnutrition issues. Many of us purchase on Amazon, Costco and other sites, especially when they have sales. Start vitamins one at a time so you can assess whether one is not agreeing with you. (For example I had trouble with one type of iron and needed to switch to a different type.) Introduce foods slowly as well for the same reason. One day you'll be able to eat most anything, but not just yet.
I'll be direct: 300 cm is much too long a common channel for a true Duodenal Switch. I just went to your surgeons website to see that, indeed, he is calling a 300cm a true Duodenal Switch. (Yet even his diagram shows a real DS with the normal short common channel of 100cm, not the one 3x as long as he performed on you.) http://www.surgerync.com/bariatric-procedures/ds.php But what's done is done. What this means for you is that you will not have much of the benefit we DSers have from fat malabsorption (the whole reason for the success of this procedure). There is no data to support the 300 cm common channel length so without that I can just assume (as did your surgeon as he doesn't have any data either) as to the outcome. You may take longer to real goal weight and may have to diet diligently throughout your life unlike those with a true DS. On the plus side you may have to take somewhat less supplements.
I wish you the best!
I'll be direct: 300 cm is much too long a common channel for a true Duodenal Switch. I just went to your surgeons website to see that, indeed, he is calling a 300cm a true Duodenal Switch. (Yet even his diagram shows a real DS with the normal short common channel of 100cm, not the one 3x as long as he performed on you.) http://www.surgerync.com/bariatric-procedures/ds.php But what's done is done. What this means for you is that you will not have much of the benefit we DSers have from fat malabsorption (the whole reason for the success of this procedure). There is no data to support the 300 cm common channel length so without that I can just assume (as did your surgeon as he doesn't have any data either) as to the outcome. You may take longer to real goal weight and may have to diet diligently throughout your life unlike those with a true DS. On the plus side you may have to take somewhat less supplements.
I wish you the best!
hilary1617
First time at the rodeo.
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2014
- Messages
- 3,760
Hi and welcome @Christi !
The main things in the early months are to stay well-hydrated, ingest 30g a day of protein on average at day 30, 60 grams at 60 days, and 90 grams at 90 days. Phase in the vitamins - it will be less overwhelming, I'd start with a basic multivitamin (I take 2 a day) and leave calcium and iron for last. Remember to get separate pills with dry forms (not oil soluble forms / gelcaps) of vitamins A, D, K1 and K2 (and E long down the road if lab results show you need it). I started with Vitalady and alter based on labs, which is what I recommend.
Wishing you a speedy recovery.
The main things in the early months are to stay well-hydrated, ingest 30g a day of protein on average at day 30, 60 grams at 60 days, and 90 grams at 90 days. Phase in the vitamins - it will be less overwhelming, I'd start with a basic multivitamin (I take 2 a day) and leave calcium and iron for last. Remember to get separate pills with dry forms (not oil soluble forms / gelcaps) of vitamins A, D, K1 and K2 (and E long down the road if lab results show you need it). I started with Vitalady and alter based on labs, which is what I recommend.
Wishing you a speedy recovery.
Settledownnow
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2015
- Messages
- 1,071
I would request a copy of your operative report and post it here. I'm going to bet you don't actually have a DS, but rather a SADI/SIPS/LoopDS - which has only ONE anastomosis and no selective fat malabsorption. It is CRITICAL that you find out what procedure you've actually had.
countryham
Well-Known Member
Welcome aboard Christi.
There is a surgical group in NC doing a two anastomoses DS with a common channel of 300. I've shared one of the operative reports with you and Larra.
Larra
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2013
- Messages
- 3,523
I remember that and I would bet that's what she has. To all you pre-ops out there, this has become one more question that is crucial to discuss with your surgeon - not JUST that it's a real 2 anastomosis DS, but that the common channel and limbs are the tried and true lengths that all the documentation of excellent long term results are based on. Hess method is great, but if not that, at least a cookie cutter DS with a common channel of 100 cm or thereabouts. There is, to my knowledge, no long term study documenting the same results with a cc of 300 cm. I do understand that some surgeons have been bit in the butt by a few patients who were noncompliant and got into nutritional deficiencies, but that's IMHO not a good reason to give future patients an excessively long cc and still call it a DS.
