Oprah....one more time

[Marquis Mark]

Wow i just started here and feel so insure about my choice to do DS as my revisiOn from m lapband but after reading these posts i feel more confident i need surgery.

The malabsorption worries me for long term health and complications but so does staying fat.

Even though I've already had the DS, I understand -- and share -- your concerns. There are things that we just don't know. Many vitamins/minerals were just discovered in the last 50 years. There may be micronutrients we don't know about yet that rearranging the small intestine might inhibit absorption of. I've searched far and wide and have heard of only a few people with the DS for more than 20 years. Now, 20 years ago, of course, there were very few people getting the DS so that may not mean anything.

Having said that, we do know, for sure, that being morbidly obese WILL kill you. How many MO people do you know who live into their 80s? But you seem to know that.

Anyway, I went ahead and while I would really like to hear from more people in their 70s and 80s who had the DS 20+ years ago, I decided that I was more concerned with quality of life. The DS will definitely give you that. Being MO sucks.

 

[DSRIGGS]

and remember, not that you will ever need to do so, but the DS is reversible. Sure you can't reverse a sleeve but you can change limb lengths to increase absorption or completely reverse the switch portion.

 

[Marquis Mark]

and remember, not that you will ever need to do so, but the DS is reversible. Sure you can't reverse a sleeve but you can change limb lengths to increase absorption or completely reverse the switch portion.

Hope I don't sound unduly negative, but we really don't know how long you can wait before getting reversed. Dr. K told me the furthest out he's ever reversed was 6 years and we do know that there is atrophy of the "unused" limbs. So we really don't know if the switch portion of the DS is permanently reversible.

 

[Clematis]

we do know that there is atrophy of the "unused" limbs

To what "unused" limbs are you referring? There are no unused limbs or blind limbs in a DS. One channels food, one channels digestive juices and they meet at the common channel.

 

[DSRIGGS]

Hope I don't sound unduly negative, but we really don't know how long you can wait before getting reversed. Dr. K told me the furthest out he's ever reversed was 6 years and we do know that there is atrophy of the "unused" limbs. So we really don't know if the switch portion of the DS is permanently reversible.

and Dr K has shown me tissue samples of a small intestine that has hypotrophied over time. His thesis is that the small intestine is like a muscle and if you work it out, put food through it so it has to absorb, that the "muscle" gets stronger.

and BTW I am an example. After my revision I know longer needed CREON and my nutritional status while not perfect is much, much, much better than before. That means that BPL that was not absorbing for two years has picked up and is absorbing now because he added BPL to my AL and a little to my CC.

 

[Marquis Mark]

To what "unused" limbs are you referring? There are no unused limbs or blind limbs in a DS. One channels food, one channels digestive juices and they meet at the common channel.

By unused I meant the BPL and, possibly, to a lesser extent, the AL in that they are "unused" for nutrient absorption as they were before. That's why I put unused in quotes.

 

[Marquis Mark]

and Dr K has shown me tissue samples of a small intestine that has hypotrophied over time. His thesis is that the small intestine is like a muscle and if you work it out, put food through it so it has to absorb, that the "muscle" gets stronger.

Correct. And it's a thesis and we don't know for sure. And it may not simply be a matter of muscle, but of the villi which have gone unused.

Again, not trying to be negative or start a fight. Just trying keep things in check.

 

[DSRIGGS]

By unused I meant the BPL and, possibly, to a lesser extent, the AL in that they are "unused" for nutrient absorption as they were before. That's why I put unused in quotes.

The AL is not unused for absorption. It just doesn't have digestive juices to aid absorption but it absolutely absorbs. I understand what you are trying to say but the AL absorbs a lot more than many DSrs have been led to believe

 

[DSRIGGS]

Correct. And it's a thesis and we don't know for sure. And it may not simply be a matter of muscle, but of the villi which have gone unused.

Again, not trying to be negative or start a fight. Just trying keep things in check.

I saw tissue samples...it isn't just a thesis. It may not be enough data to publish a study but it is factual in this case.

Villi are part of "the muscle" I was discussing. I didn't actually mean muscle, muscle.

I know you aren't arguing

 

[Marquis Mark]

The AL is not unused for absorption. It just doesn't have digestive juices to aid absorption but it absolutely absorbs. I understand what you are trying to say but the AL absorbs a lot more than many DSrs have been led to believe

Yes, and that's why I said, "And, possibly, to a lesser extent, the AL..."

I'm going outside to enjoy life now!