RNY or VSG

Hi All! I'm very confused and would like as much advise as I can get. My WLS is scheduled for April 24, 2014 and I haven't decided yet on the RNY or VSG. My surgeon says they are both equally as good but he thinks I will benefit more from the RNY. He says I have to decide on my own. He said that even though they are both equally as good, I will have less complication with the RNY. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. ~Gabby~

I love my sleeve. I think your doctor knows you best and perhaps you should follow his recommendations.

I have had no complications with my surgery and recovery.minam satisfied with my weight loss so far.

Those who's main struggle is portion control benefit greatly from the VSG - for it's simply a stomach reduction.  All other working parts are functioning as designed.  The RNY (and DS) reduce consumption, but also add changes in the way that the body metabolizes the food.  This is an added benefit as well as an added risk and added responsibility for the patient.  I'm surprised that he considers the RNY to have fewer complications, unless he's just not that experienced with the VSG to be a pro at it. 

Hi Valerie,

 

Thank you for taking the time to respond to me. My surgeon is very good! Maybe I'm just not understanding him correctly. He has a bit of an accent lol. This Saturday I'll be attending a class taught by the nutritionist on his team and I'm sure I'll get a better understanding of it! and I plan on attending seminars they offer so that I can hopefully talk with people who have had both! I've been leaning towards the VSG until last Saturday when I met with him. So confusing! You've been very helpful, thank you!

I think that it's important for you to get details from him as to why "you will have less complication with the RNY" - what does this mean? Why does he think you personally will have less complications with RNY? You'll just want to clarify. For example, if you have GERD, then RNY may be better because sometimes VSG can make GERD worse. Without hearing his professional opinion on the specifics of why you may fair better with RNY, it can be tough to make a decision!

Thank you for responding! I think he wants me to go with the bypass because I'll lose more weight with it but I don't want to be a size 2 or 4! that's one of the reasons I think and 2 I think he said it will be easier for me to eat foods without chocking and the uncomfortable feelings. He said with the RNY the worst that will happen is Dumping syndrome and that doesn't happen as often as the chocking and throwing up that happens from VSG. He also said he has a lot of patients that didn't lose as much weight as they wanted to from the Sleeve and then would want the bypass. Does this make sense to you? I'll be attending a class this weekend taught by his nutritionist. She'll be going over all the surgeries and hopefully I'll get a better understanding.

I've been reading the VSG forums for awhile now, and I don't think I can remember any posts of people choking and vomiting. Maybe one?  It doesn't seem like it's a common thing at all. 

Until last weekend I was totally going with the sleeve. All the research I've been doing for the past month has been on the sleeve and I've read a lot on here about people choking, shouldn't say choking, the food doesn't go down right and feels like it gets stuck so then they have to up chuck it. Not a big issue. I have a friend who had The VSG and she's happier then ever and she warned me about that to. So those things aren't a big issue to me. She did tell me that once I get use to having to cut smaller pieces and chewing everything I'll be fine with that. I just would love to hear more now from people that had the RNY before I make up my mind for sure. Thank you for responding.

I don't think this is something specific to VSG. Everyone that goes to my surgeon's support group meetings has had RNY and all of them have food tolerance issues - things getting "stuck" as they call it. However, I do not have any of those problems. I would not base your decision on that factor, because something like that I believe is not surgery related.

I am just one person and my example may not be indicative of everyone but I haven't ever choked or vomited and I am 16 months post op now. Also didn't have a single complication or negative side effect from the surgery. In fact I feel the same as before, just eat way less and am making wise choices because I know that I have to maximize nutritional impact in the little food that I eat. And I have zero hunger.