Re: newbie with questions

[Guest guest]

Kathy,

Welcome to the DS list! I would suggest you go to this URL:

http://www.duodenalswitch.com/Patients/Sharon/sharon.html

This is a person who had the old-style Biliopancreatic Diversion

surgery, the precursor to the DS surgery. She is 10+ years post-op,

and is doing very well. She just recently posted a 10 year update to

this list as well. Here is a link you can follow to read that

message:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/duodenalswitch/message/89414

You can also do a search on specific topics/words like malnutrition,

anemia, iron, calcium, osteoporosis, and similar words and see what

comes up in the archives of this list.

You can read the messages on the DS_results list, too. The rules

don't allow pre-ops to post there, but you are welcome to read the

messages and see how the folks who are longer post-op are doing.

Here is the link to that group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DS_Results

I am only 3 months post-op, but I can say that so far, I haven't had

any complications at all, unless you count slow weight loss as a

complication!

Joy Frost Age: 48

Open DS with Welker Date: 2-5-01

Weight at time of surgery: 255 lbs BMI: 47

Weight as of 5-6-01: 225 lbs BMI: 41.2 (-30 lbs)

http://www.duodenalswitch.com/Patients/Joy/joy.html

> Hi there! I learned about your group from duodenalswitch.com, and

> have a few questions about DS vs. RNY....Oh, my name is Kathy, and

> I'm 41, 430#, 5'-7 " , BMI 70...I had been hearing about RNY being

> the " gold standard " of WLS, and so I figured that's what I should

do,

> but then through another group (wls400plus) I heard some people

> talking about how DS may be better for people with BMI's over 50.

> However, I've read a few medical reports about different types of

> WLS, and a couple of them said that they think DS is too new to

> recommend, or that it hasn't been around long enough to see what

the

> effect are for long-term health...so, I'm kinda confused!!! Is

there

> anyone in your group who's had it done a couple or more years ago

> that can tell me if they've had any complications and what their

> experiences have been--health-wise? I'd really like to lose as

much

> as possible (like everybody else), but don't want to get it at the

> risk of long term health problems!!! I hope I'm not offending

anyone

> here by asking this, as I know you've gone this route or are

thinking

> about it--I'm just afraid I might make the wrong choice!

>

> Thanks for your help and understanding!

> Kathy in MN