Click here: OSSG-gone_wrong : OSSG-gone wrong . I wanted to know about all possible problems and this is a wt loss surgery gone wrong site. So fa,r in following that site for two months, there have been no reported negative complications from the vertical sleeve gastrectomy. ... they didn't even know what it was and I had to explain it to them. Another woman on the www.Obesityhelp. com site and vertical sleeve message board has been watching the gone wrong site longer than me and has seen no negative comments.

 

Now about the VSG vs the band. With the VSG all that takes place is that 60-70% of the stomach is removed and that part is the part that makes the hormone Ghrelin, which is the hunger causing hormone. Yeah... no more hunger !! With the band you still have that portion of the stomach.

 

VSG vs lap band.... the entry into and the exit of food from the stomach remains the same with the VSG. With the lapband the entrance to the pouch that is created by the  band is the size of a straw, so whatever you eat, must be chewed well enough that it would pass through a straw. There are many food restrictions with the band as food tends to get stuck in the opening of the band.... no grapes with skin on them , no potatoes, no rice. no fibrous foods. ..... if it doesn't go through the band stoma, the stoma can get swollen and nothing will go through, not even water until it calms down again. And if the food doesn't go down it comes back up as "productive burping or PB'g" in other words you vomit and apparently it happens suddenly and one might not have time to make it to the bathroom.... . not nice if it happens in a resturant.

   Again, with the VSG the entry into the stomach remains the same, so after the healing takes place there are no food restrictions.

   With the VSG the stomach takes on the shape of a tiny banana or tube, which is far less likely to expand. The pouch created with the band and the bypass is round and much more likely to increase in size over time.

   With all wt loss surgery, they are only a tool and as good as one's food choices following the surgery. As long as one get their protein first, then complex carbs like good veggies, one is going to lose wt. The beauty of the VSG is one doesn't have the hunger.

   I am a week and a half out from having my VSG and feel great and just started full liquids two days ago. Next Thursday I start pureed foods.....this is the pattern for all wt loss surgery, but I don't feel hungry !!

   The real cincher for me, when I was making my decision, is that on the Obesityhelp. com site vertical sleeve message board, there are two MD's that are specialists in the digestive tract and this is the procedure that they chose for themselves. I figure, if they are choosing it, then it is right for me. Plus, I loved the idea of not having to worry about where to get my fills, or unfills , or leaks or slippage or erosion of the band.  I'm done. Sixtysix percent of my stomach is gone and now I'm on to my life of health and wt loss. I don't have to give it another thought especially when it is entirely healed.

   A bit of history about the VSG. It has been done for some 20 years as a preliminary surgery for the super obese... over 400 lbs, so that they could lose enough wt to have the bypass. The doctors found that they did so well with the VSG, they didn't need the bypass ... at least in many cases. So now, for the last 3 years it is being offered to those of us with much lower BMIs . But because it is now being offered as a stand alone procedure, not a preliminary procedure to a gastric bypass, insurance companies are calling it "experimental" and don't we know that insurance companies rule the world. Since some  insurance companies won't cover it, like mine, I had to self pay and found Dr.Joya to have impeccable credentials and a very reasonable and comprehensive package. I could have had the bypass surgery approved in a week and paid for 100 % but like I said earlier, that one is way too risky.

   I asked Dr. Joya if he felt that the VSG would soon be the standard in wt loss surgery in a few years and he nodded yes. .. 'too many problems with the others. The VSG seems to be free of bad side effects.

  You probably get the idea that I am really sold on the VSG as a safe and effective choice for wt loss surgery.

  I hope I haven't overwhelmed you and that you find this helpful.

 

Blessings,

Jane