Confronted a surgeon today. I think he's a fool.

[Katrina]

So, my mother had sleeve gastrectomy today. Yay for her. Only I don't really feel that way. You see, my mother has reflux, so much so that she has been on prescription ppis for years including Reglan.

I asked her surgeon why he insisted that she have the sleeve vs. bypass knowing that she has serious reflux already. He said (indignantly, of course) that the sleeve will cure her reflux (and her diabetes). Not only have I done much research into this matter that states the complete opposite, but I am also a living case of the opposite of what he says. I did not have any reflux whatsoever prior to surgery, and now have it severely still 9 months later. I am currently on Protonix, Carafate, Pepcid, and Reglan, all with very little success at controlling it. I told him this. He blamed overeating. He's full of shit!! I never overeat. Ever!

Research has also shown that tho
se with reflux prior to surgery have poorer outcomes with weightloss, diabetes control, reflux, etc. after having sleeve gastrectomy.

My opinion is this doctor is a fool, and I worry about my mom. On a positive note, she looks great 6 hours after surgery, and I hope she proves the research wrong.

[RehabNurse]

Maybe the surgeon sleeved your mother for convenience reasons of his own? It's a quicker and technically easier surgery to perform than the gastric bypass.

Anyhow, I hope your mother recovers fully and has success with her sleeve.

[niki k]

My husband had gastric sleeve, and had reflux. Maybe it is because, with Bipass the pills are not well tolerated, or absorbed. I know with the sleeve, absorbsion is better in our tiny stomachs. Hubby hasn't taken omeprazole for at least 6 months! I did have reflux at first but then it went away and I don't take anything. Good luck. She will feel better soon.

[Stacy'sSleevedLife]

We are all different I have know a few people including myself who had terrible acid reflux before the sleeve and now we don't take anything. I have know many who never suffered from acid reflux but after the sleeve has it bad. I will say that everyone I have met so far who has got the sleeve and suffered from diabetes that the sleeve has helped them tremendously. In my own opinion I really think that a lot of the information out there on the sleeve is not 100% accurate. Most research done was based on the sleeve being used for stomach cancer patients and so what they looked for and side effects would be very different. More research was based on the sleeve being the first step of WLS and the followed up with a bypass again this can change what the outcomes were as this 1st step was only given to those who needed to lose 200 plus pounds. People who were extremely obese had a high fatality rate with having the bypass so sleeve was used as the first step. Only in the last 5-7 years has the sleeve be looked at and studied as a single step procedure for weight loss. For me the jury is still out on the outcome of acid reflux but for the rest I have not heard of anyone getting worse with high blood pressure or diabetes.

I really hope your mom does well and ends up with good results like I have.

[Ann2]

Pre-op I had acid reflux and took 40 mg Ranitidine twice a day for it. The med handled it fine (when I took the meds).

Now, nearly a year post-op, I take my Ranitidine religiously every day. And it handles my reflux fine IF (and this is a big IF) I don't during the same day drink lots of coffee, two glasses of wine, pasta with spaghetti sauce, dark chocolate, and 5-6 of the other reflux-causing foods.

I've learned this lesson the hard way. One day I went stark raving insane and drank 32 ounces of diet coke and fast food (got stuck on a long road trip with relatives - ugh!) and paid for it the next 6 days. Don't do that.

Needless to say, I continue to learn how to eat. The learning never stops.

[Ann2]

Katrina, I assume you're now out of the hospital and that your twisted intestines are doing OK now. Right?

[Quarry]

... For me the jury is still out on the outcome of acid reflux but for the rest I have not heard of anyone getting worse with high blood pressure or diabetes.

True, blood pressure and diabetes don't get worse, but they don't always get better or stay better.
Just to keep the latest data in circulation. I'm piping up to share news from the Journal of the American Medical Association:

Researchers found that in the cohort analyzed, LSG [laproscopic sleeve gastrectomy] resulted in 77% excess weight loss one year after the surgery, 70% at the 3-year follow-up and 56% at 5-year follow-up. Concerning diabetes, complete remission was maintained in 51% of the patients 1 year after the surgery; however, this value decreased to 38% after 3 years, and 20% after 5 years.

Google "JAMA, gastrectomy, diabetes" for the full story.

[Katrina]

Ann2, I swear I don't know what to think about what's going on with me. So many doctors, so many different diagnoses/opinions. One says twisted intestines. One sas adhesions. One says who knows what. About the only thing they all can agree on is the severe reflux because they can physically watch it coming up on the monitor while I drink the barium during the upper GI and small bowel series. I came home after 5 days with a pharmacy full of prescriptions and instructions to go back to my surgeon two days later. I haven't bothered to even call to schedule the appointment that I should have gone to today. I'm frustrated, I hurt, and I am so very tired of nothing being resolved.

Here's a crazy bit... since I obviously couldn't smoke while I was in the hospital, I went ahead and kept up the not smoking since I left. My blood pressure has come UP! I've actually hit 103/63!! I don't know why or how, but it's kind of exciting. As for the rest of it, I am going to hope that things just eventually even themselves out. My surgeon keeps assuring me that he thinks I'm going to be ok. I trust him. Though, I was ready to kill them all for giving me the dextrose fill iv bags throughout my stay. 12 pounds gained in those days there, and I still am holding on to 3 of them. Why on Earth were they giving me sugar water? No one would tell me.

[Katrina]

Some of these replies sound encouraging. I am hoping she recovers splendidly, and that at the very least her reflux does not get worse. I worry so much more about her going through this crap/complications than myself (she is my mom after all) even though she's a tougher woman than I am. She'll probably rock the hell out of her new sleeve!

[RehabNurse]

Why on Earth were they giving me sugar water? No one would tell me.

I'm guessing it's because former WLS patients have the tendency to develop reactive hypoglycemia when our bodies are under the stress of illness or hospitalization. Then again, it is only a guess, so take my thoughts and utilize them as you please.

[amt5298]

i have had gerd since i was 18 years old and i still have it since i have had surgery i am nine months out but it has not effected my weight loss at all i have lost 101 pounds so far and 13 inches off my waist so losing weight should not be an issue with the reflux

[Philabethie2016]

My surgeon swears that the sleeve does not make reflux issues worse. But I have a close friend who's been interested in the sleeve now for a year or two and she's had two separate surgical consults where each surgeon flat out told her they wouldn't do the surgery because she has existing issues. Now, maybe my friend's issues are really really bad on the scale of things, I don't know? But it does seem like this is one of those "all over the map" kinds of issues.

[markw]

Without reading anymore than your original post, you are spot on and your surgeon was a fool. Why he would do the sleeve on a patient with acid reflux is crazy. When I stated I wanted the sleeve, they were very focused on if I had acid reflux. The sleeve increases the pressure in the stomach and can make it much worse. My surgeon won't even consider doing the sleeve on somebody that has reflux. I don't know if it means much, but in casual conversation with him prior to surgery, he said he can convert to a bypass after the sleeve is done. Good luck.