Do you wish you had the sleeve?

Can i ask...what do you take now for pain due to your arthritis?  I am considering VSG and RNY and currently take ibuprofen for back pain.  Should I be tested for arthritis before deciding on my surgery?

At this time, the only thing I use is arnica topically. My main issue is my thumbs. I don't know what I will do later on but will look for alternative types of aids. Processed sugar seems to aggregate it for me but it hasn't been bad since surgery because I haven't had any.

Talk to your surgeon and other health care providers.  There is a lady on here who has arthritis, and she was prescribed something, but I do not know the name.  You need to sort this out prior to making your decision.  I love my RNY and do not have 1 regret.  I have to believe there are meds out there that will take care of our needs if the situation arises.

I think I would have given the sleeve much more consideration had I known then what I know now, in that I am very susceptible to ulcers and having issues with pain management that I was not having to deal with prior to RNY. The pain is now only controlled by narcotics, when I know a good NSAID would be very helpful instead. But I guess we all have some sort of "hindsight is 20/20" situations in our lives, don't we? So sometimes all we can do is accept our decisions and move forward!

 Thanks so much for asking this Beth.  I am in the process of making this decision as well and reading the responses here has been helpful.  Thanks to everyone who has responded! 

I want the gastric sleeve.  My surgeon says RNY is best because of reflux issue I didn't even know I had until after my EGD. 

I'm having a hard time working through the idea.... besides malasorption worries,  I rely on NSAIDs 1-2x week for arthritis pain.  I don't relish the idea of needing a narcotic to dull the pain that OTC aspirin currently takes care of.  When I mentioned that, he said he tells his VSG patients no NSAIDs, too.  In fact, several people I've talked to lately say their surgeons have said the same.

Decisions, decisions.

Vintage, this is interesting to me because I had GERD too and this was one of the main reasons I chose to NOT have the sleeve. The sleeve creates restriction much like the band does and my band is what caused my GERD and acid reflux to get to bad. I just encourage you to read as much as you can regarding each procedure and eventuallynyounwill be able to sort it out.

I had horrific ERD...projectile votmiting at night, no exaggeration.  My surgeon said RNY would resolve that issue.  It has...I've not had so much of a hint of GERD post RNY.   That is why it was the best for me.

Thank you both for sharing your experience with GERD and RNY and how it's helped.  I am seriously researching, making a list of pros and cons with both.  And I trust the real-life experience of WLS patients as much as I do my surgeons input.  He has the education and the know how, but you all live it, daily! 

 Ok so I had the lap band, lost like 60 pounds had a baby, regained  the weight then MORE becaus ethe band slipped, went for a revision resulted in ZERO weightloss because  it was up too high,had a spleen injury & This time around I felt the band constantly... Went for RNY for the faster weight loss verses the less riskier sleeve at a slower weight loss its also fairly new so there are not many long time studies  of how people are doing... with this long term and 30 years down the line....But then again you are asking RNY people, who my be partial to their choice...You may want to ask some "sleeve people" ask your doc for a ref list of people you can talk to that had it done...

Good luck with your decision

Iam going for the RNY April 2