I am new to this site and I am very excited and looking foward to all the help and advice i can get from you all. My journey began 4 months ago and god willing i will be having surgery in early November. At first i wanted to have the gastric sleeve surgery because in my mind i think it is less drastic and has less side effects and so on, but as i have been hearing people i have started to doubt myself and now i am confused as to what surgery i want.  How does one decide? Has any one of you been where I am at today? If so how did you decide? 

Good afternoon and welcome! I would be lost without the support of this site-make it a point to visit often.  I don't have advice to offer on how to decide as I discussed it at my consult with my surgeon and he wanted me to have RYN from the get go. Best of luck and research all you can.

I read tons of journal articles, studies, and web site resources.  Basically for me it came down to wanting to have the surgery with the best long term out comes.  RNY is it.

The way that it restricts and alters not just how much but what you can eat suits my personality. I am a rule follower, people pleaser type person who loves to know EXACTLY what the edges are.  With RNY it feels more black and white.  Cupcakes = No, Pie = No, Alfredo sauce = No. Every time, forever. (Caveat: Many RNY folks do eat these things in moderation.  I am someone who has 'dumping' with sugars and fats.  For me, I have decided I never want to test those waters and so I choose to say No forever. That is also a personal thing. Some people try to add back in various beloved foods.  For some folks that goes well, some folks find it makes them sick even years after surgery, and some folks do that and regain much of their weight.) No guess work feels good for me.  Others might think that would seem like hell on Earth and they would be miserable. It really is a personal decision.

Do I still sometimes wish I could have a cupcake?  Yes. Absolutely.  But one would turn quickly into one a day if I let myself go back to it. The RNY gave me the boundaries that I wanted. So far I feel amazing and am so much healthier than I ever have been before.

Best of luck to you!

~Elizabeth

Awesome, thanks for the quick response and the good advice. I am looking for the best long term effects as well. I have a friend who had the sleeve and has gained some of the weight back. I also think her weight gain after the sleeve has to do with not following drs orders to a T. 

So far what i have read on the difference between the two surgeries is that one restricts you more than the other. I also have read about malabsorption, but i dont really understand what that is and how it affects your body. Where do you recomend i read more up on that? 

Yes.  Read up lots.  The Sleeve really changes the amount of what you can eat.  The RNY changes both the amount and the kinds of foods you can eat.  Not everyone but many RNY folks have a nasty reaction to sugar or fat or both.  For me if I eat more than about 5g of sugar or more than 6g of fat in a single meal I get lightheaded, nauseous, sharp pain in my tummy, and within 10 - 20 minutes am in the bathroom with diarrhea and retching.  It is suuuppppeeerrr fun. LOL Both the Sleeve and the RNY require that you shift your eating habits for life in order for you to be successful.  The RNY generally makes those new 'rules' more unpleasant to break.

Lots of reading is ahead of you.  I personally really like the book 

The Emotional First + Aid Kit: A Practical Guide to Life After Bariatric Surgery, Second Edition

https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-First-Aid-Kit-Practical/dp/ 0976852659

It isn't the end all be all with every bit of info you will ever need but it really does give you lots of detailed info on the 'head' parts of this process. I bought it after I had surgery and have wished several times that I could have read it beforehand so I would have been more prepared.

~E

thanks once again for all your advice. The book you are talking about is The Emotional First + Aid Kit : A practical guide to life after bariatric surgery? 

Yes.  You can click the blue hyperlink and it will take you the book on Amazon.  You don't have to order it there but that will give a chance to see the cover and read more about it.

~E

awesome, i will look for it tonight. thanks

Agreed, I also did tonnes of reading. Plus,My surgeon also thought Rny was my best option.

im still very early days post op, but from the first consultation I had in January, they said for best outcome, I'd need to give up carbonation, alcohol and caffeine, I did then and there And I haven't looked back(well, except for a food farewell tour I had the weekend before I started liquid preop)

All that to say, if you can honestly look at the restrictions of either surgery and feel fine with it, you're on the right track!

i gave up alcohol and carbonation, still drinking coffee.  I am planning a food funeral the weekend before my surgery. 

thanks for your advice.