I had this operation to lose weight in 1988 at UCLA Medical center. The quality of my life has been so diminished I have considered killing myself at times but I am in therapy. I have intense and very frequent very foul smelling gas and diarrhea. I have not slept more than three consecutive hours in a night since 1988. I am a 48 year old woman and am still 250 pounds. I never lost much weight at all and still need to watch what I eat or I gain weight but I have all the above mentioned side effects which keep me quite depressed. I go to the bathroom more than 8-10 times a day and have gas continuously. I have seen two gastroenterologists at Cedars Sinai and they said they can do nothing and that I have to learn to live with it...I am trying to find out if there are any other doctors anywhere that have had experience in treating these side effects...Perhaps you know of some where I could be referred for a consultation. PLEASE HELP ME!! Thank you.
REPLY:
Surgery for morbidly obese individuals (more than 100 lbs over ideal body weight) was carried out in large numbers of individuals in the previous decade. Significant complications of these procedures have been recognized and include major liver abnormalities, gallstone formation, bloating and diarrhea, kidney stones, electrolyte problems, multiple vitamin deficiencies, skin rash, fatigue syndromes, and other more uncommon problems.
My suggestion is to seriously consider re-operation to reverse the bypass if indeed everything of a non-surgical nature has been tried to deal with your current symptoms (which are probably a direct result of your altered anatomy). You should seek out a surgeon familiar with bypass surgery and with their reversals. If he feels you can be benefited without further surgery let him refer you to a gastroenterologist with whom he has shared patients like yourself. If, after further attempts at controlling your symptoms, you and your physicians are in agreement for further surgery you can proceed knowing you have done all you can to avoid reversal surgery.
If you come to require reversal surgery you should inquire about newer surgical anti-obesity procedures which might be done at the same time such as gastric stapling or bypass to attempt to prevent a return to your original weight and yet avoid the significant side-effects of intestinal bypass surgical procedures.
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Bruce Sckolnick, M.D.
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