The DS Surgery

I have had a lot of questions about the surgery that I have chosen. So I thought that I would explain it to the best of my ability. Here Goes. I am having a Biliopancreatic Diversion with a duodenal switch (BPD/DS). This surgery works two ways: restriction and malabsorption. Below is a picture of what my anatomy will look like after the surgery.

BPD/ DS                                Gastric Bypass

So basically what will happen is that the doctor will make a sleeve out of my stomach and the rest (about 75%) will be taken out. This is the restrictive portion of the surgery; it will restrict the amount of food I can ingest. I will not have a “pouch” like with a gastric bypass (GB). Then the doctor will work his magic with my small intestines. My digestive loop will be shortened, and a bilopancreatic loop will be reattached at almost the large intestines (this is called the common tract). Because of the way that this surgery reconstructs the small intestines, I will only be absorbing food in the small portion of the small intestines from the site that attaches the BP loop to the digestive loop. There will be less absorption with the DS than with the GB. Because of the severity of the malabsorbtion I will have to take a lot of supplements. I will also have to eat a lot of protein because of the way it is absorbed.