Everybody out there needs to know that @ 15% of bariatric surgeries DO NOT WORK!  I am one of the unlucky 15%.  I now have no stomach and my health is horrible.  I don't digest food and have either terrible diarrhea or I have to throw up my food. I constantly have awful pains where my intestines are connected to my esophagus (can you even picture that?) which are unbearable and force me to the emergency room.  I haven't found anything that alleviates this.    I can't digest protein and my hair, for example, is horrible.  I colored it once and hunks of it fell out.  I tried to get a perm and all of my REAL color came out. There is another operation which can fix this - Biliopancreatic Diversion Bypass (BPD)- but it is ANOTHER $30,000 and insurance WILL NOT PAY. From: http://www.annecollins.com/health-dangers-of-gastric-bypass-surgery.htm   About 10-20 percent of patients undergoing stomach bypass require follow-up operations to correct complications, the most common complaints being abdominal hernias. More than one-third of patients who have gastric bypass surgery develop gallstones. Complication rates in the early post-operative period, such as infection, dehiscence, leaks from staple breakdown, stomal stenosis, ulcers and deep thrombo-phlebitis may be as high as ten percent or more. However, the combined risk of the most serious complications (gastrointestinal leak and deep venous thrombosis) is less than one per cent. Over the long term, the health complications of gastric bypass may include a variety of conditions and problems. According to one 14-year follow-up study of stomach bypass patients, the morbidity rates were as follows: vitamin B12 deficiency (39.9 percent), incisional hernia, (23.9 percent), depression (23.7 percent), staple line failure (15 percent), gastritis ( 13.2 percent), cholecystitis (11.4 percent), anastomotic problems (9.8 percent), dehydration malnutrition (5.8 percent), dilated pouch (3.2 percent).