WASaBubbleButt

Great choice! Congrats on quality research!

Are you okay with a total lie?

Not everyone needs malabsorption. Some do quite well with restrictive procedures alone. VSG is more than enough for me. It's not for everyone. Just like the band isn't for everyone, bypass isn't for everyone, etc. Me... I don't want the side effects that happen with DS. I'll not be carrying "just a drop" with me each place I go.

Yeah, removing the port is what hurt the most for me. That hurt like crazy for about 2 weeks. In the morning getting out of bed was no easy task. That was the worst part of the whole revision.

One week is necessary, two weeks is ideal for a sleeve. It's very similar to banding for time off.

I don't post it on the general boards. I answer questions and try to help people make their band work on general boards. But yesterday I decided to answer BJean's question and I do refer to studies and such. What about Inamed? They claim at 5 years people have lost 55-60% of their excess weight. I don't consider those great stats. Neither does Inamed which is probably why they removed the actual numbers and changed it to a LOT of weight. They go so far as to compare it to bypass. What they aren't telling you is that they are comparing a group of bypass patients that did not have enough intestine bypassed and they did not do well. Why do you suppose they don't have the numbers there anymore? The 55-60% stats? I sure couldn't find it as of a week ago. It's a WLS! Why wouldn't they post long term stats??? That's like saying, "Here, take this snake oil pill I'm selling, I won't tell you what average weight loss is, but it's a LOT!" Some people beat the stats, I did. I lost 100% of my excess weight. It can be done but in my case it was at a price. I stand behind what I wrote. I understand exactly what Susan is talking about. It's the same reason I didn't tell many here I was getting revised to a sleeve. My friend Kira didn't realize I hadn't told anyone so she thought she was doing me favors by posting it. It wasn't a problem, but it was hard to explain why I hadn't mentioned it. A few knew, Denise did, Alex did, a few. But I sure didn't post about it. Well, I did once and went back and deleted it before anyone could read it. If you can't hack a band for whatever reason everyone assumes you aren't following some magical list of rules. I can't tell you how many newbies on OH suggested I just chew better. How the hell do you chew a Protein shake you slime on with an unfilled band? I learned my lesson about talking "revision" on OH. I wasn't going to do it here or my doc's board. If you insist you are following the rules then everyone assumes you just can't stop stuffing donuts in your face. If you are losing well then it doesn't matter because you are losing and people actually wish they had the same problems. That probably annoyed me more than anything. I wouldn't have wished the non stop sliming and assorted versions of stoma spewing on anyone and people wished they had the same problems as me so they would lose weight too? Ack! That made me angry. There is no winning with noobs and revisions. They HAVE to find a way that it is your fault because zog forbid something happens where their own band doesn't work and the only way they can justify it or work it out in their wee brain is to assume it's the banded person's fault. That's just not my personality type. I was vulnerable when I was planning the revision, I'm not that same vulnerable person anymore.

Recovery for a sleeve is about the same as a band. I don't really know recovery for lap bypass. Open bypass is about 6-12 weeks.

I was all over the reversibility of the band too but when I got to goal I was all about permanent. I don't ever want to weigh that much again and I don't ever want to lose all that weight again. Newbies typically want reversible, vets usually seem to want permanent. The sleeve doesn't do anything for head hunger. No WLS does. It does put a huge dent in stomach hunger. If you are battling stomach hunger and head hunger it's a battle that is usually lost. That's why I suggest to newbies on the post op diet to eat... don't count calories on liquids! Drink, just stay within the diet phases. Don't eat solids too soon. Studies show that obese people can produce up to 3x the amount of the hunger causing hormone Ghrelin than naturally thin people. Mix that with head hunger and you have a fat person. BTW, when your body starts burning fat you produce even MORE Ghrelin. If you take away the stomach hunger it makes head hunger far more doable. The hacks are already here. There is one guy in the midwest US that hasn't even done 500 staple lines and he already has a 2.5% leak stat, global averages are less than 1%. He's had a death too. He flat out admits in his seminars that people don't go to him because he's good, they go to him because he's cheap. There are 4 surgeons in MX that do sleeves that all claim over 700 sleeves. It's a total lie. If they told the truth about how many they have really done nobody would go to them because they are too inexperienced. They are FOS, they haven't done 700 sleeves between the four of them let alone each. One of them that claims to be the most experienced sleeve surgeon in MX is a flat out liar. he claims to have been doing sleeves for five years yet according to his CV he just got his training in advanced lap procedures 3 years ago. How was he doing it before he was trained in the procedure? If you try to verify his advanced lap training... it doesn't exist. The class he claims to have gone to... they don't have any record of his attending. It was "watch one do one" training. His family member taught him how to do it. Just another reason to only go to FACS surgeons. All that is verified and they can't lie to FACS. There is a TJ doctor's coordinator that emailed me and flat out told me that if I continue telling the truth about her butcher surgeons she will slam dunk my doctor with death certificates of all his supposedly dead patients (they don't exist) and she would go to every band and sleeve board and trash him repeatedly under as many IDs as necessary. Hell, she uses a gazillion IDs HERE! She pushes her doctors non stop with fake IDs and fake IPs. Yeah, I could follow her around exposing her and as soon as people realize who she is it would be a non issue but is it necessary? Why should my doctor have to pay because her surgeons are so horrible they have to repeatedly change the name of their clinic so nobody knows where they are *really* going? How is this the fault of Dr. Aceves and why should he have to pay because she doesn't have the integrity to work for good surgeons or have the integrity to tell the freak'en truth about their stats, deaths, infections, and leaks? I asked Dr. Aceves what he wanted me to do and he told me to do whatever I felt was right. Well, what IS right? Letting them trash an innocent doctor who actually DOES have integrity or let people go to butcher surgeons because they don't know how to research? What do you do? The hacks are already here. You know, with banding if the surgeon is a hack usually you can remove the band and the person is okay. With a sleeve if the surgeon is a hack the patient can die.

I'm sorry you feel that way but it seems to me it is better to be prepared for the good and the bad of any WLS vs. having something come as a huge shock. Regardless of procedure there is good and bad. I doubt that is ever going to change.

Remember, with a sleeve they are removing Ghrelin, that is a hormone produced mostly by your stomach that signals your brain that you are hungry. That's not the only way your body tells you that you are hungry, there are also insulin/blood sugar issues too. But Ghrelin is the big one. The first week you do not WANT anything. You struggle just to get your fluids down. You should be drinking 64oz daily and I haven't met anyone yet that has managed to get all the fluids down. Not in the beginning. In the hospital you'd almost pay someone to drink fluids for you so that you don't have to hear the harping from everyone telling you to drink fluids. ;o) By the end of clears you are bored with it, head hunger DOES kick in, but not stomach hunger. I will be honest, I had a band and then revision surgery so I have done the post op diet twice. The 2nd time was a breeze, I don't know how much of it was that I had been dealing with food issues and head hunger was not kicking in full force and how much was the lack of Ghrelin. But I will tell you that I didn't have any problems with it. But again, I had already dealt with many food issues, I revised at 125# and a BMI of 20.8. After banding it was hard but doable. You won't want alcohol at first, it will burn along your staple line but I have it every now and again. I will tell you that when I was losing weight alcohol would stall my weight loss every single time. Without fail. It will slow down your weight loss. Artificial sweetners are fine, I live on them. ;o) Coffee... only problem with coffee is that it changes the cells in the lining of your stomach and it does tend to make your stomach empty faster thus defeating the purpose of any WLS. It's the caffeine. But if coffee did not bother you before surgery it probably won't bother you afterwards.

It depends on the leak. Usually the severe leaks are caught in surgery and corrected right then and there. Microperforations... those are tiny. Usually they leave the drain in and let the body heal itself. When it's not caught and repaired in surgery if it is a huge leak they give you a feeding tube, drains, and you do not eat or drink anything until it heals. Remember Adrianne? She had her surgery by a crappy TJ doctor and she had a leak. He didn't know how to fix it and each time he tried he made it worse. She was on a feeding tube for something like 6 months. TJWood had a leak from a band infection. If you look up his posts you can see what he is currently going through. This is why you need the best of the best sleeve surgeons. You can't just go to anyone. You don't want to be a guinea pig for a surgeon learning staple lines.

Bypass certainly has its place. It's great for hard core diabetics that cannot get control of their blood sugar. 85% of the time, within 3-10 days a diabetic will be in full remission of their diabetes after bypass surgery. 3-10 days! It's good for people like a dear friend of mine who has gained with the band, it's not the band, it's my friend. She cannot possibly kick the sugar. If it was a promise she would dump and dump forever on sugar it would be ideal for her. I'm very lucky that restriction alone does the trick for me. BJean, I'm going to suggest that you check out a drug called Luvox. It's for OCD. A lot of people think we are addicted to food and we aren't. The outcome may well be the exactly same as addiction but the reason it needs to be made clear that we are not addicted to food is the treatment is vastly different for addiction vs. OCD. When we were trying every treatment, drug, and possibility trying to make my band work my doc thought Luvox would work on the nerve receptors between my stomach and brain. We were trying to tell my brain I didn't need to barf. Well, I did need to barf and Susan will understand that one. She experiences the same. If food/water won't go down it has to go somewhere. But we were trying everything. While the Luvox didn't make a bit of difference in barfing I noticed that each time I started taking it, it totally killed my head hunger. Luvox also treats OCD. ;o) I would quit taking it and head hunger was back in full force and I thought about food all the time. I'd start taking it again and it killed my head hunger. I've come a long way with food issues and I really don't deal with head hunger a great deal anymore. If it kicks in I make steamed veggies and eat all I want. A huge mega bowl has 300 calories, it takes me all day to eat it. But before I got to this stage I would start taking Luvox when my head hunger was getting out of control. It's hard when you have head hunger and you have to figure out what you can eat to solve that problem without barfing all day. It might be something to consider. Paxil is another option. Good luck getting a US doc to give it to you, they think we just like donuts. I think many US docs view obesity different than other cultures. It's not a character flaw, it's a disease.

This is *exactly* what I have heard from literally hundreds of people since my revision. This is it, this is what happens. This is what people PM me with daily. If you slip it's not all that uncommon to not have a sweet spot anymore. Scar tissue builds up along the band and under the band and you just can't get a good fill. The sweet spot does not exist anymore. I don't encourage anyone to get a band anymore. I make no bones about it. If someone has a band and they are excited about it I'm not going to post in their thread and tell them the band sucks but I won't encourage anyone to get a band except bypass to band. That does seem to be quite effective and not all the problems. I think it must be the difference in anatomy. But for a first time surgery I am honest with people and if that means peeing in someone's joy, so be it. That's not my intent but I won't lie about banding issues just to make someone feel good. I think the band has been in the US long enough that the cycle is completing. Enough people, enough studies, enough of a data base has come to light and we are seeing the cycle. In the beginning everyone is thrilled. Then comes the problems. Now come the revisions. You really aren't alone. Not by a long shot and it is not you, it is the band.

It's impossible for us to truly dump since dumping technically involves the pylorus valve. But what we experience can be the same, meaning the effects are essentially the same. I did for the first couple of months but it's gone now.

A greater majority of the time if you slip you can just get an unfill, go on liquids for a few weeks and the slip is self correcting. Did your fill doctor even try this? Rarely do you need surgical correction.

I admit, I don't miss my port in the least. It stuck out like a tumor. But you know, the most painful part of revision surgery is where the port was. That took a good two weeks before it didn't feel like a bon fire in my gut.

Not all leak tests would stress the staple line. For example the one done under fluoro. You drink an ounce of nasty tasting Gastrograffin or Conray. It's like Water, not thick in the least. That wouldn't stress the staple line and doctors would know they are sending people home without a leak.

That's not fair, Plain. I pointed out stats and personal experience. If you like your band, kewl beans! I'm happy for you. If the band works for you that is fantastic. But I've been on the receiving end (on another board) when the band doesn't work and people who are fearful they will experience band problems tend to attack those who are having problems. Matter of fact, one person who has posted in this thread blasted me on another board and flat out told me I don't have a right to a revision surgery, it's as though you get one WLS in life and that's it. I was self pay both times. That was a wrong turn to take with me, I don't cower in a corner, I come out fighting. I have not had one single day since my revision was announced that I am not contacted by someone wanting information on revision. That's not what really shocks me, what shocks me is who is contacting me. People that are all pro-band on the boards and how life is so great with a band yet it's all bogus, they are PMing and emailing me asking about how to get ins to cover a revision because they can't hack it with a band anymore. You'd be shocked at who is wanting and getting revisions. These people are doing the same thing I was. I thought it was just me, I thought I was in the minority. I was pro band because I thought it did a good job for a lot of people, the majority of people. All newbies pretty much love the band. Those two years out have a different perspective many times. I belong to two band grad boards, one is for those banded one year or more. The other is for those banded one year or more and at goal. Both boards are similar, most are not happy with their bands and want to revise or have already revised. THAT is where people are honest. Inamed has been calling doctors trying to determine why sales are going down. They want to know if it is the economy or what. Doctors are telling them that they are as busy as ever doing revisions, sleeves, and bypass. They aren't buying bands because they aren't banding as many people as before. Various hospitals outside the US won't do any banding anymore, the country of Chile is doing away with banding completely and doing sleeves and bypass. It's not just me. If you are doing well, losing weight, you are healthy, not having major band problems then it should be pretty well impossible to piss on your joy. So don't you dare try and dump that on me, I'm not taking responsibility for your joy one way or another. You don't like the stats? Don't blame me, I'm not taking responsibility for that one either. This is R&R, if you only want raves then perhaps you can just read half the posts.

I don't believe I did speak for you. I told MY story and I posted the stats. Nowhere did I write that Skittles hates her band.

Holy crap, isn't THAT the truth! ;o) You can spot them a mile away!

BTW, you aren't going to be aware of the staples like you are with a band or port. The staples are itty bitty, it looks like a tiny little zipper. You can't feel them, you are not aware of them, they don't set off alarms at the airport, you just are not aware of them. After I got to goal my port stuck out like a tumor and I had the low profile port. I can't imagine what the bigger port would have looked like, it was gross as it was. Sleeves are just a whole different world. With bands all your food has to go through a tiny stoma, if you didn't chew well enough it gets stuck or comes right back up. No so with a sleeve. You just have a small stomach and get full faster. I can eat about 2oz of solid protein or 4-6oz of soft protein. So I eat 4 times daily and maintain without effort at a 20BMI. If you still want to lose weight, go for it.

We are ALL afraid of revision. You do what is best for you and leave it at that.

I agree, I told him the same thing if you'll see post #2. But he is one of the few that writes out what he is not willing to eat. That has to be a factor in deciding to get WLS. If he is not willing to change his diet, (how did he word it? Here it is: "Just about if you think of it odds are I won’t eat it unless it’s up top.") This HAS to be a consideration before deciding on surgery. He is being honest, he's providing a list of what he is willing to do and not do. I'm sure the list is more extensive than this. I'm not knocking honesty. I'm saying it has to be made very clear that not changing food choices is not going to be safer because he is thinner as you suggested, it's trading one set of serious problems for another set of very serious problems. You can reverse many problems caused by weight, not all but many. You really can't reverse the effects of malnutrition well at all.

I had problems starting from day #4. I made it work for as long as I could.

He left when I asked him about his $1,000+ fills for Mexican banded patients and their cheap surgery. He said someone needed to punish them for having cheap surgery so I guess he felt it was up to him to punish them and reap the rewards of his punishments. My "cheap" surgery was done by a surgeon with 4x+ the experience of Dr. Watkins and far better stats for less than half the cost. It's a no brainer in my mind. Skill, experience, and stats first, then price. Oh... and no attitude! ;o)