trishah

I have had my 31/2 year old lapband removed a couple of months ago due to chronic reflux from stretching of the pouch. I lost 140 pounds ( 70 kilos) during this time but was gaining due to the band being loosened over the last 12 months. Now after this and removal I have regained 40 pounds (20 kilos) and am so depressed. I have an appointment with my doctor on Monday to discuss conversion to the VSG. My concern is that I watched a youtube clip by an american doc who said that conversions on a lapband patient who has suffered from pouch dialation dont work for weight loss. He stated that weight loss is poor to nill because these patients have no sence of restriction because it was lost during the dialation of the lapband pouch and eosophigus* ( spelling). And so more calories are consumed by them. This concerns me but I am also aware that doctors dont live with these changes so I want to ask if anyone has converted to the sleeve who has had a stretched lapband pouch and eosophigus and how are you travelling now... is your weightloss happening or satisfactory... do you feel restriction...did you or do you have any problems...was it worth it? I was so happy and confident and now I have depression again and severe doubts. Can anyone please help guide me Thank you all so very much Trish

By the way Cowgirl.... I checked your before and afters in your profile and you are right....you look bloody fantastic just as you are!

Donna, I am now a little over 12 months sleeved. Aaaaaaaand Im doing great, no reflux in fact no issues at all exept that the years with the band taught me quite well how to cheat the sleeve....an issue I fight. However I have good restriction provided I eat the correct foods...eg: Protein first and avoid slider foods and carbs. I dont have the prob of using my throat as a stomach and if I eat over my 1/2 cup of protein based food I am very uncomfortable and learn very quickly to adhere to the feeling of having had enough. Loss is slower after the band but thats ok for me and I am at my personal goal... lower than the docs but higher than medically suggested by a BMI and am very happy. I can and at times do, eat the wrong foods and can gain weight if I do....nothing, not even bypass will change this fact but I have a very low (not entirely gone) hunger and my portion size is half a cup. I have a 34 loose wrapped bougie with over sew which means ,what?... I dont know but its what I was told I had. My doc does not do a tight or small bougie on band revisions due to scaring and possible difficulties. I have to say I am happy, as the years of abject misery I spent with the band not being able to eat have left me happy with this size 34 which gives me no pain or complaint at all. There are no foods I can not eat at a slightly slower than normal rate and absolutely no reflux and no reflux medications needed. Life is good and normal, no more stuck food or pain, no more embarrassing meals with friends eating sloppy food...no more anything that made me different from everyone else.... I am boringly, gloriously NORMAL!! I would get a second opinion on the sleeve because I absolutely do not agree with your docs opinion and I have to say that all the other band to sleeve converts I have spoken too both short and long term are extremely happy.

I found magnesium worked very well. If you dont want to take magnesium suppliments then 2 panadol before bed works for me as well.

Skinny can you please share exactly what your eating that has started to shift your weight... a days menu maybe. Thanks in advance

:ph34r:

Link to the site so you can join http://www.gastricsleevesupport.com/ Scroll down the front page till you get to the sleevers get together page then go in there and check for any get togethers organized and if there is none you can post to organize one... everyone is usually pretty keen to get together

Have you tried the aussie sleeve site.... there is a big community of sleevers in Melbourn who have regular meet ups

I saw my doctor yesterday for a surgery date and I asked him about bougie size he said he uses a 34 fr but wraps loose on exbandits so its more like a 38. He said it is to avoid leaks by not putting strain on the thickened scar tissue left by band removal This really concerns me that the weightloss will be shitty. He said when I asked that his sleeve patients lose a bit then might go back up a bit where others lose and yet others maintain. I am confused with this, he says I need to maintain however I have gained over 20 kilos on my lowest band weight and hate it and would like to at minimum lose at least 10 of the excess gained. ( 20 was way too low)... so with a bougie this size on an exbandit is it possible. Can anyone comment on the weightloss in this situation

Yeah I cant say I remember either reading or being told that major detail either.... Ha haaa guess I was a sucker. I like that I will be able to eat in reduced amounts... I dont mind a bit of self control but I do need some back up. I hated the fact that with the band I would be starving hungry and had no feeling of ever being sated... I never once the whole time I had the band brought food back up. If it was stuck or wouldnt go down it would just sit there and I would have to sip coke to force it (painfully) through the plug hole. It drove me nuts and I was becoming a not nice person to live with because I was hungry all the time I was also crabby and petulant. Then started the reflux so I was not only hungry and couldnt feed but I was having acid rush up my throat all day and all night. Hearing that I will feel contented with food is heartening...I dont mean stuffed to the gills but just knowing I can eat something and walk away feeling that Im done on a small amount pleases me. I love to go out to dinner with my family and have BBQs at home with them. With the band as you know this is an ordeal so again with your words of wisdom I know Im not going to be a party pooper at birthdays and happy gatherings...that I wont be the one sitting there tearing a paper cup to shreads and flickiing it spitefully at everyone who is happily eating their meals. ( I wasnt really that bad but on the inside thats what it felt like....all alone in a group of people) I guess at the end of the day I and I would undoubtably say all of us get WLS to be "normal"...the band made me another kind of abnormal... I was the weird kid whose eyes ran when they ate and had to leave the table and drink coke. Baaaah... it sucks to be metabolically superior to our skinny counterparts... sadly I dont see me getting stuck on a baren island anytime soon and having to live off my fat for and extended time...pity, I recon I could get a good five years off my butt alone!

I find solace in hearing converts advice. I sometimes need the comparison of band to sleeve and it helps to hear the difference from someone who has suffered ( and I mean suffered) through a band and on to a sleeve. Having said that Sleeve only people have been wonderful with their advice and have helped me so much that I am beyond grateful. It is very true that most of the fear stems from worrying that the sleeve will just be the same issues as the band but permenant. This morning I woke up and after re reading all of the posts written here, I feel peace about the situation. I can not continue this self destructive eating pattern I am in and it wont end... I know it wont because I have nothing to stop me. I understand that I have to do an aweful lot myself but not banded nor sleeved I am running up hill in mud wearing gum boots... and Im getting bogged down. Thank you all again, Trish

wow you have no idea how much that post just squashed my fear oregon. Today was a particularly bad day worrying about everything from the issues I have mentioned down to wondering if I can complete a clean 2 weeks VLCD prior to surgery. I know I am being a worry wart but I thing my round with the band did my head in and stole my trust with WLS. I am so glad that you all have taken time to answer me honestly...Thank you all very much

Oregon, Im happy to take a PPI if it wards off the reflux. When I had reflux with the band it didnt matter what brand or dose I was on I still had horrible reflux even with no fill. This scared me terribly about the sleeve but if meds will help I am happy with that...just as long as I dont have to suffer it. Today I went and purchased two T shirt nighties to wear in hospital... and I had this dread wash over me. I have nothing to compare the sleeve to but the band and I dread going back to the deprivation. I read on some sites that people can eat a cup and a half of food.... this is an aweflul lot ( have measured it) and its more than I can eat now comfortably with the band out and with the band in I could only handle about a half cup at best. So I am worried that I wont lose weight if I can squeeze down easily a cup and a half. Its all these crazy, crazy thoughts belting through my head. It helps to talk to wonderful people like you who are kind enough to help. I thank you and the other ladies for giving much needed advice also...how bad is the day after the op....so frightened of this I cant tell you how much it makes me shudder

wow that makes me so much more comfortable with my sleeve size. Using it as a tool is not a prob, after having the band for 4 years and woking it to get of 70 kilos (140lb) I am fairly confident I can get back the resolve to do the whole Protein first thing that worked for me. I am releived to hear that this size will hopefully ward off the reflux situation. I have been trying to imagine living with the dreaded condition with no releif for the rest of my life and I was starting to second guess the sleeve. Big hug for your reply

do you have reflux or indigestion oregon? I suffered dreadfully with it during the last year of my band... prior to and after removal I had none at all. This is my greatest fear that I will get reflux again that meds wont help and I cant reverse tho op to stop it. 3 years is a good stretch of time with the sleeve so I am very interested to know how it all is this far out

Thanks Wheetsin, I am more settled now and seeing a greater logic in the doctors words than I was before. When I had my band I changed my lifestyle, ate healthy in small amounts and exercised by walking but not by flogging the gym (I would sustain walking but the gym I would find excuses not to do). I am hoping that by applying those same principles I will have success for life with the sleeve. 80% as a statistical weightloss is pretty good I should think, and I would be greatly happy with it. I do wonder where my resolve went once the band was removed. I question why I didnt keep up the diet etc...however in reality I suppose with reemergence of hunger and larger food portions all be it healthy ( ok there was a bit of junk in there too) gain would be inevitable unless I upped my exercise ( not gonna happen sorry). So I figure its onward and upward ooooor sit down, shut up and suck up and continue to gain weight and go with out the sleeve. Pretty sure its the sleeve and have a date of 27th March, for better or worse I am forging forward. With out this choice to me my future looks bleak and very pudgy.

I posted this in the band to sleeve thread but thought some long time exbandits might hang out in here as most of the contributers over there are new or not sleeved yet so. Ok saw my doc yesterday to get a date and asked him bougie size he said he uses a 34 but wraps loose on exbandits so its more like a 38. He said it is to avoid leaks in the area where scar tissue is present after band removal This really concerns me that the weightloss will be shitty. He said when I asked that his sleeve patients lose a bit then might go back up a bit where others lose and yet others maintain. I am confused with this, he says I need to maintain however I have gained over 20 kilos on my lowest band weight and hate it and would like to at minimum lose at least 10 of the excess gained. ( 20 was way too low)... so with a bougie this size on an exbandit is it possible. Can anyone comment on weight loss as an exbandit with a bougie of this size

Thanks Liliana... I am probably stressing too much but my doctor, though very good and a kind man is a little non commital so its hard to guage if he is posative or negative about a situation. It worried me when I asked how weight loss is for bandits after sleeving and he said " some lose weight some bounce back and forth and others maintain, it depends" when I asked what he meant he said " its relative to each patient." So to not look like a complete uneducated dummy I accepted his statement but I am still not completely clear on what he is saying... other than a shoulder shrug answer so as not to commit either way. He feels I dont need to lose any weight but mearly maintain but since having the band removed I have gained 10 on the 10 I had gained towards the end of my band life making a total of 20 gained.... I personally would like to squeeze off ASAP at least 10 preferably 15 ( 20 is way too low for my face I look drained) I am worried now that weight loss might not happen.... Hopefully after looking at your stats I am just being a pork chop and carrying on like a sooky la la. I lost 70 kilos with the band and all I want is 10/15 with the sleeve then maintain...The whole exband thing seems to be the problem

So Bionic did you suffer with reflux, how is it now if you did? I read your blog and I was most impressed with the Water verses hunger and also the cheese, crackers and smoked oysters...all are an issue for me. Funny but I have never met anyone else who did the cheese, crackers and oyster thing much less enjoy it... thousands of miles and a whole lot of ocean and I have found a kindred spirit!

I see your in Sydney, same state as me Im on the mid north coast at Port Macquarie. So I am really fixated on the whole reflux issue... how have you been with that and are there any other issues that you have now ...he he heee apart from amazing weight loss. How was the op, was it horrendous. On the Aussie forum most say it wasnt too bad but I notice here most say it was horrible. I was wondering if we have a different level of whats bad. How long before you were able to fend for yourself at home comfortably. I will be coming home to a house where no one is home during the day and will have to die in solace. My husband works in the mines and my two adult children cant get time off Sorry for the epic questioning, I just have so much going through my head

are you all still around I would be interested to find out how you are all going especially with the band to sleeve conversion

I was on 40 milligrams of Nexium twice a day with no fill in my band and still had costant horendous reflux... from the time I woke up after band removal to now which is 3 months later ( and 10 kilos heavier) I have had not one moment where it has even threatened to come back... not with coffee or chilli or high carbs. I am so releived that it has gone and couldnt bare to think of it coming back like that... I dont think anyone likes waking up every 10 minutes at night choking on acid reflux which is drowning your lungs. I am so grateful for your posts ...both of you... you have lifted my spirits a great deal and am again looking forward instead of wallowing in self pity and dispare. :heart: :heart: :thankyou: :thankyou: :thankyou:

:biggrin: thank you both so very much for replying, this whole thing is doing my head in. The sleeve seems to be working extremely well for you cowgirl and I am given a great deal of hope with your post. Did you have reflux with your band and if you did how is it now... have you noticed anyother dire side effects ( the band had plenty) that are worse than banding