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Finally yesterday i found a band doctor.. Who examined me.. He took out the liquid only 2 cc of omnipaque in the band.. My symptoms were muxh better but he suspected aesophegus dilitation and now i realize my food a d water was getting stuck in my aesophagus and not band.. It is still getting stuck but a lot lot better then before.. I had a barrium swallo test for an hour today... And now i will get a endoscopy done tommorow.. Nervous of whats going on.. He suggested me to take out the band and go for gastric bypass or mini bypass even though i am below my target weight .... Confused and scaredif my esphagus is perm damaged or worst i have barrets? Or some thing sinister? Also cost for revision is very expensive for me right now and no insurance.

I have beef and pork rarely because I have to crave them to eat them. They seem to sit well most of the time but I have “off” days with foods every once in a while. Chicken has been my biggest issue after my RNY revision but I’m slowly able to eat it now that I’m 9 months out from it.

OH, second question, how far along in your weight loss journey were you when you had the revision? Is there a point where you wouldn't qualify, self pay or not, because you are too close to your goal, even if that was from the band?

Been on a break from the site for a while... had my surgery back on 11-12-13. Sw 257lbs, Reached goal of 150 at 14 months out (January 2015)....got pregnant literally less than a week later. Baby girl is almost 2 now. Since my surgery I have suffered from reflux and its gotten continually worse to the point I feel like my inside are literally on fire. I also have no restriction whatsoever since my pregnancy and have managed to get back up to 185. I had an esophagram done may 5th and my surgeon wants to revise me to RNY sometime this month. They have already submitted to my insurance and I am just waiting for my approval. I am nervous and excited all at the same time. so happy to get relief from the reflux and get back on track

What doctor did you go to? I'm in Northern NJ and am looking for a good physician. I have had two gastric bands erode through my stomach and would like to have the gastric sleeve vs gastric bypass this time. I'm not sure about going to my past physician, or possibly trying a new doctor. I have Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ and am thankful to hear that you were approved for the sleeve. Would possibly like to go to the same physician as you since you were approved for the procedure. Thanks "I have Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ and they got rid of the 6 month wait right when I went through the process to be submitted (dec 10). Before that time my friend had a revision from a band to sleeve and after 3 denials did get approved and didn't have to do the 6 month wait. Be sure to call because requirements change and you may not be aware. I was approved very quickly. Within a few days of submitting and approved the first time. I was very surprised. Good Luck"

BCBS won't pay for my band removal even though I have a lot of port site pain. Of course the surgeon wants to do a revision, but they've denied it twice. I plan to appeal. Sent from my SM-N920P using the BariatricPal App

I was like that too. I didn't lose or gain for months, then I got tighter and started losing. I liked losing the weight. But the constant of the food coming back up caused my band to slip. You don't want that to happen. Tell your Dr. It's better to have an unfill now, and let your stomach heal, than to have to have revision. Call your Doctor.

I am six weeks post op and went in for my first fill yesterday. My port has turned upside down and I have to go in for a port revision on Tuesday. I had no pain, no tenderness, and no swelling. I am so frustrated.

I was banded 10/09 in USA with insurance. No problems good restriction without fills for the first 3 months. The next month my gall bladder had to come out no problems with surgery ok. I then felt no restriction at all.( my theory is that the surgical proceedure(gall bladder caused the shift of my port) I was then set up for first fill under fluroscope but port turned and was told I d have to get a revision before I could have my first fill.That went ok no complications they filled to 4 cc at revision surgery.One day later I can't eat a thing,so I was unfilled to 2 cc. I now feel great restriction just right. So............even in America ports can have issues......Hopefully mine are now over. I am still happy with my band decision

Thanks so much Lisa. I think I finally found the section on band-to-sleeve revisions, and I will be spending some time there in the next few days. Looking forward to the spring and to our spring meeting. I'm going to ask my local library if they have a free meeting room that we might be able to use for an hour or so. If not, I'll see you at the Atrium! Best to you, your dear husband and your fur baby!

My port revision surgery was done under general anesthesia, but I did read somewhere about someone having it under local anesthesia and I think they just said it felt really weird.

I had surgery on the 9th. I had requested the hotel with my friend. I had a revision, they sent her to the hotel and me to the recovery house. It was OK but my friend did not see me for 2 days and she was beginning to wonder. I swapped to the hotel after one night in the recovery house. My surgery was a 11 PM Mexican time, they took her to the hotel at 9:00 a couple of hours before I had surgery. that was fine but they sent all my clothes, toothbrush, comfy clothes, all of it with my friend. I had no idea what room my friend was in so...we were glad to see each other. I am glad I got to stay at the recovery house for a little while. I loved the hotel and I was comfortable by then. Communication is not great so you just have to be flexible and have a since of humor. You can easily walk to shopping from the hotel. Stay on the main roads, don't so side streets and know they drive very crazy!!!

If they approved the sleeve but the doctor didn't do it, then I would think that it would still be approved since your surgeon *technically* only removed your band and never revised your stomach to the sleeve.

It's a choice that you would have to make that works best for you. I was going for the sleeve and decided to go for RNY because I wanted to get rid of acid reflex and not have to deal with diabetes or high blood pressure or sleep apnea. My surgeon sat down and told me the differences and he said for long run RNY is a better way to go than sleeve. And I also didn't want to revise anything later on and wanted to do what's right for me. As far as being on anti-depressants, I stopped taking them the day I came home from my surgery. Typically I would have spoken to the psych and decrease the dosage and slowly get rid of it completely. But of course I didn't do that and just stopped them on my own. Do I feel depressed? Nope I don't. But I do still get anxious...so next week is my first follow up after my surgery which has been 10 days now and I will speak to them about my anxiety. Either way I think you can only make the best decision for yourself and what works best for you. Being scared of the surgery was the last thing on my mind cause I am an RN and I am ok with surgeries. Best of luck and I know you will make the right decision for yourself.

I'm interested in finding out about how people actually pay for their surgery. Anyone willing, would you please indicate the following: 1. Surgery type (RNY, Lap-Band, Revision, Sleeve, etc.) 2. Self-pay, "government" program (ie, Medicare, Medicaid) or private insurance 3. Amount billed (grand total, not itemized!) 4. Amount YOU personally paid 5. Geographic location (either region or state) 6. If you had insurance, did it cover bariatric services? I'm curious what percent self-pay versus those who have insurance & those with insurance, but no bariatric coverage. Thanks in advance for anyone willing to participate...I'll be happy to post the results, so everyone can see any "trends" found!!

AK welcome to VST. We are very happy to have you join us. I can't answer your questions about breastfeeding, because I'm way past that stage. I also never had the band; however, I know that several here have revised from band to sleeve and have had it done all in one surgery. I am sure they will chime in on information for you with regard to this matter.

I chose the sleeve because I did not like all of the complications that came with the band and read about all of the revisions, and figured, with my medical luck (or lack there of) I would be one of those that would HAVE to have a revision lol so why not go there first.

I have had a hiatal hernia and major hair loss.I had a revision with hernia repair on12/23/13

The covenant that God made with Abraham to give control of Canaan to Abraham's offspring was to both the Jews and Muslims, because Abraham had two sons, one which became the leader of the Jews and one the leader of Islam. So each of these two religious groups is equally entitled. Many times you will hear that someone is anti semitic when they say something negative about a Jew or anything Jewish, but I think you will find most of the people who are now know as Jews are only part Jewish but mostly European. That includes most of the present inhabitants of Israel. The original Jews, Abraham and his sons Isaac and Ismael were Semites, but while the descendants of Isaac have been deluded by white European blood, by and large the Muslims are much more purer in bloodline and therefor the true Semites. So actually, being anti-Islam might just as easily (if not more so) be anti-semitic. However, what I have written above is pure interpretation. Most people agree that the Bible and the Qur'an both state that God made a covenant with Abraham. Since both books are talking about the same God and same Abraham, then Allah and the God of the Christians and Jews are the same being. The problem, of course comes about with Jesus. Is Jesus God? Is Jesus the son of God? Is God Jesus? The Jews are willing to follow the teachings of Moses that were sent down by God/Allah and God/Allah says that all those that follow the teachings that God/Allah sent through Moses will gain eternal life. The Muslims are willing to follow the teachings of Mohammad that were sent down by God/Allah and God/Allah says that all those that follow the teachings that God/Allah sent through Mohammad will gain eternal life. But while some Christians "KNOW" that they must follow the teachings of Jesus that were sent down by God/Allah and God/Allah says that all those that follow the teachings that God/Allah sent through Jesus will gain eternal life, other Christians "KNOW" that they must follow the teachings of Jesus that were sent down by God/Allah, they must also believe that Jesus is God/Allah and that they must have a personal relationship with Jesus and they also "KNOW" that only they will gain eternal life. In the Qur'an, it states that Jews, Muslims and Christians have equal rights to eternal life. However, God/Allah says the Jesus is neither a deity nor his son. God/Allah says that Jesus, Moses, Noah, Mohammad were each prophets sent to a different people at a different time to teach the word of God/Allah and each people, if they follow the teachings of their prophet will gain eternal life. So the Jews accept Moses as a prophet, the Muslims accept Mohammad as a prophet, but most Christians “KNOW” that must believe that Jesus was more than a prophet, but also God and the son of God. Some people ask me if I believe the bible was divinely inspired. Let's stipulate that the bible was divinely inspired. But is it not fair to ask if it was divinely translated? But is it not fair to ask if it was divinely transcribed? But is it not fair to ask if it was divinely interpreted? But is it not fair to ask if the choice of which books to include was divinely inspired? How come the Jewish version of what the Christians call the "Old Testament", has sections that are not in the "Old Testament"? How come the Christian's "Old Testament" has sections that are not in the Jewish version of the "Old Testament"? How come Constantine, originally a Pagan emperor of Rome hand-picked a commission to decide what sections went into the bible and what didn't go into the bible? How come at least two English queens and two English kings made revisions in what has become the Christian Bible? Did you know that the Roman Catholics, the Protestants and the Jews each have different versions of the 10 Commandments? I am tired of writing. I hope I got this right. I didn't feel like doing a bunch of googles, so it is out of my head and I think I am going out of my mind.

I used OCC for my band in 2011. They were quite a bit more expensive for the revision than Dr Fernando Garcia. So I used him in May 2016 for VSG. I had a great experience, they took great care of me and the Hospital CER was new and state of the art.

I don't even think about trying to eat slowly. I had been banded for 7 years when I got my revision. I need to work on that.

I think the "newbie" label is related to how long you've been on the forums and how many posts you've made, not how far along you are in the WLS process. Not sure there's anything you can do to change it, but maybe one of the moderators can chime in. Good luck with your revision! I hope the sleeve works out better for you.

I had pretty bad GERD before my surgery but it had only come with my weight so surgeon and I hoped it would disappear with weight loss. Straight after surgery I was so much better that I was able to drop from 40 to 20mg Nexium. Around 4 months out and 22kg lighter (2/3 of my total excess weight) it started getting worse. I am currently taking 80mg Nexium with poor control of symptoms - very painful and affecting my oesophagus, throat and Eustachian tubes (ears!). Seeing the surgeon tomorrow and hoping he has some "magic" suggestions. I also wanted the simplest possible procedure and am not at all keen on bypass, but I know there can be serious health consequences if my dr and I can't get these symptoms under control. Knowing that a bypass revision is always possible, is it worth talking to your dr to see about doing the sleeve in the hope that you are amongst the lucky ones whose GERD is not made worse by the sleeve? It would be nice to keep it simple if you could - ongoing need for vitamin/mineral supplementation is something I'm keen to avoid.

One individual in our Bariatric Support Group Meeting had a band to RNY gastric bypass surgery revision because his band was wearing away into his stomach and the condition became life threatening.

I have to admit, this is a situation I would have enjoyed. I would have taken great pleasure in giving her a bit of attitude (okay, a LOT of attitude) and a bit of education. I would have gotten right back in her face and explained how it all works and I would have explained that I did not want the path she clearly has chosen. I would never dream of being insulted by her behavior, I would have enjoyed the pleasure of watching her back down. ;o) But, that's me. Again, I wouldn't have thought twice about telling her the price. Plant the seed, you know? All of us have issues to work through, including nurses. The only people that have ever been that way to me are obese people who have had WLS and are not overly successful with it. THOSE people are brutal. When I was so sick with a band and needed a revision before I was so ill I would no longer be a good surgical risk I had a few that insisted that if I didn't have the band removed, gain all my weight back and THEN have a revision then that meant I was anorexic. It was weird, 100% of the time the only people who were on my tail about getting a revision without waiting to regain everything back were WLS failures, people who were not able to do it with surgery. Those that were doing well or at goal they were 100% supportive. I have a hunch that nurse was going through her own stuff. I'm not sure I'd write a letter to the hospital, but I would contact her and let her know how she made you feel and take it from there. See what her response is. THEN go to the hospital if you are still not happy. We all have our demons, that's why we needed surgery.