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MGB is short for Mini-Gastric Bypass. Revision weight loss surgery is a surgical procedure that is performed on patients who have already undergone a form of bariatric surgery, and have either had complications from such surgery or have not successfully achieved significant weight loss results from the initial surgery.

I’m revising from sleeve to SIPS and was told by my doctor that I need 6 months medically supervised diet psych evaluation and all the other fun stuff. I called my insurance today and they told me there’s no requirement except I have to go through a different dept. which basically guides you through and make sure you are ready for surgery. I’ve had WLS twice. From band to sleeve and I’ve never heard this before. I have UHC. Has anyone else ever been told that??

I was revised from sleeve to RNY yesterday. Today I can do way more than sip water, Propel, and crystal light. Am I correct in assuming that liquids are going straight through like a slider and that I have nothing to worry about other than liquid, protein, and vitamins?

What kind of problems? People generally don't get long-term complications from sleeves. It's not like RnY where people get reactive hypoglycemia and have to have part of their pancreas removed to fix it or get ulcers from the surgery that have to be treated. It's even very unlikely that the sleeve would stretch enough to require a fix. If you mean, what if I don't lose all the weight, it would depend on how little I had lost. If I was 10-20 lb more than I wanted to be, I'd lump it. If it was a significant amount, I would get some kind of intestinal bypass, either RnY or DS. I don't know which one because I haven't looked into the nitty gritty details of either. I'd probably go for a DS but I'm not sure I could eat enough fat to make it work. (I don't like greasy food.) I doubt I would put a band over it because the odds are just too high that I'd have to have yet another surgery to remove it some day and be right back where I started. Plus, the only thing a band would fix is if the sleeve had somehow stretched and was too big and you can fix that by having it tightened instead. Not to mention it rarely happens -- you really have to abuse the thing to get it to stretch. I don't know where you heard that people are putting bands over VSG. I don't know anyone who has done that -- it really hasn't been around long enough to know a lot of people who had revisions. Most VSGers will get a DS if they have inadequate weight loss because they figure they need the malabsorption after all. __________________ Originally posted at www.lapbandtalk.com

I researched here, and all over the internet, reading anything I could. I used Obesity Goodbye and dr. Ponce de leon, and paid $7000 for my surgery. (I called during a limited special offer, and saved $500). I bought 2 round trip tickets from IL to Sandiego, and they cost $555. I also chose the midband because of what I'd read on my own about different percentages of problems, i.e. slippage, port revision, erosion, etc. I didn't want to be persuaded to choose one over the other, I wanted to be educated and make my own choice. I did that, and so far I'm quite happy with my results. I don't know what's going on with the posts regarding a patient getting a different band than they asked for. I have no way of verifying the information posted, one way or the other, but have seen the posts that accuse Dr Ponce de Leon's other group, "Bajanor" of putting the cheapest band in a patient, regardless of what she said she wanted. I'd like to hope it's a mistake or fake, but I can believe that it could happen, so I'm just thankful & hopeful that I got what I asked for. I was treated very well, by the whole obesity goodbye group, and the hospital. I had a good time in Tijuana, and have healed remarkably well. ALL my incisions are healed. I was told to expect some seepage from the port site, that it is usually the last wound to heal, but didn't have any seepage at all. It could be because I applied tea tree oil over my whole abdomen 2-3 times a day for 2 weeks after surgery, and it probably helped keep away any infection, and speed healing. You'd have to read up on it, to see if it's something you'd consider. You have to read about all the doc's, look at all the sites, and decide for yourself what fits you. The only way you'll make the best choice is if you educate yourself about all your choices. Read, Read, Read... then decide. Good Luck to you, the only regret I think you'll have about getting banded, is waiting so long to get to it.

If you're going directly through your surgeon there's usually less pre-op testing done than what you may have done trying to qualify for insurance or approval or getting your PCP referal. I am also self pay and the process for me was 2 weeks from initial seminar/consultation to surgery. At the pre-op appt I had my blood drawn, vitals taken, weighed & measured, nutritionist & psych eval & finally a talk with the surgeon. When all was done that same day I started the pre op liquid diet & showed proof of funds for payment. Much simpler than the insurance process! (Btw see if you are getting the best package for your $! Having your fee also give you a year of follow up visits & fills. And I hear some practices even have revision insurance if god forbid there was any complications!) Best of luck!

I just found out about 2 weeks ago that my band has slipped. This is what lead up to finding out and the problems I’m having and facing now that I know.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> I had the band placed on 10/25/07 and have lost about 120 lbs so far. During last summer I was filled too much and had crazy reflux and two months in a row I had unfills. Then I was fine for 6 months. Then this past holiday season, between xmas and new years I started having weird symptoms. It started with weird side pains when I ate. I'd have the tight pain in my left chest/shoulder, felt short of breathe from the side pains, couldn't breathe very deep. (I actually passed out around new years once). Over the course of three weeks it lead to reflux on everything even water, just burping up a little bit of everything all day. Then progressed into 24/7 uncontrollable heart burn. On Fri 1/9 I called the hospital because I couldn’t sleep at all or eat any solid food. I had to wait until the following Wednesday to see my surgeon. I was on liquids for nearly a week until I saw him.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> On 1/14 my surgeon removed just over a CC of fluid and ordered a full blood panel and an upper GI. He said it could be one of 3 things. 1) mega esophagus 2) slippage or 3) erosion. He thought it was #1 for sure since I wasn't throwing up, I could keep food down. It just reeked havoc on me until it passed. He said if it was the esophagus problem, worst case would be band removal. (freak out!) I had the upper GI done on 1/16.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> I felt great after the unfill and the upper GI. The Upper GI found that my band had indeed slipped. My surgeon isn't concerned with it as is unless it keeps causing me problems. Now he says that I might just need a revision surgery, he didn't speak of removal. His plan if it keeps acting up is to remove all fluid, then if worse, schedule a revision surgery. I’m set to see him again in 8 weeks, but he said that if the reflux returns or any other symptoms to come back and see him.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> In the last week my symptoms have started flaring up again. I’m hoping to get in to see him next Wednesday. My poor husband can’t sleep at night when I’m up pb’ing, choking on acid reflux and coughing up spit foam (I can’t seem to throw up even when I try because I hope to get some relief, just sliming and pb’ing).<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Note, I’ve also had other weird abdominal symtoms that I’ve checked with my GP with, she then referred me to the GI specialist. Whenever there is food in my stomach at all no matter what it is, I get these weird side pains, still short of breathe, crazy abdominal cramping and weird uncomfortable radiating back pain. They don’t seem related to the band other than it only happens when food is in my stomach. My lapband surgeon didn’t seem to know what those pains were from and how they were related. So that’s why I’m going to see the GI specialist. Who knows!<o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> I'm so scared. I don't want another surgery, I don't want it removed. It's done for me what I can't do for myself. I've made drastic changes to my life and food habits, but I still don't trust myself without it. I want this band to work. I want to be able to live with it.<o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> <o:p> If anyone has experience with slippage like this, please continue to share. All of this informaiton in this thread has been really helpful. I noted the smoking, coffee, chocolate, mint and articicial sweetners as triggers. This week I am going to cut out these items (coffee has already been reduced to 2x's per week from daily.)</o:p>

Hi Morningoasis, I'm glad you're going to get this taken care of. I forgot to mention that some of my pain was very simular to yours...I couldn't take a deep breath either. I'll be interested to hear if your insurance will pay for this. I looked up my policy with BC/BS and it states: "No coverage for bariatric surgery including reversal, revision, repeat and staged surgery, except for the treatment of sickness or injury resulting from such bariatric surgery, or unless required by law." I'm hoping they consider abdominal pain when eating sometimes a "sickness" . If not, then I'll have to go back to Mexico and I'm not looking foward to that with all the killing going on there. Ofcourse, I could always wait until the band causes me a "sickness" :thumbup: I am also worried about living without my band. Although I never got to goal, my band has kept me from gaining it all back. I hope that repositioning is all we'll need. Take Care, Marsha

Shouldn't you be able to get approval for revision because of band failure...slippage,hernia?

Good Morning! I am having a revision to bypass in Sept. I still have reflux and can't wait to be off medication for it. I am hoping it will be gone after surgery. By the way, way back when I had it done no one told me the sleeve would cause acid reflux either! Good luck!!

My band slipped in June 2009, when I was about 21 mos post-op. The blog post whose link I posted on this thread has nothing to do with that. The damage from decades of reflux was diagnosed in January/February 2012, when I was 4-1/2 yrs post-op. My surgeon and gastro doc agreed that my band was aggravating the situation. My band was removed in April 2012 and I revised to VSG in August 2012. The blog post whose link I posted on this thread describes my 2012 experience. The OH post you quoted sounds familiar but I don't remember when I posted it. Probably in the spring of 2012, at which I point I may not have had all the test results and gastro consults done and was therefore not in possession of all the facts. I'm flattered because you must have done quite a bit of digging to find it. Or you've been saving it all this time, waiting for the opportunity to quiz me about it. Anyway, I'm sorry if I confused you. Yes, my band slipped, and yes, I had damage from 20+ years of reflux, and yes, I had general band problems related to reflux.

Frustrated by a weight loss plateau? You need a combination of patience and a plan to push through it. It happens to everyone sooner or later. Your bandwagon stalls. You’ve been going great guns, fired up with enthusiasm, working that tool, doing all the right things, and losing weight. Then one day the weight loss stops. One day, two days, twenty days go by…you’re still stuck, and you’re wondering what happened. And because you’ve spent so many years failing at dieting, and being told that obesity is always the fault of the patient, you start to wonder what you are doing wrong. You even think, “Is my band broken?” Chances are, you’re not doing anything wrong, and neither is your band. What’s happening is that your body is adjusting itself to the many changes that have happened during your weight loss. The human body doesn’t know what you’re going to do next, be it climb a mountain or relax on the couch, so it has to continually adjust and readjust your metabolism to make the best use of the calories you take in. It looks at the history of what you’ve been eating and how much you’ve been burning off through physical activity and comes up with a forecast of what you’ll need to stay alive for the next week or so. THIS MONTH’S WEIGHT LOSS FORECAST IS… At work I’ve had to prepare sales forecasts for various jobs through the years. How many widgets will we sell in the month of April? How many defective widgets will be returned by unhappy customers who want a refund? Will all this income and outgo generate enough cash (in our case, energy) to cover the payroll and the equipment maintenance and the CEO’s country club membership? I once had a boss who joked that we might as well toss a deck of cards down a flight of stairs to come up with a prediction of which new product (represented, say, by the joker card) was going to be the best-seller. That suggestion didn’t go over big with the finance guys. Like us, they were trying to follow the rules, keep everything identified, counted and categorized. And like the bean-counters, we count our calories, carbs, fats, proteins, liquids, solids, income, outgo, with faith that this accounting system will help us win the weight game. Meanwhile, our bodies have a different agenda: survival. When we decrease our food intake and increase our physical activity, the body watches to see what will happen next. As our purposeful “starvation” continues, the body struggles to accommodate the changes we’re making. It makes some withdrawals of funds from our fat cells and fiddles with our metabolism to prevent an energy (calorie) shortage. Gradually it becomes acclimated to the new routine so that it’s making the best possible use of the few calories we’re consuming. It’s keeping us alive, but it’s also putting the brakes on weight loss. Eventually we find ourselves stalled on what seems like an endless weight loss plateau. And unless we change our routine and keep our bodies working hard to burn up the excess fat, we’re going to grow to hate the scenery on that plateau. AND ON THE FLIP SIDE I’ve suffered through countless weight loss plateaus but by varying my exercise, my total caloric intake, my liquid intake, my sleep, and so on, did manage to finally arrive at my goal weight. For the past few years, I’ve felt mighty smug that I finally got promoted to the Senior VP of Weight Management here at Chez Jean. Maintaining my goal weight +/- 5 pounds seemed effortless. But it didn’t last. Turns out it was time for me to learn another lesson about my body’s fuel economy. When I had all the fill removed from my band to deal with some bad reflux, my eating didn’t go berserk. I didn’t pig out at Burger King, didn’t drown my sorrows in a nightly gallon of ice cream. I was definitely eating more because I was so much hungrier than before – perhaps 500 extra calories a day, which would amount to a weight gain of one pound a week. Imagine my dismay when I gained seven pounds in 2 weeks – the equivalent of an extra 1750 calories a day! There was a time when I could have overeaten that much without any effort at all, but as a WLS post-op, I’d have to work hard at eating that much extra food. I was flabbergasted. And frightened. Obesity was a mountain on my horizon again – far in the distance across my weight maintenance plateau - when I thought I’d left it far behind. So at the end of a visit with my gastro-enterologist during that scary time, I asked him if my sudden and substantial weight gain was the equivalent of my body shouting, “Yahoo! We’re not starving anymore! Let’s get ready for the next starvation period by hanging on to every single calorie she takes in! Let’s store those calories in those fat cells that have been hanging around here with nothing to do! C’mon, troops, get to work!” I’m pretty sure that’s not the way Dr. Nuako would have explained it, but he smiled, nodded, and said, “Oh, yes.” I felt like I was facing the flip side of a weight loss plateau: I might be in a weight gain plateau. All I could do is keep on keeping on with exercise and healthy eating, enjoying some of the foods, like raw fruits and veggies, that had been harder for me to eat with a well-adjusted band. PUZZLING OUT THE WEIGHT LOSS PLATEAU So the good news was that my wonky metabolism following that complete unfill wasn’t my fault, but the bad news was that my metabolism wasn’t in a cooperative mood. I was going to have to start playing much closer attention to the details of weight loss and maintenance again. What a pain! But hey! I’d already had a lot of practice at that. I had the tools – a little rusty maybe, but still in usable condition. I ended up regaining 30 pounds between that unfill and my revision to VSG, but I have a suspicion that without those weight tools, it could have been 60 pounds. And that’s one of the reasons that even today, bandless for 14 months now, I don’t regret my band surgery. The band helped me lose 90 pounds and learn a host of useful (if uncomfortable) things about myself, my behavior, my body, my lifestyle. What about you? How can you get your weight loss going again and avoid regain? So many factors can affect your weight that sorting out the reason(s) for your weight loss plateau can make you dizzy even if you’re not a natural blonde like me. To help you assess what’s going on and what might need to be changed, I created a Weight Loss Plateau Checklist. To access the checklist in Google Docs, click here: https://docs.google....emtSYjJLRnVGTFE The checklist includes a long list of questions about you and your behavior, with answers and suggestions for each question. I can’t claim that it will give you the key to escaping that plateau, but it should give you some food for thought and perhaps some ideas to try. Use that to come up with a plan to deal with the plateau, and work that plan for at least a month to give your body a chance to get with the new program.

GO FOR THE SLEEVE!!! I made the mistake of not listening to my surgeon. Now, three years later after dealing with TOO many complications, he will be revising me to a sleeve. If I had known what I did three years ago, the Lap Band would have been the scarier route for me to go and I would have chosen the sleeve.

HI, Dr Aceves did my band to sleeve revision about 7 weeks ago. I was self pay for both the band (done in the US) and the revision. Never in a million years did I ever think I would go to Mexico but after researching revisions and how many the surgeons did I went with him. Obviously it was also 50% + or - of what most surgeons wanted in the US. There is also a Dr. that I wanted to use in San Francisco but ended up going with Dr Aceves after talking with several of his band to sleeve revisions. I don't know anything about any of the other doctors in Mexico and would suggest that you find out how many revisions the surgeon has actually done. I would also not shop for a doctor in Mexico based on price. Mexicali is much different that TJ or Juarez but have read that several who have had the sleeve are also happy their surgeons in those areas but don't know if they had revisions. There also is a lot of good doctors in the US I am sure. I read a post earlier from someone complaining about those who talk about how great the Mexico surgeon is/was and was actually questioning if the posts were actually "true". Sure wish she lived in my shoes maybe she wouldn't be so judgmental. We actually pay A LOT of money every month for our health insurance and WLS is not covered. In any case good luck and my advise would be to do it as soon as possible so that you don't continue to gain weight.

I have wondered about the "limit" thing. I have a friend that currently has lapband. She was trying for revision through her new insurance. She found out that they have a "1 per lifetime" limit on bariatric surgery even though THEY didn't have anything to do with the original surgery. It would seem to me that it would be cheaper on the insurance company to go ahead and cover the surgery rather than paying for the multitude of specialists that she would have to see to deal with the affects of obesity on her body. As for recovery, it is VERY similar to getting the band. I am on lifting restrictions for 4 weeks. I work at a pretty physical job so I am actually off work on short term disability for the entire time. I have heard of people going back to work soon after surgery (like less than a week). The hardest part, to me, is getting my fluids in. It is very easy to get dehydrated post op. I struggle to get in 5 cups of Water a day. I working on it, but it can be tough. I'm in contact with a few revisioners. They still VERY happy with their decision to revise. They inspire me daily. I will admit that it was their sucess that made me finally talk to my doctor about revising.

I'm glad you got good news and I'm sure you'll be good to go for the revision.

Let me throw my $.02 in. While there are lapband failures lapband patients can revise to other surgeries. The sleeve appears to be a good option for those who did not find success with the band. The band is not out by any means.

That is great! It shows dedication to a healthier lifestyle. It'll be good to have a tool (the sleeve) to help keep that off. Your appetite may or may not decrease after sleeve surgery. Mine is still there, but I've read of other who aren't hungry at all for up to a year. I've read that you can expect to lose about 60% of your excess weight with the sleeve, but some have lost more and actually achieved a normal BMI. I've been having some trouble with the diet; I didn't expect it to be this difficult to tolerate. I'm so sick of liquids, of protein shakes, and now of pureed textures. I want something crunchy, a cucumber with greek yogurt ranch dip perhaps. I'll get to regular foods eventually, but the wait is a lot longer in my mind than I was expecting. My weight loss has also been slow so far. I was sleeved on 12/7/17 and have lost about 12 pounds since then, which seems low. I suspect it's due to my medications, because there's no way it's due to excessive caloric intake. And it turns out that the timing is harder than I anticipated. Having the surgery before the holidays has been really hard. I was having a little bit of regret at first, when I was more bummed out about these issues, but I don't regret the surgery at all. I think it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. I totally feel a difference from the band. I had a more difficult recovery with the sleeve than the band (a week of mild nausea, stomach cramps), and as I wrote about above, the inital diet is typically long and in my opinion sucks, but it'll be worth it. So far, instead of my food getting stuck at the top of my stomach, it slowly makes its way to the bottom until I feel satisfied. You still have to eat slowly, and take small bites and chew chew chew, but I've not had any regurgitation, "stuck" foods, or "slime-ing", even now that I've started puree. Also, NOT HAVING A PORT. That's glorious. I hated the thing. It flipped on me shortly after placement, so I had to have another surgery to fix it, the fills were painful, and it was plain uncomfortable under my skin. The sleeve is like night and day from the band. It's becoming very common to revise from the band to sleeve. Best wishes as you make your decision.

I don't know any current U.S. pricing, but as of last spring, my bariatric surgeon in Mexico was advertising revision surgery starting at $7200. Hopefully that gives you some kind of idea.

Good evening, I would like to know if anyone has any idea how much revision surgery will cost to get resleeve due to technical failure? The sleeve was left too large due to revision from lap band. I'd appreciate your feedback. Thank you.

Welcome. Most of us are "champeen" losers. Most of us have lost hundreds of pounds countless times in our lives. And clearly most of us suck at maintaining. Not only are we fighting our internal habits of a lifetime with food (addictions, using food as a drug, disordered eating behaviors, etc), but we also battle our metabolism and the neurohormones and gut hormones and insulin/glucagon, derangement that happens once obesity has set in. So we are walking time bombs. I would encourage you to spend time doing the head work. I would encourage working with a counselor and an RD. Please don't wing it. You only get one golden shot. After that, revisions become dicier and weight loss is usually slower plus you'll be out a lot of money. Please consider what kind of surgery you need. Do you need malabsorption in addition to restriction? Only you know this. Hope you post often.

I am post op from revision and can’t tolerate the shakes either. I am using bone broth, unjury chicken broth and fat free fairlife milk instead. I also drink the clear protein 2o drinks.

Wow, so you had to do the liquid diet to mushies to solids and didnt lose any weight? That sucks - although I too am below goal, I always want to lose more weight, lol. Not that I'm scheduled for revision surgery but I've always wondered if you would lose a ton of weight you didnt need to lose. I guess now that I think of it though, its extremely hard to drop weight now.

My DH can not feel it.... Although I can and as I lose more weight I can now even feel the little spongey tip.. (but I was really playing with it last night) GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER! DO NOT FREAK OUT.... if you get to the point that you think small children will run away in terror... simply have a port revision and get the LOW PROFILE PORT............ Jaque has AWESOME genetics and she is a RUNNER so she has literally RAN HER ASS OFF to look like she does! ME... well.... I plan a tummy tuck in a couple years and if I need a port replacement I will have it done at that time. (I think) Who knows what will happen!