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Welcome! Your lap band might be just the thing, but if you end up revising to a VSG, I don't think you will be sorry. I'm almost three years out, and love mine!

It's cool to see another Tennessean on here. I didn't have a revision, so I'm not sure how the psych eval goes with that, but my Dr got my psych eval before I did. They emailed me saying they had it and a few days later the psych dr called saying he had sent over my eval then the next day, I got the copy of his letter to my surgeons office.

Patience grasshoppah! I agree with Tea. Go back to do one thing at a time. Go back to your old way of eating LC or Keto or whatever you choose to call it. You are likely hungry with it cuz you're keeping fats pretty low. Maybe up your fats and see if it helps with satiety? But when I say "up" them, I'm not talking fat bombs or desserts, or lots of added dietary fat. I'm talking about: 1. Switch from boneless skinless breasts to breasts with the skin. Or switch to thighs. Or eat beef pot roast. Or eat pork shoulder. These cuts naturally have more fat in the meat and so have more calories and are more satiating. Also if you are only eating 2oz per meal (by weight) of protein, try eating 3oz. if you are eating 3oz per meal, try eating 4oz. until you hit your daily protein goal. If you hit your goal easily and go over on protein...then you may need to look at re-apportioning your protein/veggie serving size to fit your macros. I'd add a small salad with vinaigrette to each meal if that happened. I rarely eat more than 3oz per meal cuz I don't need the extra protein. 2. Eat 1-2oz by weight of al dente veggies. Add 1tsp of fat to them (avo oil, evoo, coconut oil, butter, ghee, animal fat) or add up to 1oz avocado, or 1/2oz by weight of nuts/seeds. 3. Eat 3 meals per day. Try not to snack. If you are hungry allow a snack composed of these (choose one): a. String Cheese b. Hard Boiled Egg c. 1oz dense dry protein. This will put you in ketosis big time by the end of about 4 days. You will lose 2-4lbs of water from it as your liver dumps glycogen and the attached molecules of water it holds. Then do that for a month and don't worry about it. That's your new diet. As your pouch matures, you will need to revise it to add more fat/calories to your day, or continue to choose more fat dense meats/dishes. If you are struggling with weight loss, I would stick to this and I would avoid calorie dense complex meals such as casseroles, stews, gooey, cheesy stuff. I'd stick to clean meats, healthy fats, al dente veggies. Hope that helps! Congrats on your losses!!!!! Don't stress, don't worry! For me eating in maintenance is longer than 2months with no loss on the scale or by the tape measure. For me a stall is 3 weeks without a change on the scale or by the tape measure. Other people have different definitions.

Does being a 61+/- BMI leave me with my surgeon denying surgery? I have seen 600lb ppl having RNY, why would a surgeon deny my bmi? We haven't met to discuss RNY revision yet (I have the Band) but I see on here that ppl are being turned away. I know I have to lose 5 or10% of my weight pre-agreement. I weigh 370@ 5'4". My consult is on 12/15, I'm scared he'll tell me I have to 1. Get band out first, and 2. Lose 70 lbs first. How can I do that! Will I be turned away?

It's three weeks till the big RNY. I thought I had it together, perhaps not? I don't have the pre-op liquid prep that most do. I'm doing my lung function test tomorrow which I'm scared of. I had pneumonia in late April, then again in early to mid May. The pneumonia is gone, but the cough still remains, for the most part. I have gurgling in my throat, possibly from all the post-nasal drip I keep swallowing. So I PRAY I pass! Im ending my second bottle of Prednisone. And I have been SO FREAKIN hungry! I have lost little since my second NUT visit and I fear pissing off my surgeon. I WANT to eat like there's no tomorrow. Could be side effect of Prednisone? But definitely a panic response. I was SO set and educated about the lifestyle change, And did it successfully, and will continue to do so. But I'm having these panic responses. I'm a revision from Band to RNY. What can I do to fight these very different urges to eat? Can I get away with a last supper here or there, or small cheats? I'm not going to be able, by necessity and CHOICE to eat some of the cravings I'm having for years. That, too, sets me into panic mode. It's really a tough time for me. A true test of my commitment. I am 48, and am being screened for uterine cancer, tomorrow too. I'm WAY stressed out about that. My Dad, 83, has been in and out of nursing homes and the hospital from complications from Leukemia. A lot more stress to that story. I'm completely broke. But the prize at the end of the tunnel is the RNY on 6/17. IF I pass all the "tests". I will die if it gets postponed. I've been prepping for this moment for years, and now that it's three weeks away, all the stress and panic is brewing in me full force. I am in shock. I am ready. I am obviously not aware of the test of self, post surgery. My therapist told me psychologically, the shits gonna hit the fan when I can't turn to eating, and food to cope. But then, we've been working on that all along. I don't know: Were YOU scared? Did you cheat? Do you pull your crap together eventually? I love you for reading this by the way, thank you! Vent-ology.....

Ad band to sleeve revision 7 days ago. Still have lot of pain n one of my incisions is a little red around it. Is this normal??? Sent from my iPhone using VST

I just found out today I was denied for a revision because even though it's for GERD my insurance says the GERD is a complication from weight loss surgery and therefore they won't pay. I hate insurance!

Sounds Great, I have been struggling with the Lap Band three and a half years, I did lose about 70 lbs from my highest weight, 300 down to 235, my doctors got all upset because I want a revision. I am going to be 55 yrs old any advice or experience you can share with me?

I am a band to sleeve revision. I was happy with my band for a long time and lost a good amount of weight. Then it malfunctioned after my pregnancy and never worked again. I can tell you that in my experience so far (6 years banded and now 11 weeks post sleeve) that it is much easier to eat around the band than the sleeve, and my weight loss is faster (so far at least) even though I have always been a "slow loser". I think personally that the sleeve is a better surgery. The band is safer if you are worried about major complications like leaks. But long term people seem to have more problems with the band and the most recent research I have heard indicates that more than 50% have the band removed by 5 years post op, mostly either due to slip, erosion, or inadequate weight loss. Of course, these are my opinions based on my experience and what I have heard from other band folks. The band is an attractive idea but doesn't seem to work as well in practice. Good luck to you.

I did a revision from a bad lap band to the sleeve. This has been going on for over 2 months, so I've ruled out a virus and I am 200% sure that I am not pregnant. I have another health issue that causes pregnancy to be very dangerous, so we take serious precautions. I'm starting to wonder if it's from stomach acid?

My surgery for revision band to bypass is scheduled for Nov 16th also and I'm not looking forward to starting this liquid diet on Monday. Smh I've had the nectar sample pack for months now and have yet to try one. ????

Hello everyone, I'm a complete newbie here, so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tanya. I live in Alberta, Canada and I will be having a band to sleeve revision on January 27th of this month with Dr. Ariel Ortiz at the OCC. I was banded in November of 2008 and I did very well at first. I lost nearly 90 lbs and kept it off for a year and half and then decided to have a tummy tuck. I had been a smoker for 22 years and my TT surgeon urged me to quit. I've been quit now since July 22, 2011 and since then (and my TT) I have gained almost all the weight back!! I feel like a complete failure ???? I got my band defilled today and booked my flights and pretty much got everything I will need so I'm excited. At the same time though, I'm terrified. I'm so afraid to fail again. It's really nice to read these forums and see that everyone is doing so well. It gives me hope. Is there anyone else out there going to be at the OCC the same time???

I have had a band for four years and have been unintentionally bullemic and fat, a horrible combination. Everything moved so quickly. Recently, I called a doctor who is assocaited with Barix (the weight loss hospital) which is 3 hours from me, but he has an office that is about 90 minutes from me. The receptionist asked me if I could be there by 3pm that day and I got in the car and went there. He did a seminar with one other girl. Later, I had a regular appointment and he removed all of the Fluid from my band which he said must have slipped. I was scheduled to have a total hip replacement revision done by a tandem team in Grayling, MI (which is a medium-size hospital) and while the surgeons were working on the other patients, talked themselves out of doing mine, Just as I was ready to leave, the hospital called and said my surgery was cancelled and that my otho surgeon would call the neext day. He did and said that it had to be done in a major hospital because it is a real tricky surgery and he felt unsafe doing it at the smaller place. So, I have an appointment with the ortho surgeon in Traverse City, MI on 1/8 which I have to cancel today. I was already cleared for surgery by all of my -ologists (I have a big cardiac history), so they immediately cleared me for the band removal and RNY. Insurance approval was immediate and surgery was scehduled for 2/25/13. I got a cal the other day telling me there was a cancellation and that my surgey date was now 1/4/13, with my pre-op on 12/26/12!!! :wub: I am sure everything will go fine for you. I also worked in the medoical profession and did go to nursing school many years ago and my daughter is also a nurse. I have been reading the post-op threads to see what pains are normal and what are not, also complications and what I can do to avoid some of the pitfalls. I am certainly hoping that they can do mine in one procedure. Take care! Lynn

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.

Yarah, As someone who recently replaced her band with RNY I am quite familiar with the "Revision" section over at www.obesityhelp.com I've read there that people have gotten the lap band after their RNY stopped being effective as well as other procedures. You might want to check it out and good luck with what you decide to do, Nancy.:juggle:

Got the Lap Band in 2002. I lost 30lbs but in 2005, the port became separated from the tube. Not one doctor would help me get it fixed. I finally found a doctor that was willing to repair it. He decided to convert me to a VSG. I had surgery this morning. During surgery, the doctor decided there was way too much scar tissue to convert today. While operating, my stomach tore! Fortunately, it was the section of the stomach that is to be removed for VSG. The doctor decided to proceed with the conversion and I am recovering now. I feel very lucky and relieved that it turned out the way it did. I could have not been so lucky and want to thank everyone involved for their great care.

SO my journey with lab band started in 2009..I then weighted 255 lbs and am now 125. ANYWAY I had two revisions since and finally yesterday had it taken out also learned this thing cut into my stomach and created a hole that thankfully got fixed. Am I thankful even though it was a sick and very painful journey? its sick but i am. Even though I wasn't able to eat much mostly lived on Ensure had a hard time with holding liquids down also.I now have to learn all over again how to live a normal life. I got used to vomiting pains acid reflux low energy etc. But am super excited to start over with fresh veggies in my hand and gym membership. Not yet but in a few weeks once I recover: -)

I had my lapband 10/09 and a port revision 12/10/09. I started passing bloodclots at my job and I have since had the band removed. I now have Crohn's Disease and I am deathly sick. Two doctor's told me that it must have been lying inactive in my system and the lapband brought it to life. Has anyone else had a similar incident? I am on a chemo drug and will be starting IV therapy to try to get my colon healed. I have huge ulcersin my colon.

Thanks Keith. I finally finished it off (and reposted the final version) today. It's now on it's way to the local BCBS. I actually expect that they will offer to remove the lap band but deny the revsion because I'm not >35BMI. Seriously, I think a lot of the insurance issues are related to weight discrimination. Pretty much any other diagnosis and and if the first treatment failed you'd have no problem getting a different treatment. Heck, if I had the symptoms I had without a lap band they would have been all over getting me in and covering whatever it takes to fix it. For the Fed BCBS stuff I posted on a few boards asking for others who were covered and got several public and private responses. I also did lots of googling on the variants of VSG and Fed Blue to find people who had been covered and the name of their doc. Then googled or looked up on Obesity Help a lot of the docs that were mentioned. Then called around to see what the various doctor and BCBS offices said. There were three states where the local BCBS administering for Fed Blue plan seems to have issues including Washington and California. In my state there are two BCBS offices that share administration of the plan and they disagree. The phone people are in the BCBS company that says it's covered but the pre-auth people are in the other company and say that it isn't. What's really frustrating is that there seems to be no Federal oversight of the plans that I could write or call to get this sorted out. I didn't include the doctor's names in the post because I didn't want to cause them any trouble in case they were using one of the old CPT codes for VSG (before it had an official code). And generally didn't want issues to come up in the states where VSG has no problem. If money wasn't a concern I'd probably already have gone to Dr. Aceves. But my hangup is what happens if I have a leak and need very costly emergency care. Who would pay for that. So if I can get some sort of coverage then I'll go with Dr. Cirangle in CA. There are a few local doctors here who do VSG but they just don't have the experience with revisions that Aceves, Cirangle and Hargroder have. I didn't really know as much about VSG and revisions when the pre-auth was submitted by the local doctor. It would be great if he could do it but they've only done about 100 VSGs and they want to do it in two surgeries six weeks apart. I just don't want that if it can all be done at once. And, heck, it's less than a used car if it comes down to self-pay for me. Well worth it. I loved my lap band while it worked. I think you should continue to fight on appeal. How good were your surgeon's notes? Will their office write a letter saying they had no choice? Much of the VSG info I used I got from Teresa who has a blog where she put her letter. I just added to it and wrote my own version. Also macmadame had posted a great list of studies and details that I referred to. Congratulations on your weight loss and improved health! It's amazing to feel like you're in control isn't it? I wish things could have stayed that way for me. I want to kick myself for not trying to get control before I regained so much weight. Britt

We all wish you the best. I still think it's a good idea to gain some insight from the folks who got revisions. They have a lot of good info to give on symptoms of complications of the lapband and such. Only you know what's best for you right now, so good luck!

Hello everyone!! I am just a month post-op now and have lost 34 pounds already, so I am thrilled with my progress so far. I know this was the right decision for me, and although I am only one month out, I am concerned about what my body will look like once I am down to the weight I want to be. I know I will have saggy skin/chest, and I knew that was a strong possibility before I decided to have the surgery. Its not something that would have ever changed my mind though. I have watched so many shows about people having skin revision surgeries, and they seem to be in so much pain!! I have had 10 surgeries in my life, so I am no stranger to pain, but, I just don't know if I want to put myself through it. Here are the surgeries I have had: 1) broke my leg in high school so had to have a rod put in my femur 2) had a bone infection for almost a year, so after my leg was healed, they took the rod out 3) c-section 4) c-section (and to add, my boobs are already saggy because of these 2 children, LOL!) 5) gallbladder removed 6) lumbar laminectomy with fusion 7) got infection from the back surgery, so they opened me up to clean it out 8) had to go back in again because of the infection 9) had cyst removed from my palm 10 gastric sleeve My back surgeries were by far the most painful surgeries I have ever been through, but skin revision surgery really scares me. I don't know what I will look like once I am done, but I can only imagine I will need a lot of work. If I do anything, it probably would only be my stomach and a breast lift. I would probably just live with my arms and legs. The gastric sleeve surgery was probably the easiest surgery I have ever had...that and the cyst removed from my palm. The only pain I really had from the sleeve was from lying on my back for the 2 days I was in the hospital. I cannot lie on my back anymore (comfortably) since I have had my back surgery, so that caused quite a bit of pain. The gastric sleeve itself was almost painless. Anyway, long story short, I was wanting to hear from people who have had skin/chest revision surgeries, and how the pain was for them. I know everyone is different, but I was just interested to hear some stories and if people would recommend it, or say it wasn't worth it. Thanks in advance to everyone!

Thanks msspicey for the kind thoughts! Well one week ago today, i was about to be taken in to the OR. The week had many ups and downs, but mainly ups. The first 2 days were really hard. I'm a revision patient so the pain was much worse this time for me than with the band. When you hear "a little better each day", believe that. Had to sty 2 nights and have a drain, again because of the revision. Today I start blenderized food, all liquids prior. Also need to start the 30/60 rule as well. Just wanted to update. I see my surgeon on Thursday and decided not to weigh myself till then. All in all, going very well....

Hello, My name is Miranda and I'm from NYC. Going to see my surgeon this upcoming Wednesday(at NYU) to discuss getting the VSG done. I had the lap band before but had too many complications so it was removed. Has anyone else had revisional surgery? How long is the hospital stay ? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using the BariatricPal App

Same. 4 years post op. Upper GI scheduled Nov 8th. The pain is bad I'm wanting to move the appointment further up. Pretty sure I'll be a revision story by December..hope you feel.better asap !!!!!! Sent from my Z981 using the BariatricPal App Let us know how you're doing !!!! Sent from my Z981 using the BariatricPal App

I set my own goal weight...my starting weight on surgery day was 218 lbs and a 41 BMI. I'm vertically challenged at only 5'1", so I'm short. My original goal weight was 110 lbs and a 20 BMI, but since I was losing so slowly, I readjusted my expectations at 3 months out. My revised goal weight was 130 pounds, which placed me at a BMI of 24.7 (upper limit of normal). I reached 130 pounds at 14 months out and decided to keep going. I entered maintenance at 118 pounds and a BMI of 22. Not only do I like how I look and feel at this weight, but it's been easy to maintain. The moral of the story: you'll need to devote additional effort if you want to get to 135 pounds, but it is possible in spite of what your surgeon says. Good luck to you.