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Hi. I see you got the sleeve just a few years ago. Why are you getting a revision?

Thank you so much for all this great information. That's great that you're an RN.[emoji171] Is your stomach pouch the size of a gastric sleeve? Was this your first surgery or a revision? Do you know why your Dr. chose the mini bypass for you last minute? Sent from my SM-G991U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

Hi everyO had a revision to a bypass and I am currently 5wls post op and my stomach has a dent under the large incision as well as a line across my stomach. What does this mean? Has this happened to anyone else? Should I be concerned?picture for reference

Hi !! So sorry you are going through this and I know EXACTLY how you feel !!! I had so much anxiety and fear for months after this revision wondering how I was going to not gain without my restriction. I was pretty flipped out but here I am 9 months later and the smallest I have ever been. Its crazy not to feel anything and very stressful but there is this thing called dumping that will keep you in line and believe me you dont want to mess with it ! Also the malabsorption of calories is a real thing ! I lost 12lbs the first month and I was at my original goal weight of 180 day of revision. I only lost 14lbs after my original surgery and I weighed 296 that day !! I could and can eat more with this surgery then my VSG but if I over eat I get violently ill ! It really sucked after having the revision but I must say it is better then the sleeve and if someone told me 9 months ago or 6 months ago I would be saying this I would have said NEVER and NO WAY !! Here I sit with no problem staying under 160 where I struggled just to stay at 170s with VSG. Love to hear what you think later down the road. Good luck

hey bjean - i know what you mean. i woke up from surgery w/port pain - and i feel it all the time (even being low profile). it is significantly raised above the skin - "turkey's done look", and is bothersome no matter what exercise i do. i keep exercising and just manage - but it is bothersome. i have NO issue having the band replaced say w/a sleeve whatsoever - in fact i wish i went that route first. i had to have so many fills to get restriction (8), developed a hernia, had a port site infection. infection was caught in time, and the hernia removed....that said, the fear of it's longevity is an issue with me. i have NO other issues w/the band (slimming/PB/reflux/intolerance to any food or drink) which is the reason i'm just sitting still. DH is also banded and he could not be any happier.....he has no idea he even has it - other than his food consumption much less. i read all through the complication threads (DH says that's hyped up my paranoia...i'm just overly curious). the minute i have an issue, such as the ones i don't already - i plan on revising no matter what; to ensure none of my hard work taking of the lbs was for naught. i appreciate those posting their complications - it's a fact; whether some like it or not. btw - my friend i discussed somewhere inside this thread did revise to a DS (had failed gastric) back in Nov. she's lost all that she gained back w/gastric & then some......i see her a few times a wk, no stink that i'm aware of but she does burn a lot of candles.....:tongue2:

Denise, good luck with getting a revision. Keep us posted on if you get approved. I will keep my fingers crossed for you. I would love to have one, I just don't have the means. I really, really hate the band. For instance, I have virtually no fill in mine right now, but have pb'd every single thing I put in my mouth today. I have no idea why. This just isn't a healthy way for me to live. I am at my wits end. I know there are some doctors who will do financing. But, unfortunately that isn't an option for me either. I could afford it, but due to me and my husband both coming from bad marriages where our spouses royally screwed up our lives and credit, it will be awhile before I can get my credit improved to where I could get approved for a loan.

Anyone wanna see a surgery war? This one will likely end up being just that. We'll see, but in the meantime a future DSer justifies the smell: Scheduled for Lap-Band over RNY Revision! Now I have Q's! People... I guess it really does take all kinds.

I just had the revision three weeks ago and am doing very well. I have lost 20 pounds and am starting the puree food stage. I have no cravings, very little interest in food. I am getting all my Protein, Water, and trying to walk enough. I had horrible diabetes and it went away the next day in the hospital. I went home with no diabetes meds!!

I waited 6 months and had no problem- though in excess the hang overs are much worse than before. I guess the revised digestive system cannot process it as well or something

Why are you considering rny or plastics?To lose more weight? Have you tried tweaking your diet? You may be able to lose more weight without revising your surgery I personally would not consider plastics unless I was happy with my weight and stable for awhile. Give us more info and we will try to help you with your questions. Are you still sticking to your eating plan?

I had the revision from Lapband to gastric bypass and I have lupus and a few other autoimmune diseases. I can still take my plaquenil. Methotrexate can be switched to injections. It’s better to not swallow anti inflammatory meds because they don’t want it sitting in the digestive system which can cause ulcers. In injection form it’s put into the body and not the stomach.

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.

You know who the surgeon is that refers to it as stomach mutiliation, don't you? He's one that just happens to only do easy banding... nothing difficult for him! No sleeves, no bypass, only band revisions, and only those under a 50BMI. No wonder his stats are decent, he only does easy no risk surgery.

I wouldn't consider plastics until you've been at or close to goal weight for 6 months to a year. It doesn't seem like you've given it enough time yet to even consider a revision. I would get back to the basics and on track with your eating and try to lose more before I'd make any decisions. Good luck whatever you decide.

I'll be getting a band to sleeve revision on Sept 11 in Tijuana with Dr. Altamirano. I'm so excited!

Hi AussieGirl - what happened with the lap band? You had sleeve surgery so just wondering why the band didn't work?I had the lap band and it failed after a few years, it kept playing up, everything would get stuck, even Water.. i started getting really bad pain near the port site.. i had port replacement and a band change and it was still causing issues, so i asked them to take it out... i couldn't live with the pain any longer as well as starving because nothing would stay down. I waited 12 months.. and during that time i gained weight, even though i was eating well and exercising, i had my metabolism tested and because of the complications i had reset my metabolism to a low point, so the doctor suggested that i get the sleeve to enable me to stay at that lower rate without being hungry... basically i can not go above 800 calories for life without gaining. It sucks.. and i might never get back down to my original weight... but i am finally losing... i am a slow loser, but i am hoping ill get there eventually. This is why i always advise people to increase their calories and not to starve themselves, because it can really screw up your metabolism. That sucks - I keep hearing of people on here having to get revisions to sleeve. I don't think I could deal with the lapband, simply because of the maintenance on it, and the port. Then again, the sleeve is permanent - no going back. I'm about 90% there when it comes to getting used to that idea - I too am a slow loser. Always was and in fact the ONLY way in my life that I could keep my weight down at all, was to work out 6-7 days a week, most days 2+ hours at high intensity, and eat 1200-1400 calories, even with all that exercise. If I stopped for a day or two for some reason - lbs were coming back on - that quickly. And once you marry and have kids, there just is not the time to maintain that kind of rigorous schedule obviously. I could eat better than I do, eat regularly cause I don't, diet AGAIN - but I just will not go through that again and then gain it all back again +extra. So I've put on more weight. Maybe it was you in here that said to keep increasing your calories after the sleeve to a point where you can top off at 1200-1400 cals per day? Otherwise you're stuck at low cals forever. It's encouraging to hear that you're losing again though!

I had the band done 5 years ago and lost 80 lbs. In the beginning I always wanted for him to add fills and he wouldn't till I mastered it.I admire this. He takes the time to see you. I have been having problems the last year and I am getting the revision surgery to the sleeve on June 16.I found out he trained some other top band sleeve surgeons.

I had gastric bypass 12 yrs ago and I'm looking for more restriction as I have gained some weight back. Not many surgeons do revisions like this, but Dr. Acevedos in Mexicali, MX can perform the band over bypass surgery. Has anyone has this done and if so, are you happy with the results? Good luck to all new bandsters... hope to get on the bandwagon with y'all soon! Michele

I would not recommend only a week off. For so many reasons. I took 2 full months off for my lap band, and 2 full months off for my revision to bypass. VERY glad I did!

The DS as a virgin procedure is more challenging to perform than a VSG or RNY, which is why relatively few bariatric surgeons offer it, despite its' demonstrably better performance (the RNY is "good enough" for most patients...) That's your first challenge - finding a reliable DS surgeon. Converting a VSG to a DS is straightforward for any DS surgeon, as the DS uses the VSG as its basis, so it's mainly a matter of adding the "switch" part - the malabsorptive part - to the VSG. Revising an RNY to a DS is another, much more complicated matter, and surgeons who can do that are few and far between. It used to be, a few years ago, that there was maybe a half dozen surgeons in the US that reliably did them, and I have seen references to a few more have joined the ranks in recent years. Rabkin and Keshishian in CA have both done them for many years, as has Roslin in NYC. I've heard that someone in Salt Lake has done some, along with some docs at Duke University in NC, possibly Kemmeter in MI. Some surgeons who don't do the DS will offer to revise to a distal RNY instead - that is a "long limb" RNY that has malabsorption more akin to the DS. However, it does not have a great reputation, and is usually not approved by US insurance as a primary procedure (but often will as a revision under the right circumstances.) My take on why it seems to be more problematic than the DS is that it is rarely done, and the surgeons and their practices aren't all that in tune with its' long term requirements. A DS, and by association the distal RNY, has a quite different nutritional and supplement requirement to the standard proximal RNY, which is well known to those in the DS world, but not all that well appreciated by those in the RNY world. Like with the RNY, and much more important with the DS, is to commit to having annual labs and follow ups for life - with the altered absorption and nutrition/supplement requirements, things can go askew in sometimes if you don't stay on top of them. Those who do stay on top of things typically have minimal long term problems. I would not go to MX for a procedure like this, as you really don't know what you will end up with. Historically, there has only been one reliable DS surgeon in MX - Gilberto Ungston - who, if not retired, is heading that way. He has trained a couple of others to do the DS, but I haven't heard of him doing the RNY to DS revision. There are, of course, the various horror stories of MX surgeries gone wrong, and in particular of those seeking a DS and getting "something else" (who knows what.) There are great, reputable surgeons down there for the VSG and RNY, but I wouldn't go there for something more complicated like a DS, unless it was someone well vetted in that procedure (such as Ungston,) - the differing legal systems leave one with no recourse is something doesn't go right (and the chances of that happening with something as complex and an RNY/DS revision are high there.) Good luck - it is a long search for what you need, and be prepared to travel. Being in CA myself, and my wife is a Rabkin DS, we have seen several successful revisions like this from both Rabkin and Keshishian, so it is viable when done by someone experienced with it. It, also, is not a simple outpatient procedure, and Rabkin's standard practice for travelling patients is to remain in town until at least the 10 day post op follow up. Most everything else can be done remotely (and they are set up for doing so.) Keshishian is similar in this regard.

Hello, I am trying to find a DS surgeon here in northern KY who can perform my surgery. The doctors I have found so far do the RnY but not the DS. Does anybody have any suggestion? Thanks.

Our stories are very similar. I was sleeved in 2016 and similar weight. Lost 90 lbs, my surgeon wanted me to lose 100. Had 2 additional babies 2 & 3years later, then covid. I’ve been offered Topomax & Lomaira after starting a weight loss program, but not very effective. I lost 15 lbs at the most. I have a date 6 weeks out for DS revision with my same surgeon. How has healing been the last 2 months, and have you seen progress? How long was your hospital stay?

My taste is as good as ever, too. That means your disapproval of me continues to be very reassuring. Just know that a a GOOD percentage of the posters here--your buddies--will be revising to another surgery. It's good of you to let them know how you will feel about them when that time comes. Sue

I had a revision from lab band to sleeve by Dr. Aceves for $10,000. I can't recommend him highly enough. He has sleeved over half the people on this board and you won't find anyone who has anything but wonderful things to say about him, the staff and the beautiful hospital.

Would you qualify for a revision at this weight or does your BMI have to be higher? Would this be self-pay?