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Thank you! My doctor has me back on full liquids for two more weeks. He then wants me to do one teaspoon of food when I try again, since my pouch is smaller due to it being a revision. If that doesn’t work, I will have an endoscopy and he will use the balloon to open up the pathway a bit.

Personally, the Bypass is my choice. I had the band installed in 2011, long story short, I was revised to the bypass this past march. There are a decent number of folks that end up having their sleeves converted to bypass as well. The Sleeve has issues with GERD and acid reflux that the bypass doesn't have, Not sure why he even offered the band, even 2 of the largest band manufacturers have given up on it at this point. Good luck in your progress forwards!

@hayr995 I was all over the place for the first few weeks: Happy that I finally had the procedure done (I was a revision from a lap band so I was happy the band was out too) Depressed on and off over the foods that I couldn't eat that I would see on TV or smell as my family was cooking their meals. I just would take a second to remind myself of how much better life in general is going to be once I shed the extra weight. Excited over the weight loss. Frustrated over all the things I couldn't do. Even had a few moments of being totally unsure of what I did, not feeling like it was the best decision. This occurred while I was on my second night still in recovery. Just felt scared and nervous and upset that I screwed up and made the wrong choice again. But, I just kept moving forwards and eventually all that went away. I still get moments here and there where I go "sigh, I'll never be able to eat that without some serious issues" usually that happens when I'm watching TV and a commercial for some new food product comes on, I just make sure that when that does happen, I remember what that food did to me, how it made me feel *after* I would eat it and how much happier and more energetic I am now. It's normal to be scared, to have emotions that fall all over the place at the drop of a hat for no reason with these surgeries, but it's very important to just keep reminding yourself that, the journey might be hard but the reward is well worth it!

For those of you that need or have had revision surgery, what do you think was the gateway to the weight gain? What do those undergoing WLS really need to be careful about?

Thanks for sharing! I feel the same way about eating right and exercising. It feels as though I don’t lose a lot of weight even when I am eating and exercising right. Even Day 10 on the liquid diet, I only lost 10 lbs. I feel like people lose way more than that!!!! Good luck on your revision! I hope you get to your goal weight.

You have to let me know how you are doing after you have it done. I am also a revision from band to sleeve but mine will be on the 17. I am so scared for some reason.

It sounds like you are doing the right thing to wean off of them, but that your body isn't ready to, as if whatever underlying problem has not been resolved. This certainly isn't normal. Typically we hear of VSG patients having problems with acid reflux and heartburn that sometimes can't be resolved, so an RNY revision is sometimes done, though reflux can hit the bypass too sometimes, though fairly rarely. The asnastomis between the pouch and intestine is sensitive and the typical location for ulcer problems - the intestine where the pouch joins isn't resistant to stomach acid like the duodenum is, hence the sensitivity. I would think that the endoscopy would have shown any problems there. That leaves the remnant stomach and upper bypassed limb as a possible problem area. The remnant stomach is where most of your acid production typically occurs, but that is usually neutralized by bile that's introduced into the duodenum. so perhaps there is something wrong there that is creating an imbalance. Unfortunately, that doesn't show up in an endoscopy with your bypass anatomy. You mention that you are following your surgeon's instructions on taper off the PPI, so I assume that he is in the loop on this problem and should be able to suggest the next step. Does the omeprazole resolve the problem when you are on it, and this is just a problem when trying to taper off of it, or is this a continuing problem even with the omeprazole? Perhaps whatever quirk there is in your body isn't ready to give it up, as desirable as it may be to do so. If you haven't found her already, maybe you can reach out to this gal who is having significant ulcer problems with her bypass - there may be some insight from her problem that can shed some light onto yours. This is a puzzle, and as my PCP likes to say, you don't want to be an "interesting" patient - great for the MD's to have an interesting problem to solve, not so great for the patient. Perhaps this is your turn. Been there, done that myself on the interesting patient thing, with a different problem. Good luck in getting this resolved.

Has a GI doctor ever assessed you for and recommended a Nissen fundoplication, which is a surgical procedure to treat GERD disease and hiatal hernia? PPIs just take mask symptoms but don’t resolve root cause, so you may need to address the underlying issues in order to correct painful GERD symptoms. GERD is no joke and needs to be managed by clinicians with extensive experience with it in bariatric patients. Your RNY surgeon may not be the best person for this. I speak from experience with this myself. I recently had a hiatal hernia repaired, which appeared small on imaging, but was much larger in the operating room. A new revision surgeon fixed the HH and added the fundoplication. I’ve been dealing with this issue for years and am finally optimistic I may be on the mend for good.

@beautifulmess @atlantared hey! May I ask why a “revision”? I wish I saw this yesterday when I was at my surgeons for an appt, I asked him why sleeve was a better option. He didn’t say specifically that sleeve is better he said that it’s safer. But now seeing that you are both having revisions. What would be the reason for a revision?

Hi. I’m going to answer as many of your questions as possible, lol. Yes Dr. Ponce does actually perform the surgery but rarely meets the patients, a few others on this forum have also stated this. However, his reputation in Tijuana is very good if not probably the best if that is any consolation. He gets called by other docs to handle difficult cases. I did make a complaint to Dr. Frayre and to Lana (the driver who picked me up and sent me to the airport— she checked up on me not Ana) Ana coincidentally had the sleeve done the day after I had mine. My bad luck I suppose but otherwise I think things would have gone smoother. I had surgery the same day I flew in even though my flight was delayed and I did not arrive at INT hospital until 3-4 PM. (I should have arrived at 10:30AM and had the surgery late afternoon. I wanted to get it over with to be honest with you and needed the following two days to recover before my trek home. So I insisted they still operate and I think the docs wanted to have the weekend off (I arrived Thursday—surgery Thursday night at 10PM, hospital Friday and Saturday, hotel Saturday to Sunday, went home Sunday morning.) My BMI was 33 when I started preop and 32 when I actually had the surgery. I was charged $6000 total which originally should have been $6500. Now the reason I was charged that was b/c originally I was considered a revision because I had an ESG (similar to gastric plication but they go through the mouth so no incisions) but that was a complete failure because I lost no weight and began to gradually gain. When the surgeons went in they said my stomach looked completely normal as if nothing had been done so they took off the $500. (That showed their honesty in my opinion b/c I had no clue). I still had to be charged the extra $1000 for the SILS because they used the special equipment required and they did discuss with me beforehand that one extra incision may be necessary but once the special SILS apparatus is used they charge. I didn’t mind the extra amount because otherwise I’d have four to six incisions instead of just one and a minute one from the drain. I had 2 c-sections and they were still able to do the SILS but I don’t know about a tummy tuck. Just ask Ana she is very helpful and answers you super fast. The only advice I can give you is download google translate if your Spanish is as bad as mine, walk ALOT after surgery—it’s the only thing that will get rid of the awful gas you’ll have, which honestly by day 2 was so much better. I have not vomited at all since the surgery. I felt really nauseous the first ten minutes after I woke up from surgery and dry heaved but no vomit yet 🤞🏻🤞🏻Thankfully! I did not experience much pain at all just soreness where the incision was (I felt no pain at all at my belly button) and the drain is uncomfortable but they take it out by 2nd day and you’re good to go. No worries the staff and everyone there take really good care of you and your surgeons are top notch. Just be prepared for slower weight loss like me because we have less to lose. The restriction however is fabulous. Once again best of luck and please let me know how you made out!!

New here! I was lap banded years and years ago and had success. But alas, the band slipped. I year without the band now and very much in need of a revision. Surgery scheduled for 8/22. Preop diets starts in 8 days. Looking forward to getting to know you.

At the end of the day I think your post illustrates the best in a bariatric patient. The intense thought process considering all of the possible complications for getting, revising, or removal of the surgery. Going into this blind after watching a few "My 600# life" shows is about the worst thing one can do (And yes, I watch the show myself). It sounds to me that your mind is in the right place - considering what is going to improve your life the most, and yet doing lots of research on it. I applaud you for your research and I am very sorry for what seems like an awful number of years. I'm only 3 weeks out from my revision from a band to a RNY, but there were a number of reasons I went with a RNY over the sleeve. One of which is the possibility to do a reversal. Yes, it is not without complications, and no, it is not a complete reversal, but yes, it is still possible. With the sleeve? not so much. I would imagine that something as complex as a reversal would be quite variable between patients - what reason for each reversal is probably drastically different. So while I do think it is really good to see how outcomes were, I would postulate that your surgeon is probably going to be the best to trust. I was told that my surgeon was very "conservative" when it came to revisions. I was told he would go in and remove the band, and if things were really bad from scarring, he would not do the revision, and instead allow me to heal for 3 months before coming in and doing the revision. Maybe have a frank talk with your surgeon and make the same request. Maybe when he goes in, there is an obvious problem that can be fixed without actually reversing the procedure? Just throwing out another idea, if there is someone in your life that you trust your life with, consider filling out a medical power of attorney, and have a long conversation with them about your desires. Then, if doing the surgery the doctor would have a person to turn to and present both options...Your medical power of attorney, knowing your intents, could make the decision instead of a doctor who has spent an insignificant amount of time with you determining your interests. For my revision surgery, I did the above with a family member, so I'm not recommending something I didn't do myself. I will be praying for you and I wish you the best outcome, no matter what needs to be done to improve it!

My doctor wants to perform a sleeve. I would prefer a bypass due to my eating history and desire to succeed and make it last. I dont want to go back later and have to have the bypass if I have already done a sleeve. Please advice me, not really sure what to say or do at this point. I want surgery even if it's just the sleeve. Will it work? Is it a ploy to get revision money later? [emoji15] Sent from my SM-G930P using BariatricPal mobile app

I'm August 6th, sleeve to bypass revision too.

i am about to have a conversion from a sleeve to a bypass - next month. Can you tell me what the changes were after you had this revision done? thanks

My band ended up giving me Grade 3 Esophagitis, I had no idea either, it wasn't until I had the upper endoscopy to make sure there was no erosion with the band before my revision that I found out I had a moderate to severe esophagial damage... Now, heartburn and other burning issues are totally gone!

Thanks mate that's what I have been told by a lot people including my friends I'm so glad to hear that you are very happy about the revision cant wait for mine in November i have an almost empty band still suffering from food getting stuck due to the inflammation and the constant heart burn nexium 40 is becoming my only help atm Sent from my SM-N950F using BariatricPal mobile app

I'm a band to bypass revision myself. Had the band installed in 2011, and whereas I didn't have any severe issues, the band just didn't work out well for me, I got stuck constantly, leafy greens hurt to eat... it was just not how it should have gone. I spent years feeling like a failure. I finally went back to my surgeon after years of not checking in and we discussed my options and on March 21st, I had my band removed and was revised to the bypass. And I haven't been happier about a decision in a very long time. I really do wish I had the bypass back in 2011 and didn't get sucked into the promises of the band. The Bypass surgery has come a long way since it showed up. Do people have problems, they sure do, but seems you are already dealing with some pretty intense issues with the band, not sure what potentials with the bypass are scaring you away from it... I'm so very happy with my revision.

OP: I’m so sorry you’re going through this. It sounds complicated and confusing. I would get a second opinion from another bariatric practice that has extensive revision experience. They’re the best ones to guide you and provide accurate medical assessment, not us random folks on the Internet. Good luck.

It is best to consider it to be irreversible as one typically needs some form of WLS to get or keep the weight off, so revisions are the norm in that case, but in the rare cases where something is drastically wrong as I believe is the case with the OP, it can certainly be put back to semi-normal again. When the bypass is revised to a DS, that is the first step before the reunited stomach is sleeved and the intestines are reconfigured.

Good luck! There are more and more stories about banded folks not being able to get the sleeve, I was one of them, and more and more reports about folks not being able to be revised in 1 surgery do to scar tissue caused by the band. I was lucky enough that my surgeon kept working, even though the surgery took WAY longer than it should have. Over 6 hours for an under 3 hour surgery. There was just a post today from another Band to Bypass revision that the doctor removed the band and that's it due to scar tissue. I mention this because you stated your surgeon was 2 hours away and you were going this alone. Just want to make sure you fully understand that there is a real possibility that your doctor will open you up, and only be able to do the removal. We can hope that doesn't happen, but you should at least be aware and prepared for that possibility.

Hi everyone! Long story short ... got lap band 10 years ago and did okay but not crazy great. I went from a size 16 to 8. In April 2016 I got a mommy make over and in December 2016 started gaining weight thanks to menopause. If I hadn’t been overweight before and stressed about it I would have probably only gained 20 pounds but I freaked out causing my hormones to go crazy. So now I am a size 16 again and going in for a revision. I worked my ass off to get to a size 8 but those who knew I had lap-band tend to forget all those nights I spent at the YMCA instead of happy hour and think the band did all the work so this time I don’t want to tell anyone. My brother and SIL know but they have 2 babies and it would be really hard to go. My sister, Dad & step mother and my daughter tend to tell everyone who will listen my business. My doctor is 2 hours away so I’d like to stay at a hotel and Uber to the hospital. Has anyone gone through this alone?

This was a major fear of mine going into my band to bypass revision as well. I'm sorry that you got derailed due to the band scaring... I know mine was 100% encapsulated in scar tissue and took them almost 4x longer to remove than it should have, I guess I got lucky and my surgeon kept moving forward, even if the surgery took well over 6 hours when it should have taken less than 3. Good luck on your healing, hopefully you'll be able to get the bypass in the future.

I have seen this referenced a couple of times before as a potential revision configuration, and it is distinct from a RNY conversion. With the RNY, they make a pouch with the tissue at the top of your stomach around the esophagus (whether from a normal or sleeved stomach) and join the bottom of that pouch to a limb of intestine typically 40-60cm downstream of the stomach, leaving the remainder of the stomach in place. What they are proposing in this variant is leaving the sleeved stomach intact, but making a hole in the side and joining that to a limb of intestine. So you wind up with two outlets to the stomach - one as normal through the pyloric valve at the bottom, and through the side into this "bypass loop". The sleeve has some predisposition toward GERD by virtue that the volume of the stomach is reduced much more than the acid producing potential, and in some people the body never fully adapts to that change. The second factor influencing this problem is that the sleeve is considered to be a "high pressure" system in that when the pyloric valve at the bottom closes to allow digestion, any gas produced in the stomach has no where to go other than back up (the normal stomach will stretch a lot more to accommodate this) while an RNY is a "low pressure" system in that the pyloric valve has been bypassed along with the rest of the stomach, so any gas buildup in the pouch can vent down into the intestines (part of why RNY folks can be "gassier". With this proposed configuration, any gas can be vented out this second outlet so it doesn't tend to force things back up, so there is some promise there, and since the duodenum is not entirely bypassed like on the RNY, there should be less of the nutritional deficiencies that are seen with the bypass. A couple of concerns that I would have (as a non-expert, non MD) - one is the long term prospects for the configuration. The bit of cursory research on this that I could do online indicated that one of the main uses of this procedure is to bypass blockages in the bottom of the stomach from tumors and similar that for one reason or another are inoperable (like from late stage cancers.) Given the relatively low life expectancy of such patients, are there other longer term uses for this procedure that provide experience that would give one confidence that this will work for you in the long term? The other potential problem that I see is that one of the weaknesses of the RNY is a propensity toward marginal ulcers, mostly around the anastomosis between the pouch and intestine because the part of the intestine that the pouch is now emptying into is not resistant to stomach acid like the duodenum (upper end of small intestine immediately downstream of the natural stomach), so that joint is easily irritated (this is the origin of the "no NSAID" rule for the bypass.) Now, this proposed configuration will have a similar anastomosis with similar sensitivities to acid, but with the sleeved stomach that is producing more acid than the typical RNY pouch - is this asking for trouble, or are there offsetting factors that address this issue? Always like seeing new things here, I remain cautiously curious...

I am an August 6th lady!!!!!! Sleeve to bypass revision!