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Wow a week and a day and I'm approved for my revision! I had the sleeve done on 12/16/12 and I'm going for bypass on 8/18/14, due to gerd and a stretched sleeve. My weight lose was around 40 lbs with the sleeve and I've actually gained 15 of it. I started off at 239 post op, current weight 206, lowest weight since sleeve 189 (for about a day).

I had my revision surgery 10/2/12 & I lost 60 lbs in the first 3.5 months. For the last month and a half I haven't lost ANYTHING!! Just going up and down a few lbs. I'm so frustrated! I'm not eating over 800-900 calories and watching my carbs. I really could use some advice and encouragement!

Ok, I had a phone consult with Dr. Husted today and I have no concerns about his surgical abilities and overall the call went fine- but I am struggling with one important thing.....the size of the bouget (sp?). He says he uses a size 42 whether its a virgin or revision sleeve. He further went on to talk about how he aligns it with the anatomy inside (arteries or something). Basically that he doesn't like the idea of doing a sleeve too tight due to getting the hour glass syndrome. I'm not sure whether I'm going to be able to get past this. I am glad for the 2nd chance opportunity and I know Dr. Husted is known for his surgical abilities, but I am very concerned with having too large of a stomach left and the opportunity for re-gain. Could you share your thoughts please? In particular, what size bouget was used, how much you can eat right after surgery and then later down the road?

Hello All, In 1998 I had a VGB. I did really well with it, and I went from 302 to 155. Now after suffering for years with Gerd I have developed Gastritis. I have also regained all but 80 pounds. I saw a baratric surgeon last Thursday and I will be able to get it done quicker because I have been through it all before and did rather well with weight loss. I had the Barium swallow test last week and it showed as soon as I swallowed it would come part way up my esophagus. Next week I get the EDG I look forward to meeting with you all and all that I can learn from you. I know the revision will be completely different from the VBG. Lynda

Mine is June 5th. Why the revision

I just had my revision from sleeve to bypass 5 days ago. My recovery thisngo round was excellent compared to my sleeve. Granted I am new to this so I don’t have much to offer right now in terms of info.

My best advice is to put down your fork wherever you are home, work or out with friends. When you are chewing focus on that, do not talk, just do your chewing, put down your fork. Wait then to speak when you have swallowed that small fork of food. It takes some work but you will get very used to it. I have been doing this with my band for years, revising to sleeve on the 10th, and you get so used to it you don't even realize that you are doing it!!

I am one year post op and can't remember when I started taking pills whole again it was so long ago! But I certainly did once I was several weeks out. I do find now that I sometimes have a harder time when I take all 3 of my blood pressure medication first thing in the morning when I am at my tightest. I keep thinking I will start taking all but the Water pill at night but then I never do it! Donna VBG/87 Revised To Lapband/06 251/164/125 goal

Getting insurance coverage can be difficult. Generally the hospital and surgeon have staff that can assist you. Cost is generally a major concern. There are several different forms of Weight Loss Surgery (WLS). These different forms have different outcomes. In some you lose weight faster and deeper than others. Some have a higher probability of requiring revisions. (I decided that when I underwent this surgery I did not want to undergo it again.) Some forms of surgery are better suited for any co-morbitities you may have. For example I had GERD. If I got the sleeve it would only compound this problem and RNY was better suited for this condition. You might want to get briefed on the various steps you will need to go through - psych evaluation, classes, pre-op tests etc. You may want to start to attend Bariatric Surgery Support Group Meetings. They are free and generally occur monthly. Depending on the requirements of your insurance, you may need to go through a medically monitored diet and exercise program to qualify.

So, back in 2006 I had a band put in....I did pretty well, went from 235 to my lowest was about 148, but I was throwing up a lot. Last year I started just not being able to tolerate the constant throwing up, etc, anymore and back in Feb. they had to take all the Fluid out of my band because I could not keep anything down...AGAIN.....Of course my weight has been up over this past year with my struggles. I'm at about 170 right now. I guess I just wonder if I was puking my guts up nearly every day, and weighed 160ish, how in the world is the sleeve going to work for me if it's so 'much more comfortable' than the band. I'm scheduled for surgery with Dr. Ortiz in Mexico at the OCC July 7th and start my liquid diet June 16th. I'm scared but optimistic too from reading these posts. Even if I just could maintain at about 160ish I'd be content, I just don't want to gain it all back, you know? I just hope and pray that this is the tool I need and that it's not a bust, especially since I am so financially and emotionally invested.

Im 11 days post op and 10 pounds from surgery day weight. In the hospital I gained 23 pounds of Water weight. So I lost that 23 pounds of water and 10 pounds of my actual weight. Im 5'5" tall. I was 198.2 and am now 188. I'm also a revision so I expect a slower loss. Im also a lower BMI patient and have less to loose. If I lost 20 pounds in 10 days I'd worry. You really have to go by your body, bmi and where you're loosing the weight.

Bcbs Pennsylvania, for a revision, RNY to DS

Due to complications with my band, my doctor is recommending revision to the sleeve. However, my insurance company requires a BMI of 35 or greater even for revision surgery (I also have to do the doctor supervised diet program again). I am 8 pounds below a BMI of 35 so I can either have the band removed in which case I will automatically get fat again and then have the sleeve done as a second surgery or I can use all the tricks in the book to gain the 8 pounds necessary to get to a BMI of 35 so I can qualify to have the revision in one surgery. If I couldn't lose the weight before the band and the band helped (albeit with complications) does it make sense to force me to gain back weight I worked so hard to lose so I can qualify for a revision and hopefully get to my target weight? Does this make any sense????

I was revised from gastric sleeve to bypass on 8/31. I had the same thoughts on food but know from the last surgery that would happen. The only pain I have is my lower belly feels like cramping and pulling. I have fits of energy then need a nap. I knew that would happen too. Hang in there! Once you start seeing the scale moving you will realize you did this for the greater good! Good luck and keep us posted on your progress !

Good luck today! Taking the vitamins daily isn't even really that much of an issue overall. I'm curious how you are going to be revised to the mini bypass after the sleeve since the sleeve removes the part of the stomach that gets attached lower during the bypass/mini bypass.

Im a post op and have to have a revision thanks to the military docs that did my surgery. I did 30 or less prior to moving to Kansas. The nutritionist here thinks im crazy. She says the brain and body can't function on that amount. I want to be successful and lose my regain and keep it off. Thanks for helping.

I was denied because BCBS said the revision wasn't medically necessary. I've had the Psych, and the Cardiology, and I'm going for the sleep medicine MD tomorrow. BCBS also stated that they only cover 1 bariatric procedure per lifetime, though my MD office said they've seen that reversed. I'm getting even more frustrated because since I had to have all the fill removed from my band, I've gained like 30 pounds back. The best part is, that my eating habits are better now (not eating as much junk) than when the band was filled and I've gained so much weight back.

I received the call yesterday that my revision from band to DS is approved. I'm completely shocked as I thought it would be a battle for approval since my band took two appeals to get approval. I also keep waiting for them to call me back and say oops, that was another patients approval. It happened so fast. I got an email Tuesday saying that they were going to submit then by Friday got the approval. Can it be real? 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼 My surgeon wanted to schedule me for 7/18/17 but I'll be in the middle of moving so I opted for 8/8/17.

My Band was done about four years ago and since then I had some problems, I recently had a UGI done and found to have an enlarged esophagus, not eh first time either, last year I had one about the same time of year to thnk of it and I had a UGI done at that time too! Well I just was told I hae a hernia and it was found last year but no one mentioned it to me up until now. I have a few other problems pertaining the the Band itself and had to have the fill removed completely. My Dr. put in to my insurance agency a request for a revision to remove the band for I will continue to have the same problem over and over once I begin the fills. A Revision to RNY will be done. When I had the Band surgery no hernia was found, it there was a hernia the Dr. would have repaired it. I have no clue wht kind of hernia it is but maybe tomorrow I will find out. Could this have been brought on due to constant vomiting, over tightness of the band or what? Just trying to get some answers.

Medscape Medical News from the: American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) 29th Annual Meeting June 17 - 22, 2012; San Diego, California http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/766243?src=nl_topic http://www.medscape.com/viewcollection/32520 Sleeve Gastrectomy Gets Boost in Push for Insurance Coverage Kate Johnson June 22, 2012 (San Diego, California) — With a final decision expected within days from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, there is now ample evidence supporting the agency's full coverage of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG), researchers asserted here at the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) 29th Annual Meeting. Reporting the largest series to date, John Morton, MD, from Stanford University in California, said "laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is positioned between the band and the bypass for both safety and efficacy." In a separate, unrelated study, Abraham Fridman, DO, from the Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston, reported that sleeve gastrectomy showed the lowest morbidity of the 3 procedures. In March, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services revised its blanket policy of no coverage for LSG by allowing limited coverage of the procedure in randomized controlled trials. In its so-called "coverage-with-evidence-development proposal," the agency is considering comparative evidence for LSG against other obesity surgeries, with its final decision due on June 27. "There's considerable amount of evidence now for coverage of the sleeve. It's actually overwhelming, the amount of evidence," said Dr. Morton, who presented a national comparison of LSG vs laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRNYGB) and laparoscopic gastric banding (LGB) from the Bariatric Outcomes Longitudinal Database (BOLD) from 2007 to 2010. The analysis included data on 271,726 patients from 540 hospitals and 1200 surgeons. Comparing mortality, morbidity, and efficacy outcomes for 117,365 LGBs, 138,222 LRNYGBs, and 16,139 LSGs, the data clearly show that LSG is safe and effective, concluded Dr. Morton. At 1-year postsurgery, the absolute body mass index [bMI] reduction was 16.6 kg/m2 for bypass patients, 13.4 kg/m2 for sleeve patients, and 7.6 kg/m2 for band patients. Length of hospital stay was a mean of 2.3 days after bypass, 1.9 days after sleeve, and 0.7 after banding. Improvement of baseline comorbidities of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and dyslipidemia was seen after all surgeries, but was most significant in the bypass group, said Dr. Morton. The bypass group also had the highest 30-day mortality and serious complication rate (0.14% and 1.25%), followed by sleeve gastrectomy (0.08% and 0.96%), and then gastric banding (0.03% and 0.25%). The readmission and reoperation rates were also highest for bypass patients (4.62% and 2.73%), followed by sleeve patients (3.61% and 1.7%), and then banding patients (1.38% and 0.65%). Although 30-day follow-up data were "great," Dr. Morton noted that the limitations of the study included poor follow-up beyond this time and lack of information about patients who might have been admitted to other hospitals. However, he said, the data are convincing for the safety and efficacy of sleeve gastrectomy. The second study, which included 2433 bariatric procedures, was performed at the Cleveland Clinic Florida between 2005 and 2011, with a mean follow-up of 17 months. Similar to the BOLD study, this study also showed that BMI loss after the sleeve procedure (11.2 kg/m2) fell between that of bypass (14.8 kg/m2) and banding (5.6 kg/m2). A total of 1327 bypass, 619 sleeve, and 233 band procedures were included in the analysis, reported Dr. Fridman. However, looking at readmission and reoperation rates, this study showed that sleeve gastrectomy was superior to both bypass and banding. Specifically, the average number of readmissions in the sleeve gastrectomy group was the lowest (1.49), followed by the band (1.54), and then the bypass (1.96). Similarly, the rate of reoperations for complications was lowest in the sleeve group (1.8%), followed by bypass (6.6%), and then banding (14.6%). Asked to comment on the evidence for sleeve gastrectomy, Michel Gagner, MD, told Medscape Medical News, "I think it should be covered [by insurers]." Dr. Gagner, a Canadian bariatric surgeon, practiced in the United States for 15 years at 3 different centers before returning to his native Montreal at the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur. He said he now performs sleeve gastrectomy in 90% of his patients, and "I think the evolution I went through we will see in a lot of practices in the United States," he said. "Outside the US, sleeve gastrectomy is growing very fast, and there are several countries where it is number one," he said. "In Chile and Japan, it is very popular; in India, it's the number one procedure; and there are many countries in Europe where the number of sleeve gastrectomies has surpassed the number of bandings. This is seen in France and in Belgium, for example." The BOLD data place sleeve gastrectomy between gastric banding and bypass in terms of morbidity and mortality, he noted. "When surgeons are looking at abandonment of banding, they are looking for a procedure with similar risk ratio, and actually I think that the weight loss and comorbidity resolution with sleeve was better than banding, while the mortality and morbidity rate was slightly higher. So I think it's still an excellent risk–benefit ratio." In fact, Dr. Gagner said, the BOLD data for sleeve gastrectomy is likely to improve, as the current figures still include a steep learning curve for the new procedure. "We know it's in the first 100 cases that we get the highest rate of leaks, highest rate of bleeding, and strictures and mortality. Once they go beyond, we're going to see a drop by 2-fold in the leak and major complication rate. So what we're going to see in the database in the future of sleeve gastrectomy is that it's going to be very close to banding, so it's going to be very convincing for surgeons who've been using banding that they could adopt a procedure that has almost the same morbidity and mortality as banding, but yet an increased benefit." Dr. Morton noted that he is a consultant for Vibrynt and Ethicon. Dr. Fridman has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Dr. Gagner is a speaker for Covidien, Ethicon and Gore. American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) 29th Annual Meeting: Abstracts PL104, presented June 20, 2012 and PL133, presented June 21, 2012.

Ok one day this band has to come out. If the band removal and revision is done in 2 stages then the removal surgery will inurr adhesions too. Does it matter if now at bmi 33 or at bmi 36 or 37? Scar tissue is formed all the time, the longer i wait the more scarring will be done. Acid reflux can be avoided by conversion to rny.

Hello all, I just had a revision done on Monday Jan 9th from a sleeve to a bypass. I am on a full liquid diet for the next 7 to 14 days. I am a little concerned about not having any feeling of hunger or fullness when eating or drinking. occasionally I can hear and feel the liquid drip down into my new pouch. Anyone else have the same problem? Nickie

I just had a revision from sleeve to bypass 2 weeks ago.. But I had a leak that would not heal.. Was sick for almost 3 months.

Hi Baripals! So I originally had VSG surgery in October 2012. At 253 lbs. the morning of weight in, I was pre-diabetic and had PCOS among other things. Fast forward almost 6 years, my doctor & I have made the decision to have a revision. I had initially lost about 95 lbs. and kept it off for 4 years until I had my son July of 2016. Even after I had him, I had only gained about 20 lbs. during pregnancy. I totally went off the "deep end" and started to go back to old habits like eating and drinking at the same time, not making healthy food choices, not chewing enough, eating/drinking ravenously, drinking carbonated beverages. etc. I was also switched on anti-depressants during my pregnancy and then switched again and then AGAIN! The previous anti-depressants had weight gain as a side effect on top of my poor eating habits. Doc. requested blood work and an upper GI test and confirmed I had dilated my pouch. I honestly feel like a failure but I know what I have to do. My husband will be going in to have VSG sometime this year too so I know I have to be strong for both of us. I don't want him to end up like I did. Has anyone else had sleeve revision. Any tips for this struggling mom?

I had the lapband removed in Sept. I am going to get the sleeve. I have talked with 2 surgeons . One uses a 36 bougie and the other uses a 32 bougie and over sews. I am concerned about the differences. Does anyone have an opinion on this? As far as weightloss, will it be harder with a 36 bougie. I have about 50 pounds to lose. Not sure what to do.