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Hello! Newbie over here – Even though I have been using this forum for years! I am 4 years post-op VSG. I am very happy with my weight loss and maintenance, but I never had any issues with acid reflux prior to my surgery! For the past 4 years, I have been struggling daily with my acid reflux issues. I take medication every single morning and night and without it, I am in an incredible amount of pain. I am unable to lie down or sleep properly, and this causes tension for my neck and my back. Just slightly bending down makes the food regurgitate and it’s very painful. For the past 8 months, I feel immense tightening and pressure in my chest and it is so very uncomfortable, especially when I am around people. GERD is also starting to slightly alter my voice and my singing range. I have sought to find a cure several times. I've had two endoscopies (they dilated my esophagus during the second one), and several barium swallow tests. The tests don’t show anything abnormal. I have tried so many different drugs, diets, and remedies to no resolve. I've even tried a natural medicine MD and hypnosis, to no avail. I have been reviewing some research as well as other forums where Sleeve to RNY revision patients, who had [severe] acid reflux, were cured after Bypass. I was hoping to get feedback from those of you who had VSG surgery and then converted to the RNY/bypass: Did you have acid reflux after your VSG? How severe was it? How many years did you wait before you convert? Was GERD the only reason? Did the RNY revision completely cure your GERD?

I had an anchor cut circumferential in November along with brachioplasty and seriously had no pain. I weaned myself off the heavy duty pain med's after week 2. I'm headed in for a thighplasty and breast lift in October and slight revisions to what was already done. My surgeon is a bit conservative and we both see more skin that needs to come off and a better tightening. That could be why I had no pain but I would do it over again in a heartbeat. I had 16.3 pounds removed and love that I can see all my girly parts!! Trust your surgeon and go in to it with a positive attitude and you'll be fine. Follow all the post op instructions and you'll be back to your normal self in no time!!

I am hoping I have evidence of slippage or erosion to show because I doubt they will cover a revision because I want them to based on my issues with the lapband.

During my pre-op and for the first 2 months post, my nails grew like crazy! To the point that I had to actually get clippers and cut them so I could type. That's never happened in my life! I also attributed it to the revised diet with increased protein. I've always had a ton of hair so I didn't notice any increase as far as that goes. Today marks 11 weeks since surgery, and my nail growth has slowed, but I still haven't lost any hair. HOWEVER I will not be surprised when it happens.....haven't heard from anyone yet who didn't experience it.....

My surgeon put it this way. "We will do whatever surgery you want. Just so you know, we are taking out more lap bands than we are putting in now, most of them being revised to sleeves." Lap band is less "permanent", but from my point of view, would not be as effective in reducing ghrelin, or the volume of my stomach. The sleeve keeps everything in the proper order, so I went with that. I don't need people opening me up any more than is absolutely necessary.

How old is your daughter? Mine had gastric bypass before I did. That was how I found out about the band, from going to her support group. Then I ended up revising to a sleeve. Maybe someday, she can have WLS too. Nobody should have to struggle if it's at all possible to get WLS.

@@twittymilk are you a revision? Pomp did my first surgery and is doing my revision this summer. He is great!

Medicare approval of a procedure is a major milestone toward general acceptance - when Medicare started covering the DS a few years ago, that created a cascade of policy revisions on the part of the insurance companies, as they could no longer claim that a procedure covered by Medicare was "investigational" or "experimental". Currently with the VSG, more insurance companies seem to be covering it so that should be a tweak toward Medicare covering it - eventually. How long that could be is anybody's guess, given the pace of government action on such things.

Hi, just wondering how long it took for your your incisions to heal? A couple of my incisions were a little larger than with the lap band, I am assuming because they had to take out the lapband and revise to the sleeve. I try not to look at them. Also, they glued them together and used small staples as well. I feel like I had a tummy tuck, because my tummy is firm, just looks a bit weird. My doc said the staples will come out at the first appointment. With the lapband I had dissolvable sutures. My doc said she removed some scars from the last surgery too, okay hook me up will you. I am grateful for that, but the mini staples look frankensteinish.

So to day 7-23-18 I my sleeve revised to a gastric bypass today. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I thought it was going be painful which it's not, I miss walking and all I want it chicken broth lol Question Did anyone have a drains in them?If so was Was a painful to get them removed? And how long were you in the hospital for? Sorry I'm new to all this Sydney Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app

I revised from the Lapband to the DS two years ago. Since that time, I have lost 80 pounds. Besides there being a whole lot less of me, yes, I am happy and would do it again. I can eat pretty much what I want and have maintained my weight loss due to the malabsorption component of my surgery. You will find that many sleevers have regain issues. As far as the bathroom goes, no one's poop smells good. I have more gas in the evening and looser stool than I used to, but this is a small side effect and not a deal breaker to me. I went from a size 2x to a medium top. A size 18 pant to a size 8. No one eating next to me would know I had weight loss surgery because I can eat a normal portion. Protein first, veggies next. Drinking lots of water. My joints and feet don't hurt like they used to either. I wouldn't let a little more gas deter you from considering the DS. It's a good, solid, data-proven weight loss intervention. Out of all of the weight loss surgeries, the DS has the best proven track record for keeping the weight off, even over bypass surgery. Ask your surgeon. My short answer: Yes, I'm happy.

Ohhhh @azhiker I love your excitement!!! Haha so fun. @losingit2018 my surgeon said the DS is the way to go he doesn’t revise to the bypass and since I have the sleeve already i can see advantages to the DS. I’m not confident another surgery will be the answer since it seems like I have been gaining weight so easily w the sleeve after 2 years. I don’t want to redo my insides and have bathroom issues for the rest of my life and still be fat. Sigh

Maybe you could get some other surgical opinions. There seem to be a lot of folks here that have revised from sleeve to bypass. Check out their posts and see what has worked for them. Best wishes,

I'm sorry to hear this. I had my band removal and revision at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, CT. They are very big on post op care. Have you called surgeon's office? Sent from my XT1254 using the BariatricPal App

Yes, you are definitely working yourself up lol If you know it's the right thing for you, don't psych yourself out. I am one of the very unlucky ones that has to have a revision. I never had gerd or reflux before my surgery, so I chose the sleeve. I have LOVED my sleeve. Unfortunately, it caused horrible gerd that also caused gastritis and esophagitis, so I was put on 80mg of Nexium. I've been on it for 7 months now, and it caused polyps all through my stomach. I've had 2 surgeries to remove them, and now nodules all through my duodenum, which also have to be removed. Once they are, I'll be cleared to have my revision to bypass. I'm told that should take care of the gerd, which will allow me to get off the Nexium, which will stop the formation of polyps and nodules. I still don't regret my sleeve. I've lost over 110 pounds, gotten off all 3 of my diabetes meds, gotten off my blood pressure med, my mobility is way way better, I work out 5 days per week, all my labs have come back normal repeatedly, I can honestly say it's still the best thing I've ever done, even with the complications.

Hi all, I'm hoping to have my sleeve (2013) revised to a mini gastric bypass sometime in July, and I'm having a terrible time booking a surgeon. I'm finding coordinators seem super-busy and struggling to find time to answer questions. There must be a lot of us hoping to have surgery soon! I've also had a couple of coordinators make errors on their initial quote, and then explain that the cost is actually much higher. And I've had two different coordinators from the same surgeon give me quotes $1,200 apart. I know Dr. Illan is highly recommended, but I can't get in to BariatricPal Hospital MX until fall, and I am a school teacher so that won't work for me. Does anyone have recent experience with a surgeon/coordinator that they can recommend? Thanks!

Kirsten - Dr. Ren no longer has her name on the cover of the book and there is no reference to her or NYU medical centre inside the book any more (at least the copy available for sale through their brisbane office here in Australia). It seems like they are selling the book only through Australia to recoupe their costs and rid themselves of the poor quality copies. If they are selling a better quality revised book through the USA id be interested, the one they are selling here with the same title has a lot of errors and 100's of spelling mistakes - lap band is even spelt wrong on the back cover! Very dissapointing. Most of the books out for banding seem to be aimed at pre-op's or immediate post op. I'd love for a long-term focused book to come out, especially with maintenece information.

Hello all....I'm 5 weeks post op, lab band revised to sleeve, starting weight was 244, day of surgery I was 234 and today I'm at 217.5. Weight loss wise, I had a great first 2.5 weeks after surgery and dropped 16.5 consistently and quickly. But now for the past 2.5 weeks I haven't been able to lose even one pound! And I'm barely eating and doing exactly what I've been doing since surgery. I'm so frustrated! Is this normal? What can I do to start losing weight again? I have my doctors visit next week on May 3rd so then he will clear me for exercise I hope, not that I enjoy it, but I've heard it helps later with saggy skin. So please anyone out there, I'd love any advice on what to do now that I'm 5 weeks post op and stuck and totally stalled!!!! HELP

If your insurance doesn't have any restrictions on the number of WLS per lifetime (some limit to one WLS per lifetime) then the usual insurance rules generally apply - BMI of 40 and above, or 35 with comorbidities. So, that's the good news - if you were covered before and have regained to that point, then you should be covered again. The bad news that you probably don't want to hear is that it won't likely do you much good in the long term, unless there was something seriously defective with your first procedure that needs to be corrected. Changing to a bypass may get you back on track again for a while, but ultimately you will be in the same position as the two procedures are very similar in overall strength or outcome. Think of your WLS as more of a "do-over" than a metabolic reset - it gives you the chance to get things in order to live sustainably and maintain your weight, but it doesn't do it for you. While I don't agree with everything this doc says, he is one of the few that acknowledges that our meal capacity will increase over time (to around half of our pre-op capacity), and has a viable prescription for living with that fact. His numbers are consistent with my experience over the years. Also, that sleeve/pouch size has little to do with long term capacity or success - my wife has a huge sleeve on VSG terms (from her DS, which typically uses a sleeve of about twice the size of a stand alone VSG sleeve,) and our meal sizes are pretty much the same several years out. It is very much a matter of food choices and habits rather than absolute restriction minimizing how much we eat. A good part of the game here is matching the right procedure with the patient - think in terms of the WLS procedures having somewhat different personalities, and you have to find the right "fit", just as you do with friends and associates. The RNY isn't any mover powerful overall than the VSG, but may be a better fit for you. Or it may not - research and talk to as many people with the bypass as you can to see if it is right for you, as one of its' drawbacks is that it is very difficult to revise to something else if it doesn't fit. With either procedure, it would not be uncommon for women of average and below height to maintain in the 1000-1200 calorie range long term. If you are having problems at 12-1500 calories now, a bypass or resleeve isn't going to help much if you can't find a way to maintain at whatever level your metabolism dictates. The DS does offer a better metabolic kick long term and may be your best option if you can't make the long term diet/lifestyle adjustments to make the VSG work; its' caloric malabsorption is long term vs the bypass which sees its caloric malabsorption dissipate after a year or two.. But it requires more serious commitment to supplementing and follow up lab work for life (that's part of its' "personality" that you have to live with. But I have seen many be successful over 10-20 years with it, often eating a less than "ideal" diet.

I am so sorry you are going through this. It does seem terribly unfair. I would speak to your doctor, but I still think that you will still succeed. I was lucky not to be a revision but I had a month stall like this so understand a bit what you are going through, minus the family pressure. Just try try try to stay positive and keep staying the course. We will support you as much as possible but the strength comes from you and I believe you have this, otherwise you never could have undertaken another surgery to fix your health. You deserve to be healthy and I know it will work out. I wish I had the answers but since each of us is different and has different issues I would not even try, except for the general accepted guidelines, which I am sure still stand for you as a revision.

Best of luck to you on this revision. Can you tell me more about the mini gastric bypass? How is it different then the regular bypass?

I was banded in 2006 (private pay) and thought I did fairly well going from 220lb to 150lb in the first year or so. Over the next 10 years, I had my third child and managed to maintain about a 55lb loss. I was and remain dedicated to work outs 4-5 days a week. However, I never felt like I ever found that "sweet spot" with my fills. I had to make a 14 hour round trip for fills and the surgeon I had was the least compassionate, most fat phobic person I've ever encountered. How he got into that line of work I'll never know. Unfortunately, he was the only option in near my home town at the time when Lap-band was fairly new in Canada. I spent most of the time either feeling hungry or nauseated/stuffed and if I'm honest with myself, I think a threw up at least once almost every day of that 10 years (surgically induced bulimia?) Last year things got bad with my band. It became way too tight (even when completely unfilled) and I experienced terrible reflux at night and could barely tolerate fluids. It had to be removed. Luckily another surgeon closer to my home had started to do band surgery and was willing to remove it. He said with the earlier versions of the Lap-band, they often become inflexible and too tight after a long period of time. With this surgeon, my only option was to replace it with another gastric band (Mid-band is his device of choice). I could not convert to a sleeve or bypass as this is not offered as a private pay option in the province where I reside. There is a 5-7 year waitlist for government-funded weight loss surgeries. He said he wanted to see how I did with it out and that he "had faith in" my ability to keep the weight off. Well, I think we all know what the research says about gastric band removals. Despite my best efforts to watch what I ate and maintain my exercise routine, I regained almost all of the weight. Even though I eat a healthy diet (way healthier than what I could tolerate with the band), in less than a year I found myself 10lbs shy of my highest weight. My blood sugar and blood pressure are creeping up and I'm noticing more PCOS symptoms again. So, I started researching self-pay options for gastric sleeve surgery out of province. The surgeon I consulted with feels that the MGB is the best option for me. I'm not thrilled about paying for this again along with airfare and hotel. And not only do I get the pleasure of paying for WLS twice, it's extra because revision surgery requires more OR time. But I think my health is worth it. I'm booked for September 28th and have started my 2-week pre-op liquid diet (blech!) Part of me is scared that the surgery won't work. I feel like I have the slowest metabolism in the world. This, combined with my meds that promote weight gain and my PCOS, makes it feel like the odds are against me. However, my surgeon reassures me I'll do well. I've found reading about others' successful revisions also very encouraging. Thanks for reading my story.

Sounds a lot like me, I was ecstatic and I still am. I’m just so happy and grateful for my little pouch. From my approval all the way to surgery and even right now as I heal I stayed away from people and social media. I just needed to organize myself and time to be in my head. I didn’t go out or do much of anything. Buying the things I needed pre and post op and getting myself together was all I focused on. I also did a lot of cleaning to have my place ready when I got back from the hospital. I don’t have much clothes to donate because I literally lived off 2 pair of jeans and a few “just my size” shirts with and without sleeves. I refused to be buying clothes for my size. Are you having a revision because of GERD or do you feel like the sleeve isn’t the right tool for you? Today my goal will be to drink more water 🤢 Yo-Yo Girl from New York City

Since most surgeries are done laparoscopically, and most go home the next morning, other than someone driving you home, it's very doable to recover alone. They had me walking the hospital aisles every few hours right after the surgery till I was released at 11 am the next morning. I walked around a lot the day I got home doing light chores... Etc. Back to desk work on day 3 but you do feel very tired for a week or so. Again, as everyone will tell you, everyone is different. These are my experiences (both with vsg and revision to rny).

I had a gastric sleeve done in Tijuana a couple years ago but after the initial success I have since gained back about half the weight lost, and am now looking for a revision to gastric bypass (I've done my homework, this is the best option for me). I wish I had done it in the first place, but I at the time I thought a sleeve would be good enough, but it wasn't. In any event, I've been looking at reputable places to go to that don't involve going back to Tijuana. Because I don't live in North America, getting to San Diego is problematic and I would prefer not to have to travel through the States at this time (fly direct to and from Mexico). I've been looking at Puerto Vallarta as an option, but would love to hear other suggestions, since 99% of posts here seem to be for Tijuana. It also doesn't have to be Mexico, anywhere else in the world with reasonable costs and reputable hospitals would be okay too.