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Sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. I've read too many times about people's bands giving them trouble. It makes me wonder why it's still a WLS option. :lol0: Anyway, I had a hietal hernia that I didn't even know about that Dr. Aceves repaired while doing my VSG (free of charge :lol0:). It would be good if you could have yours repaired at the same time of your revision. Good luck!

Thanks for posting this!! Here's another Oregonian headed to Mexico...Scheduled for Memorial Day w/Dr Aceves for revision of Lapband to VSG. Trying not to be nervous

My doc's revision rate for DS with inadequate weight loss or regain is in the 2-3% range, which is a bit more than their revision rate for excessive loss; these past few years they've been doing more tailoring of the common channel length based on their experience with different patient and body types. But some people's bodies are more aggressive in adapting to the changes made, experiencing substantial growth in their common channels - that seems to be a harder one to predict.

The infusions are even worse. I had a patient who had to have them and they took four hours and hurt. The doctor finally told her to discuss with her surgeon to have the bypass revised.

Can't believe my day has come. I've been trying to mentally prepare but now that the time has come I'm petrified. So many thoughts running through my head. Worried about not waking up and uncontrollable pain when I awaken from surgery. I'm being revised from Sleeve to RNY due to severe GERD having hernia repair as well. Been on Clear liquids only all day just feeling awful in every way.

I haven't seen my doctor yet, my appointment is scheduled for Wednesday June 4, and I just got confirmation from my insurance that there are no restrictions for the revision from band to sleeve....I'm doing the happy dance right now and excited to hear what my Dr has say on Wednesday, I am hoping for a surgery date at my time of visit (keeping my fingers crossed)

The first surgery I had to pay a $150 co-pay to the hospital. I don't remember what I paid the doctor. The second one had a $175 co-pay, my co-pay increased January '09. The dr never sent me a bill (which is good since I wouldn't have paid him anything anyway since it was their fault). He did get paid from my insurance though. Also, because I had a revision, I get another year of fills at no cost. Normally, because the 12 months was up, I would have to pay a co-pay of $15 for each fill.

My insuranance paid for it and for port revision had to pay co-pays and 350 dollars to be in the weight loss program

It works a little different here in Australia. Medicare, our public health system, pays for the bulk of the operation as its generally not argued that its not medically necessary as long as the surgeon has said he will do it. Our private health insurance pays for all hospital costs and surgeons and medical professionals usually charge a "gap" over and above the scheduled fee that Medicare will pay for any given procedure. For banding, the average gap is abotu $A3,000 so there's generally a one off payment of $3,000. For many surgeons that covers all aftercare for ever - every fill and any revision surgery as once they've charged the gap, many surgeons agree to simply bulk bill all maintenance/revision/supervision - meaning they bill Medicare direct only the scheduled cost. So its pricey but not out of the league of most people really. If its done under the public health system the wait is up to 7 years in many hospitals. Many surgeons will not touch self pay in Australia because they say that it leads to people not continuing with follow up treatment after surgery and if anything goes wrong and revision surgery is needed, costs mount up to re-mortgage your house kind of levels very quickly.

I have not been on here in a long time. I have been slowly but steadily losing since I had my band placed sept of 08. Just this past two weeks something is wrong! I have not gotten or needed a fill for the past 9 mo. I have lost 85 lbs so far. Just this past two weeks I haven't been able to eat anything without pain and slime-ing. I make myself bring up that yuck just so the discomfort goes away. I've lost 8 lbs in 3 weeks. While that's nice, I'm scared that for some reason my band has slipped. I thought I was just super tight because it was that time of the month. I always got super tight for about a week, then gradually it would loosen as hormones settled back down. I am self pay, and can not pay for revision at this point. Have decided I need to do some liquids for a few days. Tried to drink a carnation instant breakfast for dinner just now, and can't get that down either. Any suggestions?

This thread makes me feel good about my decission to wait on my revesion....I don't want to loose my band, but have plans that having it revised now will interfer with...I will be paying close attention to what my body is telling me between now and the end of july when i am planning my revision...If anyone has anything that I should look out for that would warn of a problem please let me know...and/or what you were able to eat afer a slippage, but before having it fixed...thanks for any input...

I am so happy to see this thread!! I am a band to sleeve revision. Had my band for 2 years and had my revision on the 15th of November 2012. I have lost 30 lbs since my revision. It's kind of upsetting because if I try to stay with 800 calories I feel sick like I am going to pass out. They ran all kinds of blood test and can't find anything wrong. Even took a look at my sleeve and everything seems fine. My surgeon says its all me and I need to stick my 800 calories. My PCP tells me to up my calories to 1000 to 1200 so that I don't feel sick and avoid the possibly of fainting. I honestly don't know what to do sometimes. I get hungry some days and others I have to remind my self to eat. I hope that as the months come by I will be able to find some kind of middle ground with my sleeve and at the same time satisfy the doctor so I don't get in trouble.

This topic is a month old, but moved to the top. I have been in maintenance since February - maintenance scares me more then anything! So far, it is going great!!!! I don't want to make it sound easy, it is not. Life keeps wanting to draw me into eating too much of the wrong foods, tempting me to skip working out etc.... but I remain determined. For those of you planning a revision, or still in the sleeve weight loss journey - I just want to share that it is possible to be successful as a revision. There were several ladies who used to post to this forum that lost 100+ after being revised and they gave me the courage to "believe". Like many of you, I felt like I was the one person on the planet that can fail at losing weight no matter what the surgery. Truth is, any of us can not do great, or we can do awesome. Alot of it is in our own personal control. I found a NUT/dietician that helped me so much and I learned to change things up. Sometimes you need to eat more, need to eat less, reduce carbs, increase carbs... shake it up. Change your exercise routines... listen to your body. Don't be afraid of "only" losing 10# a month. How the heck do you think I lost 150# in 14 months? By losing in the general ballpark of 10 a month!!!! Some months way more... some way less.... be in this for the long haul. Hope it is going great for all of you.

Anyone else a revision of sleeve to bypass like me? Bands to sleeve are everywhere. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

OldAv8tor, I wanted to take a quick moment to first welcome you to our forums, we are so glad to have you join us and happy to share with you our reasons for going with the sleeve. As Deedee said, everyone here has already pretty much touched on the reasons why I chose the sleeve as well. I started out with the lapband. For those it works for, it is a wonderful tool. Unfortunately, for some of us, we just seem destined to have problems with it. So, when I had the opportunity to revise to the sleeve, I jumped on it. For me, the sleeve is almost effortless for me. I am the first to admit, I am bad about counting calories, etc. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life counting and monitoring every bite I take. With the sleeve, I honestly don't do that. I try and make healthier choices, but have no guilt when I treat myself either. I just stop eating when I am full. That is all I do. I have been doing that since I got sleeved on April 2nd and have been thrilled with my weight loss to date. Whatever surgery you decide is best for you, I wish you nothing but the best of luck.

Hey everyone, I am scheduled for a band to VSG revision on May 30th w/Dr Aceves. I am an RN in a really busy daysurgery unit at my local hospital. It is really a hardship for them to let me off to have this surgery and (I know everyone is different) about how much time should take?? I work 3 - 8hr shifts a week and they are busy. No real heavy lifting...just running around, starting IVS and passing pain/antinausea meds. I have told them I needed 3 wks off, but am hoping to be back in 2...is this realistic?? I just feel bad for leaving them a little shorthanded. Thanks for any advice....also, if any other band to sleevers want to tell me how much more they love their sleeve, I always love to hear it.

Hello I am going through the SAME EXACT situation. Dr unfilled me to allow stomach to recover, and I am SO HUNGRY. I return to Dr on 6/13/14 to check for improvement. Uggghhh When I got my band in 2010 I was self pay, because my insurance sucked. Now I have good insurance that will pay for a revision. I just dont know what to do.

I am also a patient of Dr. Curry. I am having a band to sleeve revision on 8/9/11. Excited, but scared.. Afraid of failure and afraid of leaks...The band has not worked at all for me...was banded in 2007.

Just an update....the dr and I have decided that I will have the revision to the RNY. During this process, I have gained around 40 lbs, which is so discouraging. Hopefully surgery will be scheduled end of November/Early December!

Positive thoughts flowing your way. Try to believe for the best - if you have to have a revision surgery, we're going to believe now that your insurance will cover it and you'll have even better results than you did with the band. Hugs

So all of these real people's experiences are discredited because they've posted them on Facebook? As far as the two stage VSG/DS point. It was that way early on and still is for super MO folks in some situations. What they found doing the 2 stage DS is that many people lost successfully on the first surgery, VSG, and there was no need to do the second, malabsorptive procedure to revise to DS. Also, partial gastrectomy has been done since the late 1800's to treat cancer, ulcers etc and those people have lived normal lives with just part of their stomach. Bear in mind, I'm not "anti-band", I have one and have lost 90 lbs. BUT, as a person with a pre-existing inflammatory GI disease aggravated by the band and facing removal/revision, I would not make the decision to get one today. I love that my band has helped me to lose and maintain the loss, restored my mobility and improved my overall quality of life, but my GI tract is truly not functioning as it should and this makes life pretty miserable a lot of the time.

So assuming I may have misunderstood your point I just looked up the medical papers you cited and read the abstracts in full. I also read the associated articles. My assessment is that you have misinterpreted the data. I interpret the data to be saying that the surgery is equally successful to other WLS in long term application but due to the possible complications it should only be used in patients with a decreased likelihood of long term complications and should not be used for patients where the cited complications would likely be life threatening. I do think the more complete paper is a bit misleading though since it lumps all complications occurring between 30 days post op and 12 years in an aggregate sample. Whereas in the paper MIssy cites they break down the occurrence of complications showing a decreased occurrence the longer the time frame from the initial surgery before a complication occurs. They also aggregate surgeries with no complications post revision (which hade a much lower incidence of further complication) with complications which were no treated with revision. The data is actually relatively consistent (in statistical terms) with the data from the Australian study. The difference is the Austrailian paper is highlighting information for people who are prime candidates for WLS (the relatively young morbidly obese who suffer from co-morbidities but are otherwise healthy) while the American study you cited highlights the risk to people who may not be good WLS candidates (people who are simply overweight or have additional non-weight related health risks).

My name is Mckenna am 25years old and live in texas. I currently have the realize band and have been having so many complications and I am going on about 5 years with it now. Since my problems have Been getting worse I finally said enough is enough and I am doing a revision to have the sleeve done the same day my band is taken out. Because of my complications I don't have to go through the waiting period I met with my surgeon today and after my nutrition meeting tomorrow I am all set to go as soon as the team or docs review my case because I use a center of excellence. If anyone could inbox me or comment with your wisdom or experiences that would be great! Thank you!

I saw some older info here and it doesn't look like they approve the sleeve, even for revision. Does anyone know if that's still the case? Trying to figure if it's even worth the effort to try or should I just go to Mexico. Thanks

I cannot contain my smile. I had a consultation yesterday with my 1st choice plastic surgeon here in Delafield Wi. She had great reviews, is board certified, has a great team including her assistant and most of all she is also a woman and totally gets it. Even my husband who is very over protective, loves her. Every plastic surgeon I called would set up 1 appointment for each possible surgery charging a fee each time. I thought that was crazy given I wanted larger game plan for myself but I set up appointments anyway. I found her last and called her assistant who promptly told me that when they are speaking with someone who has multiple concerns they will book more time and provide all the time we needed. If you mentioned real self where I found her, they would do the consultation for free. She just transferred from another clinic so she has some open time much sooner. Anyway, she was awesome and I loved the way she was thinking about the work I need done. I never felt uncomfortable with her for even a second and let me tell you when you are standing there in their tiny little panties in all your loose skin is hanging everywhere for everyone to see......making one feel comfortable is important. My number 1 priority is having a brachioplasty because I have huge arms (yes, I will post some pictures soon). Then I wanted to discuss an Abdominalplasty and a breast lift with augmentation. She suggested that she would split them up exactly that way given my priorities and my current health issues (my bad back). She also wants my orthopedic surgeon to approve a small implant which we both agreed was reasonable but I do not want more back pain. Today, the girls are hanging low and pulling on my neck and back so even just putting them back where they belong would help but I really want some of my volume back, I chose a 300 gel implant. My appointment started at 9:30am and we left there at 1:00pm. Both my hubby and I had a million questions, then they did a photo shoot (my least favorite part), then her assistant went through the option and pricing. My brachioplasty will cost 5950.00. Then we went to scheduling and I knew I would get in quickly because most people have this type of work done in the fall and winter. So we asked for the soonest available appointment and they set me up for July 28th. On the way home her assistant called me back, they had a cancellation for this coming Thursday morning!!!! So this Thursday morning I will have what we have lovingly called my Grandma arms removed. My granddaughter will be destroyed, she always loved playing with my squishies as she called them. I will be thrilled!!!! Down the road, about 3 or 4 month from now, I will have the other portion done. I know several of you have asked about whether or not I would need to wait until I was a year at a stable weight which was one of my questions to her. She typically would like to see 6 months at a stable weight so we pulled up my tracker and I am nearly 5 months within the same 3 lbs, she was comfortable given I am just having the brachioplasty now. We will then wait for the next surgery at least 3 months. They would like you to not gain or lose anymore than 10lbs. If you have surgery too soon or lose too much, you could be looking at revisions. I am not planning on revising anything. One and done so I need to work hard to maintain. This gives me another reason to keep driving forward. That's my update...... Am I nuts or what? I am excited mostly, the only nerves that I have currently is because I have such terrible back pain but that is not going away any time soon. We both thought maybe getting some of this weight off my shoulders would help too.