Search the Community

I know what you are going through....I had a revision/repositioning because unfilling didn't work. It was a difficult time because during the 4 months it was unfilled and the refilling started I gained over 30 pounds. Ppl will post that you don't necessarily have to gain wt, and I agree, but I was voraciously hungry again without my band. The band revision is so far so good, but if it slips again it can't be fixed and I will try to get a sleeve approved by my insurance. I wish you the best of luck. Mimi

Hi all, I was sleeved 8/9/17 and from the very start I had issues. The first night after surgery I didn't sleep and neither did the lady in the room with me because I coughed all night in a raised position. Little did I know that coughing was a sign of what was to come. GERD !!!! A few days after leaving the hospital I was awoken out of a dead sleep chocking on acid that burned my nose and throat. I was given 3 different PPI before I found one that gave me relief from that part of it. I have had burning for almost 3 years now and have erosive esophagitis Grade D. My revision date has been reset now for May 22 ( 3rd times a charm) I am not happy to be doing this as the sleeve has worked out pretty well for me, although I know it must be done. I am 5 lbs over my original goal weight of 180 after getting down in the 160s this past summer. I would like to lose 25 to 30 lbs and that is about it. I am scared of all the unknowns and after reading the post " I Hate the By pass " it made me think about all the restriction I will be losing. I am also worried about vitamin deficiencies. Anyone out there glad they had the revision ?

I had my band placed 9/4/08...lost close to 90 lbs, but ALWAYS had issues & discomfort. Within the last yr & 1/2, the dreaded weight is back-I've grown tired of always havin to sit near a bathroom when I go out to eat for fear that @ any given moment during a meal-I may hurl what looks like a baby jellyfish outta my mouth...I will have my revision to a sleeve on the 14th-a few more days...I cannot wait!! I will lose that 90 again & this time-it won't find it's way back

Technically the size of your stomach will be the same (if not smaller) as I understand that the revision from sleeve to bypass is just the re-routing of intestines. That said, *technically* you will have at least the same restriction, if not better. The difference is the pyloric valve. Since the bypass skips this part of the digestive tract, "slider foods" will essentially slide through with the by-pass. So, as long as you keep to dense foods first mantra, you *should* not see much difference in restriction. But like @catwoman7 said above, each person will get a different experience. Congrats on all the weight you've lost, btw...you look great in your profile pic! +1 on this as well. I gained 6 lbs over a couple months (feb-march) and it was not as easy to lose it as it was a year ago. While before it would take 1-2 weeks with little effort, this time around took about a month with dedicated effort. So I can only think that a year, two years, from now it will be even more difficult....

I had issues with reflux for over a year and for me I would cough the next morning after suffering with reflux during the night. Unfortunately, the fluid that comes up and makes you cough during the night can irritate your throat and lungs so you end up coughing. If it keeps up go see your doc. Believe me when I say...don't take reflux lightly. I did the whole fill/unfill thing to take care of it but, then demanded tests with the last fill and the reflux came back and found out my band slipped bad enough that it had to be replaced. I just had revision surgery on Dec 18th. not fun to go through again. Good luck and definitely seek your doc if the reflux continues. In the meantime because you say you over indulged yesterday, stick with liquids for a day or two and see if the reflux goes away.

I had revision 4 weeks ago and did have the extra test, was put to sleep first.......but they r looking for band slippage or erosion thru the stomach lining and if its all good they will do the revision n same day instead of waiting a few month to do sleeve

Hi Luv, well everyone is different, but it usually takes a few fils before you feel restriction. for me, the hunger never really went away, i'm just restricted when eating. once i get the full feeling then i stop.. with that and exercise the weight will come off! i just had revision surgery(my band slipped) and had my first fill 10 days ago. i'm not really filling restriction so i'm calling my dr. to ask him for another fill. my next appointment is at the end of january, but i can't wait that long. hopefully you'll feel a difference soon and your weight will continue to come off. great job on losing 40 lbs already!! :sad:

I did not have a drainage tube & I'm fine. Revised 5/27/15.

Well, you know your body and how it responds to pregnancy. Personally, I would do it becuase I know that I dont get hugely pregnant, I dont get stretch marks, etc - well I didnt in the three pregnancies I had. They didnt do a lot of damage to my stomach at all. My boobs though - ugh, pregnancy and breastfeeding wrecked them, and weight loss DESTROYED them. And I know that they say you can nurse after certain breast surgeries, but none of the people I know IRL have been able to. You have to be prepared NOT to if you're going to go ahead with breast surgery. But you say you had hanging skin after your first pregnancy? That to me would be a sign that you might need your surgery revised after another pregnancy. Did you get a zillion stretch marks? If so, you're likely to again. There's a lot to be said for waiting and gettign rid of them all in one go. It would be heartbreaking to see your nice stomach destroyed again. I think there's no reason not to go ahead if its what you really want now, but you need to be realistic that you might want further surgery down the track. Could you for example have that pannus removed now, and do the real deal tummy tuck with new navel etc later? That way you can look better clothed etc right now and you can do the airbrushing afterwards.

I just logged in to search SPECIFICALLY for this topic! I just finished Women, food, and God (by Geneen Roth) yesterday...and the emotions and fear coming up is not something I expected! But this is one of those books that I think, I HOPE, can truly open our hearts and help us find healing if we will let it.... The problem is, (and I'm sure many of you can relate) that my fear that without having food to numb the pain or provide an escape-life would be unbearable...that I wouldn't be able to cope...And this (illogical, ridiculous, destructive) fear sometimes overrides my deepest and most sincere desires to be healthy and maintain and a lean weight. I got lapband in 07, and was very successful, losing over 100 pounds... (238 down to 132, currently 156) But I know I believed the "lie" or the illusion that once I was skinny, life would be easier to manage or deal with. (Cause skinny people don't have problems, right? Haha!) For a while, I even convinced myself that this was true.... I loved being a size 2-4. I loved the attention. I loved fitting into ANYTHING I tried on and looking great. BUT..... being thin didn't change how my parents saw me... it didn't make my father realize I'm a talented, successful woman and a great mother.... It didn't stop my husband from spiraling in his own terrible addiction which nearly killed him and almost destroyed our family. And it sure as hell didn't stop me from eating my weight in ice cream to numb the pain. IT WAS NOT A MAGIC PILL, it did not CURE the wounds and brokenness and did not make life easier to cope with. My band is no longer working now. I had a dilation in November, and I think it has just continued to worsen, and I've gained 25 pounds! This has been terrifying, and incredibly frustrating. I've done HCG, atkins, paleo, and liquid diets, and have joined a crossfit gym, working out harder than I EVER have in my life! But then I sabotage it and eat crap over a weekend or for birthdays, etc, so now, slowly, the weight has continued to pile onto my butt. And dieting in between my fits of emotional eating has just started me back on the hellish rollercoaster I had been on for 1/2 my life before getting the band. Some of this I weight I probably needed to gain, but 10-15 lbs of it is just stubborn fat from my impulsive choices... I feel like the fat is my punishment for being stupid, and my body retaliating from the years of not eating, rollercoastering, abusing it, and neglecting it. Now that I can eat more- it doesn't seem to matter WHAT I eat, I gain. (I joke with my husband that I could gain weight eating a carrot.) I desperately want to get the sleeve- I wanted it MONTHS ago, but I know I also subconsciously believe that the sleeve will be the cure to my current situation... and it's irreversible.... so if I fail at the sleeve, like I am now failing with the band...then what? Am I going to have WLS revisions every five years for the rest of my life? Ah, I don't think so!!! I'VE GOT TO GET TO THE UNDERLYING ISSUES, otherwise they are just going to continue to fester and undermine anything I do. I've got to become whole with my relationship to food before a revision is an option.... I don't want to spend the rest of my life loving and fearing or hating and resenting every damn thing I put in my mouth. I want to be able to live like a "normal" person. Ugh... why couldn't I just "switch" my food addiction to an exercise addiction, or a compulsive cleaning addiction....(sigh) Haha! So those of you who feel you have conquered your food addictions, or needs to medicate/escape/numb with food.... how did you do it? What, specifically, did you do? Thanks ladies! Have a great day!

If you are having complications, then consider revision. But revision for revisions' sake? No thank you! Most insurance companies in the US don't cover the sleeve yet, so you'd likely have to pay out of pocket for it (if that is a factor for you).

Wow... I'd have a hard time with a doctor doing my fill and then trying to talk me into a revision.

I have LapBand currently. I'm revising to RNY due to regain and complications with my band. I chose RNY over VSG because my surgeon feels it is a safer conversion. This has to do with where the staple line will be in RNY vs VSG. For VSG the staple line would go through an already damaged part of my stomach. The RNY staple line will be in a part of my stomach not affected by my band. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using the BariatricPal App

I had a band and lost 40lbs but was always slimming and was disappointed with my weight loss. So, I had a revision to the sleeve. At first I lost 12 lbs, and then stopped dead. I followed the diet, exercised intermittanly but still didnt lose. The nutritionist where I had surgery had me take Metformin as I take anti-psychotic meds and they are known to cause weight gain. It didnt work. I have been in touch with the doctor that did my revision and he feels the problem was due to too much scare tissue from the band.He has only had this happen one other time. I am going back on Dec 6 for a "Re" revision. I am not going to name the doctor as everyone I know, or have seen on the boards have had excellent results. I am fearful that the same thing will happen again. I know I will have to lose weight if my stomach is smaller,but I am not sold just yet. Oh, the doctor is doing the new surgery for free. I cant get much better than that. Has anyone else had this problem?

wow..thats a scary story, but its reality for some and it important that we hear the good and the bad. why did you opt to have the sleeve and just not have the band removed? did you still want to lose more weight? i had a band too and it slipped, then i had a revision and a new band placed and that too slipped about a year later. at that point i opted to have the 2nd band taken out and nothing done. its been about 4 years and i gained back the weight i lost and now im thinking of the sleeve, i just cant get over the fears i have that something will go bad for me like it did with the band. how do you overcome that??

Hi! help!!!! i am new to this group. I am hoping for my sleeve revision this December. I had the Lapband emergency removed in August and keep gaining :(. Metabolism shot! I haven’t eaten any Pasta breadeating the same just more., not much.. less exercising because I am recovering and depressed from having it removed . My BMI lower than start so it’s been a struggle to get this done.. I have the other conditions to support the need in my opinion.. just waiting on insurance. Any low BMI ers 30 ? Anyone out there to give me insight on your experience and if this is a good decision for a revision. Since it’s permanent unlike the Lapband. Any input on your stories or advice on insurance .. lapband revision to sleeve.. success rate?? Etc Thsnk you.. I don’t want to go backwards ., didn’t want my Lapband Out was doing great keeping weight at a good place . i can get this done next week if I want to go it ., hopefully insurance 🙏🏻

@MINI-Me I hate, hate, hate the powdered shakes. i don't like the taste, smell. being an honest person - i am very lazy, and don't want to use a blender, then have to clean it!!! Too much work!!! can we say LAZY again? i love GNC/ Total Lean Shake - 25 gr protein - pre-mixed bottle. um um good! Try it, you might like it. i hope you do. - congrats on your revision. good luck kathy

I am 2 weeks out from a revision from VSG to DS. I have never liked protein drinks, but found a few that were tolerable. I have heard of taste changing after surgery, but did not have that with my VSG. NOTHING, I mean nothing taste “right”. My only saving grace is Crystal Light Peach Tea. My real worry is that I am gagging on my shakes. I take a drink and it just sits in my mouth. It’s like my body is refusing to swallow. If I push and I do swallow, I have a horrible gag reflex. is this normal? Has anyone else had this? Suggestions?

Hello, I realize it’s been awhile since you posted about your band being filled to 7cc's. I came across it today and was wondering how you were doing. I ask because I went through the same thing. But it took me 7 months to convince my doc that something was wrong with my fills. One time I asked him how many CC's do I have in there? His reply in a snotty way, "I don't know". I walked out the door with my jaw on the ground. I was speechless for the first time in my life...I was banded Jan. 2010, had the port fixed in June 2012 and from there it went downhill. I kept telling him I am losing restriction after a fill. Then I informed him my incision from the port surgery felt wrong. I was having way to much pain and I was getting a lot of cirrus fluid coming out of a small opening of the incision. When I say fluid coming out I mean "gushing". First time it happened I woke up in the morning and was soaked with fluid. Scared the crap out of me. I am in the medical field so I knew what it was, but way too much of it. This happened to me at least 4 times. I couldn't go anywhere because I was afraid of it gushing. I would have to put like 3-4 paper towels on it and tape it on my site in case it gushed. He says as long as it’s not infected its fine. Of course it would never happen when I would go for my check ups. I called the nurse so many times crying. Why do I still have so much pain, why do I have fluid coming out of me like a faucet?? Over time it finally closed up. I think a pocket formed around the port and would fill up and once it was full, GUSH! All from a port revision and my doc not listening to me. Finally, after 7 months and putting my foot down he actually paid attention to how much he put in and then a month later took out. Guess what, half was gone. Yes, there had been a leak this whole time and for the port pain, he said, "OH that’s probably because it’s on your waist line where your pants sit. I told him that 7 months ago and even asked him why did you put the port there in the first place. So as of that day forward, I fired his arrogant mean ass and took on another doc in the same practice. I knew from the start I should have picked this one doctor. I have met him before and he is amazing. When I had my band done at Froedtert he came and checked on me at 9 at night. He assisted in my surgery. Till this day I still have terrible port pain. And one more thing I had to deal with, when I would get a fill, I ended up lying on the couch for 2 days with an ice pack and Tylenol because the site was so painful. That I don't understand and again he would blow me off. So when I would go for these fills I hated the thought of it. I knew what was going to happen that night and the next 2 days. But I needed the fills. Now, the good news, I see Dr. Goldblatt on Feb.18th and we are going to talk about removing the band and I am converting to the gastric sleeve. I feel I am in good hands and have faith and confidence in this doctor. I am nervous as anyone would be. But the end results or outcome are so worth it. Just feel healthy again. So something bad happened that day when I had my port revised. Because since then everything about the band went downhill. It was working great for me....I learned though I had to keep track of my own CC's. That’s not a good doctor. I am very assertive and my own advocate. Yet you think the doctor should be on top of these things. We are losing our health insurance so I am hoping to get my surgery ASAP. Don't want to rush into it, but the best part I am waiting for is getting rid of the port pain. It has actually stopped me from doing things. I have gained a lot of weight back so it proves to me the band or bariatric surgery is a great tool. Please tell me how you are and have you experienced any turbulence along the way...I like to hear my supporter’s stories. Good or bad...Sorry my story was so long, I guess I just couldn't believe what that doc put me through. And the nurse knew the whole time what was wrong, but she seemed scared of him. Look forward to hearing your story!!! My advice I give to my supporters...is listen to your body and mind..if something feels off or wrong..it probably is. Don't let the doctor just let things go. Demand answers even if you have to be assertive. It your body and your paying for it. I learned a lot with this issue and learned a lot about myself as well.....take care.

Nana, congrats on deciding to move forward with the revision. Your doctor should remove the band and do the sleeve all at the same time. It is a good idea to have a complete unfill a couple of weeks prior to getting your sleeve. That way, if you have any swelling or irritation from the band, it has time to go down prior to your surgery.

I have not revised yet, but the ones that I know that did not have a lot of damage from the band, and had a good Dr. recovered quickly. If you have a lot of internal damage that the band has caused that can definitly prolong the recovery process! :-(

I'll try to make this simple: Nov 2009 - banded Dec 2011 - slip Jan 2012 - complete unfill April 2012 - started refilling, discovered a leak a few weeks later, so band unfilled itself June 2012 - another slip diagnosed August 2012 - band out 9 months after first diagnosed slip with only about 3 weeks of any fill after the slip Nov 2012 - revision to sleeve I am battling some serious damage done by the band. Dilated esophagus causing lots of hunger post-sleeve. I had major scarring on my stomach that my surgeon scraped during both surgeries. I also had a very severe umbilical hernia fixed during my sleeve revision. Ironically, I went for the band initially because it wasn't permanent. However, the damage it causes can be permanent, sadly enough.

He will hopefully let me know if I can have the revision all in one surgery. He usually does it in two but my insurance is changing on 7/1 so he will not be able to get me on for two surgeries. I will try to accept any decision he makes because I know he has my safety in mind. Prayers would be helpful though so that I may finally get this 3 year process wrapped up and be an exbander and new sleever!

I paid $5,500 for a lapband removal and revision to gastric sleeve. I live in Seattle and flew to San Diego to have surgery in TJ, MX Insurance did nothing but play games since last September. I took my medical well being into my own hands.

You should probably put in a call to your MD office tomorrow. I too had pain in the port area for a few weeks then it just disappeared. I went in for my second fill last Wednesday only to find that my port flipped. I go in for a port revision tomorrow. My doc thinks that when I was having the pain my port was angled & the pain disappeared after it flipped. Good luck! Here's hoping it's just a pulled muscle!!:thumbup: