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Don't fret just yet. When I had my lapband 4 yrs ago, I was told Id need to modify my diet and to restrict bread, Pasta, rice, and sweets. I mustve had a band of steel cuz I tolerated everytning, in very small quantities. I lost 104 lbs eating everything in moderation. Id be bummed if I could no longer have Cookies, ice cream, and chocolate. Im 5 wks out fro my revision and on soft foods. The only sweets I've had is my Protein shake and yogurt (and applesauce if u count that) and I've actually been fine. Last nite I had an ice cream craving so I went to the Circle K adross the street and bought a pint. I ate about 4 bites before being sattiated. Hubby ate the rest. Its not the end of the world, altho it freaked me out a little aftwerwards. My philosophy: u got the sleeve instead of the RNY ( amalabsorbtion surgery) so that u can't eat very much. U should be able to eat everything in small quantities. Now, if this is ur trigger food, the problem with eating junk is that's its often a "slider" food that u can eat endlessly. U really have to watch ur portion size. Now, I may get bashed for my philosphy but that's ok. Life would not be fun if I just ate chicken and broccoli forever. Good luck with ur decsision

I am 2 days before surgery but I have mixed emotions. I am nervous because I worry about complications because I am a VSG to RNY revision. But I am excited because I am one step closer to starting this new journey

What about a revision? To say gastric bypass?

:welcome: Hello and welcome!! Wow, you had a difficult time with the band. I've read this a lot on the boards, but maybe not as bad as your case. You may have already asked, but does Medicaid cover revisions? If so, do they cover the sleeve as a revision to option? I know all states are different, but my state would not cover the sleeve, only Lap Band or RNY. They would also only cover WLS one time. Your case and your state may be different. I also agree, you should find a good and experienced surgeon that has experience with a patient that had a lapband. Make sure you are healed enough, and how extensive the damage was and how much scar tissue you have. As far as acid reflux, this can be a problem immediately post op. I would try to find out if you have a hiatal hernia and most drs can repair at the same time you get sleeved. Most drs put you on a PPI for 3-6 months while your sleeve heals to protect the suture line and to reduce any acid problems. I am 3 mo post op and have discontinued the PPI. So far no problems. Good luck!!

Hi Karen, I don't know you and am wondering why you had the revision.

And it wasn't for an appointment. When I was in the hospital right after surgery, I had an incredible team of professionals looking after me. They were quick to respond, they were compassionate, and above all, they were competent. About two weeks after I was discharged, I even got a card signed by all the people who cared for me, wishing me luck and encouraging me to stop and visit sometime in the future. So I did. I had some other business close by, and used the opportunity to take some thank you notes addressed to each of them up to the floor I was on. As I was walking along the main floor toward the elevators I needed to take, I saw my surgeon standing along the wall with another gentleman in a white coat. I figured he was a doctor of some sort too. Anyway, my doc saw me coming, and apparently recognized me, as he got a big smile on his face and said, Hey, how are you doing!?!" "So, you recognized me with my clothes on, eh?" That got the both of them laughing pretty hard. I stopped to speak with him, and his next question was, "How far down are you now?" "One hundred fourteen pounds since the beginning. I'm slowing down a little, but I am about 40 lbs from my original target, 60 from my revised one." I turned to the other gentleman standing there, and said, "He did a good job slicing me up. I did ask him to make mine bigger". My doc started laughing again and said, "I remember that!" It was a conversation we had as they were wheeling me into the operating room. The other doc said, "I wish someone would operate on me to make me taller". I am 6'1", and my doc is about 6'3". This other guy was about 5' 7" or so. So I said to him, "We could always nail your feet to the floor and kick you in the... well, you know." That got a shocked look from both of them coupled with a second or two of complete silence, and then some uproarious laughter. I went on to say, "The Bible says, "Which of us, by taking thought, can add a single cubit to our stature? We are born the way we are, and height doesn't matter. I was born to be tall and fat." The short doc responded, "Well I was born short and fat, and I would like to be taller!" We all engaged in one final round of polite laughter, and I parted ways reminding my doctor that I would be seeing him in a week. I am pretty much a blue collar guy with a bit of an education. I have had surgeons and other doctors as students of mine. Doctors don't intimidate me. I think I might have shocked them a bit. It was worth it.

Actually come to think of it, I don't think Tricare yet covers VSG. Earlier this year my father had to have his band removed and he want a revision to sleeve, but got another band because Tricare was not covering VSG. Normally plans won't make major inclusions like that until the start of the next year, so I'm guessing they still don't cover it -- but check me on that, I can't guarantee it.

How are you doing? I had band to sleeve revision on jan 23rd. I have lost 15 pounds as of last week. I weigh myself once a week not every day. I go to the NUTRITIONIST on Friday. I can't wait to be able to have new food options. Stay in touch with your progress! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Why do you have to have a revision?

If your insurance covers VSG, but your surgeon does not have admission rights at any network hospitals, you can ask your insurance for an exception. They may pay for you to get it done at that hospital. It's worth asking. Be sure you choose your surgeon with care. Revisions are no joke, and you want a surgeon who's been vetted and is experienced with good outcomes. Obesityhelp.com is a good first resource for that IME. A DS (duodenal switch) is not like an RNY, BTW. Your pyloric valve remains intact, and you don't have a pouch, you have a stomach. A DS involves the same stomach reduction as a VSG, but they do re-route your intestines. It's the heavy duty WLS. VSG is often stage 1 of 2 for DS patients.

Hi all. Looks like I'm one of the very few with complications. I stopped losing weight at 6 months and even the first 6 months added up to LESS than what I lost during prior prep! . I was up 4 days a week at the gym at 5am, eating healthy and still, nothing happened. My surgeon and nut were stumped and we did an intensive 6 week study. I saw him weekly, as well as my nut and we tried everything...raising calorie amt, lowering them, etc. nothing. Finally we did a ct scan and discovered a stricture. Top of my stomach healed too tightly and my stomach created a type of side pouch it seems so basically I could get down much more than I should. And that's the main reason I had the surgery!! I couldn't get full and now even with the surgery, same thing was happening. We did an endoscopy this week and not only saw the stricture up close but also discovered after filling up my sleeve with air, that my stomach is extremely thick and elastic and it was heavily dilated. So, I'm facing a revision to gastric bypass on the 16th. 11 months to the day that I had the sleeve surgery. I'm devastated.

Wow, just wow! Revision 1/31/13 by Dr Cabrera and Venezuela in MX

I am so sorry this has happened to you. I guess I have been lucky because my fiance' has done everything. He took me to the hospital for the surgery and stayed the whole day and into the night and to the ER every time I have had to go, visiting me each day. Took care of everything at home, and took care of me. This happened tp me in 2007 after I had the band. I lost my mother to jealous fits once I went from a size 28 to 16. I had complications with my band and had to have it removed jn April and revised to bypass in July. Now I have a partner who is so unhappy with me. He resents me being sick due to complications from The band and now the bypass. He's had the bypass himself. The only other people that know about it are my grandmother, kids and their Dad. I've only told one of my friends I revised for fear if loosing the others. They all know my band came out and think I went back in to have damage repaired which I did ( 2 hernias, adhesions and scar tissue and liver biopsies). I've had 3 hospital stays since removal and don't want to deal with any more fall out from this. It already looks like I'll be moving out and no longer with my partner once Im recovered enough to do so. I absolutely hate being yelled at, cursed at and stuck at home because of complications. He thinks I'm ruining his life because he took a few hours off of work to drop me off at the hospital- and that I cant go out anywhere. And that he's "picking up the slack". Meanwhile I have a home nurse and my teenagers have been picking up things at the pharmacy and local convience store, their Dad even brought down groceries. And I've started ordering things like Protein shakes on amazon (still on liquids). I hate asking him to do anything as I get comments like he's not my servant. I was so sick post op that my kids were helping me shower, helping me up the stairs and in and out of the chair I've been sleeping on. They've been cleaning the house daily and have taken turns sleeping on the couch so they could help me out of the chair in the middle if the night so i could go to the bathroom.. Week 3 I was finally able to do those things on my own. At one point their father came down to take care of me because they told them how I was being treated. He took me to the hospital for my first snd second stay and a few appointments. It does really hurt to loose people as a result of them not being able to handle your surgery. But it is for the best- what's worse is being stuck there with them. Things haven't been very easy for me since my surgery, but I think he knows I would do the same for him. You know, maybe he isn't the one for you. I will be marrying my fiance' in sickness and in health next year. He already knows I come with sickness. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and Epilepsy along with all of the issues the surgery has caused me. I am so sorry, and I hope things turn up for you.

Hiii everyone I’m Sasha. I had vsg surgery in 2018 and I will be having it revised to bypass 12/22. Looking for any surgery buddies around that time. I’m also excited to read everyone’s journeys on the subject so that I may prepare and not seem so alone. I hope everyone is well on this Saturday❤️

Bypass Revision due to GERD (Horrible Reflux) Good morning, Congratulations to everyone on here who made the decision to become a better version of themselves!!!❤️ Is there anyone in the Atlanta, Georgia area??? My surgery date was 12/22/22… looking for my buddy or twin? I am 5 days post op and the first three days were challenging, but I believe it was to be expected. Just a lot of discomfort. Sooooooo, Vitamins always First and about that drinking water and getting the fluids needed. I drink all of my water with Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier - Lemon Lime - Hydration Powder Packets | Electrolyte Drink Mix | Easy Open Single-Serving Stick | Non-GMO | 16 Stick https://a.co/d/g0ZjYd9 it’s so much easier cold and I sip on it all day long. 24oz and I keep it in a Manna or Yeti cup to stay cold. I get my protein in with Evolve protein drinks and no sugar yogurts and cottage cheese throughout the day. I don’t have a hunger feeling so I have to try and time it. (All very high in protein) Evolve Plant Based Protein Shake, Double Chocolate, 20g Vegan Protein, Dairy Free, No Artificial Sweeteners, Non-GMO, 10g Fiber, 11 Fl Oz (Pack of 12) - (Formula May Vary) https://a.co/d/emMQGGo Ratio Keto Friendly Coconut Yogurt Cultured Dairy Snack Cup, Keto Yogurt Alternative, 5.3 oz https://a.co/d/6msj2k9 Good Culture Cottage Cheese Organic 4% Whole Milk Classic, 16 oz https://a.co/d/06oD97i For my calcium I take 3 chewable supplements of Caltrate Chewables 600 Plus D3 Plus Minerals Calcium Vitamin D Supplement, Cherry, Orange And Fruit Punch - 155 Count https://a.co/d/3a9w3Fn I hope this helps a little.

I don't think your doing anything wrong. Some people just loose slower than others, and its hard to stop comparing yourself to others. I do it all the time on this site. When I was revised I first started to loose weight slow then it sped up like at rapid rate and slowed right back down. This cycle continues for me, but everybody's story is different. That's awesome you are down 23 pounds! Rock on, you got this. Keep up the good work.

I agree. I had the Lapband in 2011, lost 60 lbs but needed to lose about 180 at that point. I've kept it off, haven't really had any issues with GERD or anything else but I've never felt comfortable knowing this foreign object is in me. Plus my husband at the time absolutely refused to even consider having my insides rearranged, so the band it was. The sleeve really wasn't known much back then, and now I'm doing a revision to get the band out and get the bypass (I have long ago kicked that man to the curb). My doctor also wants to do the sleeve, because he says the band and the sleeve kind of do the same thing and there's no point if the band didn't get me where I needed to be.

SHBP (United Health Care & Cigna) with HRA or HDHP both are paying for weight loss surgery effective 1/1/09. You must do several things prior to being approved. 6 Month physcian supervised diet. 6 month Counseling(Or support group in some cases). Must use an State Health approved Center of Excellence. Several people have been approved for surgery and have upcoming dates. Most of these are on ObesityHelp.com. You can read alot under State Forums - Georgia. Also there is alot of information under the revision board. I was all set to do the lapband, but after reading alot of post have just about changed my mind to RNY. What type of problems are you having? Did you just stop loosing weight? Good luck

Hare- I am sorry that you are having problems. I had revision surgery and things have been pretty good since then. If your doctor said it is the worse he has seen, I doubt an unfill will resolve it. Surgery may be necessary. The healing period after the 2nd surgery was much easier for me. My best advice to you is to keep in close contact with your doctor and not to say "Out of sight, out of mind". We need to treat the band with care or we could lose this precious tool! That was the biggest lesson I learned from my slip. Be careful and I hope this is resolved soon one way or another. Best of health to you! If you have any specific questions for me, feel free to ask.

So I found out about a month ago that I'm going to need surgical correction for my band that slips with any sort of fill. I don't want a reposition of the band, I think I want to go for a sleeve. When I was banded, I had 100 lbs to lose. I lost 90 of them with the band, and have gained back about 20-25 with this slip business. Anyway, I find myself incredibly sad about this whole process. As in, I was doing fine with the band, had a bit if reflux, but was managing it ok. This need for surgical correction basically came out of the blue, and now I'm trying to wrap my head around all of this. I feel like I'm mourning myself. Mourning the person that I was for an oh so short period of time. As in, I see/hear things that reminded me of the me last summer that was happy with my body for the first time in my whole entire life. This weekend, I drove by the Victoria's Secret store that I spend $300 (!!!) at this past summer, when I was at my low for a couple of months, to restock my entire undies drawer. Never in my life have I had such a great undies wardrobe. They all matched! Now, of course, none of those things fit me and I'm back to wearing one bra all week until I can get to the weekend and wear a sports bra while my one bra goes through the wash. Back to shitty Wal-mart underwear. Anyway, driving by that VS this weekend nearly sent me into tears. And then, me being me, I snowball the whole thing. So I'm self pay, which means I paid for my band out of pocket, and will pay for revision out of pocket. So I paid $10K the first time around, looking at $15K-$20k this time. Will I screw us out of being able to get the bigger house that we want to raise our kids in? Will I screw my kids out of their college funds? Then, I proceed with the mourning....find myself thinking about something while I'm driving, and suddenly I'm in tears. God forbid there are complications after surgery....I've actually researched bankruptcy options. Am I crazy? For anyone wondering, I plan to start counseling in the next week or two. Do you know what I'm talking about? Did anyone go through this mourning period?

I have already been sleever (a revision from the band) I did not tell my doc ahead of time, but did tell him upon my return. He had no problem ordering my labs.

Give yourself some time to heal. I'm sure you'll be feeling better with each passing day. Right now that may sound like a load of it , but hang in there. Everybody says it gets better and it will. Congrats on your surgery. I'm scheduled for band to sleeve revision on April 18. Please keep posting and let us know how you're coming along.

I saw a woman who is looking to get a revision to bypass or DS because she lost 140lbs with the sleeve, then gained back 125 of those pounds. How does that happen? Sent from my EVO using VST

Anyway, the point is, it's surgery day and I'm trying not to get sick at the last minute and HERE WE ARE with the temperature at a high of 46 when we've been in the low to mid 80s the last 4 days!!!!! Colorado sucks. Went to the ER Wednesday night for insane abdominal pain and vomiting. 5 hours, lots of blood work, and a CT scan later, and there's no appendicitis, no intestinal blockage, no bowel blocks, and no sleeve leaks or rupture. What I DO have is a very large uterine fibroid that the doctor thinks might be causing the pain. Incidentally, I also saw from my blood work is my liver is enlarged and my kidneys and pancreas don't look to be functioning completely normally. Yay. This afternoon I have the surgery to remove the nodules from my duodenum. Wish me luck!!! Hopefully it's the last one and then I can be cleared for my revision from sleeve to bypass and then get back to living my life. In the meantime, guess I'll be looking into what can be done about the rest of this crap. So tired of there always being SOMETHING going on with my body.

I had the band for 2 years, went in for a revision on 9/11, woke up after a 5 hour surgery with no revision. The band had done to much damage. I spent 4 days in the hospital. Anyway, my doctor is going to do an endoscopy (probably sometime in Dec) to see if my stomach has healed and I could get the sleeve. I'm wondering if insurance will cover the sleeve as a 'delayed' revision, or if they will require me to do the 6 months of supervised visits? Anyone else have a similar story? What did insurance require?