Search the Community

I had full RNY bypass in 2005 and lost approximately 80lbs. I was able to keep the weight off consistently for about 10 years until I suddenly lost the “Feeling Full” after meals and the weight started to creep back on. I struggled with almost a constant feeling of being hungry, which I had never had, after the RNY bypass. I returned to my original surgeon to no avail. His feeling was that I must be doing something different and not following the same lifestyle. I was referred to another Bariatric doctor who found a gastric fistula (essentially an opening in the pouch), and via surgery installed a metal clamp (also referred to as a bear paw). While this seemed to help initially, something still was not the same as it had been for the first 10 or so years. After much research and visiting several other Bariatric Specialists over the last few years, all while the weight slowly continued to increase, it was recently discovered that a portion of my pouch had attached and formed a connection to my original stomach, thus allowing food to be processed by both the new RNY pouch/digestive path as well as the original stomach/digestive path. Also the metal clamp previously installed was missing, and probably passed in the normal digestive process. This leads me to where I am today, having been informed that the best solution at this point is for a RNY Bypass revision. They will be going in and separating the pouch from the original stomach again, and suturing/stapling both sections off. I am waiting for the official revision date/insurance approvals etc, but the doctors office does not think it will be an issue at all. Fingers crossed that I will be back on my way to weight loss soon.

Can you give us a bit more info? Revision to what, do you mean? To undo the RNY? To a duodenal switch?

OMG, the wait is finally over! I have been APPROVED for surgery!! It's been a long journey, but the day has finally arrived and the wait for insurance is over!! My story: I began my journey to get the Band back in Oct'10 when I switched insurances so I could get it covered! I sought out a doctor that was in-network and had a Center of Excellence. At my first appt in Jan, it took literally 4 hours. Seminar, nutritionist, then consultation with the doctor. During this appt they told me I would have to pay $600 out of pocket for a "program fee" as well as $200 for the pysch eval. OMG, WTF? Why? My insurance pays for all diagnostic testing and 100% of the procedure! I was totally pissed!! (I have Fed-BCBS) Well, I stayed with this doctor because I didnt want to start the process all over again and have to wait for an appt. I did my psych eval, and they submitted to insurance for approval. I had a 3 month supervised diet with a "diet doctor" about a year back so I thought that would be sufficient for the 3 month supervised diet. I called everyday to insurance to see if I was approved. By day 3 insurance told me that they have been trying to get in contact with the doctor's office for 2 days w/out a response because the 3 month diet is too old! OMG, I was devistated! I called the doctor's office with no luck either! I called again the next morning and was only put on hold!! OMG, my blood is BOILING now! These people never took my phone call and never called me back!! (I hadnt paid the $600 yet!) Luckily I had a co-worker who actually had the sleeve done and she referred me to her doctor and told me to contact them and see if they could investigate this 3 month diet thing for me... I did and OMG, what a breath of fresh air this office was!! I wasnt even their patient and they are calling all over to see why I wasnt approved!! How awesome! So, she found out the 3 month supervised diet must be 3 months PRIOR to requesting surgery and must be with the surgeon's nutritionist! WTF??? I have to start all over and now have to wait 3 flippin months for the Band??? OMG, this fat is killing me!! Literally!! I took this oppertunity to do some research and discovered this site. I read ALL the posts about the revision from Band to Sleeve and read Tiffykins story, as well as others, and realized that maybe this 3 month postponement was actually a blessing!!! It actually saved me from having the Band installed!!! They say everything happens for a reason?! Well, this was my reason!! To decide on the Sleeve, a surgery that would actually be best for ME! Anyway, to conclude my long a$$ story, I switched doctors (obviously!) and completed all my requirements, submitted to insurance on 11April and waited in agony for 3 days, hoping I wouldnt get another set back from insurance!! Well, I got word yesterday that I have been approved!!! I am so relieved and happy and excited! I am scheduled to transform my life on the 26 of April!!!! Cheers to all...

The plain and simple side of this, which nobody has commented on is that your doctor was at fault. With the Lap Band AP, the port is to be stitched to muscle. With the Realize Band, the port has metal crimps which are attached to muscle. If your port actually became dislodged and migrated out through the incision, you appear to have grounds for a lawsuit against the doctor. Whatever you recover should MORE than cover the cost of new surgery/revision, port replacement....... Even is he is no longer in active practice, he was when he did your surgery and he had medical malpractice insurance at the time. I urge you to consult a lawyer.

Everything is finally okay. My wound is clean and closed. It's not a pretty scar, but at least the thing is closed. Dr. Billy said I could have a new port in November, but I won't be able to afford one for another year or so. Kelly, if your port is really uncomfortable, they can do a fairly simple port revision surgery. I'm starting to hear that they are placing the ports deeper, because the port too close to the surface can cause problems. Babs, I feel like a walking science project.

The decision to undergo gastric band surgery is a difficult one in itself to make. But findings from a new study have now made that decision even tougher, because an additional surgery – or two, or three, or more – may also be necessary. Nearly 1 in 5 morbidly obese patients who underwent the weight-reduction surgery were forced to have another operation to correct problems related to the initial surgery, states the authors of a paper published today in the journal JAMA Surgery. Among the malfunctions are incidents when the band that wraps around the stomach slips, or the band erodes into the stomach itself. http://www.acsh.org/news/2017/05/17/1-5-gastric-band-surgeries-require-corrective-operations-11290

Hi! I am in your same boat. My original bypass was 11 years ago, and I am having a revision on Tuesday. It is a much more risky surgery because less is known about modifying a previous bypass. My doc is making a smaller stomach pouch and POSSIBLY distallizing (moving the anastamosis between stomach and intestine) further down the line. He tells me that after this process I will likely lose 10-20% of the excess weight. We shall see! Surgery 11am Tuesday. I should add that I see a bariatric team and they are very particular about candidates for revision; I'm not sure I would trust a surgeon who is not specifically doing WLS to make a revision recommendation. The science/data is just not out there yet. So! Good luck! See a doc who knows what they're doing! Let me know if you have questions - I'm happy to update along the way.

I am home now and doing much better. The revision went well and I am officially sleeved!!!! Yay! The pain was pretty bad when I woke up, but the nurses were very good at managing my pain. I stayed over night and came home yesterday evening. Other than a bit of gas pain in my shoulder yesterday, I feel great! Big thanks to Dr. Zane and his surgical team and all you well wishers. I really appreciate it.

hi sue, my pre-op was very similar to yours. the only difference i'm not going into hospital. he has his own surgery center. i didnt meet with the doctor this time. it was the surgical nurse and i felt so comfortable after our meeting. she had a TT 10 years ago and said she would do it in a heart beat again. she went over the good, bad and ugly and didnt sugar coat it. i was glad because i think i have a clear pic of what to expect. they showed terrible pics of what happens if you smoke after surgery. i've never smoked so it isnt a problem but the pics were pretty scary. i'm getting excited too....i actually wished they would have knocked me out then and there and did the surgery....wouldnt have to worry. altho' right now i'm not. but closer to it i may be i have one potential issue but dont think it will occur. i had to have a biopsy because my pap came back a little funny. the gyn doesnt think it's anything but if it was (i find out thursday) then of course i would have to revise this surgery. anyway when i was a kid, when we jumped into a deep pool...my friends and i would hold hands and jump in. so we can jump into this surgery together. oh one last thing...my doctor likes you to sleep in a recliner for the first days. it helps the blood flow which in turn helps healing in the belly area. i tried to rent one to no avail...so i bought one online last night. hope it comes in time. anyway take care josie

I Had posted earlier asking for opinions on Band and Sleeve just because I had been reading so many negative things on the band, especially of revisions and people having so many diff problems. I will definitely be sleeved! I had already researched Dr's before bc I thought originally I would get the sleeve before. I will use either Dr. Borland on New Iberia, LA or Dr. Gachassin/Dr. Eschete at Acadiana in Lafayette, LA. My best friend works in New Iberia and lives in Abbeville so either of these are Great Locations for me since she will be helping take care of me since my family can't take off work here in Ga. Thanks for all your input! Johnathan

Hello all, I was sleeved in September 2012 and lost about 70lbs but have gained it back over the years. I’m having a revision to bypass due to severe GERD. I was looking for some books to read on the bypass procedure and maybe recommended eating plans etc. can anyone recommend a book that helped them? Thanks in advance!

I had my revision on 1/11. My post op this time was much easier than my sleeve. I had hardly any pain and I was able to sleep on my side the first night. My only issue was bad nausea in the recovery room. I had problems with shortness of breath my first week. I didn't use my incentive spirometer enough. Now that I'm 3 weeks out I'm on soft diet. I'm struggling to get enough water in so of course I'm constipated. Other than that I feel good. I've been eating mostly chicken salad, egg salad, ricotta bake and bean puree. I still do a premier shake in the morning, only way I can get in enough protein but I don't like them as much anymore. They are too sweet now.

you can revise sleeve to both gastric bypass or duodenal switch. I know of several people who've had those revisions. you can also revise a bypass to a duodenal switch, but that's a complicated surgery and only a few surgeons in the country are qualified to do it. Basically, they have to completely reverse the bypass, then create a sleeve, then do the intestinal part of the DS (DS is a sleeved stomach with a partially bypassed small intestine) I don't know the answer to your other question (about the pain) - maybe someone else will.

I just got my date on friday and it's 1/30!!! Thankfully i had started my Pre-Op Diet already. I previously had the VSG and i'm getting it revised to RNY. Good Luck to all of you

Oh and ask your surgeon about the revision if you haven't already. One of my questions for my surgeon was is the flap used on my stomach to hold the lapband in going to be undone or do you leave it there and work around it. Well it's actually released and if the scaring is bad the pouch has to be slightly bigger than for someone who never had the lapband. Because they can't cut where the scaring is. My pouch is slightly bigger than some because of that but, she was able to take down that flap so that was good news. My next question for her was.....is there more of a chance of complications for me because of the previous lapband. Her answer...just slightly so intead of a 1/2 % risk it was moved up to 1% for me. My surgery did take a bit longer than normal...I was under for I think 4 hours because she had to take the time to remove that flap. I also had to go home with a drain to make sure there was no internal bleeding...not everyone goes home with a drain.

Hi Tim, I had the lapband as well. It was put in place in 2006, revision due to a slip in 2008 and then had to have it removed in 2010 due to a really bad prolaps. I waited until 2011 to start the RNY process. mainly because I was so dang afraid of all the re-arranging that would have to happen. That's why I got the lapband in the first place. But....I knew I had to do something because I've been heavy most of my life. I had my RNY 7/2012 and I ran into a complication with the main incision. It got infected so had to be reopened. The antibiotics caused me to have an imbalance in my bowel so that the good bacteria and bad bacteria got all wacked - called CDiff. Yet another antibiotic for that...had to do a few boughts with that but, I'm feeling great. Once in a while, I feel a bit off but, it doesn't last long. I'm thankful I didn't have any major complications but, as mentioned above...the rate of complications has gone down drastically from when we had our lapbands. I was told Less than 1% of RNY patient's have complications with their surgeries. Great odds to me! Ask all the questions you have, not one is too silly and all are important for you to understand and feel comfortable. You can ask here but, every question should be run by your own surgeon and follow the surgeons recommendations over any advice here. We all try to help but can only offer you the information we've gone through or experienced. It's helpful for sure especially when you can't get to your surgeon's office right away. YOu'll hear many of us mention you should call your own doc while we offer what we've experienced. Congratulations on your journey with RNY and welcome to the boards. Keep us posted!

Yes cupcake totally agree with u!! I'm going to do it for me, I deserve it!! I didn't have much success with my sleeve but I'm happy with what I lost already but hopefully with my revision I get to lose the rest of the weight and get to my goal weight!!

I am a revision patient....and I took a good long time researching doctors to do my revision just for that reason, the high complication rate....I finally decided on my doctor and when I told him how I vetted him, he was impressed, he said I knew more about him than most of his patients....after our first meeting, I prayed prayed prayed for God to guide his hands during the procedure....I also was very strict on myself during the liquid diet he had me on (did it for 3 weeks instead of the 2 he wanted me to do it) I am determined to be a success...I am very happy with my progress so far...

Hello, I was banded on April 4, 2007. I was at 285lbs and it is now 2009 and I am only at 263lbs:mad:. I have discussed this with my physician because she do not have a clue of what is going on:huh2:. I go get a fill and in less than a week my restriction is gone.:sad: Then I go right back to her and the same thing happens again:frown:. Then she restricted me so much that I could not even get a bottle of Water down. So I went back to get it unfilled. She talked to a DR in KY who told her to have me under fluro, drink barium and look at the band which she did. According to her she do not see any leakage:smile2:, she filled the band again and the same thing happen. I am tired because I have gotten 12 fills in 2 months and this is ridiculous. I have started to see another surgeon, i transfered my medical records to them, and they want me to go through the whole seeing a psychiatrist, and weight loss seminar etc and then he tells me we are going to take a look at the band and see if we can work with it!! I have been working with it for 2yrs. Can anyone give me some feedback of a Dr in Indianapolis who is not going to go through all this and understand what I have been through to help instead of trying to milk my insurance company and my pockets? I know "sorry to hear about my band" lol. Any feedback will be helpful. O and by the way, I work out six times a week for 1 1/2 hrs and my diet is nothing but fresh fruits and vegtables, steamed and baked fish or chicken NO SWEETS AT ALL, NO SODA, NO ICE CREAM none of that, and it is still not working. Can anyone give some advice on a DR. Thanks:lol::mad:

So far so good since my revision from band to bypass 1/14. I've been home several days, drinking my liquids, and taking long walks! My scale jumped about 10 pounds while I was in the hospital (I was mad even though I was expecting it), but I have lost all that and am down 3 pounds from my weight Monday morning. I am hoping that in a few more days I will see better progress as more of the swelling goes down and I lose the rest of this painful gas. The gas has been the worst part. The pain with the conversion is well controlled with the drugs the doc prescribes and you can be up and moving around that first night. Overall, I am still shocked at how "easy" the whole thing was to go through.

Jan 21 revision date

Well I'm up and at em early to begin the "cleansing" process. It's also my 1st day of just liquids. Revision surgery tomorrow. Going to be a long day today (but I've got this, I hope). Happy Sunday everyone and Go Texans!

I just revised from sleeve to mini bypass on Thursday 4/23. I didn't have GERD but my sleeve was stretched and I was regaining quickly. I never expected to feel emotionally the way I am with this surgery. Physically I'm great but emotionally I'm freaking out like "what did i just do to myself" I'm on Clear liquids and they are going down fine, I'm hoping it gets better soon. I'm just scared to death I'll never be able to eat anything again without getting sick or dumping !

Lol, my revision is Monday. I'm thinking more like New Years or Xmas. Or even after that, just not sure if I can wait like 6 months!

Dr. Owens is one of the most experienced Bariatric Surgeons in California having performed over 7,000 weight loss surgeries. He performs all surgeries using laparoscopic technique including patients with BMI's over 60. Over 500 lap bands placed. Patients with BMI's of 30-35 now considered Dr. Owens is the first in Southern California offering Sleeve Gastrectomy. His surgical skill includes routine and complex revisions. His research papers will be presented in June at the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Dr. Owens uses experienced Bariatric surgeons only as assists on all patients. Preferred surgeon for Hispanic patients. Bilingual Patient Coordinators/ Seminars and support in Spanish and English. Visit our web site at http://www.CoastalObesity.com or call us toll free at (888) 527-5222 .