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Good afternoon sleeve community. I will have lap band to sleeve revision on May 14, 2013. I am happy, but you know I'm thinking about it. I asked the surgeon yesterday would I have a lot of pain, and he basically said it depends on the individual. I also asked about taking lovenox shots when I get home. I have never had issues with blood clots and I've have partial hysterectomy, tuba-ligation, lap band, and surgery for bone spurs on both feet. I was told at one of my classes that if anyone in my immediate family has had blood clots that I would have to have lovenox shots for 30 days. I told him one of my sisters had them in her lungs and the first thing he asked was if sher had taken birth control pills. I said yes, for over 15 years straight and she smoked. He said her clots were probably due to the pills and smoking. I told him I still wanted to take shots as a precaution and he put a note in for surgeon. I can't believe it's almost here. This Friday I'm going to get the Optifast, and Tuesday, I start my 2 weeks of protein shakes. HELP! I know I can do it. I'll keep you all updated. BTW, anyone know where I download the weight loss tickers? Until next time. Deb

I'd call the company and ask. Even if that insurance company covers more than one weight loss surgery per lifetime (and some don't...), your employer may not have wanted that coverage included in the policy they offer their employees. Also, even when places approve revisions, some of them will only approve them if there's a medical reason for it - something like severe GERD or some kind of malfunction. But I'd ask - you never know.

Coming to a VSG board, you're probably not going to get many unbiased answers. With that being said, see below in blue. Obviously this needs to be 100% your decision, but knowing what I know now, if I were paying out of pocket, I would go with the VSG or DS. I would not self-pay for a lap-band. I have 0% confidence in its integrity as a long-term solution. If it had worked the way it was marketed it could've been the perfect solution, but people just don't seem to be able to keep it in, and functioning properly, for very long. If I'd self-paid for my band, I'd be pissed. My complication was considered a "mechanical failure" and the different band manufacturers do nothing. I'm amazed it's still as sought out as it is. BTW, having had both is called a "revision" (one proedure revised to another). There's an entire forum here for band -> sleeve revisions. Check it out if you want a comparison. But to be fair, also check out www.lapbandtalk.com. There's a complications forum there, you can see what's going on.

Congrats!!! I am also going for the revision sleeve to bypass. Is there a reason why like GERD, or insufficient weight loss? I am hearing more and more of these cases, and glad to know I am not the only one.

Hey Johnathan One of the reasons I was against the band was because it would need adjustments for LIFE! Some surgeons charge per adjustment. To me that seemed like a lot of money! Plus, considering these things are supposed to be for life, they have an awful lot of revision surgery's! I know the sleeve may seem scary, since it removes so much of your stomach. But it calmed me to know that people live very healthy lives after having complete gastrectomys for other reasons (cancers, ulcers, trauma, etc). Plus, with this surgery our stomach still behaves the same way and the way the food enters and exits is the same! It is simply smaller. Yes, there is a small chance of leak, but there are less worries long term then the band. Good luck with your decision! Also, since we are so biased over here (in the best way of course!) you should check out the "lapbandtalk" website as well to get some other opinions as well

Do you feel that the amount you can eat now is drastically different from what you could eat a couple of months out? At two months I already feel a big difference in the amount I can eat, and I was never one of those who could only eat two tablespoons. I am still losing, although slowly, but I worry about this. I saw your post on another board, would you think about revising to the sleeve? I think about it, and might think more seriously about it if I stopped losing totally, but I don't really want to go through another surgery. Do you feel that your food intake (calories) is low enough that if you didn't have the plication you would still be losing? My contention is that the plication slows our metabolism. While I do like the fact that it helps me limit my food intake, without the plication my weight loss is at a much faster pace at the same caloric intake (but of course keeping that low amount of calories is SO hard without the plication...catch-22). That being said, I think you've done really well! I wish I was a size 12! Congrats on all the hard work and the journey thus far.

Hi all I am new to the support group and I am looking to create connection with those going through a similar set of circumstances. Let me set the stage 9 years ago a younger version of myself picked up the phone and called 1800lapband, if I could talk to that girl today....oh well. Any who I did that surgery and very frankly felt like I was being treated much like cattle it was a very bad experience. The lap band didn't really "take" I lost a grand total of 20 pounds and I genuinely kept it off for about 8 years then around August of 2015 I started getting really sick like I couldn't eat the same foods any more everything gave me the thick gross throw up that I lovingly call erping. In 5 months I dropped over 60 pounds and got to the point where I could not hold down water. I will admit it took me a while to go to the DR. because I was like oooohhhhh this is what the lap band is supposed to do ohhhh girl look how good these jeans look on me. I was getting weaker and weaker and finally I said enough and off to the Dr. I went. Turns out I had PARTIAL PARALYSIS of my esophagus. WHAT!!!! So they drained what fluid I had and told me I had to have the lap band removed and have a revision. I chickened out well that and the staff didn't give me warm fuzzies but mainly I sprouted feathers and ran away. During the year that followed I worked my butt off I did Pilates and joined a gym hired a personal trainer as well as a nutritionist, nothing I did worked and all those amazing jeans I bought you know the ones that made my butt glorious got packed away in a rubber maid container because when your body goes into starvation mode and then all the sudden you get food it holds on to every calorie as though it has never seen a calorie before. So 13 months after the day that they removed the fluid and allowed my esophagus to take a well deserved break I have gained a whopping 100 pounds you read that right 100 pounds. My smallest with the crippled esophagus was 207 and my initial weigh in with the new Dr. is 307. My revision surgery is set for October 9th and in the last 24 days I have lost 9 pounds (298), I am scared, frustrated, excited, worried, did I mention excited. I am ready for changes in my life and I already did the starvation bit so I am confident that I can handle what's coming but that doesn't mean I want to handle it alone.

I had my lapband placed in 2007. Initially I lost about 35 pounds and then stalled. After my hysterectomy I noticed weight gain and went back for more fills and basically had 9/10cc. I have never really felt full and the only thing I can't eat is rice and a bun on a burger. Have never felt full but do produce a massive amount of slime that in turn makes me throw up nearly daily. I can actually feel food go down my stoma such as meat! I have gained all my weight back and then some. Earlier in the Spring I started to notice some refflux but nothing severe. Late this Summer it got really bad and I made an appointment with my surgeons office. She totally deflated my band and I swear it made the reflux worse! I am on Prilosec 40 mg. twice daily and eat tums and rolaids like candy with not much relief. Immediately after she took out the Fluid I started belching horribly and haven't stopped for 2 1/2 weeks. A week after they deflated I had an UGI study and an endoscopy that showed no slippage or erosion of the band but a little bit of a Grade A reflux and the lining of my stomach was inflamed. It has been a week after the endoscopy and over 2 weeks since the band was deflated and I continue to have reflux and a lot of intermittent pain on both my right and left upper abdomen and in the middle of my back. I feel so miserable and I want so much to have this band taken out and do some sort of revision but I have some major health issues that make me high risk for any type of surgery. Has anyone experienced the pain thing and what did they do for you? I have an appointment again next week but I feel just miserable. A few months after I had my surgery I had pancreatitis but this feels worse and I had a fever with that. I refuse to let them ever access my port again as fills are always extremely painful because they have a hard time accessing it. I gained 4 pounds since deflation and I don't have an appetite so I am really scared.

Have you researched the sleeve, or is that not an option for you? With the sleeve, there is no malabsorption, you won't be taking several pills a day, and you have effective weight loss. Also, it's more difficult to stretch out the sleeved part of the stomach. I'm just telling you in case you haven't given that option a look. It's the option that I will go with if I ever need a revision.

It is not allowed by my doctor (lap band) and won't be after I have revision surgery. I had to quit drinking soda for other medical reasons, and then had one after a year or so of not drinking any, and it tasted awful.

I'm revising from sleeve to bypass on 7/1 because of severe GERD. I'll admit I'm going off the rails a bit. I have a perfect sleeve (other than the fact it's trying to kill me with acid) that tolerates all food. Do I know how my frankenstomach will behave after surgery? No. So while I stayed on plan 98% of the time during weight loss (and I'm maintaining a 120lb loss to prove it) I am eating foods now that may bother me after surgery. Last night I had ice cream. Did I eat a pint? No, but ice cream is not something that is a part of my every day diet. Did I enjoy it, yes! Am I going to eat it every day until surgery? No. I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't think a "food funeral" means your not ready for surgery, that you're lying to yourself, or that you won't be successful. We all start this process in our own way and I don't believe I'm hurting myself by having ice cream. Maybe I'm speaking in the voice of a 2-year post op but I really think you need to do what you need to do to get to the starting line. However once you're at that line (the pre op diet, whatever that means to you) you need to be fully committed. I wish all of us luck! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I only had to get a cardia clearance pre-op with my revision.

I have had my band to sleeve revision 10/2/12 & I have only threw up maybe twice & that was from eating too fast. I did the same as you before. I would always make sure I knew where the closes bathroom was before I sat down to eat, especially if I was at a Restaurant. The sleeve was the BEST thing I have ever done for WL, I'm down 61 lbs in 4 months.

I have a friend who is totally against me getting WLS, He is very big into the "Fat Positive" Community and thinks that surgery is a horrible idea. We got into a heated argument about it and he had a bunch of his friends who also have had WLS at some point and regretted it email me. One girl wrote this: "I'll start this by saying, I'm not totally against it. I have seen it work for a few ppl. However, it is literally a lifestyle change. I thought I was ready to have the surgery when I was 19 (24 now). I weighed 427 pounds the day I went to surgery. I am currently down to 302 and have maintained this weight for most of the five years. I don't plan on losing anymore weight bc of the surgery. I am mentally still the person/eater I was before the surgery. Because of the surgery, I no longer can eat meat, carbs (breads, pastas, potatoes) or anything that is not basically a vegetable, fruit, liquid or junk food. I throw up daily because of this. I regurgitate food every time I eat. I get food blockages that can only be alleviated by purging. Basically, I'm a fat girl with an eating disorder. I have to explain to people why it takes me 1 1/2 hours to each lunch or why I have to constantly get up and go to the bathroom at restaurants. My whole life has been surrounded by this weight loss surgery. Because of my age at the time, I was only allowed to get the Lap-Band put in, instead of the actual gastric bypass. So I have a plastic tube around the opening of my stomach and a port in my stomach that gets injected every so often to make my band tighter. When it's tight, food doesn't pass through and then I get sick. After the surgery, I lost 75% of my hair, now deal with adult acne, and have lessened my chances of pregnancy (although it has happened, but I lost the baby). My suggestion would be, if you truly think this is something you want to do, please make sure that mentally you are ready. I thought I was and on day 2 I sat at my kitchen table crying while eating because my brain said I was hungry and my stomach said I wasn't. To this day, I still struggle with the fact that I have a fat person's appetite but the stomach of a 6 year old. upon hearing this I questioned why she simply didn't have the thing removed... Her response: "Because to have the surgery all over again just to have it removed is unheard of and doctors will only remove it if 1. You're getting a different weight loss procedure to replace it or 2. You have been completely successful with it for more than 10-12 years." Is this True?...Can it only be removed if one is to choose another surgery to replace it, or have success with it for 10-12 years?..I'm not trusting one of his friends, This could possibly be a scare tactic to make me sway from getting WLS.. I asked her why not get a revision to band and she gave me some hoopla about not having time and not wanting to put herself through it all again.

I had revision from band to rny on 11/13. Good Lord I feel terrible. I'm very sore, and nauseous. I have been able to get at least 60 oz of fluid down so that's good. My surgeon does not believe in sending patients home with any pain meds, and are giving me a hard time about refilling the Zofran. They sent me home with five Zofran, that's it. I guess because I know how my previous surgery went, that I was sent home with pain meds to last a few days I'm a little irritated. I know that having bypass is so different then band, I feel very strange. How long until I feel better? Sent from my SM-G920T using BariatricPal mobile app

After what feels like a long and strenuous journey, I finally have a surgery date! I am so excited. (And a little nervous). This past month has been super challenging, and I've sometimes wondered if I should be getting surgery right now. I feel guilty because my husband has stage 4 metastatic kidney cancer. He will be starting a new cancer drug, and I will be out of town for close to a week for the surgery. He is fine about me having the surgery, though. He knows I need to get healthy. Anyway!!! Who else is having surgery in March or the end of February? And did I mention the surgery is the day after my birthday? I am asking my family for ramekins (custard cups), tiny sauce cups, dip bowls, appetizer plates and silverware, and whatever else I find might be good to have in my post surgery life. My surgery is at St. Lukes in Phoenix, and My doc is Dr. Juarez. I'm having an open gastric bypass revising an old 1989 stomach stapling.

My scars looked great initially and then formed keloids. I am hoping with revision they use same entry points and I can use some silicone patching to assist with the keloids.

Hi!! I had my surgery last Wednesday (26th)!! It actually wasn’t bad being outpatient ! The gas pains are the only pain I have. I hope the weight comes off. I’ve heard it’s harder with revisions.

I have been miserable with this band since day one .I had it in 2004...lost 35 pounds and now right back to where I started.....Up until this week I have been trying to talk myself into the sleeve but after My upper GI today...the radiologist showed me my reflux on real time and that it!! I want a revision to the RNY...no more hesitating....I want the "Gold Standard".No more quick fixes...I can't afford ulcreration or sleeve leakage and I need to lose about 125 pounds...Bypass please.

Stacy, welcome!! I am a revision, and the reason was I lost some weight with the band (through my own blood, sweat and tears - no help from the BAND) but just like any other diet that never worked once I stopped doing the right things the weight piled back on so fast I didn't know what happened! So I revised to the sleeve through lots of suggestions from some folks. Thanks to them I finally have a tool I know I can work with and keep the weight off. It's really hard to explain, you just have to be there, know what I mean? Do some searches here by "band vs. sleeve" or "revision". Also check out our Band to Sleeve revisions page. You will find a great deal many folks here who have once been banded and are now loving sleeved life. http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/forum/13-band-to-sleeve-revisions/ Good luck!!!

@@Dream4tc insurance companies sometimes make things difficult when one would think our health would be the priority. I am another revisionist (lol). Even though I was in the usual pain post-op I had a relief from having that band removed that I can't describe. It was like a weight removed from my intestines even though the band was empty for a while. I ended up staying in revision surgery longer because of multiple adhesions. Regardless of what I have been through with the RNY, it is worth it no regrets. I had the lap band in 2012 lost about 30 pounds and suffered with vomiting and pain up until my revision late last year. Congrats on your upcoming revision.

I was lucky enough for my insurance company to allow them to do the revision at the same time as the band removal. I originally had surgery in August 2012 to have a lapband put in. I had complications beginning almost on the one-year anniversary once I had the “right” amount of Fluid in the band to make it actually do something. I had my lapband removed on May 27, 2016 and had a revision to gastric bypass at the same time. It was, quite frankly, miserable but now that I’m three months out, it’s the best thing I could have done. I couldn’t live with the pain, reflux and inability to eat anything with band in and because of the slipping, I had the fluid out more than I had it in. After MANY long talks with my doctor and his PA, we decided that a revision to bypass was the best bet. My recovery sucked. The surgery was longer and more complicated than they originally thought it would be because there was so much scar tissue from the band. But, they had already decided that they wanted to do the removal and revision in one surgery, so they did whatever they needed to get it done. I had two drains when I came out of it and the larger drain I had for 17 days. The smaller on, the “JP drain” came out before I went home. Generally speaking, that bigger drain isn’t part of a normal bypass but is more common when they do the removal/revision in one step. I was in pain, nauseous, and uncomfortable until it came out. I was in the hospital for about 5 days. Since it was a holiday weekend, I wasn’t in any big rush to get out in case I had any problems. I was nauseous on Sunday when they talked about letting me go home, so they had me stay. They then decided to order “home health care” to change my dressings for me since my insurance would cover a few visits, but no one was available until Wednesday, so they had me stay until Tuesday. I was pretty stir crazy by then but it was nice to have them there to take care of me but shaving my legs in the hospital was a pain! I had to fight with them on Monday to let me take a shower even though I wasn’t going home. I needed it. I came home and took the rest of the week off. My mom came by almost every day to help me make food—not that I was eating much—and to keep me company. I needed more help because of the drain. It was painful and hard to put on any clothing including a bra because of where it was. It’s called a “G tube” which basically was a drain from the part of my stomach that would no longer have food going to it and it needed to be “trained” that it wasn’t going to be used anymore. It was not pleasant but it was “capped” so not draining into anything before I left so at least I could tape it up to my stomach to keep it out of the way and from pulling or banging into things. Jonathan took me to my first follow up on the first Monday in June and then I was cleared to drive and go back to work. The following week, the drain finally came out. It was a long 17 days. The drain removal was no fun either! They just kind of yanked it out and it hurt for a good 24-hours! It took about 3 weeks for the hole to completely close, but I got pretty good at the gauze changes. They didn’t stitch it or anything, they said the skin would grow back together and it did. It was about the size of a dime at first. Now it is a small scar to match the others from the surgeries. The tape was awful. I found that if I used the sensitive skin kind, which was about $8 a roll at Walgreens, it was better. I was so happy when the hole was finally closed so I could stop taping up my stomach and start wearing a regular bra! So, I’d had a lot of tape on me because of the tube and because of the drain hole. It took a few days to get the residue off! I had to travel on June 24 for our annual meeting. It was exactly four weeks from my surgery. I was going to be gone a week and I was a little nervous about getting through it. I still wasn’t cleared to lift anything and I was still getting tired pretty easily. But, by then I was already 20+ pounds lighter since the surgery so I felt good and actually built up my stamina as I was there. I managed to get food poisoning on my last day in Philadelphia, so that was no fun. But, after a few days, felt better. Three months out now and I’m down over 50 pounds from surgery day and almost 80 from when I started the lapband journey. I will tell you, even though I was miserable immediately afterwards and asked myself everyday what the heck I did to myself, three months out, I’m so glad I did it. I’m basically eating normal foods, albeit nothing too high in fat or sugar, and I’ve not really done too much salad yet but have added back most vegetables. I’m careful with fruit because a lot is high in sugar. The first few weeks after the surgery with the various stages of liquid diet was really hard and I probably started to add things like cottage cheese in too fast, but I needed to chew! I have a few friends who have done the surgery and we’ve created our own little support group so it’s nice. We come to the same events as well so it’s nice to know other people in the room understand how we eat!

Saw my surgeon on Monday and he feels that the decision to move forward with band revision to bypass is the best option for me . I am attending my first of 2 required support group meetings tonight and waiting to receive the list of names and numbers to set up the rest of appointments required by this specific bariatric program. I am hoping within 2- 2.5 months from now I can be ready for my new chapter. Can I please get some updates from people that have been revised and the first few months ... how did your life change ? pain , discomfort , new foods , tired , any thing to put this whole journey into a realistic perspective.

I had my sleeve done in Feb 2017, but after the first year where I lost 100 pounds, I regained about 60. I tried doing pouch resets but they didn't last. I could eat a full plate of food, not as much as I once did (because let's be honest, I probably could eat 2 plates of food), but certainly a lot more than anyone who had had the sleeve should have been able to eat - the restriction was really not there for me. So just over 3 weeks ago I had a revision to RNY (long-limbed). My surgeon and I discussed the possibilities and this was his recommendation based on his experience as a surgeon: People who re-sleeved had the lowest amount of weight loss after a revision People who had a mini gastric bypass (which basically keeps the sleeve but adds a long-limbed bypass - usually about 100-150cm) do great in terms of weight loss, but at least 10% will suffer from GERD afterwards, which will require another surgery People who revised from sleeve to a standard RNY (which is a short-limbed bypass) didn't lose as much weight overall with that procedure People who revised from sleeve to a standard RNY but with a long-limbed bypass did the best with weight-loss and without the complications of developing GERD. So I went with this option (not only because of this, but because of other gastro-intestinal issues I have). In any event, I would talk to your surgeon about what you want to achieve and what is the best option for you, your sleeve, and what your own particular health needs are.

I had bypass 4/29 been stalled for weeks. Glad to know I'm not alone. I keep losing and gaining the same one pound. I'm a revision but I feel like it should be coming off more. He said I'd have a stall weeks three and four but it'd been since then:( Sent from my XT1254 using the BariatricPal App