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I had RNY gastric bypass surgery over 4 years ago. I did this primarily for many health issues that were creeping up on me including high blood pressure, diabetes, GERD and sleep apnea. These conditions went into remission within a few weeks after surgery. One of the reasons why I choose RNY was because I had severe acid reflux. One of the individuals in our bariatric surgery support group meeting had the band but after several years, the band started to erode into his stomach and it became a life threatening condition. So he had it removed and replaced with gastric bypass. He was pleased with he results. The only thing in his case was that the band had created a lot of scar tissue and when they revised him to RNY his pouch was a little smaller than most. Therefore he adjusted by having smaller meals but increased the number of meals to compensate. As far as taking vitamins for the rest of my life, that was a concern prior to surgery. But I am off all 4 prescription meds that I was taking prior to surgery. The cost of all my vitamins is cheaper than all my prescription meds. The only inconvenience is the time spacing. I tried B12 shots for a few months but I had my wife administer them to me in the arm. I noticed that she turned her head away just before she put the needle in my arm. She is afraid of blood. Therefore I stopped doing this and went with sublingual B12 daily. These tablets actually taste good and are enjoyable to take.

Thanks Sue! I actually had my yearly check-up yesterday and my doctor thinks it could be a hernia. I still have about 30 lbs. to go, so not sure where I'll go from here. My new insurance does not cover my band, so now I'm worried if I do go for the tummy tuck and I need a port revision, it may not be covered. I guess I'll just have to take it one day at a time. Sue, I live in Lowell, MA. Nice to see a neighbor!

Has anyone had to get a port revision through Tricare? If so, please contact me. I'm having some trouble with approval and I've got a leak in my port!:biggrin:

It seems to vary. I have bcbsil and am trying for revision. It has been going back and forth between insurance and my doctor for about a week, but I have read about people being approved through them in a matter of days. I have also read of some people not having to do the 6 month diet plan through some plans with bcbsil.

It really depends upon your insurance company. If your doctor is able to convey how the band needs to be removed and your need for a tool to maintain a loss, you just may be able to get the sleeve. It's going to be really important for you to consult with your doctor and see if he/she is on board with a sleeve. You may have to jump through a few hoops, but it will be worth it if you are able to get the sleeve. By the way, I have read of people getting a revision with a low BMI if the lapband has to be removed for medical reasons.

Hi there Gaining weight quite rapidly with the band... When (mean what weight or bmi) did you start thinking about revison? I am self pay. Lost 6 stones and gained 2 back over the summer. Banded for 4 years Thanks

Hello I just joined this group today, I did not know they had an app for gastric bypass. I I had the RNY almost two and a half years ago. But about 2 to 3 months out I was already having difficulties, constant vomiting food would get stuck, my pouch felt like it was going to fall, as if it was being held by a thread. My husband was in the army and got out of active duty two months after I had surgery, so when we moved I was unaware that other doctors don't like to see patients that had surgery by other doctors. I finally found a doctor at about 7 to 8 months out, I was so excited. Although I had to do things on my own and learn from the book I was provided for 5 to 6 months. The doctor I found was clueless about RNY, he didn't even know what blood work to run to check on my Protein and Vitamin intake. He put everything off, finally did an endoscopy and found a hiatal hernia. I told him that I also had horrible acid reflux, I've never had reflux before which he found acid in my pouch. He told me he was going to put a camera in my pouch to see how often acid would come up. Well 6 months later nothing, i was taken to the ER for vomiting pure acid for 2 days and couldn't eat. The ER did an upper endoscopy also, they found an ulcer in my pouch, along with swelling along the line where my intestines and pouch connect. They also found ischemia in my pouch meaning not enough blood flow. They told me to contact my gastric dr. And that I needed a revision immediately. Well I spoke with my doctor and he said that we could not do a revision right now due to the fact that my body wouldn't be able to handle it and I could die on the table. I started bawling and asked him why he waited so long for it to get this far and he tried to make it sound like it was my fault my husband was so angry. Now that I am almost two-and-a-half years out I am looking for a new gastric dr. But it almost seems impossible. I have a doctor a primary doctor that is helping me search for a bypass Dr. due to the fact of what I'm going through, I black out a lot my last blackout was in the shower and I hit my head on the toilet and then later on that day I blacked out again and skinned and bruised both my knees. Abdominal pain, I have pain management, black out after cleaning for an hour. I can't be outside in the sun for more than 30 minutes I will either black out or get blurred vision. I'm always in the ER for rehydration I drink Pedialyte Water and G2 beverages. There's times to where I can't even eat , I blame the second doctor for it because I told him about it when I first became his patient at 7 or 8 months out. So I fired him, now I'm looking for another gastric bypass doctor, he didn't even know what blood work to do to check for all my labs. I have 1 day of energy then sleep 3-4 days , I get dizzy spells , headaches, blackouts, blurred vision, my teeth are rotting from the gums up I'm trying to find another doctor to give me vitamin shots do to malabsorption I used to weigh 258 pounds and then I got down to 125 got back up to 145 then for some reason I couldn't eat and had the runs of it looked like bile for 7 days and got back down to 128 now I'm trying to gain weight again. I can't exercise due to doctors notes, I can't work due to doctors notes and I can't see a psychologist due to the fact that they can't help me because mentally I'm fine it's my physical situation that I need psychologist. I can't get a revision until the ulcers heal I now have 2, and the swelling goes down. If I have a revision and I get ulcers again my next revision will be removing my pouch and conecting my small intestines directly to my esophagus. Does anyone else have anything like this that they may be going through? I asked my doctor if I had P.O.T.S. because I match all but 1. Racing heart beat. My lowest blood pressure was 95/36 my highest was 132/98 due to I felt horrible that day. Sent from my SM-N910T3 using the BariatricPal App

Welcome Barbara! Congrats on your revision surgery and thanks for sharing your story!

Just playing devil's advocate, would your surgeon go for a sleeve first, then finish the switch later if you needed it still? Granted, the revision isn't going to lose as much as the virgin procedure, but you could have a plan like.. if you start regaining and get to 30lbs that you'll do the revision then.

I've had the lapband for about ten years. The last few years it hasn't been working so I went to the doctor. He said my esophagus was dilated. I went to the gastroenterologist to see if this was going to cause long term problems. He did an upper GI and apparently my esophagus is the size of a stomach. He thinks the band is putting pressure on my vagus nerve and has fused my esophagus to paralyze. Has anyone had issues this extreme and had sucess with a sleeve revision? I'm concerned that my esophagus will just stay huge and store food.

I am scheduled for a lapband to gastric bypass revision on June 28th. Anyone else having bypass on that day?

So, I had my revision on the 11th and I'm at my post op appointment. I just met with the dietician and she sure busted my bubble when she told me not to expect to lose the weight like I did before. I'm going to ask the doctor when he comes in but that was a very discouraging thing to hear. Has anyone else been told this?

When I started the process to get approval for my lapband surgery in 2010, I had three children aged 19, 15 and 9. I told them in my pre-op that I wanted to be able to keep up with my youngest child-a very high energy young man. I'm in the process of revising to sleeve and yes, I'm doing this keeping my kids in mind. I want to be around long enough to see my children grow up (now 25, 21 and 15), finish schooling, get married, have kids, etc. I don't want my weight issues to burden them in the long haul.

I'm 10lbs less then I ever was with the band....zero problems, and it was cheaper. SELF PAYERS should consider the sleeve FIRST, and then only consider options if the sleeve won't work for them. The band procedure, aftercare, and eventual repair costs are not a good deal for a selfpay person. The othe quality of life issues are a no brainer........GET A SLEEVE, before the band creates so much scar tissue or other problem, that you can't revise safely.

What type of surgery are you planning on having? I had a revision from the band to the sleeve a little over 2 weeks in Mexico with Dr. Aceves. I can attest to the fact that the care was excellent, the hospital was clean and modern, and the surgery was a success.

I had band removed and revision to RNY all in the same surgery. Sent from my SM-G935V using the BariatricPal App

Hi rx! There is a forum at this site that is all about band to sleeve revisions. Many good informative posts there about this part of the challenge. In summary, sleeve is much much much better then the band. I have had great results. The risks of the sleeve are higher at the beginning (ie leaks, excessive bleeding) and those risks are higher for a revision. However, after the initial healing period, the complications are so much less with the sleeve. No vomiting, no slipping, etc etc - and the best part, the weight loss is much better with the sleeve!

Looking for VSG friends! I am just starting the process so I wont be actually going through revision until Feburary 2013, I made a Facebook page, I'm in need of advice, encouragement and reassurance that the sleeve and revision is the right choice! I feel it is but don't want to regret it! You can't get that stomach back! :-/ feel free to add me to your Facebook, my user name is Rxtine Vsg Hope to meet some cool people and feel better soon!! <3

Hi guys- This is a long rambling post because I wanted to journal my story, so if it's of no interest to you you won't hurt my feelings!😁 I just got a lab band to RNY revision a week ago. I've an old band that was making me vomit quite often, and even though the xrays show the band to be perfect the surgeon said it still had to come out. I was lucky that he only requires a three day liquid diet since that was tough. When they admitted my the morning of my surgery the nurses asked if I was suicidal and I told them that it wasn't a good time to ask me that. When I got my band the nurses in the recovery room saw me groping my stomach after I awoke, and they asked me what was wrong. I told them I was sure that they had put me to sleep and then found something wrong and woke me right back up so I was checking for bandages. Nothing hurt-there wasn't any gas pain. This time I awoke in the recovery room to hear a woman moaning piteously and it took me a second to realize it was me. This hurt WAAAAY more than I expected. But the nurses immediately gave me a painkiller and that helped a lot. Part of the problem was when the surgeon actually got inside me, he found not only had my band slipped, but I had a hiatal hernia to repair also. Surprise! That added to the excessive pain. Then they get you back to your room and the drinking game commences. They line this little cups in front of you like shots at a bar and expect you to sip them down. This is while you have raging chest and neck pain from the gas and just want to sleep. The nurses where nice and not giving me a hard time about my lack of effort, but I sipped at a less than stellar rate. What I DID rule at was the walking. The first time they made a nurse walk with me but after that I was free to go as I chose. I walked long and fast (as I could, dragging an IV pole with me..) lapping other walkers in the hall. I wanted these gas pains gone!! So I walked and walked--even at 4 in the morning. And after lapping one lady twice she hailed me to slow down and walk with her. Her surgery had been two days ago, and she was astounded that mine had been less than 14 hours ago. But then back in my room all I wanted to do was sleep. They kept waking my up for vital signs, and even though I only had a small touch of the diabetes they kept doing the fingerstick blood sugars. But they didn't really hurt so I didn't mind. What I hated was they kept giving me all sorts of pills to take. Choking down a pill on a sip of water with raging neck pain was not fun. And my BP was only slightly elevated, actually normal for me, but most of those pills were for HBP. The next morning I got up to take a walk and then broke out into a cold sweat and felt faint and nauseated, so I rang for a nurse. They took my BP and found it as 90/50. So at least I didn't have to take those pills for a while. I'm glad my surgeon said I could stay two nights. I couldn't have left after the first night if they'd have kicked me out. But I was being able to drink an ounce of fluid in an hour finally. I was proud of that until they came back into the room and said "now we want you to drink 4 ounces an hour. By the next day I think I only accomplished this feat once, but they agreed to discharge me late the second day. Here's where it got interesting. I live 5 hours away from where my surgery was. One of the disadvantages of living in a rural area. My husband isn't in good health and we have three dogs, so he stayed behind while I took Amtrak to get to the hospital. After they discharged me I thought (correctly) that riding the train back the same day could be bad, so I laid up in a hotel 1/2 from the hospital until I went back the next day. I didn't want something to spring a leak while I was on a train. I should have known it was going to be a tough trip when the Uber dropped me off, and the Metro station was closed! Luckily there was a free shuttle to the next station down the line. I got on the train, and for the first time in my 20+ train trips, the dang thing lurches to a stop where they find a problem. So we were delayed 4 hours on a already 5 hour tip. At least we didn't have to switch trains--they brought a new engine to us. So my advice is if you can get surgery closer to home, do it. Of course it could have been worse--I understand many self-pay people have to go out of the country. I should consider myself lucky that it was only 5 hours away. I had the terrible "buyers remorse" that you read about here but think it won't happen to you. But in only lasted about 3 days and I turned the corner about two days ago when miraculously I could drink down amounts more than I could before. It's still not 64 ounces, but much better than it was. So I think I've lost the "buyers remorse", especially since I weighted for the first time and I'm already down 10 pounds... So read this, if you wish, and for all the griping I did here, it was worse than I expected but that feeling only lasted about 4 or 5 days. So if your considering WLS go for it, but don't have unrealistic expectations, prepare for the worst and you'll be happy if it isn't that bad! And hang in there if you are recovering..it WILL get better, I promise!

@MysteryJess Hi Jess, I had the same experience you are having with no limits to the amount of liquids I could take in, and I was afraid my stomach was not made small enough. My guess is that the doctor is somewhat right in that you never know how a person's body is going to react to the procedure, Maybe it will help to go back to the materials you received before the surgery. I will say I just had a revision gastric sleeve to gastric sleeve on December 2 and my ability to tolerate or desire for liquid is not there. In fact, sometimes it feels like something is blocking the opening from my esophagus to my stomach if I drink too fast and for a few brief seconds I cannot breathe with the pain. I am sipping water all day and I mix it up between water and clear protein water. I think mentally there is times where I know I can fit more, but I stick with those little cups and realize just because I can does not mean I have to take in more. I feel a little out of sorts and frustrated, especially with still being on stage 1. I meet with the surgeon tomorrow ad we shall see. I really wanted to answer you because I was in that same place 6 years ago. My sleeve back then was the size of a banana and depending on the banana - a lot fits in there. I eventually grew my sleeve back to 2.5 times the size. The surgery was not a waste of time, you have to go back to all of those reasons you chose it in the first place and find your happy medium. Definitely talking your doctor, nutritionist, support group, and anyone who can help you feel strong in those moments you doubt yourself. Kind regards, Mya

Alindsey, I totally understand. I'm 5'5 and 250, BMI of 41, which barely qualifies me, I'm seeing the surgeon on Thursday. Also, I'm a band to sleeve revision.... Totally regret not having the sleeve, I realize I am not in control and if I don't get help with the sleeve, then I'm not sure what I'll do. Hopefully I won't need to make other plans and I can focus on getting healthy with the sleeve Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Just wanted to check in had my port revised on August 8th what had happenen was where the port pokes out of the muscle the tube should move freely with movement from your body my case the area healed and there was scar tissue and it was fixed in an akward position that did not allow movement and it flipped the port well it pulled the port out of the muscle my doctor said he has never seen that before well it seems to be ok though now I am on antibiotics because they did so much work in there and fluid built up however I have lost 36 pounds in 2 months but all this is listen to your body and ask questions we can all tell when something is not right and the port wasn't so hopefully everything is done and I can get on my way I have had one fill and it is giving me restriction and they said it usually don't have restriction after one fill thanks for reading bye

Has anyone had a sleeve to bypass revision? I have reflux really bad and am told that will help. I had surgery done 3.5 years ago, unfortunately in the last 6 months I have also started gaining weight. Can I expect to lose weight if I do this? Also trying to figure out how to get insurance to pay as it is to relieve the reflux, weight loss is secondary.

I've not had a revised sleeve, but I revised from lap band to sleeve. Full disclosure, I went several years in between surgeries. BUT, I can say with experience that the weight loss was (and continues to be) slower to come off the 2nd time around. Another case in point: a friend of mine who also converted from lap band to sleeve lost a total of 6 pounds in her first 2 months! Be patient. Stay the course and it will happen.

@@jellybean04 Yes, I am going to have my 3rd WLS. I first had the lap band and had a huge host of problems with it and was the beginning of my GERD problems. When I revised to the VSG in 2010 it wasn't as known as it is today that if you already had GERD pre-surgery you really aren't a good candidate for VSG. I have extremely awful GERD, worse than ever. I wake up in the middle of the night choking and I sound like I have a sore throat all the time. Believe it or not there are medical reasons for someone to have revised 3 times, and I am one of them. I am currently working with my Bariatric Surgeon to revise to the Rny Gastric Bypass. All that said, I was incredibly successful with my Sleeve. I love my Sleeve still, I am 3.5 years out and in spite of my issues it still works for me. We will just have to part ways and I will get a new tool. Take care, and good question.