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Thanks guys, and I'm glad you posted Tiffkins. I knew you had a revision also, but couldn't remember the details. So, Tiffkins question for you as you seem so knowledgeable about the different surgeries. I'm really leaning towards the Sleeve, but I feel I really need to understand the other options out there but scooping information up from this website and that website and on and on is getting overwhelming and still not really giving me a really good way to understand what my best option would be. I understand speaking with a Bariatric surgeon is a good start, and I will do that as soon as I finish a couple of their hurdles- but a concern I have is that that surgeon typically will specialize in certain procedures which is fine- but then I'm still not going to have all the facts on all the different WL procedures. I'm considering calling my PCP tomorrow and see if he might be any help with helping me digest the information- but as a GP, I'm not sure that's going to yield me the results I want either. I just don't want to hop on the latest fad because its popular right now and then regret it later. Keep the comments coming.

The easiest way for me to break down the surgeries for you is: RNY and DS both malabsorptive. DS is the most complicated, and most drastic with a true switch in how your body metabolizes food, fat, calories. High fat intake is necessary, and the Vitamin regimen is on average of 20-30 Vitamins per day, and this is not an exaggeration. RNY had too many long term complications, and far too many people looking for revisions due to stoma or pouch stretching and high incidence regain. DS was a no go for me. You could not pay me to have that surgery. Sorry, but the malabsorptive rate on DS is far too much for me to accept. I know it's a great surgery for some, but honestly I figured if I couldn't lose and maintain with a restrictive only procedure then I didn't need to be having WLS to begin with. All of the others you've listed are, would not be an option for me, nor did I do tons of research on them. The mini GB is a waste of money. So many people have revised to the full GB because of lack of weight loss. RNY with ring or band is just wasteful and most end up revising, most good surgeons won't In my blog, you'll find my reasons for choosing VSG over RNY for my revision. Google : DS long term complications and vitamin regimen Check out obesityhelp.com and look at the revision board, and RNY board so you can get a good view of other people's experiences. I know more people with complications with RNY and DS than I care to count. Also for me, I found great comfort in doing research on gastrectomies performed for stomach cancer and ulcer patients. Gastrectomies have been performed for over 30 years, and I found a lot of people living very full, healthy, with either most or all of their stomachs gone. The sleeve has actually been performed as the first stage of the DS for around 20 years. It was actually started as the first step for patients with BMIs over 60 as a safety precaution to get them down to a safer weight to either revise to DS or RNY later after losing some weight. The techniques have now been standardized after the first studies came out showing a higher incidence of slight regain (10-20% bounce back) was seen when bigger bougies were used in the stand alone procedures. When the standard size dropped from 50-60fr to 32-40fr bougies, the numbers for complications, weight regain, hunger returning, all decreased. The bougie is the measuring tool they slide down your throat that the surgeon uses to guide the stapler while dissecting the fundus away from the "sleeved" portion of the stomach. The VSG became a noted successful stand alone procedure when those same super morbidly obese patients didn't need the 2nd stage surgery to DS or RNY. Results were that good, that they started offering to lower end BMI patients, and it's since gained in popularity. New research results will be out next summer from 2 of the pioneers of VSG. Dr. Cirangle and Dr. Jossart. I could seriously go on and go on. And don't want to overwhelm you. I think being informed is great, but make sure you get the good, bad and long term ugly on all of the options. The vitamin regimen, and personal friends in real life I have that have dealt with RNY kept me from having it. Neither the DS or RNY fit my lifestyle, and I wasn't willing to have a surgery that would not last a lifetime since I had already had one that failed me miserably.

I haven't had my surgery yet, but I was told to stay on mine right through surgery, but use a back-up form of birth control for the first month or so post-op. I know birth control pills can be less effective in bypass patients, since bypass is a malabsorption procedure, but I hadn't heard of it being a concern with sleeve patients.

My revision date is tentatively set for 12/5

Has anyone had any luck getting an insurance company to reimburse a self-pay? My insurance company (Aetna) had very restrictive guidelines for lapband so I wnet ahead and self-paid. Two day after my surgery, I recieved an approval for gastric-bypass from Aetna. Gastric bypass was not the right surgery from me so no great loss. I would like to get some reimbursement or at a minium coverage for fills, etc. What do you think?

Thanks for the response. Well went to the dr for my followup and she suggested adding an additional scoop of Protein to my ready to drink. So I have doubled the amt of protein without having to increase volume. She said even though I am not having any trouble drinking she is still concerned with stressing the revision with all the complications.

It just says it excludes "surgical and non-surgical treatment of obesity, including morbid obesity." I'm assuming that means even with complications related to obesity and would exclude lapband, gastric bypass, etc. Does this mean it's hopeless?

Just be sure to read the whole sentence...it might say, "...specifically excluded except in the event of..." Other than that, though, specifically excluded generally means your employer didn't want to pay for that benefit. Well, wait a minute, does it say that the LapBand is specifically excluded or that wls in general is specifically excluded? There are cases where the band wasn't allowed but bypass WAS, and the doctor wrote letters and it WAS paid for. So, can you be more specific on EXACTLY what the policy says?

I think it would depend most on why his cholesterol is high. If its because of diet yes it will reduce. If its because of genetics it might not. Excersise is the only thing besides medication that will help with genetic high cholesterol according to my doctor. We had a long talk about cholesterol one day because she had to increase my lipitor from 20mg to 40 despite the fact that have been conciously on a low cholesterol diet of sorts for the last 10+ years. I started to get really upset. Cause we do eat very little fatty foods. She said mine must be more due to genetics then diet and that was why she had to increase my dose. But heck losing weight and getting more excersie will help with all of his health matters in some form, so even if it doesn't handle/reduce the cholesterol he still has other good reasons to do somekind of WLS. I can't blame him for not wanting a bypass the fact they cut up and rearrage internal organs turned me off of it too. lol plus everyone I know personally whos had the bypass have nasty side effects or are gaining their weight back!!

Hi everyone my name is Nancy just wanted to give an update I had gastric bypass on 6/24/15 of this year and as of today down 105 lbs. Best decision ever. Still have more to go but I'm enjoying the journey...below are some pics before and now......

It is a sad but real thing that happens as we lose weight. Friends tend to become very jealous and try to sabotage our efforts. I was banded on 1/30/08 and sad to say but I have lost my best friend over it. I never thought I would have lost her over this, but I did have to say good-bye to the friendship. My health and well being are more important to me than an angry bitter friend. She had gastric bypass in 2004 and lost 145 lbs. She didn't take care of herself and has since regained all the weight. She ate fast food daily and never made the commitment to overcome food. So when I decided to get the lap-band she made fun of me and basically said I would fail. Well since I have done extremely well she became really nasty to me. So I have prepared myself to get rid of any nasty negative people in my life who cannot be supportive. I need to be healthy for myself and my family. Good luck to all of you:biggrin2:

Wow Ladies... I am feeling so blessed right now. I have a very good friend at work who has done the bypass, and her husband is recently bypassed. She has just gotten back on the stick, so to speak, and lost another 15 pounds (her total loss is something over 100). Her hubby has lost nearly 65 by now and is doing very well. She's been so supportive of my decision to have WLS, and we talked endlessly about both options. I decided on the band, and she's been 100% supportive. I do have another "friend" (in quotes because she is sometimey) who I KNOW will not be happy about the surgery. She struggles with her weight as well, but since she's 6' 3" tall, it doesn't show as much on her! I just know that when I'm doing well, she's not as happy for me as I think she should be. She's happiest when she's doing 'better' in our internal competition. I don't understand it at all - why would you NOT be happy for a friend that was getting healthier, especially when you KNOW they've been struggling? I hope I don't have to deal with that...since I don't have a LOT of close friends, I would hate to lose any of them...not everyone earns the title of Friend with me - most people are 'friendly acquaintances' and I leave them where they are. My 17 year old has a favorite song, part of the lyrics are "You see me...Hi Hater!" Jill Scott also has an awesome song titled "Hate on me Hater" that fits the situation perfectly. Hang in there ladies! :thumbup:

Ok this is the story, I am three years out and I have lost 80lbs.I have had one fill six weeks after surgery and a complete unfill two months ago. My current weight is 155. I have a slipped band and I will require surgery soon. I am a self pay and I have not even paid off my last surgery yet. My husband will probably divorce me because we can’t afford another surgery. My band was completely fool proof until three months ago. I loved it, after four or five ounces of food I felt like I had eaten a thanksgiving dinner. Occasionally, I would overeat, eat to fast or be too hungry, the result was vomiting. People call it purbing, “productive burping.” Perbing is the dirty little secret of having a Lap-band. Perbing is vomiting and ultimately it can cause a prolapsed stomach. After a bout of what I thought was stomach flu, I vomited more than usual. The symptoms were the onset of reflux, stomach pain and more vomiting. The night time reflux became so bad that I aspirated and contracted pneumonia. I have been on anti-biotics, Nexium and Carafate. I now have ulcers and my barium upper GI showed that I am damaging my esophageal sphincter. I had an endoscope under fluoroscope and the bottom line is I have to have surgery and have my band fixed, revised or removed. I have an appointment with my original surgeon on Friday. I am not sure how this will all turn out but I want others to be aware that you can slip your band years later, after no problems and a good weight loss. I you eat until you vomit, you are eating too fast or too much. I have pretty good insurance, but they will not cover the Lap-band. If I have any more complications with my second surgery I will be bankrupt. I never considered these possibilities when I had my initial surgery. Would I have the LAP-BAND surgery knowing what I know now? Yes, absolutely I would have the surgery again. I love the result, losing this much weight has changed my life. I will figure it out, I will figure out how to pay for it, my husband will not divorce me. I will keep you all posted…….Jennifer

Hi I just wanted to let you know that not only did I stall until they found the right restriction, I was gaining weight. I thought really am I the only person in the world who has weight loss surgery and gains weight. Just try to remember that it is a process. A friend of mine had gastric bypass and she told me it took her three years to get all her weight off, so to be prepared for a long journey. I have to remind myself of that constantly because I still work out and I would like the weight to fall off. You know like to wake up and all my weight have been gone. But that is not happening to me,. As of now I am losing at a SLOW but steady pace. Just try to keep the faith and now that you will start to lose, it just might take awhile. Good Luck.

Thanks guys! She was pretty interested, she has never had a lap-band patient before and only 1 bypass patient... So she was a little wary, just because she didn't really know anything about it. I tried explaining a little but she said she was really interested and would love to do some more research on her own, I'm hoping she gives the surgeon the go ahead!

@@LessOfMe0503 @@fitme Congrats on your decision to improve your life! As I mentioned earlier in this topic, I often attend support group meetings where there are every type of surgery patient's in attendance. I see people ( even some I consider friends ) who have had Sleeve and bypass surgeries who are as big (or bigger) than pre-op. Not to say every band patient is 100% sucessful either, but at least we have another option except being told to diet. You'll see people on this site who get on here and say things such as "my surgeon doesn't do lapbands anymore because they don't work", yet EVERY one I've personally contacted ( and I have contacted several over the years ) tell me quite the opposite. I'm sure there are bariatric surgeons who don't perform band surgeries, but the reason isn't always what is thought. This site used to let you see each person's surgeon, experience level, etc....not anymore. Best wishes!

Hey everyone. I wanted to thank each and every one for your continued support with my gastric bypass journey. I am almost 2 weeks out and start the puréed diet next week. My doctor says I can have flaked fish, eggs, and other things. I was wondering what other flaked fish I can have and how did some of you prepare it and what other foods did you have during this diet? I am excited to start trying new things cause soups get tiring after a while. Also, I cannot muster putting things in a blender so I don't think I will be doing that.

So I have had my band in since 2011, about 6 years. Nothing is wrong with it, I had an upper GI and all was fine. I have gained all but about 20 lbs of the weight back, and I never lost as much as I wanted to from the beginning. My doctor won't give me a fill as food gets stuck all the time and he says my band is at the correct restriction. He wants to do a revision to a sleeve, but I am worried about the long term complications of having over half of my stomach cut out. I haven't heard of anyone with the sleeve for 20-30-40 years or even longer. I am 37 so I would have to live with this for a long time. I made the wrong decision before and I don't want to make it again and end up on the operating table again in 5 years. Anyone out there who has had the sleeve for a long time, or anyone who had a band to sleeve revision longer than just a few months ago?

I would check with your doctor to see if you're even supposed to be taking Vitamins yet, which may be why they're making you sick. I had my band to sleeve revision on the 14th and I'm not allowed to take any vitamins until my 2 week post op appt on Tuesday. And then, it supposed to be in liquid form since I'm on liquids only for 3 weeks. Your post op instructions may be different, but just a thought.

I'm heading in for appointment number 1 today. I've got my binder all ready to go. They are going to think I'm a nut. It has the notes I took during my information session via webinar; a calendar for the several date options I would like to consider based on my teaching schedule (April, May, July); my documentation proof of 6 months of supervised diets as required by my insurance; copies of recent blood work and EKGs from my recent gallbladder surgery; pages of stuff I've found on this site and most importantly my list of questions for today. I've been thinking about WLS since 2004 when my then 60 year old mother had her bypass. I was heavy, but not heavy enough. I can remember joking with my PCP about being more than capable of gaining a few more pounds to qualify. But at the time I was working for United Airlines and our insurance policy specifically excluded all kinds of WLS. So I never actually thought I would be walking into a surgeon's office for this discussion. I retired from United and gained 35 pounds over the 10 years- neither of which I thought would happen. I'm a life long dieter. Diet pills in high school when I weighed 140lbs; Weight Watchers in college dropping from 160 to 140; Jenny Craig, many attempts at WW, South Beach, Atkins and most recently Ideal Protein. I even took Redux in the FenFen era. I have really good BCBS insurance now. Unfortunately I pay a fortune for it because my husband lost his job and we pay cobra. But since the payment is as big as the mortgage, I figured I should take advantage of it while I have it. The requirements for approval are surprisingly few- Be 18, have a BMI of 40 or 35 with co-morbid conditions; complete a psychological examination and participate in either a 6 month structured diet program or 2 three month consecutive programs. I'm 48. My BMI is 42. I did WW for 7 months in 2013 and Ideal Protein via my cardiologist for 9 weeks. I take BP medicine, a low dose aspirin, and a nitrate to reduce chest pains caused by a totally blocked small artery in my heart. So with the exception of the pysch eval- I'm already done with my requirements. It was a comment during a snow storm this winter that was really my light bulb moment. My 17 year old and husband headed out to sled one day and my daughter made a comment that broke my heart- She said "Mom, have you ever gone sledding with us? I can't remember even one time" OUCH! The truth hurts. I haven't done anything with my kids over the last 10 years and now they are all grown up. (17 & 20) I don't think my daughter ever understood because she was very heavy but never slowed down. I think she just thought I didn't want to do anything with them. Breaks my heart and I need to change that by being active with them moving forward. I want the 4 of us to do a Mud run kind of thing or ride the roller coasters at Cedar Point with them. (side note: my daughter stayed on WW and lost 65lbs in 2013 unlike the hubby and I who weigh more now) I have enjoyed lurking on these boards for the past view weeks and look forward to taking the plunge with all of you. Happy Friday!!! Amy

Anybody have experience with them for revisions from Lapband to Bypass?

Hi all! I'm going for my first consultation with to see if I'm eligible to have a revision surgery from Lapband to Sleeve and I'm concerned about my BMI. Right now, my BMI is 34, and I know my insurance will cover the surgery if the revision is medically necessary. I'm having the worst experience with the band (chest pain, GERD, stuck with everything, vomiting, etc). I was banded 3 years ago and I lost 19 pounds with the band in some point, mostly because I was unable to passed food, but as soon as my band got deflated due to complications, I gained all the weight back. I still have high cholesterol, POS and insulin resistance. Anyone have had a revision done with a "lower BMI" in Arizona? Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Sorry if this is a little bit long, but for me it was all part of the process..... I had never considered weight loss surgery. Even though my BMI qualified me, I never thought I was "fat enough" and I also thought I had to do it by myself. Then around New Year's I started having hip pain, and after going through a lot of exams, tests, cortisone shot, etc., it was finally discovered I had an injury to my hip, on top of arthritis, and that I needed arthroscopic surgery to repair the injury. When I finally got in to see the surgeon, he was quite blunt. He told me I was too fat for arthroscopic surgery. That the tools he had to use wouldn't reach through all the fat on my thighs to get to the injury. He also said my hip was in worse shape than originally thought and I was probably looking at needing a total hip replacement, but that he would not perform that surgery on me at my current weight. He explained that I'm young for a hip replacement and chances are it would need to be replaced again in my lifetime - and the heavier I am, the faster I would wear it out. Also the riskier the surgery would be and the more difficult my recovery. He said "I strongly suggest you look into weight loss surgery". I cannot tell you how shocked and stunned I was. And humiliated. At first, I thought "I'm not going to tell anyone". Then I realized... they all know I'm fat. In the end I told all of my co-workers, my boss, my HR person -- they were all SO excited and happy for me and so supportive, I am truly fortunate. My family is equally as supportive. My insurance specifically excludes coverage for weight loss surgery so I started the arrangements for a loan against my 401K. I also started the sleep study process in motion because I knew that would take awhile and I knew a weight loss doctor would require it (the hip surgeon was going to require it too). I started my surgery research. I went to a support group meeting at a local hospital, then a seminar put on by the surgeon I eventually ended up choosing. I was all over the internet reading diaries and blogs of weight loss patients, and watching You Tube video diaries, and I watched the surgery being performed on You Tube. I went back and forth for awhile between bypass and lap band, but being self-pay, I decided bypass was more than I could afford to spend, and I couldn't afford the higher risk of post-surgery complications. It was mid-March when my hip surgeon recommended I look into weight loss surgery. I had just missed the March support group meeting and seminar, so I had to wait until April for them. In the meantime I got the sleep study done. My appointments with the surgeon, nutritionist and psychiatrist were May 1st and 2nd. My surgery was May 15th. I still have the hip surgery ahead of me, and in the meantime I live with constant pain, but it has gotten a little more bearable since I've lost 30 pounds and I'm really hopeful that the more weight I lose, the more the pain will diminish and maybe I can postpone the hip replacement, or possibly even get by just with the arthroscopic surgery for now.

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery 32 months ago and it was one of the best decisions that I ever made.

I have Anthem BCBS too and when I pull up the price cost estimator it comes up that only the band and bypass are approved, however they do cover the sleeve too. For some reason it's just not listed. It's the same price as bypass would be under their calculator I was told over the phone.