Search the Community

My goal is 75 pounds. I'm just 2.5 months post-op and am only down 22 pounds. I expected it to come off slower since mine was a band to sleeve revision and had less than 100 to lose

So I'm not at goal yet but I'm having the extra skin on my stomach removed because it's giving me so much trouble. The surgeon said mine will be one of the largest he's done. My surgery is June 5th. I'm so nervous because it will be a 5 hour surgery and they had trouble waking me up from my sleeve surgery which was shorter. I woke up with the breathing tube in. Also he told me I have a higher chance of infection and wound complication because of my past history and some meds I'm on. It will be a 70 cm incision. I have to stop 2 of my psoriasis meds which also scares me. My psoriasis is pretty severe when not medicated. Even when medicated I can have our breaks. 3 times in my life, and each time worse than the last, I've ended up in the hospital with a really bad out break where basically all my skin comes off. Even with all these things I feel like I NEED this surgery to improve my quality of life. I'm almost down 260 pounds from my highest of 540 and my extra skin is pretty bad already. I can't do any of the other surgeries until I reach goal but this is one I can do part way. He's explained that I may need a revision tummy tuck when I reach goal since I'm still a little less than 100 pounds away from goal. Insurance approved coverage first try though which gives you an idea of how bad it is. I'm just nervous and excited at the same time. Has anyone had this surgery? What was your recovery like? What were your results? I don't do well with surgery generally. After the sleeve surgery I was kept 5 days instead of 2 and was in pain for 3 weeks. After my gallbladder removal I was readmitted to the hospital due to pain. They told me I wouldn't be able to save my belly button. So now I get to tell people I am an alien or was created in a lab..which I'm kind of looking forward to. Lol I'm so nervous but also so hopeful this will help...

My answer to your question is completely different then the others. First I should say I had RNY in 2005 and did fine until 2009 when I started to regain weight. I am now having revision surgery. I work very closely with my nut who specializes in bariatric nutrition and has a focus on Vitamin deficiency. She has taught me that in the last few years research has proven that the Vitamins that we all think of like Centrum, Citracal etc... are not effective for us because we do not absorb them at all, hence we don't get the benefit from them. This makes very good sense since the reason we lose weight in addition to pouch is because of the malabsorption of calories, fats etc... If we don't absorb food nutrients we aren't going to absorb the vitamins. Check out the company Bariatric Advantage. They are the leaders. I understand you are very concerned about the cost and these vitamins are not cheap and you must take vitamins for the rest of your life (the doctors aren't just saying that!) Before meeting my current nut I was taking centrum, citracal, Iron complete from GNC, and sublingal b-12. After getting my blood work it was revealed I have some severe vitamin deficiencies Especially Vit D which has caused some damage that can't be reversed. I don't mean to sound scary or anything. This is just my personal experience and as I have learned throughout the years is that every surgeon has different standards/practices and requirements for their patients. I always believe in following the directions given by your own doctor but please research what they are saying and asked about bariatric specific vitamins.

Revision of gastric bypass done on 2/8 in Concord, North Carolina. Can’t wait for soft foods.

Well, I'm 3.5 wks post-op from my breast augmentation revision and things went fantastic. Dr. Bogdan removed my 31-yr old ruptured silicone implants and replaced them with the new gummy-style silicone. I had a capsular contraction with my last implants, so they were hard as rocks. Now these new ones supposedly feel like natural boobies (though I really have no idea - it's been so long since mine WERE natural, and when they were there wasn't much to them to feel!). Dr. B removed all my old scar tissue internally and also my whole old scar along the fold under my breast. My new scars are so thin and gorgeous (for scars) that I don't think you'll even be able to see them once I'm all healed. I'm happy, hubby is thrilled, and now I have experience with an amazing aethesthic surgeon for when I want to do more. First thing on the list is some type of filler for my cheeks so they won't look so gaunt, then someday a neck lift to get rid of the turkey neck. But got to get back to saving the $$$ again first.

Photonut: You can only call it advertising if my goal is to get you to come to me for the revision. There are a number of LBT members who have emailed me privately and I have always tried to steer them to someone close to them. I will admit that the more bariatric surgery I do, the more I prefer gastric bypass. There, I've said it. I have an opinion. I still do Lapbands and try to help patients who've had them placed by others. That doesn't mean I think all bands should be removed... only the ones that aren't doing what they are supposed to do. Think of your operation as an investment like a stock. If you buy a stock and it goes down, you don't ride it to the bottom. You aren't married to it. You decide it isn't working for you and sell. That's all I'm trying to say here. If the tool isn't working for you, by all means do whatever you can to make it work, but if it continues to fail, you aren't married to it. Move on to something else. As far as adding a Lapband to a failed bypass is concerned, that's a completely different issue. There still isn't a whole lot of data out there on it. The rationale is to restore restriction in the face of a dilated anastomosis between the pouch and small bowel. "rebypass" isn't an option (though you can redo the procedure depending on what has gone wrong). That's a completely different issue from rebanding a previously banded patient. Rebanding is certainly an option, but so is bypass, and we know it works. Mark Pleatman MD

I’m sorry to hear you struggle. Regain can beat you down mentally. As you can see on the site, you’re not the only one with a regain or had a revision. Its not easy to get back on track.... its work. But, It can be done. It's not for me to say if you have stretched your surgery back to full size. That’s between you and your surgeon. You may want to consider counseling before a revision. If you’re eating behavior is not addressed, you may stretch your next surgery.

If you're looking at revision options, my surgeon is discussing a non-surgical option with me of an ESG (Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty) which is where they go in via your esophagus and stitch the pouch to be smaller again from the inside. There are no incisions and it's done quite quickly. I have a consultation with my surgeon next week to get more information but it looks like a good option with some success. Edited for spelling

I agree with @Tomo. I think your surgeon may have been thinking the liquid diet would be a good way to do a pouch reset. There's a lot of sites that recommend doing it at least a week, followed by a week for each stage of the "just had surgery" food diet to get your pouch and mind back on track. Given the vitamin deficiencies and possible thyroid issues, I'm not surprised at all that he isn't considering a revision right now. I would follow through with a full reset, definitely see your pcp for more tests, and then once you have the full picture, go from there. I would also track what I'm eating (I use MyFitnessPal) and be mindful of snacking, grazing, portion size, slider foods, etc.

Hi Kelsey. Congrats on the weight loss! The regain is worrisome and I’m glad you’re working to address it before it continues to creep up. I’m sorry you had a frustrating experience with your surgeon. It’s my understanding many programs try to get patients back on track with basics before doing revisions to make sure that we are using the tools we will need to be successful after the rescission. I hope that is what he was doing but wish he would have communicated that in a way that was more … helpful. You did well on the shakes, which is encouraging. I’m wondering if you were weighing, measuring and tracking when you went back to food? Following up with a PCP about your malabsorption and other health issues is a good idea. I’m glad you had an appt, but sorry it’s so far out. Have you ever seen an endocrinologist for the metabolic issues? If not I highly recommend it if possible. While I love my pcp - my endocrinologist has a very different approach to those things and it’s been a big help at dialing in the right treatment. This forum is a great place for support and I think you’ll find a lot of it! I’d also suggest looking into to finding a therapist if you are able. Please check back in and let us know how you are doing.

I started my life or reflux when my 4 yr old band slipped. Dr told me when it came out, my reflux would end. Had I known the sleeve itseld causes a much higher incident of relux, I woulda just had the byoass to begim with. Now 4 yrs after my sleeve revision, Im back to seeing the bariatric surgeon on Oct 17th for revision to RNY. That will be 3 wls's. Almost embarrased to say that. Having the RNY at 160lbs - about 20-30 lbs from goal. Sounds crazy. But I cant wait to sleep thru the nite without choking and coughing up stomach acid and feeling my chest on fire. I sleep in an adjustable bed, am on the reflux diet, and take the tp doses of the strongest meds. My GI told me the next stage is surgery. Went to the general surgeon 2 weeks ago tot talk about surgery. 2 choices. Nissen Fundoplication or revision to RNY (which usually CURES reflux). Fter my upper gi last Fri, it was determined I dont have enuf stomach left to do th Fundoplcation. They wrap ur stomach around ur esophagus. So the choice was made for me.... Had I known then what I know now..... Good luck!

I'm 8 years out and started gaining after the loss of my oldest son and being in a car accident a year ago. There is revision surgery for us that had the rny. I'm been studying it. Before I do it though I want to see if I can lose on my own. So I have gone back to the basics where I was at week 2 post op. I've lost 3 lbs in a week. Having a hard time getting water in but I'm trying. Also I'm walking 30 minutes a day. I'm tracking everything. Need to go buy a new scale though. I don't know where I misplaced the one I had. Sent from my SM-N970U using BariatricPal mobile app

I love my band and feel successful although I would still like to lose another twenty or so pounds. Exercise, for me, is imparative because of arthritis, etc. I eat two to three healthy meals a day, avoid sliders, chew very well and experience the food rather than wolfing it down as I did before. My surgeon was of the small frequent fills to get me to the correct restriction (wrong word to use but you know what I mean). I have twice gone in for tiny unfills when I felt the first signs of being too tight. For now it's just right. I drink a lot of liquids and can do that without any discomfort (glugging my water). I don't count calories and I eat when I'm hungry and don't eat when I'm not hungry. It's the first one that can be the most difficult as I was a very restrictive professional dieter going into this process. Now I feel hunger and eat until I feel full. My signal is a sigh. I notice, take inventory and I'm done. Sometimes I count off on my fingers 4-5 hours and note the time at which I might feel hungry again. Alcohol certainly hinders weight loss but I indulge for pain relief and enjoyment. Reading through this thread it seems like things got off on the wrong foot. Best wishes with your research. My surgeon is great but he does not discuss the banded life and I suspect has no real idea of how to guide patients in the post-op realm. I got that here when it was Lapband Talk. I found the successful banders and followed them. Now the site is mostly other surgeries and that's a bit discouraging sometimes as the revision folks post so much about their negative band experiences. I love my band.

3 1/2 yrs post lapband and I still vomit about 3-4x a week from eating too fast. Not sure why I can't control my eating rate. I learned to eat fast in Army basic training. If you didn't eat in 5 mins, u didn't eat. Plus my husband is a fast eater and I notice him eyeing my food after he's done. So I feel like I need to "protect" my food, so I eat fast also. Not good with a band. Now that I'm revising to sleeve soon, I'm hoping to follow the rules better. I'm so afraid of leaks...

It is very frustrating. The reason I chose the Lapband is because the doctor felt I was “not obese enough” to get a sleeve or the other surgeries and I truly felt that the Lapband would work. It has worked but I am slowly giving up. At this point, I’m still not a candidate for the sleeve and I would have to wait a little longer before I can even try to get a revision. What surgery did you have? That’s awesome that you’ve lost 100 pounds!! So happy for you! [emoji846]

I'm doing a revision with Dr Kim in June. I've heard differing opinions about his bedside manner but never one bad thing about his skills as a surgeon. I know he will come check on me after surgery but I don't expect him to stay there and hold my hand kwim? I'm having mine at Baylor Trophy Club and I've read/heard nothing but good things about the hospital. Before deciding on Dr Kim I met with other docs but chose him because he has done a ton of revisions.

Thanks Leann. That is what I keep on hearing about Dr. Kim. I am wondering if I should go with another doctor but he is great with revisions.

The last time I lost a significant amount of weight was on the Adkin's diet when I was 23. I went from 201 down to 163, a loss of 38 pounds, & actually kept it off for a couple of years. Over the years I gradually gained until I hit my high of 314 after I quit smoking 4+ years ago. I gained about 10-11 pounds over 6 months & then lost that over the next 6 months without even trying. Then I was back to about 303-304 pounds where I had stabilized for several years. I had gone back on the Adkin's diet many times over the years. I had also tried the liquid "pre-digested protein" back in the early 1980s & Nutri-System in 1990-91. At the most I would lose 10 pounds & then stall. My surgeon did say he thought the duodenal switch would give me the best results for my type 2 diabetes but I said I didn’t want anything to do with malabsorption & he was fine with that. I did have the gastric sleeve done on 8-22-2013. My weight the day before surgery was 259, a loss of 44 pounds in 4 months pre-op. Over the next 5 months or so I lost about 33 pounds & then I stalled. Nothing would break the stall. I did lose another 5 pounds over the next 10 months. On 12-8-2014 I had a panniculectomy where my surgeon removed 15 pounds (!) of excess skin & fat. This was covered by insurance since I had documentation of recurring severe rashes under the "apron." I did hit a low of 201 pounds about two months after the panniculectomy but that was very briefly & I gradually regained to 219. My BMI was still just over 35 & I still have the co-morbidities, although markedly improved, that I did when I started. I can’t say the sleeve didn’t work. After all, I was down 84 pounds from my starting weight & 95 pounds from my highest weight. When they say patients lose an average of 65% of their excess weight, there are many on both sides of that average. I’m just one of the lower percentage people. My age & length of time I've had type 2 diabetes are probably the main reasons I hadn't lost as much weight as I had hoped. So, after much consideration I have decided to have the duodenal switch as my surgeon originally suggested. The major malabsorption of the classic duodenal switch still scares me so I had decided to ask Dr Srikanth if he would do a longer common channel when I learned of the single anastomosis duodenal switch which has an even longer common channel. He & I have agreed on a 300 cm common channel which is an amount of malabsorption I am comfortable with. The pre-op testing revealed that the upper portion of my sleeve has dilated so he re-sleeved that at the same time as the switch. I asked about the sleeve dilating &, apparently, that is normal. It's what our stomachs are made to do. It's the upper portion of the sleeve that will dilate. A gastric sleeve procedure removes a lot, maybe most, of that stretchable portion, but there is still some. It was a lot of work, getting all of the testing & an updated psych evaluation done, but I got them done in a week & got insurance approval a week after that. So I was able to get my surgery done before the end of the year, on December 29. I was even able to lose 10 pounds in the three weeks before surgery, most on the dreaded Clear liquids. I had a revision of the sleeve, the single-anastomosis duodenal switch & repair of a hiatal hernia. Recovery has not been as smooth as it was for the original sleeve but I'm making progress, probably faster than a lot of patients undergoing the same procedure. I think the hiatal hernia repair has cause the most discomfort. I had a lot of gas pains under my diaphragm & spasms of pain running across my diaphragm every time I swallowed. But that is better & I rarely take even acetaminophen for pain, just walking & drinking my liquids warm helps the most. Of course, I put on 10 pounds in the hospital & by six days after surgery I was back to "day of surgery" weight. My surgeon is very strict on the post-op diet & I was to start 5 Protein shakes a day on day 8. It has been a challenge, much more so than the first sleeve, to get all of my fluids in, but I have gotten the minimum 80 oz in every day, & over 100 oz the last two days. My shakes are supposed to be made with just 3-4 oz of Water. But trying to get even that much down is a struggle. I switched to unflavored Protein powder after my first sleeve because the flavored ones just "sat like a rock" in my stomach. Now I'm having the same reaction only more so to the unflavored. It does go best mixed with my homemade broth, but still it makes me gag. I’m now trying different brands I got from GNC & Super supplements. Instead of stressing over how much I’m getting in (& keeping down), I’m just doing my best. The huge number of Vitamin & mineral supplements as well as the regular prescription meds I take is very hard to do.

Yes. My insurance covered both my original surgery as well as my revision.

I had absolutely terrible constipation post revision too! I also had an enema then stayed on laxatives for a long time, under the supervision of my surgeon of course. (I was so afraid of constipation again that I think I stayed on them a lot longer than I should have. In fact I am finally lax free using a stool softener only when necessary. But I’m happy to report that the plumbing still works on it’s own 👍🏽) Speedy Recovery!

3 days post op from revision and hiatal hernia repair. Way more pain this time than before. My surgeon said I could try a protein shake tomorrow but I am having pain eating a sugar free jello. So far the best things have been sugar free Popsicles and twinings comfort tea with a little stevia. I am wearing a binder and using a cane to walk around the house due to the abdominal pain. I have not felt any gerd yet so hopefully it stays away.

My revision is scheduled for 7/13

I love to hear that Hagengirl3!Im same age and having revision from band to bypass in 2 days time. I'm so scared that I'm making a mistake and that I'll regret it. Have you regretted your decision for bypass at all?? Can you tolerate alcohol at all? I just hope to have a glass of wine occasionally. Im mostly afraid of never being able to eat out with friends at restaurants again. Its a big part of socialising here in Australia. Have u found foods that you just cannot eat at all? Would you do it again if you could go back in time? Julie Sent from my GT-I9505 using the BariatricPal App

The ultimate decision is yours of course, but I would listen to your doctor's advice, he has done a lot of these procedures, and he wouldn't have suggested RnY if he hadn't seen a good reason for it. A lot of times they advise sleeve for people your age but as you see from the previous person a lot of times it needs revised. Why not go with just one surgery and get it done right the first time? Study up on both procedures, you'll only have 4or5,little iddie bitty slits in your tummy no matter which one. If you have a sleeve the left one is where they pull the majority of your stomach out, you do know you lose about 3/4 of your. stomach with that procedure? If you have a bypass that's where they put the biggest gauge equipment, in either case that will be the sorest if one has to be. You'll start on a beautiful new journey toward weight loss and better health, and also a longer lifespan. It will be worth it all! Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

Hey all! I'm new to this forum. I'm scheduled for RNY on 6/4....SOOOO EXCITED! I had a lap and placed in 2008 and then replaced in 2009 due to a slip. I lost about 70lbs. Then life started to happen. The insurance I had did want to pay for fills. Luckily I still had some restriction...even going thru 2 more pregnancies. I got new insurance coverage in 2016 and decided to get a fill only to find out my band had slipped again. The Dr did not recommend another band and suggested I have it removed and get a revision if I wanted. YES PLEASE! I'm blessed to awesome insurance. It did not require me to do a 3,6, or 12 month pre-op diet. I did have to do the EGD, psych, and nutritionist visits. I was required by the surgeon to wait 3 months after band removal in early January for my stomach to heal. I wanted to have surgery in late April but was delayed because the office assumed I had to see the Nut more than once and didn't do my due diligence in confirming what my requirements are. Anyhoo...I can't dwell on that. Its just a few weeks. I'm eager to get my health under control (I have hypertension) and look and feel good in my clothes again.