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I went to the seminar on December 6 and turned in my information packet. I got a call to schedule my intake appointment and couldn’t get in until February 5. Naturally, on February 2 me and my 7 month old came down with the flu. I’ve felt like complete garbage, but I thought I might be ok to go tomorrow. Then this morning my 5 year old woke up with a fever, chills, and cough. I had to reschedule and my new appointment is March 19. It’s really not that long, but I was really looking forward to this appointment and getting the ball rolling and now I had to restart my countdown app on my phone. I’m feeling very sorry for myself. Just needed to whine a bit. I guess I’ll spend the next 42 days revising my questions for the surgeon/psych/nutritionist and pinning my aspirational wardrobe on Pinterest.

Erosion usually calls for the band to be removed. Most surgeons take it out and, depending on the degree of damage, either "rest" the GI system for several months or perform a revision surgery. Get a second opinion.

To me, my personal opinion... band intolerance is like this: You know how some get more restriction during TOM? Mine was always an extreme, I'd obstruct. Some get tighter when they are stressed... I just had to be a bit edgy and I'd obstruct. What causes others to be a little tighter caused me to obstruct. The last four months I was banded I could only drink liquids with an unfilled band. That's why I got the revision. You'll have to work with your doc to see if you can find a solution. I never found one. But if you are vomiting a lot you really do need an unfill.

For privacy reasons, MANY people do not feel comfortable posting a picture on this board. When I had surgery, I told 2 people and that's how it remains today. That does NOT mean I am "hiding" and I must caution you on that point. Some members would consider that comment quite insulting. I had my lapband surgery done in the U.S. but can no longer tolerate living with it. I am on nexium, feel little restriction, and worry that the chronic heart burn and regurgitation will lead to esophageal cancer. On 3/31, I fly to Mexico and on 4/1 I will have revision surgery to a sleeve. I did tons of research, picked the surgeon with the most experience, lowest complication rates, and talked with people who had the procedure by him. I am very happy that the band was so good for you. As long term studies begin to come out, others are not as fortunate as you are and more people are electing for other WLS options.

No solution or answer, but I also had breathing issues with my band. I was banded in August 2013 and about a year later started having breathing issues. My Dr. said everything was fine but ended up get it unfilled for relief and slowly began with the weight gain. I had the removal in August 2015 and hoping to finally have a revision this August to the sleeve. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hi Friends! I'm back and feeling pretty darn good! All things went well during my revision surgery and I am back from Mexico - safe, sound and sleeved! Woohoo! That first hour after surgery was a little rough - throwing up blood, feeling generally icky and wondering what the hell I'd done to myself. But that all cleared up pretty quickly. Already down 6 lbs just 5 days after surgery, so that made me feel good :-) Thank you all for the continued kind words of support. We are SLEEVER SISTERS now! Wooohooody-hoooo!

This is a big question of "WHY" to me as well.The lapband is causing damage and the amount of revisions to sleeve or bypass is astounding.The lapband has caused me alot of organ injury.My esophagus is messed up and so is my teeth from vomiting .Its amazing the years I put up with the band suffering and trying to make it work....if there ever becomes a civil class action lawsuit I am in...

What percentage is the "large number " requiring revision. To bypass? Frankly, although it is much safer now, ANY WLS should scare the crap out of you. It's just that the alternative (over 300 and gaining, lifetime of trying to control my weight) was like 100 percent chance of early death with a side trip through disability. Post sleeve, maintaining a 150# plus weight loss for 3 years now I have a chance at a much better life. I was in turmoil for a solid year over revising from the failed band because of all these concerns. Bypass is a good procedure too, but has its own set of risks and issues. I think the soul searching I did during that time had contributed to my success with the sleeve. Lots to say about that, but it boils down to - do I choose living to eat, or eating to live. I choose living a full life, for as long as I am blessed with that chance.

Weight has always been discussed about and around me. I was a chubby kid and a fat adolescent, and an obese adult. I've lost and regained hundreds of pounds and told two people that I was getting the band. Those same two people know I got a revision to VSG. Until I AM successful (as in 25 pounds from goal), my choice is to make this about me and not the opinions of others. That's how I feel at this stage of the game.

Kookieto I'm from Southampton nj in Burlington co.!!! I have a family member in Roebling runs for florence ems that also had rny gonna be getting revision! Nice having someone close by!

I had the band and just had revision surgery to the sleeve last Tuesday. The band never worked for me and I tried to utilize it as a tool to the best of my ability. My doctor said it just doesn't work for some people. I had it for 2 years and lost 30 pounds. It wasn't worth it!

So many people prefer not to be bothered with evidence to the contrary of what they believe and hold dear. Like any diet the Atkins will not work if you don't do it. There are loads of people on my Low Carb lists through Yahoo that are maintaining for years after loosing 50 plus pounds with Atkins without a lap band. I personally am not one who can maintain, but lets see, I didn't maintain with weight watchers, nutri system or diet pills either. I even gained wt on the mediteranian diet as much as I loved it! I have the band to minimize the damage that I do when I am not making good choices whether they be bandster reccomendations, OA food plan, Low Carb food plan or Weight Watchers. I find that the Atkins way of eating which is very similiar to the OA grey sheet to be really effective for wt loss. I think all of us who are in need of a band, just muddle through this the best that we can, but many would like to see ourselves as successful dieters and hold our own diets as better than someone elses, where the truth is the band is the key! Very few here would be successful in keeping it off if not for our tool. I know of only one person on all the boards I am on who has successfully kept her wt. off after band removal, without some revision to another surgery. She is the exception. I personally have experienced a band loss and I am in touch with dozens of others who have and we all experienced wt gain with that one happy exception. Atkins can do wonders for dropping a significant amount quickly and I am all for using it if it works for you. If not, why whine and get nasty about it....if you don't want to do it then for goodness sake, don't do it, but stop the yaya! Corliss

Hi Ellisa, We do not offer gastric bypass. I would never let anyone in my family have a gastric bypass. No surgeon would ever have a bypass on themselves. Obese surgeons choose the band for themselves and there's a reason for that. There are better operations now. We do offer the ROSE procedure which is an effective non-surgical treatment for patients who regain weight after gastric bypass. We specialize in gastric band surgery and have done nearly 4,000 procedures in our clinics. Dr. Osborne and Dr. Mobley are the surgeons in the Cincinnati office (located in West Chester). They are on staff at Good Samaritan Hospital and Bethesda North Hospital. We do nearly all of our bands as an outpatient procedure - home the same day. We do these at University Point Surgical Hospital. We charge no professional fees for revisional operations if you need a port revision or a slip repair. We are the only practice that has this "guarantee". Dr. Mobley and his wife and many of their family members are banded. All of the receptionists and nurses in the Cincinnati office are banded. We have a call center and all of the weight management specialists are banded. My band practice in Seattle did over 2,500 band procedures. Now I spend a lot of time traveling to our other locations in DC & Chicago and we have other band surgeons around the country that want to join Synchrony Health which keeps us busy. If you travel you will be able to have band adjustments in DC & Chicago & Seattle and more to come. I am also a proctoring surgeon for both band companies. We fix a lot of complications on people that went out of the country for "cheap" surgery. They end up paying way more out of pocket than if they had just come to a high quality practice in the first place. I don't recommend this approach. We feel strongly about offering the best support after surgery possible. At the moment, we do not sign insurance contracts when the reimbursement is below what it costs to provide the service. We have seen several band clinics close down after trying to provide good care on such low reimbursement and we simply won't do that. When those band clinics close down we end up taking care of their patients (gladly). We see many patients that were banded somewhere else and are frustrated with the post-op support and they end up in our practice to be successful. We're not the cheapest. You don't want the cheapest. We're the best. We'll always be in business to help you succeed. Many practices advertise a cheap cash price and then you learn about the hidden fees after surgery. We don't do that. Our price includes everything. It makes us look more expensive than other practices but you pay less overall because it includes everything. We don't believe in trying to be sneaky with prices. We know what it cost to provide the best care and that is what we do. We are working on our website - stay tuned! Hope that helps. Brad

I’ll chime in here. I had RYN Oct 2016 weighing 292. I had a lower body lift Aug 2017 at 197. The lowest I got to after my skin surgery was 184. I’m currently 190....down 5 from a very enjoyable Christmas! Back on track and feeling great. I never really exercised much just some treadmill walking and very active with my son. I think the key is moderation, but also not letting things get to far off track that it’s hard to pull them back. My goal weight is 185 and I complete feel like these 5lbs will be no problem. Just logging my food again and trying to limit treats. I’m a size L-XL/12-14 and love everything about life right now. Planning a second surgery to have a small revision to the upper tummy and a breast lift/augmentation (maybe arms and thighs too) in April :-) Hope that helps!

Has my revision from banded bypass to DS in last Tuesday. Anybody else??

Since most surgeries are done laparoscopically, and most go home the next morning, other than someone driving you home, it's very doable to recover alone. They had me walking the hospital aisles every few hours right after the surgery till I was released at 11 am the next morning. I walked around a lot the day I got home doing light chores... Etc. Back to desk work on day 3 but you do feel very tired for a week or so. Again, as everyone will tell you, everyone is different. These are my experiences (both with vsg and revision to rny).

Welcome! Oh my gosh I’m sorry you had to have revision surgery but sounds like you caught it in good time and you’re on the mend now. I keep telling myself this soon shall pass! I’m on soft/purée foods now and so far so good. I still need to drink one shake a day to get my protein numbers.

Granted it's only been 6 weeks since my revision to bypass (because of reflux) but I've only lost about 5 lbs and I was 10 lbs from goal at the time of surgery. My doctor said the same thing as yours. Actually what he said was "you're not going to dwindle down to nothing." Weight loss is slower with revisions especially if you don't have much to lose. If you haven't had any issues regarding eating disorders, I wouldn't worry about it. Yes there are people who develop this problems after surgery but you are near your target weight.

It really depends on what the insurance companies cover. Like Frust8 stated, some insurance companies have a 1 bariatric surgery per lifetime coverage. If the insurance company gives the patient/doctor a problem about coverage, more documentation and/or test work is needed. But your surgeon will let you know. I feel as if revisions are becoming more common and less people are having to fight for them

My bypass revision is Thursday the 9th. Severe reflux is whats making me do the revision, otherwise I would never do it. I started with the band in 2009 (it slipped in 2013 and I revised to a sleeve). Reflux is starting to do damage to my esophagus so before damage is done, I opted for a bypass. I weigh 155 and my goal is 135. For those of u who did bypass weighing around the same, did u find it difficult to lose that last little bit of weight (goal is 135 ) or easy peasy, with the post op diet? I'm going on a cruise in Oct (9 weeks later and Ill be eating reg food - and I've been on 8 cruises and know I can eat healthy, so please no remarks about my eating on a cruise) and would LUV to be at goal but I'm not sure how hard it will be to lose the last little bit of weight? I'm also scared of not being able to stop losing. My dr told me that our bodies are smart and when it was at a healthy weight, I would automatically stop losing. That's a great premise, however I've read more than a few people who become anorexic having a bypass with such a small amount to lose. WHile I always dreamed of losing too much weight, now that it's a possible reality, I'm getting scared Anyone within 20-40 lbs from their goals having a bypass? I;d luv to hear ur experience...

I’m sure I’m right behind you, here on Long Island NY. I’m sure mr cuomo will follow suit. Grrr. I agree about certain things but I’m a revision and in so much pain everyday.

I’m in NY. they are opening slowly for electives as emergencies. My surgeon didn’t perform anything either... and he is only doing two day this month. I got lucky as I’m an emergency due to be revised and my hernia.

Me too!!! I’m frustrated but things could be worse. Mine was 3/18. Three days before they cancelled. Then it was 4/29 Now it’s nothing. I’m for A revision. I wish everyone health and we will all get there soon enough. Be well.

Just got my date for revision, March 27th. My biggest fear is failing again. I'm not telling my family until after the surgery, the one person I told I was considering revision said,"oh, the other worked so well". Which blew all my confidence, so to keep positive, only people that are positive know before surgery. My doctor doesn't have me on Pre-op diet?

Yep, I'm doing great and the revision went very smoothly! When they got in there they found that my stomach had herniated up into my chest cavity which is obviously very abnormal and could have been the source for some of my pain. Surgery was supposed to be about an hour and a half and it took them a total of four hours to get my stomach pulled back down to the right place and then of course do the bypass. When I got out of surgery I was in a lot of pain and the next day was in tons of pain but ever since that third day things have gotten better and better. I have no pain with swallowing anymore and I'm eating more solid food now then I have in 2 years!! I feel great, have tons of energy, am doing great in class and my whole future looks 100x brighter now. I can't even begin to describe how happy I am that I did this, it's already drastically changed my life and it's only been a month! I've also lost 20 pounds since pre-op so that's a cool bonus! I'm progressing well and was just cleared for exercise which is exciting since I actually have the energy to go to the gym they keep telling me this is the part of recovery where you have the least energy but I think that I was in so much pain before that this feels great and if it really gets EVEN better I just don't know what I'll do with myself lol I'm back to the old straight A kickin butt student that I was before I had surgery I keep acing quizzes and exams, doing great in my lab (even though it's 3 hours with no air conditioning, sitting down, eating, or drinking allowed!) and am finishing all the homework early, heck I'm even back to having time to re-org all my notes..I don't sleep all the time so I just have all this extra time, it's CRAZY! My mom asked me why I think I'm doing so well in my classes because she's seen me struggle for my B's over these last few years and I could honestly tell her it's because I feel so good, we both cried. I just never thought this was possible, it amazes me every single day. YAY!!!!!