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I'm having the lapband removed and revising to the gastric bypass. I should've done that surgery to begin with. Hoping to either get it done at the end of May of beginning of June. My insurance before sent me to Journey Clinic in Moore which is in Norman now. I'm sticking with them because my surgeon did really great the first time.

I'll be joining you this summer. I'll be a revise from the lapband. I live in Broken Arrow. Nice to see another Oklahoman on here.

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!!!!!

@soccermonster31 - Yeah, growing up in the 80's/90's there was a LOT of misinformation about weight loss and management. Eggs were terrible for you, white carbs were optimal for fat burning (lol), coffee was the devil, and margarine was soooo much healthier than butter! I'm not angry with my mom. I know she did the best she thought she could and probably thought she was saving me from obesity. I'd love to be support buddies! When do you plan on revising? It'll be a while for me - we're going to move in the next few months and I want to be settled in our new house before undergoing a surgery. For now I'm gathering information and planning to do a consult with a bariatric center in Indianapolis. Fun story: I got my lap band in December 2015 and the surgeon, without warning, shut down his practice in January 2016. I had to go to a bariatric center 50 miles away for my fills and counseling when I'd anticipated he'd be right there down the street whenever I needed something. My lap band did not have a great start, and I wasn't super impressed with the bariatric center I was referred to. Luckily I have some choices!

Camarillo, Kaiser SoCal did my band to sleeve revision on December 13th. I was a self-pay for the band, and was in the same situation as you with the constant vomiting. I had a slight slip, but no erosion. Even with the scar tissue from the band, I had the band removed and revision done in the same procedure.

Bypass, I am going through alot of problems due to the sleeve. They are revising me to the bypass due to reflux and the hiatal hernia I got from the sleeve. My SD is October 15th, I just got my clearance from my physician on Friday. Sent from my SM-J337P using BariatricPal mobile app

I had Lap Band, developed GERD and due to overuse of Protonix, I developed a kidney stone. So it was then that I decided that I had to move on the GERD issue. I had the band removed in April 2021 (no regain, but I didn't get to my goal weight with the band) and now I'm revising to RNY soon. I was fearful of RNY when my surgeon told me it was the best way to resolve the GERD. And after watching a video, I realized that my fear was based on Lap Band marketing. In order for Lap Band to be successful, they had to make their competitor look bad. So Lap Band took old data about RNY (before surgical improvements were made) and used complication rates of the older style RNY surgery that was from I believe the 1980's? So when you say that RNY is a permanent surgery... are you aware that RNY is reversible? You went forth with sleeve surgery and they removed about 80% of your stomach, do you not think that's permanent? It's more permanent than RNY. Sure things are rerouted, but nothing is removed. So it can all be rerouted to "normal" if necessary. There's many, many people on this forum that have revised from other wls (Band, Sleeve) to RNY and are happy and thriving. I hope to be one soon.

I wish I had more restriction. I'm almost 7 mos post op and I've only vomited twice. Both times the meat was to dry. I haven't slimed. I'm thankful for that. I used to do that plenty when I had the lapband. I don't know if it's because I'm a revision, bougie size or what. I'm scared I'm stretching my sleeve. I definitely need to work on better eating habits and behaviors.

The only thing.. are you ok with reflux. Gerd, that acid that comes up in your throat? I hear the sleeve can cause that. Have you researched MGB? Some folks are having to revise from sleeve to mgb. I am going to have the mgb after much much research.

I did for my lap band, and because they withheld fluids for 24 hours, I actually asked for more - that's how parched I was. I don't like doing them because of the radiation involved, but I did get nuked pre-surgery to see how my lap band was working. For the bypass revision, the doc was fine knowing that I could drink regular things and not throw up. If there is a cool thing about the barium swallow is...how do I say this...your body cannot digest it at all...so it goes in white...and comes out white

Had my revision on Feb 3, 2020. Noticed that the weight isn’t coming off as fast and easy as it did the first time. Any thoughts?

I always wonder about the people writing about "brimming with energy" 3 weeks after WLS. Well, not this gal here... How much food the pouch can comfortably hold is depending on the patient (e. g. did they a pouch/sleeve-resizing or not, how much swelling is still around) and what you put into the pouch. I can eat way more than 0.5 cup. I'm 4 weeks out of revision from MGB to RNY. I'm always surprised how little other patients seem to be able to eat or drink. Totally normal. You're putting food weight into your system again. Revision weight loss is said to be much slower. You're also at a relatively low BMI of 32 - I wouldn't expect quicker weight loss.

Since my surgery, I cannot eat dried pastas or white, brown, red or black (forbidden) rice. But I CAN eat fresh pasta and wild rice and all wheat grains and many other grains. My understanding is that the ones I can't eat continue to expand after eating, and that's painful with a tiny stomach pouch. So, did some research. Rice and dried pastas can expand up to six times their dry volume either during cooking or after eating. Fresh pastas still are about halfway to the expanded volume before cooking and double when cooked, so are DONE EXPANDING when eaten, so won't cause pain or nausea when consumed. Rice pudding and risotto have also fully expanded BEFORE you eat them, so can also be eaten with no negative consequences. However, most rice dishes and pasta from dried have tripled in size before eating but will DOUBLE that INSIDE you. That's going to be bad. My research has found NOTHING about the discomfort being due to high carb content. If you are prone to short term dumping, high carbs can be a problem, but although I can't eat a whole hard candy, I can eat a plate of fresh pasta with cheese sauce ( my version of Mac and cheese, homemade) and it doesn't cause dumping. I only get dumping from fresh pasta if I don't consume enough protein with it. The problem with pasta is one of volume, not carbs. Wheat grains (wheat berries, spelt, kamut, einkorn, farro, emmer, cracked wheat, bulgur, and others) expand to only 3 times dry volume when cooked, so the expansion is done during cooking, and no more occurs after eating. The same is true of barley, quinoa, amaranth, teff, millet, kaniwa, buckwheat, and a bunch of other grains. So, they all can be substituted in recipes that call for rice. Wild rice isn't in the rice family, it's closer related to wheat and barley, do it also is done expanding during cooking so can be eaten without trouble. I use spelt when I make pork fried rice. I use wild rice instead of noodles in chicken soup. I use kamut or wheat berries instead of couscous. I do have to adjust cooking times, or liquid amounts to reflect what actually is being cooked, but the recipes come out tasty and healthy. My question for you all is, have you found any prepared pasta dishes you can eat? If not, try with fresh pasta. Btw, egg rolls wrappers are essentially identical to fresh pasta and can be used to make lasagna without needing prior cooking, and without over expansion inside you. Hopefully you can try some of these ideas and find out you have more food choices than you thought you did. I am 8 years out from Roux-En-Y surgery, with several revision surgeries as well, and gall bladder removal, and I am still at my target weight, 100 lbs. down from pre-surgery weight. It has NOT been easy.

I'm almost 9 months post op and my hair FINALLY slowed down with the shedding. I used to have really thick hair, but now it's so thin you can see my scalp. So I've had to get creative with how I wear it so it's not as noticeable. I was hoping it would start growing back soon, but I just found out I'm going to have to have a revision from sleeve to bypass, so I'm guessing it's going to start all over again. I may be bald by the time this is all over.

Whomever lists the names and dates, could you please add to My name for 6-27 that my surgeon is Edward Mun and I am a revision. Thanks.

I don't mind. I developed a heart arrythmia (atrial fibrillation) around 18 months post op. The band surrounds the vagus nerve which controls, among other things, heart rhythm. I ended up in ER with my heart completely out of rhythm, beating at a rate that was close to having me have a stroke, and blood pressure also sky high. It took seven hours to bring everything around using medication, and now I'm on medication for life. I had my band's restriction loosened so as not to touch on the vagus nerve and just went back in last month to get a bit of fill as I'm gaining weight and hungry all the time. Immediately following the small fill, I went back into atrial fibrillation. That's pretty conclusive evidence that there is a correlation, at least with my particular anatomy. If you google gastric band, or lap band + atrial fibrillation, you will see a lot of people who have now experienced this. There are several on this forum right here. So yes, I regret what I did. Living with a-fib is no picnic, and the side effects of the three medicines I now have to take have greatly compromised my quality of life: extreme fatigue, memory loss, inability to do any sports that might raise my heartrate...wish I had chosen a different path. Would a sleeve revision correct the afib? Unfortunately, no. Once you have afib, you have afib. In fact, afib begets afib. In other words, once the electricity in your heart becomes chaotic (which is basically what afib is), it will constantly create new "bad" pathways in your heart. According to my cardiologist, it is unlikely that even removing the band will make the afib disappear, as the band has already done its damage. All I can do is keep it loose and off the vagus nerve, and continue with my meds (or, in the future, ablation or pacemaker if the afib worsens). I would not do another WLS in any case. I'm out of the game. For me, these are "Flowers for Algernon" situations. When I was doing my research, I was convinced WLS was the gold standard for permanent weight loss. Now my thoughts are different, especially concerning the lapband (since I had a bad experience with it) but also with other surgeries. There really is no tinkering with major body parts that is going to come out ok in the longterm, imho. We are seeing wonderful transformations in the short term, yes...but my sense is longterm we are going to see some health-complications from all WLS that have yet to reveal themselves. I would not even consider going under the knife again. I'm sorry it's been such a bad experience. One of the reasons I went with the sleeve is, while it's newly used in WLS, it actually has a huge amount of long term info as it's the same surgery used for stomach cancer and perforated ulcers and has been for probably over half a century at this point so long term effects are well and truly known. I agree that this is not a decision to make lightly. I hope you have a really good cardiologist. My dad has afib and my brother (an MD) did a bunch of research into meds to control it and found one that has stopped it completely - though this drug has serious complications potentially itself and should only be used for about a year as side effects become more prevalent at that point - should it come back it will require that they zap the heart tissues to stop it... PM me if you'd like me to share the names of the meds he researched so you can ask your cardiologist about them. I'm really glad you shared this. Most of the people on this site are very enthusiastic about their experience and I think it's important to have a balanced view. The numbers do support surgery as being the gold standard, but I also think it should be the last resort because if you can do it without then that is infinitely better health-wise. I've had a harder experience than many but nothing to yours and I am still glad I made this decision. I'm currently struggling with serious Iron absorption and anemia problems probably made worse if not caused by the omeprozole which can inhibit iron absorption but I've been a little anemic for years so it's not the sole issue and can't be laid at the feet of the surgery etc entirely. However all my iron stats have dropped 40-50% in less than 2 months and I will be seeing a hematologist to discuss IV iron transfusions next week. I do hope that this is going to be a non-issue once I can go without the omeprozole but in the meantime I am lucky to be able to work from home as I need to be lying down most of the time or my heart starts racing and I get dizzy. I'm also lucky as this is a manageable issue even if it does require long term IV iron transfusions instead of just a couple to get me back to the normal range until I can get off of the antacids. Further I'm intensely grateful that I went with a program that includes 2 years of follow up with nutrition, fitness and psych as this wouldn't have been caught for another 2 months without the nutritionist pushing me to follow up with my PCP as my numbers hadn't gone up even though I'd been on high levels of iron for over six months starting long before my surgery. It was at that visit that the drop was caught and while they would have found it at my next post surgery follow up that isn't for another 2.5 months and I could have landed in the hospital in serious trouble long before then if it continued to progress at the pace it has been going. Worth every flipping penny of the extra money staying here and going with that program instead of heading to Mexico imo.

Great job! I'm in the "best decision ever" category too. I had my revision surgery on May 27 and I'm down 50 pounds in just barely 3 months. Best I've felt in years. We are leaving for vacation on Saturday and even though I didn't want to buy anything new, I had to get a couple of new bathing suits because my old ones looked RIDICULOUS! Even the ones in the "right size" were so stretched out I couldn't go out in public with them. My surgery and recovery were not easy. I spent a good month to 6 weeks asking why I did this to myself. But, once everything was healed and I started to feel better, I turned the corner.

If it helps, I'm revising from band to sleeve and my surgeon says that with today's techniques, results from the sleeve are close to the bypass with very few of the side effects or possible future issues of the bypass. So I agreed to the sleeve. Sent from my SM-N920P using the BariatricPal App

I regret having been banded. I hated it. I lived with it for 5.5 years and last month finally revised to bypass. It hurt to eat anything but I was hungry all the time and never got full. I lost weight only when I literally couldn't tolerate food. One poster mentioned that those who regret it likely aren't on here...and it's true. I didn't get back on until I became committed to revision. At the same time, I was convinced that the band would cure me because hunger has always been my issue and they promised a low appetite, but they were wrong (at least for me....and all the other revisions that are currently being done). So can I really regret it if I also would have regretted it if I hadn't gotten it? I can't say whether I'll regret the bypass, but I hope I don't. So far things have been easier than the band, and I have tolerated everything I've attempted to eat so far. There is really no way to know until you do it, which is really difficult to know.

I don't mind. I developed a heart arrythmia (atrial fibrillation) around 18 months post op. The band surrounds the vagus nerve which controls, among other things, heart rhythm. I ended up in ER with my heart completely out of rhythm, beating at a rate that was close to having me have a stroke, and blood pressure also sky high. It took seven hours to bring everything around using medication, and now I'm on medication for life. I had my band's restriction loosened so as not to touch on the vagus nerve and just went back in last month to get a bit of fill as I'm gaining weight and hungry all the time. Immediately following the small fill, I went back into atrial fibrillation. That's pretty conclusive evidence that there is a correlation, at least with my particular anatomy. If you google gastric band, or lap band + atrial fibrillation, you will see a lot of people who have now experienced this. There are several on this forum right here. So yes, I regret what I did. Living with a-fib is no picnic, and the side effects of the three medicines I now have to take have greatly compromised my quality of life: extreme fatigue, memory loss, inability to do any sports that might raise my heartrate...wish I had chosen a different path. Would a sleeve revision correct the afib?

This is when it really hits home. You are going through food withdrawals. I just had a revision from band to sleeve and I’m 14 days post and feeling the same thing, just not as intense as the first time around. Just don’t push it, please. Let the internal incision heal. I also just had my 2 week dr visit today and 6 more days until mushy to semi solids. You can do this. You’ll make it through and look back and be glad you did. Protein helps keep you full. I hate shakes and put unflavored GenePro in my broth. It’s a little scoop that has 30 grams and it really keeps you from feeling hungry. I hope this helps!

I can so relate to the fears and issues over family / friends not being supportive. When I had my VBG 13 years ago, I only told about 2 or 3 friends, no family members- none, nadda, zip and to this day they do not know I had the surgery. They just figured I lost a bunch of weight the "old fashioned way". I'm SOOOOO glad I didn't because it would make it even harder going into having a revision knowing they would be even more judgmental this time. I favor more of my father's side of the family, although both my parents have weight issues as well as one of my brothers. I won't be telling anyone at work and it goes without saying, no family will be told either. I have only told 3 of my closest friends, people I felt pretty certain they would be supportive or at least willing to listen to me without being judgmental. Even when I go for short term disability from work, my boss will likely try to get me to tell him- but all he will get is that I am having surgery to fix a past surgery that has been causing some complications". That's all he needs to know, if that even. But, to avoid being completely rude and cause an uncomfortable conversation by just flat out saying I won't say, this will be my approach. You have made a sincere attempt to include your family. You have done what you can do and now the rest is up to them to meet you in the middle on this. Like the others have said, this is about YOU- not about THEM. Just keep focused on the goal and you will be fine. The others will have to figure out how to deal with their own insecurities on their own time.

Great job! Yeah I love wearing stuff that used to not fit and now it fits or is even big on me. I've gone through all my clothes that I had when I was smaller and even stuff I wore after my first surgery (I was sleeved in 2016, lost a lot and then gained back and had revision in 2021), now I need even smaller stuff. Originally I was a 2XL shirt and those were starting to get tight, now I'm a Medium (!!) and down about 10 pants sizes as well. I've been getting my stuff at the thrift store because I don't know if I'll outgrow them (undergrow?) and they'll end up being too big. Once I reach my final weight and size I'll do a shopping spree.

It appears that you had a lap band and are currently trying to obtain a revision to RNY gastric bypass. What happens to several individuals with lap band is a serious complication where the band erodes into the stomach. This is a dangerous condition and causes several individuals to transition to gastric bypass to correct the problem. I am over 3 1/2 years post-op RNY gastric bypass. One of the interesting things that happened to me was that after surgery I completely lost my hunger. When hunger is not constantly, continually gnawing at my bones, I found that it was not difficult to drop the weight. The experience after surgery was not akin to dieting. It was a totally different experience. Many people experience this effect (but not all). Generally you will not notice this effect take hold until you transition from the puree to solid stage of the program. Generally pre-op, the insurance requirement is to show that you are trying very hard to lose weight through diet and exercise. So make sure you document your attempts such as giving up soda, walking each day. Document your diet through a journal to track your food intake. Attend bariatric surgery support group meetings. And let nature take its course.

Well I've heard the difference is they do the plication with sutures and the ESG with some sort of rivets. I base this on Dr Tom Umbach from Blossom Bariatrics on You Tube. He said it is almost impossible to revise an ESG for this reason. Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app