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I am from GA. I am planning to travel to Mexico in the upcoming months for lapband revision to sleeve surgery. I would love to hear about your journey. What day did you have surgery?Recovery time?Preop/Postop tips?

To give you a back ground to my story. I have a history(hx) of 4 back surgeries(sx) & 4 jaw sx with instrumentation. After a failed Lumbar fusion. I suffer from chronic back pain & myofacial pain and gained a lot of weight due to inactivity, previous weight issues and multiple steroids injections. I was taking 17 meds most for pain management. My MD recommended I have a Morphine pump implanted for pain management which I refused as I thought it was too drastic. I researched the VSG as it was also advised. Co-morbidities going to the VSG were: hypothyroididm, HTN, diabetes,chronic pain, chronic migrains, TMJ, GERD, gastritis. I had the first VSG on 6/2012. Phase 1 & 2 were ok did well with liquids and pureed foods, although I was extremely weak. Lost 12 lbs the 1st wk. 2wks following was down 25lbs. Went on to phase 3 to introduce soft foods. As I started doing that I began having severe reflux. To the point the food was backing up, it was violent. As if the food could not come down my stomach. The MD ordered upper GI series & Barium Swallow. It revealed a 4mm stricture & Hiatal Hernia that developed. By this time I could not hold anything down but liquids. Lost about 65lbs. So I had to have a VSG revision and a Hernia repair. This was done 7/12/13. After the 2nd VSG the reflux dwindled to zero and I lost up to 95lbs up to November of 2014. During September and the months following until Jan 2015 I had a series of 6 epidural injections for back pain and cortisone for shoulder pain. I always have been very sensitive to steroids and tend to gain weight with it. ***From November of 2014 until Jan 2015 I gained 20 lbs. I went to my PCP in Nov weight 131 and in Jan I weighted 150. Of course I knew I had gained because I weigh myself weekly but I don't know how I gained the weight. *there was no change in my eating habits. *my labs were recent and normal. *no change in meds or dosages. *I still document EVERYTHING I eat daily. I use My Fitness Pal. *I weigh my portions. 800-950 calories average. *I don't eat junk or juices or breads, rice, Pasta, grains. All eliminated. *Drinking one Protein shake per day. *meeting my Protein goal of 70gm and under 80 carbs a day *drink about 6 glasses of Water a day. I have gone back and reviewed ALL the material I was given. I contacted the NUT. She stresses to stay under 80gm of carbs to loose weight. Don't count calories but stay under 1000. I usually average 800-950. I CONSIDERING IT COULD HAVE BEEN THE INJECTIONS. I cut back on portions. I eliminated some foods in was eating. I was testing some menus on MFP that were at about the 50gm carb range. To see what I could eat. Basically I would have to go backTo 2 shakes a day and one meal. My BIG PROBLEM is that I take 17 meds a day. Which means that the GERD condition returned & I'm now having reflux almost daily. What I had to do before is take the meds with milk every 4hrs which ups the carbs. My sx office said yesterday to see the Gastro. If they confirm the GERD is too severe which they told me is a risk with the VSG, then they would recommend I have a recession to a RNY.???? I NEED to STOP THE 6GAIN, loose 30 lbs TO MEET GOAL, get the GERD UNDER CONTROL, cause I can't stop taking the other meds. HELP!!!????????????

I had my revision to bypass June 23. Im having no issues recovering. The thing is im having issues losing all of a sudden. Lost 25 then ive stopped last 5 days. I dont get it. Im tracking everything. So frustrated.

I was approved for an emergency band removal by insurance and was going to pay cash for a revision during the removal. My doctor saw me Tuesday and wanted me scheduled for surgery this coming Monday, specifically because my husband is gone all summer and I had my parents here for 2 weeks to help me. Today, they were supposed to call with surgery day instructions. Instead, they didn't return my call until 4:00 and said they hadn't put me on te schedule because "they didn't know what the doctor was thinking, scheduling me so quickly." I explained his reasoning (he KNOWS my husband and the circumstances and he was very sincere in wanting to accommodate our circumstances.). They said they'd call back by 6:00. Never heard back and now it's 8:00???? I don't suppose there's any hope they will call over the weekend, so I guess I'm not having my revision. I'm so, so devastated. The earliest I can see having it done now at this point is late November. ????

I hope you feel better. I am revising from sleeve to bypass. Would love to hear more about your process. I sure will share so far I just in pain... but I had a lot of scar tissue taking out I felt sick earlier and bad cramps

OK I haven't had revision. I went straight to bypass but let me say this - if you managed to lose 110 pounds with sleeve, you totally got this. A lot of the same rules apply (from what I understand). Protein, fluids, exercise. If you have not done so, get a meeting with your NUT ASAP. And I would recommend seeing a therapist to in order to help with the adjustment which sounds like it came on very quickly. Deep breaths. We have complete and utter faith in you. In fact, you can teach us newbies a lot! Hugs!!

I need to update my info here. But I just had my band removed and revised to sleeve June 25th. I see more and more band removals and less bands being placed. I hope they remove bands from the market completely. So far my sleeve is everything my band was supposed to be. And so much happier.

I am 3 years out. I will be revised Sept/oct

Thank you everyone! I have decided to go with a different surgeon. Not to mention I was basically removed from the surgeon I saws service. They require a $2,500 fee for an after care program, but want $7,000 for the same exact program for a revision paitient. They didn't like when I asked why/had questions about the policy. It just felt like they didn't want to deal with anyone who had any concerns about their program. Thankfully I already started seeking other surgeons and am now dealing with my PCP to get a new referral, but now they're slacking too :-/ I'm literally in their waiting room as I type having a sit in to get my referral. It's been over a week of unreturned calls and messages, I even ended up with an appointment to talk to my PCP directly. I made very clear the hospital I want to go to only does a phone referral service and even gave them the number to call the referral in. They ended up faxing a referral to somebody but certainly wasn't the bariatric program I'm planning on going to. So to insure they call it in and I can get an appointment with the surgeon next week I'm sitting here waiting. I also have decided that I don't mind between RNY and VSG. Well... Yes I would prefer the sleeve but I'm just as at peace with the RNY. I'm essentially going to leave it up to my surgeon to determine what's best for me and whatever the condition of my stomach is once he knows what it looks like.

I was revised in oct 2014, and as of today i have lost 132lbs and still got more to lose. Am i slow in losing? I don't think so. Has it been easy? Hell no, ive struggled the last two months in a massive stall, but I'm back to moving down the scales - yippee! At the end of the day, its up to you, follow your surgeons plan and never, ever give up! Best wishes to you.

Hi i had my lapband in 2010, removed it in aug 2014 due to it failing and 10 weeks later i was revised to sleeve. Everything went well. I do not doubt that you should be ok to be revised 10 years later. Having said that, i would look into both sleeve and bypass as your options not just one. Best wishes for you on your weight loss journey.

i was advised by my (now retired) surgeon that if the Gerd that i have developed since being sleeved gets worse that i will have to be revised to a bypass. This scares me as i have already been through a revision from lapband to sleeve. Please keep us posted on your progress. Wishing you all the best with your health xox

All the BCBS' have different requirement FEP BLUE Federal pays for revision after all requirements are met AND there is proof of compliance with 1st surgery.

FEP BLUE is 3 months of nut visits. Do you have your two year weight records documented? It can be from any of your drs. Also a great letter of necessity will help. Do you have GERD? I didn't have to have proof of WW I just told them what programs I has done. I have FEP BLUE BASIC and was approved for the sleeve quick. Now revising to bypass.

I have BCBS in Texas of course wouldn't pay for my revision so I did self pay.

I revising as well do too Gerd and other issues. Please keep me posted on how you are doing. Your sleeve had a lot of scar tissue?

I hope you feel better. I am revising from sleeve to bypass. Would love to hear more about your process.

I had my revision done from the sleeve to the bypass I am in so much pain they took out a lot of scar tissue

I went from the sleeve and had the bypass wed I'm so nervous about this change has anyone been through this... I had a lot of scar tissue they took out and revision me to the bypass bc acid reflux. .. I'm in so much pain With my sleeve I lost 110 pounds and gained about 30 back my doctor said I should lose what I have gained plus more.. he said the eating and other things is different from the sleeve..I don't want to be sick

Alot of us fear regain. My revision to the sleeve was Dec 2011, and I can tell you my personal experience matches the statistics, it gets harder to maintain the further out you go. I am maintaining within about 5# of my goal weight, but wishing i was UNDER my goal like I used to be... I am up around 20# from my lowest weight. anyway, I was thinking about all the doubts I had preop. I was suggested to get the sleeve by my sleep apnea doctor who correctly diagnosed that I was on a path to early death with a side trip through disability. I gave him all the arguments why WLS was a bad idea - all the risks etc but the main one being "doesn't everybody always regain?" He knew the stats so was able to talk percentages (most people regain some, not all) but more impactful was him asking me a couple of questions. 1. Imagine you got to goal, and within 5 years you had regained 50% of the weight you lost... would it still be worth it to have had all that time living a normal, healthy life, where you can move around freely, fit in socially... all that stuff? My answer was of course YES 2. Imagine the same as above, only in 10 years you do regain all the lost weight. A whole decade of living healthier, trimmer (maybe not thin, but way improved over where I was) - would that be worth it? My answer was of course YES I have taken my own doubts and turned them into motivation. I KNOW that it is hard to maintain. Look around - not just formerly morbidly obese - even "normal people" have trouble keeping trim in their middle ages. I view my struggle now as at least possible. I feel like my sleeve has made me more like on an even playing field with all the other 50 year old women working to keep from aquiring a spare tire. Ask any of us, it's a b*tch. So, for me, this has been worth it but have no illusions, the work continues day after day... in some ways I think maintenance is harder than the losing phase. I think it is human nature to want to cross the finish line, declare victory, and call it good. Doesn't work that way...

Ten more days before I have my revision from band to bypass. hopefully it goes by fast!

@@Oregondaisy I have had a lot of experience in this area. I had spondylothesis in my lower lumbar. My disc was almost completely worn away and my L5 had actually fallen creating an unstable lumbar. The nerve was actually trapped caused severe nerve pain. In 2001 I had a lumbar fusion of my l5/S1. Lumbar is a huge surgery and takes a very long time to recover. I was left with nerve damage that ran down my right leg. It almost ended my career because we could not get the pain under control. Many many epidural injections, physical therapy and narcotics and I was still in severe pain but my spine was stable. I wanted a non narcotic solution and finally learned about an internal neuro stimulator. We tested it externally and immediately when we turned it on the pain down my leg improved so significantly I began to cry. Two weeks later I had it installed surgically. That Neurostimulatoe gave me my life back! That was in 2005. I went so many years in severe pain before I found a solution. I have recently had a 3 level spinal fusion in my cervical spine. This too was a huge surgery. Because of the years of recovery needed for lumbar fusion I was terrified to have another fusion and waited until the problem became required due to cord compression. Cervical fusion although painful is definately not as bad as lumbar fusion. Before I had my lumbar fusion a neurosurgeon told me that if I was his wife, mother or daughter he would recommend that I wait until it was absolutely required to survive before having lumbar fusion. One fusion can change everything about how your spine operates causing more damage down the road. He warned me that this is such a long recovery and if you think you know pain now, you definately will after. I really wish I would have listened to him because he was right. I would try every single alternative more than once before moving forward. I wish I had know about the neurostimulator first, it would have made my pain so much more comfortable that I would have been able to live with it without lumbar fusion. I ended up having that lumbar fusion and then a revision before I found a tolerable solution. I have done a ton of research on this subject. I truly believe that my whole spine has been effected by my decision to move forward with lumbar fusion. I now have severe arthritis in my T vertebraes as well as the deterioration of my cervical spine. I still have lower lumbar pain every day but that neurostimulator finally broke through that nerve pain in my leg. Lastly I would say, epidural injections are definately worth it as long as you get results. I used them for 12 years to control my cervical spine pain and when the wear got too bad they stopped working, that is when I knew it was time to think about fusion in my neck. Good luck in whatever you decide to do. Just make sure you manage your expectations. Just because they are doing surgery, does not mean that nerve pain will go away. You may have to find other solutions. I choose not to live on narcotics and have learned there are many more options out there to deal with my pain. I was living on narcotics for over 10 years and honestly they didn't even really help. I know I will live with back pain for the rest of my life, I also know that the more I exercise the better I feel. I no longer let it rule me. I definately did at one point in my life. I will say a prayer that everything works out great for you in whatever you decide. My post is not meant to scare you, but More to make sure you research like crazy before deciding, Best of luck and feel free to reach out directly with questions.

We are very similar! I hope I'm there quickly! I'm tired of jeans cutting into my middle. I have read that my metabolism is probably going to slow down my loss because I was banded before. I hope not! Yeah, I hear that you revisions are a little slower. But so what? As long as you get there and enjoy the journey, that's all that matters! Good luck and keep us posted!

Hi! I'd love to be your buddy! It sounds like we are in a similar boat. I was also banded, was successful, and then had complications... My revision to RNY is next Monday, July 20 I am curious to hear about how the surgery went for you? How does the healing compare to the recovery from band surgery? Be well! I'm right behind you!

When something gets stuck, our body produces this mucous like substance (slime) in an attempt to get the food to go down. I'm way to familiar with this from having the lapband but thankfully have not experienced it since my revision.