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You are doing this for YOU!!! That is a great goal. Stay focused on this factor. Those that doubt your intentions are just jealous, and uncertain about your successes--show them otherwise. I had my revision a month ago. Doing great with it. Took me 4 years to get it. Glad I had it done! Hang in there. We are here to support each other. Ronda

hi guys Im just feeling up to writing now. had surgery at 5pm yesterday and was rushed back in at midnight for a revision all my insision bleeding heavy and my drain bottle had to be changed every 30 min to an hour my blood pressure dropped. Im only feeling ok now eating popsicles and crushed ice. only feeling sick after antibiotic and paid med s. my bleeding stopped and my drain map only half full after five hours today so things are looking up x please pray for me that I'll recover with out any more complications and as always you guys are in my prayers x

I think if my doctor recommened me to do the lapband, i would run screaming at the top of my lungs the other way. In fact, when i went in to the office in Nov to discuss removing the darn thing (banded 2010), both told me right out that the majority of doctors are no longer not only not recommending it, they are no longer performing that procedure. I had my revision on 1/23 from the band to the sleeve. I say skip the band and opt for the sleeve if those are your choices. Best of luck.

I haven't been to a nutrition class but I did do one on ones with a dietician, just discussed current diet, what diet I will need pre op / post op...etc. Any reason the surgeon isn't doing a bypass to start with? Will your insurance cover the original surgery plus a revision?

The way my surgeon explained it to me, bypass does help improve GERD because the majority of acid is made in your lower stomach which is now separated from the digestive path. But, there still is some acid in the pouch, just not as much. Revision in TX sounds like they have some good ideas about what might be going on.

I am October 1 too! Starting to get anxious but also very excited. I am a band revision to sleeve so feel like I have been through at least some of this before. Congrats, good luck and I will see you on the post op side soon!

Look, no magic here. You've put on weight because you are taking ion more calories than you burn...THE TRUTH. Exercise every day, eat healthier, eat less...FACT. You at least have the tool of the surgery which absorbs less of what you eat and less true stomach hunger. Two months out after revision is nothing, keep on a diet, keep working out.

I'm sure that I can handle the lifestyle change that it takes to succeed after this surgery, but after much research and reading numerous accounts of people developing severe acid reflux after having the gastric sleeve surgery, this really has me beyond concerned. It seems that the only solution to get rid of the acid reflux, is to have a revision to gastric bypass surgery, I'm not sure that I can come to terms with that, just not sure that I could handle that.

As noted, it can be dietary changes causing the problem and there are a number of over the counter meds that can help with them. However, the sleeve can cause reflux problems in some, so if you are having problems with it pre-op, the sleeve may not be the best procedure. If the reflux is caused by a hiatal hernia (very common in morbidly obese people,) that can be corrected when the sleeve is done and the problem never reoccurs. For others, the problem gets worse, or crops up where it never existed before, and medication is needed long term (short term use of PPIs for a few months is a normal post op protocol), or even a revision to a bypass in the more extreme cases. This is certainly something that I would want to get evaluated before surgery, as it may influence choice of procedure.

I have a band, no sleeve, but had thought about revising to a sleeve. My reasoning was due to the fact that I was banded in 2009 and lost 47 pounds BUT didn't have any follow up care or fills (I moved out of state and no one wanted to touch some other surgeons work....in my case) so I gained it back. I was angry at my band so in 2013 I wanted a sleeve. I then moved back to California and before I went all gung ho sleeve, I decided to at least TRY to get some fills and see how it went. After all, I never really put my band to work or really committed to my own hard work to meet my band requirements to achieve results. I finally am losing weight....30 pounds in around 3 months now....and feel like I finally unleashed my secret weapon against fat! Lol. I suggest you make every attempt to utilize the band first ( if you are not having seriously sh*tty complications that some banders get) because you already had a surgery and traumatic experience on your body. All I am saying from my experience, is it isn't too late to restart. Good luck! Don't let defeating thoughts ruin your chances.

My name is Holly, I am 34 years young. I have three beautiful children (1 son, and twin daughters). I have been married to the love of my life for 11.5 years, and live in Orlando, FL. However, I grew up in Michigan, where most of my side of the family still resides. In November of 2006 I had the lap-band placed. I weighed right around 290 lbs (my highest weight ever), and I am 5'6" tall. I did well in the beginning I lost a little over 60 lbs. In retrospect I do not actually think the band played the largest roll in that loss. Right after having the band placed that year was a hard year in terms of illness for our family. My children were very young at the time and during a 6 month period we had several different stomach/intestinal bugs, that I was lucky enough to keep on catching. It seemed as though every other week I was down and out and couldn't keep anything down for days. For that reason I believe that having been sick caused a lot of my 60lb weight loss. I did manage to keep the weight off for quite some time. Over the past 6 years I have gone from under 230lbs to today weighing 261lbs. I now have serious and severe issues with the band. I have developed GERD, which has also caused several cases of reoccurring pneumonia over the past 2.5 years, which recently has caused 2 hospital stays. Just a little over a week ago I had an EGD done, which showed that my esophagus is not pushing food down properly. Having fasted for well over 13 hrs, I still had food in my esophagus that was discovered during the procedure. STUPID band! My GI doc as has recommended that I have the band removed, which I have wanted to do! My insurance will cover bariatric surgery (Praise The Lord!). After much, much research I have decided that I will have revision to VSG. I have two family members who had RNY, and though they did well at first and for quite some time afterwards, they did gain their weight back. But, my biggest concern is all the other serious side effects that comes with RNY. I do not want to deal with dumping, nor being able to absorb vitamins. I also need to be able to continue to take NSAIDs, which both family members were not allowed to do for some years following RNY Sx. I say this because I do have arthritis. Plus, RNY just seems too invasive for my taste, my main reason for having the lap-band placed. Though I am not happy with the lap-band I am happy that it is reversible, and can be removed Next Friday I meet back with my GI doc to go over all the results for the EGD, and he said he will make a referral to a local bariatric surgeon. My current goals are to meet with the bariatric surgeon before March is over, hopefully. And I am hoping that by April 2012 I will be able to have the removal of the band and then revised to VSG.

I knew this whole trip was going entirely too smoothly. My insurance went through without a thought, the appointments lined up perfectly (band date two weeks after school was over ... I am a teacher), and I had the whole summer to heal and begin this process. Now, I receive a call from my surgeon's office this morning telling me that they just found out he would be at a conference for two weeks in June. UGHHHH!! My surgery date has been pushed back until July 2nd. I know, I know, in the grand scheme of things this is only a week. But to someone who has been searching for a tool to aid what seems like impossible weightloss, another week might as well be a century. Now I have to go about adjusting house sitters, dog sitters, my mother's schedule, my partner's schedule...all to the new surgery date. It may seem little, but the disappointment is huge. Any words of encouragment would be appreciated.........I am going to attempt to stop my self imposed hissy fit here shortly! - Jennifer Surgery date (revised) 7/2/2008:huh2:

Had my band removed three months ago. Sleeve revision surgery scheduled for May 25. I'm starting to get majorly nervous now. Very worried about the pain I will be in post surgery. I'm wondering if it will be lessened because I have already had my band removed and recovered from that? I'm on day four of Optifast two week diet today and I am absolutely starving.

This kinda reminds m of my experience. I am now in the process of lapband to sleeve revision. I had to have the psych visit for my band and during my eval my moms calls and tells me she is at the hospital with "brian". Which is my sons name...oh and my cousin. Well i thought she meant my son. And was like omg, is he ok, what happened..and was crying. Then my mom realizes my reaction and tells me it was my cousin. I didn't jump up turn furniture over or run in traffic...and the doc tells me that i overrracted?!?!? Ummm i thought my kid just got hit by a car?? He didn't hold up my progress but told me i needed o get with my pcp for meds and he never followed up. I don't think one person who meets you for an hour should have that much power!!!

I'm not sure exactly how to reply to this, because my initial instinct is that I am a perfectionist because for so long I was a the opposite end of the spectrum. I was always the fattest person in the room and now I am average... I'm still about 25 lbs from my ultimate goal but I did have a tummy tuck and breast lift six months ago, and I'm going to have the rest of the lower body lift and some revisions in December. While the decision to have cosmetic surgery was cosmetic, for me it really did make sense. I am 30 and I had rolls across my stomach that would never go away without surgery. Likewise, my breasts pretty much touched my belly button. However, I also think the other poster is right. At some point I'm going to have to really accept that this is me and I am okay. I'm struggling through that right now. I don't look bad, in fact I probably look damn good, I just need to realize that and accept myself. ~lori

The topic was weight loss surgery, but of course they only talked about lap-band. OMG. Seriously, I was so apalled at what I was hearing that I was driven to write them a letter, which is something I would never do. They had the smug lap-band surgeon laughingly say there was only 1% chance of any type of complication and that the surgery only takes 15 minutes. He was such a douche! They had a couple of success stories on there and everyone was so bowled over by how awesome everything is. There was one lady on there that was talking about complications, but they didn't really give her much time. Here is a copy of what I wrote - I wanted to share it with you all: ***** The lap band is a nightmare!!!!!! This is a direct quote from the Allergan web site regarding lap-band safety: "In the study, 25% of the patients had their band systems removed, two-thirds of which were following adverse events. " Reference: http://www.lapband.c...nformation/#top If the 600,000 patient count that was quoted on the show is accurate, that means up to 150,000 have probably had them removed and this should be represented in the discussion. Your lap-band "expert" surgeon downplayed the risks as if they didn't exist. I got the lap-band almost 4 years ago and I just had it removed a month ago. There are thousands of people like me out there. I'm not sure where the statistics are coming from, but I think there is a huge silent group of people out there having revision surgeries. There is not as much information out there regarding lap-band patients 5 years out from surgery, but there are so many that have the band removed because of problems eating (I couldn't eat chicken with my band AT ALL), Problems with chronic port site pain, port flipping, slipping, erosion, doctors that do port fills correctly, and much more. For the record, I did not have any major complications and I still had the band taken out. Go to a lap-band support forum on line and then look into the "complications" discussions. You will see it all there. And these complications are not because the patient failed, the equipment is problematic, period. Check out www.verticalsleevetalk.com and look into the "Band To SLeeve Revision" topic. Read through the stories and see what is REALLY happeneing out there. These are real people. Also, your surgeon said something about the removal of a band being "easy". I don't say this lightly, but this guy has no idea what he is talking about. I had an uncomplicated revision surgery and there was internal scarring from the band that needed to be removed. Please do your homework before you sell this surgery to the desperate overweight people out there. They will believe anything because they want so desperately to lose the weight - i know because I was one of them. Please, please, please - stop perpetuating this flawed surgical remedy. The marketing is out of control and people are being seriously hurt. There are other surgical options that have better long term results and less long term complications. Sincerely, <full name withheld on forum> ********** I had to get it off of my chest. Thanks- Lara

Hello im new here and will be having a gastric band revision on October 29th. I am currently on day 3 of my 2 week pre OP diet. I'm wondering how long your revision surgeries took and how long were you in the Hospital afterwards? Also what was the pain like post OP? Thank you

It was instant dumping I took running &told manager healthy menus dont include brown sugar or any sugars, then I spoke w/corporate office in Lebanon , tn &they are gonna revise there healthy menus soon.

I had the Lap Band in 2011, lost about 50 lbs and had lots of the normal complications. food not going down, productive burps, vomiting, resorting to slider foods, weight gain, port site pain, etc. So after the birth of my son I decided to have my Lap Band removed in May (2014). I spoke to my doc about revision, he was ok with it but I had to do all the presurgery crap again due to staff not properly documenting. They were afraid my insurance would not cover revision if I didn't jump through the hoops again because ins wouldn't cover it for just having port pain. So I have one more family doc appt, my psych eval was good and she approved me for surgery, I got my date of Sept 16th last week, and I am finding myself going back and forth questioning whether or not I am ready for this. For me, it's now or never. I am 25 so am still under my mothers ins which pays 100% for surgery, however in Nov I will be 26 and I will carry insurance from the hospital I work at and the coverage sucks. My first thought is that I am terrified of complications. I am scared something will go wrong and I won't be here for my son(he's 4 months) and I get mad at myself thinking how selfish this is to want to risk all this just to be skinny? Am I crazy? I don't know if it's because its a more invasive surgery and it's permanent where as lap band wasn't, or if it's because I'm a mother now, but I am overcome by fear. Anyone else have this irrational fear almost stop you from going through with it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I only know of one lady who pursued a full DS after VSG and she only gave it 6 weeks all while her nut was telling her to not count carbs or calories, she had metabolic issues, and that stuff was not being addressed so she found a surgeon that agreed to go ahead and perform DS even though she only had the sleeve 6 weeks and was not following a normal post-VSG diet, and she wanted to lose weight faster and didn't want to seek additional nutritional or metabolic assistance from her current surgeon and team. I have now seen 3 DS'ers around 2-3 years out looking to revise (shorten their common channel) because they haven't got to goal, or have gained weight back.

Most docs don't mention it because they don't do it - it is a longer and more technically challenging procedure than most of the other WLS procedures. The DS uses a VSG, usually leaving a somewhat larger stomach than our standalone VSG, and then it does some intestinal rerouting that results in malabsorption of the fats you eat - you just don't absorb them very well post op. It has a long term record of very good weight loss along with good durability of the loss, generally the best of the mainstream WLS procedures that are widely accepted by Medicare and the insurance industry. Interest in the VSG as a routine weight loss procedure came from DS experience, where some of the heaviest patients who had severe health problems such that the DS surgery was too risky for them were instead given a staged DS where they first got a VSG and then after they lost some weight and their health improved some were given the intestinal rerouting as a second stage procedure. It was found that a fair number of such patients lost enough weight and maintained it that the second stage wasn't necessary for them. The vast majority of DS procedures are done single stage. The other case where you might go through this again is if you need a revision - if the original procedure wasn't successful in reaching and maintaining your weight loss goals or if other complications exist. Many people having VSGs are being revised from failed lapbands. Likewise, if the VSG doesn't work for you, it can be revised into an RNY or a DS. The VSG, since it is already a part of the DS structure, is much easier to revise into a DS than a failed RNY. All of these procedures have ups and downs to them. One needs to do their research and get comfortable with the tradeoffs involved in whichever one they choose.

I just found this information in "Lap Band System Adjustable Gastric Banding System with Omniform Design put out by Allergan. "On page 2 under "Adverse Events" 5th paragraph it says: "Gastric Banding done as a revision procedure has a greater risk of complications. Prior abdominal surgey is commonly associated with adhesions involving the stomach. In the US study, 42% of the patients undergoing revisions were reported to have developed adhesions involving the stomach. Care and time must be taken to adequately release the adhesions to provide access, exposure and mobilization of the stomach for revision procedures" (I think this is addressing the MD)" It went on the give a percentage of the failure rate for band slippage on those banded for a second time. It was greater but I can't find the %. I would put the web site up but I can't find it again. Maybe those of you that are more computer literate will be able to find it. It is dated October 2007. If you type in the top stuff maybe it will come up. Sorry for incomplete information; but maybe you can find it and decide if you want a second band.

Oh! I feel your pain. I was so depressed when I found out I had slipped. I physically couldn't eat, so I had to be on liquids. I was self-pay, so I had to wait to get financed all over again and wait for my doctor to get me a date and get time off work.....so it felt like I was on liquids FOREVER! I vented to my June 2006 thread alot! Between pre-op, post-op, fills, slip, etc. I felt like 50% of my journey was on liquids! But, after my repair, things are SO MUCH better! I think my band wasn't in a good spot to begin with because I struggled alot. After the revision I have felt 100% better and my weight loss has been steady. I am nearly to goal. Hang in there! It is a tough time, but take it as a learning experience and treasure your band! I faced the possibility of losing my band, but luckily they were able to reposition it without removing it. It gave me a new appreciation for my band and I know I don't ever want to be without it. I hope you heal quickly and that things soon improve. PM me if you need support!

I can eat anything if I want to right now.. this revision needs to happen ASAP lol. Girls at work bring in donuts a couple times a week, and I so love donuts.. but I don't go to the break room on the days they bring them in, otherwise I won't be able to control myself. I've been donut free since March 2007!

So, I am 5 weeks out of bypass revision. I feel great (a little stall, but I hear thats normal and I am not worried). I am happy. Just an observation, I dont get that full feeling as fast as I did like the original, the delayed fullness is weird. Me and the Dr. have talked about it and I understand why. I have had one hick up with overeating and that sh*t was painful for a good 45 mins. How are you managing this change if you are experiencing it at all?