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Hi carlissa. I am also an RN. Other than a psychologist consult for insurance requirements, I did not have difficulty getting approval for surgery. My surgeon required just one week of liquid diet prior to surgery but no weight loss required. I had a band to sleeve revision on April 4. I'm 5'3 and my pre-surgery weight was 255. As of today I weigh 221. My only struggle is trying to get the required amount of Water intake on the nights that I work. Good luck on your upcoming surgery. I'm excited for you. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Dear God... revision, HH repair, and lap. chole all at once?!?!?! OUCH! I bet the weight lifting restriction is for the tummy tuck. I hear that you need 2-3 months sometimes before you can lift weights (just form what I hear). The Prevacid has pretty much stopped all the acid reflux (and the surgery stopped all food regurgitation). I should be getting another fill the first week of May... but if the surgeon doesn't like the pain that I still have, I don't know what will happen. I get the pain when I lie down (every time I take a deep breath) and sometimes when I am sitting/standing. It really hurts (say a 7 on a 1-10 scale... but right after surgery it was a 10). We'll see if the surgeon thinks it is normal to have that 2 months out. It will be 6 weeks this Friday! Sorry you have gained weight. Yeah... um... I am exactly the same weight I was when I had the repair (and I could be a couple of pounds heavier but I have been afraid to step on the scale for the last 2 weeks). Sigh... starting over is SOOOOO HARD!:tt2:

WOW! I am so sorry to hear these kinds if stories... I had my surgery 2004 august 15. head hunger was very hard for me... I've lost 150 pounds... I'm still at goal. I lost my weight so quickly that I now have rhuematoid arthritis... I stay active. I refuse the medications because it causes lymphoma... no thanx to that... I take herbs.. I had a weight loss buddy. she didn't fair so well with the surgery. she ate food she should not have and got really sick... she had to get the surgery revised.... I have a lot of family that had the surgery when I did.... they have all gained around 25 pounds back... I gain I lo [ATTACH]40184[/ATTACH] se... it never stays... gaining a little back is pretty normal. I wish all you guys success. I'm glad you are all here to share your experiences with others...♡♥♡♥♡

I got my band on February 7th 2008 and was extremely successful with it. I started at 277 and my lowest weight was 183. Man I looked great!!! Slowly but surely, I began to be able to eat more so I would go in for fills but they didn't really seem to have much effect. Last October my doctor recommended an upper GI to make sure everything looked okay and sure enough they discovered that my band had eroded into my stomach. I then had an upper endoscopy to confirm it and the pictures are lovely. Not! The recommendation was to have it removed and revise to another type of procedure. Fortunately, our company was doing our annual benefits re-enrollment at the time, so I upgraded my insurance and also did a flex spending card for the co-pays. After the beginning of the year we submitted the documentation to the insurance company for the predetermination and after an initial denial they approved the appeal. Also, according to their policy, they will also cover repeat surgery if the removal was due to erosion or slippage so I am also having to make up my mind about which procedure to revise to. I was initially completely sold on the sleeve but there is also a new procedure called banded plication which I am taking a close look at. Anyway, I finally have my date for the removal of my band. It will be gone on March 29th. Then I will have to wait at least six weeks before revising to whatever surgery I decide to revise to. I have gained back a bunch of my weight (currently at 240) so I am eager to get back on plan. My problem is that I eat because I can. Without that tool inside of me, I don't feel like a need to comply with anything so I don't. I have learned to depend on it. Once I have it, I am am exemplary patient! I will check back in after my surgery and let everyone know how it went. I am specifically posting my experience here since my removal is due specifically to erosion and I want others who may eventually have the same situation to have something to refer to. As far as pre-op goes, a week before my surgery I will have my consult with my surgeon and he will give me diet instructions at that time in order to shrink my liver. I will also be doing the surgery at Shands Hospital in Jacksonville and will be staying overnight as he wants to be able to observe me for any leaks due to the perforation and repair of my stomach. The surgery will be on Thursday, I will go home on Friday and I will probably wait until Tuesday to go back to work just because I don't want to push it. I was up and around fairly quickly after getting my band placed so this should be pretty comparable as long as there are no complications. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability. I want to be able to help others who may be going through the same situation. Karen

@GottaBeBlair and everyone Hello everyone, I am new to this forum. It seems that GottaBeBlair and I had the same surgery about the same time, so I wanted to see if you are having the same symptoms as I am having. I am 1 week post op sleeve revision to sadi/sips/mini ds. I have just started full liquids, protien shake, yogurt +water. I take multi vit from bariatric advantage 2x day. I have been experiencing strong intestinal gurgling with explosive mini diarrhea with little black stool that smells terrible. in addition to the very smelly flatuence the only way I have found to calm everything down is to take liquid pain medicine. have you been experiencing similar side effects? and did your Dr. tell you how long this will last?

I am 4 weeks out from revision to DS. For me things in that department got more normal at the 2ish week mark after starting mushy food/ purée.

DS REVISION. Is this for me. Sorry spell correction was on. It’s been five years. I keep trying and can’t take the weight back off. I really need help.

Chrissy, I am scared that they won't be able to do the sleeve, that they'll just yank the Band, and I'll turn into the Goodyear blimp before they can do the revision. Good luck with your surgery, too. I'm looking forward to hearing how your procedure went.

Total newbie here. Six years ago, I had a Lap-band, and my unethical surgeon maxed out the Band in only three visits. Needless to say, I've gone over three years unable to eat solid food. On December 14th, if everything looks good when my (wonderful) new surgeon goes in, I'll have my Band removed, and a VSG done. There's too much osteoporosis in my family to even consider a by-pass. I'll be mostly lurking, trying to pick up information. Any advice is more than welcome.

I am scheduled for a revision from VSG On May 10th.

Karen, I understand your hesitation. There are folks here who've had the banded plication and done very well. There might even be a banded plication forum. I have the AP Standard band. There is a Vertical Sleeve Talk forum like LBT, you might wander over there. There are lots of band to sleeve revisions there. And many happy sleevers. Does your surgeon have any idea why your band eroded? My surgeon says erosions are pretty rare with these "newer" bands that we have.

I use my personal goal of 140. I felt deflated when I first heard my surgeon's goal for me (btwn 170-160). I thought, that's it? You're going to take 85% of my stomach and that's all I can expect to lose? I hit his goal for me in 6 months and am working towards hitting my personal goal which I revised to be between 135 and 139 so I have a little wiggle room. To come up with my personal goal I used a variety of indicators: BMI, body fat percentage, and height/weight charts.

I get port pain sometimes when I exercise. Since I have had my port revision surgery as mine flipped, I am VERY careful about trying to avoid this! I stopped doing pilates because I think that it was a major contributor. I sometimes feel pain during crunches, but haven't during planks. Make sure that your core is tight and pelvic is tucked in during those and see if it helps...

The rate of failure with the bands is astronomical!! Some doctors are even considering not offering it as an option. You will find a lot of people on this forum that has had to go through revisions from band to RNY

Oh MzMeka... I am definitely not stuck with you and I think we will form our own little sleeving family while we are there! You are going to love Gracie and she is going to help all of us understand what the heck is being said in Spanish! My pre-op diet starts tomorrow... I am having my last meal tonight... alone... and doing way too much thinking and worrying! I went and purchased things for the trip today and some Protein liquid for the 15 day clear post-op diet... SF Jello... etc. I also broke down and got a Ninja blender thang since the revision is going to have me on liquids and mushies for quite awhile. So... here I sit... drinking a glass of red wine after eating Pasta and trying to distract myself from thinking too much about the big changes ahead of me. Having this surgery is cutting off every single thing I have used for comfort for years and dang... I am scared! How are you doing? Are you starting pre-op diet tomorrow too? How's the anxiety part going for you? If you ever want to chat... let me know...I'm happy to share my number. P.S. If I am not barfing... I will be the one bugging everyone to get up and walk... just letting you know ahead of time so you can lock your door...lol.

Well I was sleeved May 2014, my deciding factor was severe GERDS which actually completely stopped my weight loss from ever taking place... My sleeve was basically none functioning, I vomited in my sleep every night sometimes during the day this went on for nine months before I decided to start the process of having the revision since none of the meds worked. Since having the revision the GERDS is completely gone and that's a great feeling. I can definitely feel that my stomach is very small and I'm progressing nicely and I'm losing about a pound a day since the day of surgery

I have not heard of Kaiser doing a revision on anyone. I'm sorry to say that. Most of the revisions that I've seen were done in Mexico. You might like to check on obesityhelp . com on the revision page. Good Luck!!

I had a lapband about 6 years ago. Honestly I lost a lot of weight with it without having to try too hard. But the stats are miserable. Through people I've met IRL and virtual, I've seen hundreds of people having their bands taken out. Of the 40+ I personally know who have been banded 5+ years, I know of one person who still has their lapband. She is showing symptoms of a slip, but is too scared to seek follow-up and opting to "live with it." I have 0% trust in it as a long term tool. Zero. It is virtually a fact that it will have to come out within 10 years. And then what? Lots of people think they can keep the weight off themselves (me included), but there are some powerful mental physical reasons why most people will fail. Those who fail tend to develop eating disorders to cope. Show your wife some of the current lapband stats. Have her look (as someone else suggested) at the band -> sleeve revision forum here. Or have her look in the complications area at lapbandtalk.com. I started a thread there a while ago called something like "Who has their band 5+ years out?" - very sad thread. I understand that marriage is a partnership, but this really does need to be your decision. You're the one who will have to live with it. I wasn't a candidate for re-banding when I found out I had slip. After a day or two I was completely OK with that. I knew, no doubt, that if I got a band again I would be in the same place - again needing surgery for a band complication - 1, 2, 5 years later and that time I would probably have longer term health conditions because of it (the upper GI can only take so much of nasties like GERD).

I had a revision from a lapband to a sleeve with a hiatal hernia repaired in a surgery that lasted over 6 hours.The unusual part is that I did not know I was getting the sleeve but that is another story that I will have to share. I was wondering how sore other people are after 3 weeks. I didn't have much soreness in the first 2 weeks but I find I am much more sore this week. I did go back to work but I'm at a desk most of the day. I find sleeping is more difficult more this week than last.

I'm definitely not lifting unless you count my cats. I'm hoping the soreness is just from so many surgeries with the lapband, then my gallbladder removed and then the revision. My skin on my side is sore to the touch so I think some of it's nerve damage.

Just got a call from the office coordinator that my revision from band to bypass has been approved. Scheduled for February 8 surgery. Just need to work on pre op stuff now. Surgery request submitted Monday, approval received on Wednesday. Had to do psych, 3 nutritional visits and medical 2 Year history. Surprised and pleased at the quick process. On to the next step.

The last few weeks are much better. Once I was able to start adding more normal items to my diet everything became better. Around week 5 when I could add fish and soft veggies, and last week I was able to add salads. The more you are able to eat normal things I think the better. I have not eaten out yet, but I tolerate fish, vegetables, soups, salads very well so far. I have not tried bread, sweets, ice creams or even fruits really unless in my smoothie in moderation. I advanced my diet exactly as outlined in my surgeons booklet. I have not had any issues of intolerance. I have been either very lucky or I’m blessed with a nice stomach! I started my chewable vitamin routine as soon as I was home from hospital. I try to eat when hungry, but if I’m not hungry I’d rather focus on fluid intake than forcing a snack down. Good luck with your revision!

So it been some time since I posted. I was sleeved in 2012. I was blessed with being the 5% with complications such as GERD and now I have a hiatal hernia. I was told the a RNY is no only option. I desperately tried to find an alternate solution to no avail. I would like to know a few things. 1) for those who have fed bc/bs., how long did it take to get a revision to RYN approval. 2) have you had any complications since the revision. 3) any regrets? I just idea of losing the with you have gained because of all the crackers they manage the GERD is appealing but I am scared out of my mind. A little depressed. Feeling like a failure.

Hi there @Midwest Girl I am also a band to bypass revision. I have no feeling of restriction that is even close to the band. I never have productive burps, and only if I swallow something pretty well unchewed do I feel any blockage type feeling inside. But I get comfortably full after about a cup of food (I am six months post surgery, and just under my ‘not overweight any moe’ goal). My surgeon has a strict ‘three meals a day’ rule, no grazing - and I happily live with that. And I really don’t get hungry any more - just like the best effect of the band! I wish I had done the bypass right at the start - it is marvellous, comparatively! The first few days is rough, and then the first few weeks transitioning to real food, but just grin and bear it, stick to your plan and watch the real you emerge! Good luck with your journey!

I'm one of the ones who is in the process of revising from sleeve to bypass. I developed terrible GERD post op and recently found out that I also developed Barrett's Esophagus. I don't think this is a common occurrence, but GERD is definitely something I'd take into consideration if I already had it pre op. I couldn't have know this would happen and think the sleeve is a great procedure for a lot of people. No regrets from me, but talk to your doctor about your concerns. They will have the best recommendations.