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@@JerseyJules, thanks for the education but LapBands do in fact have a high failure rate that is unrelated to compliance. FYI: Being compliant with nutritional guidelines will not prevent a LapBand from slipping; eroding, breaking; adhering to one's liver; port site infections......shall I go on? None of the things I listed have anything to do with someone not eating Protein dense meals as required following WLS. They are just very common complications of having a device that's capable of migrating even when you vomit. Also, I don't need the education about LapBands because I researched them for over two years; more people than not have complications from them. How do I know? I'm a registered nurse at a tertiary hospital that's also a Bariatric Center of Excellence and I work in PACU. Every single day that I work I have no less than one patient having a band revision surgery, or band removal due to infection, failure, or erosion. Every single day. I'm not here to debate with you, I am here to support you and others; and if you were so sold on a LapBand (enough to educate me on it), then you'd be post-op right now. It is ok to be unsure. You did the right thing backing out and once again..........you owe no one but yourself an explanation and the benefit of more education and research. We all owe that to ourselves. You're the one who will have to live with your choice, not any of us. Good luck to you on your weight loss journey. I sincerely mean that.

I originally chose lapband in 2008 (self pay) lost all my excess weight and stayed at goal until January of 2014. My band eroded.. I then chose to be revised to RNY Bypass in May of 2014. I didn't want to have to get another wls surgery (I checked on here and saw the revision from sleeve to bypass forum and knew I only wanted one last surgery). I had to gain 50 pounds to be eligible for the revision. I have since lost 75 pounds. I am doing fantastic and damn I wish I had done the bypass first. Reasons why: 1. I was self pay for both 2. I Haven't thrown up once with bypass 3. I can eat anything I want just in very small portions 4. No sliming 5. I can eat breakfast with no issues. 6. I can gulp water 8. I don't feel hungry 9. I can eat healthy food easily and now I can have 1 cookie and be satisfied. Love my RNY bypass!!! The only downfall to the RNY so far has been I really don't drink alcohol anymore.. It goes right to my head.. But honestly it's a minor downfall lol

I had my revision in October and I have to agree wholeheartedly with all of your statements! I love my sleeve too!

As I approach the 4 month anniversary of my revision, I must say I have NO REGRETS!!! I am so glad I went through the process. I had my band removed and sleeved in one surgery Sept 18, 2014. So far my eating is wonderful and I am loving my sleeve. No stuck foods, no spitting up and when I am full, I am just full. There is no reason to over eat with sleeve, you just have to maintain and eat healthy stay away from junk. Are there temptations...of course because I am a cocktail LOVER LOL! I do have my cocktails but like my foods, I have it in moderation and don't over do it. I feel my body transforming and I so love that feeling of seeing a better looking, none tired, more healthier ME! To compare the band and the sleeve, there is no comparison. The band I had back in 2006 was not the band for me and I am VERY satisfied with my sleeve. If you are thinking about the sleeve, know that it is the best decision you will give to your health

Got my date today, January 29th! I will be revising from the band to the sleeve. I'm very excited! Good luck everyone!!

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Do you have any regrets, words of wisdom, advice, precautions?

The first thing I will tell you is that with the band (just like with other WLS) patient compliance and vigilance is the key. You will need to be compliant with the rules the doctors give you, and treat your band with respect. It is a part of you and part of your new life style. You must be vigilant to keep an eye on your behavior. No weight loss surgery or tool will help you with head hunger or emotional eating. YOU have to work on these things, and once you are committed to making a change in your life you will. If you are not ready for the sleeve and you pulled the plug in the 11th hour then I am going to tell you that you are not ready for the band or any other WLS either. Take the time you have now to prepare. Visit bariatric Dr.'s take seminars, speak to banded people go to a local support group and hear from WLS patients and their experience. There are some I know who went into surgery unwillingly their Dr. told them they MUST because of their obesity and other co-morbidities, however as "unwilling" they might have thought they were...they were more willing then most who "choose" to have the surgery because their minds are made up for them by the pain and stress of competing issues. Foods, pastry, chocolate (insert your issue here) vs. Walking freely or breathing on your own...hmmm not too hard of a choice right? So wait until you are ready and then decide what is the right surgery for you that you think you will find the best success with. I chose the band even though my obesity level and co-morbtiy levels might have had a Dr. recommend the sleeve or bypass I still chose the band. I know I can "control" the band and I have some flexibility with the band to allow it to fit into my ever changing life style. I can loosen it when I need to as I did to heal after a car accident or illness and I can go right back to my sweet spot again when my body is ready. If I ever had a complication I could and would revise to another surgery and you lose some of that option if you start out with the other surgeries first. However as medical science keeps growing there are so many options to mix and match modalities. Don't get lost in it all, take some time do your due diligence ask loads of questions and then make your decision. Best of luck to you!

I had all the liquid removed from my band and had the removal and revision done in the same surgical procedure 4 weeks later. All went off with out a hitch and I am down 25 lbs in the last 6 weeks. Im very happy with my decision. Good luck.

Hello, Sorry this a a long post but I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's had similar experiences. Has anyone had a gastric bypass that didn't work? I knew something was wrong pretty soon after my surgery as I had no restriction. I'd known all of my surgical team since 2010 when I had a gastric band. After a year of filling and un-filling and coming to the end of my free fill period (they would have cost £100 after that), the bariatric nurse and I could never reach that sweet point between nothing going through the band and so being sick all the time and no restriction at all so I knew I had to give up on this. Then in 2012, I lost 9 stone (125lb) by following a very low calorie diet (VLCD). I did this for 9 months, eating just four sachets of food at just under 600 calories a day. I got down to just over 10 stone (140lb) on my 40th birthday at the end of 2012. But in 2013 when I was off the VLCD, I struggled to keep the weight off. By October 2013, I had tried everything and decided to go for further surgery. I was initially going to have a sleeve but the team's dietician had said that sometimes band to sleeve revisions weren't as successful and I'd read that the bypass is the recommended revision for those who've had bands. Add to this that it was sold to me as the 'gold service' of weight loss surgery and I'd read that it's the operation that has been done for many years and has lots of experience and evidence behind it, I went for the bypass. I knew something was wrong pretty soon after my surgery as I had no restriction. In early December 2013, the dietician agreed that I should not physically be able to eat or drink Fluid in the volumes I could (I felt and still feel like nothing had changed) so he sent me for x-rays which were inconclusive and the measurements/calibrations weren't noted at the time. However, one of the surgeons said in an email that he thought the stoma was around 20mm in diameter. Everything I read says this is too large as food goes straight through the stoma, meaning I never really feel full. The smaller stomach and stoma should mean that I feel feel on less food. It took months for me to push for a second set of xrays and I really felt that I was being ignored. Emails were replied to only after a few weeks when I chased them up and I have an email from the same surgeon saying they were deliberately slowing things down in the hope things would rectify themselves. But they didn't. They did agree to a second opinion and I chose a surgeon in London who not only runs a centre which is ICE accredited (International Centre of Excellence) but has performed over 2500 bypass surgeries and specialises in those that go wrong. He sent me to another hospital in London on that day for some more xrays and then delivered his report. He identified and the xray specialist agreed that the stoma was too large to have any effect i.e. 'no functional effect' at the site. He also discovered that I had a sort of extra bit of stomach or additional reservoir. They call this a hockey stick or a candy cane but the effect on the surgery is unknown. He recommended that my hospital carry out an endoscopy to rule out a stricture. My hospital received the report and said they didn't feel the stoma was too big and in fact it was a good thing as "one of the theories as to how the bypass works is getting food that is eaten into the small bowel quickly as this has hormonal feedback to tell the person to stop eating". I have never read anything like that before and that certainly wasn't how they explained the procedure to me. I've always understood a bypass to be the creation of a smaller stomach so you feel full on much less food (that's what makes you stop eating, I know nothing about hormonal feedback) plus the shortening of the bowel meant some calories weren't absorbed after bypass. My hospital also didn't think the endoscopy was worth doing either as I'd had no sign of a stricture. Throughout, I have been asking the surgeons whether an endoscopy would help them to see what's going on inside there but they thought not. One of the most disappointing things was how disinterested my hospital were from the beginning. I felt that they'd taken my money and I had to fight to make them believe there was a problem. Even then, they really didn't move to try and explore what had happened. I don't understand this as they are still doing this procedure on people. I thought they would have wanted to know what had gone wrong with me so that it didn't happen to anyone else. Also very disappointing was the fact that I woke up to a LEAD surgeon I'd never met and never even heard of. Like I say, I've know this team since 2010. They hadn't mentioned there was a new member, let alone that he would be involved in my operation and certainly not that he would be my LEAD surgeon. I trusted this team and I felt this was a breach of that trust. I also trusted them to look after me if anything went wrong. I'm in the process of taking on a lawyer plus, because of my tweets about my experience, a local journalist who's interested in the fact that many bands are being revised, how surgery is sold to patients and what happens when they fail, has contacted me. I feel I should raise awareness that there are things that can go wrong that you don't hear about, as in my case. Would I advise anyone not to have bariatric surgery? No, all I would say is don't use a hospital just because its local to you or you know them. It doesn't mean they'll look after you if things go wrong. Find an ICE, look at patient feedback like mine and get a cast Iron guarantee that they'll take care of you if there are problems. The hospital's final letter to me told me that they would not be refunding my money and advised that I pursue diet and counselling. I feel like they just put me on the 'it doesn't work for some people' pile when I didn't even know such a pile existed. Aren't diet, exercise and counselling things we do over and over again before considering the massive step of surgery? In fact, my hospital's own website begins ... "If you’ve exhausted all other weight loss options, you might be considering weight loss surgery”. I'm still paying off the loan for this and I'm left in the cold! David & Goliath. Please share your feedback with me. Thanks for reading.

I went through the same mental agony (big time) about modifying the "original design" of my body. It's a big reason I chose sleeve over RNY (somehow I could justify it easier in my mind to not do the radical rerouting with RNY???). The way I found peace with my decision to go ahead is that my God was ok with me taking advantage of this awesome medical procedure now available that would enable me to dramatically improve my health and lifestyle for the rest of my life. For me, to be able to fulfill my spiritual purpose on this earth requires that my body and mind be healthy, and if I needed "artificial" help to do that, then so be it. Are you clear in your mind why you only want to lose 40 pounds? Another point you might want to think about--although there are many people who are living successfully with the LapBand, please make sure you do your exhaustive research about it vs. sleeve. There are growing numbers of people who are finding it necessary to revise their LapBands to the sleeve or RNY. Keep talking here and you will find your answer. . .

I figured I'd post this here as I'm sure other veterans can relate. I was banded in 2008 and over the next year lost 106 pounds from 326 to 220. I was looking and feeling better than I had in years. Then the wheels came off. same old story divorce, lost job etc. caused me to lose focus, become depressed and of course cheat my band. fast forward to the present. I gained all the weight back and then some and finally decided I needed to go back and see the doc. I told him the band wasn't working so we agreed to unfill and try and revise to the sleeve. My insurance denied the request which was both a blow and a blessing. I've decided to give the band another shot and get back on the horse. I've had one fill so far and am seeing the nutritionist. Down 10 pounds in 2 weeks and have my mojo back. I came here to find support and encouragement as I start chapter 2 of my journey. This time I am sticking with it no matter what!

Hello Everyone,I had the sleeve in January 2013 and did great until March 2014 when I got sick with a bug. Since then it's been hell. In and out of hospitals, total of 25 days,gallbladder removed.I throw up everything I eat and drink and now have developed severe pain and blacking out. The other day I was rushed to the hospital,told it was constipation and sent home. So I just recently met with my GI doc who has schedule a emergency endoscope so determine what's wrong.she has told me its either a few things but she is leading toward my sleeve being bad and may need a revision and or g tube. I really wish would have known all complications because right now I'm barely surviving.

Congrats on the quick response. I'm feeling so frustrated because of the complications I'm having with the band, I feel like I should qualify quickly. The fact that they sent out the letter requiring more info is frustrating. Is this your first surgery or revision surgery

I have Cigna too! We submitted the paperwork after the 90 day requirement and I was so excited waiting for the approval ( revision surgery) but instead got a letter that they want more info from the surgeon about the medical necessity. I read all the requirements which I meet them all

I have Cigna and am waiting for approval for revision surgery. I qualify with my BMI and did their 90 day requirement but they now want more info from my surgeon. It's frustrating because I'm so ready to get this scheduled and I did everything that was required!

I'm sorry it hasn't worked for you. This sounds miserable. Does your surgeon have any ideas, like a revision to sleeve?

I am not a veteran (almost 8 months from RNY and only have 5 pounds left to a normal BMI). I can eat anything I want but with that being said the following make me feel really ill afterwards so I avoid: Any and all fried foods, ice cream (but I can eat Dark chocolate candy-think the ice cream goes down to easy and then I feel terrible ) white carbs (I can eat whole grains in very small portions). I stick to the following foods that make me feel awesome! Fish and a veg, steak and a veg, pork and a veg and eggs. I LOVE a my RNY! I had lapband previously (was a successful lapbander but my band eroded so had the revision) wish I had done the RNY first lol

Now I'm worried!!! The surgeon sent in my paperwork to Cigna and they sent a letter that they want more info - AND - they mentioned about me qualifying for an outpatient procedure. There is no way I can be "outpatient" - with the original surgery I had to stay overnight because I was too sick to go home the same day - With revision - the surgeon said to expect 2 days. I'm hoping that I don't have to go through the appeal process. I've done everything they required!! So upset

I based my decision on revision rate. I decided that if I had to undergo surgery, I only wanted to do it once. Not repeat it with a revision on a revision on another revision.

@@2lovebugs2love I had revision 4 days after you with the exact surgery wt. . Maybe we can support each other through this journey.

I used two different Plastic Surgeons in TJ, one I wasn't that thrilled with. His name was Dr Q and he did a really sloppy job on my breast and my arms....BUT then I started to see incrediable pictures of beautiful work, from another TJ plastic surgeon, (And really isn't that what it's all about?) The most affordable outstanding work possible My new surgeon who did a lower body lift, gave me those results, Dr Victor Gutierrez also in TJ. For me it was a no brainer, he does all internal stiching, so you don't have to spend any longer than one week and it's just 5 mins across the border, they pick you up at the airport and return you there when it's time to go home....I have pictures posted on my page here at just two weeks out from surgery. I am planning on going back down to have some revisions done from the first surgery I had with that other surgeon...Dr Gutierrez will be correcting those...

You owe it to yourself to check out Dr Victor Gutierrez, he did "sweet pea's" (I believe that's her name here) and her results are the best I have seen. Dr G did a lower body lift for me in May and the results are wonderful, he will also be doing a revision of my arm surgery I had the year before (also in TJ but with Dr Quiroz) which didn't turn out so well...you will find him at drvictorgutierrez.com His prices fall in line with all others down there. The biggest difference however is not only is he a board certified Plastic Surgeon, he also has a speciality in Micro-Surgery so his cutting and sewing are flawless. He was trained in Israel where the standards are some of the highest in the world...Besides all that, he's a really sweet man that cares about his patients. His operation is not a money making machine like some of the ones you will come across down there....Good luck in your searching, take your time, this time around I interviewed over 10 Doctors before making my decision. I learned my lesson the first go around!