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My lap band port pain is increasing daily as I jump through the insurance hoops to get approved for revision to sleeve. But I have my EGD tomorrow and nutritionist visit on Weds., then I'm done. Is anyone else going through this? Sent from my SM-N920P using the BariatricPal App

I had severe port pain when I had the Lap Band. When I would complain, the surgeon would always tell me that the Lap Band was on the other side and that the port shouldn't hurt. As soon as I revised to sleeve, the pain immediately subsided. I'm just glad that I had the revision!! Good luck on getting approved. Don't give up!!

Can anybody tell me if the size of a sleeved stomach is a standard thing or does it vary from person to person? I had my band removed three months ago and gained back 21lbs in that time - so am worried that my sleeve will be bigger than a standard sleeve because I dont have that much weight to lose. I just dont want to be able to eat larger portion sizes than I could with the band as I know that is what kept my weight off for 10 years. I hear about everybody being happy with the conversion but if there is anybody in a similar situation to me who could tell me how much they lost after surgery and whether they actually lost more than their goal weight because they were not that overweight at the time of revision. Thank you in advance kind people. Sent from my SM-G955F using BariatricPal mobile app

Hello! I am a 40 yr old female from Cape Cod Mass. I have been overweight forever, but in the past few years I reached my highest peak @ 255lbs. In January of this year I looked into bariatric weight loss thru BI in Boston. They have a comprehensive and long program, which I completed in about 3-4 months and was told I would be a good candiate for surgery. I waited a few more months, as I was trying to decide what was best for me. Once I decided to go forward, I had to pick GBP or Lap Band. Since I was not a diebetic and on medications for health problems and the gbp seemed so severe, I opted for Lap Band surgery. My date was set for Monday 8/30/10. The week prior I did a partial liquid diet using mostly the unjury protein drinks. They taste good and filled me up. It was easier than I thought and I lost 10 lbs prior to surgery, just as my doctor wanted. I was super exicted and nervous but my surgeon is renowned in thie field and I was confident. Unfortunatley for me things did not go as planned. As I woke up in recovery, a nurse who did not seem to know about bariatrics, handed me 2 containers of liquid percocet and some water, telling me to drink it all down. I did as I was told, only to be hit with such pain in my chest, I thought I was dying. I could not breathe, I vomited, I was sweating and very upset. Nothing s/b given orally so soon after surgery and I will never know if that caused what happened next or not, but it was a long road for me. As a mom with a 6 yr old who was due to start first grade, I was happy to have my surgery scheduled before her school started, knowing I would be in the hospital for just one night. Well, for me it turned into a long 6 days! On day 3 my Dr stuck a needle in the band and took out all the water (15 cc) trying to loosen things up. 4 days after surgery I still could not keep 15 cc of water down and he decided to go back in and pop 2 stiches to loosen me up. This is called a revision and he said he had only see this happen in 2 patients prior to me...and he has done this since the surgery came about. I had to go backunder general anthesia and into the OR again. By the next day I was drinking some water and by Sunday afternoon I was finally released. I am 2 weeks out from my 2nd surgery and down a total of 30 lbs. I had my 2 week follow up with my doc and he says I am doing better than most. I am back to walking 3 miles a day (which I had started the month prior to surgery). My main issues now are with constipation and all that fun stuff.. Some days I don't want to get out of bed. I am cranky as I miss food. I loved to eat and it is harder than I expected to go without. On Saturday I tried on some jeans than are a size 20 (I was in 24/26) and they were a bit loose. This was exciting but only temporarily lifted my spirits. I still feel a bit off...not sure why exactly but trying to move ahead and getting stronger. I am on stage 4 diet...some solids, and so far, so good. This is my first time on a blog, and I am anxious to read other people's stories as well as chronicle my own. Thanks for reading:))

I'm having revision to RNY as well (plus hiatoplastic and gastropexia). I'm going in on February 25th. I was satisfied with the MGB for over three years until my hernia came back.

Other than my very small port placement scar, I have next to nothing as far as scarring after my lap band, how does this differ with revision to sleeve?

Actually it is ironic that you mention the kidneys because I have some renal calc and renal failure in one of my kidneys but this pain in my back is higher up. They did a bunch of lab tests last week because they were thinking that I might have pancreatitis again but that was negative. I go to my PC today and hope we can find some answers. The pain in my upper left abdomen is above and to the left of where the band port is. You even touch me there and I scream. I am thinking that i am going to have this thing taken out and think about a revision

I had my arms done last November and just had the revision done in June. I love the difference! I hated the way they were always swinging back and forth when I was riding in the car. It drove me nuts!!! Now they stay where they are supposed to be.

I lost 50 lbs on medifast eating 3 brownies a day, i still have some in my cupboard and plan on using them as my rewards after I'm on real food again. They are delicious. Revision 1/31/13 by Dr Cabrera and Venezuela in MX

Thank you for the reply, I'm sorry to hear that your insurance company wouldn't cover your surgery. My insurance company's issue is that since I was self pay, they have no way of knowing if my band was medically necessary. I was 277 lbs at the time with a 40 BMI and sleep apnea. I would have qualified if I had gone through insurance but I didn't have to because I had the funds to pay cash due to an inheritance. The insurance company says if the surgery wasn't medically necessary that they would consider it to be cosmetic and they do not cover complications from cosmetic surgery even if those complications are life-threatening. So as it turns out, I may have to prove medical necessity for a surgery that I had five years ago in order to get it reversed and then quite possibly, have to reprove medical necessity to get the revision to the sleeve. They're making me crazy!!!!!!

Hello all, Good luck on your surgeries. I am post-op almost 3 mo from a revision surgery from RNY to DS. I'm in San Jose. I look forward to read about all your success.

The first weeks after my band surgery (I'm revising soon due to a slip) 3 1/2 yrs ago, I would go into Alberstons 2-3x a week to stock up on tomato soup, jello, popsicles, etc. Everytime I'd walk thru the door, the smell of the deli fried chicken would get me. I swore every single time I walked in that very chicken would be my first "real" meal. It wasn't. Know your pain!

I didn't have a revision, (virgin bypass here) but I had the same concerns pre-op. I was worried about never being able to eat a piece of steak again.. or becoming lactose intolerant. I LOVE DAIRY! Long story short, none of it happened. I can eat anything I want, never dumped or maybe once but so mild I am still not even sure if that's what it was. By about 5-6 months, I was pretty much perfectly back to "normal" other than the restriction and eating WAY less than my normal pre-op self. I never had a problem getting my fluids or hitting protein goals. You got this! Don't worry. I know everyone is different but keep in mind, negative travels faster than positive! So it seems like you hear about more negative things but in reality it is just how word of mouth travels. Best of luck to you!

The basics Height: 5"1 Highest Weight Tracked: 241 pounds Largest Size: 18/20, XXL, 40D Surgery Date: 4/19/12 Original Goal: 140 pounds Revised Goal: 125 pounds Currently: Weight: 128 pounds Size: 4, S/M, 34C/34D Pictures! Before (left) (right was first 40 pounds gone) Current! Current! I am so excited with life right now, it's hard to believe. Part of me is always waiting for the other shoe to drop but so far it hasn't. Trust me for anyone who thinks they wouldn't be successful... if I can do it, anyone can

I really wanted to be the first patient in the morning with my doctor .....but I ended up being the third patient because he had to do two complicated lap band revisions in front of me .....and when he came in the room to see me before I went into the operating room he said to me "oh good now my easy patient" - I do think the more complex patients are handled first. Shelby

1. Doesn't involve putting foreign matter inside me - i am both a cancer survivor and have multiple auto-immune diseases. Titanium staples aside, i want NO foreign matter inside my already overly-inflamed body. 2. Simplest of the available ops that doesn't involve putting foreign matter inside me (ie: no malabsorption or severe dumping, no band with known and significant failure rate including complications that can be v severe) 3. Simplest long term management - no regular drs visits for band fills/unfills, no ongoing Vitamin shots etc 4. Weight loss success better than band and comparable with RNY 5. Fits with my total weight loss requirement (100 lbs) 6. Have significant co-morbidities and need "serious" action with likely success in the short to medium term (ie: was getting to the point where my life was in danger if I didn't act) 7. Am older so reversible solution not essential 8. Can be revised to DS or RNY later, if necessary 9. No difference in cost and no insurance company issues where I live, so I was completely free to make my decision on the basis of all of the above. 10. I soooo wanted to get rid of a large part of stomach and to tame my surging hunger. Hope this helps.

I chose the sleeve after doing a lot of research on it. I am a "light weight' im 5'6 and 250lbs and I know a few women who had the bi-pass and did great! but they were 300+lbs before. I know a woman who was about my size when she got the bi-pass and she is now on a feeding tube and her health is very poor, she almost died and she regrets having it done now. That scared me, I don't know if its because she was a "light weight" or if it was something she did wrong, all I know is I did not want that to happen to me!! I also saw women my size with better results from the sleeve, and seems like a lot of people are having revised surgeries from the band to sleeve and bi-pass to sleeve.

I am happy and scared at the same time! I am so scared of complications!

I just had a revision from sleeve to rny on 12/12 due to horrible reflux and barrets esophagus. I started at 180 and have lost 20 pounds. I had a horrible experience in the hospital and ended up having internal bleeding, needed blood transfusion... my oxygen level drop down to mid 50’s a few times. I stayed in the hospital for 5 days. I’m still quite swollen and bruised so I think I will lose a few more once I’m completely healed.

As it turned out, my port was leaking. Had a port revision a few weeks ago. bump in the road I reckon.

So have done 1 of the 3 nutritionist visits (another one tomorrow), the seminar, and saw the therapist today. So getting closer to finding out if Aetna will cover the revision. Only having second thoughts on band to sleeve or band to gastric. Was gun ho for sleeve but therapist today was recommending the bypass. Thoughts?

Hi there I revised from band to sleeve in Sept 2010, and I was originally Lap Banded in Feb 2008. It is absolutely UN TRUE that ex bandsters to poorly with the sleeve. For ME the Lap Band failed... I did not. I know it seems like a common feeling that we ourselves must have done something wrong, but I refuse to accept that. I must be right too because I blew through my sleeve and I've been at goal for over a year now. I'm happy, I'm fit and I'm slim and trim. That's all I ever wanted with my WLS procedure and never got until I was sleeved. I workout nearly every day in some capacity. I eat by the sleever rules most of the time (I'm not perfect!!) but those two thing ensure I remain in my tiny clothes and toned and fit. I highly encourage any Bandsters to take the plunge to the Sleeve if their Band did not work out for them. YOU are NOT a FAILURE... Failing means giving up and since you're here considering a revision, you have not given up. Blessings!

Well apparently, biological kids aren't really an option for me, apparently - which is fine. In fact, I'd hope they'd just take out all the stuff that's not working correctly for me haha. (the malfunction of my girly stuff isn't due to weight) Its come down to an insurance coverage question, really. I want the sleeve but will settle for the band if I _have_ to - and then pay for the sleeve revision later if need be. I don't have the funds to do it now but hopefully in the future.

I started with the lap band in 2008 which is how the GERD started. I revised to the Sleeve in 2010 thinking it would help, not knowing back then it would get worse. It has progressively gotten so bad over the years my reflux is out of control. I take tons of medications and now including cough pills, syrups, drops, I regurgitate in my sleep... etc. My insurance has just recently approved me for another revision to the Rny Gastric Bypass (thank GOD). I do try to put the word out not to take that chance, who wants to be revised so many times? It's either revision for me or future Barrett's or esophageal cancer. Guess which one I chose?

Hello I had revision 3 and half months ago and everything has been fine up until yesterday. I ate a meal and then drank about 40 minutes after and started to have some burning in my stomach area. It's not heartburn and I'm not sure how to explain it but it feels sort of stretching and burning feeling. Has anybody experienced this? if so what is it? I see my doctor next Friday. If it was a late leak, I would most likely know right? Thank you.