New Around Here And Hoping To Get This Band Out!

[iwannabslim 67]

Hi. I am new and only just beginning the process of trying to be revised. I've seen my band doctor about it, and he is getting something together to submit to insurance for approval. I am hoping to avoid starting over as though I have never had any bariactric surgery. I guess I will know more in a few weeks. I have been banded since 1998. At my highest, I weighed 254. I lost down to 169. I held steady at 174 for almost two years. I don't have an erosion. My band has simply stopped helping me. Over the last year, I have been dealing with either being able to eat everything in sight to not being able to get more than sips of broth down. I am just tired of fills and un-fills... I have gained about 20 pounds. I don't want to ever go back to where I was.

I just wanted to introduce myself and stop lurking.

[IowaAndy 95]

Welcome. I too had a band for a few years and lost around 85 pounds and then just stopped. I could not have any more Water added as I was at the max fill. I was constantly vomiting due to food getting stuck due to the high fill of my band. I went to the doctor after about 6 months or no weight loss and talked to him. I still had another 100 pounds to go. He said that due to the amount of weight that I had to lose initially that I should have probably gone for the sleeve in the beginning and not had the band. Well it is a little late now. At the time I had the band insurance was only paying for the band or the bypass and I knew that I did not want the bypass.

My insurance denied my request for the band removal or the sleeve and they wanted over $40,000 here in the US and it would have had to been done in 2 surgeries about 3 months apart. There was no way that I could afford this so I started to check into other options and found surgery in Mexico. After doing much research and talking to several people on the phone I decided that this was my only option at last winter. I called and scheduled surgery with Dr F Garcia in Tijuana, Mexico. I bought my ticket and on Dec 10, 2011 I left for San Diego. They picked me up and took me to Mexico. I can not say enough wonderful things about Dr Garcia, his team and the staff at Mi hospital. I would do it again in a heart beat. They took out my band and did the sleeve in the same operation.

I hope that you have good luck with your insurance. Keep pushing ahead.

[kimmr 5]

Welcome!

I was banded 03/2010,lost 90 lbs. Band slipped in 2011, after a series of unfills, fills, unfills, we discovered that I have a non-functioning band. My choices were gastric bypass, sleeve, or revise the band. I definately didn't want to revise my band, based on the poor stats. I just revised to a sleeve 8 days ago.

[iwannabslim 67]

Thanks for the welcome. When I got my band, my only options through insurance were lapband and bypass. I was too scared of bypass. I could not afford to be self pay so I went with the band. I sometimes wish I had waited until the sleeve was an option, but I may have lost my nerve at that point. My insurance has recently added the sleeve as an available option, but when I called they basically said I would have to start over with the 6 month diet visits. I am hoping that the regain along with my history of high blood pressure will help with my approval process. My doctor thinks we have a good case. He is planning to do the band removal and sleeve in one surgery if I am approved.

So I have a question... Did having the band before help you with learning to eat with the sleeve? Did you have a hard time after being sleeved? Or was business as usual?

[Wheetsin 714]

I had a band in 2006 at about 380 lbs. I dropped about 175 lbs with the band (down to about 205 lbs), then got pregnant in 2008 and I'm pretty sure my band slipped during pregnancy. During pregnancy I got up to about 280, and after back down to about 250 at which time I couldn't stand the symptoms of the slip (didn't know them for what they were at the time) and had a complete unfill. Then slowly went back up to about 290 when my band was removed.

I'm a week out from sleeve surgery and so far the two procedures are comparable to me, but I was a bit unusual in that I had restriction before I had fills. If that hadn't been the case, this would be a night-and-day experience (instant restriction).

Having the band has definitely helped me. Understanding how to eat. And the behaviors - the small bites, chewing chewing chewing, is all second nature. I had to really learn it the hard way with the band. I also thought the band and sleeve would feel completely different, and in a way they do -- no "pouch pain" when something is stuck or slow moving, and I don't feel hunger but I didn't with the band either -- and in ways they don't. However, I'm pretty sure that already having the behavior of paying attention to the body's sensations and what things mean has helped. I have no doubts when I need to stop eating/drinking for a while. But I'm so new to it, we'll see how it changes with time. I may disagree with this post 100% in a year.

[iwannabslim 67]

I didn't have any restriction when I first got my band... I have had somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty fills and unfills. I had a fill a month for the first year and a half easily. I have lived the last year with, at least, weekly productive burps... My doctor removed some of my fill last month, and that had left me wide open...

By the way, I remember you from LBT. I haven't been there in ages, but I recognized your name right off.

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I think having the band helped me with post sleeve eating. I haven't had a lot of problems with vomiting or anything - the sleeve is such a breeze compared to the crapband.

[iwannabslim 67]

Thanks so much for the input. I can only hope that I can remember the rules at this point. I have been on an awful eating trend the last few weeks. I am almost ready to ask for my fill back to stop the madness. I think I would rather be tight and not eat than to keep on this destructive path.

I truly hope to be able to get revised, but I am already losing hope. My insurance company has been keeping me in the loop about what is going on with the request by my band doctor for the revision. I got an email from them that they were reviewing my case, but I later got an email saying they need more information. I am trying to stay positive, but it's hard. I want this band out, but I KNOW I can't do it on my own...

[hrtgoeson 19]

I've had a band since April 09 and lost 90 lbs, got a Tummy Tuck, and gained 30 back. Now I'm either underfilled or overfilled and I'm sick and tired of it. I'm in the process of getting insurance approval for a revision for a sleeve and I'm so excited! Just the thought of no more throwing up will be wonderful - I feel like I've basically become a bulimic who is lucky enough to not lose any weight (because most of the time I can't even get a Protein Shake down so the only thing I can eat is ice cream lol). Tons of fillings in my teeth from erosion...just awful. I'm hoping for surgery in May. I wish I'd read about all the people jumping ship on the band before doing it, oh well!

[Wheetsin 714]

Have you ever been checked for a slip? Enamel erosion is caused my the acid content of the stomach, and normal band "vomiting" does not include acid, just the stoma upward. Usually if someone is actually vomiting (bringing up stomach contents) it's one of the golden signs of a slipped band. So is your inability to find good restriction, actually. With my slip my restriction was really random. I could eat whatever I wanted one day, and gurgle over a drink of Water the next. Are you having any reflux? That's another golden sign.

[hrtgoeson 19]

I would have some reflux after a vomiting episode but not random reflux.

[iwannabslim 67]

It's funny that you mention those symptoms. My doc says my band is in a good position, but that is what I have been dealing with for the past year.

[Wheetsin 714]

What has your doc done to check position? E.g. xray, EGD...

I'm sure there are exceptions, but when yakking up band stuff begins to include actual vomit, and there's GERD, I haven't yet seen an instance where there wasn't some degree of slip. Has your doc done a fluroscopy test to check the motility of your esophagus and the rate of pouch emptying?

^ bad grammar, hope you catch my drift

My slip was considered "profound" and I was not a candidate for repositioning or rebanding, but I also lived with the symptoms for like 3 years, being told it was too much fill, or just to eat earlier in the evening, before it was finally xrayed and scoped. If it's caught early on, there isn't much dysphagia, and the pouch & stomach are still in good condition and can usually be fixed. Though also to be fair, of a lot of people I know who have had slips fix, most end up losing their band. But that's true for people whose slips aren't fixed, either. It's kind of true for everyone, given enough time.

[IowaAndy 95]

I never had a slip or erosion from my band.....it just stopped helping me lose weight. I was at the max fill and I was constantly vomiting foods not matter what I ate. I was never so glad to see the band go and to have my sleeve even if my insurance said they would not cover it. This was the best money that I every spent. I am thankful for everyday of my new life.

[iwannabslim 67]

My doc checked my band under fluro (sp?). He had me drink the yucky chalky stuff while he watched. He was amazed, considering the flow through my band, that I was truly able to eat some of the things I told him about (eating an entire steak and potato one night then gurgling on Water or shake the next day).