Opinion of band to sleeve conversion

[KaraColadarci 0]

Hi All!

I've had my band for 5 years now from today actually and it hasn't helped me at all. Like many, I lot weight, got sick and then gained it all back plus some. I'm making insurance calls and researching the sleeve. I've heard it's wonderful especially for candidates like me.

Please give me any insight on what it's like to have revision and travel the "sleeve" journey. What's food intake like, sugar intake, similarities from the band or the differences, positives and negatives.

I would love to pick as many brains as I can. I feel like I need to change what I'm doing now due to low success but scared that bc lapband was the wrong decision that I will make another wrong decision. Help!

- Kara

[stefaniwg 172]

I revised from the lapband 6 weeks ago today and I must admit that I have had the easiest time with the sleeve. While I hated my band I appreciate the lessons I learned from it to prepare me for the sleeve. I can eat very little a feel full. I eat every 2-4 hours and I now love Water and water ONLY! I cannot stand the taste of anything else. I don't crave sweets and a bite satisfies me if I do. Let me know if you have any more questions.

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I really struggled with the band - it was a long 10 years. I weighed 272 when I was banded, never got under 200 and eventually got to an all time high of 332 - all with the band.

I have done alot better with the sleeve - more hunger reduction, no pain, no reflux, no food restrictions (after the initial 3-6 months).

Maintenance is tough. really tough. but, i think that is true of all WLS

I consider the sleeve to have helped me "save myself" from a slow death by disability and obesity. I feel 20 years younger with half my weight gone.

[Kami63 215]

I am 9 days out and already can feel the difference! With the band I never felt full. ever. With the sleeve I can and do feel full. I am still in the swollen phase and only doing liquids but I am not hungry. A little head hunger crept in when I saw some avocado but I can't have that yet and I am ok with it. I know this will work for me. Definitely more to experience in my journey but I wanted to let you now I felt a difference right away and I don't have tat darn band pain in my chest anymore ... Yay

[Kristina J. 581]

I can't tell you how much better it is! It's just a whole new world. I was banded for roller coaster 10 years including a removal and rebanding in the middle. When I scheduled my revision I was 2lbs lighter than the day I was first banded.

I would get food stuck constantly. I was never sure if I could get down dry white chicken or if it was gonna be a day where I would puke up my coffee! I was always pretty hungry and felt like it was all my fault. Did I make mistakes? Of course. Did I fail the band? In some ways, you bet. But did the band fail me?! Definitely. It's a flawed system.

I'm now just shy of 2 months out and including pre-op, down a total of 54lbs. After having all the Fluid from my band released 2 months before surgery, I LOST weight because I was finally able to eat vegetables and meats without fatty sauces and gravy to help keep them from getting stuck.

Post op, I've battled mostly with not being hungry. Having to force myself to eat when I'm not hungry after 20 years of trying not to eat when I was starving has been quite an adjustment. But food has been a whole new world. I don't worry with each bite if I'm gonna be puking 10 minutes later!

Somedays I feel like a WLS veteran who's got it all figured out, but most days, it's so different that I feel like I've started all over. I say it's not just better, it's a whole new world!!

[Fixerupper 335]

I am six weeks out from revision. My story is the same as Kristina's. Hated my band and love my sleeve. It feels so good to be able to eat real healthy foods again after five years of hell. Down thirty pounds in six weeks . No pre op diet. I did gain in the three months I was completely unfilled. I'm so happy I did this and have had zero problems.

[pamelawilliams16 4]

@Kristina. J, your story sounds so much like mines. I was banned in 2005, had leakage for a year. So my banded was changed in 2006. With a small weight lost the dr. Found out in 2007a hernia, so I went to surgery for repair but when the dr. got in, and there was no hernia but found out that some of the stiches poped they just had to restich and changed the position of the band and port. So I lost weight with thevcorrection but I had a lot of puking and acid reflux during that time. I lost 115lb but in 2009 I became sick with bells palsy andi had a lot of meds to take which the band didn't like. So I stared gaining weight back. My org. Weight was 315 in 2005 got down to 200 at my lowest but I'm back at 340lb. So dr. Said the band had to be removed due to it gave me acid reflux and nausea with heart pain, so we did a band removal & revision to the sleeve on 6/25/2013. I have already lost 13lb on first 1 week check up. So good luck to both of us. This has been a long road. God Bless

[Fixerupper 335]

Hi All!

I've had my band for 5 years now from today actually and it hasn't helped me at all. Like many' date=' I lot weight, got sick and then gained it all back plus some. I'm making insurance calls and researching the sleeve. I've heard it's wonderful especially for candidates like me.

Please give me any insight on what it's like to have revision and travel the "sleeve" journey. What's food intake like, sugar intake, similarities from the band or the differences, positives and negatives.

I would love to pick as many brains as I can. I feel like I need to change what I'm doing now due to low success but scared that bc lapband was the wrong decision that I will make another wrong decision. Help!

- Kara[/quote']

Also I would say that like with the band it is possible to eat junk and sliders with the sleeve although my experience is you can't get as much in. I know for me I turned to sliders with my band because everything else came back up and as a result I was so hungry all the time. The difference with the sleeve for me is that if you follow the rules of eating dense Protein first you really do feel satiated all the time. No more of that constant hungry feeling without being able to make it go away. I found the recovery to be easier and I do feel like I'm having an easier time with food because of my experience with the band. I would do this again in a heartbeat. Although I did gain weight when they unfilled me, at 6 weeks out I'm already thinner than I ever was in five years with the band. Good luck with your decision.

[Nursebarbie 392]

Just got sleeved a week ago and still reovering. I had the nightmare band experience but I had no idea that the prior lapband doc had butchered me. Used a realize port with lapband tubing which are not interchangeable. Also I had been leaking Fluid for the whole time. And an artery to my spleen had been entrapped inside my band.

[Nursebarbie 392]

Just got sleeved a week ago and still reovering. I had the nightmare band experience but I had no idea that the prior lapband doc had butchered me. Used a realize port with lapband tubing which are not interchangeable. Also I had been leaking Fluid for the whole time. And an artery to my spleen had been entrapped inside my band. Basically a ticking time bomb. The sleeve is still so new but what I notice is no choking or uh oh it stuck feeling, no shocks from the port, liquids go down right away instead of siphoning alittle at a time. I'm happy no more fills or crap with this band. If its not working for you get it out. I am so glad its out.

[KaraColadarci 0]

Thanks All for the posts. Your advice and points of view really help the whole process.

Keep 'em coming!!!

[Kat_C_2013 3]

Kara - you are definitely on the right track getting on this forum and talking to actual band to sleevers! I wish I would have been so thoughtful as to do that and had found this forum long, long ago. (I just joined after finding it accidentally when surfing the net for recipe/diet ideas.) But my band caused so many complications that I knew if my insurance said "yes" then I was going to get the sleeve no matter what. And the GREAT news is that it has all worked out I have lost 75 lbs, I love healthy foods (who knew I would be soooo excited to eat salad again and not throw up!), I have lots of energy, sleep well, and on and on and on. My life is so transformed that I really owe it to an amazing surgeon, a revolutionary surgery-the sleeve itself, a job that allowed me three weeks off to recuperate, and amazing support from family, friends, and other bariatric patients. All the best to you on your journey!!!

[KaraColadarci 0]

Thank you Kat and to the rest of you all.

Just got a call today from insurance that my employer does my cover the revision surgery even if they covered the lapband surgery. I had a different insurance back then. So if I continue to struggle with the band especially when I get it filled again, they may have to take it out but will not revise. I don't understand and I'm so angry bc so many employers and insurances do cover it.

Has anyone dealt with this? Any advice on what to do next?

[laners777 145]

Hi Kara. My story is the same as most people who have already answered you. I had the revision surgery 2 weeks ago and I feel the best I have felt in years. I am a researcher, sounds like you are too, and I read threads and threads of posts on this site before making a final decision. I think the thing that gave me the most confidence was actually talking to a sleever in person to ask all the questions. When you find a surgeon, make sure they have support groups because that helped me a lot to listen to them talk in a session, that's where you get the real behind the scenes info. Anyway, I am not hungry at all, have to set my phone to eat meals, and having trouble getting enough Protein in but working on the Protein Shakes to up the protein grams per day. This is the best thing I could have done for myself and so happy not to have that dreaded feeling of "which meal will I throw up today with my band" saga anymore. I wish you much luck and success in your research and your ultimate decision.

[laners777 145]

As far as the insurance thing, see what their appeal process is and work with your surgeon because my office helped so much with that process. I also had a liaison at my office that works directly with the insurance approval people...she was a advocate for my journey and also helped. Good luck!