Band to Sleeve and other questions!

[iamshazza 41]

Hi!

I've been banded since 2009. I know there are many threads about band to sleeve, but I specifically would like to know: Those who switched from band to sleeve; what is the main difference you noticed as far as your eating habits (ability to eat, how much you could eat, how you tell you have eaten enough, etc) without the band giving you a "hard stop"? Do you feel just as or more successful? Do you think it's easier to over eat with the sleeve?

I'll have to have my gallbladder out - and am considering having revision to the sleeve at the same time. I discussed with my surgeon and he said yes he could do both at once. I keep going back and forth about doing it. I'm back to feeling like I should just go ahead and do it. Ever since my band was too tight like 2 months ago and I had to have Fluid taken out I haven't felt very good. I got it re-filled with 1cc then 4.5 weeks later I got one more cc. That last one was about 3 or so weeks ago. It's so weird - sometimes I feel like I can eat way more than I should be able to - I have about 8.7cc in there now...maybe a tad more - and other times I can't keep anything down. I started having reflux again and went to liquids for a few days. It went away. Now it's back this morning and I haven't even had any solid food. I made a Protein Shake for Breakfast and was only able to drink about half of it. I took all my medication, but it hurt (I guess I went to fast, I try to wait a few minutes between pills, but was running late today).

I am starting to feel like I'd be better off having the band taken out and switching to the sleeve. Through all this annoyance of the last 3 or so weeks I haven't even lost any weight. Go figure. Since the symptoms for being too tight and a band slip are about the same I'm not sure what to think any more. I'm sure I probably do not have a slip but I'm kind of paranoid about it anyway. I know if I call the nurse at my surgeon's office she'll have me come in and get an un-fill. At which point I guess I'll just start whatever process I need to start to do the revision. It's quite scary to me. The only surgery I've ever had was the band surgery. And of course the anesthesia made me sick after they had to wake me up from it (I take after my dad in that respect lol).

Thanks for listening to my little story. I'm sure it's very familiar.

[iamshazza 41]

hmmmmm. well.

[Schampange_2000 1]

I would like to know peoples thoughts on this as well

[MamaRita 65]

Maybe post this under the sleeve section, you might get more responses. If you haven't already:)

[lucky1gg33 107]

Ok, so I had my Lapband in Dec 2009. I do not regret doing it bc it got me from highest of 260 down to 200. But I had issues like you mentioned. What I could eat one day, would get stuck the next time I tried. I got to a point where my weight was bw 200 and 215 fluctuating but not losing more and I was miserable. On 4/27/15, I was revised to sleeve. I could not be happier. The surgeon warned me that the band could be eroded, emulsified, wrapped or twisted. ..and if he had to do extra work to get it out that he may need to let me heal and come back in 3 months for sleeve. That scared me! I didn't want to gain back to 260! And I had never thought of all those complications that might happen. Good news is it went fine. 3 months and down to 178.

The difference? Well, I have had no issues with food....even bread which I am not eating all the time bc Protein FIRST and I can only eat a small amount of food at a time.

I used to get a dull ache in my tummy area intermittently and I blamed it on nerves, something I ate, Constipation, my period, etc but with the foreign objects out of me the ache is gone.

Just my two cents. Best wishes on whatever you decide!

[iamshazza 41]

Thanks for the response, lucky1gg33 that helps a lot.

MamaRita, thanks I guess I will also post this over there.

[NoMoBand 278]

I'm 4 months out from lap band to sleeve revision. Was very successful with band, but, ended up with stretched esophagus. Best thing about sleeve is when you fill your sleeve you are "full" and "full" is definitely "full" and no room for overeating!!! No more measuring food, I know when to stop on my own, no more getting stuck, slimming, night coughs, frothing, throwing up. I can have about 1/2 cup of food at mealtime depending on what kind of Protein I eat and no more. Being sleeved is very different from being banded. I am very pleased with the sleeve so far. 30 lbs. lighter and feeling great! The only discomfort with sleeve is I get slight heartburn at times, but, this is one of the possibilities with sleeve and doctor tells me it usually goes away and nothing that Pepsid doesn't take care of. I'm glad I did this because at first I seriously considered just getting the band removed and continue with my life and the gym, but, after having my band emptied, I started gaining weight rather quickly and changed my mind very quickly. Hope this is of some help. jake

[iamshazza 41]

Thanks for the reply!

I did call my surgeon's office yesterday and I spoke to Nurse Kim at length. I decided in the end to move forward with seeing if I could get the revision covered by insurance. Waiting for insurance specialist to call me back. I'm still even now going back and forth about it. I keep thinking if it's this hard maybe I shouldn't be doing it...if I'm this unsure. But really, I've lost only about 40 lbs with the band. And currently I seem to be going back and forth between 247-249. For like 3 weeks now. And really, I'm not eating that much...and I really can't eat greasy, fried food because my gallbladder will really make me pay. But what do I know. Not much apparently

[NoMoBand 278]

If your doctor hasn't already done this, I would ask your doctor to do a barrium swallow (UGI) to check if anything is going on with band. One of the symptoms that my band was not functioning correctly was that I could eat more than I should and stopped losing weight. I could also feel a thump when the food would go through the band. Turns out that my band was OK and it was my esophagus that had enlarged and was acting like a 2nd stomach. The UGI is a simple and less expensive procedure and will let you know if there is an issue.

if you have not been successfull with weight loss with the band, the sleeve works the same way by restriction. I would talk more to your doctor to see if the sleeve is the way to go.

[iamshazza 41]

I did have a barium last week. The band is still in good position. It's true I did not have success the first few years - but I think this is because at my original surgeon's office Nurse Soup Nazi would not give a fill if SHE felt like you hadn't lost enough weight from the last fill you had???

So for 2 years I barely had anything in the band. 3 or 4 cc perhaps? And dang, I was HUNGRY so I ate. Then for a period of time I had no insurance, so I didn't go anywhere for fills. I started following (sort) the Primal Blueprint (by Mark Sisson) during this time and was working out daily (what else was I gonna do but sit around and eat - which I did NOT want) and I lost about 15 pounds in 6 months. I eventually gained that back plus a few though because I let carbs back into my life. I did go to another surgeon once employed with insurance (my original retired) and they were a little more generous when giving fills. It was far away though - about a 45 minute drive.

And now I found the best so far. UC Health Weight Loss - they are fabulous. I started going there this year and have had the most success I've ever had. But it seems as though once your band is too tight, you can never get your mojo back Since the one time I was too tight and had to have 2cc's taken out I haven't gotten back to that "sweet spot" consistently - meaning that one time I think it still might be too tight and then later I feel like it's just right and then even another time I feel like there's no restriction. It's kinda crazy.

So...I guess I should not say I've been completely unsuccessful with the band. I have lost some weight and I have never weighed as much was I did when I got the surgery (287) again. It's just that once I got on a good track with it, it fell apart and now it's torturing me. I haven't had to have a complete unfill thankfully, but when you don't know from one day to the next if you will feel like you can eat the world or hardly be able to keep even liquids down...that's a problem to me.

I've read a lot of threads and the general thought seems to be that people don't get these issues with the sleeve. And that sounds good to me.

[tryinagain2day 38]

Best decision I made!!! I have lost more weight and now actually feel full with the sleeve. I was banded in 2012 lost 25lbs then gained 75 back. Finally got revision and loosing at about 2-4 lbs per week. With the band I never found "the sweet" spot and was always to tight or not enough restriction- was like a yo-yo.

[NoMoBand 278]

I also had a Nurse Soup Nazi that I dealt with my fills. Long story short I reported her and one of the doctors to the hospital's administration. After that my fills hurt like hell when I had them with her and I know that she did it purposely because when I had fills with the band doc it was a piece of cake. I also asked other patients if she was brutal with them and the answer was consistently, no, she's so gentle. That witch! I was lucky that my Band doctor moved to another health organization and nurse Nazi stayed behind. Thank goodness!!! Well, I just discovered that nurse Nazi is now back with my band doctor and the timing was perfect, I'm sleeved and with another bariatric doctor. I do miss my first bariatric doctor though, but, she can keep her nurse! I hope you do end up in our world of the sleeved, it's so much simpler. Keep us posted. jake

[iamshazza 41]

UGH what is with the mean nurses?! I love Nurse Kim she is awesome - and also she is banded so she understands the struggle.

I'm hoping that I will be able to convert to the sleeve early next year. I have to go through the program and then insurance will hopefully approve the revision. Meanwhile I think I'll be getting my gallbladder out pretty soon I don't think it will wait much longer!

[bandproblems 10]

I had a lap band surgery about 4 1/2 years ago in Europe and went from 330 lbs to 220 lbs since then. I am pretty happy with my weight loss. Although I have had some issues with eating certain foods I have managed until maybe 3-4 months ago, perhaps it started before but I did not realize it.

I was having more and more problems eating and even drinking. In the morning or during the day (several hours after last meal) I could not eat anything. Sometimes even a few sips of Water would not go down and I had to go and purge (?). I would also sometimes drink a couple sips of Water before going to bed and then I could feel it trying to go through and some air bubbling up and it always felt like it was stuck in my throat so I would have to go purge it in order to be able to sleep.

At other times I could eat almost 'normal' within reason and small portions (much smaller than before the band).

Since I had the surgery done overseas, I did not do any follow-ups for almost 4 years. I initially had two fills of 2 ml (cc) each for a total of 4 ml (cc).

I finally went to see a doctor last week and he did a fluoroscopy with barium and it showed nothing was passing through as well as an enlarged esophagus. He unfilled the band completely, although only got about 3 cc's out. He also told me that I needed to have the band removed and should have a conversion to a gastric bypass done.

Besides the fact that my insurance probably won't pay for a conversion since I am no longer obese per their definition (BMI > 35) I really do not want to have surgery and especially not a bypass. I had opted for the band as it seemed to be the least invasive procedure and would not require Vitamins and other supplements for the rest of my life.

Since I was skeptical the doctor said we would do another x-ray in a week and I should eat (drink) only liquids. That was tough and I have eaten a few regular meals. The food seems to go down easier now that the band was unfilled but after talking to the doctor and seeing the x-ray for myself I may just be filling up my esophagus again.

Even though I thought food was passing easier the 2nd UGI showed exactly the same. The barium liquid did not pass through at all. I really do not understand how one can have regular (although fewer) bowel movements and not starve to death if all the food is 'digested' in the esophagus.

How does food get digested in the esophagus if there is no stomach acid ? Once it is digested it must pass into the stomach, so why does the barium not show anything passing ?

My doctor wants to do a band to bypass conversion, but I am not sure.

I didn't want to do a bypass in the first place since it is a much more intrusive procedure and non-reversible.

I am considering doing only the band removal but I am worried about gaining all, or most, of my pre-band weight back. Statistically most patients gain the weight back after band removal. I am not sure I have the willpower to continue eating the same small portions with the band as I am doing now.

I have been doing a lot of research about bypass and sleeve. The sleeve seems a little less invasive but may have more side-effects.

I would appreciate any feedback from conversion patients ?

What food to you eat and how much after conversion ?

Any side effects ?

[iamshazza 41]

That's scary!! I'm not sure how that works if none of the food you take in is passing through the band. I'd definitely have it out if that's the case.

I am pretty well settled on a revision to the sleeve I think. It wasn't an option when I had my band done in 2009 and like you I did NOT want the bypass.

You will probably get a lot more response if you post in the forum for band to sleeve revisions under the main gastric sleeve section if you haven't posted there already. I sure did.

Good luck!! I hope things work out for you.