dlucia

Thanks for the replies.
Since my band has been un-filled, food passes through like I was never banded. All the food I did not or would not eat when my band was working I am now able to eat (hence the huge weight gain).
I went into a full blown panic when my doctor told me they had to un-fill the band completely. I know myself and I have no self control with the amount of food I eat, that is why the band worked for me so well. It put limits on the amount I could eat.

I am glad to hear that with the sleeve it has pretty much the same food limits as the band. As much as I tried to eat the same way as being banded it just does not work. The longer time goes on and the more weight I gain the more depressed I get. I have started hiding the amount of food I eat again. I have pretty much stopped going out (except when absolutely necessary) because I am embarresed with my weight gain. You know how you hear "you dont play well with others" well..... I dont play well with food.
My doctor warned me about the scar tissue and such and although he is going to try the all in one surgery from band to sleeve there is a possibility I will wake up and only have the band removed. This thought alone drives me crazy.
As for my insurance, my doctors office filed an appeal to get both the removal of the band and the sleeve surgery both covered and my insurance stayed steadfast with the fact they have a "lifetime weight loss benefit limit" and getting my band took 75% of that "lifetime limit".
I did GOOGLE "Bougie Size" and found that information very interesting and helpful.

Did anyone else go from band to sleeve and have that LONG period of time where they could eat anything they wanted and gain a whole bunch of their weight back?

I was banded in 2011 and did very well and lost over 150 pounds. Then at the end of last year I noticed I was having problems with heart burn and things were getting stuck more often. I put it off to stress of the holidays. Then the begining of this year getting things down got worse and the only thing that really could get down and helped with my heartburn was ice cream and milk shakes. Well of course I started gaining and gaining. I finally broke down and saw my primary doctor. He sent me for an Upper GI. Come to find out my band slipped, so I made an appt with my WLS doctor. They looked at my Upper GI results and said all the Fluid had to come out of my band and they would monitor it to see if it slipped back in place. Now we are at the point that the band is not useable any longer and they have recomended removing the band and replacing with the sleeve. I have gained over 100 pounds back through this process and have a save the date surgery for November 18th to get the band out and the sleeve in (my insurance is requiring a new 6 month nuntrition counceling plan before they approve and then they will only pay a portion, I have to come up with $10,300 out of pocket). But has anyone had an issue where when they went to take the band out they could not get the sleveve surgery done all at once, my doctor said it is always a possibility and I am worried about the cost of having to possibly come up with even more money for a 2nd surgery if they cant do it in a "one and done" surgery. I am glad to hear that people that had the band and now have the sleeve are happy with the switch.