Jerzeegurl0815

wow, i hope my doc will go through with it while i'm in there. I don't have a clue what it's going to look like. i've had no symptoms at all and he fully unfilled me as soon as they found it in February and i've been eating very carefully since then to try and not stretch it out more. I can't wait to get this all out. it's so hard to work out and do abs and stuff with this stupid port.

My doc said my band was really difficult to get out as well. He was going to call the op off, the bottom part of my stomach had migrated up through the band and created a large distended pouch above the band. Funny I had no symptoms of anything being really wrong with it all those years ! Anyway he said it was like a dogs Breakfast in there and referred to it as a ticking time bomb ! He said he had real trouble getting the bougie in, the op took twice as long but he managed it all in the one op. So happy with my surgeon, I'm 3 and a bit weeks out and still feeling great, hit a stall but not bothered about that anymore, I'm just sticking to the rules and exercising twice and day, no pain, no gas, lots of clothes that are already too big !!

I took two weeks off work, but I felt well enough 2 days after surgery. I was fortunate, no gas no pain, nothing really, the nurses kept asking me to rate my pain, it was always 0 out of 10. I guess I was one of the lucky ones :-)

Glad you are home healing. Please keep us updated.

great to hear. I'm 9 weeks out and still don't get that hungry feeling. Sometimes I need to force myself to eat as I'm just not hungry.

Hey there, all went unbelievably well ! No pain / gas / discomfort post op. Lost 20lb so far. Haven't felt hungry once. Off on my holidays today, in the airport as we speak, don't physically even feel like I've been through what I've been through ! So far it's the best thing I've ever done :-)

Update...so 9 days out...first 7 were horrendous-pain, pain, pain...Pleased to see an 11 lb loss!

Been there did that for a year, had great success until it stopped working...which it eventually will. When it does your clinic will start coming up with new "cocktails" to try to achieve similar results. My experience with those "cocktails"
Jittery
Nervousness
Irregular menstrual cycle
Cranky
Suicidal thoughts
Other self-destructive patterns including bulimia
My advice would be to avoid taking them. Phentermine was the mildest of what they gave me, but it still affected me in ways I didn't realize. I lost 60lbs, but when it stopped working I started gaining again. The "cocktails" helped me maintain the loss, but I simply got tired of taking so many pills everyday and wondered what the long term side effects would be, especially with the side effects I was already getting from them. Long story short, when I stopped pill popping I gained those 60 pounds back and they brought along 22 of their friends. Who wants to take pills for the rest of their lives? Not me! Heck, I take liquid Vitamins now because they are more like a treat for me with the band more than anything else. The only benefit I got out of the whole experience is that I wasn't required to do a supervised weight loss program before getting my band since I had gone through that ordeal. Good luck, but RUN!

I took it several years ago and lost 40 lbs. in 2 months. When I quit taking it, I gained it all back plus an additional 45 lbs. Side effects weren't too bad, just a feeling of being on edge sometimes. Definitely gives you lots of energy, because it's an amphetimine (an "upper").

I tried adipex p which is phentermine.
I hated it. It's basically speed.
I felt totally wired up.
No I was not that hungry with it but you can only use it a short time without effects to your kidneys.
I lost 12 pounds first time and as soon as I stopped I put them right back on and then some

Rovobay,
Bc/bs fed insurance is awesome. There should be no probs with approval!
Welcome & good luck

I thought I would start a thread with a timeline that I can reference back to as I go through this life changing event. Outside of this community, I have chosen to only share this with my wife. I have battled the belly bulge since I was a young kid. I was physically active, but always large. I managed to get to my lowest weight when I was in the Peace Corps (213#) however, since my return, the weight came back up. I yo-yo dieted over the years and neglected my health. I went 5 years without seeing a doctor, mostly because I didn't want to hear, want I already knew..... lose weight! I just turned 35, my wife is pregnant with our second child and is due in November. I guess all of these things were a wakeup call. my uniforms were getting smaller and I refused to buy a larger size. enough is enough. by happenstance, I found this website, which led me to the revelation that wls was covered through my insurance, blue cross blue shield federal employee program. Found all the requirements to get approved for surgery and started hitting it hard. First step was to find a new PCP since my other 2 are no longer around (one died, one retired). Today August 11, 2014, my wls office is submitting my papers for approval. I am the most nervous I have ever been. I have jumped through so many hoops to satisfy all the requirements, and now I wait. here is the timeline of events thus far. Thanks Bariatric Pal for all your knowledge, advise, and kind words. I will continue to add to this as my journey continues.
5/14/14 Joined Bariatric Pal Forum
5/22/14 found and met with new PCP who recommended and referred me for WLS
6/10/14 welcome group meeting, EKG, Blood work
6/12/14 meeting with NUT and NP (1st month of medically supervised diet)
6/24/14 Meeting with Psychologist
6/25/14 REE metabolic testing (metabolism is slow 81% of expected expenditure)
6/26/14 meeting with PT
7/7/14 consultation with Dr. Valerie Halpin
7/7/14 sleep study (no sleep apnea)
7/18/14 Upper Endoscopy (found out, have GERD.... never thought I had any problems with reflux)
7/18/14 meeting with PT and NUT (2nd month of medically supervised diet)
8/8/14 meeting with PT and NUT (3rd and final month of medically supervised diet)
8/11/14 Doctors office submitting paperwork to insurance for approval. (now I wait to hear back from insurance)

Quick update, 6 days out and 18 pound lost ! Haven't felt hungry once, no pain or gas since operation. Mild reflux for 2 days only. Feeling great ! So far I'm very happy with my decision to have the band removed and get sleeved :-)

UPDATE: Visit and exam by the doc yesterday. He said the muscle spasms were nothing to worry about. He explained they use stitch thread as big as the "thickest fishing line string you can buy." And that the stitch is deep and my body sees this as a foreign object. With time, he reassured me, I should be fine. He also said people complain about this muscle spasm like pain usually 3-6 weeks post op. I'm in week 5.
Thanks again for all your comments. I love this website!
Have a super day.

I feel your pain I really do, I had horrible Belly pain around the largest incision site.. It was awful.. Getting up off the recliner couch ect was extremely painful, I slept in a recliner for about 5-6 weeks after surgery and I couldnt bend over to tie my shoes or pick things off the floor... I was checked for a hematoma or hernia and all felt great .. They told me not to lift or do anything that caused pain and give it another 4 weeks.. That was at my first checkup.. So it took about 5 weeks. It was sore and felt like a muscle was on its last limb and ready to rip open.. I was so relieved when it went away, they said some people get this and they dont know why! I hope your pain subsides soon!

I chose not to tell anyone either...I did not want any opinions or comments like " you took the easy way out"... No, I took control of my life with the new technologies that are available to me...I have had a band since 2005 and just converted to a sleeve last week...although feeling a bit battered at this moment, losing weight was the best thing I ever did for ME!

I had reflux with the band and still do with the sleeve but I take omeperzole for it and have no issues. It's been worth it. Once you have the sleeve give your body time to heal a good month to feel semi normal. You will wonder what the hell you did to yourself but I promise it gets better and the surgery and recovery will be a distant memory :-) good luck to you.

Hello everyone my name is David, I'm 34 and live in the Philly burbs. I had joined this website years ago when I was researching surgery, but I never wound up using the forums. I had the Realize Band placed 4 years ago back on 8/24/2010 & I started at 379 lbs and I ended up losing 100 lbs the first year. The past 3 years my weight has yo-yo'd up and down a bit, but for the most part I've stayed in the 280 - 290 lbs range. While I'm very happy to have maintained around a 90 lbs weight loss, I still have at least 100 lbs more to go so I'm thinking of revising to the VSG.
When I was first looking into bariatric surgery the surgeon of course was recommending the DS or the RNY for me because of the amount of weight that I needed to lose. For years and years I've suffered with tons of GI/stomach issues, including Rapid Gastric Emptying/Gastric Dumping, so the idea of getting my insides rerouted and changed was not appealing to me (and it still isn't, actually). Since I already was suffering from dumping before any type of bariatric surgery, I most certainly did not want to have bypass surgery in which one of the side effects could be dumping syndrome. So I decided on the band at that point, and it also is why I'm not considering a revision to one of the bypass surgeries now either.
As of right now I've been maintaining around a 40% loss of excess body weight which my surgeon says is a good result for the band. I currently have around 9 cc's in my band, so there isn't too much more that can be added. A majority of the time I have little to no restriction with my band, while sometimes I eat just a few bites and food gets stuck. The inconsistency of the restriction is driving me crazy. I just went and spoke to my surgeon this past week and I discussed revision to VSG and what I need to do to start the process. Pending insurance approval from Keystone Health Plant East for the revision, I am hoping to have the band taken out and be revised to the VSG sometime in December or January. The surgeon tells me that he will most likely do it as one surgery, but he of course will not know for sure until he goes in and removes the band to decide if it can be done at the same time.
I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, and I look forward to reading about everyones weight loss journey.

Wow! Congrats! I hope to be a success like u someday (I'm only 5 weeks out, 17 lbs down)

I had my 90 day check up today & I've lost a total of 51 lbs. My doc is very happy with me since he went through everything with my band for 5 years. I'm a lot happier with the sleeve & so pleased with myself that I made the decision go with the sleeve.

I understand how you feel I'm down another pound this week NEEDED TO LOOSE 100 lbs to be at goal and I am at 63 pounds loss already just under 2 months...
including pre op weight loss........

I just realized, after updating my ticker that I'm over half-way to my goal weight. I'm 12 1/2 weeks post-op. In some ways my weight loss feels slow but I know, compared to my weight loss with the band, it isn't slow at all!!! It took me about 18 months to lose 50 pounds with the band!! Feeling pretty happy with my sleeve!
Hope everyone is doing great!

Medicare will pay for the revision, no matter what your bmi is (mine is 28) if there are complications with your band. Your dr could say that you have a band intolerance, excessive vomiting both of which are true. Mine slipped (have had it for 3 1/2 yrs) and was totally unfilled last month. Waiting till all the inflammation to go down so I can have the revision all in 1 surgery. Like I said, my insurance covers it with complications, even with my bmi at 28. I only need to lose 30 lbs but I know I caould never keep off the 100 I've already lost without a tool.
Good luck!

It may make a difference in regards to insurance if there is a problem with your band that can be medically diagnosed ( slip, prolapse, erosion,etc.) If they will cover the revision. I was very sick with a slipped band, a "mechanical failure" See what your endo test comes back with. If there isn't a clear problem with the band itself, start contacting your insurance company, plead your case complete with documentec doctors visits, fills, UGI'S, ER visits, testing, etc. Any substantiated way you can document that a covered revision will save them money in the long run could help. As far as low BMI, mine was 27 at time of revision.I made my case to ins co. this wasn't about me losing a tremendous amount of weight, it was about lifelong weight maintenance (again, cost effective for them if I avoid any weight-related medical issues) good luck