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or just type in dr name in your browser and how many procedures he has done. like.......... dr blank, dallas texas, how many gastric revisions ........

Just asked a question on laproscopic revision from bsnd to sleeve and was answered to find a surgeon that has done 1000 of these surgeries. I can find the names of surgeons in this area but how do you find out how experienced (number of surgeries) they are in laproscopic revisions from band to sleeve. Thank you for your help

So over the weekend I started to feel awful, developed abdominal pain, kind of like being kicked in the stomach every time I moved and food was worse when I ate or drunk something. I'm 8wks post RNY bypass and have been eating solid food for a couple of weeks now. I went into hospital on tuesday, after trying antibiotics for a couple of days, and had a CT scan which showed thickening of my jejunum. Slight raising of my inflammatory markers but no white cells or temperature, so not an infection. After three days in hospital the conclusion is that I had been too ambitious with my solid food and my new anatomy wasn't coping that well... Anyway I wondered if anyone else had had a similar experience or learning?

Well, I guess it has been a few years since i wrote in this blog. So, I am having a revision from lap band to sleeve tomorrow. 9 Feb 15. I am excited but nervous. I would like to write every week. The exception will be this week. I will write after surgery and again over the week. See you on the Loser Bench!

So I'm not so great about sharing my journey or talking about myself. I am always the advice giver, caretaker, and listener... so you'll have to bare with me through out my long winded discussion of my massive lifestyle changes. I've yo-yo'ed with weight since I was about 18. Between stress, depression, anxiety, and life... I managed to pack on 330 pounds at my heaviest (as seen in my largest photo!). In 2012 I was diagnosed with Pseudotumor cerebri (Intercranial hypertenstion) which also caused Papilledema. What is Pesudotumor cerebri and papilledema, you ask? (Well, I'm gonna tell you even if you don't want to know.. mwahaha!) Pseudotumor cerebri is a condition common in women of child bearing age (and women with a long history of birth control as was in my situation) that causes the body to create excess spinal Fluid. Why is extra spinal fluid in the head so bad, you might ask? Well, your sinuses, eyes, brain, and skull are already full.. in fact, your head is already full of spinal fluid. Adding MORE pushes everything in your head together causing horrible pressure and forcing it out of your skull in the most painful way possible.... here is where the patient would get regular SPINAL TAPS AND/OR A SHUNT TO RELIEVE THE EXCESS PRESSURE! There is no real cure for this and being overweight makes it worse as your body compensates by creating even MORE fluid due to the excess weight. Papilledema is the pressure that the excess spinal fluid from this condition puts on the eyes causing blindness and other serious eye injuries. Fast forward to 2015... I broke my foot at work and was rather sedentary for a few months, gaining about 30 lbs. This set on my pseudotumor and issues with papilledema. I was back up to about 320 and miserable... OH SO VERY MISERABLE. This condition just about caused my death twice in 2015 and my doctors told me I needed to lose a massive amount of weight quickly. The neurological medications I was on to treat this sort of negated losing more than a pound or two per week, and that wasn't enough weight loss to help the condition and pain. So I began changing my entire diet, went to counseling, and also decided to pursue RNY Gastric Bypass after a great deal of research, classes, and educational information about various options and long term benefits/downfalls of doing such drastic procedures. On January 27th, 2016 I went in to St. Luke's in Phoenix with my amazing and steady surgeon, Dr. Rob Schuster and was up walking to dull the pain as soon as the anesthesia wore off that day. My recovery was really best case scenario all around because I binge watched "My 600 lb Life" before going in and didn't want to be miserable while in the hospital for a few days and also wanted to kick my butt in gear to get on with this second chance at life. It was a massive lifestyle change. To anyone that thinks or feels surgical weight loss is an "easy way out" or in general isn't difficult has no idea the months and months of work people must go through, the hoops insurance puts you through, plus the amount of will power and motivation someone must have through good and bad to ensure they stay on top of all of it both before, during, and after surgery. You are forced to change your entire lifestyle, you change your relationship with food permanently, and learn to make far healthier and wiser choices as you can literally only put 4 oz of anything in you at any time and it MUST be seen as fuel or your honestly doing it wrong and hurting yourself in the process. I've dropped close to 90 lbs so far with another 50-60 to go to reach my goal. I feel better now than I have since I was 18. I am so much happier, healthier, and in general just more motivated to take on life. My life in the past two months has literally crashed into perfection. I can't think of a better way to sum it all up. My goals in life are to live simply, be happy, love honestly, and just be myself. I'm extremely blessed and grateful for how my life has crashed into perfection recently and wouldn't change it for the world, even with the nuances and odd things life may bring my way. I'm all smiles these days!

I was just wondering....which pain was worse? Lap-band or the revision surgery? Or were they both about the same? Also, is there lots of pain where the port was? Just a few questions I had as I count down the days until I have this ridiculous band out! Just for kicks, I would like to add that I have not had restriction for months and then today, out of nowhere, I start slimming! Really??? LOL

Was this just for weightloss surgery in general or specifically the sleeve? My thought would be that many people who have been morbidly obese for their entire lifetime and waited until much later in life to get the sleeve may have already done some serious damage to their heart. After all, just because you finally lose the weight doesn't undo 40 years of heart damage. I hope that's the case, because I sure the heck don't want to drop dead in my 30s! Keep researching... it seems unlikely to me that this was referring to the sleeve specifically, because we generally don't have issues with malnutrition like bypass patients do.

I wonder how much he's lost vs how much he needs to lose? My mom only lost about 60 lbs with her band - which is why she revised to the sleeve.

@@Soon2beslimSamantha Thanks! Yes, I am 2 months post op. I had bypass, and I had some complications during and after my surgery, so I was in the hospital for a week. BUT....I made it through fine, and everything has been going well since then. Once I got home from the hospital, things got a lot better. I've actually been through way worse, surgically. I am really pleased with my decision. I have not had true physical hunger since surgery. Not sure how long that will last, but I have to remind myself to eat. I have no real cravings, I am not tempted to cheat, I don't even really care much about food. Sometimes I might say, I want something warm, like Soup...but that's about the extent of a craving. I'm glad of that. I also did a lot of therapy before surgery to deal with food addiction issues, why I got big, and self-comforted with food so many years. That has been the biggest help to me.

overgrown scar tissue that blocks the entrance to the small intestine. They happen in about 5% of gastric bypass patients - usually within the first couple of months after surgery (while you're healing). It's an easy fix - they do an upper endoscopy and use this balloon thing to dilate it. Night and day difference - I felt better immediately! main symptom is you have a hard time keeping things down - but I also had some acid reflux with it. Both symptoms were completely gone after they "fixed" the stricture.

Christmas 2013 I went home and took care of my dad while he had quadruple bypass and valve replacement surgery. After the surgery, with all the tubes running in and out of him, only a machine keeping his heart pumping, he looked so frail, so deathly, and it scared the heck out of me. When I was younger, I was always very active and very fit - high school wrestler, soccer, martial arts, etc., etc. Activity level remained high until age 30 when I moved out to Seattle in 1998 to take a computer job. I decided to use the move and change of locale to quit smoking (had been trying for the previous two years, but the move allowed me to break all old habits and I was successful at it). Unfortunately, I swapped addictions, and began binge eating. I blew out to over 300 pounds, and I've spent the past 15 years as morbidly obese. I have paid $10k+ for multiple weight loss programs, and have spent $1k/month for years on personal trainers, and multiple times I was successful, going from ~300lbs to ~200lbs. I just kept thinking to myself, just as everyone else kept telling me, Keep eating healthy and exercising and it'll eventually come off. But whether it came off or not, it never stayed off. The funny thing is I still keep thinking of myself as fit, as I was back in high school. A bit of denial, and it was always a huge shock when I saw myself in a photograph (which I rarely allowed) because I was so bloated, with slits for eyes and puffy face, extended stomach beyond my chest, etc. So, I'd do more dieting, and it'd work for awhile. But with the scare of my dad's surgery, I decided to finally go in for a health check-up (which I had been avoiding), and my blood pressure and cholesterol were through the roof. My doctor was alarmed because he thought I was very high risk for stroke or heart attack. He immediately put me on two blood pressure meds and a cholesterol med. He also sent me for a sleep study because I complained of insomnia, and there it turns out again that my numbers were very off, I had extreme sleep apnia, an additional risk for stroke (so am now on a CPAP machine). There are other issues I face, other meds I take, and based upon my family history of blood pressure, cholesterol, heart, stroke, etc., problems, it finally scared me into researching WLS and starting the process. I haven't had the procedure yet, am 4-6 weeks out (waiting for insurance company final approval), but I'll be getting the Bypass (through pre-op investigative tests it was discovered I have terrible acid reflux and Barrett's, on the cusp of dysplasia - so, yet another reason to get WLS).

I have been "heavy" my entire life, but I started getting morbidly obese about 15 yeas ago after a back injury. I had two back surgeries, first one 8/2007, second one in 11/2009. I also broke my left ankle (for the 5th time) in 10/2010. After a major foot surgery in 3/2011, I decided to go for the sleeve. About a month out from surgery, I got pregnant and abandoned my WLS plans for the time being. I had the baby (best thing ever!!) and got back on track for surgery in October of 2013. I then caught the NORO virus from my kid and spend two days sitting on the toilet and vomiting into the waste basket. That freaked me out so much that I backed off from the surgery. My back and foot pain was getting worse (one of the five screws in my foot/ankle had broken and wow, the pain has been intense!) and all the doctors were telling me it would never get better until I lost about 100 lbs. at least. At the time, I was about 330. The doctor for my foot told me that he would have to take out all the pins, put in thicker ones, and reinforce the area with steal plates. This did not sound like it was going to help get me out of pain. So, back to the bariatric surgeon. I started with this again in February of 2015. My doc put me on a diet pill to help with appetite suppression, and I lost almost 50 lbs. from March 2015 - June 2015. It took a while to get all of the insurance requirements met, but it was finally approved, and my surgery was on July1. I am 23 days out of surgery, just started my 4th week post-op, and while it has not been easy, I would not go back. I had the sleeve because I did not want to have as many issues with malnutrition as I have heard can happen with bypass. I know that I will eventually get to eat real food again, just not nearly as much, and I am so happy with the weight loss. The biggest issue I am having is getting my Protein. I am a vegetarian and the idea of drinking milk repulses me. I am not a vegan, will eat cheese and yogurt, it is just milk that grosses me out. Soy milk was not something I wanted to try, but I find the light vanilla and light chocolate is palatable. I am still experimenting with different protein supplements, but I feel confident I will eventually find one that I can get down. I have found a few suggestion on this forum that give me hope. :-) I hope this info has helped. Good luck!

I chose to have lapband surgery . I had diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I did not want to have a radical surgery such as bypass or sleeve at this point in my life. I have been extremely happy with my band and have had no complications or issues. I have been banded 2 1/2 years and I no longer have any health problems. In fact my Primary Physician told me yesterday at my checkup that he couldn't be happier with my labs. Everyone who has weight problems has to make their decision in their own time. I knew at 5'0 and 200 lbs I was on my way to be disabled. Best of Luck to you and I will pray for success.

All of the above In my late 40's, and at heaviest was put on high blood pressure medication and Metformin for diabetes. That was pretty much the last straw. I had a pretty good knowledge of bariatric surgery already, because my husband had a Gastric bypass 8 years earlier and has done really well. I wanted the sleeve because I liked the idea of not having a malabsorbtion issue. I made the leap August 22 of last year, and haven't looked back. Almost 80 pounds lost, and 6 pounds to goal. So happy I did it! Hasn't been easy sometimes, but so worth it.

The revision actually kicked my butt more so than the original lapband surgery. My dr only made on incision but found he had to replace the entire tubing instead of just the port so it turned out to be bigger than anticipated. I was off work for a week and even now, 3 weeks on, I have some swelling if I over-exert. But it may look like the band is back to working, which is good. So in the end, it was worth doing.

I didn't have the port tubing come undone but I've recently had port revision for a leak. So shoot me any questions you have. And yes it's ridiculous that he didn't listen to you the last time, but I guess they assume it will get better and only get concerned when it doesn't. I wish you all the luck with your revision and I hope you get a working band again soon.

Hypothyroidism and Sleeve. I would like to know if anyone had any problems losing weight ? I am considering the Bypass over the sleeve I am going to lose more weight . Sent from my SM-J700T using the BariatricPal App

I was sleeved on the same day! They attempted bypass 6 weeks prior but couldn’t do it due to adhesions. The day after was by far the worst for me. I have one really painful area on my right side that hurts with movement. If not for that I would be feeling great. I also had hiatal hernia repair

Had my bypass three weeks ago (presume you’re having bypass too) just prepare yourself for the mental roller coaster and remember why you’re doing it. (Most) people don’t feel much or any real pain, just some discomfort. I struggled mentally but am working through the mental aspect of it all. Best of luck, private message if you like anytime.

I have terrible Gerd. It’s. So. Bad. 😩 Originally I was going to have the nissen fundiplication surgery for Gerd but the surgeon talked to me at length about getting gastric bypass instead. I’m still pre op at this point, but my main motivator in this process has been to try and stop my severe Gerd. (Also I’m quite heavy.) I’ve heard from quite a few doctors at this point who recommended gastric bypass for greatly improving or curing Gerd. I’ve seen some people I follow on Instagram who have had sleeve surgeries revised to a bypass due to the Gerd the sleeve caused them. It’s definitely worth discussing with your doctor.

I have lost 100 pounds in less than 10 months and I have only slimmed/pb'd twice...and that is because I ate too fast and didn't chew enough. I would rather do this than go through the dumping syndrome that some of the bypass patients have. Also, all of my nutritional levels are right where they should be because this is a restrictive procedure and not a malabsorptive procedure. I chose this surgery because there were less risks involved.

from having a gastric bypass, i can tell you that there are a few negatives. after the surgery, my hair got very thin and a lot fell out b/c the decreased amount of nutrition being absorbed by your intestines. I still very often get diarhea, upset stomaches and dumping with almost any combination of dairy and sweet. also, after a while the stomache stretches and you cant adjust it like the band. I hope this was helpful. good luck!!

My decision to have Lap Band surgery was based on it being a minimally invasive surgery with a short recovery time. I was up and about just hours after having the procedure preformed with no significant pain to speak of. Ive been problem free the entire journey thus far! (knock on wood) Without a doubt i feel ive had the same results with Lap Band surgery as i would have with a bypass.

I just got done walking a much faster mile - 3 MPH while watching "Destiny's Child" in Concert on Video. I don't usually listen to that kind of music, but the beat is killer - it really got me revved up to which I owe the faster pace. My friend and inspiration who has lost 100lbs with gastric bypass (her DH has lost 100 lbs with the band) is working on a group excercise schedule - her friend, herself and me - and who ever else we might drag along. I know that walking will only get me so far and I will have to do something to "tone" my flabby body. I'm excited about the prospect of working out with friends!

i know i am only newly banded.. BUT.. one of my BF and both my mother in law and father in law.. all had the bypass and i will tell you from first hand they get sick WAY more than any banded person i know... i understand things don't get stuck with the bypass but if u eat anything that ur new stomach doesn't agree with it will come back up... my FIL can't eat hardly any meat... and my BF can't touch any sugars... i don't know about you but i enjoy being in control of my body.. at least with the band i am in control and if i want to eat a piece of cake at a wedding or birthday party i can.... i just know that i must be responsible for all my choices and make up for it through the rest of the day... Good luck on your decision!