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Yeah it's not just a stricture it ended up being a hiatal hernia so I'm doing tests to revise to the bypass. Should be ok, not anticipating too many problems. Sent from my N9560 using BariatricPal mobile app

Hi everyone, I've been a frequent lurker, but I have not interacted on the boards. I now find myself in a position that I'm unsure about and could use some feedback. I was banded in 2008. I haven't had any problems until semi recently. Two weeks ago all of the fluid was taken out of my band because I started having bad heartburn while I was sick with a summer cold. Oddly enough, this was just a little over a week after seeing my Lap Band doc and being advised to consider revision to either sleeve or gastric bypass due to not really seeing much in results. My surgery weight was 258. My lowest weight was 221. Current weight is 247. Anyway, since having all of the fluid removed, my body is all kinds of messed up. I can actually eat LESS than I could with the band. I eat, I get heartburn. I get too hungry, I get heartburn. I eat solid foods too close to bedtime, I get heartburn. I'm also experiencing lots of gas and some bloating almost every time I eat something, Yesterday, it happened with water. Now, I'm on Prilosec per my doctor. I have an EGD scheduled for Thursday of next week as well as a barium swallow the day after. They've already done an x-ray and they say that my band is in the correct position. So, I'll have some answers soon, but I want to know if anyone has any kind of experiences that might give some clue as to what's happening. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

I had my sleeve done in 2011, reached my goal weight of 138, and have maintained it since. I developed GERD about two years after the sleeve surgery. I've been on omeprazole since, the max dosage the past two years. GERD gave me an esophageal stricture which causes food and liquids to regurgitate back into my mouth after swallowing. It's truly gross to have to repeatedly reswallow the same mouthful of food. Sometimes things get stuck and I have to vomit them up. I've had a couple of endoscopies, a BRAVO study, and esophageal manometry. The manometry shows I have achalasia (impaired swallowing) too, not surprising when you only have a 12.5 mm wide esophagus. It was dilated during an endoscopy, but shrank back down fairly quickly. My surgeon wants to do a Heller myotomy to fix the stricture but a common side effect of myotomy is GERD. So he has to do something about the GERD, too, and that has to be some kind of bypass. Since I'm at goal weight with a BMI of 21, I don't have much spare poundage to lose. Plus I'm 65 and don't want to end up one of those "frail elderly" people who can't carry groceries or walk very far. I am hoping that my surgeon will make the very shortest bypass limb he can. Approval came a week after submission so I'm scheduled for June 29. No preop diet required. It's all happening a little fast and I'm a little freaked out. I think I've forgotten all the food stages :-). Support would be appreciated.

I was also self-pay in Florida. My cost was $16,500.00. That price includes anything and everything that has to do with my band for one year; meaning fills, monthly visits, nutritionist visits, support group and any complications that arise. My port flipped and I had to have revision surgery last month to correct it and I did not pay a dime for the additional surgery. We refinanced our house to pay for the surgery. I believe inamed also has a finance program on their website.

I had lap band surgery 4.5 years ago. I'm hoping to revise to the sleeve. But in the past I was always hot. Probably since I've lost weight, I won't even think about wearing shorts unless it's more than 75 out. I am cold a lot. I still am hot in the summer, but I'm definitely colder than I used to be

A slipped band absolutely is a big deal! My band slipped after 15 months and I had surgery last month. When it slipped it occluded the opening and I couldn't keep anything down. I have never been so sick in my life. Because I could keep nothing down I had to go thourgh the ER and be admittied for surgery in the morning. The surgery took about 45 minutes and it went well. I was discharged after about 24 hours of first walking into the hospital. My insurance denied payment so that made me a self-pay and I got my hospital bill this week. It's $28,000! And that doesn't inlcude the surgeon's fees, the anesthesiologist's fees or the radiologist's fees. I also got a statement in the mail saying that if my insurance had paid, the hospital would have settled for $1998.00 but since they didn't pay, I am responsible for the entire $28,000. This is because my insurance company has a contract with the hospital and I don't. I was barely overweight enough to have the lapband with a BMI of 30. I have reached my goal weight and am very thankful for my band. But if you figure I have lost 54 pounds and after I get all the bills from the revision surgery that will put me at nearly $50,000 spent on the band and just under $1,000 a pound. So the band slipping IS a big deal, not only because it jeopardizes your health until it is fixed but because it can leave you financially devastated.

I'll have to go get some tomorrow, I've always gone with the powder because I'm a cheapskate but after surgery I can barely stand them. I'm struggling to get my Protein in so hopefully finding a shake I like will help. Revision 1/31/13 by Dr Cabrera and Venezuela in MX

So let me start by saying this , I got the lap band to improve my quality of life. Because I have PCOS ( Poly Cystic ovarian syndrome ) and migraines I am at greater risk of things like stroke, diabetes and high blood pressure as it is. Being over weight adds to that. So I wanted the band to reduce that risk BEFORE anything bad happened to me. I am a mother of 2 boys who need me . After I first got the band things were great, I could eat what i wanted, just smaller portions and occasionally threw up after eating too much , or so I thought .. I even changed the way I ate, what i ate , i felt better so I ate better. I was , as you can ask my doctor , the model patient, i did everything I was suppose to (with the expectation of working out and that lesson has been learned trust me ) Eventually what I ate seemed to come back up more often , But after losing 125 pounds I thought I was doing ok. At a year out a slipped my band , that is where my stomach comes up through the band and can potentially be very serious. After it corrected it self I gained some weight ... It slipped again , more weight gain . I was then told my band had scar tissue build up around it and I could no longer get the fills I needed to lose the weight the opening to my stomach would be closed off it was filled again . That was around 2-3 yrs ago . As time has gone on I have slowly gotten worse. You see because of where the scar tissue is I still have " restriction" Meaning , I am still limited on what i eat , so things like steak, pork, chicken , solid Proteins wont go down . The food literally sits on top of my band until it gets either pushed through , which is very painful , or it comes back up . If I throw up too much, my stomach swells and eating any form of solid food is impossible for several days. So i have to go to liquids, milk shakes, Protein shakes , mash potatoes things like that. Those type of things are high in calorie and cause me to gain weight , but what other choices do i have ? broth, Water ? Yeah those fill you up ?? NOT ! So my day goes like this ... Breakfast: Protein shake cause eating in the morning is nearly impossible. That's if I can get it to go down if I cant and anything comes back up then its liquids for me the entire rest of the day Lunch: I try to eat something semi solid but I usually end up eating Soup Dinner: Some times a salad works but most evenings I throw up my dinner several times over and end up in pain from the swelling . By that time liquids hurt to go down ... NOW that leads me to my "other issues" Joint pain Fatigue body aches head aches My teeth are deteriorating because of how much I throw up Cold feet cold hands numb feet cysts on my feet numb hands You see they are finding out now that people who have had bands for several years are developing auto immune disorders like Fibromyalgia .. Problem ? Docs done believe it yet .. So no doc will help me out . With out insurance I cant get proper diagnoses . You can read more about that stuff here . I am now 20 or so pounds away from my original start weight before surgery . That's right I have gained nearly ALL My weight back . And at the rate I am going by next month or so I will exceed the 250 pounds i was before my surgery . I had my revision surgery on 11-14-2012 after surgery they told me the band removal went fine and they were able to repair a hiatal hernia , that was a surprise to them ( and me ) and sleeve me in one procedure. I was SO relieved to have had it done in once procedure. The day after surgery I started throwing up water and unable to keep it down . After a couple more tried they ordered an EGD for me . They told me if the scope went through easily then and showed no obstructions I should be fine and not need another surgery , but if it did not I could have excess scar tissue from the band and I could need another surgery . WHAT !! Yikes . So they did it and it showed no obstruction some swelling around the band area ( where the band was ) they told me to take liquids slow . For several days I was still throwing up just water, in fact it freaked me out because it looked like I was throwing up some blood as well. Finally around day 3 or so the water was staying down . So finally I was able to go home today . NOT an easy process that's for sure , but I am glad its over. The doc told me to progress my liquids slowly , as long as I was keeping liquids down I was fine , the minute i started if i did throwing up liquids I needed to come back . But to just take it slow . I have been home for about a week now and its still a back and forth issue with food. I encourage ANYONE reading this to NOT get the lap band, do not ever tell anyone abou the band and Hope some day it falls off the face of the earth !

OK...my surgery is scheduled for July 23rd, and that's all I've been thinking about....UNTIL I got a job last week...not just any job a part time job in the travel industry. I mean these jobs don't come around often and there was no way I was turning it down. My problem is of course I couldn't tell them about the surgery because there are 100 others waiting in line for this job. It requires that I go out of town for 2 weeks of training, which I am trying to cram in pre op. My question is post op. Is lifting objects a concern? At times I will be required to lift objects up to 40 pound for very short distances. It's actually just to pick them up and put them on the conveyor belt? How long before I am able to do it? I don't want to lose my dream job, but then again I don't want to mess up my surgery. I may have to delay the surgery....something I DON'T want to do. HELP!!!!

I think it just shows that the band works for some and not all! I can relate more to people who've had issues with problems with the band more so than people who were successful that's for sure. I don't expect that people won't be successful because I wasn't but in that respect I don't think people should assume that just because they are successful that everyone can be or that it's some kind of character flaw if they're not! I revised to RNY and can honestly say I still experience hunger and hormones still play an issue. When I am hungry I know I should eat, it's my body telling me to do so but with the smaller stomach I can only eat so much so that is why I've been able to have success now that I never had with the band. I'm restricted in ways I couldn't be with the band and need that restriction. I wish all well no matter what procedure they choose but hope they make the right one the first time! Nancy.

It is really overwhelming. I've had the band and now the sleeve. Just from my experience, the sleeve is fabulous. I would say to research the good, bad and ugly of the band. I thought I would be one of the lucky ones and beat the statistics with the band. Unfortunately, I only had my band 8 months, and then revised to the sleeve. I do not regret my band decision because it taught me a lot about myself, and my eating habits. But, it damaged my stomach tissue, it was a horrific experience. My quality of life was in the toilet. Here is some interesting information from the band manufacturers. 1 in 4 band patients will have to have another surgery to repair a band issue, or remove it entirely. It now has the lowest and slowest weight loss results. Also, I have never found one band patient that has had their band for at least 10 years without a slip, or other major complication at some point. I did find one patient on OH that has had her band for 9 years, but she is now seeking a revision because of the chronic issues she's struggled with over those years. She had her band replaced once around the 5 or 6 year mark because the band leaked and she lost restriction.

Hi I'm Traneé from Houston Texas! I'm scheduled for a revision from lap band to rny next Tuesday April 30th due to a slipped band. Very ready to get this band out and start on my new journey with rny!! I'm considered a light weight so I'm a little worried the weight won't come off as quick as it should :-/ Thanks, Traneé

I had the total band revision done on Tuesday! I had to stay over night and have been home since Wednesday late morning. This surgery has not been so bad! I have already started my mushies! It is good to eat a little. My Realize band was totally defected and by that I mean that it had again detached itself from the tubing. I am going to have a fill on Wednesday already, trying to get me back on track with the weight loss. I am a bit nervous with the bad experience I have had in the past with the fills not working, but I am hopeful. I had gained 7 pounds from the IV fluids and I have also now lost the same 7 pounds. So if you get on the scale after surgery please do not be surprised by the gain it will just come off fast. Having now been through this surgery two full times and one port revision, I have to say this third time was very easy. Maybe because I knew what was coming next! I also just heard from another LB friend that she also just had her entire band replaced this last week due to leakage. I am not sure what brand of band she has! This is very interesting. I have been told by a lawyer that we have no recourse as long as we are healthy and it has not changed any of our normal life. This was all due to some court case that happened in 1974. It is the chance that we are taking by having a device implanted in our tummy's I guess. oh well, I am thankful to be alive and healthy! Three Cheers to Our LAP BANDS!!!! They do work well with loosing weight even though we may have to go through little glitches! :thumbup:

I'm a revision from the band as well.. My date is 9/15, super excited and a little nervous!

I went in for my revision 6/10 but due to the amount of scar tissue I wasn't able to get my sleeve. That was a disappointing conversation let me tell you. In hindsight I do appreciate my surgeons caution but at the time I was sooo not happy. Today I got the call that I've been rescheduled for 8/29!! I am excited and ready to get this done!!

Even with the VSG, weight loss is slower with low BMI https://www.bariatricpal.com/index.php?/topic/399645-Gastric-Sleeve---BMI-31 When I was debating what to do these are the points that helped me decide: * I have a family that I am responsible for, 10% risk vs 1% is too high for me * I am doing for health reasons I will be happy with a size 8-10. I don't want to be a size 4 * I didn't want to be off from work for for 4-6 weeks * people loose a lot of weight with VSG, sometimes too much. I know of a person that did it for 40 lbs. He looks sick. * even if I have to do a revision to the ESG, that I understood it is possible if needed after a couple of years, I would do it again instead of doing the VSG. Sent from my SM-G930V using BariatricPal mobile app

Update: I got my date for the DS revision, coming up in 2 weeks. I have only 1 week of pre diet this time around. Anyone else?

Good luck with your rny! I am now more than 5 weeks out and I know it will be a life long change but already revision of band to bypass was best decision of my life. My diabetes was gone from 2 days after surgery. That alone makes it worth the surgery and worth avoiding sweets again.

Im on the 3 months nutrionist stage. Hopeful rny revision by Nov or Dec

I'm obviously not a professional and can only speak on my experience as a bypass patient - I have not experienced vomiting or dumping syndrome and I'm a little over 9 months post-op. Even when meeting with my surgeon and he asked me what I was considering and why - before providing his own assessment - I said bypass as sleeve wasn't enough and SADI is too much - and he agreed. I have only experienced occasional mild acid reflux previous to surgery and did not want to put myself in a place to make it worse. My food portions are obviously smaller than prior (that's why we have these procedures), but it is not just a spoon or two at this point. That was only closer out from surgery. I am at about a half cup to a cup depending on density of what I'm consuming and that will still evolve even more further down the line. In my opinion, SADI is better for those who need to lose a lot more and may be diabetic as it is quick to reverse that. It may not be everyone's assessment and you have to choose what is best for you with your doctor's suggestion. I've heard and read it is difficult to revise should the need arise and it's mainly too many fats and/or sugars is what causes the diarrhea. Both require to be on vitamins/supplements for life, but it's even more important with the SADI as there is far more malabsorption. You will know what's best for yourself and your body and I wish you much luck.

Having had a lap band for 9 years, and it failing quite spectacularly! I have just been approved for revisional surgery. I have been given the option of Gastric Sleeve or Gastric Bypass.... and I am struggling to decide which will be best for me. I understand both have their pro's and con's... Im aware of all the post surgery risks, but Im more concerned / would like to hear from people who have had sleeve / bypass for a number of years... at least 5 years ideally..... I would really appreciate any feedback on the following points that are worrying me: Bypass - Very little / No revisional options... has anyone had anything go wrong after a number of years? Dumping... How often does this actually effect people? Ive heard you get very 'noisy' digestion.. and a lot of wind!! Is this the same for everyone who has had bypass? Sleeve - Given this is relatively 'new' Im very interested in long term satisfaction / issues, if any? Ive heard after a few years the stomach can stretch and revision is likely to maintain restriction? Ive heard people revising from lapband to sleeve, often feel no restriction? it this common? Ive also heard the chances of getting heartburn are high with a sleeve? Are there many people who never had heartburn before surgery, who were effected post surgery? I am naturally a bit nervous having to have surgery again, and would appreciate your feedback. Look forward to any help from anyone. Thanks!

I am sitting here, a scant two years after finding LBT, looking back at my somewhat amazing journey with my life. I must admit, this is not where I ever thought I would end up, but once we start on a journey, do we ever really end up at the indented destination? I think we sort of tack in the direction of the wind, we see our sails fill, but we have no real control over those winds. I was absolutely convinced that by this time I would be a beautiful size 12, out concouring the world. I thought I would have a stunning wardrobe, and boundless enery, and a stunning collection of shoes... I thought I would be making a difference through my chosen profession, and off having many interesting adventures. I thought I would have learned so many new things that I be able to change how I saw the world. Hmmm, I guess all that I have achieved are some intersting adventures, but I suppose that is all we can hope for, right. Well, the things I have learned, well, those have been things I never ever thought I would learn. I have learned so much about my body, that I now joke that I believe I'm entitled to an honorary medical degree. But I've also learned so much about the real reasons I have done things, and for that I'm ever so thankful. I have gained an understanding of eating disorders, and an apprication of what people who truely have eating disorders have to deal with. I'm just thankful that my obsession with food, while tiresome for others to read about, was relitively shortlived, lasting only months, as opposed to the years that other poeple must deal with that ordeal. I used to think that the reasons I was fat had to do with my lifestyle, or to some extent trying to protect myself from hurts from my childhood, but I have learned that I neve had a chance to be thin. Not with Cushing's. I wanted to thank Mr. Alex for the wonderful forum, and I want to thank all of you who've been so supportive of me through my current jouney. Some of you I will never meet in meat-space, some I have, but I count you all friends. I have learned so much from all of you, some times from questions that never occured to me to ask, some from questions that were repeatedly asked. I've been absent LBT for some time, but I have been very active on my Cushing's board. I come and lurk here, but lately I haven't felt very well physically. It's easier to just check in, knowing that all y'all are still here, still working your programs, still waking your journeys. I started this banded journey wanting more to gain my health. My asthma was so out of control just before I was banded, I didn't know if I was going to survive. I think that is the best thing about being banded, my asthma, still with the Cushing's, is all but gone. I cannot explain this, but why should that one thing be expalined? Just one more wacky thing about me, I guess. My wanting to regain my health was the impetis for getting banded, not so much losing weight, although I desperately want to lose weight. And here I sit, I know that by many standards I'm a band failure. I know that sitting here, within 5 pound of my pre-band weight, that consititues a failure. But it should come as no surpise that I refuse to be labled a failure. Not now, and not by any external force. Heck, I have learned to not even let my mother define me as a failure any more, so hurray for me! I knw that there are many new bandsters here that do no know my story, so here's a quick recap. The Band lead me through an amazing journey. I initally had some success, but then it all stopped. No matter what I did, I could not lose weight. Not at any restriction level. No sweet spot for me. No matter how much time I spent at the gym, no matter how many hours I spent dancing, or walking or horseback-riding, I could not get the weight to budge. I spent a terrible month too restricted, where my food intake was limited to one ore two tablespoons of food at the most. As still, no weight loss. I spent a month as sub-700 calories, and managed to lose 1.5 pound in a month. So I started demanding answers. On another board I was subjected to ridicule, called a lier and worse. I pushed and pushed and pushed. And I certianly never thought that pushing for answers would have landed me back within pounds of where I started. But right now, those pounds are irrelivent. Throught my pushing and demanding answers, I disovered that I have a rare disease caused by a brain tumor--I have Cushing's syndrom. As it turns out, looking at my medical history, I've had Cushing's my entire adult life, and most likely, I had it as a child as well. So, I never had a chance to be thin, or "normal" sized. I have discovered a new supportive communty in my Cushing's board, and I am so thankful to have them, thankful that I found them, because they saved my life. For whatever reason, I am not able to do things in a small way. I'm sort of a full-boar sort of woman. (or is that full-bore?) And my health is no exception. I learned this year that doctors have no clue when it comes to rare diseases. I've learned to fire them when it is clear that they have no idea, and I've also learned that I'm smarter than many, if for no other reason, because I refuse to give up. I knew something was wrong, and I pushed and pushed and pushed. I know tat we have many turtles, and I know that many of my tribe have drifted away, discouraged and diheartened. I wish I could gather all my tribe up, and help them fight. I wish I could give them the energy that they need to find the cause for their slow loss. I am so thankful that I had the Band, and "failed" with it, rather than having one of the by-pass procedures. I know that many people have had great success with revisions, but with my disease, I still would have failed even with the the malabsorptive techniques. I want to tell you all how proud of you I am for your journey, and to thank you for letting me be some small part of your jouney. It has been wonderful, if not more than a little frustrating, to watch every Rabbit sprint to victory. It's been great to watch my Turtles who needed longer to reach that same mark, never giving up, even as they wanted to. I just wanted to thank you all, and to let you know that I'm still here, if anyone cares. I also wanted to let you know that I will have my Cushing's cure this year. It isn't an easy cure, but that dammed brain tumor will no longer hold me hostage. Once more, I start a new journey. Only this time, I'm not exactly sure where my footsteps will take me. This time, my expectations are more open to the possibility of the universe.

Your surgeon is right it is your decision, but, your surgeon also knows based on past patients experience and your health background, stats etc., what she feels based on her experience what would be the best for you. The surgery itself, the aftercare and long term outcome. I've never had to throw up, get the runs or any issues with my bypass. I feel most ppl don't have issues, but you hear about these that do, because why post everything is great I have no issues or questions? I chose the bypass because I have the worst luck known to mankind and I just knew I'd start getting acid refux/GERD if I didn't and I'd be back for a revision later. I've had no issues - none! I'm not sure why you think getting a SADI wouldn't have a chance to effect you the same way a standard bypass would. There is still the possibility of nausea/vomiting etc. I think if you only have 100 lbs to lose ....I agree with your surgeon, it might be a bit much unless you have diabetes or a BMI of 50% or higher. Just my two cents..although with todays economy..maybe its only worth a half cent! Finally, you won't spend your entire life only eating a spoonful of food at each meal, just smaller portions.

My personal experience has been that bingeing pre-op is an extremely bad idea. People will make up the excuse that "I'll never be able to have that again, so I better have it now!". THIS IS NOT TRUE. You absolutely can have anything you want to eat post op. The only differences will be that you can't eat as much AND you are just tacking on more pounds you will eventually have to fight for after surgery. You're only hurting yourself by doing this. I have had two WLS's. I did have the food binge before my lap band. Then a few months later I realized that it was all for naught because I can and did still eat those foods. In fact, I could eat more of that stuff than the good healthy food. They're called "sliders" for a reason. You won't get full on them. Then with my revision to the VSG I absolutely did NOT indulge pre-op. I already knew I had to go in with the right ideas about food. For anyone reading this, change that attitude. This surgery will save your life, but only if you get your mind right.

When I was researching Dr's to do my revision, I was looking at doctors all over the U.S. and learned that the pool of WL surgeons who are qualified and skilled enough to do complex revisions or takedowns is probably less than 15-- I only found 5 or 6. If you go over to the www.obesityhelp.com site, you can find a lot of information about people who have had complications from all different surgeries, although the majority of them who had issues were those that had the GB. I trolled that website, this one and others for months while I was doing my research on the different WL procedures. Reason being is that my original WL surgeon died several years ago (young man but had a heart attack) and no surgeon in the Kansas City area had any experience doing surgery on someone who had the VBG (vertical banded gastroplasty). They all just wanted to do the GB because it was the easiest for them, never mind what was best for me. My point is that I did find surgeons who had been able to reverse the GB and in those cases, it was for medical reasons, not because the patient didn't want the procedure anymore. It's even possible to modify the DS surgery, but very difficult to do. You also start entering territory of experimental surgeries which have their own inherent risks. I had to go out of state to have my surgery to find a qualified and experienced doctor who had worked with previous WL surgeries such as mine. We don't know Carnie's reasons for choosing the LB. As I said, I do wish her the best. I can only hope she did her own research and not let some Hollywood Dr. lead her down a path that served only his own interests.