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Smoking can cause significant issues post-op - I'm very surprised your surgeon didn't say you had to quit completely. I'm glad that you're not taking his advice. My surgeon had a patient that quit for surgery and started right back up post-op - she ended up ulcerating her stomach/pouch - requiring emergency surgery and a revision. Needless to say - they are even more strict about it. It also increases chance of blood clots - which is the number 1 cause of death following WLS.

I have a question for those who have went through the sleeve to bypass revision.... What is the general process like for those of us trying to start the process to have the revision using our insurance

Hey. I'm having my sleeve to bypass revision next Wednesday, July 29. I was sleeved in February 2013. I lost about 40 pounds and kept it off for a year when I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and was started on a beta blocker. I gained 20 pounds the first month and it has just gone up since then. My insurance said only one bariatric surgery per lifetime however I decided to try to have it approved and they approved it within two days. The insurance company considered my failed sleeve a complication as well as my new heart condition and borderline sleep apnea. I thought for sure I would have to appeal the denial but was happily surprised. So if your insurance states one bariatric surgery in a lifetime, try to get it approved anyhow. You may be pleasantly surprised. I have completed all my preop requirements and I started my diet today. Has anybody gone through this and are you glad that you did this? My biggest fear is not the surgery itself but being a failure again. It's so embarrassing. I am telling very few people I'm having RNY. They all think I'm having a hiatal hernia repair. I would appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.

Hi everyone! I was also revised from the sleeve to RNY. My initial surgery was 8/12/13. I almost immediately began having problems getting fluids to stay down. After episodes of daily nonstop vomiting and dehydration, I was admitted to the hospital on 8/22. I was NPO for most of my hospital stay. I couldn't even keep ice chips down. After a failed attempt of a balloon dilation, my surgeon went back in on 8/31 to correct my sleeve. I woke up in excruciating pain that evening. My heart rate was extremely high during the night. The nurses were very concerned. My surgeon came in that morning and told me that he needed to go back in to check for a leak. After 6 hours of surgery, I was revised from the sleeve to RNY due to a small leak in my sleeve. I've been doing much better since the revision. I'm hopeful that things will work out with my new pouch. Just nervous about dumping. But, I'm taking things one day at a time. :-) -Candace

Got banded 4 years ago achieved goal weight quickly was very happy until it slipped, I changed to a sleeve revision one year ago regained all my weight, No restriction with sleeve, now I'm getting a mini bypass in October, any views would be appreciated. I live in the U.K. So our health service doesn't cover wls so all surgeries have been privately funded.

Do I get to play, or is the revision surgery "cheating?" Remember, I went up to my pre-banding weight PLUS three pounds when I went for the revision...so I was starting at the top...again. My BMI was 49-ish...it's now 35-ish. My weight loss has been stalled for a couple of weeks (couldn't move, on pain killers and/or steriod inections), and I'm probably going to experience a slight gain...as I'm starting (f'ing) Prednisone tomorrow for a back injury. When stressing about my mother and my back, I did the only normal thing...for me. I ate all of the chocolate in my zipcode. I knew it made no sense when I bought it and made LESS sense when I ate it, but--at those moments--I apparently trusted the chocolate more than I trusted reason or logic, to solve my problems. I have learned NOTHING from being banded. I think I made the right decision in going with malabsorption. And I got my 6-month labs back today. Penni--and other medical types--if there's anything I'm supposed to worry here about will you let me know? I've been really anxious about these! * = near either end of the "Reference Values" ** = outside the "Reference Values" ~~HEMATOPATHOLOGY WBC--7.6--(REFERENCE 4.3-10.0) HGB--12.0--(REFERENCE 11.5-15.0) HCT--35.6--(REFERENCE 35.0-47.0) *MCV--80--(REFERENCE 80-99) RBC--4.45--(REFERENCE 3.90-5.20) *MCH--27--(REFERENCE 27-34) MCHC--33.8--(REFERENCE 32.-36.0) **RDW--15.6--(REFERENCE 0.0--15.5) PLATELET--416--(REFERENCE150-450) **TRANSFERRIN--397--(REFERENCE 200-360) IRON--49--(REFERENCE 37-145) Vitamin B-12--804--(REFERENCE 211-911) FOLATE-- >20.0 ~~COAGULATION APTT--34.9--(REFERENCE 24.0-36.0) PROTIME PT--14.3--(10.0-15.7) INR--1.06--(REFERENCE 0.70-1.19) ~~URINALYSIS WAS FINE ~~CHEMICAL PATHOLOGY GLUCOSE--93--(REFERENCE 65-99) NA--138--(REFERENCE136-147) K--4.1--(REFERENCE 3.5-5.5) CL--104--(REFERENCE 96-108) CO2--25--(REFERENCE 22-29) ANION GAP--9--(REFERENCE 5-14) BUN--10--(REFERENCE 6-20) CREA--0.5--(REFERENCE 0.4-1.1) UREA/CREA--20--(REFERENCE 10-22) OSMO CALC--274--(REFERENCE 268-292) TOT PROTEIN--6.7--(REFERENCE 6.3-8.3) ALBUMIN--4.3--(REFERENCE 3.6-5.0) *GLOBULIN--2.4--(REFERENCE 2.4-4.4) A/G RATIO--1.8--(REFERENCE 0.7-2.5) FERRITIN--19--(REFERENCE 15-417) ~~PROTEIN ANALYSIS *PREALBUMIN--20.4--(REFERENCE 20.0-40.0) ~~CARDIAC RISK INDICATORS TRIG--117--(REFERENCE 0-149) CHOL--119--(REFERENCE 0-199) HDL CHOL--64 CHOL/HDL-- 1.9 LDL CALC--32--(REFERENCE 0-99) VLDL CALC--23 (REFERENCE 0-30) ~~THYROID FUNCTION T3U--36--(REFERENCE 24-37) HS/TSH--1.04--(REFERENCE 0.35-5.50) FREE T4--1.2--(REFERENCE 0.8-1.Cool PTH INTACT--48--(REFERENCE 14-72) ~~MISCELLANEOUS TESTS Vitamin A @--0.37--(REFERENCE 0.30-1.20) RET PALM @--0.02--(REFERENCE 0.00-0.10) VIT A INTERP @--NORMAL **VIT D, 25 OH @--15--(REFERENCE 20-57) VITAMIN B6, PLASMA--PENDING My PCP says I need a little sunshine and an occasional Protein drink as my prealbumin is at the low end of normal. Is there anything else I should be concerned about? Thanks, Sue

Heyyyyyy everyone ! I am looking for support! I was just revised from a sleeve to rny on Monday. 7/20/15 . I was sleeved on Feb 17,2014 and lost about 70 pounds. About 6 months in my weight loss basically stopped. After having an upper GI and endoscopy done, I was told that I had a hiatal hernia which caused most of my stomach ( which was sleeved) pushed up in to my chest cavity. The bottom part of my stomach was bloated. The surgeon explained that this was the cause as to why I was not loosing weight as well as having gerd symptoms. So Monday I had my surgery and I am feeling ok definitely in some pain and very tired. But it's nice to be home now to heal. I am looking for anyone who has been revised for support , I feel like our population is not very big In the wls community , or maybe I just haven't found the right place! I know everyone's situation is different but I am curious to know about weight loss after revisions . Thank you all for reading! I am going to stop now as the pain meds are kicking in

Thank you! Revision requirements are different from initial requirements. I had all them tests done to figure out what was going on initially. My upper Gi showed stenosis in sleeve as well

Well I am now 10 days post op GS revision to RNY..... That was a real trip. I had it done at Cleveland clinic Florida and they were excellent there. The worst part of my entire journey so far was that darn JP drain. Since it was my second abdominal Surgery I had to go home with one for two weeks. After a week I developed a reaction on my skin so I had to travel back and get it removed. What a relief that was. Other than that and of course the gas pains the rest was tolerable as long as I had appropriate pain meds. I am 17 pounds down from my presurgery weight. Today I got to start soft dairy. Cottage cheese never tasted so good. I have had absolutely no nausea (yet) I start soft protein on 8/10. Can't wait to taste something meaty for a change. Good luck to all. I will let you know how it goes.

I had RNY surgery 29 months ago. Severe acid reflux or GERD is incompatible with the sleeve. RNY is definitely the better choice here. I had several episodes of severe acid reflux before surgery and none since. I had a number of medical conditions prior to surgery and the main reason why I did the surgery was to get those under control. Within days after surgery, my diabetes, high blood pressure, GERD, sleep apnea, frequent urination problems went into remission and stayed there. I was off my meds. One of the reasons why I liked RNY was that it caused you to lose weight the quickest and produced the deepest weight loss and most importantly had the least amount of revisions. If I went under the knife once, I sure did not want to do it again, and again. RNY surgery is not like dieting. I tried dieting a couple times and it was a complete failure. After surgery I completely lost my hunger. It wasn't difficult to lose weight when hunger was not constantly gnawing at my bones.

Thank you everybody ! Your input meant alot . I called my insurance today they so cover baractric surgey and revision surgey it just up to my doctor's notes on what they do . my appointment has been moved to friday the 16 or 17 th not surs what day lol . I now going around getting my diet doctor notes who I have seen every month for 2 years and lost a grand total of 12 lbs in two years lol ya after I had the flu which thank god she documented . Also have to get proof of my gym memembership and my personal trainer notes that I had for one month . Notes from my denist about how years of threwing up is really start to destroy my teeth and notes from my obgyn about my prenancy diabeties and the other weight related issues and also blood work and see my primary care doctor. I also have my husbands insurance as a secondy insurance so maybe they might step up where my insurance won't . Sorry I feel like I am a pain with all the questions . I just went into the lap band without thinking or doing my homework . Which I regret so bad now ! I have been heavy for 20 years now all I what is to finally be free from this weight ! And tyi dye best of luck with your surgey !

My revision was exactly 3 weeks ago actually. August 31st. Are you eating foods high in carbs? I'm sticking to low carb high Protein purees and noticed that I'm not getting the glucose highs and lows anymore. That might help you. Also, I limit my Protein drinks as I noticed those were giving me symptoms of dumping, which might mean they are high in sugar and carbs. I stopped taking the shakes for a week, but will try again when I hit 4 weeks because I need the protein. Rather than apply juice, why not just try crystal light? Its sugar free but still sweet. I sometimes add it to my Water just to give a hint of flavour.

I am in the process of sleeve to band revision. I had my surgery 10/1/12. I loss 53lbs with sleeve pre and post op. I got pregnant and cannot lose. I have an angulated (twist) sleeve that holds food causing gerd.... I also have a hiatal hernia. Currently back up to preop weight. Going through insurance requirements but expecting to have bypass in late Sept early October almost 3 years to the day from my sleeve.

The sleeve has been successful for me, no complications/issues whatsoever. It's just that when I had it done it was a revision for a band that had very severe complications and left my stomach in horrible shape (not to mention stretched in the exact place the pouch goes). My pouch will never be as small as it should be, for this reason, which just means I can eat a lot. I can eat almost full size meals (not 2 meals though, like I used to pre-surgery!), especially if I don't eat dense Protein FIRST (that's key). That caused a lot of mental distress for me, because I knew I could eat more than half a cup--easy--and it made me feel ashamed and sad and out of control. But I have a lot of mental issues with food and eating, as you can see, so none of these things would necessarily happen for someone else! The sleeve itself is great, and has been great, and I'm sure you'll LOVE it and do great!!!! Good luck!

I had my band removed 6 weeks ago. There was a lot of scar tissue around the esophagus and upper stomach. I had symptoms of end stage achalasia, verified by manometry. The achalasia symptoms have resolved after removal. I was on a soft diet for 4 weeks post op because of the tissue being so damaged. I'm fine now, but because of the damage I cannot revise.

I don't know that I would agree w/your Dr. I'm 5 wks out from band/revision and I've had NO issue with the reflux I had prior to surgery. In fact, he found a hiatal hernia & fixed it. He said that the reflux prob shouldn't be an issue any longer.

Hi, I had the sleeve in 2016. I lost about 30 or so pounds, which I have since regained. The sleeve was not very successful for me. On Monday (8/21/23), I had the SADI-S DS surgery. The doctor said that weigh loss will be slow. I am just worried of failing again. If anyone else had had the SADI-S revision, I would like to hear positive stories to inspire me and know that it is really possible this time. Thanks! Melody

I was sleeved 14 years ago and then got a revision 4 months ago. With my sleeve, I would get the foamies (hyper-salivation), my forehead would sweat, or my nose would start running (or all 3). Now, with with my bypass, if I forget I had a surgery and try to eat like a regular person, I get nauseous, my stomach makes SUPER LOUD noises, I'll feel pain, and sometimes have to run to the bathroom (dumping syndrome). A lot of people think this happens when you eat the "wrong" foods (super sugary, super greasy), and they're right. BUT, it ALSO happens if you eat too much, or even just too fast. You could be eating a super healthy, super small amount of food, but if you eat it too fast and don't chew it down to mush (like people at work who have really short lunch breaks), you'll still experience these things. As time goes by, we start to forget to take our time to eat, to really chew our foods to a paste before swallowing, or to wait a while after eating to drink something. The longer it's been, the more we forget. Sometimes, we need to reset our eating habits back to taking a full 30 minutes to eat, to eat healthy foods again, to over-chew our food, and to wait at least 30 minutes to start back on fluids.

I was informed that my port flipped during my third or 4th fill I believe. That was 6 months post-op. I have a Realize band. MY surgeon discussed a revision surgery with me and after he pushed the port in and up, he was able to make the fill. Since I had a decent amount of fluid in my band at the time, he suggested that we just leave it and revisit as I progress. At my next couple of fills, he just flipped it and filled my band. Sometimes it takes an additional poke but really, I don't want to be taking time off at this point for a revision. I am lucky that he can still access it I guess. I will have the revision if I need to though. It is a day surgery with local anesthetic but I really hate the hospital! GOOD LUCK!

I was banded on May 12th and my port flipped within the 2nd month. I had my port revision done on Aug. 26 in outpatient surgery. I was in and out. He moved port lower. So far, so good. He was able to remove the Fluid and replaced it during surgery. To keep me on track, he did a refill in three weeks. Alls is good now, I have about 5 cc in my band and actually went back last month to get a small unfill. I'm ready for another tomorrow.....I hope he finds it easy. Best wishes to you.

Frustrated by a weight loss plateau? You need a combination of patience and a plan to push through it. It happens to everyone sooner or later. Your bandwagon stalls. You’ve been going great guns, fired up with enthusiasm, working that tool, doing all the right things, and losing weight. Then one day the weight loss stops. One day, two days, twenty days go by…you’re still stuck, and you’re wondering what happened. And because you’ve spent so many years failing at dieting, and being told that obesity is always the fault of the patient, you start to wonder what you are doing wrong. You even think, “Is my band broken?” Chances are, you’re not doing anything wrong, and neither is your band. What’s happening is that your body is adjusting itself to the many changes that have happened during your weight loss. The human body doesn’t know what you’re going to do next, be it climb a mountain or relax on the couch, so it has to continually adjust and readjust your metabolism to make the best use of the calories you take in. It looks at the history of what you’ve been eating and how much you’ve been burning off through physical activity and comes up with a forecast of what you’ll need to stay alive for the next week or so. THIS MONTH’S WEIGHT LOSS FORECAST IS… At work I’ve had to prepare sales forecasts for various jobs through the years. How many widgets will we sell in the month of April? How many defective widgets will be returned by unhappy customers who want a refund? Will all this income and outgo generate enough cash (in our case, energy) to cover the payroll and the equipment maintenance and the CEO’s country club membership? I once had a boss who joked that we might as well toss a deck of cards down a flight of stairs to come up with a prediction of which new product (represented, say, by the joker card) was going to be the best-seller. That suggestion didn’t go over big with the finance guys. Like us, they were trying to follow the rules, keep everything identified, counted and categorized. And like the bean-counters, we count our calories, carbs, fats, proteins, liquids, solids, income, outgo, with faith that this accounting system will help us win the weight game. Meanwhile, our bodies have a different agenda: survival. When we decrease our food intake and increase our physical activity, the body watches to see what will happen next. As our purposeful “starvation” continues, the body struggles to accommodate the changes we’re making. It makes some withdrawals of funds from our fat cells and fiddles with our metabolism to prevent an energy (calorie) shortage. Gradually it becomes acclimated to the new routine so that it’s making the best possible use of the few calories we’re consuming. It’s keeping us alive, but it’s also putting the brakes on weight loss. Eventually we find ourselves stalled on what seems like an endless weight loss plateau. And unless we change our routine and keep our bodies working hard to burn up the excess fat, we’re going to grow to hate the scenery on that plateau. AND ON THE FLIP SIDE I’ve suffered through countless weight loss plateaus but by varying my exercise, my total caloric intake, my liquid intake, my sleep, and so on, did manage to finally arrive at my goal weight. For the past few years, I’ve felt mighty smug that I finally got promoted to the Senior VP of Weight Management here at Chez Jean. Maintaining my goal weight +/- 5 pounds seemed effortless. But it didn’t last. Turns out it was time for me to learn another lesson about my body’s fuel economy. When I had all the fill removed from my band to deal with some bad reflux, my eating didn’t go berserk. I didn’t pig out at Burger King, didn’t drown my sorrows in a nightly gallon of ice cream. I was definitely eating more because I was so much hungrier than before – perhaps 500 extra calories a day, which would amount to a weight gain of one pound a week. Imagine my dismay when I gained seven pounds in 2 weeks – the equivalent of an extra 1750 calories a day! There was a time when I could have overeaten that much without any effort at all, but as a WLS post-op, I’d have to work hard at eating that much extra food. I was flabbergasted. And frightened. Obesity was a mountain on my horizon again – far in the distance across my weight maintenance plateau - when I thought I’d left it far behind. So at the end of a visit with my gastro-enterologist during that scary time, I asked him if my sudden and substantial weight gain was the equivalent of my body shouting, “Yahoo! We’re not starving anymore! Let’s get ready for the next starvation period by hanging on to every single calorie she takes in! Let’s store those calories in those fat cells that have been hanging around here with nothing to do! C’mon, troops, get to work!” I’m pretty sure that’s not the way Dr. Nuako would have explained it, but he smiled, nodded, and said, “Oh, yes.” I felt like I was facing the flip side of a weight loss plateau: I might be in a weight gain plateau. All I could do is keep on keeping on with exercise and healthy eating, enjoying some of the foods, like raw fruits and veggies, that had been harder for me to eat with a well-adjusted band. PUZZLING OUT THE WEIGHT LOSS PLATEAU So the good news was that my wonky metabolism following that complete unfill wasn’t my fault, but the bad news was that my metabolism wasn’t in a cooperative mood. I was going to have to start playing much closer attention to the details of weight loss and maintenance again. What a pain! But hey! I’d already had a lot of practice at that. I had the tools – a little rusty maybe, but still in usable condition. I ended up regaining 30 pounds between that unfill and my revision to VSG, but I have a suspicion that without those weight tools, it could have been 60 pounds. And that’s one of the reasons that even today, bandless for 14 months now, I don’t regret my band surgery. The band helped me lose 90 pounds and learn a host of useful (if uncomfortable) things about myself, my behavior, my body, my lifestyle. What about you? How can you get your weight loss going again and avoid regain? So many factors can affect your weight that sorting out the reason(s) for your weight loss plateau can make you dizzy even if you’re not a natural blonde like me. To help you assess what’s going on and what might need to be changed, I created a Weight Loss Plateau Checklist. To access the checklist in Google Docs, click here: https://docs.google....emtSYjJLRnVGTFE The checklist includes a long list of questions about you and your behavior, with answers and suggestions for each question. I can’t claim that it will give you the key to escaping that plateau, but it should give you some food for thought and perhaps some ideas to try. Use that to come up with a plan to deal with the plateau, and work that plan for at least a month to give your body a chance to get with the new program.

My band slipped in June 2009, when I was about 21 mos post-op. The blog post whose link I posted on this thread has nothing to do with that. The damage from decades of reflux was diagnosed in January/February 2012, when I was 4-1/2 yrs post-op. My surgeon and gastro doc agreed that my band was aggravating the situation. My band was removed in April 2012 and I revised to VSG in August 2012. The blog post whose link I posted on this thread describes my 2012 experience. The OH post you quoted sounds familiar but I don't remember when I posted it. Probably in the spring of 2012, at which I point I may not have had all the test results and gastro consults done and was therefore not in possession of all the facts. I'm flattered because you must have done quite a bit of digging to find it. Or you've been saving it all this time, waiting for the opportunity to quiz me about it. Anyway, I'm sorry if I confused you. Yes, my band slipped, and yes, I had damage from 20+ years of reflux, and yes, I had general band problems related to reflux.

I had mine deflated for 3 years due to problems. The preop was only hard the first few days then got so much easier. I got a revision from band to sleeve in one. My surgeon usually does it in two but I had n insurance situation so he accommodated me. What did they say when you demanded the unfill?

Good afternoon, all. Just wanted to take a moment to apologize for not wishing those who have had surgery this month "Good Wishes." I read everything on my IPhone, but have yet to figure out how to respond using the phone. Not to tecki,lol. At any rate, I'm back to the desktop and wanted you all to know how great it is to hear the updates and to know you all came through to start your new journey toward health. I'm being banded on 8/31 and am a bit apprehensive. The negatives on some of the sites, and all the revisions to the sleeve, really weigh on my mind. However, I'm determined to make the best of my choice and know that I can always go to the more drastic should a problem occur. For those of you who are recently banded, thanks so much for your updates as it takes a lot of the fear away, hearing how you are and what's happening with you. For those of you, like me, who will be banded in the next week...best of luck and prayers are coming your way. Nanu in Dallas

Since I started out here as a potential lapbander I thought I would share with ya'll. I have a date for surgery! 8/7/06! I am having RNY just because I figure this is my only shot at weight loss , being a Medicare patient and figuring they wouldn't go for a revision if the band didn't work for me and knowing myself I am afraid I would have a problem with the idea of the port and having to drive 90 miles for a fill or unfill...just weighing all the pros and cons I decided on the RNY. I am nervous and excited. I will have my EGD on 7/20 and then the surgery on 8/7. Can you say YAAAAAY? :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: