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So trust your gut and do whatever makes you most comfortable. Research makes it seem like bypass patients lose more, but that's far from the truth. My doctor told me straight up, that long term you will loose about the same amount of weight regardless. It also depends on you and how active you decide to be and how well you stick to your diet. Bypass is definitely more complicated of a procedure so recovery time is a tiny bit longer. Also because bypass re-routes your intestines you have to be good with taking your supplements every day and avoid high fat and high sugar foods to avoid dumping syndrome. For that reason i chose the sleeve. I got sleeved in december. It's the best thing i've ever done for me. And the idea of losing 60-80 pounds with the sleeve is complete bullshit. Depending on where you start, you can lose as much as you want with it. I know plenty of people that lost well over 120 pounds with the sleeve and successfully kept it off. I haven't had any side effects or complications.

Best of luck. Until it is done, you really don't understand the pschological burden you have carrying around, deep with, about the "failure" of not being able to succeed because of the regains, the fears of heart attacks, the fear of complications of diabetes, going blind, losing a toe-foot, going on dialysis. I it amazing knowing what a full tummy feels like, to not be experiencing constant hunger, being able to immediately stop all diabetic meds, my A1c is 5.1 after 3 month labs, being able to donate clothes the second they are a quarter inch too big....I can go on and on on how grateful I am. By shear luck, because of researching, I ran across the DS research, knowing all about it before my first meeting, made me my biggest advocate. It is the only surgery that is 97% effect in reversing diabetes. All the others are about 20% less successful. Not all bariatric surgeons do it because you have to a great surgeon. It is not just snip and sew, so ask around. Look up statistics on surgeons. Ask for their complication rates.

I had my sleeve done 2.15.2017 in Mexico with Dr. Cabrera. I feel great and had NO complications. I have lost 21 lbs in 3 weeks.

I went to Dr Illan. While he is very good, I still wanted to protect my wallet, house, etc from the unknown. So I bought medical insurance to cover complications up to 6 months after the sleeve. It doesn't pay it all but it would reimburse for a portion of it.

Man, the thought of even attempting Crossfit fresh out of surgery is beyond me. I know that everyone is different and some bounce back quickly, but I was puny for several months after. I just checked my records and at about 6 months out I was able to eat about 1200 calories consistently. That is when the performance in the gym started to improve. During the weightloss phase it is going to be exceedingly difficult to build any muscle mass. So focusing on the cardio is a good idea. I would say by 2 or 3 months out you should be able to do any cardio as hard as you can handle. Unless of course there is a heart condition. As for sex, I'm thinking it was few weeks at least for me. Though I had some minor complications with a hematoma and partially collapsed lung.

Sun Godess, As others have said complications occur even with the most qualified doctors. IMO, I would be more concerned with your heartburn issue and what this new doctor has to say about it. It is my understanding that heartburn can worsen with the sleeve if you already have it with the band. I was revised from band to sleeve and never knew what GERD was until now, which is another chance we take. I take Prilosec which is a PPI drug to control my heartburn and as you probably already know, there are concerns with long term use of PPI's. Just some things to discuss with him if you have not already done so. jake

Hi, the word surgery by it self is pretty scary, especially if you have mix feelings of your previous procedure. Your lapband surgeon is correct, complications may happen, here or in the US. Be confident that my team and I will do things properly, following international safety protocols in a full service hospital and state of the art OR, looking to minimize any complication as low as possible. [emoji6]

Transparency helps a lot. The word of caution should come from simply Googling somebody and running off to get yourself cut up. Acts of desperation do happen quite often and that's likely where many of the bad results come from, whether it be surgery or not taking care of other issues first (i.e. psychological or physiological). Before I joined the forum I heard of this being done in Mexico and was like, "no way in hell", but reading more and more about people's experiences with specific doctors helps a lot with trust building. One thing absolutely no one should expect is there to be no risks. Always be ready for potential complications.. hell, the very surgery papers you sign undoubtedly inform you of those risks. So while I would still suggest when it comes to Mexico using a bit of caution it would really be no more than surgeons in the US. Given the importance of this surgery I'd go with any proven good Mexico surgeon than a random US one.

I worry about those too, but not just because of going to Mexico. Complications happen in the US too, and sometimes complications happen from patients not following proper post op care. If you Google or even look through the message boards here there are all kinds of stories of complications right here in the US because this surgery is not risk free. No surgery is. A young guy I went to college with just died from a routine outpatient gallbladder removal! I've been researching doctors for over a year now and for me it always comes back to Dr. Illan. Now that he partnered with BariatricPal and they've vetted him, that just sealed the deal for me that he is one of the best Bariatric surgeons in Tijuana. And I would bet he would rank highly among Bariatric surgeons world wide. I also feel more at ease having 4 days of monitored post op care. Here in the US you get discharged from the hospital after 24 hours and I feel like you're kind of on your own until your 1-2 week checkup.

So...I have a lap band. I never got to the "green zone" or optimal restriction, just increased unbearable heartburn with additional fills. I have insurance, and kind of fell into the revision process this December. My insurance requires the repeat of the 6 mos diet process again to submit for a revision to sleeve. I do not want to wait and take the chance of ultimately being denied. So, I have scheduled a revision with Dr. Illan in a few weeks. Everything is all set up. I told my lap band surgeon a couple weeks ago at my last appt. He seemed concerned but understood. This morning I got a personal call from my lap band surgeon. He said his partner was in surgery as we spoke trying to fix a leak from a patient who had a sleeve done in Mexico. He said he was not trying to scare me, because he understands that I have to do what I have to do. He was just warning me that they see this regularly. He did not know the doctor or anything. So, I feel that I have done a good job, but am worrying now about the what if's due to it being a "revision" surgery of lap band to sleeve, and the possibility of a leak. It is scaring me now, and whether they REALLY REALLY REALLY check thoroughly before closing you up! I know they do leak tests during and after, but then how does someone get home and then have a leak!?!?! He did say, yes, it can happen to anybody. I am just wondering, scared and slightly second guessing. I can't afford to get back home and have complications and be in the hospital! I have found one band to sleeve patient on here who went to Dr. Illan. I have heard all glowing reviews. I have phone conferenced with Dr. Illan and feel good. I don't want fear to hold me back. I don't want to wait until July/August to hope to have surgery and maybe be denied because there "technically" is no mechanical error with my band. I am ready to move on and find success NOW beginning of April, be several pounds down by summer, all healed up, and moving on with my life...not to mention over this heartburn! Any words of wisdom and experience...especially of band to sleeve revisions would be greatly appreciated!

Forgot to post earlier this week to update my 6 week follow-up appointment. So far so good on everything. Getting back to regular foods has been wonderful of course. That 2 weeks before surgery and the 4 weeks of liquids & pureed was rough but it also was a valuable learning period to know the difference between real hunger and head hunger. My appointment was uneventful. My weight loss has tapered off a bit in the past two weeks. It had been about a pound a day but for the past week or so my weight had been stuck around 285 with some back and forth. Today I came in at 283 and that puts be at 35 lbs down in 6 weeks. I'll take it! I admit I was starting to mildly freak out with the stuck scale but I knew things would slow down a bit at some point. I got my old gym membership going and will be hitting it for the first time in a long time starting today. Since my sciatica is doing better I'm hopeful I can have a decent workout for once without being in terrible pain. And I'm also not dreading going to the gym. May sound dumb but when I'm focused on going to lift and build muscle I love going to the gym. When it was all about weight loss and doing cardio I loathed going, so I'm actually excited to be getting back at it. I won't see my doc again until 12 weeks out and am pretty much cleared to eat all foods again. Our office has a support group meeting once a month and will be going to that in a few weeks to see some old faces and keep some accountability going for myself. At this point just knocking on wood for continued improvements and fingers crossed that my initial complications were just a matter of getting that out of the way a head of time so I don't have any future episodes.

Hello, I am having a band to sleeve with Dr. Illan on April 1. I visited the website MissKay shared, but it mentioned coverage for pre-existing conditions. I'm very interested in getting it just to be sure! Does it specifically cover "complications?" Also, any tips and notes about your experience with Dr. Illan. I'm nervous due to it being a revision.

I'm going to be honest. I never chewed slowly, I still don't. I don't chew a ton of times, my chewing is basically the same as it ever was. I could never master the slow chewing and I hate cold food, so I never ate super slow either. I sometimes drink with my meals because I would rather take a sip than choke to death, I know crazy. there are something I have that I drink with, like I will drink water and eat a protein bar. Mainly because a protein bar is a lot of calories that can be consumed in a few bites and drinking water with it stretches it out. I didn't do this until past the one year mark but I do it. As long as your portions are measured and you know your capacity, eating and drinking isn't a big deal. You won't do it much just out of habit because it can cause you to be overly full very fast or push your food though. This is learned behavior by following your food progression post-op. It won't seem weird or like a punishment, it will seem normal. After the one year mark I sometimes eat and drink when I am in public eating situations but it is pretty rare. I grew up not eating and drinking so this doesn't seem like odd behavior to me. It really isn't something worth getting hung up on. You are only going to need to follow it rigorously for the first 6 months, and that is just to prevent being overly full. Long term you can eat anything with the sleeve unless you have complications. The question is will you want to eat these things. You probably won't long term, but you might short term. I love orange juice, I mean love it. I have had it twicee in the past 2 years at special occasion brunches. It was amazing, but I don't crave it because it isn't a part of my normal diet. That is what following your food steps and retraining yourself on how you feel and think about food does. I can have orange juice if I want, it doesn't make me dump or anything. I just don't want it. Lastly a lot of people are going to those groups just to lord things over people. I have been very successful in my opinion and I have never been to a group. When I was in orientation and I saw how people were asking about having toast and oatmeal post-op, I already knew those groups wouldn't be for me. WLS is like being a parent. Everyone tells you how hard babies are and that they cry etc. No one warns you about teenagers, college age kids, and being a parent to an adult child. Those are the really hard parts, People just focus on the beginning. The beginning of WLS is tough because you are healing, long term, as long as you don't have complications, you are not every different from anyone else. You just have a smaller stomach. The end game, maintenance and almost being at goal is way harder than the beginning.

Hi everyone. I had a complicated RNY experience in 9/2007. I lost a good amount of weight, then had a PTSD experience after employee related sexual encounter. My mind (and me) went into over drive and I have now regained 70 pounds. I have dealt with the ptsd and am ready to get back on track. I need guidance on where to start. My hospital closed, so no support group. I am overwhelmed with what to buy and forgiving myself for my regain.

I am getting gastric sleeve with Dr. Ortiz on April 10 and I am having a bit of anxiety about complications . Does anyone know of an Medical Tourism insurance policy that help me if I have problems once I return to NY?

Hello, My name is Courtney Hernandez, and I am a physician assistant currently practicing in Monroe, LA, at Premier Urgent Care & Bariatric Services. I have been performing lap band adjustments on patients since October, 2011. Our office uses fluoroscopy on every patient, which allows me the luxury of being able to directly visualize the port, so that there is no "guessing game" when it is time to access it, to either inject Fluid into or withdraw fluid from the band system. We also utilize the fluoroscopy machine, along with a barium swallow, on every patient, so that the position of the band can be determined, along with the size of the gastric pouch, and the flow of barium through the band, which gives me a good idea of how "tight" a patient is. Band slippage, pouch dilatation, and obstruction can all be diagnosed through the use of the barium swallow as well. A local injection of a small amount of lidocaine is injected subcutaneously before accession of the port is made, which burns for a couple of seconds, but then numbs the area so that when I place the huber needle into the port, some pressure is likely to be felt, but no sharp sensations. We accept most commercial insurance plans, along with almost all Medicare and Louisiana Medicaid plans. We are located at 3130 Mercedes Drive, Monroe, LA, 71201, and we do positive adjustments "fills" on Monday-Wednesday 9:00 AM- 5:00 PM, and will aspirate fluid out of the band for complications any time we are open "defills", Monday-Thursday 9:00 AM-5:00 PM, and Friday 9:00 AM-12:00 PM. Please call our office for any inquiries: (318) 537-9323, and if no one is available to answer your call, leave a detailed message, and one of our friendly staff members will be happy to return your call at their earliest convenience. We accept all gastric band patients, no matter which surgeon placed it or where you had your procedure performed. Our cash pay price is $200, for those that are either uninsured, or have a plan that does not cover adjustments. We look forward to hearing from you!

Stick with what the nutritionist says. This surgery/life change is to important too risk any complications.

I guess I don't quite"get it". Let's say according to my meal plan, my sleeve should hold 1/2 cup at 8 weeks post surgery. I can picture putting 1/4 cup of chicken salad and 1/4 cup cooked green beans on a plate. I know not to eat more than that, and stop if I feel full before eating it all. If I weigh it out, I can calculate the calories on the plate. If I eschew the measuring cup, how do I know if I need 2 or 3 ounces of chicken salad (or is it 4 or 5?) How many ounces of green beans? Another complicating factor is some foods have a low weight to volume ratio. A half cup of cheerios in milk will weigh less than a half cup of grape-nuts in milk. And, for the record, the videos posted are good at showing why not to use heaping cup measures... but once we are aware of that problem, it is easily fixed. I am sobered by how far off the weight/volumes and therefore calories are. But ultimately, the surgeons publish anticipated volume measures, not weight necessarily. Once I measure a nice level 1/4 cup of chicken salad, I will know it weighs x ounces, so that is what to shoot for in the future... right?

I am sorry you are experiencing problems. I would recommend that you review your discharge instructions. The first two concerns that you expressed caused me to believe that you need to contact your surgeons office and let them know what is going on. My discharge instructions read: Contact your physician when: Uncontrolled or increased abdomen pain. Persistent diarrhea beyond the first week after discharge or more than 6 diarrhea stools in a day. [Having a bloody diarrhea -shooting blood - for 2 days should mean that you immediately let your surgeon know this.] So based on this, I suspect you have a complication that needs to be resolved sooner than later. As far as your third concern about bruising. This is normal. Also you have probably been taking a blood thinner to prevent blood clots after surgery. Blood thinners will make major bruising problems. You site of incisions will look very bad for around a month but then it should get better.

Hey, So i have decided to have a gastrectomy. I was planning on using my super to fund my surgery, however I am freaking out about there being a 'complication' post surgery. Has anyone used their super to do this? If so, what was your experience? I do have PHI but am put off by the 12 month waiting period. I know this is the smartest and safest way to go, but just wanted to hear some stories so I can weigh up which option would best suit me

I just had my surgery through Dr Stevenson Nov 15th. Very nice guy.. i also did research but didnt find alot either. He is actually a stomach surgeon so he not only does bariatric but all kinds of stuff. he has a nice office in chandler you will meet him at. from what i understand he still works in tuscon. like he has two offices. umm my surgery went well i had no complications. it was outpatient.. i am down alomost 50 lbs so far since november. i talked to this old couple in his office on my pre op visit who were there for some surgery stuff non weightloss related and he said dr stevenson operated on him and his wife and he really liked him as well. so i dunno. cost wise is if your insurance wont cover much evolve seemed to be best price with bcbs.. i did quotes with wliaz and true results. evolve gave me best quote. my insurance sucked he has had no fatal issues i asked him. and he is super strict on diet. word of advice he will want u to go on shakes. i used slim fast ADVANCED nutrition. make sure advanced the other slim fast have to much sugar. but after u go to his office u will be more comfortable. i thought it was odd to talk to people in tx from evolve though like it was a scam but there not its real. the surgeons at true results and wliaz and mainly at any of these weightloss places are contract surgeons. not really inhouse ones. maybe evolve gave him a better cut or deal? idk

I had no pain and no complications. Everything went great. However, I've heard that the level of pain is connected to your health going into surgery. So if you health was not that good going in then you might have a harder time in the healing process. Know the symptoms of a leak. Watch your temperature as a spike in temp can be an early warning sign for a leak.

complications?

Hi all! I am in Walnut Creek. I had my surgery done March 3, 2016...just passed my one year mark. Due to some complications from the sleeve, it looks like I'm going to have a revision to an RNY. I'd like to find people to talk to about all this. My husband is wonderful, but he hasn't experienced anything like this, so he doesn't have information or opinions to offer me. If anyone wants to chat, message me!!

Thank you, and the same to you. I was afraid of long term complications, but I am beginning to see the benefits. My Legs are not swollen.