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If you weren't nervous, you wouldn't be normal. Just focus on the fact that this time next year you will be THIN!!! Think about how life changing that is going to be and how exciting!! I haven't had my sleeve surgery yet. I have the gastric band and it slipped so I am now waiting for the insurance company's decision on whether or not they will revise me to the sleeve. I am nervous about it too but I have been researching and looking at YouTube videos and there is so much positive feedback on the sleeve that I have decided to go for it. You are going to be just fine and so happy you did it! I wish you all the best and I will be looking out for your future posts on you success! Wishing you the best, Sue

It may be too early for me to chime in but I had a revision from band to bypass in May. I had the band 13 years and went from 232 to (usually) the 140s. But when I had a complication (esophageal dysmotility) I was unfilled and (no surprise) gained about 45lbs in the 5-6 months until the revision. So new high weight was 185. Surgery weight was 177. It’s been 7 weeks and I have lost exactly 20 lbs to 157. So I cannot comment on long term effects... BUT One thing is that this is sooo much better than the band. I recently had the first meal out with my husband where I ate a “normal” amount and didn’t end up in the bathroom. Normal being a miso soup and a fish appetizer at a Japanese restaurant. With the band I would often have two bites and not be able to eat which was embarrassing and people would always ask why I wasn’t eating (or sneaking off to the bathroom). Small portions make me feel good and satisfied. Unlike the band where it was usually painful or uncomfortable. Hope this helps! S

My first go round (dec 2019) I went from 279 to 264 (15lbs). When I had my revision for gerd (aug 2020) I went from 220 to 212 (8lbs). Both were 2 weeks long. Edited to add- my plan was 3-4 protein shakes a day, all the celery and cucumbers I wanted and 1-2 cups of broth.

Hello all, I had lap band in 2008 and lost ~250 pounds, from 433 to 178 pounds. I thought the band was a miracle. Then the band went from being my friend to my nemesis. Trying to manage severe GERD has led to almost 100 pound gain. Long story short, I have a doctor appointment tomorrow to see about getting the band out and convert to RNY. (Sleeve is out of the question due to GERD). I have Kaiser and they will only do it in two steps which I am bummed about, but I just want to get the process started. Anyway, the reason for my post is I have been re-emerging on this forum to find others who have transitioned from lap band to RNY. My main question is, for those who have gone from band to RNY, how was the transition for you and did you find that the RNY worked well for you after your band? I read a lot of these stories about people losing a lot of weight quickly on RNY but they are talking about their first bariatric surgery. As a second bariatric surgery I want to know more about what I can expect. Are there forums on here for revision patients? Kathy

Irene- I have that same issue - too tight/not tight enough! It's a never ending battle. I am hoping that with this revision things will be smooth sailing and I can lose that last 50. I hate feeling like a failure. I know I"m not, but it's hard not to compare yourself to those who have lost 90+ in 1 year! I'm getting ready to begin my 3rd year!! I'm so happy that you are doing well and it makes it that much sweeter when it's almost effortless!! Best of luck and drop me a line if you'd like to stay in touch! Carol

There are a ton of people on the boards here who had the band first and then revised to the sleeve. As linked above there is an entire section on these forums just for that. Take a look there. Everyone here is always willing to answer any questions you have.

If your insurance doesn't have any restrictions on the number of WLS per lifetime (some limit to one WLS per lifetime) then the usual insurance rules generally apply - BMI of 40 and above, or 35 with comorbidities. So, that's the good news - if you were covered before and have regained to that point, then you should be covered again. The bad news that you probably don't want to hear is that it won't likely do you much good in the long term, unless there was something seriously defective with your first procedure that needs to be corrected. Changing to a bypass may get you back on track again for a while, but ultimately you will be in the same position as the two procedures are very similar in overall strength or outcome. Think of your WLS as more of a "do-over" than a metabolic reset - it gives you the chance to get things in order to live sustainably and maintain your weight, but it doesn't do it for you. While I don't agree with everything this doc says, he is one of the few that acknowledges that our meal capacity will increase over time (to around half of our pre-op capacity), and has a viable prescription for living with that fact. His numbers are consistent with my experience over the years. Also, that sleeve/pouch size has little to do with long term capacity or success - my wife has a huge sleeve on VSG terms (from her DS, which typically uses a sleeve of about twice the size of a stand alone VSG sleeve,) and our meal sizes are pretty much the same several years out. It is very much a matter of food choices and habits rather than absolute restriction minimizing how much we eat. A good part of the game here is matching the right procedure with the patient - think in terms of the WLS procedures having somewhat different personalities, and you have to find the right "fit", just as you do with friends and associates. The RNY isn't any mover powerful overall than the VSG, but may be a better fit for you. Or it may not - research and talk to as many people with the bypass as you can to see if it is right for you, as one of its' drawbacks is that it is very difficult to revise to something else if it doesn't fit. With either procedure, it would not be uncommon for women of average and below height to maintain in the 1000-1200 calorie range long term. If you are having problems at 12-1500 calories now, a bypass or resleeve isn't going to help much if you can't find a way to maintain at whatever level your metabolism dictates. The DS does offer a better metabolic kick long term and may be your best option if you can't make the long term diet/lifestyle adjustments to make the VSG work; its' caloric malabsorption is long term vs the bypass which sees its caloric malabsorption dissipate after a year or two.. But it requires more serious commitment to supplementing and follow up lab work for life (that's part of its' "personality" that you have to live with. But I have seen many be successful over 10-20 years with it, often eating a less than "ideal" diet.

I have no idea what "furl this post" means! I am revising because I am sick of the band with all the problems of fills and unfills. I wish I had known about the sleeve from the beginning. I am looking forward to having restriction and not worrying that the band is doing some sort of damage to my stomach.

Hi Jackie, I know you from OH. I am a revision from a lapband to a sleeve. In fact, there are a lot of us here; people who revised from a lapband to a sleeve. Welcome!

Glad to hear you are doing well without the band. I tell people I felt like a mere mortal again when I was unfilled..for me it was not just the restriction I missed, but the lack of hunger with the band. It puts us into an abnormal state of starvation mode. Doctors cannot explain it and tend to go by the book on care of the band. The doctor at Kaiser and his dietician just assumed I was out of control eating while unfilled. She just treated me like a newly banded patient with textbook advice on what to eat and how much..etc..I wanted to punch her..really!? I was counting every single calorie and was staying at 800 or less calories..any normal person would have been dropping weight like crazy...me..I was gaining! It all happened pretty fast then stopped. Once I started getting refilled slightly that helped. I am scared my results tomorrow..hoping it is port only issue. I really don't want to lose my band..nor revise to sleeve..uggh..we shall see. Thanks for updating and best of luck with whatever your next move is!

My parents who are both banded did research him for six montjs he was a colleage of the doc who did their bands ... Complications from others werent heard of till after i was banded and started meeting ppl who had been banded by him.. Ive had 3 port revisions and it is now flippef again and to top it off it was sideways in september when i got a fill they were unaware my hose had a kink and in march whilr exercising i felt it flip back and there was saline stuck in th kink and it went up into my band and made me so tight nothing would go threw ive been fightin to get healthy ever sincd.. Needless to say i dont see him anymore i see dr malley in kc now,and he has offered to fix my band but my insurance wony cover it

Yes, I did. I had my band removed, the sleeve done, a hiatal hernia repaired, adhesions removed, and gall bladder removed all at once. I don't really remember how long the surgery was - I was asleep :P ! But the recovery was no worse than getting the band, I just had more "holes" this time around. So it CAN be done. It was nice because I was self-pay for WLS, but my insurance pd for the other procedures, so I was able to save money on the revision.

Looking to have band to sleeve revision, will be self pay. Would love to find a surgeon in the Huntsville, AL area. Any suggestions would be helpful! How long will it take from first appointment to surgery date, what is required for self pay as far as preop tests, psych evaluation, preop supervised diet etc

Thank you so much. I know what you mean, I totally felt like a failure for years. But the more I read on here, the more confident I feel about being successful with a revision to RNY. I wish I'd done it in the first place....

My band failed due to severe acid reflux and I am being revised in a week. My doctor wouldn't do the vertical sleeve because he said I will have the same reflux problems. Anyway, best of luck to you.

Revision. For me August 4th so excited And nervous

I had my band to RNY revision 5/1/13, and the surgeries are almost literally night and day. With the band it never felt any different to me than being on a diet. If I was "good", I would lose weight, if "bad", I gained. Except when I was about to get my period and would somehow get stuck on food eaten an hour ago and vomit to the point I saw stars. I hated that band from about a week post op until eternity. With the pouch I haven't had issues eating anything provided I eat slowly. If there is a high Protein content and I eat it quicker than 30 minutes I get terribly nauseous. I have lost 23lbs since surgery which is more than I ever lost with the band.

I too am scheduled for a revision to bypass on October 7, 2020 per issues with GERD. I gained 7 to 15 llbs (it goes up and down) but never did reach goal weight but have been ok with where I am at. My original surgery was done 12/26/2018 along with a hiatal hernia repair and I read above a mention of thrush, I had that with the VSG so I am wondering if I will have that issue once again with the bypass? My GERD got so bad that it is hurting my vocal chords and caused some bleeding and so I am ready to get the acid under control. Apparently my hiatal hernia repair came undone and so they will do another repair on this as well why doing the revision. I am a little nervous about it all and wondering if it will be harder? Wondering if I will go through that huge energy loss again or if will not be so bad since the body has been trough it once and the hormones don't have that big of a re-adjustment? This will be my 15th surgery and I just hope my body can handle it. I don't have any issues with dumping and can pretty much eat anything in very small portions and am wondering if that will change with revision? So I am back to this fabulous forum looking for answers.

I wondered much the same things as you. As of June 20th I am sleeved! yeah! I had both the band out and revision in one surgery. They also had to fix my previously fixed hiatal hernia. (Fixed the first time with my band) I think it came undone partially because of all the heaving the band caused. Tomorrow will be my 1 week appt. and hopefully they will take out this blasted port. Something I didn't have to bother with in sleeve surgery. It's just plain yucky! I feel like this is probably the nastiest part of this surgery over last one. That and the fact that I wasn't lactose intolerant before surgery OR on the preop diet (2 weeks even though I lost 85 lbs with the band and kept off 70 of it. ) so now I'm taking lactaid with all my full liquids part of the diet. But this revelation came as several violent attacks before I realized what it was. So needless to say the next additional 8 days on full liquids isn't something I'm looking forward to. Getting my head around the pre-op diet was also something I had to work on, and still battling the band issues too. My surgeon here in VA did both surgeries. He said there was a lot of scar tissue from the band removal (it was in for 3years 21 days.) something I was worried about but my UGI looked good, no leaks! My additional good news or is it? Is that everything is either too sweet or too salty now. My tastes have surely changed. Not sure if this goes back to normal after awhile or what. But I'm on the sleeve journey. Looking forward to soft mushies 8 days and counting!

This week makes 4 weeks post-op for me for my band to sleeve revision. I have lost 21 lbs so far and I feel great. I think the recovery was about the same as the band. I was walking the halls right out of recovery 4 weeks ago. I had the band for 5 years and experienced the same failures as you. It feels so good now to not have my food come back up to see me after taking 1 bite. This to me is way different than the band and I am sooooo glad that I did it. Good luck to you and please keep us posted

I am now 4 months post op. I was planning on the sleeve until I actually spoke with my gastroenterologist and learned that the sleeve can make Gerd/reflux worse which would mean a revision to bypass anyway. I also had type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and stage 3 kidney disease which was why I was having this procedure done in the first place. I had RNY on 9/29 and immediately my severe Gerd and type 2 diabetes was gone! In addition I had a fairly easy recovery and have been doing fantastic ever since. Even my kidney function has improved. I have not regretted having RNY for even 1 second. The only thing I di regret is not having it sooner. I might have not gotten kidney disease which is not reversible. Good luck on your decision and your upcoming surgery!

The dr talked about how he was going to do my sleeve. He actually folds my stomach over the staples to prevent any leakage (the thing they worry about the most with the sleeve). Told me from my ct scan (they took a ct 6 weeks ago while in the ER for a band herniation) that I was a perfect candidate. So I was all ready to schedule my surgery for next month. Then..... He sent me to the insurance coordinator. She then found out that I had cancelled my Medicare part B last year (it's for drs office visits and since I'm a vet, I go to the VA for drs appts, I felt like I wa wasting $110 a month on it if I never used it. Medicare part A covers the hospital. Then she told me that part B covers the dr's charges, bloodwork, etc. Comes to $5,000! I can either re-up my Medicare part B or come up with 50% of the money to have it done. I call Social Security and they inform me that I can't re-enroll until Jan 1st and it won't take effect till next July! A whole year! So here I sit with a herniated band, totally unfilled. And I got on the scale today and weighed 177! I weighed 144 Dec of 2011 when I got married. I've gained 33 lbs in a year. About 10 lbs just last month. I know I can't do it on my own, I tried for 40 yrs. My husband is convinced that I should low carb it (he actually means almost NO carbs, he takes everything to the extreme) like he does. Keeps reminding me that when I was on Atkins in feb (I didn't cheat once in 4 weeks) I lost 14 lbs. Which I gained back the next month, of course. It's so easy for him to low carb it, not for me. He's very supportive of my weight loss surgery goals but thinks I could lose the weight dieting. I cried all the way home (a 3 hrs drive). I'm so afraid if I fail again, I will become a hippo and weight 250 again. I know that 177 isn't the end of the world, but to me it is. I have 1 pair of shorts that fit me this year (out of about 18 of em) I was wearing an 8, now I tried on a 12 today and it was comfy. Double digits again. Anyway, if you've read this all the way thru - thank you. I know I write novels when I write. You should hear me in person, I chatter alot! So it's either come up with $2500 (almost impossible), or diet until next July when I can have the sleeve done and my bad band taken out. I guess I hafta have it out eventually. I'm sure a slipped band isn't something that can stay in forever. And I loved my band. It made me feel "normal" for once. I didn't have to count what I was eating, I just ate what I wanted, just much less of it. I was so looking forward to the sleeve when I could have portion control back. Anyway, thanks for listening. Advise?

My insurance requires that they submit the approval for a specific date. If you want to change dates you have to request a revision to the approval.

I had my port replacement done yesterday . Much easier time than original procedure . Only have two large incisions which hurt only on movement. My surgeon said the port was defective and nothing wrong on my part. I feel like I am starting fresh and excited to finally get the scale moving in the right direction . Thanks for all the support