Search the Community

If you are looking to lose that much weight, you might want to consider a sleeve or bypass over the band. Yes, many are doing awesomely with their bands and losing lots, but just as many, if not more, are getting ok-ish to not great results. From all the people I've met in my support group, the band people are consistently the least successful. People are arguing that bypass and sleevers are putting weight back on years later, but that means they haven't actually dealt with their food issues properly. Band patients are just as likely to fall of the wagon and gain it back. You can go get your band tightened more, but there's a point where you can't eat at all, and if you have to go there, you're probably doing more harm than good. I've had my band for two years now and I'm in the process of getting it out. I've had constant restriction problems in that I either have zero restriction or I cannot eat at all, and it's preventing me from eating quality foods like chicken, fish and a good number of veggies. Ironic eh? I paid 18K for my band, so I really wanted to make it work, but after two solid years of Soup and oatmeal, it's got to come out. The pattern I've been seeing is that the band seems to be really good for people who want to lose 50-80lbs. Of course there are people who've lost more than that, but there are always outliers in any statistics. I'm not anti-band at all; I just think it's being marketed out of its effective zone. Keep in mind that a sleeve could always be revised to a DS later on if you find your weight creeps up uncontrollably after surgery, and a band can be put on over a bypass, and I sleeve too I'd imagine. Trust me, I understand you can afford only one surgery... I'm right there with you. I've basically bankrupted myself paying for by band. The only reason I've been able to consider a revision is that I'm Canadian, and sleeves and RNYs are covered here. Band is not. Most of all, talk it over with a doctor who has absolutely zero financial gain in whatever surgery you choose. Clinics for individual weight loss surgeries are selling you a product... of course they're going to tell you whatever surgery they're selling will be appropriate for you!

I have a friend that had to have a revision because of reflux the same day I had my sleeve. We both can still technically eat all those bad habit foods. I am 6 months post op and yes, it is only a tool. From what I hear from my friend of myself, those foods go either way with either surgery. Some people get sick if they eat bad things and like me and my friend with 2 different surgeries, we can chomp down on all those bad for you foods. I was under the impression that you still remove some of your stomach with bypass they just also re-route things in there. I have had issues with reflux in my past, especially during pregnancies, but so far *knock on wood* I've only had an issue a few times.

Revising to a tighter sleeve is not recommended, honestly if I stick to the rules of Protein first, even at 19 months out, I have little to zero room for junk food. You'll do great ! ! !

It really depends on what the causes of reflux are. For the vast majority it's diet related so that's why the surgery helps reflux for the majority who change up their diet. But then there are others who have reflux for other reasons where it gets less predictable. Generally people know if the cause is diet. One of the big reasons I took the advice of my second opinions is that they concurred that if any low odds complications arose I could always revise to bypass.

Oh no. I hope ur fever goes away soon. Fever makes u feel so bad and is just awful after all the trauma ur body just went thru. Prayers for a speedy recovery. My surger is revision from band (10 yrs) to sleeve on july 26! Super excited. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I thought I replied to this but can't find it... Anyway - I had a banded plication Feb, 2011 and I'm currently preparing to be revised to a sleeve in June, 2013. I had good restriction for about 6-9 months and then after that, my stomach returned to almost normal size Good luck to you! Jenn

I just found out yesterday from my surgeon that I'm having revision surgery next tuesday on 3/3/09 to have my slip fixed, worst case scenario removed...

Got the following answers from my doctor at my appointment. I am just 35 days away from surgery! Yeah!!!! I have an appointment tomorrow and I have sooooo many questions! Excuse me while I make a little list. And feel free to "chime in" with your experience. 1. I just started birth control pills. It was mandatory before my lap-band surgery. So I thought I was doing a good thing. However, I have read that some doctors make you stop taking them prior to sleeve surgery due to blood clotting. So, do I continue taking them or stop? (Stay on them. You have no history of blood clots.) 2. What size bougie will be used? (36 I staple and suture so it actually ends up smaller.) 3. How much will my stomach hold after surgery? ( I forgot to ask this one.) 4. Will I have a post-surgical drain? (Depends on how your surgery goes.) 5. I have read that some band to sleeve revisions result in larger volume sleeves due to scarring. Is that true? (Scarring does occur with bands but they have no effect on size of sleeve.) 6. I also heard that with revision surgeries, weight loss is some times slower and of a lesser total amount. Is this true? (No. It has nothing to do with revisions. Follow diet guidelines and exercise and you will have good weight loss.) 7. My goal is just to feel better. I want the back and leg pain to stop. However, what is a realistic goal weight for me? (I agree. Don't focus on numbers. You had great success with your band. You will do extremely well with your sleeve.) I know I have more questions but, I am drawing a blank. Any other suggestions? Am I leaving anything out? Because of all of the hassle that I have gone through with this lap-band, I just want to be as informed and knowledgeable as I can. I am sure that I will think of things all night long. However, I am going to try and get some sleep. Night! Night! He also told me that I did not have to do a pre-op diet. He said, "Don't get me wrong. Don't go have three Big Macs or have a huge food funeral the night before. But I don't need you on liquids for two weeks either. Just keep doing what you have been doing. You are doing great!"

Thanks. Yes, every day gets better. This is revision surgery for me so I've been through this with the sleeve, but it was 2015 and some of the details are a bit fuzzy in my memory. I'm a side sleeper and I think after the first surgery I was able to sleep on my side after 3-4 nights. It seems like the incision pain went away quicker this time than last, although this time the gas pains lasted longer.

I had to go through a psych eval for my band, and my revision surgeon required me to have another one before he would schedule my revision. The additional counseling will help. I didn't have any major head hunger, or really any issues in letting any of the old habits go early on. I was too focused on my recovery, and losing weight. Best wishes for with the orientation, and just be positive. The counseling sessions will help you find new coping skills to deal with the emotional ties we have with food. Keep us posted on your progress.

I am not a veteran (almost 8 months from RNY and only have 5 pounds left to a normal BMI). I can eat anything I want but with that being said the following make me feel really ill afterwards so I avoid: Any and all fried foods, ice cream (but I can eat Dark chocolate candy-think the ice cream goes down to easy and then I feel terrible ) white carbs (I can eat whole grains in very small portions). I stick to the following foods that make me feel awesome! Fish and a veg, steak and a veg, pork and a veg and eggs. I LOVE a my RNY! I had lapband previously (was a successful lapbander but my band eroded so had the revision) wish I had done the RNY first lol

This has been my personal experience with the band and why I am getting rid of it. I was banded 3 1/2 years ago. My band worked alright, although it was hard work for me to lose weight. I had to exercise five times a week and the way the band worked was frustrating. It was tight in the morning, but at night it was loose and I could eat whatever I wanted. Then I stopped having restriction altogether due to a leak. I was able to eat what I wanted and I gained much of the weight I lost back. Next, I started having SEVERE pain in my stomach area that migrated to my right side. I went to the ER after days of this pain. They did a scan and found that my lapband slipped and that the tubing broke off. Right now the tube is poking me all over causing pain and I am so thankful for my upcoming revision to get rid of the band. Look at the LONG TERM statistics of the band. I believe most have to have a secondary surgery to remove or fix the band within ten years. There is lots of maintance with the band for fills and other tests. I hope my experience can help you make the best decision for YOUrself! Good luck~

I will try to make this short and sweet! Hi to everyone.......I had the dreadful lapband done in August of 2008. I weighed 200 lbs at 5"3', tiny frame. UGH! Right?.......had great success, No probs, was 123 by March of 2010. Soon the honeymoon was OVER. Pain, burning, constant reflux, draining of Fluid gave relief, putting back in never got to right restriction again. Gained 40 lbs back in year playing around w stupid piece of plastic. Could not tolerate the reflux and constant vomiting any more as of summer 2012. Am private pay so researched and found GREAT Dr. In MX who actually refuses to do anymore bands and specializes in revision surgeries. Flew down alone, was met in San Diego by awesome hospital coordinator who had my name on big sign. LOL! Had fun driver across the Yuha Desert. Was NEVER alone, treated like royalty. Removal of torture band and revision to surgery to sleeve was a success. Band had eroded, found giant floating hernia and tons of scar tissue, which was repaired also. I was at 180 lbs on day of surgery. Flight home not so fun, but had lovely Delta people meet me w wheelchairs at each airport, which I highly recommend. Oh! Surgery was on Sept. 24, 2012. My recovery was slow, about a month and half to get back to 100%, but that is just me. I am rarely hungry, have NO reflux issues whatsoever, and have lost 32 lbs. In spite of flying across the country, I live in SC, it was SO WORTH IT! I am SO HAPPY! I do have 20 some lbs to go but I know I will do it!

Congratulations and I am happy you were able to get it revised. I don't care what weight people start at...if you struggle with your weight like most of us do, it's not anyone's business what you start at but that we are all on the same journey. Agin congrats and good luck on those last pounds. Hugs!!

I had a hernia after my original sleeve and just had it repaired during the revision surgery. I feel much better. Now that it''s gone I can tell how much pain it was causing me!

Does anyone know how I would go about finding a reputable and experienced VSG surgeon in the Denver, CO area? I currently have a lapband, but am considering revision to a vertical sleeve. My band surgeon is very new at doing VSG I believe, because in the past he has always said he only did Band or RNY (as does his website), but today he told me he does VSG but only recently. I don't know if I should stick with him or if I should look for someone more experienced, and how to even begin looking? Thanks!

I'm 5'3 and started at 287.5 week before surgery. I gained 18 lbs while in the hospital. Went to the one month appointment with the NP yesterday and have lost 28.5 lbs. NP was thrilled b/c I was lapband to sleeve revision and she said that weight loss was awesome b/c usually lapband to sleeve revisions lose slower. Labwork was perfect too. I'm hoping that this keeps up!

Hi. I'm also a teacher. My surgery is scheduled for 6-24. I waited until summer so I would have 6-7 weeks off, plus I have 2 young children at home. I'm a revision from band to sleeve so I wanted to allow myself plenty of time to recover and get through the liquid, mushy phases during my vacation. I started the pre-op diet the last week of school which was tough but I managed. Good luck to you!

Hi there. I'm 38 years old and had lap band surgery in 2000. Pretty much always been overweight and very unhappy with my body. I was placed on the elective surgery waiting list in Melbourne(VIC, Australia) over 8 years ago for arm lift, breast reduction and tummy tuck. I had my breast lift and arm lift done 12 months ago (Aug 2012). I am so very happy with my breasts, I love them now. However, I am really upset at the way my arms turned out as they are still very heavy and saggy. They were terrible before surgery (surgeon took 12cm off each arm). I borrowed $5600.00 to have liposuction on my arms before the arm lift as the surgeon said there was too much fat in them for a lift to be of any great benefit. I had the lipo done and the lipo dr thought that they would cut out the saggy part underneath so he did the upside of my arms. Before the surgery there were concerns that my arms had too much fat underneath still and that they may sag again. My surgeon reassured me that if that did occur, she would perform a revision to correct that. I went in to discuss that and now she's saying she doesn't want to do the revision. My lipo dr said he's happy to redo more lipo to correct his part of it but he wants to speak to the surgeon first to clarify exactly what they need done. Both him and the surgeon are of the opinion that I am being too "picky" and that my expectations are unrealisitc. I haven't stopped crying since they said they won't do the revision because I do not have the money to pay for the surgery so will be stuck with fat, saggy arms AND thick red scars because the weight in my arms has stretched them! I don't care about scars but to still have the large unsightly arms AND the scars is uinacceptable to me. The depression I feel about this has been overwhelming. I'm struggling immensely and am contacting a psychologist who specialises in body image therapy to try to help with that. I'm tired of feeling so ashamed of myself and no one understands how I feel. I have been single for most of my life as I am so self conscious about my body that I can't relax and just be myself. I've dated some lovely men, but due to my poor self image I haven't been able to feel comfortable enough to be myself, I feeze up emotionally and just can't get past the way I feel about myself! I've become obsessed with having surgery as I feel like I can't keep living with this misery and lonliness any longer. Last week I was booked in to have my abdominoplasty on October 7th, which has been a life saver. When the surgeon refused my revision, she also said she didn't want to do my tummy tuck because she feels that I've had enough of a go with the public system and that I have unrealistic expectations! She also said that I'm not even on the waiting list anymore. I broke down at the hospital when she told me this as I was devastated. They then booked me in to see a different surgeon who will do the procedure for me. I wrote a letter to the hospital explaining that I was told that I'd be given revision surgery for my arms and was then refused, and I'm waiting to hear back from them regarding that. I'm feeling really torn between feeling ungrateful and being unable to accept this result for my arms. I know that in another 12 months or so they'll be back to the way they were before because the sagging only gets worse - as many of us on here well know. In addition to the tummy tuck, I also need to have a lower body lift (at the back and a thigh lift so I still need to borrow at LEAST $10,000.00 for those. That will be another 12 months - at least IF I can even manage to do that. I'm hoping the tummy tuck makes me feel a lot better about myself because I'm really struggling at the moment. Does anyone else feel this bad about themselves? I've attached a pic of my arms and breasts which was taken half an hour ago (12 months post op) so you can see the results. Does anyone think I am overreacting about how bad my arms still look? I am absolutely devastated! I would really love to start up a foundation for people like us who need surgery after weight loss to provide both support for each other and funding for people who cannot afford it. I know that if I was unable to get on that waiting list 8 years ago I probably wouldn't be here now. It's been the only thing keeping me hopeful that I will feel good about myself........one day. I'm so lucky that I had this and I realise not everyone is so lucky. I'm so glad that I found this forum too and that there are others who understand the intensity of the emotional and physical pain and sufferring we endure every day. Thank you all so much for being so brave to share your stories, pictures, strength and support on here. It has given me the strength to do the same :-)

Dr Enochs is also my doctor I am having SIPS or SADI-S Monday 3/16/2015 I had RNY 7/11/2014 So this will be a revision for me. I am currently down almost 97lbs so far with the RNY, but I am having complications with ulcers and hernias. How are you doing Mojo56?

Well after being denied and appealing the surgery and waiting 7 weeks for a surgery date which is 3/18, I believe they are canceling my revision due to the virus. Because it’s elective.  I hope I’m wrong. I am in so much pain from the heartburn. I’ve been on a liquid diet for 2 weeks.  I’m so upset. 

Congrats! Don't be scared. PLENTY of women don't wait the required 12-18 months. If you have had good progress with weight loss, life adjustment, psychological needs, etc that come with life with a band, then you can relax. I think the complaint I hear most from newly pregnant bandsters is they didn't lose enough weight beforehand, or they are scared of the weight gain that they worked so hard to lose. I got pregnant 8 months out after losing about 50 lbs. Depending on your restriction, your band doc can't "require" an unfill. This is your body and your baby and your choice of weight management. I had decent restriction but not overly tight prior to pregnancy and I haven't had tons of issues with the band so far, so I'm comfortable leaving the fill in as long as possible, hopefully the whole time. Some of us have VERY tight fills, and I think you may run into some issues if thats you. Other women found their band incredibly tight in the first few weeks and had to get unfilled simply to be able to eat at all. My advice would be to watch your band, if it gets too tight for too long, then unfill. I have days where mine is tight, others it's fine. I've never gone more than 1 or 2 days at a time with it being super tight, or I would unfill. Also, if you get major morning sickness, UNFILL! You don't wanna have to have band revision surgery due to a slippage.

I was revised from gastric sleeve to bypass on 8/31. I had the same thoughts on food but know from the last surgery that would happen. The only pain I have is my lower belly feels like cramping and pulling. I have fits of energy then need a nap. I knew that would happen too. Hang in there! Once you start seeing the scale moving you will realize you did this for the greater good! Good luck and keep us posted on your progress !

Hi, I am 11 years out with my band and I recently dealt with this issue. In January I was suffering with stomach pains right under my band and was having a lot of stuck issues with even mushy foods so I went in to get some tests because I thought I had to get rid of my band. Well it turns out that i had a small hernia and a dilated esophagus. The none surgical fix was to empty my band. My band was empty for 7 months. In the mean time I did gain back 28 lbs but most of that was due to not being able to be physical (I had surgery a month later and had an ovary removed.)and snacking all day from boredom. I had another swallow test on July 30th and everything is back to normal so I got my first fill that day. Did your doctor say how long to be on liquids? Mine actually told me that I had a choice empty my band and allow my body to heal or consider a revision. I chose time to heal. My I chose my band over everything else because it was the least invasive and not a final decision. So I am back at it again. Slowly getting fills chewing until my jaw hurts and counting my protein intake. Maybe getting a timeline for your reset may help. I know my pains did not stop for about 3 months. It took a long time for the swelling to go down and no time at all for all my bad food habits to come back. When you eat do you feel your esophagus move in like a wave motion? I had that going on. When I had my swallow test the radiologist said he never seen this happen before. I was so scared thinking I messed myself up and was going to loose my band. But in the end I just needed time to heal.

Why do you think you won't be able to eat certain foods? I'd say most people can eat the same foods they could before surgery. It's all about choice and moderation. No need to food funeral it. Best of luck on your revision!