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Hi Nikki Sorry I didn't see this until today. I had the band for almost 10 years and after about 7 years, I started having lots of complications. I always had difficulty with fills and unfills because my port flipped almost immediately after surgery. I did fairly well with the band and lost about 100 pounds. However, I regained almost all of that weight after 2 children, 5 months of bed rest and an injury from running. I started looking into revision mid-2010 and was given the choice of RNY (which I found out I couldn't have due to my severe anemia) or sleeve. I wasn't happy with either of those choices so after about 6 months of research I found out about the plication. I was going to go to Mexico but ended up finding a doctor here in Southern California who had just started doing plication. I was his very first banded plication patient, which was scary but somebody's gotta be first!! Anyway - I've lost a bit over 42 pounds in 15 weeks. I'd like to lose about another 50-60 pounds. I started at 283 and am now at 240.5. I am actually surprised that I've lost as much weight as I have considering I'm a revision patient. I track my food but not religiously. I ensure that I eat 50-70 grams of Protein and drink about 60-80 oz. of Water. I do exercise almost everyday and walk/jog about 2-3 miles per workout. I completed my first 5K a few weeks ago and am planning on wogging (walk/jogging) a 10K July 23. I have averaged about 10 pounds per month and have lost 42% of my EWL (excess weight loss). I've gone from a 22/24 (26 top) to loose 20s and almost fitting into 18s! My goal is to be around 170-180ish which for me is a size 12/14. I don't want to be much smaller than that as I prefer that size on me and so does my husband! PS-I have not had any fills in my band and I plan on leaving it completely empty.

I totally understand how you feel!! On the one hand you have all the postives, no more port issues, tightness etc... and a wonderful sleeve to takes its place which I'm sure is what you and I both looked for when we got our bands... a permanent decision. On the other hand because we are revisions we run a higher risk for complications, leaks etc. That is a fact, we do have to think of these things, but I am willing to take that risk anyday rather than waiting for my band to erode through my stomach or just simply cause even more damage than it has already done. Or we can simply have our bands removed and gain the weight back and regain all the unhealthy disadvantages that come along with obesity. No... I don't think that's an option for either of us. Hugs!! You will do amazing, and trust me - there are some of us here who do and are going through the same thing as you. Now, I'm nervous but I'm sure as the date draws nearer I'll get ever more increasingly scared. It's a big deal! It's very normal. Please check in as soon as you are up to it and let us know how it went. You will be ok!!!

Hang in there Carrie! I'd be worried about you if you weren't nervous about the surgery. I can't speak from my own experience, but a friend of mine was sleeved about 8 months ago and it was a pretty straightforward experience for her. Good news too--I won my appeal with Premera BCBS--based on medical necessity. A revision would seem to fit that ticket. Good luck and I'll send good thoughts your way- Fit

Hi there, sorry you are experiencing this. I just had my revision from band to rny. You are doing the right thing by getting a little infill. I you can have huge issues if you are throwing things up. I would Try drinking Protein shakes till u get in doc and maybe cream of chicken Soups with added unflavored protein. I wish you well.

Greetings Gastric Sleevers! My name is Jay. I am 45 years old and I have been Morbidly Obese my entire Life. Here is my story. I had a Work Physical in December 2006. When I stepped on the scale I weighed 326lbs. That was the most Obese I had ever been, and enough was enough. I had had it. I needed to do something drastic to stop the weight gain. I decided to have a Lab Band. At the time I didnt want to have any physical changes to my body, and people were having very good weight loss success on the Band. In February of 2007, I had my surgery. From February 2007 to September 2007 the band worked great!!! I weighed in at 207lbs. I was extremely happy!!! But sometime in September the tubing to the band developed a kink and then the tubing cracked and the band was worthless. March of 2008 I underwent my second surgery, this time it was a port and tubing replacement. Everything seemed fine until I went in for my first fill. When they tried to fill the band they werent able to. The tubing was kinked again!!! Are you F'ing kidding me? I had enough and was just going to do my best on what the surgeon had put in the band ( I think it was 9cc's). It wasnt enough, I started to gradually put on weight. In 2012 I had enough again. I went in to have the band filled under X-Ray Fluroscopy. For whatever reason the band took in 15 cc's The band I had was only supposed to hold 12. Needless to say the band was closed off, and I couldnt eat or drink anything. Two days later I had emergency surgery to release the band. The surgery went well, but the Surgeon didnt replace the band. When I went in for a fill they put in the Max CC's of 12. Guess what? No restriction. Yup in was stretched out so much it was ineffective again! I had had enough with the Lap Band, it was nothing but a big giant headache for me. I decided to have a Gastric Sleeve in 2015. I had my surgery on June 24th 2015. The day of the surgery I weighed in at 275lbs. Today is September 11th and I am down to 240lbs. I am very happy with my Sleeve, but the adjustment to the new diet was very hard for me. I am doing 3 Protein shakes a day and I added 1 KETO OS drink a day to my diet. It has made a huge difference. My energy levels are through the roof and I feel absolutely Fantastic!!! The weight is coming off twice as fast for me ( from 2 pounds a week to 4) I took the time to research this product and it is the best decision I have made in a long time. Check it out for yourself: http://C7W6R4.pruvitnow.com

This is a long shot, but I would imagine you're open to any ideas. When I had my lap band, sometimes when I ate too much, I would get radiated pain into my left shoulder. Occasionally, it would happen even if I wasn't eating. It turns out that in the case of the lap band, sometimes it would rub against the vagas nerve, and cause those pains. Now I realize you don't have the band, and so far, since I had the band revision to bypass, I have not felt the pain, but maybe there is a possibility that when you are drinking, something is hitting the vagas (or some other) nerve. I don't think that is something that is going to show up on conventional imaging, but maybe an MRI? Again, just a thought. If you search for vagas nerve, you will see it is somewhat common with the lap banders.

Hey Karey, Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, Dr. Saltz is doing the revisions and I am confident he will do a fantastic job. I really am very happy with my previous results, this is just a small fix :crying: How are you doing? Last I read you were dealing with a slip - did that resolve itself? ~Lori

I was banded in 2010 and had a revision to the RNY in October 2014. IT WAS THE BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE!!!!! I was in the hospital for three days when I had both surgeries. With the band I could barely get out of bed because I hurt so bad. With the revision to RNY, 4 hours after my surgery I was walking laps around the hospital. Of course you are a little tender, but it was so much easier than the previous surgery. I also had a c-section in 2005 when I had my daughter, the RNY was easier than that. Make sure you go into the surgery with the mentality that you are going to come out of the surgery as a winner, that you've got this. As long as you set your mind to it, you will do great. My surgeon has done many surgeries and he said that I made it look easy. Honestly, my goal was to be released from the hospital before my 3 day mark was up. Their policy trumped my wanting. LOL! Also, with the band I didn't lose any weight. All my weight-loss was before the lapland surgery and after the RNY surgery. A total of 89 pounds, with 50 of those being post op for the RNY. I've kinda of hit a plateau, but that is because my family and I took two months to move from Georgia to Alaska. On the road eating isn't easy or healthy. I hope it works out for you!!!!

Hi Sue, Congrats on your decision to get the lap band! I had my first fill of 2 cc's during my port adjustment/revision surgery, which was about a little more than 2 months after I had the original lapband surgery. My doctor gave me another 2 cc's in his office two weeks later, then 1 more cc about a week ago. I have a 14 cc capacity band, with 5 cc's in it so far. I feel that I could use another fill, but I am just going to wait it out and see what the weight loss results are when I go for a followup appointment in 3 weeks.

The belly button is new. I naturally have a high belly button and with the existing tattoo (what remains is the half that was above my "old" belly button), we (me and PS) decided to be "conservative" and go with a higher placed scar with scar revision(s) planned in the future. I didn't have enough skin to remove the tattoo completely so it was more important to me that the remaining portion not be totally distorted. My bikini wearing days are long gone so hiding the scar was not as important. It will be easy to remove more of the tattoo without distorting it and lower the scar an inch at a time. The scar revision is an office procedure done under local anesthesia so not a huge deal.

no regrets here. I wasn't revised either. love my sleeve!

Yeah, I've never met anyone who had the revision done and didn't love it. Not a lot of regrets.

I am 2 weeks out from revision from sleeve to bypass. I can't attest to the weight loss yet, but feel I am recovering faster. It helped to know what to expect after but do find some big differences. Good luck and no GERD is amazing.

Everyone I know who has had revision has new scars. I don't know why they can't go through the same spot.

I just recently had surgery and am new to this forum, but I have noticed that there are quite a few people who have had bands removed, replaced, port revisions, stomach erosion, etc... Anyone care to share their experiences or advice on how to prevent these???

Hello and welcome I too had the band lost some weight had issues eating anything healthy. 3 years ago I had the sleeve lost more weight but am having troubles keeping it off. I am now going to revise to the gastric bypass; I guess I should have had this surgery in the first place!! You are doing the right thing in tackling your weight issues and revise to another one. I think the band was a bad idea for most and you will read here that many revise. Best wishes to you

My surgery was on 8/21/2013 with Dr Rodriguez in Tijuana, MX. I arrived bright and early in San Diego where my coordinator picked me up (she did not have to do this but was worried because I was getting there so early). We went into MX across the border.....it was nothing like I'd been warned by all my naysayer friends, by the way. The Hospital (Hospital Angeles) was beautiful with marble floors (literally) my room seemed more like a resort. TV was sketch only because there were few channels, but I never even watched it at all...it was only background noise. There was even a TGIF's across the street for those who come along for the ride. I have to say they (belightweight) took care of everything from start to finish. I never even had to stand there to sign all the paperwork, it was done and brought to me to sign. It all began with the best looking and smelling Dr. (Dr Raynes) greeting me and telling me what all was going to happen. I was nervous because I'd never been under general anesthesia. First it was to imaging where they took x-rays of my lungs. Then right up to my room....very nice too. Very quickly a gal came and did an EKG. I settled in and a little bit later they came in to take the blood and start my IV....(I knew it would be difficult because I am a hard one to get for IV's) Five sticks later and a bleed out on my bed... they finally had an IV in place. I did not find this as a negative for the staff because it's happened to me everywhere I've ever been. Dr. Rod came in with Dr. Elmo about 15 mins later and told me once the blood work came back I would be his 2nd surgery right after my neighbor. This came about all too soon..... I was still reeling from the stress of all the IV sticks. I did NOT want to go into surgery!!!! waaaahhh. But in I went....a couple of the staff introduced themselves and pretty soon a pretty gal came at me with a mask saying what I thought was "Dees ees some Oxygen....breath" next thing I knew, I was trying to take off that mask she was giving me....but I suddenly realized my midsection did not feel right at all! That's when it hit me the surgery was OVER!!! Goodness what had happened??? Well apparently I don't come out too swift from General because I felt awful.....really awful. It probably took a couple hours for me to even think I'd live. But I did live....and got better and better moment by moment literally. I pretty much just internalized everything...I'm not one for crying and complaining.... I just get quiet and lock and load. I rested the rest of the evening and slept when I could. Lots of people checking on me and doing this and that. The next morning my daughter had visited with the neighbor. She was already showered, up and walking!!! AND she was a revision from plication to sleeve! My daughter at this point decided for herself I was being a wussie. So this 16 year old marched me into the shower.....helped me into fresh hospital garb....and MADE me walk!!! How dare her!!! But it worked!! before too long I could do a couple of laps with no problem (not saying you won't be sore) later on that evening a few more gals showed up and before you knew it, we were all congregated in the hall yapping like women do. lol We even ticked off another gal trying to sleep, so we went back to our rooms. I had some pain meds every so often in my IV but never felt woozy) I had a tiny.... dry heavy thingy almost like little stomach spasms but it went away quickly. Saw my neighbor again and saw she had broth and jello.....WHAT!!!!???!!! I was starving! Took about 3 hours for me to get up the proper sign language for "Where's my FOOD" lol but I did get my stuff....disappointing....I couldn't eat anything but a tiny sip and bit of jello. Next thing you know The sweet smelling Dr. Raynes came by to grab me for the leak test....(uh, yuk is the right word, but you'll live) I passed with flying colors....and I'm not eating anything out of order I do NOT want to develop a leak. They brought by all my test results (full film and all.... for me to take back with me to the states...even the little tag from the serial number on my staples!) Everything else from here on out was resting, joking, and getting up the gumption to leave the next day. Friday came too soon. Alberto came to the room to let me know he'd be by around 2:30 to get us to the airport. We got packed and waited... Dr. Rodrigues came by with Dr. Elmo again....Dr Raynes was with us the most as he is a sort of liason, I think. My Coordinator had been with me on and off all along. 2:30 came and it was time to go we went downstairs to meet Alberto with the van... nice van!!! Now we got to see the Tijuana I'd heard of. He drove like a banshee and was funny as heck! Even stopped at the border to buy an ice cream for himself and my daughter. Almost had an altercation with another person crossing the border....Alberto was NOT giving up his spot...but the wife got out of their car and put herself between us and them... so they got ahead....wow!!! after that everything was uneventful....we got to the airport and I asked for a wheelchair because I could'nt imagine hurrying between gates even though I felt ok for slow stuff. Now....fast forward to today....I'm home, safe and sound. My husband is treating me like a queen and I can get a bit more down....I'll put more posts at 10 days etc... because I know I loved reading this stuff when I was pre-op. Thanks everyone for your stories....

Not finding anything specific unfortunately, at least nothing "new" or recent (or clearly outlined). Rebound rates aside, if you've got a slight reflux now, it will be amplified with the sleeve and reduced with the Bypass, based simply on what the surgery does. And in the off chance that you end up with a major problem... there is no going back after the sleeve, 90% of your stomach is rotting in medical waste somewhere (or been incinerated), with the bypass, everything (for the most part) is all still in there. The sleeve is ONLY a restrictive surgery, there isn't any reduction in caloric intake caused by the surgery itself outside of forcing you to reduce your intake, but then there are all the "slider" foods etc. I made the mistake of choosing the lapband back in 2011 because I was under-educated about the bypass, and well, I didn't want to make any permanent changes, which is ironic, because, I didn't get any permanent weight loss. So, second surgery to remove the band and revise to the bypass in March and I really couldn't be happier... I really do wish I went with the bypass from the get go. A personal (in real life) friend of mine had the sleeve, and he's getting it revised to the bypass because of the lack of progress. Just things to be aware of.

I'm a revision. The sleeve is much, much better than the band. With the band there were so many foods I couldn't eat, chicken, turkey, salad, veggies.... I was always slimming & vomiting. No problems at all with the sleeve. I'm almost to goal and pray I can keep it off but am so happy to have the band out. What a waste of time & money. There's a section on this site for revisions. Check the posts out there. Good luck & congrats.

I mentioned before that Lexie, my only friend I've told about me getting bariatric surgery, told me that she heard the "sleeve" was better than the "band." My gastroenterologist said the same thing and wanted me to look into it and talk to the surgeon about the sleeve option. I mentioned it to the counselor today and she briefly said that she sees very few Gastric Bypass patients any more as most patients are choosing the band or the sleeve. She said it's been 50/50 on band vs. sleeve patients. She admitted that there's been more WL issues with the band patients (slower loss, not any loss, and band failure) in HER practice but she was quick to state that it doesn't mean that it isn't good and won't work. She simply said that in her practice there that the sleeved patients lose weight faster and have fewer WL issues apparently. She agreed with my gastro's advice in speaking with the surgeon and deciding what would be best for me. She told me to research both, have pros and cons, and analyze the options. Then have a list of questions for the surgeon when meeting with him. I planned to do that any way and I didn't get the feeling she was pushing sleeve. I think she was being very honest with me about her experience with both sets of patients which I appreciate. Here's my initial PRO/CON list for Sleeve and Band... (after I research more, I'll likely update and/or change and fix my list!) SLEEVE Pros: 1. One surgery, no "fills" (so I won't need to tote my toddler with me in for regular fills.) 2. Decrease in "ghrelin" hormone that induces hunger due to stomach portion removal 3. Faster weight loss (more immediate results) 4. No "bandster hell" 5. Much higher success rate associated with this procedure. 6. My friend and one of my dr's recommended this procedure and thought it might be the better option for me. Cons: 1. No way to fix or reverse at all 2. Staples may pop, cause leaking, or fail 3. No long term data including effects on pregnancies 4. There is still a possibility/likelihood that the sleeve will stretch out and may need revision later. 5. Hernias apparently more common with this procedure lately. 6. I haven't researched the dietary guidelines post op so I have no idea what the longterm eating management includes. (Maybe I'll research that next and do a post on the differences of that.) BAND Pros: 1. Reversible/removable 2. No removal of anything 3. Necessary dr appt followup (with fills) will cause constant analyzing of program/plan and communication with surgeon 4. As I need it, I can go in and get it adjusted tighter to meet my needs. 5. Two doctors recommended this procedure over sleeve or GB for me due to my medical history. Cons: 1. Possibility of infection of band OR port 2. Regular followup and fill appointments 3. Bandster Hell and the months it will take to get to Sweet Spot. 4. Possibility of necessary revision to sleeve or whatever..(have read several posts online of 3 and 4 year post banders going in for gastric bypass, sleeve, etc.) 5. May not solve my hunger issue. 6. Have heard from more than one person that as they got closer to goal- their port site or actual port became more visible- yikes! 7. Over fills.. this sort of worries me. I don't want to get overzealous and get over filled and then have to race back in to get unfilled and then wait weeks to get filled again. 8. The waiting between fills. I understand why it is set up that way but it doesn't mean I have to like it. This is just my preliminary thoughts on both. I'm not an expert, I haven't decided yet, and I don't even know if the surgeon will think I'm a candidate for the sleeve. I'm starting to consider it as an option though. I've got some research to do.

I too just had revision surgery to repair a posterior slip, but also had my gallbladder removed at the same time. I have had a lot more pain this time around. I talked to the dr. about it and he said it's to be expected. I know my situation is a little different from yours, but I thought it might help to hear it. I also had a lot of the shoulder pain from the abdominal gas they use this time, and I didn't have that the first time at all.

I had revision surgery earlier this week and didn't at all mess with my port. I notice a lot more pain this time. Any else have this happen. On a side note my pouch is much smaller as the band was reposition higher up. I never imagined it smaller!

Gosh I'm sorry your fills are so painful. Thats stupid that they cant give you some sort of freezing. My doc uses something called lidocaine I think and it works basically right away. My port is under my muscles and I just had a tummy tuck revision so I am super swollen. Fills are so painful I nearly pass out and that is even after my doc freezes my stomach. Thankfully my doc has a fluroscope machine thing that he uses now when I get a fill. Last week I got a fill using this machine and it didnt hurt at all and I didnt even need freezing. Maybe you should ask about another method of getting fills. I hear ya with not wanting to go back. Even after my last breeze of a fill I am still afraid to ask for another!

I too have a very addictive personality. But lately feeling so poorly and having such a hard time with asthma and diabetes I have lost interest in most everything. I am hoping post op I will feel better and pick up some old interests that were addictive like decorative painting and reading. Right now my addiction is this board and my obsession is waiting for the call that I am approved for surgery a revision from lap band to rny. . Also hope exercise will become one. But really hoping bad ones do not, It is something we all need to be aware of.

Wow! You are quick at answering! Thanks:D I think that is where I was confused about the cc's. It makes more sense to me that the larger volume of saline solution they add the tighter the restriction. Thanks for clearing that up. That's awful about the old ports! Now that you mention it, I think my surgeon mentioned that problem to me when he was showing me the Lap Band. He said something to the effect that this was the "new" kind. I didn't understand the significance of it until now. How much of a process was your port revision? Was it done as surgery or just under local anesthesia?