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I couldn't agree more with Donna & Susan - get another opinion! In my case the slip was repaired with a new band right away. That this doctor is refusing to even consider that possibility is just infuriating to me. You've been through so much, and I know how hard every day is when your band is slipped, but try to find another doctor who is band friendly so that you can get an unbiased opinion. You can always tell them to give you a bypass if they get in there and decide that you can't be rebanded because of excess scar tissue. (((HUGS)))

Mom - I read with interest this entire post and was really wanting to follow up with you. I had my LAP-BAND®® placed in March 2009 and haven't had ANY problems. I could eat or drink anything in small amounts and other than the first weeks after surgery haven't had the gas problems. Anyhoo, about three weeks ago, I overate a bit and had my first bout of vomiting. I went back to liquids and felt much better. But the vomiting had become a daily thing and got worse and worse. Finally ended up in the emergency room on Thursday, and the regular doctors didn't know squat about what to do for me. By the grace of God, my surgeon just happened to walk through the emergency room and saw me. He immediately asked for my x-ray and cat scan and told me I had slipped. He immediately removed all my fill (I was at a 5) and told me to go back on liquids for a few days than start putting in additional foods just like after surgery. He said that he has seen a number of slips correct themselves following this method. Has anyone else experienced this or even heard of it???? My insurance did not cover the surgery (I paid cash) so I will need to do some finagling to even get them to pay a surgeon they don't contract with (yay, Kaiser)take it out much less revise it. I'm terrified. I keep envisioning this thing bursting out of my stomach, like on Alien. I'm also terrified to put the weight back on...I'm down 85 lbs in 14 months and know there is no way I could maintain it without the band. HELP? Can it fix itself? I really don't want more surgery or life without the band. Cristy Banded March 31 at 265 pounds June 19, 180 pounds and scared poopless :smile2:

Hi Lisa - Im hoping we can work together on this ebcause i just read your story and let me tell you a little about my story -- lap band 9/2005 02/06 - slip 03/06 - re band throught the past 5 years I have STRUGGLED and the ONLY time i lost weight was when the bad was so tight I barely could drink Water. One day I would be able to eat yogurt, the next day it would get stuck -- it was this way constantly and Id never know what i coul or couldnt eat unless i tried - so in teh end I have a band with 1/2 fill so i can eat normally but it defeats the purpose of even having TWO surgeries because here I am weighig in 10lbs les then my 1st surgery and 10 more then my second.... Just went to the Dr. yesterday and he suggested I look into the bypass revision. He made it sound really good but he also didnt leave out the fact that because it is a revision - the risks are automatically higher for compications. I sit here wondering if my body had this many compications with a simple band who will ti react to a bypass? Maybe I will do great with bypass and i will finally see results Ive been striving to see forever what is I am the 15% that thigs go drastically wrong My job now covers this revision - if I waitr health care might change ................................... I too dont know what to do! Complications? What kind of complications? Like is its "dumbing" more often.. k I can handle that.. If its leakge... that can cause death.. IDK I wish I could survey 100 ppl who had this themself! Help for us both What ever we decide , we r not alone! Lisa (yes im lisa as well)

I have had both and would take the Laparoscopic surgery over a one scar surgery. For one, the scar is about a foot and a half long. It is also more painful. I just had my bypass surgery and some of my scars are almost gone.

I just had rny last week and I just turned 27, so happy with my decision. My doc really recommended sleeve and said if years later I hadn’t lost enough I could revision to bypass. Im hoping for one and done! So I went with bypass due to heart burn issues. Hw-378 Sw- 363 (2/27/18)

I'm not super young. I'm 27. I couldn't be happier with my bypass. I am 3 months out and 70lbs down. Sent from my Z981 using BariatricPal mobile app

first of all, only about 30% of bypass patients dump. If you're getting the sleeve instead, then the percentage of dumpers is way less than that (not sure of it - but it's not common in sleevers). secondly, a lot of us have no appetite or hunger for several weeks - or even months - after surgery. so suffice it to say, you MIGHT be fine to continue to work. I had pretty much zero interest in food for the first five months after surgery. I just looked at Denny's menu (I haven't been there in probably 20 years), and yea - there's almost nothing on there that's safe or anything I'd eat (I can't tolerate really fatty meals anymore - not only do they bother my stomach, I just think they're gross). The scrambled eggs and the salmon would be OK - but keep in mind a lot of people can't tolerate eggs for the first few weeks out of surgery (I never had issues with them, though), and you wouldn't be able to eat salmon until you're cleared to eat solid foods. hopefully if you stay at Denny's, the management will let you take your own food to work. That would solve it. I would hope that since you'd have a medical reason, they'd be fine with that.

I had a friend that went to Dr Joya for her lapband and then again her her revision to RNY. She can't say enough good things about him, his staff and the facility.

I fell in love with Victoza a few years ago. My doctor prescribed it for me around Thanksgiving of 2010. It took a couple of months, but I noticed that my appetite was nowhere what it was before I started taking it. And I was losing weight (both of which are "side effects" of Victoza). All in all I lost about 60 pounds in a year by Thanksgiving of 2011. Unfortunately it pretty much stopped working for me at that time, and I gained all that weight and then some in 2012. One of the reasons I elected to go with the bypass surgery.

I had surgery yesterday and it went well, but I literally feel like I was run over by a truck! This was a sleeve revision so I knew it would not be as easy as my band surgery, but just hate feeling like crap. Skinny here I come!

I am Spectrum Health Weight Loss with Dr. Schram. FYI my husband had Dr. Foote in 2004 when he had his gastric bypass

I am Spectrum Health Weight Loss with Dr. Schram. FYI my husband had Dr. Foote in 2004 when he had his gastric bypass

Hey everyone, I'm 7 mths post band-sleeve revision. I've lost all but the last 18 lbs. I've been tossing the same 2 lbs back and forth for about 4 mths now. Actually, fairly easily. Everytime I get on the scale (usually daily), I'm happy to say it doesn't go up - even tho I expect it to. Guess I'm gunna actually hafta do something to lose the last 18... Count something, measure something, weigh something....who woulda thunk it? So happy with my sleeve. I know that once I finally get to goal, I'll be able to easily maintain...

I am getting a revision from lap band to sleeve. I got my lap band in 2010. Everything worked fine until I had minor complications almost a year later and after I had my daughter. So it really isnt working for me anymore. I have almost gained all my weight back. I look forward to my journey with my sleeve. However, my doctor's office submitted my paperwork to Aetna on Oct 24 and still havent heard anything. Ive checked with the coordinator and Aetna and they just tell me its pending. Today is the 10th business day from when it was submitted. Aetna said additional information was submitted on 11/2 and told me to check on Monday. Anyone else playing the waiting game? Im ready to get this party started lol

Any Bariatric surgery (except the band) can cause dumping. The risk of dumping severity and longevity increases with the bypass. In my support group we have 4-5 Sleevers that have dumping.

I'm 4 months and some post op from gastric bypass. I average about 950 calories a day although some days I can barely reach 700 and others I can have 1200. It just depends on my restriction. I always aim for 60-80 grams of protein but im happy if I can get 60 in a day. Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

Laying here in the hospital trying to sip my oz of Water. My surgery lasted like 4 1/2 hours. Turns out my prolapse had adhered itself to my liver, so they had to remove scar tissue from my liver Andy stomach. Just got my catheter out, o2 turned down to one, now if I could just stay awake b Pain is still pretty bad when I try to get out of bed. The pain is just on by side. The big incision they take everything out of that corresponds with the liver repair.

BILLING/CODING INFORMATION: CPT Coding: 43644 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; with gastric bypass and Roux-en-Y gastroenterostomy (Roux limb 150 cm or less) 43645 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; with gastric bypass and small intestine reconstruction to limit absorption (investigational) 43770 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; placement of adjustable gastric band (gastric band and subcutaneous port components) 43771 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; revision of adjustable gastric band component only 43772 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; removal and replacement of adjustable gastric band component only 43773 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; removal and replacement of adjustable gastric band component only 43774 Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; removal of adjustable gastric band and subcutaneous port components 43842 Gastric restrictive procedure, without gastric bypass, for morbid obesity; vertical-banded gastroplasty 43843 Gastric restrictive procedure, without gastric bypass, for morbid obesity; other than vertical-banded gastroplasty (investigational) 43845 Gastric restrictive procedure with partial gastrectomy, pylorus-preserving duodenoileostomy and ileoileostomy (50 to 100 cm common channel) to limit absorption (biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch) 43846 Gastric restrictive procedure, with gastric bypass for morbid obesity; with short limb (150 cm or less) Roux-en-Y gastroenterostomy (may be done laparoscopically) 43847 Gastric restrictive procedure, with gastric bypass for morbid obesity; with small intestine reconstruction to limit absorption (may be done laparoscopically) There is no specific CPT or HCPCS code to report mini gastric bypass. A laparoscopic approach is used with the mini-gastric bypass. The stomach is segmented similar to a traditional gastric bypass; the jejunum is anastomosed directly to the stomach, similar to a Billroth II procedure. The mini gastric bypass is not based on its laparoscopic approach, but rather the type of anastomosis used. This on the Blue Cross Blue Sheild page: http://mcgs.bcbsfl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.main&doc=Surgery%20for%20Clinically%20Severe%20Obesity

Okay I had to get my port revised on Monday and my doc said he put 5cc's in there (have 11cc band), on Monday I didn't eat had liquids on Tuesday I ate more than I thought I should have, but from Wednesday and like right now, I don't have an appetite and I notice I go a long time without eating so I try to eat a cheese stick or apple sauce if i'm not all that hungry but I know I have to eat. My QUESTION ISSSS....do sometimes your fill take a long time to set in? I was just wondering:redface:

I know I had a hard time finding information on others with my situation so I thought I would put my story out there and share as I move through the stages of weight loss then maintenance… March 4, 2002 I had my original Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (OPEN they didn't have laparoscopic then). I just turned 27 years old. My starting weight was 268 pounds and I lost 136 pounds – a little more than half my starting weight. I hit 132 pounds February 1, 2003 – it took a mere 11 months. I didn’t have any real follow up care after my staples were removed so I just exercised a lot and tried to eat right (and totally got full of myself by the way..). Slowly between moving twice out of state, getting a divorce and coming out as a lesbian to my family and trying to figure it out for myself – some of my bad habits like grazing returned. Since I couldn’t handle much food I also turned to alcohol as my “comfort” so to speak. I really don’t know why it didn’t “click” that a chocolate martini has about 500 calories EACH with no nutritional value and 3-4 of those a night 4+ days a week did me no favors. I had also pretty much quit exercising. January 2013 I decided to get my **** together and I was 208 pounds (gasp!) so I had regained 76 pounds. I started eating better, joined the gym and even spent $5,500 on hiring a personal trainer. I was seriously invested. I lost and gained the last 15 pounds several times over 7 months. It seemed no matter how hard I worked the weight just stayed… so again I gave up and decided to just eat & do whatever I wanted too (great idea right?)… November 2015 I quit drinking – yes totally it’s just not worth it… by now I’m sitting right at 204 pounds. I had been really having issues eating. I could eat “insert any food here” one day and be fine; two days later I’d warm up the leftovers and dump like crazy so my digestion was/is totally unpredictable and I’m hungry practically all the time… so I went to google and typed in WLS revision. That’s when I found Dr. Snow. I called his office and made an appointment to find out if I had totally screwed up my original surgery. December 1, 2015 My first appointment with Dr. Snow. I provided the story as I’ve written it above. So during this exam we did a barium swallow test right there in the office. It was fairly fascinating to watch it on the monitor. What Dr. Snow determined was my pouch still looked great and wasn’t stretched but my stoma reduction didn't hold from the original surgery. He scheduled me for an Endoscopy to go in and confirm the stoma was enlarged. I weighed in at 204.0 in the office. December 18, 2015 Endoscopy day – fun times! I was put under light anesthesia & Dr. Snow went in with a camera and checked out my guts. Once I started to wake up he conformed the enlarged stoma and said he would do a Endoscopic Soft Tissue Re-approximation to reduce the size of my stoma which would keep food in my pouch longer helping me feel full longer and to prevent so much dumping since the food I was consuming was falling right out of my pouch into my intestines… his office staff was to contact me with the details. January 15, 2016 After all the holiday madness I realized the staff hadn’t reached out to me so I called the office. Dr. Snow had moved to his own practice so I was given his new contact information. I called and left a message which was returned the next day. The staff was fantastic. We talked about where I was in the process (insurance coverage) and I was told I’d get a call back once my coverage was determined. February 2, 2016 I received a call that although my insurance does covers bariatric services they would not cover a “repeat procedure”. I was then told that if self-pay was an option it would be $4,900 for everything and my insurance would cover my follow up care… I scheduled surgery February 9, 2016. Dr. Snow called me later that afternoon and went over expectations and risks. He said I should expect to lose about 60% of what I had regained so he estimated 40-45 pounds. That would put me right about 155 and I would be very happy with that. February 3, 2016 I started a clear liquid diet & went in for my pre-op testing (Blood draw & EKG). February 9, 2016 I went into the hospital @ 6:30am for outpatient surgery. Dr. Snow cinched my stoma down to 1mm (yes really 1mm according to the surgery notes in my chart) and added several pleats to the inside of my pouch to make it a bit smaller since he was already in there. I didn’t find out about making the pouch smaller until the next day when I got a follow up call from a nurse who went over the surgery notes with me. I was home by 1:30pm –the hospital was a 30 minute drive one way from my house. Oh and the hospital scale said I was 196.0. After surgery Food: Basically 3 weeks later I’m on soft/moist foods. I can usually eat between 1/3c-1/2c of food and I’m happily full but not bursting at the seams. I do try and eat on the schedule otherwise I forget to eat, like today (2/29) I forgot to eat until it was 11:30 so I’ll be playing catch up all day to get in my Protein. But knowing there’s a 1/2c serving of protein ice cream I can have tonight with 20g protein I’m not freaking out. I use MyFitnessPal to track everything I eat/drink always getting protein in first. I average about 80-85 grams of protein & roughly 700-800 calories per day. Weight: I have dropped a little over 18 pounds. Follow up care: I was Dr. Snow Feb 18th and he was happy with my progress at the time. He would like me to lose 9 pounds before our next appointment March 24th. He also approved of me finding a local bariatric nutritionist I can work with to keep me on track. Insurance coverage: The office staff is going to file a claim with my insurance for the surgery on 2/9. I’m fully expecting a denial letter but that will give me a starting point to appeal and fight them on it. This wasn’t a repeat procedure it was a repair and as such should be covered so time will tell. My total out of pocket thus far including co-pays for office visits and the endoscopy is $5,161.72… …So there it is in a nutshell. I’m attaching a scan of the brochure/pamphlet pictures that explain the revision procedure for the benefit of others wondering what can be done. I’m an open book so please feel free to ask anything that comes to mind

was banded 4/8/08. Self pay. Ins. excludes weight loss surgery. Am doing well...have lost at least 20#. This was just my experience but I had some serious IBS previously. I took 4 Bentyl a day....rarely made it thru a meal w/o heading to facilities. Was not a fun travel companion. Have not taken Bentyl since 4/7. Haven't needed medication. IBS seems to be quieted down. Hope it stays that way. Diabetes and heart disease run in my family too. In fact I've had 5 way heart bypass surgery in 2005. I'd say....go for it..you have already been accepted. Husband is very supportive, parents and siblings are also very supportive. Do the reasons to have the surgery outweigh the reasons not to have it? Good luck in your decision.

I has bypass surgery, so it may be a little different. I had to do six months of nutrition counseling, and I needed to get my cardiology approval as soon as my last nutrition appointment happened. My surgery was scheduled about two weeks after my final nutrition appointment, and I was approved a couple days before my actual surgery date. So my entire pre-surgery journey took almost 7 months. I kept a journal on everything, and I would take it with me to all of my appointments and write down what we talked about and any suggestions any of my doctors had. Best of luck!

Cleo's: "... when I went on the sleeve site I went right to complications." I haven't had the nerve to go there yet. I have seen my doctor's video of a revision to a sleeve that he has on his website. It's gruesome enough to make me take my time with this decision. I do know that you're right, it is a relatively new surgery and the jury is still out on a lot of the issues. For instance, they do remove the thing that causes hunger, but some people are now saying that eventually another part of the stomach compensates for that and you eventually get hungry again. Cleo's: "...it never took away my hunger or provided me with satiety and when it was overfilled to 3 cc's (by my idiot former doctor) I had reflux, heartburn and pain. And again, no satiety and still hungry. But what the band has done is cause me to get stuck - very painfully..." Me too! I've had lots of fills. My doc was always very conservative with the fills. But there were a couple of times that I actually came away from his office after a fill when I wound up not being hungry for a day or two. Which was, frankly, heaven! I eventually have come to the conclusion that the darned thing seems to generate hunger. Which is of course, quite a different result than most other people have with the band. And that's confusing and discouraging. No, my insurance will not pay for any part of the surgery. Unless of course, I have a hiatal hernia or other complication. And then it would only pay for that portion of the surgery - the repair. Insurance has become a double-edged sword these days. And for the life of me I don't understand how some people in the U.S. just don't get that. We need reform and I am just hoping that the darned Congress doesn't sell us down the river to the greed-driven insurance companies so that they continue to call all the shots with our medical treatments. Merry Christmas!

My coordinator has scheduled my dtr's revision from band to sleeve with a Dr Juan Arellano. We are having issues trying to find/get info on this surgeon. We would feel much better if we had info that would allow us to make a more informed decision.We would greatly appreciate anything any of you could tell us. This is too serious not to go into the surgery informed. Thank you so much. A concerned/nervous mom & dtr.

So, is it info on the surgeon or info on the procedure? I have never heard of this doc, but I would try googling him. Go to healthgrades.com and look him up. Do searches for his name in this forum but also at obesity help and the gastricsleeve forum (google them for the link). Is he one of the Mexican surgeons or is he in the USA? There is a whole forum dedicated to surgery in Mexico - poke around there to see what you can find out. this is just me, but I would surely pick Dr Aceves if I went to Mexico - that guy has done alot of sleeves, alot of revisions and seems to have a great reputation. Not to say there aren't others that are good too! Good luck!