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I'm still looking for my green zone. Also getting very frustrated. I got another fill yesterday and am now up to 7.5cc. I asked about revision surgery as well. I've lost 20ish lbs since having the band that I've kept off. I've lost up to 40lbs and gained back when I was off work and had no insurance for over a year. I've gained 7 since this time last year and I've had 2 fills this year (before the one yesterday), but I keep hanging on to those pounds. Not gaining, but not going down. I haven't felt any real restriction yet!! I'm on liquids again today and then soft/mushy tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'll do if I can't make something happen this go around. Right now I feel so dang hungry though.My body still trying to make that adjustment I suppose. If i can get back to my real workouts I know it would help...I've been in an aircast for a while due to tendon/plantar fasciitis. Which I know would really get better if I could lose some weight!!! I guess all we can do is keep fighting for it.

Finally yesterday i found a band doctor.. Who examined me.. He took out the liquid only 2 cc of omnipaque in the band.. My symptoms were muxh better but he suspected aesophegus dilitation and now i realize my food a d water was getting stuck in my aesophagus and not band.. It is still getting stuck but a lot lot better then before.. I had a barrium swallo test for an hour today... And now i will get a endoscopy done tommorow.. Nervous of whats going on.. He suggested me to take out the band and go for gastric bypass or mini bypass even though i am below my target weight .... Confused and scaredif my esphagus is perm damaged or worst i have barrets? Or some thing sinister? Also cost for revision is very expensive for me right now and no insurance.

My surgery was ten days ago and I'm still on the mend. I'm probably older than the average sleever and had a one-step band revision with lots of scar tissue removed, so I think my recovery will be a bit longer. I see progress everyday and my activities are increasing but I'm not pushing it. The pain decreases every day and my strength is improving. I'd say weakness is my biggest obstacle at this point. he I read the posts of the all the ladies who were able to get out and about right after surgery and still feel good and I thought......... ahhhh to be young again.

I was revised on 9/5 so I'm at a month too. That was an interesting read. I'm kind of middle of the road. Lol. I will start breaking my shakes up. I get Protein primarily from the shakes since. I wonder how it is with shakes when a person is months out?

I would check the forums for the many people who say they have gone for a revision from the band, my cousin had the band for ten years and then had to be revised, she had lost 100+ lbs but the band broke. I think you will find many different stories here about problem with the band and needing revisions. .. I don't have a problem with the band, and it is a good choice for a lot of people. I didn't like the idea of a mechanism in my body, constant upkeep for fills, etc. The sleeve feels right to me after all of my research. ..

I am a revision from a stomach staple which I know is different but it's $500 more with Almanza.

Patience grasshoppah! I agree with Tea. Go back to do one thing at a time. Go back to your old way of eating LC or Keto or whatever you choose to call it. You are likely hungry with it cuz you're keeping fats pretty low. Maybe up your fats and see if it helps with satiety? But when I say "up" them, I'm not talking fat bombs or desserts, or lots of added dietary fat. I'm talking about: 1. Switch from boneless skinless breasts to breasts with the skin. Or switch to thighs. Or eat beef pot roast. Or eat pork shoulder. These cuts naturally have more fat in the meat and so have more calories and are more satiating. Also if you are only eating 2oz per meal (by weight) of protein, try eating 3oz. if you are eating 3oz per meal, try eating 4oz. until you hit your daily protein goal. If you hit your goal easily and go over on protein...then you may need to look at re-apportioning your protein/veggie serving size to fit your macros. I'd add a small salad with vinaigrette to each meal if that happened. I rarely eat more than 3oz per meal cuz I don't need the extra protein. 2. Eat 1-2oz by weight of al dente veggies. Add 1tsp of fat to them (avo oil, evoo, coconut oil, butter, ghee, animal fat) or add up to 1oz avocado, or 1/2oz by weight of nuts/seeds. 3. Eat 3 meals per day. Try not to snack. If you are hungry allow a snack composed of these (choose one): a. String Cheese b. Hard Boiled Egg c. 1oz dense dry protein. This will put you in ketosis big time by the end of about 4 days. You will lose 2-4lbs of water from it as your liver dumps glycogen and the attached molecules of water it holds. Then do that for a month and don't worry about it. That's your new diet. As your pouch matures, you will need to revise it to add more fat/calories to your day, or continue to choose more fat dense meats/dishes. If you are struggling with weight loss, I would stick to this and I would avoid calorie dense complex meals such as casseroles, stews, gooey, cheesy stuff. I'd stick to clean meats, healthy fats, al dente veggies. Hope that helps! Congrats on your losses!!!!! Don't stress, don't worry! For me eating in maintenance is longer than 2months with no loss on the scale or by the tape measure. For me a stall is 3 weeks without a change on the scale or by the tape measure. Other people have different definitions.

i had gastric bypass a little over 10 years ago and the weight is back and then some. i'm looking for other options, as it's unlikely that my bypass would be revised (it's not broken, just stretched). i've seen lap band commercials, and since i believe everything i see on tv, i figured it must be worth a look :thumbdown: has anybody around here had lap band as a second weight loss surgery? to which section of the forum should i venture for this info? thanks! ffff

I am a PA with many years experience in AGB. Was the erosion found on an EGD or a barium swallow? Did you have any port infection or any other surgical infection in your past history? If there is truly an erosion, the band must be removed and another should not be placed in the future. A gastric sleeve would be risky and many surgeons will not attempt it. Bypass may be an option but consult with a surgeon with experience in doing bariatric revisions. You shouldn't have to regain your weight back, a letter from a surgeon that reads "in order to preserve his excellent weight loss and return of comorbidities, a revision surgery should be performed" would help. I tell my cash pay patients they better have at least 10K saved up for future complications.

Hi, everyone just wanted to say I am home with my 34 bougee stomach and I am wicked sore and tired. The hospital stay was a complete exercise in patience and futility. I am so excited to be done but man oh man I am tired and sore. I hope all who got done on the 12th are safe and doing well. I will catch up with you as soon as I can stand to be on the computer again. OH PS, the revision was the worst part. He went threw my old incision scars and put staples in to close my wounds. WELL one of the wounds is stapled so taught it is pinching my skin and that is making my pain increasingly awful. Got to love liquid Loritab. xxoxoxo

I am scheduled for 5/28 ( next Monday). I chose Dr. Ortiz cause a friend had her revision surgery ( from band to sleeve) w/ him @ OCC 6 mo. ago. She was VERY pleased w/ surgeon, staff, facility and had no complications. She will be going with me when I go. BTW -- SHE LOOKS AWESOME! MY PCP is aware I am going to MX. She did say she would do labs / normal health care but wouldn't treat anything to do with the surgery. I have not told my boss. I may send him an email prior just to advise I am having elective surgery while out on PTO (vacation).

I saw this thread title and I thought - Hmmmm, definitely a PreOp poster. Not just this thread, but the rather-naive posted response on the other "what size do you want to be" page that you quote in your own thread. And I was right. I don't mean that in a harsh way, but this is one of the things that absolutely consumed me before I had surgery, and now it doesn't really vex quite as much. I'd love to do it, but I have more bottom-line concerns now - like getting to the right fill level, not PB'ing, making good food choices - the basics of being Banded that we all deal with daily. Just an observation. Once you get "into the thick of it" after surgery, you sometimes find yourself concentrating more on the day-to-day process of losing weight and sometimes focusing a bit less on what the ultimate "fairytale ending" goal will be. Great - Count me in. Make me a Size 8. (Not after being sick, or just temporarily, but for the next say, 10 years of my adult life.) What do you want? Money? OK, sure, I'll get it somehow. Just tell me where to mail it. I don't know what I'd have to do to get it, but if you could guarantee me I'd be a size 8 - I promise you I would get it to you someway, somewhere, some how. Trust me! I'm willing to work, willing to work hard, willing to pay - and it hasn't happened yet. I am so willing, that I'd have a revision to a bypass tomorrow if I thought it'd get me there. Of course the insurance company won't pay (a BMI of 30 is acceptable to them, those dirty pennypinchers) as they don't think I'm obese enough, and my own original LapBand surgeon has resigned himself that I'll never get any thinner. Pfffft, I don't lack motivation but as someone who's been banded 5 years, trust me when I say not every single person will come out of this process in "bikini condition" no matter how hard they work, or how dedicated they are. It's a fact. After a lifetime of obesity if there is a Size 8 inside me, she is WELCOME to emancipate herself and take center stage. She has my permission, I promise. I care. I don't want to be chubby, a little bit chubby, and certainly not fat anymore. I don't know what normal standards are, and I reject normalcy as a desirable option. I would love to be at any weight/size that would allow me to wear upscale fashion brands, overpriced designer jeans and of course, adorable little swimsuits. Me too. But 1 and a half LapBand surgeries, and an Abdominoplasty later, I don't see me getting into anyone's bikini in public, unless there is some sort of cool prize being offered in return for sure public humiliation. No but seriously, no one wants to see me in a bikini - I'm just not there yet. At this weight, I could wear a one-piece swimsuit without the authorities being called or without raising eyebrows. But nobody wants to see a size 14/16 shoehorn into a bikini. Now, Check me out later on - after I get some real band restriction and some weight loss, a Boob Lift and some Lipo later - and we'll see. But right now, it ain't gonna happen. Do you guys ever go back and forth on this too? I'm never back and forth. I seriously want to be a Junior Size 9/10 or a Misses Size 8 or 10. If you know another way to go about it other than diet, exercise, surgery, prayer, and more - let me know. I was hoping I wouldn't have to trade my mortal soul for a single digit size but after some dark days I've had after surgery, even that thought hasn't been such an appalling thought. :eek: But take it from a post op Bandster: Don't think people who aim for larger goal sizes aren't lacking in dedication or hard work. And they aren't necessarily selling themselves short - some of us just don't know how to do it, and have begun to think it might not be possible. Thanks and Happy Band Journeys To All ...

Thank you for the responses. I thought I'd stop in and give you an update. Her doctor did drain the area (he got 9 or tem huge syringes full of yellow fluid out). There was another area that was not liquified, he is planning on trying again next week. She did seem to brighten up after and was moving around a lot better after that. Mom slept in her bed for the first time a few days later, and the pressure of laying on her side made the area start leaking- ALL OVER THE PLACE! It was really disgusting and she, we both, freaked out. We called the doctor and went back in to see him the next day. He's concerned. He said if it doesn't stop leaking and look much better next week, he'll need to remove the port. He'd leave the band and tubing in- remove the port for a few months then reinsert it. The thought of more surgery scares me, but mom says shes in... She's invested this much this far... I like mom's surgeon very much. He's thoughtful and checks in on her often by phone. He's was the only surgeon willing to take on mom. She 60 years old and a revision from the intestinal bypass days of the 70's. We knew she was high risk, and she is having the complications that come along with that. I'm not however impressed with the facility he practices at. She had surgery the day of that awful storm here in St. Louis, the hospital's electricity went out for 10 hours AND the generator failed for about 15 minutes. Rain poured in around the window in her room, we had to move in the dark. It was bedlam, and our nurse did not handle it well. Very stressful. The thought of another stay there is an unpleasant one. I hesitate to name mom's surgeon, mom and I both feel he's very competent. I would hate for anyone to associate her condition with his skills in the OR or otherwise. This forum, I'm sure, is frequented by his patients and colleagues. Thanks again for your replies. Rebekah

I have Medica which is adminsitrated by United Healthcare, In fact the bariatric policy is United Healthcare's policy and Gastric sleeve is covered by UHC. No longer considered investigational. Ask to see a copy of their current policy, Do not take their word for it! I was originally told that the Sleeve was investigational and not covered. I pointed out the policy has been revised and offered to send them a copy of the one I found on their website. They were looking at an out of date policy!

Another Cigna revision, they no longer require 6 months supervised diet. Now its only 3!!! My third appointment is early June. Finish all my testing mid June, my guess is we will be submitting to Cigna in about 5 weeks. Yikes!!! Im super excited! Just hope it all works out.

I had lapband in 2011. Did very well with it. Got to goal, but as others have said, had complications and had to have it removed. I revised to bypass at the end of March. My doctor is revising many of his band patients due to complications. It was a great tool when it wasn't causing problems, but it doesn't seem to be a long term surgery without having additional surgeries later on down the road. And this is not to bash the band, because I loved it when it wasn't causing problems, but more of an observation of what I've seen and experienced. Sent from my LG-H631 using the BariatricPal App

Ditto - 3 WLS first a band in 2013 lost all the weight but complications set in and could not eat or drink and the band came out in May 2015. Gained 30lbs and different surgeon did sleeve on 21 December 2015. Complications and blockage due to scar tissue from the very start, never moved from clear liquid stage. Weight 46kgs but had revision to bypass on 9th May as could not eat or drink. Think I will make the Guinness book for bypass at the lowest weight ever (lol)

OK, so I started my pre-op on 12/14/12, my LB surgery was 12/28/12. I've lost a total of 45 lbs so far since 12/14/12. Well, I saw my PCP on Monday 5/6. I had not seen him since February 6th. The first words out of his mouth were, you only lost. 8 lbs. since I last saw you, that's not very much. I wanted to cry, here I am thinking wow, I've lost 45 lbs in 5 months, that's pretty good or so I thought. Mind you, my band is not working because my port flipped and I'm going for revision surgery, Fri., May 10th. Anyway, I was kind of feeling down because of my primary care physician's remarks. I have no feeling of restriction or the sweet spot since my port flipped. My surgeon said he will give me a fill on Friday after he corrects the port. Just curious, am I over reacting by my PCP's comments

I have decided to go for the bypass.I am not cutting my stomach.It has been through too much band torture.I want a revision to the "Gold Standard"that's it.

I have bcbs of mn and mine was submitted yesterday! I hope it works, I was denied within 3 days last time because of miss info from ins to doc they said I needed 3-4 pre op req visits I actually needed 6 for the sleeve, so I'm done now and should be no fight but ins is ins so who knows! They have 10 days or so he said to approve or deny. I'm a revision and on the books for June 10 pending approval!

Haven't been banded yet... BUT have been doing research. I was pleased to see several Cookbooks specifically for post-weight loss surgery... Amazon.com: Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery: Over 140 Delicious Low-Fat High-Protein recipes to Enjoy in the Weeks, Months and Years After Surgery (9781569244531): Patt Levine, Michele Bontmpo-Saray, William B. Inabnet, Meredith Urban-Skuros: B Eating Well AFter Weight Loss Surgery Amazon.com: Recipes for Life After Weight-Loss Surgery: Delicious Dishes for Nourishing the New You (Healthy Living Recipes For Life After Weight Loss Surgery Amazon.com: Before & After, Revised Edition: Living and Eating Well After Weight-Loss Surgery (9780061242854): Susan Maria Leach: books Before and After Living and eating well after Loss Surgery Amazon.com: The Everything Post Weight Loss Surgery Cookbook: All you need to meet and maintain your weight loss goals The EVERYTHING Post Weight Surgery Cookbook (Coming out soon) Amazon.com: Weight Loss Surgery Cookbook For Dummies (9780470640180): Brian K. Weight Loss Surgery Cookbook for Dummies (Coming out soon) Amazon.com: Cooking For Weight Loss Surgery Patients (9780925838148): Dick Stucki; "The Ultimate Gourmet", Bonneville Publishing, Bonneville Productions: Books Cooking for WLS Patients There are more... check ebay too for good prices... Hope this helps!

your story is similar to mine in that I have a lapband and was very active at LBT UNTIL I decided to have a revision to the sleeve; my surgery is in three days. The sleeve is permanent and the lapband is not. I am now glad to be getting a permanent surgery for my weight loss journey. Best of luck to you and keep posting!!

I had a lap band in 2008 that has been a tremendous failure. I have been so sick with it that I had to have all the fluid removed from it. My doctor suggests a revision from the lap band to a RNY. I need to lose 10 lbs before I can meet with the surgeon. Any suggestions on how to lose 10 lbs fast?

I'm sorry you are going through this, I know it's not an easy decision. But I would not let anyone pressure me into a surgery that I didn't feel 100% comfortable with. Do you know how many sleeves this surgeon has performed? It's not very common any more for Surgeons to promote the Band over the Sleeve, so it would concern me that maybe he's just not as comfortable doing the Sleeve if he hasn't done that many? Is he aware of the high # of complications and revisions from being Banded? Is there another surgeon who has equal experience, that you might consider or at least get a second opinion? Keep reading and researching til you feel comfortable with your decision, there is complication and revision threads in most of these forums if you haven't already read them. Good luck!!

I had the band a week ago, and so far I've lost 41 pounds in a month including the pre op diet. On this site, I'm seeing all these horror stories of people who need revisions, and that most people don't get the band anymore. My doctors talked me out of the other surgeries, because I'm very young (24) and am realtime lay healthy, which by their admission is extremely rare in someone my size. (praise be to G-d!) I would like to know if anyone here has had the band for a long time and hasn't had a horror story. I'd like to be reassured. Thanks!!