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I had sleeve surgery in March 2018. I ended up with gerd and hiatal hernia this year so recently revised to bypass. I initially lost 73 pounds with sleeve and then bounced upwards by 16 pounds. I am almost 8 weeks out from rny revision and have lost 34 pounds total and two pants size so far. as of now I am happy with my decision to revise. Only wish that I had followed my gut (pun) and got the bypass from the start. It is going to take hard work and determination no matter what route you decide to take. Good luck!

I had an appointment to try to get approval for a sleeve to bypass revision, but I canceled it. This thread, and some other stuff I heard about gastric bypass, was freaking me out.

Have you looked at DS or SIPS surgery? From my research it seems the better option. Revising to a bypass is said not to produce amazing weight loss (some but not all) my surgeon told me a revision to a bypass for me would only yield 25 lb or so and I need to lose 60. Good luck!

Losingit2018 - How hard has your recovery been since the sleeve to bypass revision? How long were you out of commission before returning to your daily routine? For me, it isn't about how much I lose at this point, it is about not becoming diabetic again, and being taken away from my nephew as everyone else in my family has. At this point, I am the sole survivor at 45.

Because you feel great you think it won't work? I don't know if you had it or not when you had your VSG but now they do nerve blocks with the surgeries to block the pain. That could be the difference between then and now. I had absolutely no pain with my gastric bypass and felt great after the initial first few days of feeling tired from anesthesia.

@catwoman7 I actually told my physician the same thing! I asked if he really did the surgery because I felt so good afterwards (aside from the stitch pulling pain now). @Lynnlovesthebeach I guess because I felt so horrible after the VSG and could barely keep anything down, I expected worse for the bypass. When seeing my new physician for the bypass he actually found that the VSG was not done correctly in the first place and that's probably why I had such trouble afterwards. @Creekimp13 I do see a therapist. I think I will always struggle with weight/eating issues regardless. Work in progress!

I agree. False on both accounts. One of the nice things about the band is you CAN indulge when you want, in moderation. Birthday party? It's okay to have a small piece of cake. Halloween? Want a small piece of chocolate? That's ok. Now gastirc bypass is different where if you eat sugars you can get dumping syndrome and get sick and that's because unlike with banding they actually remove a portion of your bowel. If you overeat you can STRETCH OUT the portion of your stomach above the band, cause pain and nausea, and vomiting can actually cause the lower portion of your stomach to come up thru the band ("band slippage.") The band itself and the pain of overeating will in all honesty pretty much stop you in your tracks before you consume that much food. And chewing very very well will prevent vomiting and then slippage. My band is still empty but if I take that one or two bites too much I'm very aware of it from physical discomfort. At that point it's very easy to tell myself to just "STOP" and put my fork down. And if I eat a consistence that gets stuck (for me flour tortillas at this point) or don't chew well enough I know almost instantly--intense chest pain. It's a learning process for sure, but I know my band is going to be an swesome tool to keep my eating under control.

My ins co paid for what was supposed to be revision and ended up bein a removal and then approved the replacement of either band or sleeve and I was almost at goal weight. The argument is that it took the band to get you to your weight nd you would still need the band for maintenance. Now they may have approved mine because I think we all new surgeon 1st surgeon screwed up. My stomach was adhesed to my spleen which I believe was an inexperienced surgeon touching something w instruments he shouldn't. If they don't approve I would definitely appeal w or without an atty. but because it's a complication of first surf they usually will ok it.

Today's Press-Enterprise newspaper front page featured a young woman weighing 555# who had a gastric bypass in Oct. It took 3 pages and was a great article on the surgery and her journey. It was wonderful to see such a positive article since there are still so many people that feel that surgery to lose weight is the easy way out. I know many of you will be doing "secret" surgery to avoid the negativity of friends and family. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all had the courage to shout out to everyone and get only love and support back!

I can understand you concern with the Barrett's Esophagus. I was worried that I would have damage as well. I hope you can come to a quick solution. I am currently working on meeting all the insurance requirements. My best guess is that I will have surgery in late Sept, early October. I actually lived abroad for my first surgery. My surgery team was great. Follow-up care great. For me, I think bypass would have been the best option initially. Are you nervous about having the bypass? There are several posts about people revising due to GERD and/or Barrett's. What insurance due u have?

I had heard about Dr Duncan doing the revisions, so I was looking for any experiences with the other Doctors. I was confident when I met him about his abilities, and was very happy that they attempt to do the band removal and GB in one surgery. Congrats and best of luck! I finish my 3 diet supervised visits beginning of Sept and hope to get scheduled soon after that for surgery. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

VSG typically does not cause malabsorption because the pyloric valve is left intact and not bypassed (such as with RNY/MGB/DS). So it generally does not interfere with meds. That being said, you should absolutely check with your prescribing doctor and your surgeon to be sure. Additionally, as you lose weight, you may need to have your dose adjusted. Hope that helps!

You can do anything but.................why don't you want the RNY? Would it not be a better option for you? I would hate to see you have to go back in for a revision surgery to reach your goal. Discuss it with your surgeon, loved ones and do some more research. You want to be successful first time 'round.

As long as you follow the guidelines you cannot fail. I am 4 weeks out as of yesterday. I am down 12 lbs since surgery. Compared to others, I'm a slower loser, but who cares! It's 12 lbs that would still be on me had I not had the surgery. As far as this vs bypass, that is something you need to chat with your doctor about. From the group's I've gone to, it seems they are leaning more towards the sleeve these days - less risk, quicker recovery, you don't have the malabsorption issues as with the bypass, etc. It's scary, but I still think for me it was a good decision. Good luck!!

Yes I had it out May 8th. I was in the hospital 8 days due to an infection. They also thought I had a leak so went back in for surgery on the third day to check around for a leak but apparently there wasn't one. They put drains in on the second surgery and I got a lot better after that. I have lost 38lbs since may. Day of surgery I was 216. Now I am 178 and half way to goal. I have lost 53lbs all together since January when I started the revision process from a high weight of 231. It's the best thing I ever did!

Here's my saga. I posted this elsewhere in the forums and was kind of surprised at the negative response, so let me say, this is just my story. I'm not bashing the band, I'm very thankful for the success I had with it. I'm not bitter or angry, it just didn't work for me long term. I had a Realize band placed in February of 2009. My starting weight was 268. The band was fantastic and I lost weight steadily, with the exception of a few months when I realized how easy Cookies were to eat. In December of 2010, I hit the 100 pounds lost mark, I also found out I was pregnant that same week. At about 4 weeks pregnant I had a really nasty 3 day stomach flu. A few days after recovering from that, I started throwing up again. I could keep food down for a few hours, but it was all coming back up. I lost another 15 pounds in 2 weeks. I thought it was just severe morning sickness, even though in 5 previous pregnancies I'd never had morning sickness. I saw my Ob who told me to immediately get my band unfilled and if I was still throwing up the next day he'd have to admit me into the hospital. I got a complete unfill and immediately felt better, but with no restriction and absolutely no mental/physical/spiritual preparedness for no restriction, my love affair with all things bread and pastry renewed like we were never apart. I gained 40 pounds in the first 4 months of my pregnancy. I managed to gain back a little control, but ended up gaining about 60 pounds before I had my daughter in August of 2011. The weight gain took a great emotional toll on me, but I just knew that 6 weeks postpartum I'd get a fill and be right back on track... You know where this is going, right? In October of 2011 I got my band refilled. Pre-pregnancy, my fill level was at 7.2cc in an 11 cc band. We filled it to 3.5 cc and 3 weeks later filled it to 5 cc. I had very little restriction and it just didn't seem right. I'd also started getting heartburn. I went back a few weeks later and we filled it to 5.5. That lasted 24 hours, I had to go back in for an unfill and we went down to 5.2 so I could get Water down. I still didn't have much restriction, but I did have terrible heartburn and vomiting in the middle of the night. I lived with this for a few months until I couldn't stand it and went back in and had .5 cc removed. This made the heartburn manageable with daily meds and tums always at hand, but there was no restriction. I could eat all the bread, Pasta, rice that I wanted. I knew I had a slip, but didn't have insurance to cover bariatrics, so I lived with it. I tried eating less, exercise, weight watchers, even a juice fast but I've gained 20 more pounds on top of the baby weight. Fast forward to now and I finally have insurance to cover bariatrics. I went in a few weeks ago and had my upper GI. It showed a slip above the band, virtually my entire stomach is above the band, which is why there is no restriction felt, but the band was so tight that flow into the rest of my digestive tract was severely restricted. Food just sat there for a really long time, and the results of that we're just kind of gross. We unfilled the band completely to see if the slip would fix itself, although, we all knew what that result would be. The pregnancy hadn't caused the slip, the stomach flu had and 9 months of an empty band hadn't helped it unslip. I got that confirmation this week. My band is still slipped and the restriction is still severe even empty. I'm frustrated, but quite relieved that there has been a real issue this whole time and it wasn't just me. We're now going through the process of getting insurance approval to revise to a sleeve and I couldn't be happier.

Having bypass and I'll find out the date on the 16th. That's when we'll meet with the dr and schedule surgery Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm been so starving since after my gastric bypass surgery since January 9,2017 but two months later and I eat snacks not WHOLE! Just Little I have careful what I eat.. I had hardly times for return eat popcorn since I had post surgery two months later bad choice for me too salty popcorn and get gain weight heck no!

I just had my revision from sleeve to bypass. I only had to take the pre op but class. Then surgery 3 weeks later. It all depends on your Dr. and my revision was for the same reasons. Good luck.

I'm not familiar with the SADI, but the traditional DS (what I have, I've lost over 400lbs) has two anastomoses, bypassing more of the intestines. Obviously, this causes more malabsorption. My common channel, where I absorb, is 150cm. With the Loop DS, there is one anastomosis, and less malabsorption. It really depends on what works for you. There are few DS surgeons, but that's because few people are thoroughly educated about, it's benefits, etc.

My revision was a bit more... complicated than most. Due to unforseen issues (basically one anastomosis was not done right), the surgery in March had to be aborted after 3hrs. New surgery was scheduled for June to allow for healing. 2nd surgery, the surgeon discovered another surprise. My common channel was only 25cm and the configuration of my intestines was not the rny configuration. He had to back my common channel to 300cm, cut out a portion of my pouch and small intestines due to necrotic tissue. This surgery took 8hrs! So almost 9months post op, I do have better restriction than I did with my surgery 22 years ago, but I'm absorbing more. I'm down 50lbs so it's been slow going, but I'm still losing. Thanks for asking, Hope you are doing well on your journey.

If it is someone close, a good friend whom I have not seen for awhile, I just say "Thanks! I am shrinking!" If they ask how/why or how much, I just often say "Alot". If they really seem to want to know, I tell them I had a gastric bypass. If I don't know them well, I just say "Yep!" "Sure thing!". If they keep asking, I just say "I appreciate your interest". The exception is another very overweight person who genuinely wants to know how I lost so much weight, I will always share about the bypass. I find that humor gets me out every time I don't want to share anything: "yes, little tiny guy now!"

I am being revised from a sleeve to bypass on the 23rd

Hi everyone. Here's a bit of my background Lapband done April 2011 Only lost 40 lbs Went in for revision to sleep Nov 5, 2016 And they were only able to take my band out Since it had slipped I needed time to recover. Friday is my surgery, and I decided to go bypass instead of sleeve. I'm very nervous, about dumping and feeling like I'm starving. Plus I'm a very thirsty person and I can chug a bottle of Water lol, so the sipping is going to be a huge adjustment. Anyone else having surgery in January, what day? And what surgery you getting? I'd love to have some fellow BariatricPal friends to embark on this new journey with! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

You can read about my revision journey here: