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Hi brandy, I am in the process right now of changing to bypass, some insurance companies make you wait a certain period of time before the band is concidered a failure and than they'll usually approve the switch. Mine was 16 months. I hope to have a surgery date Sept 5th for revision. Best of luck to you.

I was approved for my revison from band to RNY. I had to have my band removed after 3 1/2 years due to a slip and erotion I have to mention that the insurance company made me do ALL of the testing all over again, just like a "newbie". My BMI @ the time of my revision was 36 and I had only 1 comorbidity...asthma. Best of luck to you on whatever you decide to do!

I think you are MUCH better off until you are done losing weight and have maintained for at least a couple of months. Some recommend a year of maintenance, but I think 4-6 months would probably be adequate. I had breast lift with augmentation after losing 90 pounds a few years ago. I since regained 80 of that, ultimately got sleeved, and now I am below the weight I'd been at when I got them done. The weight regain and loss definitely took a bit of a toll on the lift part. They are saggier again now than I would like them to be and I'm considering a revision. In any case, my point is that it's best to be at a stable weight, because additional weight loss or gain after the procedure can effect your long-term results.

Wellmark - BCBS in Iowa isn't covering yet either, but they are due to revise their policy this month.....I am patiently (not) waiting.....and stalking the website daily!!!!!

Hi! WoW, your Wright loss eh the band is way beyond the best Ive ever heard. Amazing. It sounds like it's something you're committed to maintaining. From this perspective, you're going to find A LOT of people on this site who will wholeheartedly endorse your decision to consider the sleeve. We are generally a bunch of passionate sleeve-lovers, if you will. If you speak with folks immediately post -op who've had complications, you'll surely hear some criticism, but we've all seen how those folks tend to love their sleeves in the long run. So here are my thoughts: 1) Yes, the sleeves permanent. Thank God, because I don't want my fat loss to be reversible! You can still, however, eat 'around' your sleeve by grazing or making bad food choices, similar to the band. 2) staying slim gives you your best chance to conceive and maintain a healthy pregnancy. I agreed not to get pregnant for 12 months after surgery, but I am 4 weeks pregnant at 6 months out. I have had to start eating more so I don't lose too fast. I added 350 calories to vet up to 1200 very clean calories per day, and I intend to add 300 more with each trimester. No problems. BTW, we were faithfully using birth control when we conceived. 3) from what I've read, yes he procedures are similar. However, I'm not sue if you can create a feeling of fullness with the band just by drinking like you can with the sleeve. I still have to drink quite slowly, and I wait for 60 minutes after eating to begin drinking. I have never had reflux with my sleeve. 4) there are chances of regaining weight with every surgery, but that risk isn't higher with the sleeve to my knowledge. If you can maintain your weight loss after banding, I believe you will every successful with the sleeve. Hopefully some of the many band-to-sleeve revisions on this site will chime in. Best wishes! And be sure to check out the forum on this site about revisions like you!

I have had 5 other major surgeries and I wasn't as afraid and nervous as I am to have this surgery. I am having a revision from band to Sleeve and my nerves are getting the best of me. I know this feeling is normal but man I think I need some anxiety pills just to get passed these next couple of days.

I was originally banded in 2003 and had a revision with plication yesterday and so far so good! My procedure was to last approximately 60-90 minutes and took over 4 hours as I apparently had a great deal of scar tissue and adhesions on my liver from a previous gallbladder removal as well as other abdominal surgery. My surgeon said that I would be extremely sore with the amount of work that he had to do inside however, I'm feeling pretty good...just like I had a really hard ab workout. Luckily no gas and/or shoulder pains as I had with my original surgery. My biggest problem is nursing my daughter as she just turned one and is now a wiggle worm and likes to contort herself in to many different positions which involve wriggling on my tummy. Unfortunately I strayed from my original surgeon due to an emergency situation to a surgeon that practices in my area and for the past 3 years have struggled as he felt that 2cc's in a 10 cc band was adequate and that once I had a 'good' fill that I would never need another adjustment. Unfortunately I wasn't even able to maintain a fill as he poked a bunch of holes in my tubing and that wasn't found until I returned to my original surgeon who did the revision yesterday. I'm elated at this point that I am able to take a few sips and be full.....heck last week I was able to eat a hamburger off the grill with the bun, baked Beans, and a cucumber salad! My surgeon did ask me what my current fill level was so that he could make sure to place an adequate fill in surgery minus a little to compensate for swelling. I'm finally feeling positive being back on the 'band' wagon and know that my new journey is a fresh start and sooner or later I will get back to goal and the point I was prior to my setbacks.

So my paperwork has been submitted to my insurance company for review! I am excited and very anxious. I recently discovered that my insurance company did a revision to the policy on bariatric surgery and I am not so sure I still meet all the requirements. The old policy actually listed weight watchers as an acceptable 6 month weight loss attempt, the new policy doesn't list any specific program. I am concerned that weight watchers won't count and I will have to do a whole new 6 month program. So I am excited about submission, but I am unfortunately not very optomistic. :-(

It is 42-hours (approximately) until check-in time for Monday's RNY revision from Lap-Band. I am sooo excited and I can't wait to be on the path to a healthy weight and healthier life. I lost a lot of weight with the Lapband at first (100-pounds, 1 1/2-years), but just gained it all back the following 5-years. The "skinny" me was amazing, but gaining the weight back has been heart-breaking. It felt like such a TEASE to only be skinny for that short period of time. I can't wait for the skinnier me to be back again and to have that energy back. Come on "losers bench".

Elisabeth... remember the days when you go through that stage that you WILL make this work, others make it work and YOU will too? ;o) I was determined to force it to work. While I did lose weight I also lost my health and did not get that back until I was sleeved. Hey... Dr. Aceves revision folks, anyone else get that email from Dr. Campos? The survey on why we revised? HAHA I wrote that the band sucks and not only that it sucks the life right out of you! Did anyone else get it and how did you reply? ;o)

Maybe because one of the questions is how your quality of life is with the sleeve and you haven't had one for a week yet? ;o) I don't know how extensive that survery is, if they were just sending it to people that had revisions up to that point or if they are going to be sending them to everyone. Ruthi: 1 in 500,000? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Hi All, I rarely come on the forums anymore. It seems that, once I got past the really tough times with my band to sleeve revision I just drifted away. Anyway, I realized that I will be 2 years post-revision in a couple of weeks and I should probably report in and let the newbies know about my experience. If you want to know specifics about my surgery, you can look through my profile posts - it is hard for me to remember all the details now. I had a lap band for 4 years and it sucked. I got my lap band at 215 pounds and ended up at about 195 pounds and was gaining slowly on top of that. I couldn't eat chicken (did I mention the band SUCKED?). I wanted the band out, but I was afraid I would baloon up higher than ever. For me, the sleeve was an insurance policy. I did not expect it to work because I had already been through weight loss surgery that did not work. Why would I expect anything different the second time around? I was 100% afraid to dream that it might be successful. And, of course, I was wrong The sleeve was everything the band promised and more. On surgery day I was somewhere between 195 and 200. I went to Dr Aceves and would recommend him without hesitation. Band out and sleeve in, took less than 90 minutes. No complications. Good pain management. That's when the tough stuff really started. I couldn't drink the Protein drinks because I couldn't handle the smell or taste. Because of this I barely ate or drank anything for weeks. Everything tasted so weird / bad. I was significantly fatigued for 3 months because could barely get any food in. I chewed my Vitamins and took my omeprazole like a good girl. The apex of my weight loss occured after about 9 months. I got down to about 127 pounds. Mind you, at no time was I ever "trying" to lose weight. In fact, I was "trying" to get enough quality calories in my body. Since I ate so little, I couldn't mess around with junk food - I only ate food with good nutritional value. I also found that Certain foods were just harder to eat. I craved chicken, but I had a hard time eating carrots (they stick!). I would say I didn't feel completely normal until about a year had passed. At this point I have levelled out in the 135-140 range and I am thrilled about it. It is easy for me to get down to 135 (and lower if I wanted to) by just cutting out one snack a day or quitting drinking alcohol altogether. I weigh myself maybe once a month and if I see myself creep towards 138-139, I start cutting out a couple of things and get back to my comfort zone. It has been hard in the last 6 months because my father committed suicide leaving me with a contentious legal battle with his wife. I started drinking a couple of drinks every day because of the stress. That has kept me in the upper end of my range, but it is still easy to maintain. I find as time goes by, I stopped drinking every day and only a couple of times a week - it made me less puffy :-) So, my lifestyle now: I don't exercise. Yes, I know - that's bad. I do have tons more energy and I walk more in my daily life than I ever did before, but I do not engage in regular exercise. I try. I do my best. I'm just being honest. I still have a hard time getting even 30 ounces of Fluid every day. The taste of Water changed for me the day I had surgery and I have had a terrible time replacing it. Sometimes I have fizzy water. Strangely, beer goes down very easily. I developed a Starbucks mocha habit after the first year, but I limit it to one a day and get nonfat most of the time. I also started drinking iced coffee. I eat 5-6 times a day (I limit it to 5 if I am actively trying to manage my weight). I eat protein and veggies. I just started liking sandwiches again, but find bread and rice both expand in my stomach and make me very uncomfortable after I eat them. Even now, I eat too fast sometimes and can be in terrible pain from fullness. I still can't drink after I eat. I drink as much as possible up to the point where I put food in my mouth and then no liquids for an hour or more - PAINFUL!! I could never have done this without the sleeve. I am completely happy with the result. My life isn't "normal" because I still have to think about carrying Snacks with me so I can have good choices while I am out of the house. I still have to eat slowly. I still have people in restaurants badgering me about why I didn't finish my food. The difference is that I wear size 8 jeans and size 4/6 dress. I can walk / run around Disneyland for 10 hours with my daughter without major breaks to sit down. I rode a bike with my kid just this week and it was awesome. I finally feel like I fit in with my world. The outside reflects the inside. I feel much happier now, also, because people are used to me being this size now. Before people were always making a big deal out of the wieght loss. I don't like talking about it. I hated the attention during the loss because I was very guarded about the surgery. Now I have been the same for a year and a half or so, people don't comment about it as much and I love it. My future: well, the biggest surprise for me is that my husband and I are thinking about having another baby. My daughter is 8 and I had my tubes tied 6 years ago. I scheduled my tubal reversal with a specialist in Beverly Hills at the end of March. I will be 39 in a couple of weeks, but the doc says my FSH level is that of a 25 year old and my husbands sperm count and motility is off the charts! I used to be super-fertile before my tubal (just look at me sideways, and I was knocked up!) so we will see if that is still the case in a couple of months. Also, I finally finished my Bachelors degree 21 years after I started :-) I graduate in June. My life rocks! I was already lucky to have a good man, a great child, good job, and overall good health. The sleeve and weight loss are the icing on the cake for me. I'm a lucky lady. With gratitude, Lara

I'm working on a revision too. I also want the sleeve. Why'd you change your mind? How long have you had your band? I'm not having much success with the band, and some other issue, so my doctor isn't very happy with the band for me. It was his suggestion (much to my surprise!) but I'm ok with it...

Funny you ask this, when I got my first band almost 8 years ago, my insurance paid 100 percent, I had really good insurance, I did not pay a dime. Fast forward I changed jobs over the years I've had my band and last year, when I learned that I had a hiatal hernia which was causing pain when I tried to fill the band optimally, my new employer had a exclusion for any type of bariatric surgery. Which means if I wanted a revision to another weight loss surgery like the Sleeve or RNY they would not pay for a revision surgery. But what I found out, they would pay for ANY complications related to my band which also meant replacing the band if medically necessary, so I had my old band removed, hiatal hernia repaired, new AP band, port, tubing put in all in one surgery and I did not pay 1 penny, no co-pay, nothing. BUT I had really good insurance with a PPO that paid for any type of hospitalization at 100 percent. So it all depends on how good your insurance is, and if you have good insurance and you have a complication, they SHOULD pay to either fix any port issues, or if necessary replace the band. Good luck.

Congrats NaNa on your success! May I ask about your second band? How did your insurance (if any) react to that? I only ask bc we are a military family and my insurance is very definitive about paying for only one bariatric type surgery. When I inquired they said complications would be covered but I didn't think to ask about revisions or replacements.....

I had my revision on 8/29/13 and so far I'm allowed pureed but have been mainly drinking my protein drinks, water, milk, and coffee. I've had grits twice as well as a bit of thinned Noosa Yoghurt which is divine. I'm getting very sick of the sweet so I've also had some Spicy V8. I'm not really all that hungry yet which is a good thing and I've been sticking to my 2-3 oz limits on non liquids. I think by the end of puree which for me is 2 weeks we can then go up to 3-4 oz on mechanical soft. I have always found it funny how much each surgeon and program differ in their pre-op requirements and post-op plans and it always drives me batty because I don't want to be the one doing too much or too little. I'm basically letting my body give me cues and trying to push the head hunger from boredom and smelling what my family is eating to the back of my mind...although some scrambled eggs smelled so good yesterday I just about cried.

Finally got letter of med necessity from PCP today. Shes been on vacation, completed the 3 month thing last week. I got all teary when I read ot, turned it in....last thing. Cigna denied me once already...did not think original.PCP letter was detailed enough (wasnt really, I had to advocate for myself to get the bulk of info the wanted to see included....wrote my own basically, Dr revised it). They also did not.accept 5 YEARS worth of weight, bmi, bp, fat% etc from a medically managed weight loss program that also used nutritional counseling, etc. In absence of food/diet/exercise documentation, they deemed it solely pharmacological. Didnt count. I was crushed, but glad it worked out this way.....totally believe in Gods timing. So.... Excited, nervous....emotional.... Trying to be patient , planning as if.... Please cross your fingers, pray, do whatever....I am so ready.for this change I can feel it deep down..... Thanks!!!!

I might be! I'm waiting for the insurance company to give me the thumbs up or down. If up, I should be on July 29 too! I'm a revision from Band to Sleeve.

My revision surgery is coming up, June 25th...

I had my revision September 10, 2012 and it was absolutely the best decision I could have made. I learned all the things I needed to know: small portions/bites, eating slowly, no drinking with food, what foods to eat with the band so the transition was seamless. Reached goal weight in 6 months less a day!! Best wishes to you!!

MJ - I agree, your journey has been a challenge. But I like your commitment and know that will take you a long way. I have been very, very lucky. I am a band to sleeve revision, my surgeon suggested the surgery, and by some miracle, Medicare approved the band removal AND the sleeve. Amazing. Of course, they have lots of hoops to jump through, but It's very worth it and is only taking a little over a month (thanks to some pushing from my surgeon's office). Today I saw the Psych and took the 567 question MMPI, definitely the most ridiculous hurdle. I hadn't seen that instrument since grad school, and can't believe they are still using it. Unless you affirmatively answer questions that ask if you think often about suicide/cutting, etc, it's pretty hard to "flunk" this "test." Anyway, it sounds like you MIGHT be of Medicare age (the 18 grandkids so indicate). If so, and you haven't checked on their coverage, don't give up on them. My surgery is March 3, coming fast. Only made the decision a few weeks ago. It's a bigger eating pattern change than the band, but also more effective, according to almost everyone. Good luck on your journey! (I wonder if there is a support group for "Senior Sleevers?" Karen W

We have a revision clinic here in AB. If you don't have one there, maybe you can get referred to this one? I know people come from SK for their surgeries.

I did mine at the same time. My band slipped back in June and I waited over 2 months for my insurance to cover the revision surgery. Once they approved, I scheduled my surgery. Had it on the 11th with an overnight stay in the hospital. I am so glad it is all said and done!

I see ur big day is right behind mines. I think we all have our fears be it the initial WLS or revision. Wishing u much success becoming a sleever we will both be on the losing team racing towards a normal BMI soon.

You are going to have to weigh the risks of each. There are many, many threads on here asking others these questions, but surely you have to know there is nobody on here who can answer that question. Do your research and understand the risks. Then, it is up to you to determine what your risk tolerance is and then proceed from there. There are those who have issues with GERD increasing after sleeve. LilMissDiva and Susan are researching getting a revision right now. Those are the only two here I can think of, but there may be others. You can search for these two members using the site's search functionality and send them a PM. They are both very open to sharing their WLS experience. But I know far, far more people who, like myself, suffered GERD issues and have had their problems resolved with the sleeve. I just responded to a post earlier (search my content) saying I had to have Tums all over (work, bedside, kitchen, car) and was a prilosec fiend. I have taken two Tums once since my surgery. I have heard of people having leaks with the sleeve ... malabsorption with RnY ... strictures with the sleeve ... bowel obstruction with Rny ... There are risks ... but do your research and determine which risks are realistic for you. Good luck and keep researching and asking questions.