I just went to my educational seminar and was wondering why ya'll did not choose the vertical sleeve. I know why I am not choosing by-pass, but the vertical sleeve is interesting me.

Just curious.

Babette

Most insurance companies will only cover the lapband or bypass.

The lapband is reversible.

With the sleeve, they cut off a good portion of your stomach and toss it in the trash. Not reversible.

The lapband is adjustable and can be tweaked as time goes on.

The sleeve is a one time deal and once you stretch it, you're out of luck.

I don't see the interest in the sleeve myself, I'd go bypass if not lapband.

It is all personal preference. I wish you luck in whatever choice you make.

if i knew about sleeve before ihad my lap-band i would love to have it. !

Hey! I am so interested in your city! I look up pictures of some of the attractions (extravagant attractions) for my children to see. I would love for you to send some pictures of your city to me. babettegrffn@yahoo.com if it is okay. I am a sociology buff and love different cultures.

How has your weight loss been?

Babette

I am more comfortable with the least-invasive route possible. That was my primary reason for choosing the band.

I think the sleeve is an interesting procedure, and will be interested in watching its long-term success/complication rate; it's still considered experimental.

Which brings me to the second reason I chose the band: it's not experimental.

And that leads directly to the third reason: my insurance won't cover experimental procedures!

If, for some reason, I encounter difficulties down the road, I would consider revision to the sleeve if it turns out to be as promising as it seems. But I am confident in my decision to go with the band, at this point, and have no reason to think I will have problems.

I actually WANTED the Sleeve ... But my BMI was just UNDER the cut off. I needed to gain 7 pounds in order to get it! lol My Dr wouldnt let me go up since we were working on going down... So, I chose to be banded.

My surgeon is just starting to do sleeves...and definitely, my insurance company wouldn't pay for it.

So, given the choice between a RNY and a band, I decided that I was more comfortable personally with a band, given all the pros and cons.

It's early days yet for me, but so far, I've had no reason to regret the decision.

Best, Christine

Well, the band works perfectly for me so far but i'm intrigued by the sleeve too.

Its just with the band there's this expectation that it will fail somewhere down the track. I guess I really dont think it will be in me forever. Having spent several years on this forum, I fully expect slippage or something to occur further on down the track. I like the thought of ONE surgery FOREVER.

But that's the downside of the sleeve to me too. I dont wnat only 15% of my stomach left. And the longer the sleeve's been done, if you hang round sleeve forums at all, there ARE problems with it, food and lactose intolerances and reflux being the most common, not to mention the problems people have with their stomach not being made small enough and not being able to lose all their weight. The more I read, the more it sounds like the band - a good workable surgery that works well for some but has to be undertaken with a view to having to tolerate side effects.

I dont know, I like that if the band is reversible.

I think adjustability is a HUGE bonus too. I dont want to be thinking about small bites, chew chew chew and avoid bread when I'm completely senile, 90 years old and about 80lb. I dont want to get too skinny, but I like having a means to prvent me getting fat too - gain weight, tighten band, lose weight. It works that simply for me but I know it doesnt for everyone.

I also think personally that I have a WAY better and healthier diet than most sleevers I've read about. With my weight normalised and a lot of exercise, i can eat as much as most people with a smallish to normal appetite - which means I am WAY better nourished than someone who lives on 800 calories a day forever.

good question

i had no idea about the sleeve when i chose the band. i like that the band can be reversed. if in the future it has to come out who knows. i want to wait to see the longer results of the sleeve too, i have not researched it much.

I haven't been banded yet (Wednesday!!!), but I ruled out bypass or the sleeve because of the permanence. I like that the band can be reversed or removed if there are problems or if life changes in my future deems it necessary.

But, I have to say that I did get intrigued with the sleeve procedure when I saw that the weight loss rate is pretty close to that of the bypass, AND when my insurance company told me that they actually PREFER the sleeve over the band. It shocked me, but I'm sticking with the band. It's the right thing for me.

Wendy

I am an NHS bandster, here in the UK. The way it works withthe NHS is that you are referred to a bariatric specialist who makes the decision for you...so I was given a band.

I have obviously made contact with various other patients under the same specialist and the way it seems to work (I think) is that if your problem is just large portions you get the band, if you just eat junk, you get the bypass (malabsorptive and restrictive, but more of a focus on malabsorption), if you eat large portions of junk you get the sleeve. Having said that, I have to say this is just my observation and I could be entirely wrong - my job means that I have to stay away from asking too many questions of the people I encounter who have had bariatric surgery.:thumbup: