Well guys, I wrote before that I had a Dr.'s appointment today and I think I may give this band one more try. I feel that maybe It was all my fault for not completely following all the rules. I think I ate more than I should have. but I never felt full and always hungry no matter how tight my band was. Always filled and unfilled for 3 yrs. I have been unfilled for the past 2 months now. The good news is that I only gained 1pound. The bad news is that he told me that the band has done all its going to do for me and that I have a dilated pouch. I had 80 lbs to lose and in all have only lost 45. I still have diabetes and still on meds for high B/P and cholesterol. I thought that being banded would get me in control of these things but its not going to happen. He did mention that my option now is to go without a band,be sleeved, or have pypass. I would think that by-pass may be too much since I only have 30-40 more pounds to lose. Please give me some feed back. Were any of you in this situation?

You've got to ask yourself if you are ready to follow the rules and eat the right amounts of food for any type of surgery? Overeating is the cause of a dilated pouch.

In gastric or the sleeve, you can stretch the stomach and it does not go back. I have heard of banded folks who have stretched their pouches and their Dr's have put them on a rigorous 30 day liquid diet and did a complete unfill to try and remedy the situation. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

And then there are people that have lapbands over their bypasses........

I have a couple of friends who had the sleeve after lap band problems. They both seem thrilled with it and like they don't have to pay for the fills and unfills and deal with all of the maintenance and complications. It's really up to you and what you feel comfortable with. Just remember--with the gastric bypass you lose an important function--your pyloric valve. Please look that up-there is a lot of information about the pyloric valve on the web and why losing its function can create havoc. Doctors are now thinking of changing the bypass in the future to somehow keep the pyloric valve in tact rather than creating a stoma. The sleeve allows you to keep your stoma. Good luck!

Thank you everyone for the input. The band did help me to lose weight that I know for a fact I couldn't have done alone. I hate that I may have to lose it. although I'm no longer losing with it, for some crazy reason I feel secure with it being there.