Hi All...I have been reading and lurking on here and after alot of thought, soul searching and prayer I think I might be ready to go down the WLS road...again!

I was banded back in 2008 and had all the normal PB, slime, vomiting and general crud that you have when you are banded. But I did lose 50# so I was willing to deal. Until Dec 2010 when it slipped and completely blocked my stomach. So thanks to Dr. Fisher at Kaiser Richmond, he removed the blasted thing and lo and behold I could eat again....

Fast forward a year and I have regained all the weight I lost and it brought friends. I am soooo discouraged since I now weigh MORE than I did when I got banded. And it doesn't seem to matter what I do, I can't seem to lose it. (of course 2 years of eating or trying to eat banded probably messed with my metabolism a little bit...not that it was good to begin with). So here I am back looking on the internet and considering my options.

I had not done any research on the sleeve when I got banded (dr didn't offer it) or I probably would have gone with it then. However, I am more than a little nervous about going down the road again since to be honest I hated the band. So please tell me how the sleeve is different from the band? Aside from the obvious. I want to know the real stuff, even the bad stuff, I don't want to go from bad to worse.

Thanks all....

Vicki

I too had the band and lost around 80 pounds and then I hit a stall......but this stall last for over a year. I did not gain and I did not lose. The only problem was eating and the constant vomiting which scared me as I was sure that this was going to cause the band to slip. I went to the doctor that did my band and told me that I should have probably had the sleeve.....thanks but a little late. I tried to go through my insurance again since I was still having sleep apnea and also hypertension. They denied the surgery. I still had around 100 pounds to lose so I started to check into surgery in Mexico. My brother had a friend in California who had recently been to Tijuana and had the surgery. I spoke to her on the phone several times and did some research. I decided to go ahead with the surgery and I had some time off from work. I booked my surgery with Dr Garcia and had surgery Dec 11, 2011. All of my friends that that I had lost my mind since I was having surgery just before Christmas.....what about eating all that good food and cookies. Well it was not about the food but my health that pushed me onward. I had my band removed and the sleeve procedure done at the same time so I did not have the opportunity to gain all the weight back that I lost with the band. I do not regret my decicion one single day and hope that by this summer I will be to where I would like to be and feel more like living again.........I say go for it.

Thank you everyone for your experience with the sleeve. I really appreciate it.

I am still undecided and weighing the pros and cons.

I had a tough night yesterday and today with the band. I had some food get stuck yesterday and was miserable. I have seemed to have gotten into this pattern that when I get food stuck, I have to eat next to nothing until my stomach goes back to normal.

Last night, I had acid relux when I laid down to sleep. I was getting up every 30 minutes. I had to sleep on the couch propped up because when I laid down flat, the reflux would come up. I was so exhausted that I missed work today. My band is not tight anymore this morning but this has happened twice in the last month. Last time, I went to the ER to meet my doctor and she took out 3 cc's. I have no warning about things getting stuck. I eat slowly and small amounts but it still got stuck! I thought I might have to do that today but so far, I seem okay.

I hope I don't have the acid reflux tonight.

Becca and Andy...thanks for sharing your experience. I have made up my mind. I'm getting sleeved...now I just have to get my insurance/doctors to agree with me! LOL

Ellendeette, has your doctor checked for a slip?? Sounds like the same thing I went though. Couldn't eat, bad reflux etc. Had all the Fluid removed from my band and it was better for a few weeks...then it started again. This time I could barely swallow Water and the acid reflux was HORRIBLE!! This time they checked and it had slipped so bad it was sitting vertically and basically cutting off my stomach....and that was it, it came out!!

Keep your fingers crossed and send some prayers my way. I'm really hoping doors continue to open and everything just goes through smoothly!

Vicki

Yes, I was checked for a slip when I was in the ER a few weeks ago. They did a CAT-scan. It showed that my stomach was quite swollen and the top of my stomach (above the band) was enlarged. She said all due to a band that was too tight. My doctor took out 3 cc's and I had immediate relief.

This new bout yesterday with getting stuck, slimming, and acid reflux is very similar to what I had a couple weeks ago.

I am seriously giving the sleeve my attention. Good luck to you and please keep us posted on your progress. I will keep you in my prayers that all goes well!

I was told by my surgeon when I last saw her as a followup to my ER experience that my next step was scheduling for a psych eval. She said that she was quite sure my insurance would cover it.

Now I am wondering from these recent posts whether they will take my band out and do the sleeve procedure at the same time. Some people have had the experience of taking the band out and waiting. My doctor didn't say anything about the next steps after I do my psych eval and get my medical insurance to approve it.

I wish they had taken mine out and sleeved me at the same time. But to be honest, I didn't even ask. At the time I just wanted it out of my body! But I have read on here of other people that have it done at the same time. Definitely something to ask the dr about. One surgery instead of 2!

ellendeete - your experiences sound like a textbook slip. Being too tight for a prolonged amount of time does not normally just come on out of nowhere. It can cause similar symptoms, but periods of extreme tightness are usually acute, not recurring. Hopefully your unfill will take care of it, but if you don'tget any more fill and continue to have symptoms, even if they have a slow onset, consider pursuing a total unfill for a few weeks.

The reflux was my main symptom that read slip. My body "tolerated" my slip in that I still had restriction, could still eat/drink, etc. It started off just a bit of reflux now and then. But I knew when I would have it. You know how our bands give us those weird pressure feelings, and over time you learn to know what they mean? I had one that meant, "If you go to sleep now, you will reflux." I really can't think of how else to describe it other than - it wasn't my "full" pressure, and it wasn't my "uh oh" pressure. It didn't hurt. I'm not even sure I'd say it was uncomfortable. But it was persistent. If I could clear it before I went to bed I would be fine. Usually the only way I could do this was to drink a fair amount of something extremely cold, like a slushy frozen drink. Anything else would just cause more discomfort. And sometimes I would have a referred pain in my hip, like where your hand sits if you put your hand on your hip, and it would last for 2 or 3 days. But my band was a referred pain junkie, so that never seemed unusual for me.

At first the reflux was just a time or two at night, a tiny amount, and only if I was laying on my right side. Then it started to be several times. Then both sides. Then flat and propped up (it even happened if I dozed off sitting up). Then it started happening every time I would doze off. Twice I aspirated it and got aspiration pneumonia. I was started to have concern for the integrity of my esophagus. About 4 nights before my band was coming out DH and I had had some popcorn after dinner. I refluxed popcorn hulls. And the taste/experience of reflux already gets me on the verge of losing it (I gag easily)... so try now having to fish out popcorn hulls that you ate 6 hours ago. That was the night I officially wanted it the "F" out of me.

My other symptom that had me start thinking slip was that when I would irp something back up, which happened very rarely my last few years of banding (actually outside of my first year, it rarely happened at all), I would taste stomach acid. This is part of why I tend to harp on bandsters not to use "vomit" for their symtpoms unless they are actually vomiting (as in, brining up stomach contents which includes acid & partially digested foods). What we did was not stomach contents, it was a bit of food in foamy or non-foamy egg white saliva, right? So if someone says "I vomited" and someone says "I irped up something that looked like shampoo lather" -- totally different experiences. Moral of the story -- if you ever irp and taste stomach acid, go have your band checked. If you ever irp and then actually have the urge to vomit, go have your band checked. If you irp and actually vomit after/during, go have your band checked. If you irp something that looks weird, like coffee grounds, go have your band checked.

WHen I had my band put in I hoped it would last forever, but I'm not impetuous enough to believe it would so I was already considering my Plan B. About 3 years ago, that started seriously looking like the sleeve. So when the time came, I didn't have to scramble and figure out what to do. I already knew the CPT code, so I already knew my insurance covered it. I already knew what it would involve. I'd already lurked here and read all I could on band-to-sleeve differences. Etc. I don't mean all of that to say "look how great & prepared I am," I mean it to say that you're doing the absolute right thing by thinking about it now. Probably your band will have to come out some day (hopefully it won't, but I don't know very many people banded for say 5+ years who are still banded), and you'll be that much ahead of the game if your Plan B is in place.

The risk for complication goes way up when both removal & revision are performed in the same procedure. I just read statistics over this a few weeks ago and it was something like < 1% for "virgin" stomachs, 3% for revisions with a waiting period, and 32% for 2-in-1 procedures.

My surgeon requires two months between procedures. Unfortunately thanks to an insurance run around, my "2 months" is now going to be 6. (I first got a denial, which I appealed and won - but by the time all that happened there wasn't time to schedule me in before my insurance changed, so I had to start over in January...)

I wish they had taken mine out and sleeved me at the same time. But to be honest, I didn't even ask. At the time I just wanted it out of my body! But I have read on here of other people that have it done at the same time. Definitely something to ask the dr about. One surgery instead of 2!

Oh, I didn't know the complication rate went up. Then I'm glad that I had a year or more between...

Keep me posted, I'll be anxious to see how you do with the sleeve and what your comparison is.

Good Luck Wheetsin!!

I agree with you about so many things. I thought my band slipped a few weeks ago but the CAT-scan said otherwise. I was throwing up what looked like coffee and possibly blood, that is what got me into the ER rather than waiting to see my doctor when her office opened. I did not have any stomach acid as you mention above. It was the lapband version.

I have had a slip before and my saliva didn't even go down. It was a nightmare!

I also agree. I don't think the bands are meant to be in your for extended periods of time. I have been hearing more and more people having slips and having their band removed.

When my first band slipped, my doctor put down on my request from Blue Cross "lapband or gastric sleeve." Blue Cross approved me for the lapband rather than the sleeve. I wish I would have listened to my doctor and just went with the sleeve.

Here I am again with the decision to do the sleeve. I also have to find out from my doctor whether they will do it two-step (band out in one surgery and then another surgery for the gastric sleeve) or one-step.

Thanks for your feedback. Please post again about your progress to the sleeve.

Hi I am new to this site and have been reading on band to sleeve revision,, for the last 2 yrs this is something I have been considering but been to scared to do,, so finally i stumble on to this wonderful site and finally getting the reassurances that I needed to take the leap and do the revision..I am now booked in on 16th of march to remove the band and will be revised 2 months after that.. please please tell me I am doing the right thing, so sick of the restrictions, reflux, etc associated with the band..please tell me that I can eat out with friends and not have to excuse myself to dash off to the ladies to regurgitate blocked food only to return redfaced and making excuses as to why I ran off...cheers