Hello!

I have had my band now for 5 months. Not only is my weight loss slow, but I HATE all the trips to the Dr. for fills and I cant stand that pain I get if I happen to not chew my food enough. I really thought I would only need a fill or 2 to get to where I needed to be. I have decided to take the band out and get the sleeve. I know some people may think it a bit premature, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that this band is NOT for me. I really just wanted some opinions.....am I jumping the gun? I have made arrangements and have a surgery date of 4/13. I got banded in November and have only lost 24 lbs, 9 of that was the first week. Tell me, what do you think? I think Im making a good move, but sometimes an unbiased opinion is good to get.

Corinna

Only you can decide - If its not working for you, then you have to make a decision. However, regardless of what surgery you have, if you don't chew your food enough, you're gonna have some discomfort. I think with the band and the bypass, its more intense than with the sleeve, but there is a valid reason for having to chew chew chew!

Not knowing how much you have to lose, starting weight, etc - its hard to say what the average weight should be for someone with the band or sleeve to compare yourself with. But bottom line, if the band isn't for you, its not for you.

Just know that with the band you can take it out - its not permanent - think long and hard about the sleeve - there's no changing it. That being said, I'm over the moon about mine. I thought for a very long time about it.

I personally don't think you are jumping the gun. I am a nurse in a clinic and I have seen about 10 people get the band in the last 4 years and NOT ONE of them are happy with or have lost more than 30lbs. 30lbs!!!!! This sleeve is the best thing I ever did for myself personally. I am less than 10lbs from goal- I have no side effects, I didnt go bald, I have zero loose skin, and I am in a size 10 for the first time since I was 8 years old.

I feel your pain. I had the band over 2 years ago and actually lost about 90 pounds with the band. When I reached that point I vitually stopped losing weight and the scale never moved again. I too was tired of the constant checks and fills and at this point I was at the max fill. I was having constant vomiting due to food getting stuck and not being able to go through. No matter how much I chewed my food I was having constant problems. I went to my surgeon and he told me that there was not much that they could do and that looking back I probably should have had the sleeve due to the amount of weight that I had to lose. Well I thought thats great.....fine time to tell me now. My insurance denied the removal of the band and they would not pay for the sleeve. The cost for me to have it done out of pocket would have been over $40,000. This would have been a surgery to removed the band and then 5 months later they would have done the sleeve. I was really down and when talking to my brother in CA one day he told me that a friend of his had just has surgery in Tijuana and was doing great. I got her number and called and spoke to her several times. I did some research on the surgery in Mexico and found that if I did not have a lot of scaring from the band that they could take it out and do the sleeve in a single procedure. I called to schedule the surgery and was planning on going with the doctor that my brothers friend had but he was not available when I could get time off to have the surgery so I went with Dr F Garcia. He was wonderful and I had my surgery on Dec 11, 2011. My surgery in Mexico with travel costs came to around $6000......BIG DIFFERENCE. I am so happy with my sleeve that I can not believe it. I have only vomited once since I had the surgery and that was totally my fault. I do not miss the fills or the vomiting. If this is what you want I support you 1000%. Do not wait to long as you could end up having your band slip or risk the formation of scar tissue forming around the band. If you have any other questions for me please ask. Best of luck and you new life with the band,

I know that LilMissDiva has posted many times that she is a revision from band to sleeve. You may want to ping her. She is super helpful and honest about her experiences. Good luck to you!!!

I personally don't think you are jumping the gun. I am a nurse in a clinic and I have seen about 10 people get the band in the last 4 years and NOT ONE of them are happy with or have lost more than 30lbs. 30lbs!!!!! This sleeve is the best thing I ever did for myself personally. I am less than 10lbs from goal- I have no side effects' date=' I didnt go bald, I have zero loose skin, and I am in a size 10 for the first time since I was 8 years old.[/quote']

I really want to lose weight but I'm scared that I won't be able to eat or will be throwing up a lot like with my Lapland.

I had more health issues after surgery than before. My reflux got extremely worse which led to bronchities every 3-6 months, my BP was always high, snoring got worse, I lost a lot of hair. But now I'm scared of the hair loss, and losing too much weight, not enough Protein and the throwing up.

Any advise?

Well I have decided to go ahead with my revision. My husband is totally not supporting my choice at all. I am taking a chance of this ending our marriage, but if it ends over this...I guess it wasnt very strong to begin with. I am thrilled to start on my journey!!

C~

I wish you great success!

I had the band for 10 years. I lost 70# the first year, but honestly, it was by dieting. I of course eventually regained everything after having to have the Fluid removed. I do not feel that the band works that well for most people but I do think I learned some things from the experience. I do not have any of that pain from eating like I remember from the band, and I guess that is partly due to knowing to chew carefully etc. The sleeve has been a much much better experience for me so far.

My advice would be, take a look at why you're not losing weight, and go from there. Fills fall into place for some, and for others it takes months of up/down adjustments to hit a sweet spot. I personally never had what I would consider a sweet spot. I was either too tight or too loose, so I opted to stay too loose and make up for the difference myself.

What is your intake? What fill level are you at, with what band size? What foods are you eating? Etc. What are your behaviors around food?

I have no idea how much weight you have to lose but about 25 pounds in 3 - 4 months is not bad weight loss. I've seen a lot of sleevers with similar loss rates, so don't assume that the sleeve = faster/more loss.

I lost in the neighborhood of 175 - 200 lbs with my lapband over the 5.5 years I had it. That includes about 18 months "stuck" at the same weight. I had just started to lose weight again, when I ended up on the trail that led me to need it removed. I'm glad I had my lapband, but I just don't see it as a permanent solution.

Do I personally think you're jumping the gun - maybe, but I really can't say for sure unless I knew something about "why" it wasn't working.

Ultimately it is your decision. I can tell you that every single day since i got the sleeve (5 weeks ago) I think what a blessing it is. It is 100% better than the band. I only wish I had the option for the sleeve when I was banded 5 years ago, but I would have that instead and avoided all the headaches I had with the band (2 port replacements , multiple leaks and fills every 3 weeks for 5 years!

Do it and don't look back!

There is such a wealth of good advice here. Good luck with whatever decision you make!