Hey everyone,

Hoping I can get some help here. I had my appt with my doctor yesterday and he recommended the sleeve. I have been focused on the band since I decided to do a wls so now I'm a little confused. Curious as to why people picked the sleeve instead of the lap band. At the end of the day, I know it's my decision but I would like to get some feedback in the mean time. If you have good, bad and ugly stories I would love to hear them all. No sense in sugar coating what's to be expected if I decide to go with the sleeve. Thanks in advance!!

Hi' date=' I would like to tell you my experience with the band. I had the band placed 4/11/2011, and rite from the beginning I was having problems, I had unbelievable gas pains in my shoulder- the doctor told me to walk and take gas-x, it was a little better but never went away. Then I always had a pain in my throat I was told that was my bodies way of telling me I was full even though I told them I never ate anything. The doctor did a fill and that was the worst it literally felt like I was being strangled. I never lost a pound. I started to realize that I could not eat anything solid... ever. I would throw up all the time. I went back and forth to my doctor for a year and a 1/2 and explained all these concerns and kept telling him I was feeling so terrible but he did not want to hear it. He kept on continuing to tell me the band was the greatest and he was the greatest surgeon also. I finally went to another doctor, who thank god sat and really listened to me. He ran a whole bunch of test 1 being a endoscope and then a cat scan. to find out that my band was never put in properly it was placed to high and I had a large hole in my stomache, from the erosion. They removed the band rite away, and now it has been 6 months since my band was removed and now I am scheduled for the sleeeve on August 7. The big picture is the sleeve or the band like any WLS can give you complications but what I went through with the band was horrible and at least I know after the sleeve it will just be my stomache to heal and then I am on my way to losing weight. You also loose alot more weight with the sleeve then with the band. With the band you need to keep going banck and forth for adjustments and you always feel the band in your stomache. Best of luck with what ever you choose.[/quote']

Wow thats crazy. Thank you for sharing your story. I wish you the best if luck!!

My OPINION: I was also stuck on the band for the sole purpose of the ability to reverse if necessary and be ause it was the least invasive. The truth is that the band works both short term and long term. However' date=' complications can and most LIKELY will for the rest of your life. Think about this, the band will be in your body for the next 50 yrs of your life or so depending on how long you live. That is a long time for your body to up and decide to renect it at anytime. That is also a long time and many doctor appts to maintain it. I havent heard of many folks who have kept it in for over 10 yrs without a significant problem. Note that i havent read everyones story i am telling you what changed my mind. For the sleeve, it seemed i vasive but i got yo thinking that we have appendix removed, gallbladder, parts of lungs, colon and etc and end up being fine. With the sleeve, no maintanence can mean saving money. I know they take out a PART of your stomach but there is still stomach there when they are done. I wrote this on phone with fat fingers, sorry for typos.[/quote']

Lol I got what you were saying. Thanks for sharing with me.

My PCM sent me to the seminar with my thought of getting the lapband done. Whenever I call to make my appointment for the seminar the nurse there asked me have I ever considered the sleeve gastrectomy' date=' I asked did tricare pay for that bc ive not heard of it. She said yes but just to do some research on it before coming to the seminar which would be one month later. So on that same day I started researching everything looking for every forum reading every post! By the time I made it to the seminar 30 days later I knew that I wanted the sleeve. I had over 30 questions prewritten for the surgeon, nut nd psychologist. The surgeon talked about all 3 nd gave stats from their surgical experience as well as other stats. We had mostly sleevers, 2 bands nd 2 who were told that gbs was their hope bc of bmis over 50 or 60, so b4 it was over, one of the band people left, nd the other chose sleeve nd the gbs stayed the same and we had over 20 people or so. It is an individual choice but do ur hw, don't let ur mind be changed by anything other than YOUR OWN research and prayers. But like I said, take heed to what people who've had lapband revision and know y they had it bc I doubt anyone wud just change from lapband to vgs unless it was medically necessary. Nd one more 2 cent, it is a foreign object in ur body, which will try nd reject it at whatever costs, not to mention always having to be stuck in the belly to refill or maintain the band. I'm glad that my research helped me make the decision to be sleeved. Can't wait for my date. God bless nd gl w ur choice:) . Sorry, p.s. I didn't want gbs bc I love sweets, which they say u can nvr ever have wo dumping it, nd I don't want my insides rerouted. I just need help, which I feel the vgs tool will provide for me. If it was all about just losing weight so fast, id have gbs, not sayn that that's why people do it. What I mean is, w vgs, I feel w the rate of weight loss, I'll learn how to help myself make better choices for the rest of my life. , Dee Dee[/quote']

Thank you soo much for sharing. I'm doing a lot of research and learning a lot. Good luck to you :-)

I work at a major hospital and the bariatric surgeons here will not even do a band anymore. The only bands they do are removing ones from other hospitals that don't do them well.

Thanks everyone for your input. I'm really starting to think about my options. I'm also on the lap band forum and people are always talking about the banaster hell. Not sure if I want to go through that considering all I want to be is healthy lol. I'm continuing my research. Thanks again and good luck to everyone!!

I also started my journey thinking I wanted the band. I watched online seminar and liked what I heard about the sleeve. But really I'm really picky about my doctors and the surgeon I chose will no longer do the band procedure. She said her reasoning was because too many of her patients were coming back to have a revision because they were not losing enough weight with it. So that made my mind up. I am hoping to have mine done by the end of August.

I also decided on WLS surgery thinking band b/c I have a coworker who has been quite successful. But when I went to my clinic's info session, the surgeon who leads ther program said she will not place any more bands b/c she thinks they areon the verge of FDA recall due to the high number of side effects. one of their surgeons is willing, but hearing her opinion really made me rethink this. I also learned that the band makes acid reflux worse, and doesn't change any of the body's chemistry that supports obesity. With the sleeve, there will be hormonal changes that reduce hunger.

The band is touted as reversible. That is one of the things that sold me. Well it might be but the damage it could do is not reversible. I had my revision from band to sleeve on 6/25. In the band's defense though, I was not able to gain a lot of weight. Although it was because I could not eat half the time lol.

Oh and with he band when it was working I never felt full. Or satisfied. I am 9 days postop and I hope this feeling stays but I get Full!!! Like thanksgiving day full. I have not had tat feeling in 6 years. That always bothered me.

All that being said, there are people who are successful with the band and go on and live healthy lives. Do your research and find a surgeon that you trust and they can help you decide on which option would be best for you. Good luck ith your decision. I am hoping the second time is the charm for me

Hey everyone,

Hoping I can get some help here. I had my appt with my doctor yesterday and he recommended the sleeve. I have been focused on the band since I decided to do a wls so now I'm a little confused. Curious as to why people picked the sleeve instead of the lap band. At the end of the day, I know it's my decision but I would like to get some feedback in the mean time. If you have good, bad and ugly stories I would love to hear them all. No sense in sugar coating what's to be expected if I decide to go with the sleeve. Thanks in advance!!

I opted for the sleeve verses the band because I have 100+ lbs. I need to loose. I have a friend that has the band and it was not successful for them. When meeting with my doctor, they stated that they don't do the band as often and may stop doing it all together. The band as time slips and causes issues, some of which will lead to patients getting the sleeve later.

I opted not to do a bypass in that I thought it would be too harsh for me. I think too that I am young enough to stay active and keep the weight down with the sleeve.

Also surgery's the doctors suggest are based on your BMI also.

I chose the sleeve because my doctor said she strongly suggested that no one ever get the band again. There has even been talk of it being taken off the market because of the failure rate.