Bands to Sleeves less successful

[stefaniwg 172]

I don't believe that information to be true. The sleeve is all what the band promised to be but could not deliver. I revised from the band to sleeve on May 22nd and it was the best thing I could have ever done for myself. For years I suffered with trying to eat properly with the band and ended up in pain and vomiting almost at every meal. That is no way to live. I went to my surgeon here in the states about a revision and he told me that he no longer suggest the band to anyone due to the chronic failure his patients were having and suggested that I move forward in revising to the sleeve. He didn't do my revision but that was due to insurance. In 4 months I have lost 35 pounds which is way more than I lost in that amount of time with the band. My dr removed as much scar tissue as he possibly could so that he could give me a proper sleeve. I have not had any issues and wish I would have gotten the sleeve in the first place.

[klelly1 20]

This is what happened with me and the band..... i decided to have the band because i was obese. i was obese because i ate way too much food. not because i was a sugar or carb addict. I did not have a sugar and carb addiction before the band. I repeat... too much food too often. After i had the band I had nothing but problems. I could not eat meats, poultry, eggs, vegetables or fruit without it coming right back up. so what does one do eventually, eat what stays down. which is slider foods, sugar, carbs, etc. I am having a revision to the sleeve soon, which my doctor says he has seen way better results for the people that had the band and had problems, and switched to the sleeve. Meanwhile he unfilled my band so I can eat , how how i had missed these healthy foods! So my plan is that when i get the sleeve , I will still eat healthy as I have been since the unfill and i will be restricted to the amounts i can eat and be successful. It sounds like some people dont understand how and why some of us with the failed lapband/self experience ended up on the failing end. Good Luck to all and good luck to me! :-)

[klelly1 20]

This is what happened with me and the band..... i decided to have the band because i was obese. i was obese because i ate way too much food. not because i was a sugar or carb addict. I did not have a sugar and carb addiction before the band. I repeat... too much food too often. After i had the band I had nothing but problems. I could not eat meats, poultry, eggs, vegetables or fruit without it coming right back up. so what does one do eventually, eat what stays down. which is slider foods, sugar, carbs, etc. I am having a revision to the sleeve soon, which my doctor says he has seen way better results for the people that had the band and had problems, and switched to the sleeve. Meanwhile he unfilled my band so I can eat , how how i had missed these healthy foods! So my plan is that when i get the sleeve , I will still eat healthy as I have been since the unfill and i will be restricted to the amounts i can eat and be successful. It sounds like some people dont understand how and why some of us with the failed lapband/self experience ended up on the failing end. Good Luck to all and good luck to me! :-)

[Kristina J. 581]

I heard that through word of mouth (not my doctors) before my revision. It did scare me, but for me, having struggled with the band for 10 years and not being able to eat the healthy foods, I have found the sleeve to be everything the band promised to be without the constant vomiting and pain leading me to sliders.

When I did actually ask my surgeon about it, his response was that you can take any group of WLS patients and find those that didn't have success. He said that for banders, that percentage is very high, but generally more from complications, where as with sleevers (revision or "virgin") that failure tends to come more from not being willing to make the major lifestyle changes. Attitudes like, "I eat the same, just less of it." Or, "I am losing so obviously it's working even though I eat bad foods sometimes still."

I think a couple of people hit the nail on the head saying that banders generally learn to eat around their band, a lot of the time out of necessity. But like ANY sleever, the best way to set yourself for success is to decide that this is the tool that will help you change your life and become the healthy person you always wanted to be. I'm no angel, and I do cheat a little sometimes, but never with a justification that "I didn't do this to live on a diet." I cheat a little here and there to keep from going off the deep end and living on slider foods, like I know I could do.

So while I don't know for sure if there's any truth to the idea that revisions don't lose as much, I do know that this surgery can be a life saving move, when coupled with hard work and life changes.

And for me? I'm almost 5 months out and down a total of 97lbs since I scheduled (I had a very experienced revision surgeon and zero complications). So if my hard work and determination makes me an exception to the "lose less" rule, I'll take it. I did enough research pre-op to know that the success stories for revisions AND virgin sleeves were the people that changes their lives completely and not just their stomachs!!

[Arts137 1,811]

Kristina has hit the nail on the head, IMHO when she says:

where as with sleevers (revision or "virgin") that failure tends to come more from not being willing to make the major lifestyle changes. Attitudes like, "I eat the same, just less of it." Or, "I am losing so obviously it's working even though I eat bad foods sometimes still."

I agree. Make the big changes, keep your head in the game, and stay with your program.