Hello all,I am new here and just finished the siminar. I am awaiting a call to get an appointment with a dietician and surgeon. I was banded in 2009 and lost 25 pounds before I had complications with getting stuck. I went back and forth for months to correct the issues. Now I am tired of worrying everytime I eat if I am going to have problems or not. If I try a piece of meat,even if I chew it well it feels stuck. I can't even eat for a few hours after I wake in the morning for fear of getting stuck. Even if I try cottage cheese or applesauce it gets stuck in the morning.

So on to my questions.

1: How long from your first meeting did you get sleeved?

2: Did anyone have their insurance deny the procedure?

3: How has your life improved compared to the band?

Thanks for your responses and I hope to come here to share my story once I get sleeved!

I had the lap band back in 2007... I lost A LOT of weight with it.. However in 2010 I started having issues with IBS and stomach pain' date=' etc... I went to several doctors and all said that my band was fine so I didn't go back to my surgeon... However after a year of no real relief and a trip back to the hospital for the 4th time, I contacted my surgeon... He did a scan and found that my band had indeed slipped, which is what I kept telling my other docs... Anyway he drained my band of all fluid and we waited 3 months to see if it corrected itself... It didn't! So we decided to take the band out and do a revision... Well not to scare you but I had complications... It was supposed to be a 2 hour same day surgery because he was taking the band out one day and do the revision a few months later but it wound up being a 4 1/2 hour surgery and 8 days in the hospital... Not only did I have tons of scar tissue but he had to open me up... He opened me up to find that the band had started to erode through my stomach! As I said I was in the hospital for 8 days and out of work for 6 weeks beyond that... For several other reasons - I found a new surgeon... I started the slow process of having the revision surgery... I have to say having the band gave me some of the tools for starting with my new stomach... I've had very few issues with nausea so far.. I'm only 15 days out however and my doc gave me dissolvable Zofran that I take when I am feeling nauseous and it takes it away quickly! I would love to know how things go for you! All my best![/quote']

wow..thats a scary story, but its reality for some and it important that we hear the good and the bad. why did you opt to have the sleeve and just not have the band removed? did you still want to lose more weight? i had a band too and it slipped, then i had a revision and a new band placed and that too slipped about a year later. at that point i opted to have the 2nd band taken out and nothing done. its been about 4 years and i gained back the weight i lost and now im thinking of the sleeve, i just cant get over the fears i have that something will go bad for me like it did with the band. how do you overcome that??

I was 420 lbs when I started on the band... I got down to 270lbs which was great but I was still 80-90 lbs overweight and couldn't lose any more... I maintained the 270 (+\- a few) for 3 years... I was tired of having a foreign substance in my body and just wanted it out... I am convinced that the silicone in the band was poisoning my body... I know it wasn't filled with silicone but the band itself is made of silicone... At any rate, I started doing research and a friend if mine had actually converted from a band to the sleeve and raved about it... Of course I was terrified to go back under the knife... I was crying in the hospital before surgery... I was very scared! I'm just tired of being overweight and my surgeon, nutritionist and I determined I needed some tool to help me get it off... I have a very slow digestive track and the sleeve helps with that... I didn't want the bypass because of all of the other issues that come with it... The sleeve is an evasive surgery but still less evasive than the bypass... So far I am happy with my decision! Continue to research and get other opinions.. I would NEVER recommend the band again after going through what I did and I was a huge fan in the beginning... I wish you all the best and if you have any questions I can try to answer them for you...

It gets better

The band should not be used anymore I had so many problems with it. Now I have the sleeve and I am so happy now.