Hello everyone,

I realize there are several threads comparing the band to the sleeve, but I am still trying to find more information from people who were unsuccessful with the band and have had the revision done for a significant amount of time.

I have been morbidly obese since childhood and was banded in 2008. I lost a significant amount of weight in the first 2 years but have gained half back in 4 years since then. I am so tired of the constant obsession and shame I experience regarding my weight and food. I just wish there was some way that I would be able to better control this struggle and live a more healthy and productive life. With the band, even when it was filled to 7-8 cc, the dieting has always been much harder than I have been able to live with long-term. If I am really putting full effort into religiously controlling my intake, the band seems to lessen my hunger to a moderate degree. However, I was surprised at how subtle the feeling of restriction is with the band, and I am still able to eat large portions in one sitting without any difficulty. Right now I just need to do something drastic about my weight, either suffer through more strict dieting with the band or possibly revise to the sleeve. What I am wondering is how much of an advantage does the sleeve give you compared to the band in controlling the urge to overeat? I know that the process of surgery, with liquid diets and the novelty of a different procedure, would cause me to lose a lot of weight initially. What I want to seriously consider is whether the long-term weight management efficacy of sleeve compared to band makes this revision surgery worthwhile. Does the sleeve give you much better restriction than the band? Does the reduction of ghrelin make the constant desire to eat much more controllable? Does lowering the weight "set-point", which a surgeon I spoke with claims occurs with sleeve and bypass but not band, really help you? I would greatly appreciate hearing all thoughts and experiences.

I had the band for 10 years, sleeve for 2.5

My success with band was modest and shortlived....sleeve so far has exceeded my expectations and beat the "statistics"

I had the band from 2005 till 2014 so almost 10 years. Yes I was hungry with the band and finally after so many fills I got restriction. I would be so hungry but couldn't eat because of the restriction. I started measuring my food and that would help sometime but I would vomit a lot with the band embarrassing. For some odd reason when my menstrual cycle would come I would have huge restriction and I could barely drink water or even swallow and I had night time reflux. I couldn't eat first thing in the morning because I would be too tight. I went up and down from fills to unfills. I went from size 16/18 245 pounds to size 8/10 165 pounds in a year with the band. I was able to keep the weight off from 2005 till 2009 and then I started picking up the weight and could never get my restriction back. I was revised to sleeve in April and so far I love it, no stuck food, no girgling noises, no vomiting, no fills and unfills, the best thing I have NO HUNGER. I am close to 40 pounds lost at 11 weeks and I have went from size 16 to 14 and the 14's are loose..its the beginning of my journey and Im loving it, hopefully I work hard, make good decisions and be able to keep it off.

Thanks for the replies, guys. It's really helpful to hear as many viewpoints as possible. I still have the band for now, and am giving it another try. I have just started a new job that is great but very stressful, and it's probably not in my best interest to have another surgery for the next 4 years or so. At that point, I am already thinking that the sleeve might be my best long-term option, or possibly even the bypass. It was a pain to get that finicky band adjusted properly, as 7.5 gave me all kinds of too-tight symptoms and now 7 cc seems possibly too loose. It seems to be helping for now, though, and my goal for now is to work with the band, even if it takes a year or two to lose 50 pounds. I suspect that the sleeve might be the best way to maintain weight loss long-term, and I would really like to follow your journeys over time.

I healed a lot faster from my revision to sleeve than I did with the band. With the sleeve you don't have the same problems you have with the band. You just can't eat as much. It get's to be the new normal. The grehlin did return for me after a while but it's like normal hunger. I lost 118 lbs after my revision surgery and wear a size 6 now. The freedom is so much better. The only down side is I still struggle to get in all of my Protein and that can hinder weight loss. I've had some muscle wasting and I hit a long plateau because I wasn't getting my protein in and lost muscle so my metabolism went down. I am also hypothyroid and was vit d deficient. It's a balancing act sometime but I revised 2 years ago and I'm still chugging along. I only have a little bit more to use. Wish I had done the sleeve first.

I am enjoying reading all your posts but I have a question , I still haven't had the surgery and am supposed to have the sleeve sometime at the end of this year but I am considering the band too, but my question is how much hair did you'll lose? Some talk like it just comes out in handfuls and others say very little?

I didn't lose hair after my band in 2001 but in fairness I didn't lose much weight either. I lost hair several months post sleeve but I started with a crap load so wasn't a problem. I can understand the concern but please don't decide about wls based on TEMPORARY hair loss. Look at my profile pix. ... I look so much better even if I had gone bald...lol