Hi Everyone,

I am supposed to get my lapband replaced by a sleeve.

During my Barium swallow my fear had been confirmed that through my lapband my esophagus was damaged and I am suffering from Achalasia which results from a malfunction of the nerves controlling the rhythmic contractions of the esophagus. My esophagus muscles do not function as they should to transport the food down through the spinster into the stomach. They just fire off completely uncoordinated which results in food getting stuck in my esophagus.

SO my question to all of you. Is there anybody out there who suffers from this too and still got a sleeve and if so what is your experience. I want to be prepared when I see my surgeon and need to get as much information as possible to make a proper decision.

Thanks to you all!

I have a dilated esophagus from my band which caused what they called a psuedo achalasia. I had the band removed in oct 2013 sleeve revision dec 26,2014. I have been doing well. The dilated esophagus caused me to fail my post op swallow eval but my doctor wasn't worried said this was common with the dilated esophagus. My loss had been very slow as well but I keep reminding myself a loss is a loss. The dilated esophagus has me on the very slow path. It's scary but I pray all works out. I'm just under 6months out. The best of luck to you as you make your decision. I wasn't smart enough to be worried pre op. I just figured the dilated esophagus would resolve after the band was removed but it's not an automatic.

Thanks Kysosa for your post. First of all I think you are doing very well !! 40 pounds is wonderful congratulations.

May I ask you a few questions? I had found out that something was not right about 5 years ago when I experienced the inability to swallow after a horrible serious of acid reflux episodes . Have you noticed this too that when you try to swallow only the immediate first muscle in your throat functions but after that the wave of muscle movement does not continue and the urge to flush food down with liquid because it feels it is stuck in you esophagus ?

I don't feel the difference really except It caused what they call micro aspirations usually in my sleep which made it dangerous is I would coke on whatever was left in my esophagus but when asleep you don't react as well. I haven't had any of the issues since he band was removed. Thank god. I'm hoping the dilation resolves as time goes on.

i havent had your issue but did your doctor say this would resolve or improve once your band is removed? maybe have your band removed for a while and see how things go before deciding to get sleeved.

I didn't have this but my stomach looked terrible and deformed after 10years with the"reversible" lapband. Since the sleeve is not reversible I would make sure your questions are really answered. The sleeve has been a godsend for me (love it!!!) but I am am amazed at all the conditions like this that I never heard of...I would want to know my risks.

@ girliegirl I have not seen my surgeon since my barium swallow so this is why I try to research as much as I can about this issue t be well informed when entering into a conversation with my surgeon. I have found a medical article on a follow up group of LSG patients done by a group of bariatric surgeons on the condition of preudoachalasia caused by LB and the reversibility after band removal. And it seems quite promising, from what I understood, most of this is getting back to its former function if not too much longterm damage was caused by the band Which means 10 years for me ......... what do I have to expect when they get into my insides.

@ cowgirljane you look like you are doing amazing now !! This always gives me hope that there is life after the band. I suffered quite a bit during my last 5 years, but I guess I do not need to tell the details to a bandster, right.

Would you mind to share what the damage to your body looked like? And how was your surgery to sleeve done ? In one or in two surgeries and how did you feel physically during and in the first time after ?

I know those are a lot of questions but I am so glad I have found people here who went through the same already.

Thanks

Surgeon gave me choice and I picked separate surgeries. It was a good decision for me because it removed all doubt...I needed the sleeve!

He said my band slipped but I think he was being kind to me. Surgeon who did the sleeve said it was more like I had massively dialated the pouch. Anyway, I saw photos of the stomach shape and scar tissue. They cut a bunch of scarring away with the band removal. Let me tell you my images looked nothing like the lapband brochure. Who knew.

I have had life changing success since revision....but I was and remain uber committed.

Thanks for your posts, I definitely helps me with furthering my decision.

@ Keysosa , I wanted to place an article on this issue here because I thought it might be of interest to you and of course to others as of the reversibility of this occurrence.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3736786/

I sure wish those companies would take responsibility for the damage their product can cause. But it seems like they advertise even more aggressive to people . At least nowadays there is enough longterm research published for the people who want to read such to make a well informed decision before they go and get a band.

This was sadly enough not the case 10 years back when I chose the band over bypass surgery, because it was supposed to be the more sensible decision.

i used to have a band too. i had mine out now for 5 years and on deciding if i want the sleeve still. im very unsure. i mean sure i want the weightloss that comes with the sleeve but im just very afraid of complications like i had with the band. my doctor did tell me i was more at risk for leaks but didnt seem to concerned. i asked him if its better that my band has been out for as long as it has and he told me yes! maybe you are better off having your band out for a while before getting sleeved to let everything heal up. these again will be questions for the surgeon.

i used to have a band too. i had mine out now for 5 years and on deciding if i want the sleeve still. im very unsure. i mean sure i want the weightloss that comes with the sleeve but im just very afraid of complications like i had with the band. my doctor did tell me i was more at risk for leaks but didnt seem to concerned. i asked him if its better that my band has been out for as long as it has and he told me yes! maybe you are better off having your band out for a while before getting sleeved to let everything heal up. these again will be questions for the surgeon.

Reading your comment I know exactly where you are coming from, because we had made this entire decision years ago and the procedure we had chosen failed us miserable and not only that it has damaged our inner organs. Exactly did that to me which I wanted to avoid by choosing the band and not the bypass.

And here we are again, in front of the same overwhelming decision, what to do.

My doctor wants me to do it in 2 separate surgeries but since I suffer from systemic Lupus, every additional surgery can trigger a Lupus flare up with I am more afraid of then any surgery.

So I am not only in the dilemma to find out if I should do the sleeve but also how and when.

Even my surgeon sees the point of doing it in one shot might be the better solution for me in my situation.

But before making any final decision I need to have all the information I can gather about my special condition combined with my physical health conditions.

Also I might not have the 5 years you have and I just want to get to the body and life (at least as closely as I can get) before saying goodbye to this world. I am not young and I have waisted 10 years of my precious life on this horrible lapand with all the pain and suffering attached to it.

I am getting tired to fight this battle over and over again. I just want it done and leave the past 10 years behind.

Does that make any sense to you ?

i used to have a band too. i had mine out now for 5 years and on deciding if i want the sleeve still. im very unsure. i mean sure i want the weightloss that comes with the sleeve but im just very afraid of complications like i had with the band. my doctor did tell me i was more at risk for leaks but didnt seem to concerned. i asked him if its better that my band has been out for as long as it has and he told me yes! maybe you are better off having your band out for a while before getting sleeved to let everything heal up. these again will be questions for the surgeon.

Reading your comment I know exactly where you are coming from, because we had made this entire decision years ago and the procedure we had chosen failed us miserable and not only that it has damaged our inner organs. Exactly did that to me which I wanted to avoid by choosing the band and not the bypass.

And here we are again, in front of the same overwhelming decision, what to do.

My doctor wants me to do it in 2 separate surgeries but since I suffer from systemic Lupus, every additional surgery can trigger a Lupus flare up with I am more afraid of then any surgery.

So I am not only in the dilemma to find out if I should do the sleeve but also how and when.

Even my surgeon sees the point of doing it in one shot might be the better solution for me in my situation.

But before making any final decision I need to have all the information I can gather about my special condition combined with my physical health conditions.

Also I might not have the 5 years you have and I just want to get to the body and life (at least as closely as I can get) before saying goodbye to this world. I am not young and I have waisted 10 years of my precious life on this horrible lapand with all the pain and suffering attached to it.

I am getting tired to fight this battle over and over again. I just want it done and leave the past 10 years behind.

Does that make any sense to you ?

when i got my band out i didnt plan on waiting 5 years for the sleeve. i hoped and prayed at that time that i would be able to maintain my 75 lb weightloss, as i was pretty close to where i was happy, although i wished to lose another 20lbs. well over the years i had gained all the weight back so thats where i stand now.

i often wonder if i truly try hard enough to lose this on my own. i ask myself if im so afraid of surgery than why not do it myself? really really try, even if i lose 50lbs id be very satisfied. i am not super young either, im 43 with 2 kids that depend on me and i should be able to get some sort of grip on my weight myself. im going to wait it out throughout the summer and see how things are going for me after that.

See that is exactly what I can not afford anymore I was a few yours older when I made the decision to get the band back 10 years ago. And I thought that was it - finally at least that hurdle taken.

I lost the 101 pounds I had gained through my illness and kept it off for about 7 years even though the trouble with the band started 5 years after surgery.

I still was happy I even opened a fitness centre and was back to my normal self happy and slim and even way healthier.

And than it got worse and worse and they pain and the GERD was unbearable to the point that I had to get the band open basically completely.

I got back into flares and with it I am paralyzed and that means every tiny piece of food I put into my mouth ends up on my body.

I still managed to keep 50 pounds off over the last years but it is hard because since I can not move much I have to more or less starve. I eat paleo little fat only healthy fat, all as raw as possible, no or little read meat and and and

But I am just tired, I do not want to fight anymore.

@@nowornever14, I had the same issue, I removed the band and I did revision after 8 months, unfortunately I did not know and dr as well that I have pseudo achalasia , now 7 weeks out of the revision to sleeve and still food is getting stuck . Dr mentioned that I need to wait additional 5 weeks and do another test to see the results. Can you update me on your case?

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