I've seen gastric sleeve mentioned several times on post. What is it and how is it comparied to the band/

Weight Loss Surgery Options Gastric Sleeve Resection

1. Stomach tube may stretch up over time leading to late weight regain. The extent of this is currently unknown

2. The amount of weight reduction is in the region of 40-60% of excess wt lost over the

first 1-2 years.

3. There is no malabsorbtion to nutrients

4. If weight is regained the second stage of Duodenal Switch or Gastric Bypass can be added laparoscopically.

the gastric sleeve is surgery that removes 2/3 or more of the stomach,leaving a long tube like smaller stomach. there are several advantages and disavantages. there are no fills, no slipage or erosion with the sleeve, however it cannot be reversed. You can contact any of the sponsora on Lap Band Talk and they will send you information, you can even watch the surgery on you tube. I am having mine on July 4th in Mexico.

It's less drastic than GBP because there's no cutting of the intestines, just of the stomach. But if you, like me, really dislike having parts of you taken out, then the LAP Band is still your best option

NOTE: If I didn't have that weird phobia, Gastric Sleeve would be something I would look into. Great procedure and much better than GBP.

Hello

My name is Nia and I am 11 weeks post op after having the Gastric Sleeve, please feel free to ask me questions

the gastric sleeve is surgery that removes 2/3 or more of the stomach,leaving a long tube like smaller stomach. there are several advantages and disavantages. there are no fills, no slipage or erosion with the sleeve, however it cannot be reversed. You can contact any of the sponsora on Lap Band Talk and they will send you information, you can even watch the surgery on you tube. I am having mine on July 4th in Mexico.

Linda7- Good luck- came back and tell us all about it. Hoping to get mine done in September in NYC

I had my lapband surgery Dec. 17, 2007. I had an rough couple of weeks after that surgery. Then in April I started having pain on my left upper rib cage and two weeks later it started at my port. The port had flipped! :eek: On my May 8th, I had surgery to see what was causing the pain on the left side, which had a ton of scar tissue (2nd worse case my Dr. had seen) and flipped the port. The scar tissue they removed was tested and it was infected. :frown: He left me on antibiotics for 10 days. 5 days after that I started having horrible pain in my right side by the port again! :eek: He had an ultra sound done and the Radiology Dr. removed 30 c.c. of infection! :eek: It came back as a staph A. infection and they put me on antibiotics for sever infections for 3 weeks. About 4 days after this procedure, I started leaking and seeping infection from my scar where the port was. That lasted about a week and a few days and then finally closed up.

I did great for two weeks off of antibiotics... Then last Sun. the pain in the port area came back! :eek: I had a CT scan done Tues. Everything showed fine. Dr. thought it might be my appendix infecting things because I was tender when he pushed around my appendix. CT didn't show any pockets of liquid or any organ problems. :thumbup: The Dr. said he would see me in 30 days! :eek: Well needless to say I didn't make it 30 days... I ended up in the emergency room with a definite red hot infection showing up around my port and skin. They called my Dr. and got him back on board. I'm suppose to see him Monday. They are going to have to remove the port and let it heal 6 weeks and then go back in and put a new port... OR, take it out completely... OR, take out the port on the right and put a new clean port on the left side. OR, do the gastric sleeve... I'm halfway to my goal. 40 - 50 pounds to go. I don't know that much about the gastric sleeve... I can't keep going on with this pain and infection but I don't want to give up all the good things I have accomplished with my band. For the first time in 10 years my cholesterol, trigs, blood pressure are all in the normal range...

There doesn't seem to be too many web sites where people go to talk about gastric sleeve and their experience like I have found for the lapband forum.

I appreciate your discussions about the sleeve here. I'm pretty sure my insurance won't pay for this sleeve surgery since I've already had the lapband too... I'm usually a really healthy person. A fast healer... I'm just so surprised my journey with the lapband wasn't successful... I'm curious too, what made you pick the sleeve over the lapband??? I sure wish I had... I don't think my body likes foreign objects...

Good luck to everyone! Thanks for sharing! :biggrin::biggrin:

Cripes- whaaaat a mess. Let us take it one question at a time.

Research

I would definitely suggest you do your research on the sleeve, and sooner rather than later. You can learn about it in obesity help, or go to www.surgicallyslim.com and look up the vertical sleeve operation. I don't know where you are located but the doctors I am using are on the surgically slim website- I am using Dr. Kini. Or put in vertical gastric sleeve on your browser and see where it takes you. One place it may take you is to an Australian forum so if you are in the US be aware of where you end up. Also there is a site called obesity help that is OK, not great, but OK.

No way would I suggest you get that band back in- quite a few people go from the band to the sleeve- you can read about some of them on the lapbandtalk site, also on the Australian forum.

The only insurance company that will pay for the sleeve in the metro NY region is Oxford and there are not a huge number of surgeon's familiar with the procedure. It is designed to be almost as safe as your initial band surgery and I think (after a lot of rapid research) it is a better choice for most, however it has not been around for that long which is why most insurance companies don't cover it.

Seems to me that you have a really good case for your surgeon absorbing the cost of the sleeve since it looks like he made a few booboos on your band. And that you should be able to get either the bypass or the sleeve out of the insurance company as well (although I think they are more likely to go for the bypass unless it is Oxford).

Meantime I would get that band out of me pronto, and get well, and tell them they owe you a working bariatric surgery. Please stay in touch and let me know how you are doing.

Girlmoose- does your name mean you are in Canada? or maybe Michigan? I don't know very much about moose.

I had my lapband surgery Dec. 17, 2007. I had an rough couple of weeks after that surgery. Then in April I started having pain on my left upper rib cage and two weeks later it started at my port. The port had flipped! :eek: On my May 8th, I had surgery to see what was causing the pain on the left side, which had a ton of scar tissue (2nd worse case my Dr. had seen) and flipped the port. The scar tissue they removed was tested and it was infected. :frown: He left me on antibiotics for 10 days. 5 days after that I started having horrible pain in my right side by the port again! :eek: He had an ultra sound done and the Radiology Dr. removed 30 c.c. of infection! :eek: It came back as a staph A. infection and they put me on antibiotics for sever infections for 3 weeks. About 4 days after this procedure, I started leaking and seeping infection from my scar where the port was. That lasted about a week and a few days and then finally closed up.

I did great for two weeks off of antibiotics... Then last Sun. the pain in the port area came back! :eek: I had a CT scan done Tues. Everything showed fine. Dr. thought it might be my appendix infecting things because I was tender when he pushed around my appendix. CT didn't show any pockets of liquid or any organ problems. :thumbup: The Dr. said he would see me in 30 days! :eek: Well needless to say I didn't make it 30 days... I ended up in the emergency room with a definite red hot infection showing up around my port and skin. They called my Dr. and got him back on board. I'm suppose to see him Monday. They are going to have to remove the port and let it heal 6 weeks and then go back in and put a new port... OR, take it out completely... OR, take out the port on the right and put a new clean port on the left side. OR, do the gastric sleeve... I'm halfway to my goal. 40 - 50 pounds to go. I don't know that much about the gastric sleeve... I can't keep going on with this pain and infection but I don't want to give up all the good things I have accomplished with my band. For the first time in 10 years my cholesterol, trigs, blood pressure are all in the normal range...

There doesn't seem to be too many web sites where people go to talk about gastric sleeve and their experience like I have found for the lapband forum.

I appreciate your discussions about the sleeve here. I'm pretty sure my insurance won't pay for this sleeve surgery since I've already had the lapband too... I'm usually a really healthy person. A fast healer... I'm just so surprised my journey with the lapband wasn't successful... I'm curious too, what made you pick the sleeve over the lapband??? I sure wish I had... I don't think my body likes foreign objects...

Good luck to everyone! Thanks for sharing! :biggrin::biggrin:

Oops- missed the part about why I chose the gastric sleeve. I had a choice of sleeve versus band. The initial weight loss with the sleeve is quicker although i think you end up in the same place no matter which surgery you pick. I have a bad heart so the sooner I shed these pounds the better it will be for me. Also I work pretty hard and I don't have a lot of time to go for fills, etc. With the sleeve there are just 3 visits in the first 12 months. And the concept that they are removing the part of the stomach that sends out the grehlin hormone that makes you feel hungry was also a big draw. Still have not got the sleeve so all of this is just from research and hearsay but by September maybe I will have first hand info for you.

I live close to Denver Colorado. I just love moose and the wildlife here. :thumbup: I'm assuming you are in NY... You may have mentioned it and I forgot. I just took all my medicine for the night and feeling a little out of it now.

I have been looking on line today researching the sleeve before I go to the Dr. tomorrow. I didn't even consider the sleeve before lap band surgery because I didn't want to change my body in any way and it was reversible... Now I'm looking at it in a totally different way that it would be better to cut out some of the stomach and have nothing rerouted or foreign inside of me. I'm thinking the sleeve is probably the way for me to go or I'll have nothing at all... Which I really don't like the idea of. :frown:

I'm back on the strong antibiotics for severe infection but nothing is helping much, as of tonight. I'm taking pain medicine that is 8 times stronger than morphine and I still have a lot of pain when I move around... :eek: The pill of nausea does the best because it really puts me to sleep for a long time.

I really appreciate you responding and sharing info. I'm hoping your right that the Dr. will help me out with the bill of going through all this... He hasn't even billed me yet for the first surgery in Dec. I hear it is not uncommon out here for the Doctor's billing cycles to be ever 6 months... Isn't that crazy??? I hate to see the bill when I finally get it! :eek: I'll let you know how tomorrow's appt. goes. The ER doctor last night was so nice and he said he told my Dr. how frustrated we were and how he needs to get me fixed up right away. My lap band surgeon is a really nice guy and personable so I'm hoping everything goes well. His wife is an infectious disease Dr. which has probably helped me get on the best antibiotics. He hasn't suggested I see her though but I'm sure he is probably talking to her about me...

Sorry I'm rattling on... I'm just not feeling well and headed back to bed for the night, feeling drugged up... Thanks so much for your help!!!

I'm anxious for you to have your surgery in Sept. It seems like a SLOW process but when i look back and see how I've lost so much weight in the first 4 months of surgery and my blood work was excellent within that short period of time... I'm sure you will be amazed too!!! Hang in there and good luck with the process! :biggrin:

Good night and be well. Please let me know how you are doing. I will be thinking about you.

Weight Loss Surgery Options Gastric Sleeve Resection

1. Stomach tube may stretch up over time leading to late weight regain. The extent of this is currently unknown

2. The amount of weight reduction is in the region of 40-60% of excess wt lost over the

first 1-2 years.

3. There is no malabsorbtion to nutrients

4. If weight is regained the second stage of Duodenal Switch or Gastric Bypass can be added laparoscopically.

The first five year stats are out regarding the new sleeve technique.

The sleeve does is not stretch beyond where they want it to after 5 years.

Weight loss is 70-80% with a sleeve vs. 50-70% w/a band.

I love my sleeve, wish I would have done it to begin with.

hi nia,

do you have any staples that need to be removed?

Does anyone have any info regarding which is a safer procedure, the lap band or the gastric sleeve. I think I want to have the sleeve done but I am scared. Thanks.

Does anyone have any info regarding which is a safer procedure, the lap band or the gastric sleeve. I think I want to have the sleeve done but I am scared. Thanks.

The actual surgical procedure for a band is safer, the sleeve has a slightly larger potential complication factor. But long term, the sleeve is safer for future potential risks and complications. It's a trade off, six of one, half dozen of another.