4th WLS procedure coming up this week!!! No judgement!

[Julie norton 2,850]

Is the overstitch the newest endoscopic stomach stitching? Following. Seems to be the latest darling of wls. I have my dinosaur of a lapband so I am always checking on what is new and statistics. Very few out yet as it is so new. Any info. Cost. Time. Pain. Besides what you have divulged would be so appreciated.
Thanks and good luck[emoji171]

[JohnnyCakes 593]

if this doesn't work maybe you could do the duodenal switch.

[sydneyjonno 18]

15 hours ago, Julie norton said:

Is the overstitch the newest endoscopic stomach stitching? Following. Seems to be the latest darling of wls. I have my dinosaur of a lapband so I am always checking on what is new and statistics. Very few out yet as it is so new. Any info. Cost. Time. Pain. Besides what you have divulged would be so appreciated.
Thanks and good luck

Hi Julie, yes I believe the Overstitch is fairly new, although not to sure how new it is. It was new to me and my surgeon is quite experienced and up to date with new developments and I think he'd done about 5 previously and only in recent weeks.

They go in endoscopically and put some permanent sutures in the stoma, then if needed also in the pouch to reduce the size of that as well.

I don't think they could do it to a patient with a band in because you don't have a pouch or stoma. And it wouldn't be a stand alone procedure as it's designed to be a remedy for gastric bypass patients experiencing weight gain due to enlarged stomas / pouches. Although I believe they can do something similar to a gastric sleeve endoscopically which I think is gastric plication. (If I am not 100% correct anyone please feel free to correct me) :-)

Now as for the cost, my surgeon didn't charge me for this Overstich or the Gastric bypass. I've been quite lucky. I paid the full price for the band 13 years ago, which I had done in the South off France. Then 10 years later after I had moved to Australia from England, I had the band removed and the sleeve done in the same operation. My private health care insurance covered most of it, I think I had to pay $3000 extra towards it. Then as my sleeve failed, the same surgeon did the bypass for 'free' just charging my healthcare fund with no co-payment, and the same for my Overestich. No co-payment. He accepted just the payment from my health care fund here in Australia. All I had to pay for was a payment towards the anaesthetist fees which in total were $800 and Medicare paid $300 so all I paid all up was $500 which I was very pleased about. :-)

Now to answer your last question about pain, I experienced next to no pain at all. I had a slight scrape on my lips from the scope, like I've had bigger pimples really. And a very mild sore throat when I woke up. The kind of sore throat you had after slight cough for a few days. Gone all together within 24 hours. Hardly worth mentioning. I was prescribed antiemetics and some strong pain relief, however, didn't fill the script as my nausea and pain were zero, seriously nothing at all painwise post op. I should add though that I was the same after gastric sleeve and bypass. No pain, no wind, no pain relief needed, I was up doing laps of the ward same day as both operations and declined all pain relief. I've either been very lucky or have a high pain threshold or a mixture of the two! Never even had reflux or anything. Oh and time in theatre was 1hr 20mins, think that it normally takes around 45 minutes, but I had sutures to both the stoma and pouch, and there was an Overstitch rep or something in the theatre watching the procedure and asking questions / having things explained I think, so that may have added time, not that it bothered me, I wouldn't have known if the operation took 10 minutes or 10 hours, i just closed my eyes and then woke up, felt like milliseconds haha, I went home after about 2 hours with a recommendation to follow a liquid diet for 1 week then soft / puréed for the second week, then a normal diet after that with lots of chewing and not to push the amount of food eaten.

Now I am at the stage of puréed food and cottage cheese, I am eating around 100mls and feel as full as an egg. Have lost over 10kg and am only 4kg away from my target and about 1kg away from being in the healthy weight / BMI range, but I did start the Saxenda injections one week before the Overstitch and they are definitely helping, I felt the appetite suppressing effects of the Saxenda even just on the initial starting dose of 0.6ml, am now up to 2.4ml and will be on the maximum dose of 3ml starting this Friday. Apparently a fair few people stop taking the Saxenda because of the most common side effects which are abdominal pain, headaches and nausea, which I haven't experienced any of at all, must be my high pain threshold again! :-)

The thing with the Overstitch is that I guess it can stretch again over time if it's not looked after. I'd imagine it wouldn't be able to stretch as much as without the stitches as they'd continue to provide some resistance, although I'm not sure if there have been any long term studies on this yet, again happy to be corrected if anyone knows anymore about this.

Not sure what could be done after stretching the Overstitch, maybe another Overstitch or change to a Duodenal Switch. In wouldn't be too keen on the DS as I'm already severely anaemic, even though I'm not feeling any ill effects. My doctor said my Iron levels and ferritin are in the low single digits and I shouldn't be feeling at the very least tired and exhausted but I'm not for some reason. Anyway, I'm hoping I won't need any more revisions. I have enough already!! So here goes, fingers crossed for me.

Anymore questions, just ask, more than happy to share my journey / experiences.

John :-)

[Julie norton 2,850]

Thank you very much for the great first hand info
Best of luck to you and please keep us informed. This site is great for all kinds of info!!

[fastfoodaddictnomore 66]

With the videos I've watched on the sleeve I've seen them do a overstitch. Is that not standard on all sleeves or is this something different?

[sydneyjonno 18]

On 02/08/2017 at 7:59 AM, fastfoodaddictnomore said:

With the videos I've watched on the sleeve I've seen them do a overstitch. Is that not standard on all sleeves or is this something different?

Hi Fastfoodaddictnomore!

You are right! I have just conducted some extensive research (aka google search lol) and yes they can use the Overstitch with stretched / enlarged sleeves! I never knew that, but I guess it makes sense and could be an option for sleeve patients gaining weight rather than converting to a bypass. Thanks for mentioning it, more knowledge to add to our weight loss journeys :-)

[lisacaron 5,075]

Hi! You guys have some experience here! So please let me pick your brains! I was banded in 2013 lost about 60 pounds, and have gained some back due to many complications from the band and other health issues.

Here I am now with a total band slip and prolapse miserable can't keep much down without feeling sick 23 out of 24 hours. Dr. has me scheduled for band removal on August 9th. I'm wondering what the recovery will be like...will I be able to get that nutrition in again because right now I am feeling just weak and tired from not being able to eat more than ice cream or shakes! I am taking my Vitamins.

We have also talked about having a sleeve revision in a couple of months after I go through the insurance gambit of medical testing etc. all over again.

I'm not looking forward to yet another surgery...and I'm wondering if the sleeve is the way to go, or if I am going to go through all this medical testing again for approval I should just push for the bypass and get the weight off without "guessing" if the sleeve is going to work out for me or not.

I'm always the one that falls in the failure percentage rates...I been using this analogy alot lately...you know if birth control pills are 98% effective to prevent pregnancy well yep I am the 2% who got pregnant while on them taking them without fail every day even after I was pregnant and Dr.'s couldn't believe it, his name is Christopher and he's now a healthy 22 year old!

What is your advise? Also how painful is recovery from the band removal? I am hearing the port site muscle is sectioned and that causes some major discomfort and pain for a while....

[dreamingsmall 1,125]

On 17/07/2017 at 9:48 PM, MelodyBronson said:

Different surgeon for each surgery.....

Thanks!

May I ask have you had any counselling along the way? And goodluck.

[KarenInOz 6]

I've just had my 3rd wls (29/7/17) also with similar situations to a couple of others (I'm sure many more) that I've just read. I'm hoping it will be the last and the bypass was way harder than the other two surgeries..probably as I'm older and emotionally this has been much harder.. I suffer terribly with anxiety and depression anyway, but this op really knocked me..im feeling better each day and looking forward to milky drinks at least, rather than this putrid Protein water...YUCK

[sydneyjonno 18]

Just found out you can keep on Overstitching!!

So I went for my follow up with my surgeon after having the Overstitch a few weeks ago and starting on the Saxenda. Weight continues to drop slowly, couple of pounds a week. Weight it really difficult to get off now as I am almost at my goal. Anyway, surgeon told me that if the Overstitched pouch / stoma stretches out again, it is easily re-overstitched!!

Now I am certainly not planning to ever have another Overstitch, I am happy with my weight loss and am sticking to the rules. However, good to know that the Overstitch isn't technically the end of the road or the last possible surgery for bypass patients before potentially considering DS.

Just thought I'd share that with everyone as it was news to me :-)

[MissPoodle 58]

i am about to have a conversion from a sleeve to a bypass - next month. Can you tell me what the changes were after you had this revision done? thanks

[KCgirl061 1,529]

No judgements, that could so easily be any one of us.

[Frustr8 7,886]

Any updates after a year has elapsed,@ Melody Branson and @ SydneyJonno? you both had quite a story to,tell!👈😘👉

[Yo-yo girl 118]

Pathetic

[summerset 5,261]

What?