I had lapband surgery 11 years ago. I had moderate success but not nearly what I thought I would have. I failed the band or it failed me. Maybe a little of both. I am considering revision surgery but I just don’t know. What if I “fail” again. Not sure I could mentally or physically handle it. I’ve seen people have greater success once having the revision surgery. I also am very unhappy with the surgeon that did my lapband and I am looking to find another surgeon that will work with me and actually help me succeed. I never had that from my previous doctor. I’ve got a million things to figure out. My insurance didn’t cover weight loss surgery back then and now it does but I don’t know how revision surgery plays into that. Making calls this week to possibly get the ball rolling. Any advice from someone that has had lapband to sleeve revision or any advice at all would be greatly appreciated!

I had the exact same fear!! The sleeve is completely different. You won't fail in the short term. Looking term, weight gain is possible, as in all WLS. Hostile
Hopefully, we will have mastered it by the time we are at goal.

It is funny that my insurance didn’t cover any weight loss surgeries for years and then now they do. I thought all these years that the second I found out it was covered that’s all it would take and I would 100% be sure I wanted to do it. It’s crazy that’s not the experience I am having at all.

My story is almost the exact same - same fears and concerns. I had my revision on the 8th so I'm too early to comment on the differences but after a long process of thinking and debating I decided that I was not going to conquer this life long battle by myself without help. What made me really decide to move forward was the metabolic change that comes with the sleeve. It's so different than what we had with the band. Good luck with your decision process!

The way I look at it , and this may sound terrible , but I’m not getting where I want to be as things are right now so why not try the revision. It can’t get worse than the mental hell I live with everyday spending another day unhappy. Good vibes to you and your new journey !!! Super early in your sleeve journey. I will be excited to see how things go for you.

11 hours ago, TinaM8 said:

The way I look at it , and this may sound terrible , but I’m not getting where I want to be as things are right now so why not try the revision. It can’t get worse than the mental hell I live with everyday spending another day unhappy. Good vibes to you and your new journey !!! Super early in your sleeve journey. I will be excited to see how things go for you.

I totally get this! I was also done with the band - tired of feeling the pressure in my chest constantly and having to "lube" up healthy foods in order to eat at. So the band was coming out to either way. I was ok with eating small portions and was ready to make changes so I went for it!

This gives me hope! Now I start the process of seeing if insurance will approve a revision considering I don’t have any actual “problems” with the band. Let me ask you, did they do the procedure in 2 surgeries or the removal and sleeve all in one? I’ve heard of it happening both ways , I’m hoping for one surgery.

I had no issues with the band other than still being obese. They were able to do it in one surgery thankfully!

@ TinaM8 do you know what happened? Now this was told to me by someone "in the know", it's due to the Affordable Care Act, once insurance companies were forced to cover maternity care they had to also cover Bariatrics A lot of them aren't overjoyed so thats why we have 3,6 or even 12 month restrictions, silly cause in the long run the client is more healthy so they would save money. My view on life insurance, you're betting you need it, the insurance company bets you don't, if you win this agreement you're dead and can't enjoy the win.

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So I’m just waiting for my surgery scheduler to schedule me for my sleeve I have the lap band now and I absolutely hate it I got banded in 2009.. just hoping this works for me. My current weight is 236.. I’m looking forward to seeing results at the same time frightened.

I felt the same way as you do. But I have no choice but to have my band out because it is causing an issue which could cause me to develop a severe gastric bleed (I've already had one, lost half my blood and was in the hospital for a week). After a year of diagnostic tests, we discovered it was an issue with band slippage (due to dilation of upper pouch, which I must take responsibility for, too) creating blood vessels inside my stomach around the lower side of band.

Anyway, since it must come out - I was left with: do I revise to sleeve or just have the band out. My gastroenterologist doctor is fully supportive of the revision. Part of me is worried that I'll just stretch again and cause more problems. Part of me is worried that with no restriction I will gain even more weight. In the end, I decided to do the revision.

My insurance does not cover bariatric at all, so I am off to Mexico in 2 weeks.

By the way, my best friend just had his out a few months ago (no revision) and is struggling with the new found freedom of once again being able to eat anything he wants. But his doctor and my doctors all agree - everyone who has a band will likely have to have it out at some point due to a complication.

I felt the same way as you do. But I have no choice but to have my band out because it is causing an issue which could cause me to develop a severe gastric bleed (I've already had one, lost half my blood and was in the hospital for a week). After a year of diagnostic tests, we discovered it was an issue with band slippage (due to dilation of upper pouch, which I must take responsibility for, too) creating blood vessels inside my stomach around the lower side of band.
Anyway, since it must come out - I was left with: do I revise to sleeve or just have the band out. My gastroenterologist doctor is fully supportive of the revision. Part of me is worried that I'll just stretch again and cause more problems. Part of me is worried that with no restriction I will gain even more weight. In the end, I decided to do the revision.
My insurance does not cover bariatric at all, so I am off to Mexico in 2 weeks.
By the way, my best friend just had his out a few months ago (no revision) and is struggling with the new found freedom of once again being able to eat anything he wants. But his doctor and my doctors all agree - everyone who has a band will likely have to have it out at some point due to a complication.

Thank you so much for replying, I’m eager and anxious but I feel that the band is hurting me more than helping me.

I’m getting the sleeve on feb 1st. Honestly, my band tried to kill me. I had it 10 years almost and lost 120. I loved it for awhile. However; last January it failed and slipped. I couldn’t even drink Water , it felt like I was being stabbed over and over. I was throwing everything up. I had it removed and they took out tons of adhesions and scar tissue. I still have a bunch I’m sure he will take more out this time. From what I see if we commit to the plan it will work. Hope this helps some [emoji4]