My story and associated questions:

In February of 2013, I was around 295 pounds and I began my process at that time for a Band surgery. I dropped about twenty pounds over the pre-authorization items and meetings, and then actually had my surgery in August. Over the next year or two, I dropped about 80 pounds in total....but here's the catch. I also had a growth in my family in the way of identical twin boys (children 2 and 3). Three kids are fairly demanding and I wound up getting stuck at meal times more often than not. It was highly unpleasant, fairly painful, and ended up not being helpful to my wife when it knocked me out of commission. When we then found out we were going to have a fourth child, we talked it through and I went through the removal of the band in mid 2016.

Fast forward three plus years, and I'm right back to 295. I'm 100% certain we're done growing our family, and I'd like to be done growing my waistline too. I'm contemplating going for a sleeve and wondering if anyone around has had both, or can point me to resources that compare the two. I'm just starting to take this step, so I've done little to no research on this yet, but remember this being a very helpful community back when I was pursuing the band.

I look forward to any advice that is available or resources that my be helpful. Additionally, if this topic belongs elsewhere, let me know and I'll move it there.

Thanks in advance.

~David.

I haven't had any prior WLS, but lap band to sleeve is super common. I see your doc is Dr. Ballem (I'm going to his partner). There is actually a seminar at Clara Maass tonight, if you're close by. Dr. Ballem will run the 6 p.m. info seminar and then the support group is at 7 p.m. I'm sure he can answer any revision questions you have. They're a really nice group of docs (as you know).

I am revising band to bypass later on this month. My doctor is not a fan of going band to sleeve because the sleeve is typically positioned over the scar tissue from the band, which has an increased chance of leaking versus him being able to work around the tissue to create the bypass pouch. He also thinks with me having a hormonal co-morbidity that causes weight gain, I can use that extra push of caloric deficiency.

That being said, tons of people go band to sleeve with great success! The biggest deterrent I see from the sleeve is if you have any problems with GERD or acid reflux, they often don't suggest the sleeve because it can make those worse causing people to ultimately revise to bypass to help alleviate the reflux.

Your doctor can help you make the best informed decision for you, but in the meantime, there's plenty of revision experiences on the board, so I'm sure other people can give you better insight! Good luck!

David,

I had lapband in 2005. My story is very similar to yours in terms of weight loss. I lost about 20 pre-op and 85 or so post op. My success came with a catch, I had terrible reflux. My life was miserable with the band. I couldn't tolerate fills and I had to sleep sitting up. My doctor recommended removal of the band and conversion to sleeve in 2009. I didn't know enough about long term effects of the sleeve and didn't want my anatomy permanently altered, so I just had the band out. When he took it out, he said that my band had slipped but wasn't showing it on all testing. So, I had probably been living with a slip since my gallbladder decided to act up at 6 months out.

I did well maintaining until 2014. I had some major life stresses that led to some comfort and probably binge eating. by 2016, I was exactly where I started. I was still against the permanent alteration of my anatomy, so I tried all the diets and pills/supplements again. Nothing made a significant impact. A friend who had both lap band (with reflux so bad that she had developed Barrett's esophagus) and converted to the sleeve. She encouraged me to reconsider. So, in 2017 I started making earnest inquiries with doctors and started all the preliminary stuff. I had the sleeve 4/10/2018.

My recovery from the sleeve was a little harder. #1-I was 13 years older and #2-my surgeon said that the band left a mess of scar tissue around my stomach that had to be detangled/cleared away to do the sleeve. So, my surgery took longer and I honestly felt like I'd been hit by a Mack Truck! That being said, the transitions from liquids to regular food was the same and was so familiar from before that I really didn't feel like I suffered much.

Minor caution about GERD and reflux: My friend, who clearly had it with the band, has had none of it with the sleeve. Me, I have a little nighttime reflux and am again sleeping on a wedge. It's well managed and nothing compared to the misery with the band. I see countless posts on here about sleeved patients suffering with GERD. It seems hit or miss on this and if you have any concerns, discuss with your doctor.

Lastly, most revision surgeries produce a slower weight loss the 2nd time around. I think I read somewhere that it's because your metabolism took that major hit once before. Me, I'm OK with the slow weight loss and I don't fret about stalls. It's coming off. 1 pound at a time, but it's coming off and that's what matters.

Hope my story helps.