So I was banded back in 2012. I was about 420 Pre-Op. At one point, I was down to 250, but my wife said my face looked too thin.

Anyway, I had plastic surgery to remove loose skin and had a complication from it leading to a MRSA infection. While recovering from it, my Bariatric Doctor took all the fluid from my band to let me heal. Afterwards, we could never dial it in quite right again. Always either too tight or too loose. Since the skin removal, I've put back on about 100 lbs.

Fastforward to a few months ago. I started having weird GI issues (Diarrhea every 13 days with severe nausea). I would get very strong dry heaves (nothing coming up because of the band). I go into the Hospital a few weeks ago and a CT says my band moved. Since the heaving, I cannot sleep through the night and vomit at 3 am even if I ate little to nothing. I had a Upper GI done and the doctor said there was a much larger pouch above my band than there should be and it drains slowly (even though my band is empty completely right now). I know something wasn't right since I lost 11 lbs with my band empty because of the "Involuntary Bulimia" I had.

So now I am trying to decide what to do. I have read if a lap band slips once, it is more likely to slip again. When I was having trouble getting the lap band right again after the MRSA issue, I asked about conversion to a Gastric Sleeve. My doctor said I did so well with the band before the problems, he wanted to stay with the band. I'm debating if I should just ask him to fix the band or to remove it and convert to a GS instead. I am so tired of never eating bread or other foods because they block. I would love to be able to eat anything, just be full sooner because of the GS.

Any one here have advice from being in a similar situation?

Edited January 2, 20206 yr by SpaceCowboy74
Fix date of banding

Generally a sleeve after a band is not recommended because of the extremely high risk of severe reflux. Also former band patients do not do well with a sleeve as they are both only restrictive procedures. A lot of surgeons will recommend an RNY as it has both restrictive and malabsorption components and a much lower risk of reflux.

I went band to bypass last Jan and couldn’t be happier. All excess weight list, diet much healthier and no more stuck episodes.

33 minutes ago, SpaceCowboy74 said:

I am so tired of never eating bread or other foods because they block. I would love to be able to eat anything, just be full sooner because of the GS.

I'm sorry for your troubles!

I'd talk to your bari team for sure and get their recs. @elcee is totes right!

If it were me, I'd also do the band to bypass route as quickly as possible.

Gaunt face happens. It comes with rapid weight loss. But after a year it kinda evens out and you no longer look drawn. Try not to listen to people's opinions and just do what you KNOW must be done.

Now for this...the quote. This raises a HUGE red flag to me. Why? cuz it tells me you are emotionally really tied to your food. I'd sure suggest a bariatric counselor so you can work through the headwork this time through.

I get wanting a revision just so you can have food without feeling crap after and vomiting. Perfectly natural!!! ((hugs)). But this isn't magic bean surgery. It isn't everything in tiny portions cuz you WILL end up having more room in your tool and you will also learn to eat around it. In my opinion there are very few people who are successful in keeping it off long term without changing their head. I know of some people here who are successful at that, but they HAVE still changed some of the things that they do...

I had a 10 year old band slip and it was miserable. I got a fear of eating since I didn't know if each meal was going to stay down or cause vomiting. My surgeon wouldn't even consider trying to fix the band, so it came out and I now have a RNY. Best thing I could have done after fighting that band for a year.

I get what SpaceCowboy74 is saying about food. I don't think he's talking about eating a whole loaf of bread in one sitting--he'd just like to eat a small amount without it binding up in his band. With me it was eggs. Never could eat them with my band. Now that the band is gone, I can eat them again. Would I eat a dozen at once? No, but it's nice to be able to eat one without fear!

I wouldn't stay with a surgeon that was trying to fix a lap band problem. Most surgeons today won't even place one. The 10 year failure rate is somewhere around 50%. You might want to look into a RNY--if you have GERD, or even if you don't, lots of people develop it after a sleeve,

Good luck!

That’s pretty much it exactly. I don’t want a whole loaf of bread, but once in a while I would like to go to a restaurant and actually be able to have a burger with the bun. Or a slice of pizza. My office tends to get sandwiches when we have lunch catered.

I’ll look at the RNY as an option. My aunt had one and lost a lot, but put almost all of back on cause she ate around it. My fear has been the dumping problems she had and other issues. Of course, she had other issues (Lupis, knee issues, hip problems and so on). At least I stay somewhat active with TKD.

I will admit, I had some commitment issues when first looking at bariatric which was why I chose lap band (could always be undone, right?). Before the surgery and since, I committed to changing my lifestyle, but still miss the freedom to have options when eating. Eggs. Bread, rice. All those kill me even when the lap band was normal.

I wouldn’t be aiming for a burger with the bun, that is way too much food. I would rather just eat the patty and maybe a couple of chips or bites of the bun. But be warned I can eat a lot more now than with my band. A lot f control has to come from your head and wise choices.

29 minutes ago, elcee said:

I wouldn’t be aiming for a burger with the bun, that is way too much food.

Comparing a 189 cm male vs. a 152 cm female in regards to energy expenditure doesn't make much sense. What's too much food and what not is the decision of SpaceCowboy alone.

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But be warned I can eat a lot more now than with my band. A lot f control has to come from your head and wise choices.

I can eat more with my MGB as well and still weigh less. One can never know how weight will develop after the band is gone. The bypass lottery seems to have given me quite a bit of malabsorption. (It also gave me some intolerances that luckily I don't mind that much.)

"Wise choices" are important but when it comes to diet and nutrition there is more than one road to Rome.

I deem many choices users on here make in regards to food as flat out unhealthy and unreasonable (a meat burger, bun or no bun - that's something I would consider not a very wise choice).

Many of the meals pictured in the "Food before and after" thread - I wouldn't go near them because I think of them as very unhealthy and unreasonable choices. However, it seems to work for a lot of users and if some diet will work long term in regards of both weight and health or not - that's something nobody knows. Trial and error. Not everybody seems to thrive on the same diet.