I had lad-band Surgery about 12 years ago. I went from 320 down to about 250 at my lowest weight, I am a 6 ft tall 62 year old male. I am back up to 300 and just not going to be fat anymore. I finally had all of the saline removed from the lap-band because I would wake up every night drowning in my saliva...it would not go down at night. I have been on several calls with the insurance company and the doctors office and have an appointment for late July to discuss removal and Gastric Sleeve the same day as I understand it. I am really excited about this! I would like to lose about 100 pounds. The nurse said she didn't think I would have to do the 6-7 month diet required by insurance because of my situation. Has anyone out there gone from lap-band to Gastric Sleeve and did it take long for the surgery to take place...ie, 6 month weight loss program or not? If you have switched from lap-band to sleeve please tell me how that has gone for you. Thanks

Same boat here...getting band removed and VSG on 7/22/2020- starting pre op diet tomorrow!

I had my band removed 6 months after getting it in 2010 due to complications (aspirating in sleep at night). Sleeve wasn't approved by my insurance at the time so I just got a removal. Today got approval to get a VSG done!

Melissa...Thanks for responding. I go to the Doctor on 7/24 and hopeful to get some kind of idea of when I can get this done. Did they make you diet for 6 months like before? The nurse seemed to think I might get to skip that and go to pre op diet. Hopefully this can come together quickly. Let me know how long you have been working on this and what you have found out. Thanks again.

Edited July 1, 20206 yr by Tim C

On 7/1/2020 at 5:16 PM, Tim C said:

Melissa...Thanks for responding. I go to the Doctor on 7/24 and hopeful to get some kind of idea of when I can get this done. Did they make you diet for 6 months like before? The nurse seemed to think I might get to skip that and go to pre op diet. Hopefully this can come together quickly. Let me know how long you have been working on this and what you have found out. Thanks again.

I have this same question. Did you get an answer on the 6 month diet again? I go to Dr next month and hoping I can just get scheduled for revision to gastric. Thank you

On 6/28/2020 at 2:13 PM, Tim C said:

I had lad-band Surgery about 12 years ago. I went from 320 down to about 250 at my lowest weight, I am a 6 ft tall 62 year old male. I am back up to 300 and just not going to be fat anymore. I finally had all of the saline removed from the lap-band because I would wake up every night drowning in my saliva...it would not go down at night. I have been on several calls with the insurance company and the doctors office and have an appointment for late July to discuss removal and Gastric Sleeve the same day as I understand it. I am really excited about this! I would like to lose about 100 pounds. The nurse said she didn't think I would have to do the 6-7 month diet required by insurance because of my situation. Has anyone out there gone from lap-band to Gastric Sleeve and did it take long for the surgery to take place...ie, 6 month weight loss program or not? If you have switched from lap-band to sleeve please tell me how that has gone for you. Thanks

I also had the lap band 10 years ago and loved it. I lost over 100 pounds and life was good until the gastric reflux started. It got so bad I was aspirating stomach acid into my lungs and I had to sleep in a chair. They removed all of the fluid from the band and the reflux went away and then I started on the track to get a revision to a sleeve. It seemed to me that I shouldn't have had to gone through the whole program for approval again but I did. I'm now waiting to get my surgery date finally after 6 months, which was probably a little longer because of Covid. Unfortunately having the band deflated and my gym closing (I was working out like crazy and now I've just stopped) I've gained a ton back. I'm so frustrated. Hoping to get the sleeve in 4-6 weeks, fingers crossed.

I also had a lap band failure, banded for about 8 years. I got the sleeve a year ago and I am thrilled. I was 73 when I had the surgery. It took me 3 months to get Medicare to approve. Good luck as far as getting used to eating, it was like getting on a bike and felt so normal. No fills to worry about only focus on your health.

Thanks Sandra. Great job on your weight loss! :-)