Hello All,

Hoping someone who has gone through a gastric band revision to a gastric sleeve can help me. I got the band 10 years ago and for awhile it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I lost 100 pounds and I was working out every day and life was good. Then the reflux started. So bad I spent months sleeping in a chair because lying in bed made me choke with all the stomach acid coming up. They took all the fluid out of my band and now I'm on track to get the band removed and get a gastric sleeve. Very worried about going to a hospital in the middle of the pandemic, but I'm going to be 60 soon and they're telling me that it's pretty much now or never. I'm hoping someone here who has had the experience with a band conversion to a sleeve can give me some advice about how different it is, or if it's similar and how much harder it is than the initial surgery. If there is no one on here who has had a conversion I'd also like to hear from people who got the sleeve and if they'd do it again. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

just so you know, there are a lot of people around who've had that revision. Have you also considered gastric bypass due to your reflux? A lot of surgeons recommend that for people with reflux as bypass often improve that - whereas sleeve can sometimes make it worse.

Ugh, I'm terrified about the thought of of a bypass. I'd quite frankly not have anything if that's my only choice.

Well if reflux is your issue the sleeve won't help it... It's a known fact sleeve will make it worse... Your surgeon should have told you...

I've had bypass nearly 9 months ago with not one single problem except some dumping but that's expected...

11 hours ago, Barbwired said:

Ugh, I'm terrified about the thought of of a bypass. I'd quite frankly not have anything if that's my only choice.

we're about the same age (60) - maybe you know this already, but the surgery they do now is very different from the one they did when we were growing up. It was very risky back in those days. It's just not anymore. It's not much riskier than the sleeve. But if it still really scares you, then there's that...

i have had the band to sleeve revision. i am only one week out but i tell you this. the sleeve surgery was much less painful than the band. surprisingly so. i got sick of fills, and oops, too much fill, and finally after 15 years, my band failed. hoping for the best!

5 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

we're about the same age (60) - maybe you know this already, but the surgery they do now is very different from the one they did when we were growing up. It was very risky back in those days. It's just not anymore. It's not much riskier than the sleeve. But if it still really scares you, then there's that...

Thanks. It's not the surgery I'm afraid of it's the after effects of dumping syndrome etc.

10 hours ago, New&Improved said:

Well if reflux is your issue the sleeve won't help it... It's a known fact sleeve will make it worse... Your surgeon should have told you...

I've had bypass nearly 9 months ago with not one single problem except some dumping but that's expected...

My surgeon said that the incidence of reflux with the sleeve is much lower than it is with the band.

26 minutes ago, Barbwired said:

Thanks. It's not the surgery I'm afraid of it's the after effects of dumping syndrome etc.

only about 30% of us dump. I never have. Although yes - 30% do. Although that can be controlled my limiting or avoiding sugar. I kinda wished I WOULD dump because of that - but no-o-o-o. I'm one of the unlucky ones (or lucky, depending on your perspective...)

Dumping is not that bad just makes you avoid certain foods.. that is the only issue I've had and I've lost weight really well and kept it off now for months I lost over 150lbs which is all my excess weight and I've never done that before...

3 hours ago, Barbwired said:

My surgeon said that the incidence of reflux with the sleeve is much lower than it is with the band.

He may be right but it is known if you already have reflux it is an issue I've read 100s of posts about people actually suffering from reflux only because of the sleeve so it is your choice in the end good luck ?

25 minutes ago, New&Improved said:

Dumping is not that bad just makes you avoid certain foods.. that is the only issue I've had and I've lost weight really well and kept it off now for months I lost over 150lbs which is all my excess weight and I've never done that before...

So not to get too personal, but I've heard you can poop your pants when this happens. I can't bear the thought of this. Also, I like to drink wine occasionally and I've heard that if you drink it causes dumping. Feel free not to answer if this is too gross and I apologize for asking if this offends you.

2 minutes ago, Barbwired said:

So not to get too personal, but I've heard you can poop your pants when this happens. I can't bear the thought of this. Also, I like to drink wine occasionally and I've heard that if you drink it causes dumping. Feel free not to answer if this is too gross and I apologize for asking if this offends you.

Don't stress over never had that happen but I'm usually home anyways when I eat... It's just like any normal diarrhoea symptoms so you know when it happens your stomach will react first

1 minute ago, New&Improved said:

Don't stress over never had that happen but I'm usually home anyways when I eat... It's just like any normal diarrhoea symptoms so you know when it happens your stomach will react first

Thanks. I'm always home now but once Covid is over I'll go back to always at work or eating out very often so this is a real concern. I appreciate your help. I'm very tormented and have no idea what I'm going to do.

5 minutes ago, Barbwired said:

So not to get too personal, but I've heard you can poop your pants when this happens. I can't bear the thought of this. Also, I like to drink wine occasionally and I've heard that if you drink it causes dumping. Feel free not to answer if this is too gross and I apologize for asking if this offends you.

I don't think that's common. The only time I've heard that is with Al Roker several years ago, and I don't know what the situation was with him - if it was dumping or something else. I guess it could potentially happen to others, but I've never heard anyone mention that in the six or seven years I've been active on various bariatric internet forums. As for wine, I've never heard of anyone dumping on wine. Although I guess it could happen to some since wine has natural sugars in it. People who dump (and again, that's about 30% of us) usually do it when they eat too much of things like cake and cookies. And you can avoid dumping by limiting or avoiding these things.

3 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

only about 30% of us dump. I never have. Although yes - 30% do. Although that can be controlled my limiting or avoiding sugar. I kinda wished I WOULD dump because of that - but no-o-o-o. I'm one of the unlucky ones (or lucky, depending on your perspective...)

Thanks, it sounds awful and it's what is making me afraid of the bypass.