New Member/Revisions

[CDMC1972 4]

Good afternoon! I just became a member today! I had a gastric band in June 2009 and had it removed June 2021. I am currently in the process of getting another WLS. I am interested in getting the gastric sleeve; but I have to make sure I don't have any esophageal damage from the band. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I haven't told many people because of the issues I had with the band and some the negativity I have heard and still hear regarding WLS. I welcome any advice or experiences that anyone is willing to share regarding revision surgery.

Thank you!

[jenuinelygenuinely 80]

Welcome!!!! I had the sleeve in 2018 and now getting a revision to a Bypass at the end of August. Personally I wish I got the Bypass in the very beginning. I have severe GERD and a twist mid stomach of my sleeve.

I started the revision process March of 2021 and now getting the surgery. It was a long process because they have a program for revision patients called "Back on Track" and it requires 12 weeks of dietitian visits.

[CDMC1972 4]

Thank you! I was having issues with the band, and that's why the surgeon was suggesting the bypass. I've heard of some sleeve patients that had revisions to the bypass. I think I'm just leery of the whole rerouting. I wish you much success, you only have 4 weeks! Please stay in touch and let me know how you like the bypass as opposed to the sleeve. I have an appointment with my surgeon on September 5th. I'll let you know what he suggests!

*September 1st, not 5th.

Edited July 26, 2022 by CDMC1972

[Tufflaw 463]

As for any negativity towards any form of WLS, you can safely ignore 100% of people who have never gone through it because they have no idea what they're talking about.

Regarding revision, I had the sleeve done in Dec 2016 and did very very well at first. I lost about 120 lbs. in about 6 months of so, reaching my goal. Then after some personal and professional setbacks, I stopped paying attention to what I was eating, stopped tracking, stopped weighing and measuring, started eating junk again, and over the next few years regaining almost everything.

In Nov 2021 I had the revision to sleeve. My doctor did an endoscopy and said my sleeve was dilatated and therefore I could either resleeve to tighten it up, or revise to bypass. He recommended bypass because I also had GERD, and I took his advice.

I'm down nearly a hundred pounds now since November and very happy. Still doing what I'm supposed to do, and I know the pitfalls to watch out for from last time. The GERD is gone too which is very nice.

Edited July 27, 2022 by Tufflaw

[Tomo 1,138]

Welcome!!!! I had the sleeve in 2018 and now getting a revision to a Bypass at the end of August. Personally I wish I got the Bypass in the very beginning. I have severe GERD and a twist mid stomach of my sleeve.
I started the revision process March of 2021 and now getting the surgery. It was a long process because they have a program for revision patients called "Back on Track" and it requires 12 weeks of dietitian visits.

I had a sleeve to bypass revision this past August. If it is anything like my experience, I think you will love the bypass. I wish I went straight to the RNY too. I had developed severe gerd and esophagitis with my vsg in the later years. I feel far more normal physically with the bypass than I did with the sleeve because I don't have any side effects. I feel similar to before any WlS but have better appetite control and therefore, good weight loss. I wish I was like the others who never had problems with my sleeve but sigh, here I am.

[redhead_che 824]

Yes, sleeve to bypass here as well. I too developed severe GERD with no previous history of it and when in my surgery the doc said he found severe erosion and a hernia. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I wish I would have just went bypass too.

[jenuinelygenuinely 80]

13 hours ago, Tufflaw said:

As for any negativity towards any form of WLS, you can safely ignore 100% of people who have never gone through it because they have no idea what they're talking about.

Regarding revision, I had the sleeve done in Dec 2016 and did very very well at first. I lost about 120 lbs. in about 6 months of so, reaching my goal. Then after some personal and professional setbacks, I stopped paying attention to what I was eating, stopped tracking, stopped weighing and measuring, started eating junk again, and over the next few years regaining almost everything.

In Nov 2021 I had the revision to sleeve. My doctor did an endoscopy and said my sleeve was dilatated and therefore I could either resleeve to tighten it up, or revise to bypass. He recommended bypass because I also had GERD, and I took his advice.

I'm down nearly a hundred pounds now since November and very happy. Still doing what I'm supposed to do, and I know the pitfalls to watch out for from last time. The GERD is gone too which is very nice.

This sounds like what I went through!!! I hear a lot of people say the revision makes you stall on weight loss! Is it true? Did you have to work harder after your revision??

[jenuinelygenuinely 80]

8 hours ago, Tomo said:

I had a sleeve to bypass revision this past August. If it is anything like my experience, I think you will love the bypass. I wish I went straight to the RNY too. I had developed severe gerd and esophagitis with my vsg in the later years. I feel far more normal physically with the bypass than I did with the sleeve because I don't have any side effects. I feel similar to before any WlS but have better appetite control and therefore, good weight loss. I wish I was like the others who never had problems with my sleeve but sigh, here I am.

I agree!!! I feel like the sleeve was commercialized. I use to follow the huge Instagram sleeve communtiy and saw all the success people had with the sleeve which steered me getting the sleeve instead of bypass. I cannot deal with GERD anymore! It was so bad one time I had to sleep sitting up and even then acid came out of my nose! Cheers to revision!

[Tufflaw 463]

5 hours ago, jenuinelygenuinely said:

This sounds like what I went through!!! I hear a lot of people say the revision makes you stall on weight loss! Is it true? Did you have to work harder after your revision??

It's taken me a little longer than the first time to lose the weight post-revision, but I'm a few years older and also I started out a little lower. It's been about 8 months after my surgery and I'm at about the weight I was about 7 months after the sleeve. I'm approaching the lowest I ever was post-sleeve and hoping to break through and go lower now.

[CDMC1972 4]

15 hours ago, redhead_che said:

Yes, sleeve to bypass here as well. I too developed severe GERD with no previous history of it and when in my surgery the doc said he found severe erosion and a hernia. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I wish I would have just went bypass too.

I appreciate your reply. What are (if any) the minor/major differences between the 2 procedures. I think the only thing that concerns me is the rerouting. However, I don't want to get a sleeve if it can cause damage to my esophagus. I think that is my surgeons concern also. Because I had a rough time with the band---but most of that was me also, not doing/eating what I was supposed to. I meet with the surgeon again on Sept. 1st, so we'll see what he suggests.

[CDMC1972 4]

23 hours ago, Tufflaw said:

As for any negativity towards any form of WLS, you can safely ignore 100% of people who have never gone through it because they have no idea what they're talking about.

Regarding revision, I had the sleeve done in Dec 2016 and did very very well at first. I lost about 120 lbs. in about 6 months of so, reaching my goal. Then after some personal and professional setbacks, I stopped paying attention to what I was eating, stopped tracking, stopped weighing and measuring, started eating junk again, and over the next few years regaining almost everything.

In Nov 2021 I had the revision to sleeve. My doctor did an endoscopy and said my sleeve was dilatated and therefore I could either resleeve to tighten it up, or revise to bypass. He recommended bypass because I also had GERD, and I took his advice.

I'm down nearly a hundred pounds now since November and very happy. Still doing what I'm supposed to do, and I know the pitfalls to watch out for from last time. The GERD is gone too which is very nice.

Thank you! You are so correct. Most of the negativity has come from those who are uneducated concerning WLS. Rather than hear it, I only share with those who support me. I appreciate your input. Your story seems similar to the issue I had with my gastric band. With the band when I ate too much or ate too fast, I would feel nauseous. Are there any warning signs with the bypass?

[CDMC1972 4]

19 hours ago, Tomo said:

I had a sleeve to bypass revision this past August. If it is anything like my experience, I think you will love the bypass. I wish I went straight to the RNY too. I had developed severe gerd and esophagitis with my vsg in the later years. I feel far more normal physically with the bypass than I did with the sleeve because I don't have any side effects. I feel similar to before any WlS but have better appetite control and therefore, good weight loss. I wish I was like the others who never had problems with my sleeve but sigh, here I am.

Thank you for sharing. I appreciate your input. I definitely don't want to go through any of the issues with the sleeve that I went through with the band. Sometimes it was really bad- I had to go to the ER--due to pneumonia. I don't want to deal with that EVER AGAIN!

[Tomo 1,138]

Thank you for sharing. I appreciate your input. I definitely don't want to go through any of the issues with the sleeve that I went through with the band. Sometimes it was really bad- I had to go to the ER--due to pneumonia. I don't want to deal with that EVER AGAIN!

I think if one has had the lapband already, better to go bypass since the potential gerd and esophagus irritation problems that the lapband itself can cause. Less future problems.

Now if you never had the lapband, then I think a "virgin" sleeve's weight loss is really good, and probably less likely to cause future gerd problems compared to those who had the band first. Just my thinking, I could be wrong.

I just know going from lapband to sleeve, it was a struggle as far as restriction. I did lose weight but it was hard and I never got below 160 lb with vsg because to me, the lapband had far more restriction than the sleeve. With the RNY, it is a totally different ballgame and no gerd.

[Tomo 1,138]

50 minutes ago, CDMC1972 said:

I appreciate your reply. What are (if any) the minor/major differences between the 2 procedures. I think the only thing that concerns me is the rerouting. However, I don't want to get a sleeve if it can cause damage to my esophagus. I think that is my surgeons concern also. Because I had a rough time with the band---but most of that was me also, not doing/eating what I was supposed to. I meet with the surgeon again on Sept. 1st, so we'll see what he suggests.

Physically I don't feel a difference. I spent one night at the hospital after the revision to RNY and released the next morning. The recovery is about the same, probably less painful with the RNY but that may be because I was prepared for gas pains... Etc. I want to say don't let the re-routing part concern you but I'm not one talk, I put off the revision to RNY quite a few times, but in retrospect, I was so silly. This has been the best decision of my life. Honestly.

[Tufflaw 463]

3 hours ago, CDMC1972 said:

Thank you! You are so correct. Most of the negativity has come from those who are uneducated concerning WLS. Rather than hear it, I only share with those who support me. I appreciate your input. Your story seems similar to the issue I had with my gastric band. With the band when I ate too much or ate too fast, I would feel nauseous. Are there any warning signs with the bypass?

I wouldn't necessarily say warning signs, just feeling full and uncomfortable. I work hard at keeping my portions reasonable so I don't really have to worry about it. I also don't get dumping syndrome which is one thing I was worried about. Apparently only about 30% of bypass patients get it.