I had the band last oct. 31. It has been a resounding failure. I was either underfilled or overfilled the whole time, and I didn't lose much (maybe 15 lbs).

My doc wants to revise me to a sleeve. I am very interested and I think it would work for me, but it turns out the price is too high (even with the doc waiving his fee).

I am wondering, is there a way to "start over", to really try hard with this band? I cannot be filled any more than I am now, due to a hietal hernia. I have low to moderate restriction. I get full easily and stop eating, but then I am hungry an hour later. Can this band work???

I just don't want the money and time to be for nothing.

I had a hernia at the time the band was placed, and he fixed it. As we were looking into reasons why the band might not be working, he ordered a GI series, and it was then that we discovered the hietal hernia had popped back out. He feels that fixing it again would be fruitless bc it will probably just pop out again.

I take full responsibility for not always making good choices. I sometimes get frustrated with the band and things getting stuck/feeling uncomfortable that I "eat around" the band.

I usually exercise quite a bit. 4-6 times per week. For some reason, in the past few months I have been so down that I have let exercise go. I know brain-wise that exercise will help in all respects. I just can't make myself do it lately, for the first time in my life I am pretty sedentary (except that I run after three kids and work).

I was excited about the sleeve bc of the fact that it is more restrictive, and bc of the fact that the sleeve cuts out the part of the tomach that produces grehlin, the hunger hormone.

One question: I know in my heart that I accelerated through the post-op diet too fast. Could that have "stretched" out the stoma/relegated me to failure?

Thanks so much, y'all. I appreciate the time and help.

You said you eat around the band to avoid the stuck feeling. Do you get stuck often, or only on foods that are normally problematic anyway, like bread, Pasta, rice etc? If you get stuck, even though to chew well, on foods that should be ok, maybe you are too tight. If you are too tight, of course you are going to choose foods that feel better going down. Unfortunately, these normally aren't good for us. My friend is going through that right now and is scheduled for a slight unfill.

I would probably try to go back to a modified post op diet. Maybe full liquids for 2-3 days, then mushies just to see how much food it actually takes for you to get satisfied. I normally eat about a cup 3 or 4 times per day. Log all food into a journal (fitday or something like that) to make sure you are getting enough, but not too many calories each day.

Give it one more try. Call your dr's office and see what they suggest.