LAP BAND TO GASTRIC BYPASS - have you done this??

 Hi Pam - thank you so much for your very long responses!  They are so helpful.  What is -  ****a ?
Why have you blocked out the letters?  Just don't understand.  Anyway - I really appreciate all of your info - I would love to continue to hear about your progress.  Thank you for taking the time to really give me great answers.  Good luck on your journey!  Sincerely, Susan

You must have your "adult content" option turned off, and obesityhelp blocked out a word I typed with the asterisks. I did not type any asterisks.

Go to "my account" at the upper right hand side of your screen, choose the "message board" option, and at the bottom there is a place where you can choose whether or not you want to see adult content. I did not type any bad words in my reply. Sometimes the filter will take the the last letter of one word, and combined with the first letters of another word, it would be a bad word, hence the asterisk.

I'm going to type this by putting a space between the letters so you can see what I mean. For example, I've seen the words W E I G H T  W A T C H E R S blocked out.   As you can see, the last letter of Weight is a "T" and the first 3 letters of Watchers is WAT. Put it all together, you have a bad word.

Change your permissions to accept adult content, and you should be able to see whatever it was that I typed in.

ok, I changed my settings to block adult content to see where the asterisk were. They blocked out the words:

P
I
Z
Z
A

The first 4 letters of that word are a word that obesityhelp will block out for those who have their settings such that they can't veiw adult content.

 hi pam - checking in to see how you're now doing as its been several weeks since your post to me.  what is going on with how you feel?  your weight?  eating?  do tell.  i know we're all eager to hear...

thanks.  Susan

Hi Susan,

I had a revision from LapBand to Bypass on June 8th (so I'm not too far out at all).  I have lost 25 lbs in 22 days (YAY) - which is more than I lost in 1 1/2 years with my LapBand.

So far, the biggest thing is that I have not been hungry at all yet.  Also, my desire for sweets is gone (almost - I get an occasional craving - but nothing like before).  I really have a great outlook on life.  I was hungry the minute I woke up from surgery with the band.

My recovery has been good.  I actually didn't have any pain with the RNY - but had tons with the band.  I do feel much weaker with the RNY at this point though.  I'm having a lot of nausea and a hard time getting in liquids and more than 500 calories - so that has been the hardest - just no energy at all yet.  I expect that to get better the farther out I get - I'm still on a pureed diet and I have texture issues.

So far, so good.  Even though I'm so early out I have to say I would do it again.  My biggest regret is that I didn't just start with the RNY. 

Good luck with your decision making!!!  Let me know if you have any questions - I'll do my best since I'm still new at this.  But so far, I think the RNY will be the best thing I ever did for myself.

Jules

 Jules - thanks so much for your post.  Keep me posted on your progress.  Did you have the band taken out and the RNY revision at the same time?  Sincerely, Susan

Hi Susan,

I had my revision on 6/11/09 but had already had my lap band removed the previous October.  It's a whole new ballgame for me as I never was able to lose with the lap band.

Recovery is more difficult as the surgery is more intense.  I still have pains now and then but expected it as I went through this already with my daughter a year ago when she had her RNY.  Plus I had to stay in the hospital two nights and had a pain pump which I did not have or need with lap band.

I was moved to mushies my second week and have been there for a while.  When you have the lapband mushies go right through you but not necessarily with RNY at least not for me.  So eating is more difficult.  Plus I don't really have any appetite still.   Plus you really have to focus on getting in your meds and your supplements/vit in and not drinking before and after for a time so it's more difficult to coordinate everything.  Hope I make sense.

It's more restrictive to me as it is restrictive from the beginning where the lap band you're swollen in the beginning but normally don't have restriction for a while.  You almost force yourself in the beginning to eat and I didn't have that issue with the lap band.

Even though I feel frustration at times as I'm a "newbie" again and I'm trying to get this to work I knew I wanted to lose the weight, something that didn't happen with the lap band, and I am losing weight this time.

So as a person less than 3 weeks post-op hope this info helps you, good luck, Nancy.

  Nancy - thanks so much for responding.  I really appreciate you sharing your experiences.  Just curious - why did you not just have the RNY revision when they took out the lapband?  That is what I am planning on doing, when/if I do it. 
I would be most interested to keep on hearing about your experience!  Good luck - I know you will do it.  

Thanks.  Susan

Susan,

I had the lap band for 14 months and after struggling to get it right and never achieving it I lost faith in WLS and myself.  I ended up getting GERD and because of that it was removed.  I thought possibly once it was removed I could either lose weight on my own or live the way I had been living but after a short time of losing weight I then started putting on more than I cared to.  I decided I didn't want to live that way and because my daughter had done so well with her RNY I thought I was finally ready to try it for myself.   So that's about it, good luck with what you decide, Nancy.

Great question....I came here this morning to ask the same thing. I have had my band for three years and am having esophageal spasms that are about to kill me.