How many of us have had to/need to be revised from the "Band"?

Hand up here too. My band is still in since the insurance I have now doesn't cover bariatric surgery so I wait. My band is still in because the insurance I have now doesn't cover anything bariatric. I'm hoping in a few years when I get to Medicare age I can revise to a sleeve. I had mine emptied over a year ago and so far so good, I've actually lost more with the band empty than I did when I was slimming my face off. I wish the new people could grasp that we aren't doing this to slam or belittle them but to warn them of something that no one else will tell them. Their surgeon isn't going to lose a patient and the manufacturers could care less as long as they make their bucks, they have everything to lose and nothing to gain by telling patients the band is or can be bogus. We have nothing to gain or lose we just care about the new ones who shouldn't have to go thru what we have. If only they understood.

I wish I had more than two hands to put up!!!  I had the band in 04 and had to have it out in 06. It was THE worst thing I've ever put myself through.  It started off great....lost 40lbs in about 5mths with only a small fill.  I was VERY sensitive to fills.  At that time I went in for another and ended up having to have some of that removed.  That's when the trouble started.  It wasn't fast but slow and steady.  I would go in to the office only to be told by the surgeon that it was my fault.  That I apparently wasn't doing what I was supposed to (not taking small bites, not chewing well, etc.).  He also told me "No one can be too tight with what you have".  Really?  Because I was!!  My port had flipped, so I wasn't able to have it emptied.  He told me to just lose more weight and he would fix the port when I had. Started puking at every meal.  It got to where I almost had panic attacks when it was time to eat because I knew what was coming.  I couldn't eat anything I was supposed to be able to eat.  So what did I do?  I started eating what I COULD....not what I was supposed to.  I was sick of being hungry.  Chocolate milkshakes went down REALLY good....it was about the only thing I could get down.....no soups, nothing.  By the time I decided enough was enough, I had gained back all of the weight I'd lost and a few extra.  I started having trouble with my gallbladder, so I went to a surgeon for that.  Just so happened he did WLS too.  So when he took out my gallbladder, he took out the band AND repaired a hernia at the port site.  At the time I opted not to have another WLS because I was scared and fed up.  Come to find out, my band and port was not anchored down correctly but I don't believe it would've made a huge difference if it had been.  It was a year and a half of HELL and I wish I had never done it.  I agree in the "less evasive" being misleading.  If you are reading this and thinking about the band....PLEASE reconsider.  It is JUST as hard on your body as anything else and it does NOT work. 

Shannon
Waiting on approval for RNY