BAND TO SLEEVE QUESTIONS

HELLO.  My and is 8 years old. I have not lost weight in 7 years. I want to have band removed and sleeve done. Has anyone done this? Did you have it done at once, or 2 different surgeries?  Did you have great weight loss? I hear it may not work well.  

Any advice would be great please.  Tired of being fat and tired!!

I was banded in 2007 - lost about 50-60% of my weight - had many adjustments and then started choking at night on my own saliva - band had to be emptied and decision was made to remove.  While band was empty regained alot of weight - had band removed Feb of 2014 - and sleeved late April 2014.  got to goal by Feb 2015 - and maintaining within a few pounds.  No more stuck episodes, no eating around the band - when you are full with the sleeve, you are full - that's it!  It's 1000X better in my opinion.

What great info.  My band hasn't worked in years and now that I'm having trouble I need to figure out do I just have it removed or have a revision.  This post has helped.  My only question is did you have any issues with the actual surgery and recoup time?

Thanks, Lisa

Thank you!! Did you have the revision done at the same time as band removal?  

No, band removed February - and sleeved late April.  

Hi Denise,

I'm having close to the same issue.  I was at the hospital they said the band needs to come out and thinking about doing the sleeve.  Would love to know what you end up going with.

Thanks,

Lisa

Banded in 2008 and VSG revision done in 1 surgery 20016, almost 8 years to the day.  Long story short you can see by my ticker it's working.  

Good: I can eat normally, meaning I can swallow food and not get scared it'll get stuck.  I can eat things at a normal speed, this is much slower than "normal" people but I don't mentally think about chewing my food as much as I did before.  I can eat foods that I want to, such as meat, and jerky, and other foods that would normally have gotten stuck.  I do not feel that damn band in my throat anymore.  That squirly monster was a pain in the butt for sure.  I can take my pills at night too without sitting up for 10mins to make sure they went down.  I can eat normal food at a normal place, just less of it.  Habits you picked up with the band will carry over, such as not eating bread and things that grow like pasta, but that's just good practice for weight loss anyhow. 

Bad: Having to get cut open again was stressful, did cause me to take time off work, and put some stress on my family to help me  along.  I had a few days of misery due to a rash the glue created, and not drinking enough.  However I'd do it again 3xs if I had to. Because not having that band in me is really great.

Unknown: This is going so well that I feel a small part of me always looking over my shoulder saying, when is the weight loss going to stop?  I have to wonder that because what caused my band to stop helping me, it did as my story is the same as everyone's, helped at first and then failed.  However the lapband had one major thing that went wrong for me, you could eat around it anytime you wanted.  You could drink with your meals, eat soft foods, and it never stopped you from filling up that lower stomach portion which can grow and grow.  However VSG dosn't offer a way to eat around it, you have what you have and that's that.  You can eat softer foods and get more in but no like with the band.  For instance I can eat oz dense meat like steak, or 5oz or fish, and I can finish a 5.5oz yogurt.  However all 3 of those will leave me very full, even the yogurt.  So there is a little room for pushing your limits but not much.  I used to be able to eat 6" sub, chips, and a drink.... now that dosn't sound like restriction to me.  However now... it's eat the meat off the sandwich and there is no room for chips or a drink.  So I can't say for sure if this will totally work for me my whole life, I messed up the other one by doing myself no favors.  

Tip: Find your demons and deal with them.  Neither will fix something wrong in your head.  If you are addicted to sweets like me, neither will solve that issue.  You'll have to have the "come to jesus" talk with yourself and put that business to rest once and for all.  I went all drill Sargent on myself and there is NO extra sugar at anytime or place.  I eat meat, cheese, eggs, and a bit of dairy in the form of milk for coffee or an occasional yogurt.  No more junk food, chips, cookies, sweets, candy, soda, ice cream, and so on.  I have a strong code of conduct with food right now and there is no flubbing until I'm 1yr out or at goal.  I like to plan goals so I set that restriction with a time limit or reward for fast work.  Anyone can cut any food they want out of their life for a year.  Fun thing is 3 months out and people eat cake and cookies all the time in front of me and I dont care at all, I don't even want it.  I'm feeling great, and starting to really accept that I'm tinning down and all that crap from before isn't even on my menu! 

Good luck.

You helped me a lot too. My surgery Band to Sleeve is 7/6. They are doing it all in one plus fixing a hernia I got from getting sick so often with band.

I had band 2009- did great for almost 2 years-then started to have lots of issues. Gained lots of weight back when I had it loosened. Had a lot of similar problems especially that "stuck" feeling.

Thanks for the demons advice too.

Your welcome about the demons.  I owe almost all of my weight loss IMO to stopping the sugar train. It was easy for me because it's just my husband and I and he want to loose weight too.  So he said no to Starbucks in the mornings, bread at lunch, sodas all day, salty or sweet snacks in the afternoon, and then yet more carbs at night.

it sounds scary to say no to sugar but concentrate on the meats you love.  Eat the heck outa bacon, get lots of different types of lunch meats, find a butcher, try new fish, and enjoy beef or other types of jerky.  There's a lot of non-sweet items out there and for me at least sugar was my issue.  Lots of documentaries on the topic, take a little time to watch some and think about what foods cause you to snack, or graze all day, something you can't just have one of or other foods that just need to find a new home.  Forever seemed too hard to do so set a date for yourself when you'll reevaluate your demons and see if they are even important anymore.

Thanks! Great advice.