I'm in the exact same boat and waiting on approval to remove and replace with sleeve ... Are you considering revision or just removal ? 

If you've developed ulcers and gastritis, you're doing the right thing in having the band removed. I'm sorry you're going through it, though. 

I also developed ulcers and gastritis while banded in 2003. Had the band removed in 2005. Still have gastritis and ulcers, even after taking medications and revamping my diet completely. The band's presence will make these complications worse. Hopefully you'll have it removed early enough to not have permanent damage. 

After band removal, I think it took about 2 weeks before I really felt decent. The anesthesia causes a lot of people to experience constipation, so make sure you've got some stool softeners in case you need them. 

Good luck to you. I hope all goes well. 

Is this the same doctor that gave you the band to begin with?  

What IS his suggestion?

I have seen numerous band to sleeve success.  The sleeve works for LIFE how the band is "said" to work but without having fills/unfills etc.  Not sure how good it works after the band destroys esophagus and stomachs BUT I do know GREAT success from the transfer.

Thanks for answering her I was just gonna let her look it up herself if she was so curious. Like you I live with the damaged esophagus so I'm not gonna bother with someone that ill educated about the band. There's nothing worse than a know it all, so far successful bandster. Their day will come tho!

I have also had increasing side effects that all seem to be LB related.  I had my surgery in 2009.  Everything was going swimmingly for a few years, and I loved my band.  I lost 40 pounds.  I wanted to lose 75, but never got there, still, I was seeing so many great things from the 40 lbs I had lost.  I felt wonderful.  About three years in, I started having a hard time eating.  I was getting "stuck" all the time.  I was having these waves of tightness in my throat, which were later diagnosed as esophagus spasms.  They slowly unfilled me.  I would feel better for a while, then feel as tight as I had before the unfill.  Within six months, I was totally unfilled, but still having loads of restriction.  I didn't want to take my LB out because I was terrified of what will happen to my weight without it.  I asked my Dr about a revision surgery to a different type of WLS, but he said my weight is not in a range where they will do it for me.  Basically, they would take the LB out if I asked, but not do a sleeve or anything else unless I gain all the weight back.  I decided to keep my unfilled band in, not realizing how dangerous this would end up being.  Within two more years, I was having acid reflux that would have me vomiting acid in the middle of the night.  They put me on Meds to help, it helped, but didn't cure it.  I was always having small spasms in my esophagus, always tight, and always having some amount of acid reflux.  Then things got downright scary.  I started having episodes of heart palpitations.  Evidently, it can be really hard on your heart to be so tight and have all these spasms and such.  My doctors wont definitively say that these problems are all connected to the LB, but I feel strongly that they are.  I wish I had never gotten it, and now I am being scheduled to have it removed.  It is possible I will need to have a pacemaker placed if removing the band doesn't cure the episodes.  Many people who have the band removed still suffer symptoms because of all the scar tissue and other damage the band and constant state of esophagus spasms have caused permanent damage for them.  I am hoping with everything I have my symptoms will right themselves when I get this LB out.