How to stop losing weight after revision?

Has anyone else had a revision when they were at goal? I have a band but bands are not fun. :o(  I'm getting a sleeve but not to lose weight, to maintain.  I haven't figured out how I am going to maintain during 10 days of clears and 10 days of full liquids. I'm at 125 now and really, I can't afford to lose more weight. Suggestions?

Only thing I can think of is to make sure your liquids are full of carbs and fat - the things you're supposed to avoid when losing! Full fat milkshake with ice cream, the 'build-up/breakfast' type drinks aimed at convalescing people, plenty of sugary fruit juice etc! Not that you're making me jealous or anything! Sal

PekinSal... Honestly, this is not fun.  I'm losing weight I don't want to.  I feel horrible, my electrolytes are out of whack, I can't stand up without feeling like I'm going to faint, I can't go shopping because I can't walk that far (again, electrolytes) and it's a constant battle.  Quality of life is not good going this direction just like it is not good going in the other direction.  It's not something I'd wish on anyone.   I was at goal BEFORE this started. :o/ I can't do ice creams and such until 11 days after surgery, it's clears until then.  I just don't know if I can drink enough juice to battle this or not.  I'm going to have to stock up on Immodium! ;o)

Just Curious here. Who is your Dr ?? and why does he want you to do liquids ?  You might want to stick to  cream soups the first part of it - that way it will be easier to keep your weight, You can do lots of rich soups  with cheese and  healthy fats in em. Safeway has some pretty good ones.

I have to do liquids because going from a band to a sleeve there will be a new staple line.  Clears for 10 days, fulls for 10 days, soft foods for 10 days, then gradually reintroduce solids. I'll sure be glad when this is over.

I sincerely hope that this is not a terribly invasive question (although that wouldn't stop me from asking) but if you were already at goal why revise your surgery?  Why not have the band removed and go on from there?  I know I am being nosy but I can't help it.  Of course, I am also insanely jealous too, lol, I like being honest about my less than desirable side.

Nope, not invasive at all. No reason to be jealous, honestly.  Think about it, I spent $8K to lose weight and now I'm spending another $10K to stop losing! ;o) Someone just PMed me this AM asking the same question and she too, was concerned that she was asking something personal.  I'll just copy/paste what I wrote to her: >> No, I don't mind answering at all.  We all share things around here, it's no problem. I have had band problems since the beginning but it used to be I could work around the band problems.  I could never get an adequate fill because of stoma spasms so I ended up losing weight with virtually no restriction.  I kinda learned to make the stoma spasms work for me. ;o)  Point being, it used to be that I could work around the problems but the last three months that just isn't the case anymore.  I have been completely unfilled and on liquids for almost three months now.  I'm over banding!  I want a sleeve. The sleeve isn't so I can lose weight, it is so I can maintain.  I'm losing weight I don't really want right now. I have esophageal spasms, esophageal motility issues from banding, band induced reflux to the point that my voice has changed and sounds froggy and no drug helps with it, I have stoma spasms, and now that my port sticks out like a fugly tumor it rubs against buttons and zippers on my jeans and becomes painful and swollen.  With the sleeve there will be NONE of that.  So I am finally doing it and going for a sleeve. When you hit goal the whole concept of reversible changes.  You find that your perspective changes.  Once you have met goal there is no reason you want reversible any longer, you would give your right arm (or 80% of your stomach) for permanent. ;o)  I worked really hard for my weight loss and ran my butt off literally.  If I lose my band I will regain, I know me.  So with the sleeve I can maintain and it will be much more peaceful in my case.  I think I would have lost equally well with either procedure but for me, in my case, I think the WLJ would have been much easier with a sleeve. I look at my excess stomach as an evil enemy, it has never done anything beneficial for me.  It just permitted me to eat too much and get fat.  I view it the same as a burst appendix, something that no longer belongs in my body.  If we have gallstones we remove them, if we have something that affects our body in a negative way we fix it.  I finally have come to the conclusion that my stomach is causing me more problems and a lack of quality of life that for me the best option is to remove what I don't need. Did you know that long term complications and risks are far fewer with a sleeve vs. a band or bypass?  It has the fewest complications.  Sleeved people lose better than banded people and have a better total weight loss.  I just wish I would have done it to begin with.   I don't regret WLS but I do regret not making a better choice in which WLS was right for me.<< So as you can see if I remove my band I'll regain.  If you reversed your bypass, what would happen?  Probably the same thing, you'd regain.  So a sleeve will hopefully keep me at goal.

So here I go again, what made you choose a Mexican doctor?  I may not be able to get insurance to cover my revision and am looking at all sorts of alternatives.  My mother is also interested in banding (never a favorite technique of mine  but to each their own) and so I am gathering research for her too.

When I was wanting a band my insurance did cover it but the hoops to jump through were so horrible and so long that I decided to do self pay.  I wasn't willing to wait.  (six month supervised diet, etc.)  I have a friend in Mexico who is a trauma surgeon, I do a lot of volunteer work for him since I'm a nurse. When I was considering banding I talked to Carlos, the trauma surgeon.  I asked him for help in making a decision so that's how the topic started.  He suggested I look at Mexico if I was going to go self pay.  I thought he was nuts.  We talked for a long time and long story short, I researched US surgeons and he researched Mexican surgeons.  He came up with two for me to pick from and to be honest, bariatrics has been going on there MUCH longer than in the US so some of their surgeons are really very experienced and skilled. Turns out, they were more experienced and had better track records than the docs I was looking at in the US.  He showed me how to research, what to look for, and overall, just how to do it.  I wrote much of it in my profile, "How to Research A Mexican Surgeon".  I started researching them on my own and everything he said was absolutely true. I realized something when I got to my original goal (BMI of normal weight range) and that is that had I gone through insurance... by the time I would have been getting my first fill under insurance I was actually at goal by going to Mexico. *I* think the care is better in Mexico ***IF*** you do your research.  There are really good surgeons and really bad ones in any country including the US.  A US surgeon just killed a guy with an OR 'oups' last week.  People believe they are safe staying in the US and that isn't always true.  Regardless of where you have surgery you have to do your research.   People just don't know how to do that research in their own country let alone Mexico.  That has become one of my little passions in life, pushing people to do their research and find the doctor that is right for them, thus... my profile.  I actually have files on all the popular Mexican surgeons!  HA!!  I do!  It started out being research for myself and then others started asking me about how to research doctors and it kinda grew from there to the point that I have files on them. The reason I say care can potentially be better in Mexico is because our medical system has let the insurance companies run our medical care.  Remember the days when you were sick and admitted to a hospital?  Now they treat you in urgent care and send you home.  It used to be that if you had surgery they admitted you.  Now when you wake up you go home.  Not so in Mexico.  They don't believe that is safe. Comparisons:  (Sorry, as i told you this has become one of my passions in life HA) Banding:  US cost, $16,500 US average.  Outpatient surgery, fills may or may not be included. Mexico:  Average cost $7500, inpatient surgery, fully equipped hospitals, 2 nights after surgery admission, typically fills are free for life.  Example, my doc believes that obese folks are at higher risk for complications so he admits them for two nights in the hospital following surgery and does a barium swallow the day after surgery. Sleeves:  US average cost:  $25,000.  Mexico is $10,000.  US keeps you in the hospital overnight, Mexico it is three nights in the hospital following surgery.  US does 1-2 leak tests, my doc does three leak tests, one daily for three days.  IF you pass all leak tests you are discharged, he hasn't had a sleeve leak yet. In the US they typically do not oversew the staple line for sleeves.  In Mexico they do, they have fewer leaks in Mexico vs. the US. According to the CDC the hospital infection rates are lower in Mexico than they are in the US.  I can see arguments on both sides of the fence but the reality pans out, Mexico has fewer hospital borne infections.  If they have fewer infections there are fewer people to catch things from. In the US a doc can  get referrals from insurance co's and patients don't really have many choices.  In Mexico they HAVE to work off their reputations.  If they screw up their reputations (doctors typically in Tijuana are not great, poor reps) they have nothing.  They can only depend on those shopping for price so they do bands for $5K - $6500.  Sleeves for $7500.  It's the only way they can stay in business, by being cheap.  They depend on people not doing their research. I think the best docs are in Mexicali and Monterrey.   Mexicali is on the border with California, Monterrey is deeper into Mexico, more of a tourist spot but excellent medical care. Please, have your Mom email me!  I'm begging.  Bands are not necessarily safe.  I may well sound like a cross between a frog and a little boy in puberty for the rest of my life because of what the band has done to my throat.  I honestly don't believe bands are going to be around for life for the majority of people and revisions are expensive and difficult.  For a revision you seriously have to pick a good doctor, one skilled in revisions and potential complications.  There just aren't many that I would trust my own surgery to in either the US or Mexico. I'll even PM you my email address, have her contact me.  I'll tell her the good and bad about banding.  I'm not anti-band, but I am pro-know-what-you-are-doing.  If people know full well what they are doing and they still want a band, I'll help them find a surgeon that is right for them but I won't do it if they don't know what they are doing in researching their WLS options and doctors and if they don't double check my own research. What kind of revision are you looking at?

There was a lady on the sleeve board when I first came there who had her band removed and got a sleeve.  She was at goal and started having band problems.  She posted a few times after surgery and was THRILLED with her new sleeve life.  I remember her not needing wanting to loose any more weight.

I'll see if I can't find her profile.  In the meantime just know that even if you were to loose weight during that time, you'll be able to get it back because it won't be a long term situation.  Let me go find her right now....

Ms Shell Ok found her http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/debrat262/ Here's a link to her posts on the VSG board http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/vsg/board_id,5463/user_id, 715265/a,messageboard/action,memberPosts/page,1/ I hope something in her journey helps you.