What revision did you have?

I had a revision from lapband to RNY in August. Lapband was the worst thing I ever did (horrible complications, lack of weight loss, lots of disappointment). RNY was the best thing I ever did!

Congratulations on your success! I hope you connect with pre-ops who may be considering the lap band to share what you know based on your experience. I find education is so crucial to this whole thing. I've been looking into it for 5 years now and have studied the various surgeries hard for a solid year already. I just can't imagine going into it blind knowing as much as I do now, but I realize everyone is different and some people do well with not knowing a lot of facts ahead of time. But, I like info ahead of time. Continued success be your's & thanks for sharing with me!!!

I've tried to tell people what happened to me as a very long-term bandster, but found that I got attacked pretty hardily when I did by new bandsters that didn't want to hear anything negative, so I kind of stopped telling people. I think a lot of people have bought into the hype that it's so much safer and just don't want to hear that it has it's own set of complications and risks which can be VERY serious. I learned not to tell people anything unless they specifically asked because I got really blasted by people who said I had no right to say anything negative about the band because it was just "my experience only." Well, that's kind of all I've got to go on - although I have 4 or 5 people I know that all had slips as well. Mostly though, I see people in one of my support group and they just aren't doing as well. If you go to lapbandtalk.com too, there are lots of people with complications and revisions who aren't so afraid to talk about them. It's a great place to go to get the other side of the story too. I think some of the people here that had severe lapband complications have become a little afraid to post about them.

Tia   I had my common channel shortened to 75 cm  allowing for greater malabsorption, I preiously had  a laproscopic RNY procedure ..   You can go back in archives and read the ABC's  of revision.  Dr Eric Schlesinger  goes over the procedures - very informative  reading ..  What type of surgery did you have  previously ??

I am going from band to VSG... ...

I went from a mechanical failed RNY to a DS.  Love, love, love my DS!

Good question. I originally had a lap band and revised to a sleeve. I thought that the band had the least risk and fewest complications.  What I did not realize that it was SURGICAL risk, not long term risk.  The sleeve has a very small additional surgical risk to banding but the long term complications are significantly less with a sleeve vs. RNY or banding.  I also did not realize that the sleeve has better weight loss, faster weight loss vs. banding, and no aftercare is needed.  No labs, no supplements due to malabsorption, no fills/unfills.  You are done.  You get a sleeve and you are done.