Who has a sleeve???

I have a band.... it sux!!  I am trying to revise to sleeve!!  Who here has a VSG and wants a revision & WHY??  Thanks for any info!!  

I was sleeved 2 years ago in December. It stretched fairly quickly - my fault. Also have a hiatal hernia but I hear you can get those with any surgery. Because of the hernia, I get severe acid reflux, even with a daily PCP for the last 1 1/2 years. No fun! If you have lots of self control and can eat low carb, low fat and be on a good basic low calorie "diet" for pretty much life, then it's a good option. I didn't want malabsorption because I thought #1 the extra vitamins would suck and #2 I had enough control to maintain a good diet. I was clearly kidding myself. And the vitamins will be a good payoff for being healthy. I'm now looking into the DS, if that doesn't get approved (denied once already) I will look into the RNY. I need the malabsorption and wish I had gone that route the first time.

So I just say you need to really, REALLY, ask yourself why you didn't like the band. I hear the fills, etc. are a pain but if any part of you thinks it's because of your eating habits too, remember, the sleeve is all about changing your eating habits. No malabsorption there. It is a great option for people with self control because those of us without it will find a way to "eat around" the restriction.

Feel free to ask questions if you have 'em. Good luck!

Hi,

I just want to say/and ask you if you are aware that after a length of time, your body adapts to it's new intenstines and absorbs the same way everyone else's does... that is vitamins, FAT and CALORIES....everything.  So it is truly all about changing eating patterns and choices.  I'm 9 yrs out, have regained 22 in the last 4 months and am panicking big time. 

I'd like to get the sleeve over my RNY.  I hope that is a possibility.  I'm still considered obese at 5'2", 181#.  I just want one more chance.

I had to laugh about the kidding yourself part.. I know many of us who do.  Don't be so hard on yourself.  Good luck to you.

It's actually good that you've realized you need to reset things at 22 pounds up instead of 52. You can do it!

As for the body adapting, yep, unfortunately I'm aware of that with the RNY. It's not so much with the DS, which is why I'm fighting so hard for it. My surgeon even said if the DS isn't approved, we need to have a very frank conversation about the changes I need to make if I move forward with the RNY. She too is worried I'll regain after two years. Yikes!

I hope you can jump start your loss again and get back to losing that 22. It's possible! Good luck!

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding, but it LOOKS like you're replying to LadyLuck. The truth is, DSers DO malabsorb calories forever---the body is simply not able to overcome the extensive amount of small intestine bypassed in the DS. Dsers will always malabsorb about 50% of calories from protein, about 40% of calories from complex carbs, and about 80% of calories from fat. However, neither DSers or RNYers will EVER AGAIN absorb certain vitamins and minerals 'normally'--- the past of the small intestine that contains most of the receptor sites for them has been bypassed and ever comes in contact with food. This means and both DSers and RNYers will need to take supplemental vitamins and minerals FOR LIFE.

I had the VSG in June of 2009. I lost 60lbs fairly quickly but gained 40lbs back since then. I also stretched it out before my one year mark. It also was my fault butttttt my boss and his son had the sleeve from the same doctor and both have also gained almost all their weight back. I'm having a revision done on March 11th to he bypass. I wish I would have just made the decision to do the bypass then (especially because I paid cash the first time) I think that there are always reasons that surgeries fail and I wasn't honest with others on why I was gaining the weight back but in reality it was because of the choices I made when eating, and drinking. I figured out what I could get away with and pushed it a little more every time to see what bothered me and what didn't. I realized that I was eating almost as much as before when it was already too late! I blamed it on the fact that I was going through a divorce and blamed the weight gain on being in the "happy" stage when I was in a new relationship and now I try to blame it on being in the comfortable stage 3 years later in my relationship.

I had to own up to why my VSG failed and why I'm having to do a revision to be able to see what changes I needed to make so that I don't fail again!! Good luck and my thoughts are with you!

Boy, do I appreciate your honesty. I've been saying that my labband failed me for the longest, until recently....and it did...kind of. The truth is that while it never worked great for me, I never worked great for it either.  I got fills in a timely manner (90% of the time), but I never changed my eating habits.  I ALWAYS ate whatever I wanted to eat whether it was in smaller portions or only once a day. I still ate what I wanted and for those times when I couldn't hold anything down, I ate unhealthy slider foods. I never maintained a serious excercise regimen, either.  As for the bands fault in all of this, well I never got a good fill that worked for me.  I was either too tight or too loose. The band was never the tool for me that it was for some others. NOW,  I think that I'm revising to a sleeve, but I'm approaching it differently.  I am wiser from my band experience, so I know that no surgery will do everything for me.  I'm hoping that the sleeve will restrict m portions enough that I can begin to move around and start exercising.  I hoping that I will have enough restriction that I can begin shifting my food expectations to what my body needs instead of what my mind wants.  This time, I know that I need support groups (online and in person) because I need to share with and learn from people who know the curves and forks of this road that we travel.   I'll probably get counseling for emotional eating, too.  2nd time around....all the stops are being pulled. 

Good luck to you, too.

I went on my first doctor-supervised diet at age NINE. My first diet pills ate age ELEVEN. At 45, I decided that I was just no good at the whole "diet" thing, and that truly changing my eating habits just wasn't going to happen. So---when I decided to have WLS, I figured I'd better choose one that would work with my life-long ingrained eating habits.

That was over 9 years ago, and thanks to my DS I'm eating the way that pleases me, AND I'm effortlessly maintaining a loss of 172 pounds. I don't have a 'tool' that I have to 'work'---I had a WLS that corrected my metabolic problems and FIXED me. If I'd chosen a surgery that *I* had to 'work', I'd be fat again.

I have the sleeve and it failed it does have a 20% that it will and now I have to get RNY or DS In my 6 months I only lost 35lbs. That is 5.8 lbs a month for 6 months So keep in mind it's only a 20% it wont work ;)