revision?

I have not been here in years.  I was doing well and abandoned the need for support.  I started having problems with my band 4 yrs out.  Fill/unfill, faoming and vomiting, overswelling after a fill until I couldnt swallow my own saliva.  I was unfilled to 1cc and have been there since 2009!!!  I have regained to 200 lbs and hate it.  I have the old band and dont know if  I should search out a doctor for a fill or what.  I am thinking of Sleeve.  I moved and have no fills or support for 3 years.... should I go try for a fill and work my band, or replace the archeaic thing?

Personally and this is just my opinion, I would go with revision to the sleeve. I know of so many people who have wasted time trying to "work" their bands and we are finding for many the band has never, and will never work. Myself I have been empty for over 2 years, haven't gained but that is because of other health issues and a very close eye on what I eat. If you go over to the sleeve forum you will see many old bandsters who have revised. Replacing the band us really no option either because even if replaced with a newer one they tend to still have the same problems. Yes the sleeve is more drastic but it has been done for decades for cancer and ulcer problems also for weight loss as the first part of the DS surgery so it is a well tried and proven surgery. I've probably seen hundreds of revisions and only a handful who were not happy with the surgery. I'd suggest you just leave the band as it is and investigate the sleeve, check out the forum here and surf the net to get as much info as you can then find a good surgeon who does revisions. Best of luck to you!

Most ins co's are going to a one surgery per lifetime (regardless of who paid for the original surgery, even if you or a different ins co paid for it- it still counts as your one wls).

If you even have revision benefits I'd be getting it while the getting is good.

My band failed me completely. COMPLETELY. I never ever found the elusive "sweet-spot". After three years of struggling (I mean after all, a band is really just a slightly more enforced diet right?), I have finally decided on a bypass - which I wish I would have done first. Oh well. Anyway, my point is, research the daylights out of this - I personally would never re-band - and then see what works best for YOU. Unfortunately, the band has the highest failure rate of any of the WLS (70%) - and I sure wish I'd listened to many many people on this site who advised against it. But I didn't, cuz I was scared, and it was "so permanent!"... (ummm, don't we want the weight loss to be permanent?) LOL So you need to decide what works best for YOU... and then work like hell to get it done. I also quit going to my doctor because it felt like such a waste of time - it never worked anyway, so why bother? I'm really hoping THIS time is the RIGHT time. Good luck to you in what ever you decide - you CAN do it!