hi, im new to this board, well not really.  i had a band put in a few years ago and had problems with it.  after losing 65 or 70 lbs i had a prolapse.  the revision i had failed and that led to me having my band removed.  i was happy and sad as well.  i mourned the loss of my band, my hope for maintaining an average weight.  well, here i am 4 yrs later thinking about the sleeve.  am i crazy?  i wondered if there are issues such as sliming or foaming like with the band.  any info would be helpful!!!

I had a band for 4 years - lost 75 pounds and then started having TONS of trouble with it.  I had it taken out and was sleeved.  No slimming, no foaming.  I remember standing in the bathroom, sometimes for HOURS waiting for whatever was stuck to come back up.  Not with the sleeve.  It's just like a small stomach. 

I can still eat and there are slider foods that go right through **** cream, chips, etc) so you have to 'work' at it and focus.  But it's so-o much better than the band.

 great news...no foaming or stuck feeling.  id idnt think you would get the same side effects with the band because there isnt anything around the stomach to restrict it, right?  its just smaller.  did you have a nice weight loss with the sleeve? did you use the same dr to do the sleeve that did the band?  can you drink while eating?  i would think so right?  was the procedure similiar to the band or harder of a recovery?

I had the sleeve after having a band for two years and experiencing a slip. I wish I would have had the sleeve first.

There's tons of us ex banders here! Search in the archives, look at the revision board. I was just sleeved a little over a week ago Welcome, it's a different world but so far, so good!

 ann, can you compare the band vs sleeve for me?  or is it too soon?   why did you go from a band to a sleeve?  how was recovery?

Well, to be honest, it IS too soon for me to compare but there are lots of good experiences on the board to get info from for data collection. I am still in the full liquids phase and so I haven't felt that "full" or "limited" feeling. At this point, I could continually "eat" full liquids ALL day!
I invite you to read my profile, the band, for me, was nightmare--tons of complications, infections, wound packing, multiple surgeries and finally just resignation until recently when I found I needed to have it removed or continue to endanger my life.  I chose to go with the VSG because in the short window that the band did work for me, it worked wonderfully, so I know that a restrictive approach is good for me. I go to my first follow up on Tuesday at which point I expect to be able to eat some 'real' food--so we'll see how next week goes. Melly37 is a wonderful source, she was just revised from a band to vsg a week prior to myself and she is always on top of her blog :)

 how do i see your profile?  il also email Melly37 too.  

I am a band to sleeve revision and I have not been sick in five weeks since the surgery. Unbelievable. The band was not for me. I am hungry with the sleeve, but have found that for some, that is normal, but it doesn't take much to squash the hunger.