Failed band- don't want a sleeve failure

I'm getting my sleeve in the next few weeks. I was banded in 2008 and it was torture from the get go. I was compliant, had a ton of adjustments and never really lost weight. I went down 70lbs total but 35 of those lbs was lost during the liquid diet pre/post op. I gained 100 lbs while/after my daughters pregnancy 3 years ago until now. While I'm not perfect I tried so hard with my band. I slimed and threw up daily. I haven't been able to sit and eat with my family in 5 years because sitting and eating doesn't really work for me. I could go on and on but you get my point im sure.

So here is my concern- will this sleeve work as long as I'm working it? Weightloss with the labpand was so incredibly slow. is it that slow with the sleeve? I was killing myself to take off .5 lbs a week. I'm now at a weight that is so high, I feel like I'm dying. I just don't want to fail again.

I had the same experience with my band.  Many here did.  I was sleeved 5 1/2 months ago and am down 81 lb.  With my band, I lost 81 lb. the 1st year, but I attribute it to constant vomiting.  When I had all of the fluid out of my band, I gained it all back, plus 15 :-(

The sleeve has been everything that I hoped the band would be.  The rate of weight loss has been great and I feel good.  Just follow this forum and work your program.

Best of Luck!

Kim

Have you thought about the RNY or DS?  If you're a slow loser, that might be better.  Generally revision patients lose even more slowly than they did the first time unless they up the game with  malabsorption surgery.

If you were eating soft foods to try to cope with the sliming, the sleeve may be OK. But it is well documented that revision patients lose more slowly.  You might post on the revision board and see what the people over there say.  This board has mostly virgin sleeves and it is a different experience with a revision.

Your experience with the band does not sound anything like my experience with the sleeve.  Yes, with the sleeve, if you work it, it works. I lost 97 lbs in 6.5 months and have been maintaining this loss every since.  It is not always easy, but it's very doable.  I don't throw up and I have only had the foamies a few times in all these years, mostly in the very beginning and only once in the past two years when I was recovering from a stomach bug.

My surgeon hates the band, and won't do it unless the patient really, really, really wants it and there's not another medical reason to do a different surgery. There have been so many studies showing problems and failures with the band. I don't think it's you at all.

On the other hand, I've read and heard a great many good things about the band. it's a very different experience, different process, and studies show the success rate is much higher with both initial loss and maintenance of loss with the sleeve.

You didn't fail... a less-than-effective method failed you.