Need Help from Band to VSG Revision People

My wife is considering WLS in January. I thought she was leaning toward VSG but she hit me with bombshell that she was leaning toward the lap-band. I would like to hear the bad parts of the band and what ultimately lead to your revision.

I've not had a revision yet!!  I still have my band.  I WANT to do something different!  Tell her this: 

Surgery consult weight: 317

Weight on surgery day (10/21/08):  279

Lowest weight since surgery: 254

Weight three months ago: 309

Weight today: 289

If that's not bad enough.... I can hardly eat any solid protein without getting stuck and vomiting.  I avoid dinners out with friends and family because I am afraid I will get sick.  Holidays are horrible!!  Forget ham or turkey!!!  It's a miserable thing, this band!!    This is also the most common experience I hear!!  The ONLY positive?  NO MORE REFLUX!!!

Hope your wife does well, whatever she chooses!

 

 

Yeah I've heard a lot of bad about the band.  I hope you can get your revision soon.  So sorry you had to yo yo on your weight and feel sick on the time the past 4 years. :-(

In my research I never hear anything good about the band ever.  I've been researching WLS for a long time.   My doctor doesn't even do the band for ppl anymore. 

There's a utube video of Dr Alvarez doing a virgin sleeve in comparision to a revision from lapband.  The lapband stomach was all black and charry.  It was really gross.  I'm not sure what the link is but you might be able to pick it up on a google search. 

I hope you can convince your wife not to do the band. 

I met someone (from this board actually) who was having the revision surgery. Not only had her band slipped but her weight had started going back up and everytime she bent over she could feel that port. I could feel it on her belly as well.

Tell her this is an entire forum here at OH just for people who have had to have the revision surgery.

 

I had the band for a little over 3 years and lost maybe 5 lbs. Just had revision to sleeve last week. I had to pay for the revision and I am not a person who has money to burn. Here are some things I learned after having the band that caused me problems:

*I had trouble keeping food down when the barometric pressure would drop or if I was in a hurry or upset.

*I missed eating salads, tomatoes, fruit with skin.

* I did not know that I would have to give up oranges and grapefruit (both of those are fruits that are really not chewed but sucked and swallowed)

*I still felt hungry even if my band said I ate enough

*They don't tell you that the band does cause damage to the stomach wall. When they let out my fill before my endoscopy (to view damage from band), it is not uncommon to feel pressure on your heart (that's the scar tissue released from the band).

*When I caused a pull on my port from exercise, the surgeon reminded me that my "band was an inantimate object in my body and at some point it must come out."

*My surgeon admitted that he felt that the lap band industry gave doctors unreliable data to sell their product. He actually apologized to me.

*And finally, when I decided to have it removed, I explained it to the doctor like this: "With the band, I have 2 stomachs. I cow has 4 stomachs. I have never seen a skinny cow."

Good luck with her decision. Contact me if I can be any more assistance.

 

I don't have the band, but there are a few things that was a big hell no for me.

1. A port. Uh, no thank you. Not to mention port infections. Ewww and ouch!

2. Going in for fills and draining for overfills. Fill too much, you can't swallow. Fill too little, you can eat non-stop.

3. It is NOT meant to last forever. It will HAVE to be removed eventually; Revision or not.

I had my band removed Monday. Today I am feeling like I have been hit by a truck. I had my band placed 02.2009 and have lost about 30 pounds, but no more...I have been throwing up four to five times per week because of the band and I have had significant reflux issues as well. I do not recommend the band to anyone for any reason. In fact, the clinic I go to told me that they (the doctors are not big fans of placing the bands any longer due to the complications. I am getting ready to be submitted to insurance to have a VSG.

Hey Keith,

I am not going to say that I have NEVER heard a good band story, but they are far outweighed by the bad.  I had a band for 2 years.  Actually, I had 2 bands.  The first one slipped about 9 months in.  It was replaced at 12 months.  The second one slipped at about 9 months again.  It had to be removed.  The times my band was working, I loved it but always wished I had had a sleeve. But Insurance didn't cover it  and my husband was opposed.  When I wanted to revise last year, He was so opposed to the Band and jumped all over the VSG wagon.  He said absolutely NO BAND, becasue living with me with all my complications was the sixth level of hell.  When my sleeve was done, he told me after that I never should have had a band because of my hernia.  That caused my slippages.  Guess they didn't pick that up the first time?  Anyway, those complications suck.  I didn't sleep for 3 months as I had to be upright in order to not aspirate my reflux that was like a tidal wave in my mouth.  

 

Now, it IS a quicker recovery.  The port is ugly.  You can feel it and it feels freaky and it usually must be revised with good weight loss.  You are still hungry.  You are resentful about not being able to eat because you are hungry.  You never know what kind of restriction you are going to have when you wake up.  Hormones, weather, eye color, anything affects how tight or loose you may feel that day.  Once you find a sweet spot, (takes months), if you have to adjust for any reason it takes forever to find it again.  If you ever do find it again.  

 

I know this is here and there and all over.  I am sorry.  I am trying to discuss with my DH at the same time...sheesh.  If you can, take the time to check out some of the long term bandsters on that board for a view of the other side.  But, I don't recommend it for anyone.

I had a band-to-sleeve revision last week. My band was originally placed in 2004; VSG was not available to me at the time, I did not want an RNY, and I paid for the band myself because insurance would not cover (though they approved RNY at 3x the cost). In the first 8 months I lost 60 pounds, but it wasn't because of consistent good restriction. I was hungry every minute, just like before. I never knew what kind of restriction I would have, as it did not correlate well with what or when or how much I ate. Sometimes 2 bites of beef would cause an hour of vomiting, and sometimes I could eat a whole steak. I had the band filled and unfilled so many times that I feel like I have a tattoo over the port site. When I exercised, or even just turned suddenly, I would often get an excruciating pain at the port site. It happened once on a plane; I'm a tough old bird, and I was holding my breath in tears. I gained the weight back over about 4 years despite intermittent serious and prolonged dieting, and finally just gave up. This past summer I hit the wall again with my weight, and when I went back to my surgeon to discuss VSG I was 10 pounds heavier than when I started.

I was very fortunate; no serious problems with my band. No erosion, no significant scarring, and I was able to have the band removed and sleeve done in the same procedure. But I did not lose weight, and had enough side effects that, sleeve or no sleeve, I was relieved to get the damned thing removed. Having said that, your wife should probably check out the band forum here at OH to get balanced reviews. Don't think you'll find any band-lovers on this forum!