Sleeve vs. Lap-Band - How did you decide?

I have been researching WLS for some time.  I was pretty confident that I wanted the Lap-Band [due to cost (my insurance doesn't pay for WLS) plus feeling that I didn't want my insides rearranged].  I took my first step tonight by attending the required seminar.  Now I don't know what to think as I became very interested in the Sleeve.  My BMI is above 50 and the possibility of faster wieght loss as well as not having to deal with adjustments, etc. has me has opened up a new line of thought.  I'm in a quandry.  Has anyone else researched the pros and cons of both?  What led to your final decision?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Amy

(Cross posted in the Lap-Band forum)

I don't have a sleeve...I have a band and am currently researching a revision.

I have 2 friends that have revised to the sleeve and they are much happier.

I am not slamming the band,  because I have friends that have ( and still are ) doing fabulously with it.

Some advantages to the sleeve-
No fills which means instant restriction from the day of surgery.  With the band,  most people do not have restriction from surgery and it can take MONTHS to get to a good fill level.   ( depends on your anatomy,  how well you can tolerate fills,  and also if your doc has a flouro machine to get the fills right)

Bands are fickle.   Some days tighter than others.....it can be painful when things get stuck.

I might have answered this on the wrong board....but I can't sleep...I'm up..so I figured I would hop in the conversation.

The initial surgical risk is greater with the sleeve  ( although no higher than other surgeries,  in fact probably less than a lot),  but the long term complications are much lower.

Good luck with whatever you decide.  

Welcome, Amy!  I did months and months of research as I was considering the lapband.  I had even gone to the surgeon's required pre-surgery seminar.  However, the more I learned, the more I knew that the lapband wasn't for me.  All the complications, and the fact that sooner or later it seemed that everyone developed them, really concerned me.  Hearing everyone on another site discussing all their complications was a real eye-opening experience.  Hearing about PBs (productive burps), vomiting, band slippage, erosion, not being able to eat for days after a fill, not ever finding the "sweet spot", etc. was frightening.  I would be the one that would never hit the sweet spot; I just knew it.  I was also not happy about the constant need for doctor visits and fills...just too time consuming.  

Then someone mentioned having a revision to the VSG and how happy they were with it.  I wasn't familiar with the "sleeve" so I started researching it.  The more I learned, the more I knew it was THE surgery for me. I particularly liked that there was no "upkeep"...no constant visits to the doctor or the need for expensive fills and no need to take supplements for the rest of my life.  However, I still wanted to talk to someone who had been there and done that.  I found this site and spent time here.  Then I contacted a member directly  who was patient and kind enough to answer any and all of my questions which confirmed that this was for me. 

The rest is history.  I had the surgery and have never looked back. 

I think the sleeve is the best options for a self-payer. It's a little more upfront, but not in the long run because you aren't paying for fills and follow-up and the long-term complications are less.

If you dare to listen, you hear a lot of words and positive messages.  I hear words like miracle, gold standard and others that can not begin to describe how much the VSG deal is working and saving peoples lives.  You have entered the most positive web site or forum their is and it bears repeating over and over.  The Sleeve is the best of all worlds according to the folks that have it and those doing it. Yes we are so happy and biased.   However, you you listen you to cane make the choice it very much a life saver and we love to have you on our bench.

 I am not Gary of Borg.  No one is installing things inside of me. (((((shudder)))))

Just read too many examples of things going wrong, body eventually rejecting, infections, painful port adjustments, too easy to cheat, cravings not disappearing, etc and decided my 10,000 year old designed stomach needed a modification from the days of fast and famine.

What?  I can't reverse it and become fat again?  Oi! What a shame.  They've been doing partial gastrectomies for DECADES, way longer than bands.  I figure whatever can happen has happened and there are procedures for all possibilities.

Then I read about all the happy, happy people here with their sleeves and I was sold.

Dats why. Power to da Peep-Holes.

I didn't care for having a foreign object in my body. Plus the up keep with fills/unfills was just to much time spent running back and forth to the doctor. It is like you are married to it. With the sleeve you just set it and forget it. Plus way less complications with the sleeve. This was the best thing I could have ever done for myself. I LOVE MY SLEEVE!!!!

OMG Gary I love the Borg analogy =)

Just look at the large number of people posting on the revision boards that they are banded and want to revise to something else.

I started out with a band and now I have a sleeve and the sleeve is a MUCH easier journey than banding.  With banding you have to be able to do liquids a LOT!  Post op diet (same for all surgery types), then after each fill is liquids.  Each time you get stuck it's liquids for the rest of the day or longer.  Restriction is like whizzing in the wind, it comes and it goes.  Some days you can eat anything and other days... liquids.

Then there is the aftercare, the fills, the compications, restriction issues, port flips, slips, erosion, esophageal dilation, pouch dilation.  Each time you barf you risk a slip.

It's a hard life.

A sleeve... for me it is just like it was before any WLS, I just get full faster.

I have been reading here quite a bit but posting maybe once. So far everyone's posts have been exactly what I wanted to say and probably the way many others feel about it. I too, like the idea of not going back to the doctor all the time (or years later) for a refill. No worries on band slippage or a foreign body in the body. One major thing that caught my attention was the fact that the stomach produces the hormone grehlin (sp?) and when you remove 85% of that.....the hunger pain and cravings are mostly gone. That is the one major thing that made my decision much easier, it just makes sense!!! I had surgery September 16th this year and as of this morning I have lost 24 pounds, 7 pre op and 17 post with the sleeve!!!! I had waited 3 years trying to get my insurance to cover and they flat out would NOT! I am a self pay.