Hi everyone,
Im Jennifer. In 2006 I had lap band surgery at 254 lbs. I initially lost about 40 lbs give or take. Since then its been a gradual hell. I choke when I eat, I spit up/vomit during and after every meal or snack that I have, yet STILL manage to be overweight at 215lbs. Im 33 years old, and cannot live like this anymore, the band has to come off! I was hoping I could get a revision to a sleeve...any advice? I enjoy working out, I still do spin class and other group excercises like cardio kick and boot camp. I just get super winded and cant be up to par because I have asthma. Im hoping when I lose more weight I will lose the asthma issue too. My insurance will cover a revision surgery if the dr allows it. I made an appointment to talk to my primary care MD on Thursday next week, and hoping he will give me my HMO referral to the surgeon. Anyone in the same boat?

Yes. I had my band in 2007 and went from 230 to 190 then gained about 20 and stayed there for years with being painful and throwing up. This past year got worse with choking and gaining another 15. I self payed for my first surgery and didn't even think about a revision since I didn't know that my insurance now covers this. Anyhow I found a surgeon and had to go through some testing to prove I had slippage. I did stress to the dr about how severe the choking and acid reflux can be. Anyhow the insurance approved it and I'm scheduled to get my band out and then the revision a month later. I hope you will have the same luck. I had been so depressed and ashamed of my failure and now know it wasn't all my fault. What a relief!

I had my band put in 2011. I have only yo-yoed between 20-30 pounds of weight loss. I would focus hard on diet and exercise and become completely discouraged when I would average weight loss of about 2-5 pounds a month and then go back to bad habits. I stopped going to my doc because I was ashamed and felt I was failure. Recently, I have talked to other people who have had the band and struggled with it. This led me to go back to my surgeon for further advice. I am currently looking into revision to the sleeve and I am so glad I have found some others on here that have been through this. Any support and advice is greatly appreciated!!