Reasons for sleeving

I am very happy with the sleeve & really pleased that I didn't choose to have a band (especially since reading some of the poster's experiences on this site about erosions etc, not good) as I was only guided towards the sleeve as I was a rural patient & while the Dr did the band, he preferred people who lived 1hr+ from the hospital to have a sleeve. If I lived in a city I may have considered the band more seriously yikes!!

However, no weight loss surgery is the cure in itself to an eating disorder, it is only a tool to assist with changed eating patterns. As I joke with people, its tummy surgery not brain surgery, so while I can't fit as much in and I do tend towards healthier food, I have found on "those" stressy sort of weeks where I snack of multiple but small amounts of high kilojoule foods you can actually put weight on, so you have to make an effort to live a healthier life & do some gentle appropriate exercise to maintain your weight loss.

That said, its the best darn tool I've ever had and I had tried sooo many different ways to lose the extra weight pre sleeve & I couldn't lose large amounts of weight or maint the weight loss - (how many out there have lost & regained? not fun is it!). I have now been the same weight for about 2 months so it is early days but I remain positive that I will stay this new healthy size for life and still be able to have the odd naughty treat as well. Can't ask for more than that!

Hi Lfed

There are quite a few people on the forum who have had bypass surgery...Shadesailundies...Soz McDoz and Daisy to name but a few. You might want to read through their diaries and I will let one of the more knowledgable answer this question...

cheers

S

I know this may sound strange but I am having some crazy thoughts going through my mind (as im sure you did 4 days before your surgery too)
I just need someone to tell me what a gastric bypass is.. I keep thinking thats what im having (even though I know what I actually am having)I just keep drumming it into my head.
So can someone please explain it to me in a non doctor way..!! hehe Cheers in advance.

Cuddly Kat, what a great achievement.........I bet it's the best birthday present ever.


Take Care
Vicky

Wow
Happy Happy B'day to you Cuddly Kat

40kgs !!! what an achievement!!

and a very Happy Birthday to you too

xx

Happy Birthday CK.

a loss of 40 kilos is a great birthday present to yourself.

I agree with what everyone has said (can always count on Apple to tell it how it is :)

I find it frustrating that more GPs haven't heard of the sleeve and continue to send people off for the band without presenting the sleeve as an option. I hope forums like this one will get the word out that this is a viable alternative for the band.

By the way, today is my birthday. I was sleeved last July and I have lost 40 kilos. I feel more energetic, my kids tell me they can hug me "all the way around now" and my husband has actually had to tell me to stop spending money on new clothes and shoes (I love it!!).

Yes, its a major operation and needs to be considered carefully but it totally changes your life for the better.

I want to live longer and be around for my family and friends, if I could lose the weight without the help of surgery I would,my path to surgery started 5 years ago so I have explored all avenues. Looking fab is way down the list for me,my health is the priority...vanity will come later lol

miss wrote:

I think if you wanted to look fab, the best thing is to watch what you ate, but it is a set and forget thing if you wanted to just put a plug in the whole so you wouldn't put any more weight on.

This is far more than "looking fab"! I dont have any "magic numbers" in my head to aim for, nor do I absolutely HAVE to get to a size x y or z. Its about not being in pain any more with joints that struggle to handle "the load at times". Its about preventing diabetes getting a hold on me. Its about being here for my family for the longest possible time. Its about coming out from under the cloud of depression thats hung over me & affected my quality of life for what seems like forever.

I think if you wanted to look fab, the best thing is to watch what you ate, but it is a set and forget thing if you wanted to just put a plug in the whole so you wouldn't put any more weight on.

I initially was looking at the lap-band. Had never even heard of the sleeve until my surgeon suggested it as a better alternative to the band. He did'nt think the band would work for me, due to where I live & the travel involved for the ongoing maintenance etc. Which was true, travelling 8hrs for a Dr's appt is not high on the list of fun things to do!
He called the sleeve " a set & forget solution".

I am sorry that I said the sleeve was a be all end all, it just that my mum told me that it was. And coming from mum, I believed her. I truly dont know what else you could do, have a foreign object in ur body???

Cos I dont eat much except healthy foods, I just don't consider that to be dieting. And that is why I never mentioned dieting and eating healthy fruits and vegies...

Hi Mel,

The sleeve is not the be all and end all, it won't lose the weight for you. You have to use it properly, it is just a tool.

Cheers - Carrie

The sleeve can not be reversed or undone Diafol. So I am finding it a little hard to understand where you said the sleeve is not the be all end all. With the band, you need check ups, fills and un fills all the time as you mentioned! With the sleeve, you still need to eat a healthy diet, but it just limits you to how much you eat!
I wish you the best

I originally was going to get the band but thankfully my doctor suggested the sleeve. He agreed that in my case and the amount of weight I need to lose the band would help lose some but not all. And I know people with a band and they cheat with it,one has not lost any weight at all. I know the sleeve is not the be all end all but definately the best option the assist with weight loss. And I wont need to see the doctor again after I am fully recovered.

All of the below, as well I like to travel to remote 3rd world places for extended periods of time. Having the band in those situations would be near impossible.

Thanks for all your responses everyone! Between this thread and some others about the band-to-sleeve conversion I think I've got enough info to feel confident in pushing for a sleeve over the band.

Ta!
Ssjad

You go girl....... and don't forget that just because they have only been using it as a wl tool, in recent years, doesn't mean that it's new....its been around for years, the procedure generally done for other reasons, and it was because they noticed the weight lose in obese patients, from those ops, that they started promoting it as a wls. The surgeons must have access to years of notes/studies on the affects of this surgery.

A lifetime of private health insurance for a band, think how much THAT costs you a year.

A GUARANTEE of further surgery in your lifetime, bands have only a limited life.

I laugh so hard when they say the sleeve MIGHT stretch. I am yet to find one that has, so if they do they have to be pretty damn rare. a LOT rarer than slipped bands and erosions. Lets see a one in what a thousand shot you might need further surgery with the sleeve if it stretchs or a minimum of 1 in 4 of further surgery to fix a slipped band and erosion etc etc not counting the many times in your life time you have to replace your band. I just dont get the unknown or stretch with the sleeve hype compaire it to the KNOWN reality of how much goes wrong with a band and it is a joke.

Pick your sleeve surgeon with great care and the chances are close to zero of a stretched sleeve. There are NO other things that can go wrong down the track NO unknowns NO nothing. Accept that there is a late regain of about 10% or 5kg and get on with your life. Accept the fact the sleeve settles at the size of about 250ml and not that 2 silly teaspoons you start with and you will be fine. Use the sleeve as a tool and be responsible for what you put in it or accept the consequences that simple.

There are only 2 ways a sleeve fails it is done wrong or you are one of the few people out there that require malabsorption in order to lose and maintain weight loss and thus need to go on to a DS. That means your surgeon is a failure or your body is a pain in the ass. Take the band you can have the best surgeon the most perfect surgery in the world and STILL it fails because the restriction can never be right. It fails because reflux sets in and NOTHING ever fixes that with a band. it fails because it erodes into your stomach. I can go on and on and on with more things it can fail for. Long term the band fails, sure some smart ass on the band board will get up and say I am a success but for every one of them there is a hundred failures or more.

Look at the sleevers boards WHERE are the failures ??????????????? the odd surgery done wrong, I think the count is 2. the few who freak out when they find they can eat more than 2 teaspons of food brecause they never listened when told 250ml is what your stomach will BE when it settles to its new size. A few with pretty stuffed meteoblisim who have not lost heaps. A few who have a handful of hicups starting their new life and that is it.

I am just so sick of the crap of the unknown we friggin know what is good and what is crap, the band is crap.

applesauce

Absolutely ditto to what kylie said :)

Everything pretty much Kylie said & it will hopefully enable me to walk without a frame.

CarrieK wrote:

Hi Ssjad,

I see that you had your op in 2008, I only wish I had known about it back then. How did you find out about the sleeve?

Cheers - Carrie

I think that is the default date that is set on the forum until you change it for your date.

I was the same as Carrie though. Went to see the surgeon about the band, he gave me three options and we talked them through, I went away and decided to go the sleeve and just told him what I wanted. I think he may of talked me out of the band anyway as he tends to take alot out now. Also I remember him telling me that he didn't recommend the bypass for my particular case. But I like the way he let me decide as its my body and I have to live with it. I don't know if I could of gone with a surgeon who would only do 1 type of surgery regardless of what was better for me.

Quote :

No revolting port for my toyboy to feel and be repulsed over

omg you make me laugh.. but soooo true.

I was going to get the band, but i live miles form anything, (except country target, hate it), and the sleeve is set and go!