Sleeve V's Band????

This site is so great...

my band has eroded and Im having it taken out in 1 week, its started to really hurt when i move around, and the port feels like its moving around....after reading a lot of replies on here i see its close to flipping.....good thing im having the darn thing taken out.....

the only reason they suggest lapband over sleeve....is because its not permanent!- you can remove it and have all your organs intact....

whereas a sleeve, is for the rest of your life....

I dont know about you guys...but im 31 years old....been overweight my entire life....i need, a little drastic, i NEED 'for the rest of your life'........and if i knew then what i know now.....

I would have gone straight for the sleeve:)

but be smart about it, join a gym, get yourself a personal trainer, start a food diary....the band .. the sleeve....theyre tools, no matter what procedure you have done,.....you can always cheat it....

utilize the tool effectively, and you'll reach your goals....its not just lessening what we eat....its about a lifestyle change....and as you lose weight and CAN do things like bike riding, swimming etc.... DO it....change your lifestyle for long lasting results!

alll the best in your decision :)

Wow, I am only 1 week post op and am amazed that I will be able to eat that much!! Makes me feel much more human and hopeful. Luckily for me my body loves protein, that menu sample plan (watermelon included) sounds exactly as I would like it to be eventually.

Kari

Hi Max
Glad to hear you're so close to goal. I have reached Goal. As you say. like yourself, there is no way I can eat all the protein on the diet suggested by applesauce. Whatever it is with my stomach, when it senses meat on the way, it simply closes up and simply refused to have more than a couple of bits, result - hungry again within an hour or so, thus the problem and the only food that goes down a treat without major stomach disruption IS carbs. Never mind, am making appointment with my dietician to get this problem sorted. Good luck with your journey

i left fruit out in that one because she had such bad carb problems and fruit is pure carb. me i love figs or watermelon everyday. i should have also said another snack between 100 and 150 calories wouldnt hurt if you got hungry in the evening.

applesauce

HI All,

Thanks Applesauce for all the info here including that suggested daily diet. OMG, I am all but 12 months out and there is no way I could eat all that you suggest. So anyone who can, should definelty not be hungry. I can only eat 1 egg and either a piece of toast or a piece of bacon, would never be able to fit in morning tea if I eat eggs for breakfast, snack on some nuts or water melon through the day and ready for some protein and salad for dinner, oh and I do drink maybe 2-3 cappacino's every day as snacks or meals. I have all but lost all my weight, about 3 kilos from goal. I don't believ my sleeve will ever stretch so long as I do the right things and eat the right foods.

I love my sleeve, sometimes I still get frustrated that my tummy hurts after squeezing in too much watermelon, but I shoudl know by know not to over do it.
Max

Annden do you still see your dietician?
You can get a referral from your GP for 5 free visits to a dietician per year.

Thanks for the example diet menu applesauce, I can see that I am on the right track.
I eat 5 times a day, all protein based including my morning and afternoon tea.
I am never hungry and 3 months out I can get in 100 gms protein in at a meal or 1 and a half eggs and half piece toast.

Love this forum and love my sleeve

the protiem is not a miricle for hair but it helps. some swear it fixes the hair loss.

applesauce

Thanks for the diet Applesauce. Much appreciated. Will try it out for sure. Never know, it might help with the hair loss. Have you suffered that? I was put on "Elevit" by the surgeon and am still taking it. Pregnancy vitamin at my age LOL.

Cheers

Annden

sorry but I can not see the 5 day pouch test helping you at all. Your stomach is not stretched at all. If anything you are not putting solid protien into it hence you are not staying fuller longer. You need to seriously move your protien along to solid bits. All you are saying are you are making poor choices for snacks. This is something that does happen when people get over the honeymoon period of being good. They fall into bad habbits, it again is not a sleeve problem, it is a poor choice problem. A sleeve will not make you make good choices. Eating carbs lead to carb cravings. I know saying that doesnt help, nor is stopping eating the carbs easy. But if you seriously worked on eating 3 proper meals a day it would go a long way to helping you. Sorry if it sounds harsh but I find it really difficult when people say stretched sleeve and gaining weight when every single time I have got them to list out what they eat, they are simply not eating far to much at a single sitting, which is what a sleeve is designed to do. Hence the sleeve is working perfectly. It is what they are eating at other times, a lot of that has to do with not filling up properly with protien at regular meal times. See if below helps that should make you full just about all the time, I think you would be lucky to get in a couple of tim tams a day with that food, and to be honest a couple of tim tams a day is not going to hurt you when at goal :)

breakfast
2 eggs and 1/2 to 1 slice of wholemeal toast

morning tea
slice of cheese
200gram tub of yoghurt

lunch
100grams of chicken with a side salad 1/2 slice of wholemeal bread

slice of cheese
hardboiled egg

dinner
100gram steak some mushrooms and a few asparagas

take a good mulitvitamin and keep the veggies and salads to a side serve making the protien part the first thing you eat. I would seriously try and work up closer to 150grams of protien twice a day, and if you are still hungry add cheese to your salad and veggies.

applesauce

I wouldnt eat a lot at one sitting ie for breakfast, its those oatmeal pouches with skim milk, probably wouldnt finish a full pouch, lunch is a protein shake and dinner is a small piece of meat and mixed veg (small amount which i put through the food processor to make a vegi mash). Dont have potatoes, rice or pasta as they fill me up so I cant eat my protein. However, its the in between meal cravings thats got me stumped, I am always craving something sweet like peanut butter on fruit toast (and I do give in for morning tea), or a hot cross bun or a [i]Nice and Natural nut bar. I love chocolate but i avoid it. Up to 4 months ago, it was enough to have the three meals, and I had no cravings but I seem to have turned a corner somewhere. However, I was recommended a site by one of the people here called the 5 day pouch test (essentially low carb) and I see from that site that they all seem to have trouble with appetite return about 15 months after sleeving.

Annden

Annden just how much are you eating at one sitting ? 300ml 400ml more ? I am talking about food here not clear type liquids. The reason I am asking is that some people are terribly misinformed and think that tiny little amount that they can eat right after surgery is where you are for life with a sleeve when the reality is about 250ml. I just want to find out if you are infact eating a lot. As your stomach heals it is far far better at digesting food, and thus your stomach will empty faster giving you far more opitunities to snack if you allow yourself to do so. A regain of upto 10% of your weight is also considered normal as you settle into your new life and those good eating habbits fall away to a degree.
But as I said I am very interested in finding out just how much you eat at one sitting and what you would consume over one day, as in breakfast 2 weetbix & milk, snack apple 2 tim tams, luch etc etc

applesauce

Hi all
I hear what you all say that the sleeve is the way to go and an end to dieting. I was sleeved in October 2008 and thankfully have lost all my excess weight, so no complaints there. However, over the last few months, the hunger has crept back into my life and Im eating much more and feel if I keep on this track I will regain some weight (goodness - hopefully not all). I visit a forum (Living with Weight Los Surgery), where 90% of participants are sleeved or have gastric bypasses and they all seem to be struggling with their weight still even 18 months after surgery, so a word to the wise there, the battle is not over for us. Its back to carb counting for me ....sigh!!!!

Well said Max, with the rate these horrible bands are being removed it must just be a matter of time!

I once had someone say to me, but it's not reversable. Ah hello, why would I want to reverse it. I obviously don't need it, I don't ever know it's not there other than I am now skinny because I can only eat a little at a time. When I was a big person I said time and time again, No matter what it takes to lose all my unwanted kilos I would do it, if I believed I found what would work. I found it, the sleeve works. I tried everything else under the sun since the age of 15 so WLS was the next step, but then it was deciding which surgeery was best for me. It had to be the right one. Not one that gave me the option to still cheat it, (what good is that) I have little money so I had to get it right the first time. My friend who suggested WLS surgery to me, had the band first then had a Gastric Bypass, she warned me of all the complications she had, plus I also knew Gail and kept in touch with her progress. So I guess I researched for over 12 months while I waited for my private health insurance to kick in. I'm also a busy person and one who like to just get on with things, so the idea of regular visits for maintenace of a foreign object in my body was not at all attractive. The sleeve you have, you take care of yourself and take yourself along for one or two follow up visits to be sure all is ok, and then you get on with living your life with a small stomach and in 12 months you won't know yourself all while you have been well and finding it easy to adjust to a sleeve which is for life. You have now healed and it is all over in 12 months. Majority of those who choose banding over sleeve, 12 months on are still struggling with their weight, still living life on the Fat rollercoaster. Some of the banding stories on this very website go on over years. Oh my god, I don't have years to waste, Why on earth would anyone choose a band over a sleeve and it isn;t even any cheaper.
I am so glad I didn't have the band and all the hassles that go along with it. I believe the sleeve is much less invasive and is a permanent solution not a part time solution. Those who choose a sleeve over a band will without a doubt get a much better, safer, faster and permanent result.

So there is my rant. I really don;t know why they continue to do the Band when medical research should prove the sleeve to be a much better choice.

Max

Kylie wrote:

I have to laugh when I hear the good old "less invasive" line used.
Aha ....yeah right.

How true! It's very invasive!

I have to laugh when I hear the good old "less invasive" line used.
Aha ....yeah right.

I've only been banded 8 mths and have lost 15kg. I haven't had any major dramas but hate not being able to get the right restriction..either can eat anything & everything or can only drink fluids. I hate the sliming, the vomiting, not knowing from 1 day to the next if & what I might be able to eat, the clicking/gurgling noises my throat makes, the shoulder tip pain, the osoephageal dysmotility (problems swallowing properly, including throat spasm,which showed up on a barium swallow), reflux when the band is too tight, worry about the reflux damaging the bottom of my osoephagus, not being able to eat out with friends as dont know if will wind up vomiting (only my family know I have the band)I wonder if my pouch will stretch, if the band will slip, if the port will flip, if the band will erode through my stomach, what happens when I'm old and heaven forbid, I'm in a nursing home!
Band out in 2 weeks then 2 month wait for the sleeve. Yay! Cant wait. No way it can be worse than the band!!!!!

I had the lap band and did not had any of the bad issues with it.... At the time I chose it because it was less invasive and you can always take it off and I did like the idea to go back to how it is naturally.
I lost 70 lb (31.8 kg) with the lap band and gained back 50 lb (22.7 kg) then moved countries and went to see a new surgeon to have the lap band open (wanting to try on my own to loose weight)...didn't worked so well, I took an extra (10 lb) 4.5kg in the next 6 months.(I need to admit.... I was good at cheating the band as well)
Anyway the first thing that new surgeon told me at the time was... did you considered the gastric sleeve ?
.... chocked at first the idea made its way in my mind and here I am...sleeved for 4 days :)

We will see how it goes ! But I take it as a great chance to do it right this time !

Thanks everyone for your info, my suspicions have been confirmed by what you have all said, I feel that the sleeve is definitely going be the better option for me, with me and most people have a problem with food when you are overweight, I have a small worry that I will start to cheat the band when things get tough and I 'm not silly I know myself and if there is a chance that this will happen. I want to lose weight and change my eating habits so I am really leaning towards the sleeve now as I do want a life post op and the band appears to prohibit your life so much.

Thanks again

Jo.

Hi Jo!!

My surgeon was great at my first appt, he said one thing that really stuckin my head and confirmed for me why the sleeve was better in my case.

With the band, it creates a "pouch" or hourglassing of the stomach,when the pouch is emptied, you again resume the hugry feeling and can go and fill the pouch again with more food.

With the sleeve, the "tube" that is created is not able to be emptied as quickly as theband, therefore giving the feling of 'satiety' or fullness for longer.

That was THE one thing that stuck in my mind and made me say Yep thats what I want.

Hope you find your research useful and meaningful for YOU - you need to remember that it is your body and you need to decide on what is right for your circumstances.

Best of Luck!!

I had many of the same questions at the start, after initially going to an information evening for the band. The lovely nurse at the doctor's office mentioned to me that she thought the sleeve might be better. I bless her every day for that.

I am now 7 months or so after the operation, have lost over 26 kgs, and could not be happier!

I can now eat absolutely anything at all - no exceptions - although in much much smaller quantities of course.

Best thing I EVER did for myself!

Hi Jo,

I had a band in for 6 yrs and had nothing but trouble with it and ended up heavier than I started.
If you have a band be prepared for more surgeries, I have had to have the band replaced due to it slipping, the port replaced because it flipped and I have just had it removed. Also be prepared to have a very limited diet , I couldnt eat meat, breads, fruit and raw or crisp vegetables, rice and some pastas but junk like potato chips, chocolate, creamy cakes and biscuits go down easily and alot of band people end up living on these as these dont make you vomit.. Be prepared to vomit alot!!!

I wish the sleeve was being done 6yrs ago as I would never have had the band but thats the past and now I am looking forward to a new life with the sleeve (being done on the 23rd Nov)

Good luck with whatever you choose to do,

Lisab

I personally would not have the band done as there are too many issues with it.
Band slipping
Ulcerations
Port flipping over
Adhesions if you want it taken out
Having to go back and get the port filled, unfilled all of the time.
A lot of restrictions on types of food
Food getting stuck and having to throw it up
Not fail proof
Sometimes less weightloss

Versus the sleeve

1% chance of leaking after procedure
You can eat what you like only smaller portions
Yes you will throw up if you eat too much
Pretty much set and leave procedure

there is also some general info about the surgery itself, both on other websites (Do a google) and on here as well. Good luck making your decision

Hello and Welcome Jo,

If you do a 'search' for band or lapband you will find all sorts of info.

There are many reasons that people changed from the band to the sleeve. Me, personally, worked out how to cheat with the band and although I initially lost 20 kilos it slowly crept back on. Also the continuous visits to the doctor for fills were a pain and I had to have some (unrelated) surgery and had to have all the fill taken out of the band. I then had to go back to stage 1 and slowly have the fill increased. It was during this time that I put on the most weight.

I am only 2 weeks out from having the sleeve and am still on liquids but from what I read on here there is nothing you can't eat when you are totally healed.

Good luck with your research and decision.

xxx