lapband vs gastric bypass
Hi Karen... I actually looked into both. As I remember, the main reason I went with the bypass was 1) you loose more weight- on the lapband as I remember you would only lose about 1/2 the weight you want to lose 2) there is a bunch of research that seems to indicate that by bypassing a portion of the intestine, you are cutting down on some chemicals that make you hungry, this does not happen with the lapband and 3) many insurance companies will not pay for the lapband. Another factor was I have a brother who is a doctor at one of the hospitals I was looking at. Here they had one person doing gastric and another doing lapband. The lapband physicain had a much higher incidence of problems.... so given all that I have gone with the bypass and have had minimal problems.
karen, Hi, I'm Lisa and I had a lapband on 10/01/03. I am 52 and 5'5''. I started off at 285 and currently I am at 245.
I chose the laband because I believe it is safer than the bypass. It involves no altering of your anatomy and it is reversable if you should ever choose to have it removed. Statically the death rate is 1 in 200 for the bypass and about 1 in 2000 for the lapband.
Here is a link that helps explain the lapband. http://www.lap-band.com/
All I can really say is I am very happy with my band. I was hospitalized overnight and I was able to resume my regular activities within a week.
I think it is also important to remember that this is a tool which puts us on a level playing field with "normal" people but we must still exert some self control when making food choices.
GOod luck with your decision.
~lisa
Karen,
I had banding (non adjustable) in 1997. I weighed almost 400 lbs at the time and chose to have the banding over the RNY because I was afraid of the increased risk of RNY. I lost down to 255, but then gradually gained back up to 300. There were several factors... 1. My doc discharged me by phone and had zero follow up and zero support; 2. My rules included drinking no more than 2 oz of liquid per hour and not eating mushy foods (potatoes, soup, pudding, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.). 3. After a couple of years of drinking more than 2 oz an hour and eating soft foods (not often mind you).. the top part of my pouch began to lap over the band... as this happens and the top of the pouch and bottom of the pouch touch each other... they begin to grow together around the band (entrapment)... mine wasn't that bad but it still happened and caused a lot of vomiting. 4. After a while eating anything healthy (meat protein, vegetables) caused physical pain... what didn't cause pain was chips, ice cream, soup... so, I ate mostly foods that caused no pain.
Now, I had my surgery revised to an RNY. They were able to remove my band (some people have a type of band that is made of a mesh and grows into your tissue .... I don't think they use that material since mid 1997 though). The advantage that I see to this surgery is that I dump on sugar. You notice that with my banding... when I was in physical pain, I avoided the foods that caused it... well, same principle here. Sugar and refined carbs (even white potatoes) cause me to dump (I'm lucky)... so, I don't eat these foods. Now, not only do I have the restriction (due to a smaller stomach), but I also have the dumping which causes me not to eat my trigger foods and I cannot absorb everything I eat because of the bypass.
Having said all of that... about 3 weeks prior to my surgery date, I started reading about Duodenal Switch surgery. In my opinion... that is the way to go!!!! But I was too far into the RNY process and my insurance was changing too rapidly to get it accomplished. You might also want to include DS in your considerations. You can find out a lot of info about that at http://www.duodenalswitch.com
Good Luck in whatever you decide.
Jackie
HI Karen! I had the adjustable lapband placed on 10/13/03 and I have lost 40.2 pounds so far. I have already reduced my med's for my diabeties in half and my blood presssure meds in half also. I would research alot on the internet for info on the pro's and con's of all the surgery chocies. There are alot of great messageboards on Yahoo for the lapband called bandsters that has great info. The choice is very individual and everyone believes their surgery is the best. Research research research!!! Make sure you know what you are getting into no matter which surgery you choose. Happy hunting!
Cat
Most Active
Recent Topics
