ATTENTION TO ALL.............HELP

Are any of you November guys as nervous as I am? I am trying to decide lapband or RNY, which my surgeon recommends. He says he'll do whatever I want. ...but he votes for RNY and I agree...........but.........please go read my blog real quick and if anyone here can boost my courage, it would be greatly appreciated. thank you Cissy

I originally wanted a LapBand, but my Surgeon talked me out of it (due to severe heartburn) so now I'm getting RNY. It's good that you get a choice, but of course that makes it harder! Try to answer a few questions about yourself (honestly)... 1) Are you ready to take vitamin supplments the rest of your life? 2) Do you need an additional "tool" such as Dumping (taking into consideration that not ALL RNY'ers Dump) 3) Worded another way, do you need a physical "reminder" not to eat sweets? 4) Are you ok losing at a little slower pace than with RNY (generally speaking) 5) Are you ok with the followup appts needed for fills? I'm sure there are many more and I'm sure you've already asked them yourself a million times! I would suggest going to the main board (or the Lap and/or RNY specific boards) and posting a question asking how people came to their decision in choosing one over the other... Maybe some folks here will also have good answers... like I said, my Surgeon made the decision for me, so that part was easy! Hope that helps!! Marilyn

My surgeon told me I was a perfect candidate for LAP BAND surgery. I can only assume the reasons of why he said that. Maybe because of my BMI or perhaps because he knows I work out regular, I don't know. Personally I prefer the LAP Band for several reasons. I guess I am comfortable with the tool part of it. I will have to be very careful and disciplined. I stopped smoking cold turkey but stopping cold turkey (no pun intended) on overeating, I needed a tool for that. Good luck and you will know which one is best for you by research and discovering what it is you need to be successful. Take care, Jackie

Cissy, I think Marilyn pretty much covered it with her reply.... My dr. wanted to do the lap-band on me, but I felt I need more of a tool and a reminder to stay on track, so I have opted for the RNY... It is definitely all up to you and you have to do what you think is going to be the best decision for you. Good Luck..... Shawn M.

Hi Cissy, If you go to the Roux-en-Y forum, look for a posting on 10/26 entitled RNY or LapBand posted by lilli, you will find a lot of information on there. I myself opted for the RNY, which my surgeon agreed with. I need this particular tool myself. I love my sweets, but I hate to be sick more !! Huggs & Blessings, Lori

Hi Cissy, The decision does fall onto your shoulders because it is something you will have to live with FOREVER. I will say this, you will lose more weight faster with the gastric bypass; lapband is a slower process. You want to consider this with your health conditions. For me, although I have a higher BMI, I don't have any serious comorbidities and I felt that bypass was too invasive for me, personally. My sister had lapband surgery almost one year ago and she has had great success. My brother in law had gastric bypass surgery this past July and he, too, has had great success. So, either way you can have a good experience, you just need to figure out what will work the best for you! I wish you all the luck with your decision. I'm certain that either way you will be happy with your results!!!