Diabetes and The Lap Band!

My Dr. is suggesting that I have the gastric bypass surgery because I'm a diabetic and have BMI of 49.  I really thought about it and I am scarred to death of the gastric bypass and despite the obvious benefits I really feel like lap band is the right way for me to go. 

So my question is those that are diabetic and have had the lap band surgery how long did it take you before you got to a weight were you no longer had to be on medication for you diabetes?

The reason your surgeon is suggesting the bypass isn't because of weight loss results, but the effect that RNY and DS have on diabetes. Studies show RNY has an 86% CURE rate for diabetes before ANY weight is lost (Studies range from 86% - 100%). From day one the majority of diabetics walk out of surgery off of insulin.  Our surgeon had a patient who was taking 400 UNITS OF INSULIN A DAY before surgery and 0 after. I have looked closely at this because my DH is diabetic but has much less wt to lose than I do so I wanted to make sure he was making the right choice in surgery. DS actually has a 98% cure rate but it is so much more drastic it wasn't a good choice. Lap band is not nearly as effective for diabetes - I'm going to look up the #s for you before I put it out there. Will get back to you with links to studies. Good Luck, but you should listen to your surgeon. He has a lot of experience and the studies are behind him. Take Care, DJ

Bariatric Edge shows 83.8 % Cure for Gastruc Bypass v. 47.8% for Lap band http://www.bariatricedge.com/dtcf/pages/4_Diabetes.htm Looks like their info came from this article which is a good overall view of the different procedures and how they effect diabetes. http://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/25/3/8 3 If you search more you will find lots of studies on this. Beware studies with small numbers of patients, but otherwise pretty consistent. Anecdotal info. is interesting, but look at the bigger picture too. Good Luck, Diana