banding vs bypass
Hi Cindy,
I talked with him about it. There's several different reasons why a patient should have one over the other. The first is that you have to have a lower amount of weight to lose with the band (I weighed 272 when I went in to see him, and he said I was on the border of being too heavy for the band). Also, if you have reflux, which I do, the band isn't good because it could actually make reflux worse. I opted for the bypass for that reason. I have an errosion in my esophogus which the band would only make worse.
Also, he explains a lot of this at his seminar. I found it to be very helpful.
Tammy
I was 376 and my doctor never gave any indication that I was too heavy. In fact, he said that he'd had patients LAGRGER than that get the band successfully. 
From what I remember when i went to see him a LONG time ago, his comment was that both procedures were 90% successful after one year. What was disturbing was that the banding was less than 25% successful at 10 years and the RNY was over 75%. I don't know where he got these numbers from.
I looked at it this way....
If the band was not to work and I needed to get a bypass done, I would have been 60 by then and a much worse canidate. Could not afford to have another 10 years of damage done to my body, and I did not want to kose 10 years of living. Had to go with the odds.
Peter
When I had my first visit with Dr. Aranow, I weighed in at 247ish... He told me he would recommend the lap band for me. However, he said it was my choice in the long run and that he wasnt saying he wouldnt do a bypass on me or that I wasnt a canidate for it.
However, what has made me choose the bypass over the band is the co-morbidities that I have. It could take much longer to cure them or atleast get a little better than the bypass. Also, I wanted to be sure that in 10-15 years I am still healthy.
I am only 26 right now... and have too many things that should not even be on my plate.... HA! No seriously, I just wanted to be sure that I am off of most of the 7 medications I have to take daily in 10 years.
ALSO, Dr. A predicted that I would get down to 195 on the band.... umm.. isnt that still overweight for 5'5"?? With the bypass, I will get much closer to the recommended weight for my height.. he predicted 165 with the bypass.
Have a wonderful Sunday!!!!!
Beckie
I was banded six weeks ago by Dr. Aranow. Before I went to his seminar I was gung ho on getting the LapBand. After his seminar I thought I wanted the RNY because I felt he really down talked the band. I resigned myself to the RNY and then when I went to my consult the first thing out of his mouth was, "After reviewing your file, you seem like the perfect canidate for the band.". After picking my jaw up off the floor I asked him why. He told me that because of my past successful diet history (I can lose great amounts of weight but can't ever keep it off) and because I am young enough (34) he didn't want to do a more radical surgery than the band on me. I was so happy.
Six weeks later, I am very happy so far. I have lost a total of 30 lbs total so far in my journey and I don't have my first fill until Wednesday! Right now I am very unrestricted and it has not been easy as I can virtually eat just about anything at this point. I am hoping to feel a great deal of restriction on Wednesday so I won't feel as hungry all the time.
As far as the statistics for the band, I am not sure how they can be true. With RNY you have the "window" of 12-18 months (i believe) to lose the majority of your weight while with the band you can keep "tweaking" it with fills for as long as it takes to lose the weight. It's true that typically band patients don't lose the weight as fast as RNY'ers but that is not that important to me. It took me a life time to put on this weight. I don't mind if it takes a couple of years for me to get there. All that matters is that I am headed in the right direction. Which I think is the main goal of all WLS patients, band or not 
Hi Eileen,
Thanks for replying to my message. I too have dieted many times in the past but I can never keep it off either. The minute I stopped going to the meetings I would put the weigth back on. Going to Weigh****cher, Nutrisystem, buying books for this diet and that diet cost me alot of money so I figured since I have so many co-morbities I need to change my eating habits and my way of life for good. I am hoping for the lap band but I don't think you get a choice.
Cindy
Cindy- let me assure you... You ALWAYS get a choice. YOU are in the driver seat here. You will make an informed decision for yourself, together with your chosen surgeon about what is best for you based on your history, amount of weight to loose AND co-morbs.
Never let a surgeon talk you into something you are not in agreement with. Both surguries are a change for LIFE. But, do listen carefully to the reasons your surgeon might have for one surgery over another and ask many questions. It's important that you are ultimately comfortable and 100% on board with what you choose. Not that you are agreeable and do what your told to please the surgeon. Also, never be afraid to seek a second or even third opinion. (in fact, I recommend you at least get a 2nd opinion, even though I know most people don't)
Once you seek the professional opinion of the surgeon/s you see, you will get a more clear picture of the pros/cons of each surgery for you personally.
Good luck to you!!
Lisa C
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