I need help!

I am 45 years old, and weigh 400 lbs. plus. I have been offered weight loss surgery twice in the past, but was a little leary of the surgery. I just wasnt comfortable with it. I am partially disabled from a fall I took in 1995, and with all of this weight I have gained, I can barely walk anymore. I am on Social Security, and have Medicare, and Quimby,(sp?) its some form of insurance I get from Social Services.(White and purple card) I havent had a doctor for some time now, I feel I wasnt getting what I needed from the doctor I had. I have a new doctor I go see for the first time on Oct.1st. She is in with Mercy Capitol, I went to their Emergency Room one time, and was so pleased with the treatment I got from all that helped me. I know that they do the surgery there now. I was wondering if they do the band. I feel that I would be more comfortable with it. How can I find out? Can anyone help me? I feel like Im going to die from this weight.

Nancy- You are in the best place to get the most up to date information on any of the WLS procedures; right here on this website. I found out more from this website than any doctor or brochure could ever tell me. Research, research, research. The more you educate yourself the more comfortable you will feel with your decision. I was very leery of it too but have shocked myself with the acceptance I feel about the lifestyle change. Sure I miss my old friends like pizza and fried chicken, but I am sure feeling and looking a lot better these days. It is a lifestyle I should have adopted 25 years ago- if I had, I wouldn't have ballooned up to 330#; now I have a tool to police me into staying honest with my food choices. Glad you joined our message board. Good luck in your search! Michelle -5wks -38# -13.5"

Nancy, Everyone has to make their own decisions about the type of surgery that they have done. I made a decision 7 years ago to have a Vertical Banded Gastroplasty. I was too afraid of the RNY. I didn't want anyone messing with my intestines. I lived in regret of my decision for 5 years. My surgery failed. The pouch at the top of my stomach held the food, while it slowwwwly dripped food into my lower stomach that was SCREAMING in hunger constantly. I soon broke all the rules just to ease my pain. I drank while i ate to wash the food into my lower stomach and stop the pains. I ate soft sugary foods such as ice creme and twinkies..because they went down easier. I ate too quickly and vomited when food got "stuck" in my stoma...this, in turn ruptured my staple line. I gained almost all of my weight back. Since then I have had (9 weeks ago) a revision to an RNY with 150 cm bypassed. I have lost 50 lbs in those 9 weeks! They dumping syndrome that is associated with the RNY keeps me in line and keeps me from returning to old habits of eating sweets and fried foods, and the small pouch IS MY STOMACH...so there are no severe hunger pains! The banded surgeries have the highest failure rate of all of the weight loss surgeries, and tend to work better on those that are NOT heavy sweet and fat eaters. Also, if you are an emotional eater, the banded surgeries are not as successful either. For those that weight in excess of 350 lbs, my surgeon recommends the RNY and WILL NOT perform a banded surgery, because of the higher risk of failure. I, myself, wish I would have had the courage to go with the RNY before. The whole way that it works has helped me to controll and change my eating habits already. If you have any questions, please feel email me personally or call me at 515-571-7840 cell. I'd be more than glad to tell you all i can about both procedures that I have had done. I would just hate to see you go through the pain of surgery and everything like I did, only to fail...failure is a very emotionally painful experience. ~~~Dawn Phillips~~~

Nancy, I was thinking of a lap band myself, but I have been doing some research, you don't lose as much weight, and there is too much of a chance to not lose at all. if you go to http://lapbandtalk.com/forum/ you will see that there is a lot of talk about hunger and how they don't know when they are full plus I see alot of slipping back into old eating habits from what they report. So that is my two cents worth. good luck in your journey.

I had my surgery done 6 weeks ago at Mercy Capital and have lost 58 lbs. Mercy Capital performs open RNY (which I had) and started doing lap RNY at the beginning of Aug. They do not perform the band. I live in Des Moines and feel free to call me if you have any questions. I work evenings but you can reach me at 280-8394 during the day.