Advice for people considering band

Banded in November 2010. Wanted to be healthier for myself and my kids. Lost 80 pounds by working my butt off! Diet, exercise, juicing after surgery. My band has not helped me, I did it! 

Paid $16,000 for my band because I was partly afraid of roun y and I don't believe my government should pay for my laziness. 

had a few life changing setbacks in my journey and gained every pound back basically due to depression and turning to food for comfort.

I have  tried working with my band and for a moment considered revision surgery. I know a handful of friends and family that have had roun y and sleeve. All of them have had a complication and or most of them gained their weight  back. Everyone of them work thier butts off also to keep the weight off. This is not a quick fix and will effect the rest of your life. 

 For all of you out there that are considering weight loss surgery please think twice! This is a mental thing! My doctor and nurse support staff have been great actually but what we really need Is lap band for our brain, not our stomachs! 

Fills defills sweet spot.... Never ending roller coaster of getting food stuck. vomiting, heartburn I never had before, pain. 

My husband wants me to have my band removed because it effects our life so negatively. 

Please try a physiatrist and get yourself mentally and physically on a path to better health before you alter your body. If you are not mentally ready to change your life, weight loss surgery is not the answer. 

After my surgery I was running 5 km 4 days per week, elliptical 5 days per week, juicing and eating clean  I was happy! Endorphins are the best motivator not cutting and re routing your bowel or restricting your food so all that will go through your band is chocolate and ice cream.

You have made a great point most of us need  6 mo. or more of therapy pre surgery not a 6 mo. pre surgery diet!! Many need far more therapy than they need surgery. I would say 90% of WLS people need a lot of therapy before they are ready for surgery and any surgery can be eaten around.

I would suggest you get the band removed too, you will feel so much better and be able to eat healthier with it gone. I had mine removed too late and have lost part of my swallowing ability and also have gastroparesis or slow emptying stomach from it which is very painful! I will most likely have it for life! The longer it is in, even empty, the more damage it will do. I wish you well and hope you are able to have yours removed and move on in life and get healthier than life with the band.

Thanks Hislady, 

I hope you feel better soon and your health problems aren't permanent.

take care

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with your LAP-BAND surgery.  I've had just the opposite experience.  Since 2-9-12,       I've lost 103 lbs. and just 1 - 2 lbs away from my goal weight.        If you wish to believe it is a neurological/psychological thing that is your business, but that is NOT to say it is NOT a physical thing for some.  I've tried losing through diet and exercise but could not do it (unless I did Taekwondo but could NOT afford to keep doing.)  

I'm so glad to hear hear some positive results with the band. I had surgery for lap band and hiatal hernia repair on 7/28/15. I only pray I can join the ones who say it's the best decision  I ever made.

What concerns me most about gastric banding is the band's close proximity to the Vagus nerve system that runs from the base of the skull down into the stomach. These nerves, when irritated, can really cause a load of trouble in a human body. Just looking at our anatomy makes me wonder why anyone ever thought putting a foreign object so close to the diaphragm (which can also get damaged by the band's presence) was a good idea. 

Sometimes you don't realize the extent of the damage until many years after banding, which is disturbing. I'm one who still has pretty severe damage even a decade after removal. It affects every aspect of my life. We simply weren't told the full truth about banding before undergoing it, in my opinion. But mostly because the truth wasn't known back then. NOW, however, the statistics are pretty grim regarding banding. 

I'm diabetic now and need to eat in a more moderate and healthful way. I'm having more success today working with a nutritionist and choosing high fiber, low carbohydrate foods than I did with the band. All the band did was prevent me from eating anything solid, so I lost weight from sheer starvation. I was anemic, malnourished, and in pain. It's not the best way to go about "getting healthy." (I'm not saying that everyone will have the result I did. But the risk is not necessarily worth taking.) 

I had the same issues. Vagus nerve so damaged I had gastroparesis. Nearly died weighing 80 lbs. 

I'm so sorry to hear this. I understand! My vagus nerve was also extremely damaged by the band (and a bad surgeon.) I had the band removed in 2005, but still have complications from it.  

I hope you're feeling better now, KraaaaazyK? Are you recovered fully? 

I think it messed me up bad because now I can't stop losing no matter how much I eat! I can't eat alot at one time but I try to eat all day long. Mostly healthy food but several times a week I try to eat ice cream or something high in calories so I can stop losing, so far it is about 2-5 lbs a week but I'm getting to the high end of normal BMI and if I lose much more I'm going to start being very unhealthy. It does things to our bodies and we can't stop it. Once the damage is done you can't fix it and you just have to adjust your life to accomodate the damage. You just can't fix it, it tears you up and spits you out like so much garbage!!