RNY or Lap Band

I have looked on the internet at other states and the procedures themselves but what really turned me was on this OH site there is a forum for complications and the one person wrote in that the mortality rate is alot higher than the doctors/surgeon tell you. They said that within 15 yrs most patients have had compliacation and had since passed away. I have a 13 yr old son and husband that I love dearly. I have several of the co morbity problems high blood pressure, borderline diabetic, fatty liver, depression/anxiety, acid reflux, and a very bad family history with diabetes,heart attacks and strokes(my mom has 8 stents, 2 heart attacks, triple bypass and at least 3 strokes(1 major causing damage) and several mini strokes. So I know that I need to do something. I just have little to no will power to do it on my own and need help or a tool to increase my success rate of losing the weight permanently. I am 5'0 and 204lbs.

Be careful NOTHING will help you lose weight permanently but you. as for the living only 15 years I have a personal friend who had this surgery 21 years ago and still alive and well. So dont tell him he was only supposed to live for 15 years he might kill over a shock then. lol Good luck and research and find doctors that do both surgeries and consult with them. Also talk to your PCP. Me personally I am having RNY on Monday. I was originally going to have the Lap-Band done but after research and consults with 3 different doctors and my own PCP I changed my mind. My personal reasons for changing my mind... Not to start a fight but these are my reasons... Lap band is easier to cheat on.. Slider foods and liquid calories do not give you the full feeling. My coworker has the band and drinks Dr Pepper all day and drinks with meals to get the food through the pouch faster. Hence why he only lost ~40 pounds in a little over a year.  Yes he has lost weight but he had lost 60 in the first 5 months. So yes he had put back on 20 pounds in the  last 8 months. Has it helped him? Sure.. but like he says he cheats all the time because he has no will power. Lap band had a 13% complication rate in the first five years according to MY PCP and another Doc. The 13% results include but not limited to Leakage, slippage, port failure, erosion. Of the 13% of complication patients 1% of the 13% will be serious enough to cause death. Now say you have a minor complication of a leakage... Not life threatening but still a problem.  Most Insurance companies( notice I said most) will only pay for the surgery to put it in... Not take it out. So if there is a leak .. You pay to have it removed... If the band is found to be defective by the manufacturing company they will give you a new band for free... But will not pay to put it back in.. that cost is up to you or your insurance. My insurance said... nope they don't pay for that. Overall the risk for RNY is up front within the first couple weeks for the most part. Other than strictures and a few others. But the good news is that most (notice I said most again) insurance companies pay for these to be fixed. Risk of complications are signifigantly reduced in time with RNY as long as you adhere to your Drs guidelines. Not to push RNY on you but please do lots of research and understand this is not a permanent fix. There are other surgeries as well... Have you looked into DS or VSG? other options too. But I know less about them. Good luck in whatever decision you make we are all here for support. Chris D

Hello I just wanted to ask you something. Where are the people on the complication forum getting their stastistics from ? You wrote "the mortality rate is alot higher than the doctors/surgeon tell you. They said that within 15 yrs most patients have had compliacation and had since passed away." Is there somewhere that they have proof that this happens? I chose to have the RNY because  I am past having children and I did not like the idea of a foreign body being in my body. And  also they may be able to remove them but I do not believe it would be as simple as some  make it out to be. I have worked in the medical field for many years and I have had several surgeries myself.  And no surgery is simple. If a lap Band has been placed in your body , you will have  adhesions (scarring} form around that band and if it is left in very long the adhesions can  be quite extensive. So to remove the band will not be a simple surgery. Also there is the  posilbility if you have it removed in the future, what will keep you from gaining your weight back? Also I think the ones that have insurance approval for either surgery should be very thankful, because there are people like my husband that has diabetes so bad that he is on a insulin  pump, Metforim and Byetta and he tries so hard everyday to eat right and keep his weight  in check, his insurance will in no way cover any kind of WLS and he has even had doctors write letters for him and it's still no go. Only you can decide what surgery to have but don't let the people on the forums on here  make your decisions for you. Do research it out and decide for yourself.

Sounds like you better go for the bypass.  Look at all of your co-morbidities...there's a coffin with your name on it.  I think you answered your own question.