How do you know...

what procedure that you will have? Do you choose after your initial consult? Does the Dr. recommend which procedure he feels is best for you?

I am doing so much research that my head is spinning at times.

I had discussed the lapband with my family doctor however when we met Dr. Savoie, he gave us the 3 options.  We discussed the pros and cons of each one and he suggested that I go with the lapband.  My husband and I preferred this option because we felt it was the best choice, and there's less risks.

The doctor has the final say, because he won't do a procedure he does not think is best for you. That doesn't mean you can't request what you want and  try to convince him it is the best one for you. Your BMI seems to be the biggest deciding factor. Your age, co-morbities (other health problems), and eating habits are all factors. If your BMI is under 50, it's usually the band. Fifty to 60, the band, bypass and VSG are on the table.  Upper 50's and over 60  DS becomes an option. None of these numbers are written in stone. Each doctor has their own critera. Dr B will only do the band after age 54. Dr S evaluates each case  and does not have a cut off age.  I hope this helps.

I also I had discussed the lapband with my  doctor. when we met Dr. Savoie, he gave  the 3 options. He said the Lapband would be best for me,As I think that is what I wanted also so Iam going with the lapband on Aug 12th.

At the time I had my operation only bypass and the band were available. I knew I didn't want the bypass as it was too "permanent" and I have a friend who had it and is still 270 lbs. I was not interested in that kind of "success". I know it's different for everyone but knowing someone first hand that did not have success was a big factor for me.

I also liked that there is no "window of opportunity" for the lapband ~ as long as you are following the rules, eating what you should be and exercising, you will lose weight. If you aren't, you can get an adjustment and be on your way again. I realize it's not THAT simple but for me, the research I did (mostly by being on these boards), convinced me that the lapband was the only option for me.
 
Dr B and I never really discussed any other option. This was what I wanted and he was behind me 100%.

Similar to Krista is how I chose the bypass. I knew people who were having their bands removed either due to complications with the band or failure to lose the weight. The part that scared me about the band was that you could still eat or drink whatever you wanted to. So it sounded like you were going to be on a diet for the rest of your life. You had a choice and it was up to your willpower to resist the "slider foods and the bad" foods. I know I have very little willpower so the band was not the right option for me.

With all of the fustration and even with my bleed and my annoyance at not being able to eat certain foods, I know this is the ONLY way I would have been able to lose weight. There is not much willpower involved. If I eat chocolate cake for example I will dump. That is the ultimate in adversion therapy. It does work. I cannot eat a pound of ice cream or again I will dump. Again adversion therapy. I cannot eat more than a cup and 1/2 at a time. Can't hold more food than that.

I do get head hunger and cravings and I hope it will eventually go away. Sometimes I will have a mouthful or a handful just to satisify the craving. If not for my bypass I know I would never stop at a mouthful. That's where my rny comes to my rescue.

The choice is always yours but I am glad I chose RnY and if I were to do it all over again, I would  opt for the bypass again.

As of Friday June 26/2009 I haqve lost 82 pounds since the start of this and have lost 40 pounds surgery. On Friday am I weighed 211 pounds.

Dr B. wanted me to have lapband but because I was planning to move to northern Canada in late summer, I was able to convince him to do my RnY. If he had been unwilling to do RnY, I would have walked away. That's how much I did not want the band.

Best of luck with whichever wls you choose. Hopefully you will hear from other wls people too.

You know what helped me decide? I went to the lapband and the RnY surgical forum sites and read the posts for the past 2 or 3 months and saw how many people were complaining about their surgeries. I found a few on the rny site but found many many more on the band sites. So many that it turned me completely off the band. Even on this site you will find some bandsters who are having problems with their bands.

I think the surgeons sometimes suggest the band because it is the fastest of all the wls to do and they can do 2 or 3 in the same amount of time it takes to do 1 of the other more involved surgeries. It also has less mortality rates.

Either RnY or lapband can be reversed if need be because there is nothing removed during surgery. I don't know about the other wls. When I had surgery there was really only 2 offered in this province.

Maggie, I did not know that RNY could be reversed. I learned something new today!

We're all different and you have some very good points for the reasons you chose your surgery. I'm glad there are options out there for us to choose from and that we both were able to get what works for us personally.

Yeah, RnY can be reversed. It would not have been an option for me otherwise.  

The band can be removed if the need arose and a lot of bandsters end up having them removed and some go on to other wls.

The bypass can be reversed too. It isn't something that would be done on a whim but in the case of too much malabsorbtion or other medical reasons, it can be reversed. All the weight will most likely come back after it is reversed though.

RnY can be modified too and some people who have a hard time with weight loss can have a lapband applied around the top portion of the pouch. There is a new thing now  called a stomafix that can be used to make the pouch smaller too. That is fairly new so I don't know that much about it except it costs over 20 thousand dollars in the states.

How long does it take to get in to see Dr Savoie?