Why so negative about the VBG?

I don't know how they do it now a days but I had it done back in /87 and was able to go from 260 down to 113 lbs. for several years.  Then the staples start to separate and I had to diet again for few more years to stay at 113 lbs.   The fault mostly was the way the surgeons did the staple line so I hope for those of you having it more recent they have changed it radically.

BTW now I am revised to the Lap Band almost 2 and a half years ago and back down to 119 lbs. from 251 lbs. and thrilled.

You are already done so just keep working it but one word of advice, don't eat till your full.  To quote my surgeon for the band "The question is not how much I can eat to feel full, but how little I can eat until I am satisfied."

The biggest cause of VBG failure is over the years restretching out our pouch.

Best wishes,

Congratulations Donna! I'm very impressed with your story. Most people wouldn't go through it again, nor have that type of success.  I'm very confident in my doctor and the way he does it. He's actually considered one of the pioneers in these types of procedures and laparoscopic stuff. He just did a lap band laparoscopicaly to a man almost 700lbs!  When he does the VBG or creates any staple line, he uses 12 rows of staples and also puts a gortex band around the pouch. So, it's kind of like the Lap band, just not adjustable.  Congratulations again and keep up the fantastic attitiude!

I'd have to say that I would never have such a procedure.  Heck, I regret getting a Lap Band, too.

The problem with Gortex is that if you ever need to revise to another procedure most are stuck with an adjustable Lap Band such as Inamed.  The Gortex can often times prevent a sleeve or RNY due to the damage it does in the stomach, no staple line can be done safely in many (most?) people.

There is a reason most doctors won't do this procedure and consider it antiquated and outdated.  Same holds true for Mini Gastric Bypass.

wow i know i am far behind in these post but didnt know they had this forum. i just want tos ay a few things. i had vbg in 1995 they  stapled my stomache vertically and did put the ring around the stomache to prevent stretching. i had nothing but constant vomiting for 13 years because of this procedure. it was mechanical. from the time icould eat normal i threw up no meats, chicken ect anything with protein and pasta a instant case of vomiting. i followed my diet, excersized and did everything i was supposed to do following my doctors instructions. when i kept telling them my symptoms they told me i was crazy! i  finally had to see another baratric specialist who did my testing and told me the area where the band was placed wa s almost closed shut causing me to vomit constantly and also giving me hiatial hernias.i was revised to rny and never had a problem with it and now weigh 130lbs and feel great. i by no meaning am knocking anybody for choosing this procedure because i did i just was one of the people whose body didnt accept it. i say congrats to all who loose weight keep it off no matter what wls u have. keep up all the good work vbg gals!!!

Hello to Krista and everyone else who has had problems like this.

I had a VBG in 2002, lost 125 pnds, followed all the rules, ate well, exercised, etc. went from a size 24 to a size 7/8, and had no problems until about 1 1/2 yrs ago.  I was just like Krista and others and would throw-up on foods that had not caused me problems in the past......this had been 4 yrs post-op at the time so I knew how to chew my food.....I was also have horrendous heartburn that I hadn't had since I was heavy.

I was put on every type of stomach pill that there is available, I had 2 EGD's - looking to see if anything was wrong with the inside of my esophagus or stomach.  It was not until I was out of town and in excruciating pain that the Dr.'s did an Upper GI w/ Barium, and a CT and found out that I had a HUGE hiatal hernia along with a large dilation of my esophagus and it appears that the staple line from my VBG is actually migrating up through my diaphragm. It was also discovered that I most likely separated the muscles on my rib cage because of my throwing up so much!

I am fortunate that I live within 2 hours of Minneapolis, MN where Dr. Todd Kellogg is going to be doing my revision.  Had I known that my surgery would have only lasted 6 years I would have never had it done.

I'm a nurse and worked in surgery for 10 yrs. and I just wanted to say, that we are all individuals.  No matter how great the surgical technique may be of a particular surgeon, things do go wrong.  Everyone's anatomy is different inside.  You never know until you get in what you will encounter.  And post-op things go wrong no matter how hard you try to do the right thing.  But, when you have mechanical malfunctions such as these go wrong, as has been proven in numerous research studies, Physicians really have to look at risk to benefit ratios and question if procedures such as this one are really the most up to date and safe for patients.

Just my 2 cents worth.........probably too much for my first time ever posting.  Sorry!

Wow Krista, 

          You just told my story!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! I sit and cry all the time thinking I did something wrong!!! My First surgery was Feb 1992...

           I am looking into a revision. I would like to have RNY.. But I need to look at the Band too just in case I end up with Band due to too many adhesion's and scar tissues...My New Surgeon told me...Thank you again.. Alizka

Hi there. I'm an old-timer VBG, having had the surgery in 1987. I'm now looking into a revision to a DS, and hope to have it sometime next year.

I was 24 at the time, and it was pretty early in the restrictive-surgery solutions for obesity. There was virtually no aftercare... or very little. I had no surgery complications, but I was not prepared for eating so little. When I would try to eat "normal" foods ... like a bite of high-protein meat... it would clog the opening at the bottom of my pouch and I would be terribly uncomfortable for HOURS. Often, even though I'd stop eating, I'd end up throwing up because I'd swallow saliva and even *that* wasn't getting past whatever I'd eaten that wasn't going down.

I still have this problem. I've spent 22 years dealing with that. I vomit less, now ... usually "only" a couple times a week, now ... but it's not because my body has adapted, it's because I've learned what I can eat and what I can't. But even that fails me, at times. Half a turkey sandwich might work just fine, today, and then tomorrow the exact same sandwich will cause me to vomit.

Like so many with this surgery, my 135 pound loss lasted about five years. Then my body began holding onto whatever I gave it, and what I was giving it at that point was stuff that was easy to get down. Vomitting is a bummer, and so I found ways to avoid it. Unfortunately, the foods that worked for me were potatoes (so long as they were cooked soft), pudding, ice cream, chips and dip ... god, did I ever become a grazer! And, of course, my pouch stretched. I'm now able to eat a half a deli sandwich, so long as it's "wet" enough to not get stuck in my pouch ... so I rely a lot on the moisture content of tomatoes to help get stuff down. If there are no tomatoes on hand? ... mayo and butter does the trick.

I was surprised, quite frankly, to find they were still performing this surgery. The lapband is essentially the same, but is adjustable and a much less drastic procedure.

Like over 85% of the LONG-TERM folks with the VBG, I've gained all my weight back. I'm now just 10 pounds away from where I started. I'm also 22 years older, and showing the health problems resulting from a lifetime of obesity. So, I'm back at the drawing board, doing so much research my eyes are crossing. I've read every board here, with particular attention to the revision board, and tons of medical papers about WLS. The numbers for the VBG just don't hold up against many of the other surgeries - even other restrictive-only surgeries, for some reason.

I've decided that a restrictive-only surgery isn't going to do the trick for me. Between the RNY and the DS, I'm convinced that the DS is the one that will give me the highest chance for success.

But it's not the surgery for everyone. In fact, if there's one thing I've learned in all my research, it's there is no "best" surgery. There may be a "best surgery for ME," but everyone's cir****tances are so different. Motivation for surgery, discipline afterward, body chemestry, your co-morbids, the reason you're obese to begin with ... ALL that stuff plays into which surgery is "best" for someone.

I think the trick to success is knowing yourself ... being HONEST with  yourself exactly what you're capable of and what you're NOT capable of is the biggest factor. With me, I know I lack the discipline for the band or the VSG to be successful. I need a mal-absorptive factor. And between the two available, the DS will give me the quaility of life I need in order to make it work. It's the surgery that relies the *least* on my discipline for success.

Gawd, I've rambled. I hope I've given you some insight as to why some surgeries ... in my case, the VBG ... just don't work for some people. I'm glad you've found a surgery that works for you. You clearly have more discipline than i did.

-Kathy

you know it's funny cause I don't often come to the VBG posting either..and i'm a VBG success story.. what people have to remember is no matter what surgery you have it's a tool.. and if it's not used right.. then it won't work... i'm down 130lbs.. I feel great.. I have had no major complications and ironically a lot of the people who had the gastric bypass at the same time I have the VBG 5 years ago.. have gained but some if not all the weight..

we make of it what we make of it.. yes like in any other surgery there are complications... but some of us are success stories.

read the above posting most of us have mechanical failures not following the rules of your tool seeeing posts like this just **** me off!!!!

Of course people have mechancial failures.. but let's be real here.. there are also those who simply don't use the tool the way it should be use..

heck I can let myself lapse into that past habits and gain my weight back.. the VBG isn't like the bypass most can eat sugar etc..

so yea.. there are mechanical failures I"m not saying all are a result of misuse..but that is not what I was posting about I was posting about those who don't do the right thing.

sorry if you took offence.