I will admit, I am scared! Any/all input is appreciated!

Hi Lauren, I don't know anything about MS except that it is a progressive neurological disorder, right? Any other conditions that you might have will make it harder on you with MS. I am 5'8" and weigh 270 and am having the lap band. Have you considered this option? It is reversible, adjustable and does not involve any rearrangement of your digestive system. I think I would consider this option first with your MS. Good Luck

Hi Lauren~ I started at 5-9, weighing 288, so pretty close. I also, had no life threatening problems at that time. Now I am down 42 pounds, and I can't believe how limited I was! My doctor said to get the surgery now, before the diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. ... do set in, making the surgery riskier! I am so glad I did it. I had the BPD/DS, which has given me an excellent quality of life. I wouldn't consider any other procedure. Good luck to you! Sheryl E 288/246/150

Lauren, any type of WLS you have beside the lap band is 1- not truly reversible 2- is much more invasive 3- permanent altering of your metabolism. I am very close to my aunt who has had MS for 25 years. We recently traveled the country together with her husband in a large SUV over 3600 miles. She has a great deal of problems keeping her weight down due to the MS limiting her ability to move. She is wheel chair bound at this point. Being the right weight will only help you in the future as well as now for mobility--so I think its all in all a good thing... If I were you, I'd consider ONLY the laproscopic ( less invasive) band surgery. It will help with food intake but not be as risky as any other surgery. But rather than listen to a busy body like me (ALTHOUGH I SUPPORT YOU PERSONALLY ! ! _ )... I would talk with your nuerologist. And if THAT nuerologist doesn't give you the answers you want, YOU keep plugging away --perhaps contacting the MLS Society for more professional advice givers. I would NOT have the surgery under any cir****tances until you have gotten a great deal of iprofessional medical mput. As you and I both now, MS is a serious disease within itself. Best of Luck and my sincere wishes for a good holiday for you and yours! HUGS and HUGS and Hugs! Gail

Lauren, I do not have MS but have lupus, which is also an autoimmune disorder with flares and remissions. I was concerned about geting surgery as well, I am still concerned about issues. Some things to think about: 1. Reduction in weight helps a great deal with mobility and pain!!!! 2. Check with surgeon and rheumatologist about meds... which you must have and which you can take after surgery- this may help you to decide whether it is worth it or not 3. Keep asking on your local and national boards... I am sure there is someone out there who may be able to help B

I have just started my adventure down the road to having WLS (my first info meeting today!). I do not have MS, but I have taken care of a 46 yr old woman with MS who weighed 320 lbs at its onset and told me every day how she wished she would have had the surgery back when she was 25 and healthy enough. I can tell you that her MS was advanced and she was only able to sit in her wheelchair or lay in bed. She had good use of 3 fingers and a thumb and not much else. She had to be transferred by using a "Hoyer Lift". (a hydraulic pump type lift that had a heavy canvas sling on it.) It took her husband and I to get her transferred and positioned in her chair correctly. I hate to get too graphic, but you need to know...her husband and I use to have to roll her on her side, in her bed, pad down the bed under her bottom with disposable pads every day so she could have a bowel movement. I cannot tell you how embarrassed or demeaning this was for her....but it was the only way. I had to stop taking care of her after 2 yrs as my back was going "out" more and more frequently. At the age o****he had to enter a nursing home as her husbands health began to suffer also. (He had hip/back problems as a result of years of her care.) MS (like most diseases out there) affects everyone differently. If I were you I wouldn't just think about myself, but about the others who will help in your care and where you will be living when things get bad. It's a quality of life issue whether we are affected by MS, Obesity, Diabetes, Alzheimers....ect. No one can say if WLS is right for you or me or anyone else for that matter. Just look realistically down the road and see where the path your on will eventually lead. Right now you are very fortunate to have choices. Talk to your Dr's and come up with the right answer for YOU. Take care and best of luck with your decision. -Judy

I am 5'9"1/2 and weighed 293 lbs. Your BMI is roughly 43ish right? and your 23... My surgury didnt save my life...yet...it will improve my quality of living. I was gaining an average of 10-15 lbs a year...my outlook was this..wait til i was 45plus and weigh in a 400..and bring all my NEW health problems with me to the surgury or nip it in the danger bud. This surgury doesnt get safer as we get older and sicker. I wanted to do this while I could still recover the best. Even with the risks to longevity on the immediate, the plus on the losing side were too much to over look. I know I took and still take risks assosicated with my recent surgury...people asked me how could I do this surgury knowing I might not live through it...easy...because I couldnt live in this body healthy anymore. The knowledge that my cholestrol was high, i was continueing to gain weight over 300, that my back bones were grinding away with the added weight, and that I was becoming a prisoner in my own body, was killing me. I couldn't even mop and v *** in the same day with out being exhausted. I have felt that I have been looked over for gainful employment due to my weight. I have had rude things said to me pertianing to my weight. I just want my life back...

hey ,im christal i am 23 and have wanted the surgery for a while ,at around 270 but i just thought naa i can do it on my own,but one thing led to another and i never lost much weight now i am 370 and have lots and lots of dangerous health problems and now i face alot of risks when i have my surgery, so many that i dont know rather to have it or not either way i go looks bad ,and i have 2 small children and i now have to make this decision,2 years ago i would have said hell yea lets go .but now i have a little voice sayin "i dont know"and i really want to go in to this sayin yes 100% sure but i dont think that is possible,my advise is to do it now before all the problems start like i should have done ,because for me it might be to late but just make sure it is what u want no one can talk u into it look inside ur self and go with it!!!!!good luck christal