Hi Marc, This is not a horror story, but a fact. I lost 43 lbs in the begining (surgery was 8/3/07) and alot of inches, I stalled after the first 2 months and I have gained back 5 lbs which I loose back and forth all the time. I am angry that I have come to this stall and can't move. I have taken lots of advice from the VSG board with still no luck. I am not sure if there is something else going on in my body that prevents me from loosing more, but all I do know is............. had I known then what I know now, I would not have risked the surgey and now am paying all this money in monthly installments for the surgery. Sad....Elaine E.

SophieGrace, WOW!  This is my first time to this board and obviously I don't know most of the people here or their personalities, but this was just mean!  Clearly, this family is grieving and this post/site/etc. is part of that process for them.  Who are you to slam her for what she is doing, or have the audasity to "suggest" what she do instead??  How many of those things have you done? It is no big secret that people die from this or any other WLS... it's not like she revealed some big WLS community secret that newbies or those considering surgery (like me) aren't supposed to know.  I, for one, feel she is providing a service!!  I come here, purposely, to learn THE TRUTH about the consequesnces of WLS so I can make the BEST and MOST informed decision for myself!  I read your profile and it doesn't seem your experience has been all moonlight and roses - but who's slammin' you for telling your story? As far as her negativity: Personally, I would MUCH rather ride off into the sunset on my "negativity", than get trown off my "high horse"!!   I rarely get fired up on OH, but I feel this certainly deserved it!  And, BTW I do not have kids, but if I did, no, I don't think I would want someone like you teaching them!! Tonya G.

Why 1.5 years?? It took 31 to put it all on right? If you are this undecided you really need to do a lot more research and truthfuly and honestly evaluate not only "why" you want surgery but what your eating habits are and which surgery will work best for you. Good luck.  If your ins covers the surgery they will cover the fills.

Hello, I haven't been back to this forum since I had my surgery. I was vascillating back and forth between lap-band and RNY surgery as well and it was a hard decision. I decided to go with the lap-band and haven't had very good results. I've lost about 25 lbs total (I started at 310 and am now 285 - 6' tall 38 yo male). I exercise like a mad fiend 4-5 days a week of both aerobic and weight-lifting. My problem is that if my band is too lose, the food just goes right through and I can eat as much as I could before, albeit a little slower. When my band is tightened up, i get a panicky, uncomfortable feeling when the food sits in my upper stomach. When the feeling finally goes away, i'm hungry again. Also, i get a lot of mucus in my  throat and can't stop trying to swallow all the time. I guess I'm lucky since I haven't had any complications yet...but the lingering, nagging feeling of waiting for my band to slip (especially when I had a stomach flu over the winter...each time I vomitted scared me to death) or erode through my esophagus has kept me fairly nervous since my operation in June 2007. If I could afford it, i'd have it taken out. I guess I need the extra help of RNYs mal-absorbtion but I'm not sure I'd have that surgery done either. Overall I'd say that I'm fairly unsatisfied with the lap-band. Just my 2 cents!! Georgeb3

This is a real weird one. I am trying to find a real estimate of the waiting list for WLS in Ontario Canada. And also if a guy has a criminal record for a breach of probation 17 years ago and wants to go to the US for surgery can that happen.If anyone has any input I would really appreciate it.....