I know this is going to sound a bit twisted...but I am SO envious of you guys. I had lapband surgery on 3/26/07 and completely regret it. To date, I've had 5 fills and have only lost 41 pounds. I have gone down one whopping size...big deal. I am so depressed, I cry almost everyday because I come on here and see how awesome the RNY patients are doing...you guys are dropping MAD amounts of weight and I'm still struggling after over 8 months. Talk about depression....I'm even more depressed NOW because I feel like I should have chosen RNY over AGLB...this surgery could have been the ONE CHANCE for me to be normal...and by normal I mean THIN. Really thin...and fast.

In light of my disappointment with the band, I am trying to convert to RNY but I'm sure my insurance company will give me grief. I have heard that if you lose less than 50 pounds, you could become eligible for a conversion surgery....and I can only hope this is true. PS - I too am an emotional eater...but I KNOW deep down that if I were to drop 110 pounds I would see myself in a BRAND NEW LIGHT and food would NEVER control me again. I want instant gratification...and this is just something that isn't possible with the band. Man, hindsight is always 20/20 isn't it...?

I am 37, 5'8" and was 306 before lap-band surgery on March 26, 2007. I have only lost 41 pounds and am now regretting NOT having RNY bypass. I've actually begun conversations with my surgeon about converting to RNY. Fact is...hindsight is always 20/20. You just don't the super-duper jaw-dropping results with the band as you do with RNY bypass....

I had lap-band surgery on 3/26/07 and am SERIOUSLY considering converting to RNY bypass or DS. Has anyone else converted??

I was probably one of the "oldest bandsters" on this forum - had mine during the FDA clinical trials. I wouldn't recommend the lap band to my dog if he were overweight. It almost killed me. I followed the rules, but had two slips and during my revision surgery, the doctor spent the first hour or two picking pieces of the band out of my stomach wall. I was very very ill. The last few years of my life - the quality of my life was very poor due to the band. I was vomiting all the time, had to get most of my teeth capped, was hungry, didn't lose all my weight because all I could eat was soft foods (i.e., not able to eat the foods that are protein dense and good for you) - totally unable to eat meat. I could go on and on. From the bottom of my heart, I feel that the band is very dangerous long-term. Long-term re-operation rates are staggering compared to other weight loss surgeries. I had a revision to RNY on 8/23/07 and have lost 52 pounds in the last 3 months. There is no comparison between the two surgeries. RNY is lightyears better than lapband. I feel like I've been given my life and my health back. I wish I could have the 9 years back and had picked RNY from the start - I think about the quality of my life over the last 9 years, healthwise and weight wise, and I think about what might have been and it just makes me so sad. I'm so grateful to have been given another chance. I can't get those years back, but at least now I have hope,
I'm seeing real success - have gone from a 22 to a 14, and I have good health, and that's priceless. I'm swimming every day, eating healthy, not hungry and happy. I never had that with the band - just hopelessness, despair and VERY poor health. Don't be afraid of RNY. My father was a surgeon and told me to have RNY back then. He said it was the "gold standard." I didn't listen because I believed all the hype about the band being safer. It's not. New studies are bearing this out. Unfortunately, there is a lot of advertising money going into promoting the lapband and people just don't realize. If I can help even one person not lose time, heart and faith, and make a better choice at the start, I will be so grateful to have helped. My band came very close to ending my life.

Before you make a final decision on what to do, at least check out the DS forum here on OH or go to duodenalswitch.com and read about the DS. Many on that forum are opting to have a revision to a DS after a failed band or a failed RnY. I am sorry I did not consider the DS  originally. Actually, I did not know about it. If more people would consider it, more doctors would consider doing it. You may have to travel out of state or to another country, but it is doable.