I have recently had the lapband surgery (5-31). I have lost about 30 pounds. Once I was allowed to eat solid foods again, I could feel the restriction. But since I have had my first fill, I very rarely fill much. My friends says that it sometimes takes a few weeks to feel restriction after a fill. I don't know why. I have changed up my eating habits, not all the way, but for the most part. All in all, I feel I made the best decision for me. I will continue to work with what I have in order to be around for my son.

Have you considered the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy? There is a forum here on Obesityhelp.com if you wanna check it out Jenny

sorry all... i realized that this was a repost of an older message... my bad.

First I want to say that whatever surgery you choose is a personal decision and I don't advocate or condemn any WLS. I know many who have had success and failure with Lapband and RNY. I am merely telling my story in hopes that it will help someone make their own decision on what surgery is best for them. I had a lapband placed 4/6/05 and had very high hopes. It took me a couple of months to reach proper restriction and I finally started losing and managed to lose 41 pounds total (including the 10 lbs lost the week before surgery). In September I lost restriction and my weight loss stopped in its tracks and I couldn't get going again. I went in for fill after fill until they couldn't put any more fluid in and kept losing restriction. We finally determined that I had a leak and tried for over a month to figure out where it was coming from but it would never reveal itself on fluoro. Since leaks are in the port or tubing around the port 99% of the time we took a gamble and replaced the port. Sure enough when they got in there I had a big leak in the port AND the tubing so clearly I would not have been able to sustain restriction. Problem solved, right? I had two fills after my port replacement and lost about 8 pounds the first month (in the months prior while I had no restriction I gained all but 5 pounds back of weight lost since surgery). Once again, my restriction went away, my weight loss stalled and I had a new problem of SEVERE reflux all night every night no matter how early I stopped eating for the day. I knew I didn't have a leak because my fill was there every time we checked. Now it appeared that my band had slipped. I went in for an EGD to confirm what we suspected and sure enough I had a significant prolapse (slip) of my band. We tried a total unfill of my band and that did not help my slip so the only way to repair it is to have surgery. Easy enough, right? For reasons I won't go into I decided to change surgeons and had started going to a new doctor. When he submitted paperwork to the insurance he submitted as a revision in case I needed a new band once he got in there because without approval to replace the band he would only be able to repair or remove it. Makes sense, right? Insurance DENIED my claim to repair my band. Now that I was 11 pounds below Morbidly Obese (BMI 38.4) I no longer had coverage for bariatric surgery PERIOD. They will allow the doctor to remove the band but not repair it. ABSOLUTELY THE STUPIDEST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE!!!! If I gain the 11 pounds back then we can resubmit the paperwork and they will cover it which is the whole purpose of why I am posting here today. IF YOU HAVE COMPLICATIONS WITH YOUR BAND, i.e., A SLIP AND HAVE LOST A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF WEIGHT AND/OR YOUR BMI IS BELOW 40 YOUR INSURANCE MAY NOT COVER TO FIX IT. I have United Healthcare and they were fantastic about approving the surgery but they NEVER told me that if I had problems and had lost enough weight to get below BMI of 40 EVEN IF THAT WAS ONLY 5 OR 10 POUNDS that they would not pay to fix those problems. If I had lost 80 pounds then I would have to gain 80 pounds to have insurance coverage to fix it!! I'm told I can get an attorney and fight it but WTF?? It's easier to gain 11 pounds than pay several hundred dollars to hire an attorney! What happens if I have it repaired, lose 100 pounds and it slips again? SAME THING!! I have to tell you that I was a HUGE opponent of bypass surgery because of the additional risk involved but I have and am taking a closer look at it. I haven't made a definite decision but I can tell you that I am seriously considering it. There are people that have had their bands for years and have had no problem and I am so thankful and happy for them. BUT there are also people that are struggling through complications like I am and if you have even had minor success then you may not be covered anymore. For some that risk may be worth it and it may even be for me, I just don't know. I am totally frustrated and sorry I ever started down this road because it has been a nightmare. It doesn't happen for everyone this way but it sure happened for me and that's all I have to go by. Good luck on whatever decision you make and think LONG AND HARD about what choice is right for you because there is no guarantee on ANY WLS - you just have to pick what you can get most comfortable with. Have a blessed day!