Anyone With Lapband?

hey i was curious if anyone with a BMI higher than 50 on here has had the Lap Band Surgery? im schedulded to have mine two weeks from today im nervous about failing.... and was looking for some feedback on your jounrey and pesonal account!!!!

I just want to preface this that this is based on my personal experience.

When I got the band, my BMI was in the upper 60's.  Average excess weight loss (EWL) with the band is about 50-60%.

Well I thought that was bull****  I thought that the average was for people who didn't put their minds to it; people who didn't go the extra mile.  I didn't just think I could beat that average; I *knew* I could beat that average and lose as much weight as I needed to.  Turned out, I was wrong. 

I lost 120 pounds with my band, and it was not easy.  The *only* help the lap band gives you, is it limits the amount of food you can eat in one sitting. It allows you to feel satisfied with 1 lean cuisine.  But after that lean cuisine is digested (1 hour later), you go right back to your grazing habits and munch munch munch. 

Yes, I gave up the bad food.  I hung in there.  I was perfect - 1200 calories or under every day, and I worked out.  But when the results aren't coming and you've got no weight loss to show for your struggles, you get frustrated.  I mean, SERIOUSLY frustrated.

I'm not Anti-Lap Band.  I'm not a hater.  The lap band helped me get off 120 pounds (if you look at my ticker, I put a few back on this past year but that's neither here nor there.)  But, seriously - I thought I was superwoman.  I thought I could beat the odds.  I was wrong.

With a BMI as high is ours, we need *more* help than what a lap band can provide. 

I'm having a revision surgery to a DS within the next 6 months to a year (I'm just starting the process.)  I don't want you to have to follow my foot steps.  Try to make your goal having this done in 1 surgery, not 2 like I have to have.

If you can look into another option before your surgery date, explore other options more thoroughly before you're positive you want a lap band.  I know that the other methods are more invasive but you can't let fear of something more severe make you settle for less.  That's what I did.  I was scared of having an RNY or DS because they were too invasive and they creeped me out.  Now, I'm forced to have one done and I'm having it done as my second surgery, because I screwed up the first time.

Best of luck and please PM me if you want to talk more about this.

Hi Cristy,

I recently had my surgery the lap band on July the 27th it is hard but what isn't for us with a high BMI I started with a bmi of 60 I'm down to 57 still got a long way to go but I will not have regretted doing this surgery I have not weighed myself this week but I know im down a lil over 50lbs already but it's all in the head it's like I say if you really want you can do it!! so stick with your best judgment i mean I did .

Good Luck ,
Steve

Hey Cristy,  here is what I have experienced for myself.

I had a BMI of 54 when I had my band put in. That was July 29 of this year. I have lost 36 lbs since. Most people will tell you that is not a significant weight loss, but if you think about it in the grand scheme of things, I have lost 36 lbs in 2 months. In the past, without the band, it has taken me nearly a year to lose 10 lbs. I feel successful. I am by no means done. I am scheduled for a fill this coming Thursday and this will bring my restriction up again. Right now I feel like I can eat just about anything - but I chose not to. One of the motivators that keeps me from slacking is that I paid for my surgery out of my own pocket. It would be like paying for college with your own cash and not going to class - what a waste of money!

I am excited to get the fill and while I know that it is not the only answer, it will help me to watch what I eat. If you dont' eat the right foods, you will feel hungry again soon after you eat. Dr. Aceves told me it is a mental battle with physical results. I believe this to be true. You will have a pouch that only fits 3 oz of food - you can put 3 oz of healthy food that will fuel your body, or you can put in 3 oz of junk that will only make you hungry a short time later. This is just at tool to HELP you in your weight loss journey. If you are expecting to lose grand amounts of weight without much effort, you will be sadly disappointed. Some people I know that have been banded for over a year are just now starting to exercise. I don't think that is a good idea - I think it is important to get moving ASAP! Even if it is just walking around the block once a day - it is moving...and eventually you'll start feeling better after a couple of weeks or so and you'll start pushing yourself to do more.

Another thing to watch is that scale - don't get addicted to it. Learn to look for non-scale victories (NSV). I have had a hard time with that the last 2 weeks as I have only lost 2 lbs in the last 2 weeks and it is VERY frustrating. But I bought a new outfit yesterday without trying it on - and bought a size 20 even though I was a size 24 3 weeks ago. (started out size 26-28) I didn't expect the new outfit to fit for about 3 weeks...guess what? IT FITS!!!  THAT is encouraging and what I consider a HUGE NSV.

In my opinion it doesn't matte what BMI you start out at, over 50, or not, the success you will see is the effort YOU put into it. I'm not saying it has been easy - it is SO hard to resist the snacks...but I have replaced all of the junky snacks for the good stuff and my kids don't even miss the crap! ... 

Good luck to you in your surgery. Keep us updated!
Jeppa

Thank you for all your input! it means a lot to me.

i know that by no means its this going to just make me thin im going to have to work and im scared like hell that i wont have enough tools or determination to do this. i said this to my husband earlier this evening and his was repsonse was... Cristy you are the most stubborn person i know, once you get an idea in your head thats it! .... haha thats so true i still have many worries, and i realy didnt havea  choice lapband is what my insurance would cover for me. and its what i wanted originally then went to bypass and now im back to lapband i havent been banded yet and i already have good days and bad days.

i have a 2 year old running around who wont eat anything but mac n cheese that in itsself is going to be VERY hard for me. im sure i will learn to deal but while my husbands serving overseas its just me and my daughter. and my concern is trying to eat whta she is eating. i dont know how to prepare a small meal for myself.

Does anyone use a sealer machine? (cant remember the name) but its probably what i will have to buy because i buy meat (chicken) in larger size packages for price and to save money. but im only cooking for me! i know i have to learn to re eat.

my mother grandmother uncle and a cousin all had gastric bypass dating back to 98 so i know the effects of that. and thats a major reason why i decided lapband was more for me. if in the end its a mistake and i need to have a revision wel then i will have learned through my journey thats what i need to do.

my bmi is 55.2 and id like it to be around 24 which is around 150 pounds so thats about 200 pounds to lose. its going to be a VERY long journey and i know that but i plan on making it work to the best of my ability.

i hope what i type is what i follow. i know i feel it but doing is totally different haha....

The longterm results of the lapband are apalling, regardless the BMI - the longterm failure rate and reoperation rate is very high. If you`re lucky it will work for the first years, but after each year, the risk gets bigger that you`ll need a revision due to slippage, erosion, esophagus problems, or inexplainable food intolerances and vomitting. Each of these problems not only require a new surgery, but will make you totally miserable.

This is the conclusion of a 13 year study which you can find under the link below:
“We encountered both early and late complications which required re-operative surgery in more than 2/3’s of the patients and device removal in more than ½."

http://www.paclap.com/news&resources/ourpublications/article/lapband.html

Re-operation in more then 66% of all patients!!! This is not what I call acceptable results, but you need to decide for yourself.

If insurence problems keep you from going with another surgery (DS or sleeve- I don`t think the RNY is a good choice for someone with your BMI neither), please come over to the DS board, there are some people who are really knowledgeable about insurence problems and they can tell you if you have a chance to appeal and force your insurence to pay for a nother surgery.

As soon as I get insurance approval, I will get the band.  My BMI is 54.  I know full well the risks.  I also know full well the risks for RNY and DS. All WLS have risks.  It's your choice.  But I feel very strongly that if YOU fail the band, you would also fail the RNY.  My good friend had RNY 2 years ago and has gained back 50% of what she lost.  It's her own fault and she admits it. 

If the band fails ME, then I hope to have the sleeve.  But it is still somewhat new and I don't think I want a great deal of my stomach removed at this point.   I also don't want WLS that will cause malabsorption.  I want food to nourish me, but know that I will have to take supplements since the small amount of food won't be enough. 

Since you are 2 weeks from your surgery date, you are probably getting last minute jitters.  You would have these feelings regardless of the WLS you have.  It's normal to be nervous.  I too worry that I will fail with the band, but I am determined to make it work.  I know there will be emotional battles with the head hunger, but I'm going to work through them with a great support system.  It sounds like your husband will be very supportive.

Good luck and keep us informed. 

My doc told me that to succeed with the band, you have to be extremely highly motivated - so motivated that she feels those who are successful could have done it w/o the band.

On the other hand, I have a work friend who has lost over 150 lbs with the band and is down into 16s!

I think recommendations are based on the stats. You can be successful - an outlier, as it were.

Good luck on you upcoming surgery!

Patty - I agree that being very motivated, I could lose the weight without the band too.....but keeping it off is my problem.   I have lost weight and gained so many times in my life I can't count that high. LOL

I feel the band will be the tool to help me keep it off after the hard work it will take to lose the weight.  It won't allow me to go back to eating vast amounts of food like I do now.  If I "eat around" the band I will be certain to have problems, such as a slip.  I will be afraid to do anything that will cause a slip.  I want the restriction and the ability to adjust that restriction to help me maintain the weight loss. 

A very good friend had RNY 2 years ago in Dec. and has gained back 50% of what she lost, because she has stretched her pouch.  She fully admits that it is her own fault.  I KNOW that I would do the same thing.  I am going to make my tool work for me so that won't happen. 

BTW - you might quote me on this a year or so from now and remind me what I said. LOL!

I had my lap-band surgery 12/19/07. It was ok the first few months. I lost  25 pounds or so. About 9 months into it, my band was totally full. I had an upper GI and nothing was wrong with the band, but I wasn't losing weight. Slowly I gained back all of my weight I lost, plus another 50 pounds. So, after a year of gaining weight, I went back to my doctor. I found out that I have a leak in my lap-band. The leak is probably caused from the fill needles. My doctor tried "fix-a-flat" on me three times last month. The first few days after my fills I had wonderful restriction. Then, nothing. This week I am seeing my doctor again to see what I can do about this. I will have to pay for surgery to repair it and I am still paying for the orginal surgery.

So, my feedback on the lap-band is not good. I would have NEVER had this surgery. I hope that soon I can have gastric-bypass. The lap-band is just a tool. You can eat ANYTHING with the lap-band. Even if your band is at totally full, ice cream still goes down. If you have a BMI higher than 50, you should not get lap-band. Consider gastric-bypass or the sleeve. ( Just my opinion.)