There are so few posts for the 2015 year....

I am a newbie as they say, so I have been doing a lot of reading/lurking on many of the forums and am so grateful to have found this one!

I live in Northern Kentucky and LOVE it! So please anyone from there who would like to connect please hit me up.

I am looking for Persons grounded in Christ Jesus and who are able to offer Support, Direction and hard truth, smothered in Love.

I am considering the Lap band but am also looking at the VSG option as well I am currently on the 6 month supervised diet/weight loss plan

with my Weight Loss Doctor of Choice Dr Trace Curry per my insurance requirements. 

My question to you all is What has been the best tool you have learned and implemented into your everyday life that you feel has brought

you awareness of your bad habits and helped you push through it to change it for the better?

Thank you in advance for any responses.

God is Good!!!

So good to see you, as you pointed out very few folks come here anymore. I've tried a few times to get more folks interested but they just never stay long.

I do have to warn you about the band it is a horrible surgery and only 6% of the surgeries done anymore for weight loss are the band because it just doesn't work, it has a 60% failure rate even when all the rules are followed. Also have the band around your stomach builds up scar tissue underneath and that causes it to tighten over time and that causes pain and erosion, sometimes a slipped band. Once the band slips it tends to keep slipping even if they can get it back in place. I've been on the band forum for over 10 yrs now and I don't knpow of one person who still has their band we have all either revised or just had the band removed and gone bak to fighting the battle without surgery.

Now the VSG or sleeve is a very good surgery and what I would get if I could have surgery again. It sounds more drastic but it works and in a more natural way than with the band squeezing the life out of your stomach. That is another thing the band does is cause a great deal of esophagus problems. I makes your esophagus over wor****il you start losing the ability to swallow and that is no fun and can be very painful! It also is not repairable and can lead to cancer of the esophagus!

Try reading on both the band forum and the sleeve forum you will see that the band forum is mostly dead except for people with problem bands where the sleeve forum is busy with lots of happy customers. Everyone I know who has gotten the sleeve says the same thing that it works like we were told the band would but it didn't. I know for myself the band ended up causing me so much pain I finally ended up self paying to get it out. I had gotten to the point where all I could eat was soft foods like soups because every time I ate it made my stomach hurt and I would choke on foods because I was losing my ability to swallow correctly. It was just miserable and I know a few people who have actually lost their stomachs from the damage the band did to them, that is a vey difficult way to live,

I hope you will really study up on the band and the sleeve and do serious research to make sure you fully understand them both. As a Christian I would feel terrible if I didn't tell you how dangerous the band is. I have just seen it ruin too many lives and leave people damaged and that isn't right!

On the plus side Dr. Curry is a great surgeon from what I've read and he has many very happy patients, just make sure you get the right surgery for you. I just don't want for you to end up like myself or so many others I know. God bless and if you have any other questions I'm happy to answer them for you. Feel free to PM me if you like or post here and I stop in every few days.

Thank you so much for your kind words and honesty

I was in to see the dietitian and weigh in for the second of my 6 months before surgery.

The nurse practitioner did bring up VSG and that I should really research it and that I may find it a much better option for myself.

SO I am doing just that...reading boards in both the Lap Band and the VSG.

Just so much to take in and try to absorb...the VSG surgery looks more intense if you will while I felt the Lap band seems less evasive, learning

that is not the case for the long haul......so I really am looking for answers and guidance so thank you again.  I will keep reading and learning.

If you think of anything else or perhaps someone whom may be able to also share their story with me, please let me know

Lynne