Lap Band or RNY bypass

 I have been approved for surgery in the second week of June of this year but am still indecisive as to whether I want the Lap Band or RNY bypass. I was curious to see how some people that have had the band are doing post-op and what kind of results they are having, along with the long term complications that could happen. I also have diabetes and was curious if people that have had the band have experienced improvement of their diabetes. I was told that with the bypass my diabetes will be imediately improved

No with the band your diabetes will probably NOT imediately improve. That is the case with DS, RNY, and if I'm not mistaken......with the VSG, but not the band. The order in which diabetes is resolved is highest in DS, followed by RNY VSG and the band is the very last for resolution of diabetes.

If you want to know what bandsters think of the band you also need to ask this same question on the DS, VSG and RNY forums also b/c many of them WERE bandsters but revised to a different WLS after their bands failed.

My personal opinion is that I would not recommend the band to my worst enemy.

Good luck!

I can't speak to the diabetes question, but personally the band has worked very well for me.

I lost weight very fast the first year.  100lbs gone in 7 months.  This with eating bandster meals and the only exercise I did was walking during that early period.

My weight loss is slower now, but that is normal as you get smaller, the loss is slower.

You might take a look at this post where someone is starting a spreadsheet listing those who've had the band, weight lost, complications (if any), etc.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/lapband/4372496/Message-fo r-Steph-M/

I've had no complications at all with my band, knock on wood.

I was not a fan of having my insides rerouted (RNY, DS) or having part of my stomach removed (VSG).  These might be viable surgeries for other people, but they weren't something I wanted.  I'm afraid of the long term effects of malabsorption (osteoporosis being a major concern, since my mom had bad issues with that).

Glad you are doing your research.  Hope you find this helpful.

You have to do your homework.  Every type of wls has its pros and cons. 

I've seen people who's diabetes was cured the minute they had wls surgery but they'd had RNY not banding.  Banding patients do get the diabetes under control but not as quickly as RNY.  I don't know anybody with the Sleeve who also had diabetes so I really can't speak to how quickly that type of surgery will help the situation.

With the sleeve, 80% of your stomach is taken out. I agree with the other person who posted..... I didn't want that.

With the DS and RNY, things get re-routed  and you have a malabsorption issue.  I knew I couldn't take all those vitamins and supplements every day and I sure didn't want to re-route anything as I figured God put it in there the way it should be so I wanted to leave it alone.

Yes, I did put something in there and altered God's original plan but that was just a "band" to give me back a small stomach and the opportunity to start over and not stretch this new stomach all out of whack like I did before.

But the band had its drawbacks.  The band can slip and errode and I even had the tubing push thru my skin and NOBODY had ever seen that.  Leave it to me. 

And, the port can flip so all the surgeries have their problems.  The band is lifetime adjustable but I've seen people who've had the Sleeve, been banding and had RNY and some of those people have gained every bit of their weight back.  I've also seen people who have done better with the band than any other surgery.  Banded patient and RNY patient have surgery at the same time, are about the same height and weight but the banded patient does better and looses faster.  Go figure.

Everybody is different and wls is simply a crutch to help you with the eating program.  Its still a life change and you still have to watch what you eat.  Trust me, if you choose the calories in ice cream instead of the calories in protein, you'll surely gain weight.  That should be a no brainer.

You might benefit from talking to Jessie Ahroni.   She is a diabetes educator who is banded.  She's been banded for more than 10 years.  Works in the field of bariatrics.

She has a book out about laprascopic banding and posts on the Smartbandsters yahoo group.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/SmartBandsters