Which to pick

I am wanting to have WLS.  Due to my insurance, my 2 options are Bypass or the Band.  I feel like I have this 1 opportunity and have 1 shot at making the right choice.  I don't feel the band will be enough but feel the bypass will be too evasive.  Does anyone have any suggestions or advice to help in making my decision?  Any and all advice or speak-from-experience stories will help. 

Rainie

It's an individual decision, PLEASE research your heart out and determine what will work best for you.  Look at the long-term results, look at the revision board.

I had the RNY, it is the right surgery for me.  No complications, I eat what I want in moderation and 6 years out I'm below goal.

I do recommend you look at all 4 options though, if the VSG or DS would be better suited for you there is a possibility of being approved for one of those with an appeal.  Do you have any needs for NSAIDS?  If so, then please fight for the VSG or DS, long-term you'll be glad you fought for the surgery you want/need.

It is a very personal decision and you are likely to get very many different opinions on the matter.  I have had issues with my band, and even had to have a second surgery because of band slippage. 

My band is in good working order now, but it still drives me crazy at times.  There are days when it tightens up for no reason, and the healthy lunch I have packed and taken to work can not be eaten.  I get tired of not being able to plan in advance too much or not being able to go to some restaurants because they don't have certain foods that I KNOW my band will tolerate. 

When my band is in it's normal state it's loose enough that I think of getting a fill......but, I don't do it because I know that when my band does it's sybil routine, I couldn't stand for it be any tighter than it gets. 

I do wish now that I had the RNY or the VSG.  VSG, is such a good choice.......you might have to appeal in order to get it approved.  Good luck!!

Melly, were you talking about Michelle from NJ?  If so, she's awesome!  She's been sort of a big sleeve sis to me.  I hope to meet her tomorrow.

I sure hope you are able to get things going again with your band.

xo,
Leila

Yes, Zee!!  Michelle is my bestest friend!!  I wish that I lived closer to her!!  Pic was taken a couple of months before I was diagnosed with my slip.  AND bofore the 40 lb regain.  UGH!  Thanks for the well wishes!! I am very happy for you!

Oh, love this pic!  Looks like you had a nice time.  I won't get to meet her tomorrow because she's had a cancellation.  Boohoo, but soon enough we will meet .

Hijack! You both are so super cute! Great picture!

Awe, thanks!!!

Hi Rose,
 The lap band isn't the least invasive surgery at all. In fact it seems to be the most invasive due to all the follow up surgeries that many bandsters are experiencing. If you check the revisions forum you will see most of the revision surgeries being done today are from lap band to other surgery types.

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/revision/a,messageboard/board_id, 5360/

You are welcome to join the " Failed Bands Board " and chat with over a 100 members who have already had their revisions, helping those with failed lapbands, or who are trying to appeal their ins company's
" One WLS per lifetime rule " Many of us had our bands placed before the ins co. instated this new clause.

www.obesityhelp.com/group/failed_lap_bands/discussion/

The clause states ONE WLS PER LIFETIME. NOT ONE WLS PER MEMBERS LIFE TIME.

There is a HUGE difference between these two statements. It means that these ins companies don't care if you had your WLS at United Healthcare and years later you end up in a situation where you need to revise over to another surgery......

Just because you now have new ins with Purple Cross INS.. Purple Cross WILL DENY YOU.

Little by little we keep seeing one ins co after another instating this new policy. So please choose your surgery wisely. Your ins co may not have it written into your coverage now, but chances are looking really good that they will have it sooner rather then later.

Below is a a blurb about exactly how the Lap Band was so least invasive for both myself and my daughter.

I was banded with my first band on June 19Th 2006. This band caused me to vomit multiple times per week, and suffer from severe esophageal reflux every night when I went to sleep.
I had to sleep in an up right position....Yet still I would awake with a mouthful of burning acid.

The acid was so hot that it actually burned the back of my throat and that lasted for a few days. My PCP had me on a PPI and even that did not stop the acid. There were many times I was unable to swallow my own saliva and/or swallow water. Even unfilled I suffered from the acid reflux and band tightening.

I experienced left shoulder pain from day one and it never went fully away. I listened to those on this very board with their well meaning advice telling me it, " was just gas " or that I was eating too fast, or not chewing my food well enough. I followed their advice and still I kept experiencing esophageal reflux every night.

Left shoulder pain can be considered normal under certain cir****tances. For example :
After abdominal surgery ( WLS ) you will experience trapped gas in your shoulders, but that gas usually dissipates within a week or two MAX.

The only reason someone with a band would experience left shoulder pain months/years after surgery is because they are experiencing diaphragmatic pain. The diaphragm cannot feel pain and refers the pain to the left, right, and sometimes both shoulders, as well as the chest and neck.

This pain can be confused with cardiac symptoms and anxiety attacks. Your left shoulder, arm, back,throat,neck and/or chest will hurt like you are experiencing a heart attack.

If the band is not removed in a timely manner the damage to your diaphragm may become permanent.

My daughter who was banded the same day as myself had to have her first band removed for the same exact reasons I had to have mine removed.

Our bands had slipped.

I was banded with my second band in December of 2008. This was an unplanned emergency surgery, so I was not prepared to revise to another surgery without being fully informed. I regretfully chose to have a second band placed, as well as my daughter.

At this point I had loss 70 lbs the hard way. From 2008 to the time of my second revision. I was still able to maintain my 70 lbs loss. This was not because of my band. It was because I was determined to not gain any of my pre-op weight back. I had been through enough and I wasn't going to allow myself to gain any of that weight back.

I experienced even more left shoulder, back pain, now was experiencing a whole new set of problems.  Esophageal Motility Disorder & Dysphagia.

"The esophagus functions solely to deliver food from the mouth to the stomach where the process of digestion can begin. Efficient transport by the esophagus requires a coordinated, sequential motility pattern that propels food from above and clears acid and bile reflux from below. Disruption of this highly integrated muscular motion limits delivery of food and fluid, as well as causes a bothersome sense of dysphagia and chest pain"

I woke up with my air passage fully obstructed one night. I tried very hard not to panic and ran across my room to the bathroom where I was able to bend over the toilet while using both fists to press in on my stomach. I was able to successfully dislodge the object from my air way. I could have died right then and there.

I knew my problems with the band were becoming worse, so I had to do something about it. I called my surgeon and was able to get in that very day. I was directly admitted to the hospital where I stayed for six days. They removed my lap band and performed a VSG on me.


My band had slipped again.

There are many who have been programmed into thinking by the makers of the Lap Band, Realize Band, and The O band that the band is " Minimally Invasive & Reversible " That is complete brain washing and anyone who chooses to go forward with having a band implanted for these reasons, need to research more because as you can see just by mine and my daughters experience alone.
That our surgeries combined totaled altogether SIX ' Minimally Invasive " surgeries.

My band was not reversible....it was removable, but not until it had already caused severe nerve and thoracic pain which just may end up being permanent damage.

Only time will tell........

The lapband required me to have multiple surgeries and I now have severe adhesions as well as a host of other gut problems. I have lingering ill effects from the complications caused by the lapband. 

The lapband is MUCH more work than it's advertised to be and you won't know if your physiology will support the band until after you've had it done. And, for a lot of people, they find the answer is, "No, their bodies will not accept this foreign object around the soft tissue of the stomach." 

Read the Revisions Forum, please, as part of your research. The band may be touted as being "Less Invasive," but it depends on your definition of "invasive." 

Best of luck to you. Please read all the information presented before making a decision. It's truly a life altering surgery... and not always in a good way.