Has Anyone Found Lap Band Happiness?

Well over 5 years out. Very happy.

I am told by an anti band vet on here that the European stats are better for lap band than the US ones. No idea why or even if that is true! Worth noting that in Australia over 90% of wls is the band - so it can't all be bad. Not being starry eyed, things can go wrong!

Kate

THANKS! THANKS! THANKS EVERYONE!!! You all ROCK!

You have impowered me. You have empowered yourselves.

You all need to be commended on your choices and your strengths. My surgery will probably take place sometime around late August - early September.

It's a tough to lose weight....but it's even tougher to stay fat! xoS

It seems as if your mind is made up, but I'd feel really bad if I didn't say something. I take the time to post because I really do care about my fellow humans.  It's tough to lose weight and it IS tough to stay fat, but it's even tougher to have the lapband surgery and be damaged by it.  There ARE better options...ones that will give you long term success.

I hope you'll at least consider that I'm not posting this to irritate or be jerky, but because I don't want anyone else to go through the same thing I did. Since 2002, I've known about 3 dozen bandsters personally. We get together every couple of months. Out of those 3 dozen, do you know how many still have bands?  Four people. And of those four, every single one has had to have another sugery to either replace a band, replace a port, reposition, etc.
One person hasn't lost a pound in a year, another one lives on tea, bleu cheese and M+Ms, one is a vegetarian and very strict in her diet.  Everyone else in this group has had numerous complications with their bands, resulting in revision surgery or removal of the band. 

Almost every week I receive another email from someone who has the left shoulder pain due to banding. The band irritates the diaphragm in a very high percentage of people who have the band. And while most of us haven't actually BEEN stabbed through the shoulder, I imagine I know what it feels like, courtesy of the lapband.  There are a whole lot of us who have the left shoulder pain chronically with the band.  And if you think that's not hard to live with, you haven't actually felt the pain. One of the aforementioned people in my group told me that she has to go out to her car during her lunch hour and actually bawl her head off and scream, the pain is so intense. She can't make it through her workday. I relate. I remember driving home from a doctor's appointment in Chicago and hearing this high pitched screaming. I didn't even realize that it was me. I was in such intense agony that I almost dissociated for a full minute. The pain caused my brain to simply go on "auto pilot." I can't even describe it. It felt like a constant, neverending assault... like being stabbed in the stomach, the left shoulder and even through the intestines. It was brutal.

I really and truly wish you the best. I know how hard it is to decide, to go through with what you decide and then live with the consequences. I'm just hoping that you'll reconsider the band and do some more research before you commit to it.

Good luck, sincerely.

Thank you for taking the time to write this Nicci.  Even if Baribari has made up her mind, it might hit home with someone else considering the band.

Let me just say that it is not natural to have a noose around your stomach and no one should be surprised if it doesn't work they way it is "supposed" to.

My husband asks me why I bother posting when it seems like no one wants to hear about this stuff. I tell him that I receive messages from people all the time, ones who are afraid to post, telling me about how alone they felt until they read that other people went through the same thing.  I can't even begin to describe how lonely and isolated I felt, thinking I was the one freak of nature for whom the band didn't work. I remember asking Ann Wilson from the band Heart if she had any of the problems I was having and she said, "I have no idea what you're talking about." They had this, "Ask Ann Wilson" thing here on OH way back when... and I thought, "Oh, good, I can find out why I'm having this horrible left shoulder pain." It didn't work, though, and I was left feeling even more alone.  It turns out, a lot of people WERE having the same symptoms, but no one was speaking up.

Well, I decided that I would speak up. So I do.

You should post your concerns and experiences. That's part of being on here. My surgery isn't for awhile yet...a lot can happen. A lot can change. I've been researching for a long time now.

You should give your opinion...whether it's taken or not...that's up to the individual's choice/journey.
The left shoulder pain was discussed by my surgeon...I'm aware of everything that can happen and go right/wrong.

I do appreciate all opinions...as my last post said "Thanks to everyone" and that mean't everyone.

I wish  you the best in whatever you choose.

Nicci