Contemplating Lap Band Surgery What do you think?

I have been contemplating surgery and want to know the pros and cons, please help me decide.

Pros:

There are some that get the band and do extremely well with it! I have seem some amazing transformations. They now live healthier, happier lives.

Cons:

Most do NOT have that happily ever after band experience. Some do ok, some struggle constantly, some lose an amazing amount of weight and then have to have their band removed, and then there are those that get a band that just does NOT work for them!

That would be me. I ended up having 16 fills and 4 partial unfills in 14 mos. There was never a happy medium. The band was either too tight or too loose. It NEVER worked the way they advertise it!!!!!!!!!!!! I am now out thousands of dollars for band that does NOT work!!!

Please read on the revision forum and find out how many ppl are revising FROM the band!

I would not recommend the band to my worst enemy.

I am really thankful for your honest reply. Deep down, I know there is no easy fix, I wish there was. I know that I can do this in the sensible way if I put my mind to it. I am thankful for this site and what I have been reading that is leading me to believe that this is not the answer for me. I have a friend who wants me to join her at Weigh****chers and also the YMCA. Best of luck to both of us!

Mary

No there is no easy fix. I think most of us are realistic about that though. There are however, 3 other WLS's that are much more effective than the band. I have seen such a high % of success rates with VSG, DS and RNY. Please visit those forums and enquire about each particular one, as well as research the other WLS's.

I would love to see you become one of the WLS success stories Mary! :-)

 Y'know, Maria: In hindsight,  I think the easiest fix  would have been to never get fat in the first place.

LMAO

Hi Mary, there is nothing wrong with giving it the "old college try" one more time with the WW and YMCA, but if  you decide that you need some surgical help, I would consider a more effective surgery over the band.

The band has a high rate of post-op complications often requiring further surgeries for repair, replacement, or removal.

I've had the band and the VSG, and the VSG is the hands down winner. It has offered me much more normalcy in my everyday life and is by far so much more comfortable than the band. I've also lost more weight in the first 7 months with the sleeve than in the nearly 3 years I had the band.

Best of luck to you in your decision!
Lindsey

Edited for typos.

As long as you know its a tool only  and dont totally depend on the band and the fills to help you lose weight you should be successful.

Like I told another poster. The band dont make the food choices for you, the band dont make you exercise, the band dont stop you from over eating, the band dont stop you from sitting down and eating a bag of chips or a pint of ice cream.   Its only YOU that can make them things happen or dont happen.

I can sit here and eat all day long if I want to , I can sit here and eat all the bad foods I want its still my decision on what I need to eat and how much exercise to do a week. 

You still need to have self control and will power with any WLS out there the band, the sleeve the gastric or whatever else comes out tomorrow or the next yr .
 
I use my band just to remind me I dont need to sit down and eat and eat and eat at every meal.  

I know if I sit down and go back to my old ways of eating I could cause damage to my band , or hurt myself in the process so why do it ?  Is it really worth the risk of hurting  yourself or the band just for some food ?  To me its not .  Dont get me wrong Im no perfect angel at this I have my days I eat the bad foods, but I dont eat like I use to becasue that mental image of that band around my stomach is enough of a reminder for me to back off :o)  That is what I wanted was just a little nudge here and there to say hey you , you dont need to eat like a pig at meal times lol.

I do not have a fill in my band , its been empty since surgery and that was  7 months ago. I dont get into all this restriction stuff I just know I can eat three healthy meals, a couple of snacks if need be and I'm fine.  Anyways nobody has died from a little hunger lol it dont kill you and I have learned that also , I dont need to run and eat everytime my belly growls.

I did not get the band so I couldn't eat my favorite foods. I eat all the same foods that I did before but I watch my portions, I watch how often I eat them foods, and when to eat them foods.  That is what I wanted from the band and that is what I'm getting from the band.

Could I lose faster if I got a fill probably but I like how things are going , I'm learning things and I think that is the most important part of WLS is to learn how to eat healthy if you dont learn how to do that with your surgery then the odds of gaining or not losing is pretty high imo.


The first thing my doc told me when I saw him the first time was if you 100% depend on this band to do all the work , or abuse the fills then you will probably fail at this surgery .   The band does some of the work not all of it.   He said you have to learn how to eat , learn to love exercise  , learn how to make healthy meals.

This will be my one and only WLS on me so if the band fails then that will be it for me, I would hope to God that during the time I have had this band that I have learned some valuable lessons because to me if I dont then I would feel this surgery was a waste of time and that is just me and how I feel about myself  because the band is there to teach us these lessons along the way its my job to learn these lessons and apply these lessons to my daily life :o)

 First, you have to consider why you want surgery to cure your obesity.

If you are healthy and only need to lose 50 lbs or less then the lap band may be good for you.  There are complications, but that is the case with all WLS.  

If you are more then 80 t0 100lbs over weight and you are pretty young and healthy ( you do not have type 2 diabetes or HBP) then you might want to look at the sleeve, it will allow you to lose the weight, but you can still take NSAIDS for pain and such.  You do need to have self control with sugar because both the band and the sleeve will not cause you to be ill when sugar or fats are eaten.

If you have co-mobilities like HBP, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, high chol. etc and you have 100 or more lbs to lose the RNY is the best surgery for you.  It cures so many things and you lose the most weight and it has the best success rate to keep it off long term.  BUT!!  You are going to have to suck in lots of protein which is really hard, take tons of vitamins and you can never take NSAIDS again so pain killer like Advil are out for you.

If you can do it on your own.....DO IT ON YOUR OWN!  But WLS is NOT the easy way out.  I had a RNY and there is nothing easy about it.  What ever you choose it has to be right for you, so you need to figure out why you are doing this then you can choose the best route to get to your goal.

Well, ladies, I really appreciate the feedback. I am just starting to check this out. I have about 70 pounds to lose. I have been over weight for the past 20 years and have tried everything. I feel like I  am 46 years old and starting to have complications due to this weight. I am giving it one more "college try" but I really need to have a back up and get this weight off. I appreciate all the input and I will check out the options I did not even know existed.


Thank you, ladies