Newbie here, tell me all about your band experiences!

 I do fitnesspal as well.  That's amazing.  Right now 800 calories for me is a tad extreme as I'm still hungry between meals eventhough I have cut my portions drastically.   I do need to exercise far more that's for sure!!!  The motivation to do it is still lacking.  I might workout 3-4 days a week, and that's an issue-head case LOL!!!  I'll look up hungry girl.  Thanks for your tips.  You definitely make me feel like anything is possible with the lap band. Congrats on the 3 lbs!!!  Good luck on your journey!!

I had a poor lap band experience. My band seemed to work well for the first year and I lost about 65 lbs. Then at the beginning of the second year, I began to have complications. My band tightness would fluctuate randomly. One day I would be able to eat fine, just like pre-op, and the next day I might not even be able to drink water.

Due to this random tightening, I was frequently seeing my surgeon for unfills. During this time I started to gain back any weight that I had initially lost. Finally the band had to be completely unfilled and I gained nearly every pound back.

Then I had a revision surgery to the VSG and have been very successful thus far.

I would appeal to your insurance company for the surgery you want. I don't know much about the RNY, but I would pick anything over the lap band.

Best of luck,
Lindsey

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4428353/What-does-Less-Invas ive-REALLY-mean/

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4304076/PLEASE-RESPOND-Explain-your-Lap-Band-AGB-Experience/

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4376706/If-your-band-FAILED-you-please-check-in-here/

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4386446/Allergan-amp-Realize-bands-recall-information/

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4387717/benefit-of-lap-band-surgery-on-16year-old/

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/LapBand/4398937/New-here-Researching-and-Learning/

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/lapband/4399622/Newbie-from-Chicago/#36376935

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/lapband/4421031/I-hate-my-band/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2698858/?tool=pu bmed
"The placement of a gastric band appears to be a disservice to many morbidly obese patients and therefore, in the current culture of evidence based medicine, the prevalent use of laparoscopic gastric banding can no longer be justified."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21422330
"However, because nearly 1 out of 3 patients experienced band erosion, and nearly 50% of the patients required removal of their bands (contributing to a reoperation rate of 60%), LAGB appears to result in relatively poor long-term outcomes."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21188545
"LAGB can achieve an acceptable weight loss in some patients, but the failure in one out of four patients does not allow proposing it as a first-line option for the treatment of obesity."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20496124
"Of the study population, 146 (52.9%) patients had at least one complication requiring reoperation. Presently, only 148 (53.6%) patients still have their original band, 49 (17.8%) had their original band replaced with a new one, and 79 (28.6%) had their band removed."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19730234
"The percent of excess weight loss at 4 years was higher in the gastric bypass group (68 ± 19% vs. 45 ± 28%, respectively, P < 0.05)."

Regarding this study - I find this VERY disturbing: "Between 2002 and 2007, 250 patients with a body mass index of 35 to 60 kg/m2 were randomly assigned to gastric bypass or gastric banding."  Randomly assigned a surgery type???  Holy fuck!!  Who would participate in such a trial??

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18795380
7 year study on lapbands, with SOME patients converted to RNY:
"Patients converted to gastric bypass, and those retaining gastric bands throughout the study had very similar outcomes."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18656830
This is interesting in that the LapBand patients long-term assorted into two types when you plot weight:
"It has been our perception that the weight loss results after gastric bypass are relatively normally and tightly distributed around the mean, making it relatively predictable. However, we have found that the results after adjustable gastric banding are more highly variable. In fact, there appears to be 2 groups of patients after this restrictive operation. One group, that is able to work well and does not struggle much against the restriction, accepts the limits that it imposes, and another group, that does not easily learn to deal with the restriction and hence mal-adapts."


I suspect the dumping syndrome symptoms that are showing up in VSGers relate to their sleeves being made too small in what is likely a vain attempt to prevent long-term stretching.  Those too-small sleeves sound horrible to me - strictures, vomiting and now dumping too (I'm guessing the too-small stomach tries to get the stuff out of there as soon as possible, resulting in the same issue of undigested food hitting the jejunum too soon - DS stomachs aren't made that small and almost NONE of us have this problem - which, by the way, can happen in normies too with overingestion of sugar).  And I don't believe they are going to remain small enough, long term, to prevent overeating and regain in the absence of a metabolic change like that provided by the switch.

But I STILL think the VSG is better than the band.

I will be a yr out in 3 months and I have no problems with my band , but I have also done this without a fill. I just haven't felt the need for one and haven't gotten one .

I have lost 65 pounds with mine .I still eat all my favorite foods since I got the band I jus****ch my portion control and how often I eat them foods now .

The band is the slowest weight loss surgery out there.  It will be just like before you got the band. You still have to exercise, you still have to eat healthy , and you still have to diet.  The only thing the band does for you is help you with portion control and helps you stay fuller for a little bit longer. That is it nothing more nothing less.

I will say though the band dont stop head hunger, it dont stop you from eating a bag of chips or a pint of ice cream, it dont stop you from going to a fast food place and ordering burgers and fries . It dont matter how much restriction you have you can and will eat around the band if you want to . That is with any WLS though. 


This will be my one and only WLS out there so I'm learning the lessons along the way on what I should be doing to get healthy and to remain healthy .   There are no 100% guarantee surgeries out there.  Any of them you can gain your weight back, any of them you can have complications with , and all them you can eat around your surgery if you chose to do that .


I chose the lap band for many reasons.   I was never a sweets eater , I can have all the junk laying around the house donuts, M&M's I have a whole jar sitting here on my puter desk, all the stuff and I just dont touch it. The only time I have major problems with it is a week before my period then I have problems .  I was never a snacker either .  My problem was I never knew how to control my food intake a meal times . That is why I got the lap band was to help me control portions at meal times.  That is why my doc said the lap band would work really well with me because of how I ate .

Good Luck in your decision.  But remember do what is best for you that is all that matters, and just because one person has trouble with a surgery dont mean you will .

I've been banded almost 2 1/2 years, no complications so far other than being slightly overfilled Spring of 2010.. slight unfill fixed that.

While the band is said to be the slowest weight loss surgery.. it wasn't for me.   I've lost as fast as many RnY patients...  100 lbs in my first 7 months.  Yeah, I'm a freak (in a good way).

I started @ 383 day of surgery.  This morning I was 164.  I'm sitting here wearing a size medium dress..just recently bought size 12 pants.  I was wearing 5X's before surgery.

People who have trouble tend to be more vocal.  And I KNOW that the negativity on this board keeps some people away.. I've had several people tell me that.  

If you're not sure if you want RnY or Band.. postpone your surgery a bit and keep researching.

I love my band...I was banded in 2007 and I weighed 267 in one year I dropped to 190lbs ...I am 5'8..I reached it with only have 3 fills. Then in 2010 I became pregnant and had a complete unfil and gained 60 pounds....my only complication is that my port flipped and I had to have it replaced 6 week post partum....I am back on track now and am so happy that I have this tool since two weeks ago when I got my first fill after my replacement surgery I have lost 10 lbs and lots of inches....I dont know where I would be without it...What I love about it is that the recovery was easy for me I was back to work in 3 days...and if I ever feel like it I can take it out. I respect whatever decision you make...but as far as I go I love my band.

I call my LapBand - "Lifesaver" --
I have been banded now for over 3 and a half years and I am healthier and happier than I have ever been!  I have had absolutely NOT one problem with my band.  I keep it looser than most and I am able to eat everything except really dry chicken breast.

I have lost a lot of weight with my LapBand and in the beginning was told by several doctors that I was making a huge mistake not getting gastric bypass.  I also didn't want anything that drastic.

I am a success story.

Over 5 years and still love my band. My details are in my signature line.

But any surgery requires comittment; if you wanted the sleeve, you should fight for it.

For some readon I do not pretend to understand, Brits seem to have better experiences. The UK board I go on haS many fewer negative stories.

Kate

These lap bands were reported to the FDA, unfortunately MOST surgeons do NOT report band problems to the FDA because they are not required to.I know for a fact that both of my lap bands were NOT reported to the FDA or returned to Allergan for " analysis " and Allergan requires surgeons to return ex planted bands for analysis.

www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfMAUDE/results.c fm