Just starting

 Any suggestion? I have started the pre surgery cousling and hoping for surgery in April. Any help prior to surgery would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Boop,

Have you looked over the Revisions forum here?


http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/revision/a,messageboard/bo ard_id,5360/

I would highly recommend not choosing the lapband, personally.
If you do decide to proceed with it, be aware of the common problem of referred left shoulder pain. There's a thread today about it... and if you go back through the history, you'll see it repeated over and over, as well.

Also be aware of the fact that it's more than likely that you'll require more than one surgery. Most of us have had to have corrective surgeries.... either due to serious complications or lesser complications. But, it's rare to find a bandster who hasn't had to have at least one "extra" surgery.

Read all the forums before making a final decision would be my advice. Good luck to you.

Please take time to fully research the band and ideally if you can, find a surgeon that has done over 500 lap bands and is dedicated ONLY to BAND patients, but if you can't, and can only find a surgeon that does both RNY, Sleeve and the Band make sure they have excellent aftercare and highly available and is part of the "Center of Excellence". This will greater your chance of a good outcome.

It's OK to know upfront the successes and failures of the band, this way you will go into this with your eyes open Knowing it is a Tool and understand fully the pitfalls of the band, and if your surgeon is highly skilled with a low revision rate your chances will be greater, NO weight loss surgery comes without risk, most people choose the risk that they are able to live with.

Although your surgeon may provide you with documentation, this is a very helpful guide to get you acclimated with how the band works.

Good luck

Link to How the Lap band works
http://www.laplose.com/Media/Forms/LapBandDietGuideNew.pdf

P.S. I am going on 7 years post op and I have never required a second surgery to date.

REVIEW ALL of the options.  I learned the HARD way!  I chose the band because it was supposed to be the "easiest"  well it is NOT easy at all.  Also you should start now chewing chewing chewing and taking small bites.  Also stop drinking with meals.    Wishing you all the best with whatever you chose to do

Jessica

 Practice chewing a lot
Don't drink while eating
stop drinking soda
Start walking
Wendy

I would not recommend the band to my worst enemy! My suggestion to you would be to visit the DS, RNY and VSG forum and ask about the band. You will find a lot of FORMER bandsters on the other WLS forums. Hmmmm............wonder why they revised FROM the band???

Hehehe--- I think I WOULD recommend it to my worst enemy LOL! It’s definitely torture… I can’t wait to get mine out! According to the emergency room records from last June, I could have DIED from aspiration in my sleep (because I could not keep even my own spit down)..  As tired as I was, I was not allowed to sleep until the bariatric doctor showed up to do an complete unfill :*( To friends of mine- I tell them steer clear of the band.

Lol. Well actually probably would recommend it to the X...........but he doesn't need it. :-( lol

Hi Boop,   I would recommend looking at other surgeries as well. Next month will be 6 years since I got the surgery. I have not a 2^nd surgery, however I have suffered from pain over the years. There are a lot of problems with the band, sometimes it just hurts SO BAD out of the blue. The band does not reduce the gherlin hormone (the hunger hormone) and does not increase the PYY hormone (which helps produce the feeling of satiety). In other words, I feel hungry most of the time and end up eating pretty much the same amount throughout the day as I did before surgery. Yep, not much weight loss to speak of. Please research all your options. Also, if anyone tells you they have not had any problems, click on “recent posts" under their name and read through all their posts- most likely, you will find that even they have had problems too. I know many people with the band, and have yet to meet one without complications… maybe it’s just me (and everyone I know) but the lapband pretty much sucks.

~if anyone tells you they have not had any problems, click on “recent posts" under their name and read through all their posts- most likely, you will find that even they have had problems too.~

Good point! I know a lot of the "I love my band" ppl will tell u it's the best thing since cable tv but if you go back through their posting history..........there either have been problems.......or minimal weight loss.

One thing to consider is that some of them if reminded of these posts (Nana for example)............WILL GO BACK AND DELETE THEM! So those researching are not really getting an accurate account of their band function A.K.A band DYSFUNCTION!