Interesting Article on whether Gastric Sleeve is better than Byass or the Band

The ones that don't make their living off of it seem to be more cautious.
Kind of like a lot of things.

If I remember right the patients were having pain and one guy had to go in twice for adhesions.
They both said something like they thought that the poor circulation in these particular patients led to greater scarring along the gastric wall and that caused pain when the muscle was trying to contract.

You're right very anecdotal. Maybe nothing, but it affected me when I was deciding on which surgery to do.

As far as my understanding of the vagus nerve (sometimes erroneously called Vegas nerve   ). I didn't miss that day and in fact we spent many days dissecting it out in our cadavers in the lab and studying its function in the classroom.

I admit that I was ill informed as to the actual function of the band and it's interaction with the Vagus nerve when I went into surgery. I thought the purpose of the band was to make a little pouch so that you get physically full when eating a small meal.

Now I am so much more smarterer than before, but still kinda suck at speelling.
sorry.

Doc..you know extremely smart people can't spell that well, how many doctors you know can write great, -- it;s well know computer professonal don't like to write becasue they are so busy writing complex code and equations..lol. I am going for my masters in Information Technology and recently had an advanced Algebra class and *whew* it was tough and I could barely read my math teachers writing but she was smart as heck......science professionals don't care too much about proper grammar because their thought processes are sometimes way beyond that and they think so fast...sometimes spelling properly spelling gets lost...

Theoretically, the purpose of the band is as you've stated. Realistically, the band affects the Vagus nerves horribly. Maybe it's because I went through such hell with this that I HAD to research it more than I would otherwise have. Just be careful if you start getting referred left shoulder pain, please. Or if you know anyone who has the band who gets it. I went to 8 different doctors who couldn't tell me one thing about what I was going through. So I had to advocate for myself in this regard.

It's very common to have the referred left shoulder pain with the lapband. If, by chance, you should develop it, know that once it starts, it's really hard to rid yourself of it.

At one chronic pain clinic, they tried injections in my shoulder (to no avail) and said that there was virtually nothing that could be done since the diaphragm controls the breathing... and if I'd 'like to keep breathing' I would have to put up with the horrific pain. That's a bad thing to happen to a person, believe me. So, they put me on Fentanyl patches. And that didn't help the pain in my shoulder at ALL. But it prevented me from being able to walk, so I had to crawl to the bathroom in a fogged up haze. I used exactly ONE patch. The doctors all agreed that it wasn't the "answer" and I should discontinue using them. Unfortunately, they had no other helpful answers for me at all.
 

 My young son begged me to have the band removed and I agreed, in spite of having been told by several doctors that the "damage was done" and having another surgery would simply cause more adhesions and most likely NOT resolve the pain issues. But I had the band removed, anyway, because what else could I do at that point?  Thankfully, the pain did subside at least enough to consider staying alive.

For a year after band removal, my diaphragm was so damaged that every other day, I would start hiccuping. Then I would start sneezing. And I would sneeze to the point where I could NOT catch my breath. I'd pass out from lack of air. Once again, I begged for help... and no one had any answers for me. And this was all from a poorly placed lapband, causing damage to my Vagus nerve in the diaphragm.

That was my life with the lapband. It's not even the full story... most peoples' eys glaze over if tell the full story. It was hell on earth. So, maybe this explains why I am so "vocal" about my dislike of the lapband... and why I get confrontational with people, especially doctors, who don't have the correct information. It's nothing against you personally. People just need the full story... not just what the advertisers want them to know.

I hope you'll have great success with your band. And I mean that honestly. I wish that for everyone.

Thanks for info, doc.  I hear ya about surgeons being gung ho about the surgeries they do, and especially the ones they do well.  It puts us consumers in a real weird position sometimes.

WHY POST OLD WEBSITE INFORMATION on VSG...DON'T HAVE NOTHING NEW to attack VSG...like the INFO NOW...on LAPBAND...there is TON'S OF NEW INFORMATION on LAPBAND and its COMPLICATIONS...why aren't YOU posting THAT INFORMATION...why MUST YOU rely on VSGrs and OTHERS that are CONCERNED about LapBand pts...to DO THAT FOR YOU!!

The whole of OH KNOWs...YOU ARE AN EXCEPTION to THE RULE Naomi tick tock tick tock......great for YOU!!...but what about the COUNTLESS OTHERS THAT LapBand HAS BEEN A NIGHTMARE FOR!!

The INFORMATION YOU posted WAS FROM THE ASMBS CONFERENCE in GRAPEVINE TEXAS!!

THAT WAS IN 2009!! 1.5 years BEFORE VSG became an OFFICIAL Weight Loss Surgery. with its OWN CPT code 43775!

THE FIRST PARTIAL GASTRECTOMY that completely cut the stomach laterally from fundus to antrum was performed in 1881!! Look it up!! the surgeon's name is even referenced! Note...a SURGEON CUT the stomach...not a piece of plastic!

THE BENEFITS of VSG FAR OUTWEIGH the RISKS..of VSG it was determined in 2010 just like the LapBand was found to be of benefit more so than the risk what 10 years ago?......It is soo marketed! look at L.A. you cant go on ANY freeway in SoCal without being deluged with LapBand ADS!! stuck in traffic ...overweight/obese/yo-yo dieting...cheap, reversible.....WHY NOT? Not many know they are BEING PROGRAMMED for a surgery yes they must cut into you! that has an average shelf life of 5 years!

.but surely ya see none of this is VSG/rs fault.....it isn't your fault either you chose what was available to you as far as options with LEAST amount of KNOWN to YOU side effects/ amount of FEAR involved...at the time...INFORMATION absolutely CAN help us!

Instead of SLAMMING our SURGERY of CHOICE.....HELP SOUND THE ALARM on YOUR OWN!

I KNOW I DO constanstly....NO WLS is WITHOUT ITS personal/or otherwise ISSUES... I DO warn others, try to dispell the BULL****MYTHS on the VSG FORUM too.......cuz we ALL KNOW THIS AIN'T MAGIC !

TAKE CARE OF YER PEOPLE!! HELP THEM! don't waste yer time, your VALUE as a Lapband pt... on us!

Peace out cub scout