If you're choosing to have the band because you don't want your anatomy altered...

What were trying to tell you is that, the band WILL alter your anatomy after a few years, just by its mere presence.

It can strangle your stomach.

It can erode into your stomach.

It can twist your esophagus into a corkscrew

It can adhere itself to your liver.

It can cause permanent nerve damage.

It has been related to pulmonary problems.

It will put you at future risk for esophageal and stomach cancers.

Other surgeries alter your anatomy immediately after the surgery is performed, the band takes its own sweet painful time.

Amen!  

I've had too many random tightening even with no fill in it. 

It's like a noose around your stomach.   Think rope tied around your wrists, it can cut into your skin.  Same thing as the band. 

My surgeon even said the band doesn't work for MOST people.  

 I know you guys have way more experience than I do re: lap band.  I'm all about reliable, reputable, peer-reviewed resources when researching stuff, especially medical stuff, since anyone can say anything they want on the Internet.  My husband is a doc and has access to subscription-only medical journals, and honestly...I'm just not seeing a lot of what you're saying.  Erosion and slippage, yes, very rarely.  Port leakage, yes, less rare.  I even read about a case of a woman who ended up getting a severe case of asthma because she was inandvertantly aspirating food into her windpipe.  Extremely rare case.  The band adhering to the liver?  I can't find that.  Band linked to cancer...extremely rare.  Reflux, sometimes.  Esophogeal motility, extremely rare.

As for weight re-gain, I've read that it's relatively common 2+ years out.  Call me naive, but I know my band is only a tool to help me lose weight now, but the only way I can be sure that the weight stays off and that I live and eat in a healthy way for the rest of my life is for me to battle and defeat the food demons in my head.  Believe me, I'm working very hard to address this and (hopefully) will continue to make good food and lifestyle choices until I'm 100 wether my band is working or not.

Posts like yours, Pumpkin X, are very scary for us band babies.  I'm reassured after reading some of the medical journals. 

 Not disputing that the professional journals are a great source of information for medical professionals, but they aren't the ONLY source.   Studies are generally years in duration and are always looking BACK at what happened, often 10 or more years.  Doctors rely on their patients and their colleagues' patients experiences to guide them in providing a current standard of care.  We who are having complications ARE those patients who are trying to save others from the same misfortune.
I did not have motility issues prior to being banded...now I do.  I never had problems keeping food down prior to banding, now I do.  My reflux is back, despite having my hiatal hernia repaired at the time my band was implanted.  I am awakened by pain that suggests I'm having an MI, but my extensive cardiac testing over the past couple of months has ruled out heart disease.  In fact, my cardiologist says my heart is remarkably healthy considering my age and weight history.
It is very short sighted to just off-handedly dismiss our experiences because you haven't read about them in JAMA.  I've never seen an iceberg, but I know they exist...

 I'm not dismissing you!  I'm just not running down the street screaming, demanding that the surgeon take out my band right now because I'm going to get cancer or something.  

The way many make it sound, these complications are sure things...just a matter of time.  Whereas if you read the medical journals, when they say extremely rare, they mean extremely rare.  You guys are downright scary.  I appreciate you sharing your experiences, but just because you have problems doesn't mean everyone will.  Example: rather than saying: "The band causes cancer."  How about "In x number of studies over so many years, it was found that among 14,000 patients, 2% developed esophageal cancer 10+ years after being banded."  Makes a big difference.

Some people on this board (I don't mean YOU per se...I don't even know you) seem to come here with the express intent of dissuading people from getting the band, or just scaring those of us band babies who already have them.

 I know you don't mean me, specifically, but you need to understand that several people who post on here regularly have nearly died from their bands.  Others have suffered damage so severe that they are in constant pain.  Others are so damaged they cannot revise to another procedure.  They do convey a high sense of urgency, and are passionate about their cause, but their intent is to ensure that everyone who consents to being banded is fully informed.  There are unscrupulous practitioners out there who prey on those who are desperate and only paint the pretty picture for them.  They need to hear that the band might not work, might need to be removed after a period of time and that they will lose about half their excess weight, if things go well. 
I appreciate that my band helped me to do something I wasn't able to do on my own, lose 71 lbs and maintain that loss for over a year.  I don't regret getting it, but I currently am having what seem to be complications of banding that may require its removal.  If I had suffered like Nicci or Lisa (pumpkin) I might regret it.
I know you didn't mean to sound dismissive, but your post came across that way...I have a lot of medical experience from a patient's perspective, unfortunately, having had emergency surgeries, repairs, etc, nearly dying of a bilateral ectopic pregnancy and I know that I must be my own best advocate.  Others may be very inexperienced in choosing practitioners who will only have their patient's best interests at heart.

I DO want to dissuade people from getting the band, if I can. I've watched the band ruin so many people over the past decade. I definitely would love to dissuade as many people as possible because I truly believe it's a damaging and dangerous procedure.

However, I do NOT post to scare newly banded people. That's never my intention. I'm honest... and I gave up sugarcoating years ago when it didn't do any good. It's better to simply say what you mean and mean what you say.

The things you have listed are not as rare as you'd think. Not by a long shot. I'm considered a "successful bandster" because I lost weight with the band. But the fact that I had chronic pain, had the band removed and have permanent and painful damage from it? That's not discussed. I'm just in the "successful" column. I was one of the first people in my area to have the band. I was in so much pain and had no one to help me and no one to turn to for the longest time. It was a bad, bad feeling... and it was very scary.

Not even the doctors knew what was wrong with me, so I had to take it upon myself to learn what I could in order to advocate for myself. Even doctors who should have known that the Vagus nerve was the culprit for the referred left shoulder pain I had every single minute of every day, morning til night, didn't put 2+2 together. They were like, "Why would the band cause your SHOULDER to hurt?" Really?!  You'd think that would be Medical 101. Even back in 2003... it wasn't like it was the Dark Ages, you know?  My band should have been removed immediately... but I had doctor after doctor telling me that it was "just gas" or that it was "in my head." (That was my favorite one... being told you're crazy when you're ready to kill yourself from chronic pain. That makes a person feel much better!) This is why I'm like a broken record with the Vagus nerve thing.  I couldn't get an answer. I couldn't get help. I was ready to give up.  It was the loneliest and most scared I've ever been.  I don't want anyone else to feel that way.

I'm not trying to goad you or start a fight or anything, Sabina, because you seem like a perfectly nice person. I'm just saying that there IS a reason why a lot of us run down the street, screaming. Seriously, there really IS. When you've been damaged horribly by the very thing that was supposed to help you have a healthier, longer life... well, it's hard to have much good to say about it. I'm sure you can understand that and why we'd want to warn others. I always wish everyone the best with whatever they choose. 

Who is " running down the street screaming, demanding that the surgeon take out your band right now because your going to get cancer or something " ?

Who said that, " The band causes cancer " ? You are quoting quotes that have never been stated.

You're husband doesn't live with a band, and neither do all the " experts " in the medical journals. I and countless others like myself have experienced these complications. and when the FDA makes it MANDATORY for all these upstanding doctors and surgeons to report these lap band complications then maybe your husband will actually come across some fact based information.


I'll do you a favor and block you now, so you won't be scared any longer...

~The way many make it sound, these complications are sure things...just a matter of time.~

Yes, that's true. You read what Steph just posted. Allergain theirselves say the band has an 88% complication rate! So rare? I think not! lol. If even Allergan is saying that (although well hidden on their website!), why would you believe that complications are so rare???

 This is copied from Allergan's information "Lap-band system risk information" at tha right of this page.

Patients can experience complications after surgery. Most complications are not serious but some may require hospitalization and/or re-operation. In the United States clinical study, with 3-year follow-up reported, 88% of the 299 patients had one or more adverse events, ranging from mild, moderate, to severe. Nausea and vomiting (51%), gastroesophageal reflux (regurgitation) (34%), band slippage/pouch dilatation (24%) and stoma obstruction (stomach-band outlet blockage) (14%) were the most common post-operative complications. In the study, 25% of the patients had their band systems removed, two-thirds of which were following adverse events. Esophageal dilatation or dysmotility (poor esophageal function****urred in 11% of patients, the long-term effects of which are currently unknown. Constipation, diarrhea and dysphagia (difficulty swallowing****urred in 9% of the patients. In 9% of the patients, a second surgery was needed to fix a problem with the band or initial surgery. In 9% of the patients, there was an additional procedure to fix a leaking or twisted access port. The access port design has been improved. Four out of 299 patients (1.3%) had their bands erode into their stomachs. These bands needed to be removed in a second operation. Surgical techniques have evolved to reduce slippage. Surgeons with more laparoscopic experience and more experience with these procedures report fewer complications.

Extremely rare doesn't apply to any of these admitted complications.