For those who are upset over negativity...

 ~even worse wishing harmful things to a person with the band and hope it fails them~

Now you know damn well that you have never seen me do that!


actually, you did, Maria, and that's why I became upset with you.  It was to Dev and Jean.  Maybe you just really dislike them, but you did wish them harm with their bands.  One was in this post:  http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/lapband/4530935/So/#37541819  I didn't search for your words, but I found where I wrote I was sad you stooped to that level.

I remember this distinctly because I called you on it and at the time you admitted it was a bit much.  Maybe you have now forgotten.  But warning people what can happen is all well and good.  It should be told.

 I agree, Kate.  The problem is that often anyone who is having problems gets lumped in with those who immediately jump in with the "your WLS" WILL fail....I don't think everyone who has a band will fail and I don't regret my band.  I just wish there had been more information out there when I started experiencing what I thought were non-band related symptoms, so I would recognize them for what they were.

~Sharing experience is not being negative. What is negative is the implication that failure is inevitable. Some people who have  had issues are able to share them without terrifying. ~

I disagree. What is negative is giving bandsters false hope! They should have a realistic view of how MOST band outcomes really are. How could you possibly object to that???

~Negativity is telling people that the band WILL let them down.~

Negativity is to lead them to believe that it WILL work out for them when in all actuality...........it won't. Did I say ALL would fail long term? NO Do I think ALL will fail long term? Yes.......but I don't know that. What I DO know however is that I selsom see long term bandsters. And when I do...........THEY HAVE USUALLY HAD COMPLICATIONS! I also know that one of the band manufacturers if being investigated b/c they have a 50% failure rate AT ONLY 6 YEARS! Do you honestly thing the failure rate gets better after that? NO!

~Telling people with very minor issues to look into revision.~

There is often a time factor there. First of all, the longer the band is in the potential for more damage. Then there's also the "one WLS per lifetime" claus that many ins. companies are starting to add.

 I will say it ONCE MORE and then i give up on you: THE BAND DOES NOT HAVE A 50% FAILURE RATE NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU REPEAT THAT LIE, MARIA.  IT WAS 50% of the people on this one friggin study...NOT 50% FAILURE ACROSS THE BOARD.  


eta:  Yes, I yelled.  I lost my cool.  I am not saying you don't have a right to be here, or share your experiences, good or bad...but PUHleeese, stick to the facts, not hyperbole and sound bytes.
Oh. and for the newbies that don't know, Maria is at goal (or darn near it) at a size 12 last I heard, occasionally gets stuck on food but attributes none of her success to the despised band.

This is from Bloomberg  News:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-07/allergan-receives-u -s-subpoena-over-weight-loss-device.html


In January, House Democratic lawmakers called for hearings on medical devices including Lap-Band, following a study in the medical journal Archives of Surgery, that found almost half of patients with a gastric band had no weight loss or needed the device removed after six years. More than 40 percent had long- term complications.

 This 50% failure rate would be the study of one hospital, following 151 patients, of whom they lost contact with half, so about 80 patients. With the old bands, using the old implantation method?

Kate

 I disagree. What is negative is giving bandsters false hope! They should have a realistic view of how MOST band outcomes really are. How could you possibly object to that???

You're probably going to hate what I'm about to say, but here goes:

I agree that we shouldn't paint a completely rosy picture, but if you want your message to be heard, then it is in your best interest to package it in a way that will make people focus on the content and not on the anger and frustration you feel.  The reader you are trying to reach isn't in your situation.  Telling someone who is recovering from surgery they just made a huge mistake and their band WILL fail is just unkind....you're not an unkind person, so why not wish them well, offer up advice, and warn them of signs they might need medical attention?  

You are certainly entitled to post in any way you want, but the message might be lost when someone feels they are being put down for their decision to have Lapband surgery.  For some, there is no other option and even knowing what I know today, if the same limitations were in place today, as two years ago, I would still go through with it.  Even with the current complications, I am better off than I was at 290 lb. I went into it expecting to lose 50% of my EW, I expected to have to diet and exercise and I recognized that being a device, it could fail.  Having had many surgeries to deal with malfunctions, injuries, I don't expect to come out on the other side "good as new", just functioning a bit better than when I started.

I used to post on a "private" forum when I was first banded. We were a smallish group of people who came together on a new forum after Spotlight Health kinda went *kaput*. I used to tell people, "Well, *I'll* be able to adjust my band for the rest of my life! If I start to gain weight, I just will get the band filled and start over."  

How silly I was to believe such a thing. But I am a stubborn coot and no one could have told me that I was wishful thinking. How delusional.

Even when the band was killing me, I was like, "Oh, yeah, I'm in pain all the time, but at least I lost weight." Derp.

I really could have used a cuff upside the head. Maybe two. Or twenty.

Ditto!

Ditto
Thanks for posting, guess my fear of gaining my weight back has lead me to keep quiet, didn't know I am now the norm.