Considering Lap Band Surgery

Hi All:

I'm very new too this forum.  So I just have a question for anyone who has experience with the Lap Band Surgery.   I am always hunger.  That's why I'm so overweight.  I am considering doing the Lap Band Surgery.  So I'm wondering,  Are you satisfied after you eat your small meal following the surgery?  Or are you hungry but just not able too eat?   I feel like I can't stand the feeling of being hungry. 

Also can the Band stay in Long-Term? Has anyone had it in for a long time?  I'm reading a lot of messages saying they had too have it removed at the 5-6 year mark.

 

 

 

The lap band is NOT a good long term solution and I will bluntly tell you to save yourself a lot of time, agony, and money by simply crossing it off the list of options.

Good luck. I hope you research a lot.

 

I have had my band almost 7 years and for me it was totally the correct decision. I have been slim and healthy for over five years and very rarely feel physical hunger.

The band is not for everyone, for some people it offers the wrong sort of help, they need malabsorption. For others they underestimate how hard it will be. Still others have major problems which are not of their own making. Nic for example who has already answered you, has suffered permanent damage as a result of incompetently performed surgery.

You will hear good and bad reports but if you look back to a recent thread from BetteB about why she posts here, you will see my comments on the 40+ people I know in real life who have been banded.

Kate

  Yes, I did have an incompetent surgeon. But that's not the reason I advise against banding. If it were ONLY me, I'd probably consider that my complications were wholly due to medical incompetence, but since it's NOT only me, I have to surmise that it's the band that is also at fault.  If every bandster I knew had success except for me, I'd have absolutely nothing bad to say about the Lap Band. I'd chalk it up to a surgeon who didn't know what he was doing.

Unfortunately, over the past 10 years, I've witnessed nothing but misery connected to the Lap Band... no matter how good the surgeon or the aftercare.  Human anatomy isn't built to withstand the damage the Lap Band causes.

My band worked for 5 years. Then it just broke. Now I have to have surgery all over again. It is a total mess and I will lose my job when I take the next set of days off. My doctor butchered me too and the port is all messed up, I am constantly bruised anytime I see my doctor , I mean big bruises and bleeding. *sigh*   Not to mention, now my body is rapidly gaining and I am hungry all the time. I was still hungry when the band worked but I didnt want any problems so in my mind I was forced to not overeat. I am still dieting (not eating starchy carbs or sugar) but still gaining. SO FRUSTRTED. 

I have a lapband. I am and was always hungry. Forget what it feels like to feel full. I am still fat because I only lost approx 20 lbs. I have had this thing for 6 years. 16 more days. 16. 16 days until the doc unlocks this "cuff" I paid cash for. Please, do yourself a favor.... Save your money, time and life. Go another way....any way that is. That's MY truth.

Hi Nora!

All WLS can work, but it's your head that can trip you up the most in the long term.

I am 5 yrs post op. I would suggest that you attend a WLS support group in your area . The meetings are typically mixed surgery. This would give you an idea about the doctors out there in your area that you would probably be using. how involved and about how their patients feel about the after care which is very important to long time success with any WLS!

While at the meeting ask about the veterans , do they still attend ,and if you could be on touch with them.

Do not go to just 1 meeting, as many WLS support group meetings I attend people show up in waves, depending on what is occurring in their lives or what is occurring with their WLS personally.

Also visit other lapband boards. We use to have a lot more people participating, but sadly many left. I know of Lapband Talk ? I believe it's called. And I am sure there are others. Just google it.

Also there is a doctor in Arizona, a. Doctor Simpson, who has a great website, and he actually attends and conducts his WLS support group meetings! He is very vested in the success of his patients. There is great information there!!!!!! You can google him as we'll. I believe his fill name is Terry Simpson.

But I would strongly urge you to attend a meeting in your area and get a feel for the doctors available to you locally. Because they will be your best support system should you have a problem or a hiccup on whatever journey you choose.

Also do read Bette's post.

Good luck feel free to check out my profile,
Prek3

I was always hungry even when I had a maximum fill. Also the manufacturer says the band is only good for 5-10 yrs so it is not a lifetime surgery.

I didn't have a problem with satiety before surgery, but after band removal, I never feel full. I don't know if it has to do with nerves or what... but I absolutely never feel full now. And it wasn't like that before banding.

I was glad to read this.  I thought it was just me or in my head.  Since the band was removed, I never feel full, even when I know I have to be.

When I had the band some days I could eat everything some days nothing without throwing it up.  I was always hungry, I was either hungry or in pain.

The pain from the band was so bad I had to have it out.  I had medical issues 2.5 out of 3.5 years.