Lap-Band Problems - and solutions

So, you haven't had a band, then?
You have no idea what you're talking about if you haven't HAD a band.
I have been trying to help people for ten years now. Get a conscience. In fact, I'm glad you're posting. People should know which "doctors" to avoid.

I have been banded for almost two years. Thankfully, I have NEVER had any issues...thank you for your advice. Specifically, noting that the band doesn't work at the time in which I consume my meals. I have lost 70 pounds...slow but steady...not complaining. I just want to finish and reach goal. With this information you are providing, I believe my chances are reachable...30 more pounds to go!

Nic , I am sorry about the health problems that you have had from your band I really am and your story should be told but to me it seems when ppl are giving advice and it is being bashed it is not helping the ones that need it  . When I had my surgery in 06 my insurance did not pay for it because they still considered it an experimental surgery I ACCEPTED that but they did start paying for it 4 years later . No one knows if this surgery as in any other weight loss surgery  is going to work for them . It makes me sad that this board has turned into a place where all advice ( except negative ) is rejected and there is no place for those that want help to go on this site . No one wants to be approached with a militant ( about any kind of surgery ) attitude nor should they be subject to when deciding what kind of surgery they want to have . I understand you think your mission is to help ... but is it really ? when newly banded ppl come here looking for advice and all they see are "militant opinion about bands " . Its a done deal for them they have it and they have chosen to live with it  why not give them a chance to get sound advice that they might not ( unfortunately ) be getting from their Dr.

  Thanks for being sorry about my health problems caused by my band. That's very nice of you. I am not "bashing" anything. I'm telling the truth... and I have been telling the same truth for a decade now.  The band is damaging and not at all what it's advertised to be. That's my stance... militant or however a person wants to describe it. I'm sick of watching people get hurt by it. I'm sick of having to live with the effects of the damage the band caused in my body. 

I don't so much care about what anyone thinks of my style of posting, though. I'm through coddling and being diplomatic. I did that for years and I don't have it in me anymore. I say what I need to say and I think it's a lot better to be straightforward and honest than to pretend otherwise.   If I saw someone about to step in front of a speeding car, I'd yell for them to stop, not tell them that their hair looks nice and that they should maybe consider not getting run over. I'd do what I could to prevent them from being harmed... same as with the Lap-Band. I've watched too many people suffer with it. I YELL now instead of whispering. 

Dr. Simpson,

You are a brave man to post this on the band forum. I salute you.

Jean

It is sad that this forum has been taken over by those who simply do not like the band and scare others away. 

Every operation has its complications and issues. Every operation is a tool, and can be used. Not every tool fits every situation. But there is a trend among surgeons who never liked the band, but offered it as a side project, to get out and move patients to sleeves. The sleeve is a good operation. What isn't talked about is this: there is a 2.5% rate of leak the first 30 days in BMI less than 50 and 3% greater than 50.  Nor do they talk about four and five year data - such as ours, where we show that the stomach re-grows after a time. We have banded more sleeve patients than we have converted bands to sleeves. 

When I started with obesityhelp this was a community that worked together to help one another- not try to convince someone that their operation is the wrong one. When I was doing a lot of duodenal switch operations you could see the beginning of separation where people though their operation  was their religion, their savior (and such people, when they think the operation is the key find they don't do well in the long run).

 

Wow. The stomach regrows. That's nifty. Hey, you know where they love this kind of crap? Lapbandtalk. They will listen to everything you say without question. If you need to feed your ego, that's the place to do it. All band boards are eventually failed band boards, though, so you might want to hone some other skills. We can see your "people skills" could use some work. Maybe take a few classes at your local tech school.

Now I know why you're here.    you've been recruited.

The stomach 'regrows'?

OMG, if this isn't enough to chase away people from your practice I do not know what is.

My surgeon has had 3 leaks in 1000 sleeves. It all depends on the surgeon people go to.

For 5 year data you can see Cirangle studies.

I am sorry, did I misunderstand you?  Did you, a doctor, just tell people that the fundus re-grows?  You must mean that the remaining fundus stretches over time.  The sleeve does tend to get longer and there is some stretching, but when the sleeve is made small to begin with, there is very little stretch after the healing and swelling resolves.  If you have studies that point to some other conclusion, I would really like to see them.  I am almost four years out from VSG and my stomach has not re-grown.  When can I look forward to this new development?  There are probably some good reasons to get a band, especially when it's used as a revision surgery after RNY, but to tell people that the stomach re-grows, is a bit shocking and unprofessional.