Gastric Sleeve vrs Lap Band please HELP!!!!

My apologies. That comment was actually directed towards another user. Not you. I apologize and thank you very much :-)

and I do agree with most of your post Happy Bandster and do not mean to be insulting to anyone who has had success with the band. 

I will say, however, I DID feel like I was a bit bulimic because that is how my band acted much of the time.  I followed the diet religiously but had a lot of trouble.  And there were many, many times when dining out that I had to get to the bathroom quickly to "argue with my band" but I never brought anything up in front of anyone.  I always had just enough time, and still do, to get there and I always lost the "argument".

There are many fruits, veggies and meats that cause me trouble but never "clawed" at me.

KGG, you need to understand, those of us who have had the band for awhile are gong to question your post because it sounds rather acute in symptoms.

56Sunshine, oh, yes, I do accept I have been very lucky. Not everyone is.  I just think this poster needs to pause before panicking. If may be as bad as she fears, but seems pointless so early just assuming disaster. 

Wanted to add, that you give a very balanced and fair perspective to the forums and that I mentioned the two friends because it is very relevant.  A virgin digestive tract will handle any wls surgery better than one which is damaged, with scar tissue, adhesions and thinned out tissue.  Just wanted to let you know I respect and appreciate your perspective.

Steph

Sigh. I'll simply resign myself. My symptoms are what they are. Others symptoms are what they are. I THINK other users simply meshed MY symptoms with those that I spoke of from others. I've tried clarifying it but I'll simply just let it be. People are paying more attention to the length of time since I had the band instead of the problems that I am having with it. I spoke in future terms of not wanting to go through what I see others go through. If I am already having problems and I am merely on liquids, it's safe to surmise that the problems will increase in time. THIS IS FOR ME. Not anyone else. I am in regret over MY decision. Anyone else who wants the band should know what? THE TRUTH of what others endure with the band at different stages. Not just one stage. But all of them. So that they can make a more informed decision. I'm not anti-band for all. I'm anti-band for myself. So feel free to question away. At the end of the day, I'm in pain & am counting down the days to have this thing removed so that my stomach can heal & I can fully consider VSG.

Hi Kate, I think I know the two friends you speak of.  My personal opinion (since I've heard of many experiences like j and L in the context of revision from bands) is that many of their postoperative revision complications are due to tissue damage from the previous WLS.  J's issues are pretty manageable, at least according to her, but situations like L's are happening a lot.  There's a gal in one of our Facebook groups who is living with an open surgical wound following revision RNY about 4 months post removal of her band. She is one of many who, trying to revise, end up in huge trouble.  This is why I would never choose a band or recommend it to anyone.  It can steal away a persons one chance of getting an effective WLS, as happened with me.

Currently of all my OH friends, only you have your original band.  When I started researching here, literally hundreds of members endorsed it...the numbers speak for themselves.

You may well be right about J and L.  I simply don't know enough to judge but it really seems likely a previous (problematic) surgery will have an effect.

band longevity is peculiar! I fully accept what you say, and I totally accept that so many in here have had issues. But what is so odd is that this does not reflect my real life experience. I have met in person around 45 banded people. All are now at least three years post-op, most are over five years and the longest is ten years post-op. I have lost touch with some. In particular, of the 7 people I met in the US, I  have up to date info only on 3.  

But I still have relatively recent info on around 25 in the UK. These are rough figures.  Some haven't lost all the weight they hoped but only two have had their bands out. One was for an intractable infection which pre-dated the band, the other freely admitted she deliberately used her band to be bulimic. 

All three of the Anericans are absolutely fine. And are respectively five, eight and ten years out (that!s Bette!). 

I also knew within days of being banded that something was terribly wrong. I'd never had such intense, horrific pain before. And I'd given birth; I'd crushed my ankle bone and ripped all the ligaments and tendons in my left leg when I fell down the stairs carrying my newborn baby; had open gallbladder removal; open hysterectomy... the aftermath of the band surgery was a hundred times worse than any of those things.  And I should have trusted my own instincts and insisted on having the band removed immediately. Instead, I believed my horrible surgeon who didn't want to admit that he'd done anything wrong during surgery. 

Normal recovery after surgery is painful. When you are having immediate complications, it's very different. And you know it when you're experiencing it. People who haven't experienced it don't usually believe how bad it can get. They tend to react as if it CAN'T be true because it didn't happen to them. 

Nic, hope you don't think I ever doubt you!  My reply was intended not to doubt the poster but say that at such an early stage it might not be necessary to automatically anticipate  the life of derivation and vomiting she is expecting. She is so newly post-op and there is no suggestion of surgical error as affected you. If it proves to be as bad as she fears, then I assume it will be removed. But meanwhile, expecting the worst just makes things harder.

Exactly Nic! That's all I was trying to say. No one knows your body better than you do. No one else can gauge the extent of your pain better than you can. That's why the doctors give YOU a pain scale so that you can tell them. Do they know how many people die because they downplay their own symptoms & opt not to visit an ER to find out what's wrong? You knew something was wrong. I also knew something was wrong. Based on what my surgeon told me to expect, I KNEW something was wrong. You are so spot on with your post. People just choose not to believe what didn't happen to them. That's a blessing if it didn't happen to you. But it happens to others. Why can't that be respected? I'm so lost on that.