Overwhelmed with Excitement and Disbelief-Surgery Schedued!

Hello all,

I am a newbie to the site and have been overweight all of my life. I am 24 yrs old and I have been wishing and hoping to get weight loss surgery for as long as I have known about it. I have finally begun this journey and have completed all of the requirements for my insurance, including, a six-month supervised diet, psych eval, fitness eval, meeting with dietician, getting my PCP to back up my decision, and providing documentation of being over weight for at least 5 years. I am now just waiting for all of my paperwork to be submitted to my insurace company and their stamp of approval. I do, however, have a surgery date scheduled for September 18th, and I could not be more excited. I am filled with disbelief that this seems to finally be happening for me. In short, I am running to the forums to ask for a little support as to the concerns I have in regards of what to expect for the first few weeks up to the first few months.

Anyone that could provide me with a little enlightenment as to their first few challenges, ah-ha moments, or an outright overview of their beginning of this life changing journey would be much appreciated.  :)

I hope everyone has had immense success in their weight loss journey and I cannot wait to get my life back!

My first suggestion is run from the lap band idea as fast as you can!!! It is the least effective and most difficult of the weight loss surgeries to be successful in. It is also proving to be very dangerous and in some cases causing life long damage to the esophagus and stomach. Even when you follow all the rules and do everything correctly the band can and will in many people cause terrible damage. I can say this from personal experience. I had so much pain that I paid for removal of my band myself!

Now please understand I am not trying to scare you but there are far better options out there for a much more successful surgery. I just know hundreds of people who have had a horrendous time with their lap bands and I can't with a clear conscience tell anyone that the band is a good choice. Now you may do fine but I only know a handful of happy successful bandsters. I know far many more who are suffering from permanent damage done by the band and that many more have had revisions from their bands to other surgeries.

The band is only ok'd for 10 years by the manufacturer so what will you do then, have another surgery? Do you have more than 75 lbs to lose? Most are lucky to lose and keep off 30-40 lbs. Do you have GERD or heartburn, the band will probably make that worse. There are just so many down sides to the band that it is not a good option anymore. So I've given my warning and I'm sure my friends Kate, Bette and maybe Cheyanne will be along to tell you how good it is. Which is fine because we are all friends in real life and we agree to disagree.

Whoa, slow down... slow down!  The lapband is the least invasive of obesity surgery that you can get.  It has the shortest recovery time, it's adjustable, and it is reversible - unlike any of the others! It also has the lowest mortality rate of any weight loss surgery. I've had my band now for 7 years and I do not regret having it.  There have been times that I've struggled but those were times that I needed to get a fill.  It's so nice knowing that you don't have to have something cut out of you to lose weight.  The sleeve is irreversible, as you cannot put the removed stomach portion back, and, not only that, but you have to trust your doctor to cut the right amount, as they remove anywhere from 35 to 65% of your stomach. The stitches from where the cut out portion is sown can become infected or can leak before healing.  After healing, the stomach can stretch over time and weight gain can occur, so this is a huge concern for long term weight control.  

There are going to be successes and failures with each type of surgery, so try not to listen too much to other's opinions as they will try to scare you - there are so many people that have had success with the band.  Just read the most recent posts on this site.  There are people who have also had the sleeve and have been successful, but there are also some who have eaten too much and have regained their weight a year or two after losing weight as they tend to eat a little more over time.  Do your own research and make up your mind about what is right for you.  

Hope that helps and love your enthusiasm!!!  (This message is intended for original poster of comment even though I am using a quote to do so) 

The lap band is removable NOT reversible.  The damage done from the band can't be totally reversible even with removal.  The sleeve amount that is removed may very but it is 70-85%.  Yes, from the sleeve you can have the risk of leaks and infection but you can also have infection from the band.  And the big leak called - erosion!  You can have tubing break or become unattached.  The port can come unhooked from the tubing, unstitched and move and also tip.  With the band the pouch above band can stretch.

Bottom line, any thing that can go wrong with the sleeve can also go wrong with the band.  I had both and love my sleeve.  Some try to say they are the same as they are both restriction only.  But, the sleeve has faster results more like the RNY.  But, you don't have the rny supplementation issues like the band.

As stated do your research and see how many surgeons and centers have stopped doing the lap band even though the make more money from the band.  If you do get a band regular follow up and fills is a MUST for success.  And even being the poster bander (per my center.) I won't recommend it.

Why would anyone "try to scare" someone? That's the strangest thing I've ever heard. I've never posted about my complications in an attempt to "scare" anyone. If anything, I care very much about no one having to go through the same horrific pain I did with the band. 

Hislady and I are good friends and, as she says, agree to disagree. On this site you will find very many people who are unhappy with bands; some have had serious damage because of them. But it is difficult for me because in real life, as opposed to online, almost all the banded people I know are fairly or very satisfied with theirs! And most are over five years out, quite a few ten years out.

Please bear in mind that I am a very happy and very successful bandit now 8 years post-op. I do not regret my band, would do it all over again and if I ever have to have it removed, I would hope to have a replacement.

When I was banded in 2006, it was a miracle surgery. And for some people, who accept that they will still have to work hard, it is just that. It was and still is for me. But over the years it has become clear that serious complications necessitating further surgery are much more common than originally thought, some of these are avoidable by careful eating and by not keeping the band tight; unfortunately others are beyond our control.

We used to be warned about band slips, leaks and about ( very rare) erosion into the stomach tissue but it turns out that a build up of scar tissue round the band (causing it to tighten) is common. It can be very difficult to get the right level of restriction and some people are tempted to keep it tight enough to physically limit food, in fact it was once thought this was how it should be. But this causes food to back up into the oesophagus and that risks problems such as oesophageal dysmotility which may be irreversible. It can also damage the vagus nerve.

We still need lots of will power. The band makes it easier by dimming hunger, but it does nothing for head hunger and, contrary to popular opinion, it does not and should not physically stop us eating. If it does it is too tight!

i suggest you research the sleeve. It s a very successful surgery although it can also have complications. It isn't what I would want but it suits very many people.

Having said all that, I love my band!