New here - Need some advice !

The Revisions forum is hopping... every other thread is about revising from the band. If a person really wants to know what having a lap band is like, that's the place to research.

I know ir is not a much talked about choice but I had gastric plication. It is not terribly common here but it has been very popular in europe for years and results reported from there are far more positive than those you see here. I didn't want a foreign object in me and didn't feel much like having them remove a chunk of my stomach. I am happy with my choice. Weight loss is slower than most other surgeries but that is OK.. Chances of complications are lower than other surgeries. Recovery from surgery is easier. Not sure if your surgeon offers this choice but it is another option. Good luck whatever you choose.

I was on the O.R. table for a VS plication when I had my Lap band removed. I got my surgeon called in.  We spoke on the OR phone and i said just remove the band and dont do the plication.  I got the sleeve gastrectomy 6 months later.

How far post op are you and how are you doing.?

I am almost 4 months post op and very happy with how I am doing. The weight doesn't fall off it, comes off slowly and consistently. Had some scale issues and ended up with a new one that may not read quite the same but I am 40-45 pounds down from when I started the LS diet before surgery. Seem to averaging 2 pounds a week off since surgery but I have had the usual stalls. Thanks for asking.

Glad you are doing well!

All best

I have been on these boards for over 10 yrs and have read a great deal both pro and con but the farther out you get the more the problems crop up. Nearly everyone I know here and on several other forums have had to have theirs removed for a variety of reasons. I recently read a current report on what types of surgery are being done and in the whole bariatric surgery world only 6% were bands the rest were mostly RNY and sleeves with a few DS. So that is an amazingly small amount of surgeons willing to do the band.

I wouldn't wish a band on satan himself! It is just a horrendous torture device that doesn't even work for 60% of those who get one. I and hundreds more have permanent damage from the band it damages how your stomach processes food. That can't be fixed and it makes it very uncomfortable every time you eat. Just save yourself all the pain and get a sleeve. I wish I had done that in the first place but now my general health has gotten so bad no one will operate on me so I have not choices as far as weight loss, it is back to careful eating.

I wish you luck and I advise you to run far away from either the band or the plication. From what I have read that is even more damaging than the band. It is experimental and hasn't been done long enough to have anything to research. After my experience with the band I would never again be a guinea pig for any procedure.

Don't have the band, it's a big mistake. Many reputable WLS surgeons in the US have stopped performing the procedure altogether after finding they were spending more time removing them than putting them in. The band has been discontinued in Europe due to high complications, relatively low success rates compared to alternatives, and high removal rates.

There are many good alternatives with better long term success and less complications.

I know I am late to this conversation, but I wanted to add my 2 cents...

I was banded in 2008 and used to come to this forum a lot (under a different account, which I can't remember!). At the time I was really gung-ho. I was so excited for my tool and it was working well. I was a "rules follower" and was losing a fantastic amount of weight. I loved my band! 

But all around me the forums were filling with negative people who were saying they were having problems. I was a little judgmental and assumed that those people must not be following the guidelines. That somehow it was thier own fault for the band slipping, eroding or whatever the issues were...until it happened to me, of course!!

The only thing I did "wrong" was to wait too long to get unfilled when I would inexplicably be so tight that I couldn't keep anything down. But I was a teacher and it was very hard to take a day off every time my band fluctuated and acted up. It got to the point that I vomited everything. Sometimes even water. Reflux was constant. It hurt. I was still losing weight but for all of the wrong reasons.

I know that when things are going well or you are excited about your surgery, the last thing you want is to hear other people's horror stories. It's not comforting and it certainly made me really angry when I was newly banded. But now that I have revised to the RNY, I realize what a hard path the band was, for no good reason. 

I wish you all the best in your journey to choose the right surgery, and hope you find a supportive community, in whatever you pick!

OMG 

please please please do your home work. I have a band and am booked for surgery Jan 25 to get a revision 

I will remove the band and Do an RNY 

the band has been a horror. Ask any surgeon they hate the band go with the sleeve or RNY 

you can check all sites on this forum and they will tell you the majority hate it. 

Surgeons and specialist will tell you for long term success the band does not work here are the stats on the New England journal of medicine 

lap band 47.2 %

sleeve 89.5%

RNY 98.4%

for long term success 

now some love it but I will tell you first is to do your home work 

see what the surgeons like 

my surgeon who is doing my surgery states it's not worth the money  the plastic is made  from. He just hates it. 

All it did was cost me a lot of money for nothing. 

Just do your research first 

good luck 

simon

My husband and I departed WI for SC last Sunday. We were coming down to Charleston to visit our son. The trip started out nicely. We were excited for our road trip and the holidays. We had traveled for about 5 hours and then stopped at a gas station. I hopped out of our truck and accidentally kicked a water bottle to the ground, so I bent over to pick it up. I felt the familiar twinge in my left shoulder. Crap, crap, crap. Not again. I had my band out in 2005, for crying out loud. Just bending over to pick something up shouldn't ruin my life. But when your band damages your Vagus nerves and diaphragm, you just never know when you're going to feel like **** out of the blue... just from moving "wrong."

I spent several hours sneezing violently while having tremendous left shoulder pain. I was bawling my head off by the time we stopped for the night. We had planned to travel several more hours, but I simply couldn't do it. Sooo, once again, in spite of having had the band removed over a decade ago, it still managed to affect my life adversely.

There's no pill to take, there's no medical intervention. You can't "fix" the diaphragm and there's simply nothing that can be done, so if you get a band, be aware of the LONG LONG LONG term consequences. "We'll just remove it!" Yeah, right. This whole week has been very painful... all because I opted for the "less invasive, removable" lap band in 2003. I cannot say it any other way... the band truly was the worst decision I EVER made and I don't wish this on anyone.