Hating my band afraid of gastric bypass

I can't recommend it either.  Not given what I went through.  When I returned to school, I had two folks ask me if I would recommend it.  I said I couldn't...I just couldn't.

Hey Stranger!

How are things going with you?  THe revision is not doing well with you?  I miss you on the lap board.  I really don't go on much, but I do look every once in a while.  I am at a 65 lb. halt after 1 1/2 years with this band.  My band is just about at the point where I cannot have anymore fills and I really feel I do not have proper restriction!  How's that for sucky.  ANyway, hope all is well with you.

Kim

OMG...Miss Gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!  How are you?????  I'm fine and no, the revision isn't doing much!  lol  I don't follow the rules so I have no one to blame but myself!  I will say I wish I'd gone ahead and had the DS.  This is silly....$15,000 for less than 20 lbs.  I need super-duper restriction and fear of getting food stuck OR I need major malabsorption!  lol  I guess I'm doomed to be a food junkie!  I just love to cook and eat!  Oh well!  There ARE worse things!  I will say I am not at 275 any more!  I am at 210.  So, 65 lbs here too...and I'm okay with that!  You're still so beautiful!  

PEG,
IF I WAS YOU I'D PERSONALLY GET THE VERTICAL SLEEVE GASTRECTOMY!!!!!!  DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!!!!! THE CHOICE HAS TO BE THE RIGHT ONE FOR YOU! I JUST HATE TO SEE PEOPLE MAKE ANOTHER WLS MISTAKE..  IF U ARE SCARED OF MALABSORBTION WHY WOULD YOU GET THE DS..CAUSE IT DEFNTLY...HAS MALABSORBTION PROPERTIES..LIKE THE RNY..I WILL BE GETTING THE SLEEVE..I STARTED OUT WANTING THE BAND UNTIL I STARTED READING MORE ABOUT THE VSG..AND THE PROBLEMS WITH THE BAND..PLUS I DIDNT WANT TO BABYSIT MY BAND ..HAVING ALL THOSE FILLS N SUCH...I AM AFRAID OF THE RNY AS WELL..I'M NOT GETTING NOTHING BUT THE VSG....I HAD TO CONVINCE MY DC TO DO IT..THE VSG IS WHATS HOT RIGHT NOW!! MANY DON'T GET IT BECAUSE THE INS CO. DON'T LIKE TO PAY FOR IT.. BUT MANY SEF-PAY EVEN WHEN THE INS CO WILL PAY FOR THE RNY OR BAND..CUZ THE VSG IS THE BEST..FOR ALOT MORE REASONS THAN ONE. READ ABOUT IT..THE VSG SPEAKS FOR ITSELF... I WAS WILLING TO WALK AWAY FROM WLS IF MY DOCTOR WOULDNT DO THE VSG..I AM NOT INTERESTED IN N.O.T.H.I.N.G ELSE BUT THE VSG...PERIOD...AND I FOUGHT TO HAVE IT DONE..(HAVING IT DONE THIS FALL)

I AM GOING TO FORWARD YOU AN EMAIL FROM A FELLOW VSGER ON OH WHO IS ALSO A OH STAFF MEMBER..AND LOST 100% OF HER WEIGHT WITH THE VSG..THIS EMAIL WILL HELP YOU SEE THE PROS OF VSG...

I HOPE IT HELPS...GOOD LUCK..
SONJA

My heart goes out to anyone who has had complications or problems with WLS.  I guess there always are people who will have to battle this (I guess you are special and I mean it in a kind way).  Have you checked out the Verticle Sleeve Gastrectomy?  The stomach is reduced and removed.  There is no dumping or re arranging of any internal organs.  One bariatric surgeon told me the stomach is cut in a way to reduce stretching.  I have a friend who has had it and is doing very well.  If my band failed and I never take my success one day for granted, I would consider the VSG.  Although I don't like the idea of anything being disected.  I hope everything works out for you.

Peg,

Please check out the DS forum, there are quite a few over there revised from lap band.

I had lapband in 2000 lost 60kgs(120+ lbs) and then gained 30 of it back, I was so disheartened. I couldn't bear the thought of gaining it all back again. I was revised to DS in August 2004 and even though I had a few complications, it was the best thing I have ever done. I have now lost a total of 80kgs(160+lbs) from my highest weight, and I maintain with ease.

Ds'ers don't dump, I have to be a little  careful with white flour products (I'm a white bread girl) and lettuce because it can cause me to have gas, but since I started taking Floramax pro-biotics, that has totally resolved itself. Yes, I have to be diligent with my vitamins and minerals but so do RNY'ers.

 I wish you well in your search for health and happiness.

Hi, I had the band in 2004. Loved it at first, lost weight, all was great.  It slipped out of place after I got pregnant.  Gained it all back.  I lived with it misplaced for 2 1/2 years.  I was revised to RNY in January 2008.  Life over here is WONDERFUL!!!   

I find it's easier to eat with the bypass than with the band.  With the band, things got "stuck" and the "sliming" and puking all the time.  It was really bad for me.  Now, I have it a lot easier.  Dumping is HORRIBLE! But, you learn what to and not to eat and eventually find the balance.  I can eat a bite of this or that, or maybe even two bites, but not three because then it will make me dump.  You gradually learn your body, your pouch.  Everyone is different.  People dump on different things.  Some people outgrow dumping.  You truly will not know how you will do until you have it done.

I just wanted to let you know, after four miserable years with the band, I Love my RNY.  Like you I was scared of RNY at first - hence the reason for the band - but I truly wish now that I hadn't wasted four years of my life with the band.  Staying morbidly obese is scarier to me than the bypass.  It really is a great tool. 

Good luck with your decision.

Kim

 

Just curious after your band slipped did your surgeon not reposition it properly?  Glad you are lovin your RNY.

I've had a band for nearly 7 years, it no longer functions and I'm trying to get a DS.  I too got the band because I was afraid of the RNY, and I'm still glad that that I didn't get the RNY, I do not want to deal with the dumping, having a blind stomach, dealing with the stoma enlarging, staple line disruption, and having my pyloric valve atrophy.  I know people aren't going to like this but in my opinion the RNY is old technolgy, the DS is the new, and I believe that eventually that the DS  is  going to replace the RNY as the 'Gold Standard'.  Read this board, see all the RNY folks regaining and seeking revisions, do your homework, and make the best decision for you.  Check out the DS forum for more information, and good luck. 

Hi again, Peg!

It has been a great learning experience for me to read all the responses you got.  I think they all reiterate the bottom line, and that is that the band, the RNY, the DS etc. are only TOOLS (as one of your responses so eloquenly  said it much better than I could).

I did want to put my two cents worth in for one thing, though.  Please do not think that RNYers don't also puke with the "sliming" - a lot of us do.  Many of us constantly have trouble with food getting stuck.  Some don't.  A lot of us dump.  Some don't.  You won't know which one you will be until you have it done.  Also, there are many foods that most RNYers can no longer eat because they have trouble with it.  For me, it was bread, rice, meats, veggies with skin (peas, corn), pasta.....     I can only eat foods that are "moist" - for example, beef in a stew would be fine, but roast beef would make me "slime".  I have one RNY friend who can eat ANYTHING and drink alcohol.  It all depends upon you, AND the size of the pouch you get.  My pouch was on one half of an ounce.  Some are one and a half ounces.  These are all variables.

The bottom line is to first see if you can get your band to work for you.  If it absolutely can and will not work, then please do your research.  This website is wonderful in that you can chat to everybody and between us we have done just about everything!!

Don't despair, Peg.  The very fact that you are considering revisions and writing in shows that you are a fighter.  Keep on fighting until you win!

Good luck and keep us posted on your thoughts, etc!

Zena