if have to restrain myself then lap band doesn't work?

i had a roux n y 12 years ago and lost 130 pounds. a few years ago i ended up in a wheelchair and regained a lot of weight. now i am considering a lap band surgery.

here on the forum i read of people who had lap bands but still don't feel full or satisfied and can't stop eating. they have to restrict their food intake just like they would have done if they didin't have  a lap band.

so ... what's up with that?  does the lap band not work? why don't they fill full?  why have a restrictive lap band put on if i have to restrict my portions to lose weight on my own. Where does the lap band come into that?

for those of you who had gastric bypass surgery and had a second one, what kind was it? A lap band? vertical sleeve? What?

would appreciate answers. help me in making a decision for myself.

Hi,

Revision from lapband to sleeve here. Spent 5 years banded and I was successful losing 155 pounds and then the complications began. Find out why you regained because that is the key to figuring out whihch surgery would e best for you. If it were technical failure vs compliance, a lapband might not be a good choice for you since it requires a lot of post op maintenance, band adjustments/fills and although it is adjuestable andreversible may not be the right choice. Is DS a possibility for you? I have the VSG, but this is solely restrictive and also requires more diligence and compliance from a food intake perspective than a malabsorptive procedure.

Babs

I would never get a band again unless I had bypass and got a band over the bypassed pouch.  Bypass folks don't seem to have the problems that non bypassed folks have with a band.  It must be due to the change in anatomy that the band works better.

The weight loss is slower but it does come off if you do your part.

It was encouraging for me to read your post because I am in a holding pattern waiting to see if I win my appeal.  I'm really hoping that  (since I had stomach stapling in 1982,) a band works out for me.  I've read posts from other "band over bypass" folks and they seem to do ok so far.  It would be interesting if some of them would post so we could see how they're doing.

Ohhh, did you have VBG?  One of the many problems with that procedure is that they used a mesh band.  It's still something used today (not for stomachs for muscles and such).  If you tear a muscle severely and it needs surgical repair they stitch it and then sometimes they will place a mesh material around it.  The muscle grows around the mesh.  They used this for stomach way back when.  You can't really remove it, it's there forever so sleeves are typically not an option but an adjustable band is.  Due to the mesh band they can't do a sleeve because of the staple line, there is too great of a risk for a leak.

A band is a good option in those cases.

You know, I had "stomach stapling" before there was any animal called "bariatrics" so I honestly don't know what he actually did.  This was a general surgeon and I was in my early 20's and not a nurse at the time.  I have no records because it has been too long, so I kind of have to piece things together with what he told me at the time.  I don't even know if he is still alive.  I was told that he stapled off the top 1/4 of my stomach and re-attached the intestine to the new working part of the stomach.  When I regained all my weight back within a couple of years, I just felt like I was a failure and lived like this until today.  Actually, when I regained, it was still before bariatrics had really developed.  I don't ever remember anything about mesh.  My UGI shows a very intact but "mildly dilated pouch" after all these years.  It would probably have been better for me if I had had a malfunction/ staple line disruption etc.

I am hoping that if my appeal is approved I will get a band and finally succeed.

Yep, sounds exactly like the procedure I was referring to.  If you have a pouch you have something securing that pouch and at that time they used the mesh.  The band is really the only option you have now that is safe.   A staple line for a sleeve is not secure, you get about a 50% chance of a leak if I understand it correctly.

You just need to make sure you find a VERY good revision surgeon.  Someone who has done these before.  You can find surgeons that specialize in revising the molina band.  If you can find one of those guys, you have your surgeon.  Anyone that can undo the damage of a Molina band walks on water. ;o)

What is a molina band?  Don't really know for sure exactly what I have in there.  I'm planning on having the band put in by Scott Shikora at Tufts, once my appeal is settled.

It was a band made by a Dr. Molina that was semi-effective at the time but the long term problems are a bit of a nightmare.

I've heard good things about Shikora, I don't have any personal experience with him but I've heard good things.

It's ALWAYS a good thing to hear good things about your MD...Thank you for that!!!