i all!  Ok, I'm not new to the website but I am new to this forum.  Recently I posted on the main boards that I planned to get the lap band procedure and I was told to check out the other boards so that's what I am doing.  I'm hearing that the lap band does not have the success rate that I was led to believe, and that RNY or one of the other surgeries may be the best option.

Originally, the reason I chose the band is that it seemed so much safer then having my insides rerouted.  So I guess I am asking for opinions on here- did you feel safe going into this surgery?  Why or why not?  I read the odds of dying on the operating table are 1 in 200 (although my surgeon said that the stats for my hospital- which is a center of excellence in Bariatrics- is 1 in 600.)

I'm nervous about RNY.  Can anyone point me to a source or share anything that might lesson my fears?

How long is the recovery for this surgery?  How many days in the hospital usually?  

I chose lap band originally.  I had the lap band January 2009.  I wanted the band because it was less invasive.  I read the complications, thought I understood the complications.  I was a good bandster, ate right exercised 4-5 days/week.  I was like there is nothing band going to happen because I am a good bandster.

I was faithful with my fills.  I would either have no restriction or not enough restriction.  It takes months to get to restriction and some people never get to restriction so you are hungry all the time. 

I had problems with the band causing pain around my stomach and intestines.  I had major heart burn, even with no fills.  Everyone on the lap band forum said it was because I was too tight so we did a complete unfill and still major heartburn.

The band can slip, it can errode into your stomach and cause major damage to the stomach.
I did not have this problem but it can happen.

Some people lose really good with the band, others like me only lose a little.  I lost 54 pounds with the band.  Typically band patients only lose 60% of the weight they need to lose.  Some of the old timers on the board like Kate and Jean will say it is possible to lose all of your weight.  But understand that everybody is different.  I see people on the board who some only lost 30-40 pounds and others who have lost 200. 

I had a revision to RNY in October 2010. and love the RNY.  I have lost weight like I was hoping I would lose with the band.  Yes my intestines are re routed but I am healthier than I have been since I was 18 and I am 39 this year. 

Anything but the band!

I agree with the others run away from the band as fast as you can! I've had hardly any success with mine, just can't get the right restriction. My surgeon's office tries to get people to go with the VSG rather than the band now because 20% can't get a decent restriction level and have to revise to a different surgery. Seems to me 20% is an awful lot of people with useless bands, so I would suggest anything other than the band.

Please research all your options. The bands are thee absolute worst. Sure you will hear success stories, but there are much more failures and horror stories of infections and dietery complications.

Being that I paid a terrible price from not preserving the pyorus, I have very strong opinions against gastric bypass. I think the duodenal switch (DS) and vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) are the best options.

I had a band installed 5/08 because I had a change in medical condition 13 day before I was scheduled for RnY.  I was told I might have Lupus and my original doctor did not do a by-pass on clients with Lupus due to a very high percent of problems.  A sleeve or any other WLS was not covered by my insurance at the time.

I started at 286 day of surgery with the band.  The lowest I got was 249 after being very ill with band.  The band was in the right place, but my stomach would move around.  I should never been banded with my auto-immune diseases, including connective tissue disease.  At the time I was banded there was no contraindications about the connective tissue diseases, but about 3 to 4 weeks later I started to see information showing I should never been banded.  My doctor knew of my health problems.  The "normal" weight I had with the band was 265.


I had 19 months of hell- chronic pain in the upper left quadrant of my abdomen. I could never get a good fill.  I would go and get 0.25 cc added in a 10 cc band and then have to come back and get part removed.  My doctor normal fill was 2 cc at a time.  It go so bad at the end, even total unfill (an ER visit) I still could not eat anything.  I was having problems just getting water down.  When the band was removed, I did see an improvement in my problems, but I still had some.  I found out why when I had the sleeve done in Jan this year.  My other doctor did not remove all of the tubing.

At three months out, I have lost past were my weight was with the band.  I am so happy with my sleeve!  I was able to get off of crutches after being on them more than a year.  I am able to walk around with a lot less pain (OK, the ankle I had surgery on in Dec 09 is still giving some problems).  I am able to eat a wide variety of foods, nothing get stuck in my band!  With the Sleeve you still have both the upper and lower valve of the stomach, so there is less chance of dumping.  If needed for my arthritis I could take drugs that I could not take with a RnY.

I too like everyone else who has responded had the band. I received it in March of 2010 with high hopes and like many followed everything I was supposed to do. Almost from the start I had issues with my port which hurt whenever I moved.  They did several tests on me to see what could be causing the pain which required me to be on hydrocodone due to the severety of the pain.  They could never find what was causing my pain and chalked it up to being in my head  OR  having sewn the port too close to a nerve. I was in the process of having the port moved when all of a sudden I woke up one morning and had green pus gushing out of my chest!! Well somehow during  a "fill" they had given me a Staph infection that was so severe the only recourse was to remove the band entirely! I had only had it for 5 months!! Needless to say I was very angry and upset about this. I had lost 50 lbs. Flash forward nearly a year later, I have gained all the weight I lost and then some, and FINALLY am in the process of having RNY to begin losing weight again. I would NEVER recommend the band to anyone I knew! Bless my surgeon at the time he tried talking me out of the band and me being an idiot didnt listen. Well I am certainly listening now.

Don't do the band!

I just had a revision on April 12th from the band to the sleeve.  It so nice to have that crap band gone!  I could never wear pants with a band because my port would hurt and most days all I did that throw up what food I ate...some days I could not even swallow my own spit.

Please don't have the band put in!

I too had the band. It was placed in 09/2008  and I did fine for 6 mns, then it slipped and I have been living with misery *the band* every since. I am now awaiting my revision surgery next month. I also have a sister-in-law, who happens to be a little over a yr out from her band and has lost 75 pounds, but she now is having problems with her band. I would not recommend the band for anyone. All it did was teach me horrible eating habits because healthy nutritious foods get stuck in the stoma and will cause pain and vomiting for days! You end up eating "crap" because it doesn't cause pain or get stuck. It was one of the worst decisions I've ever made having the band placed!! I personally am going to revise to the VSG !  Good Luck!

 I'm having my band removed tomorrow.  It has been absolute hell this last month. I wake up choking on acid and coughing. Here's my band story in a nutshell:

3/8: got the band
5/8: first fill  to 3.5 out of 10 and it was too tight, I couldn't get to the mushie stage.  Unfilled to 3.0
~ 2 years of great weight loss
9/10: Down almost 80lbs but all of a sudden the band was too tight for even water.  Went to ER for an emergency unfill because I was out of town and they WOULD NOT TOUCH THE BAND.  How bad is it that an ER will not do an emergency unfill.  I searched and found a medical college that would do it after MAJOR amounts of phone calls from my normal doc in my home town.
10/10: upper GI showed major restriction with an OPEN band.  I was stuck with solids one or two days a week and mushies and liquids the rest.  At times liquids wouldn't even go down and I did stay dehydrated.  
12/10 No sign of improvement so I started the process for revision
1/11: Scope shows that my band had slipped.  I start getting acid QUITE A BIT.
411-now:  Can barely take in solids at all.  I can tolerate mushies well in small quantities, but I am limited to taking them before 6PM.  Liquids I can handle in moderation.  I can sleep about 3 nights a week and the rest I only sleep for about 20 minuted before I wake up choking on acid.  The past couple of nights when I wake up choking on acid I make myself puke up all the acid.  I know this is bad for the band, but it is coming out and I need the sleep.



My advice.... AVOID THE BAND.... run from it.   It can ONLY be opened so far.  Once it is as open as it goes, you are stuck till it gets removed.  Living with a slipped band is hellish.

Oh, and all surgeries can have complications.  Be careful, read up on them, and make the best choice.

I wish you tons of luck and success.