THE DEATH RATE TO ME WAS NOT AS HIGH. AND IF I HAD TO DO IT AGAIN I WOULD WITH MY EYES CLOSE. IN A HEART BEAT. I NEVER HAD PAIN.AFTER I HAD MY SURGERYAND OPEN MY EYES I COULD HAVE CAME HOME. I'M SO HAPPY I HAD THE VBG BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE TO GO BACK FOR FILLS. I REALY LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE IT (SMILE). ROBIN

My insurance would not cover lapband because they still consider it experimental. As I understand it there has been good success in Europe, but not as well here. I know someone that got the lapband in November and by January had only lost 10 pounds because they were able to eat a lot. There were additional fills done and she was starting to feel like it was working like it should. I had VBG and don't regret it for a minute. No matter what you choose though please know it is a personal discipline and if you don't exercise (I walk) you won't have as good of success no matter what you do. Best of luck with your decision. Natalie 281/194/140/125

Hi Judy, The first thing u need to do is turn that frown upside down!!! And instead of saying u only lost 8 pounds in 3 weeks start saying I lost 8 pounds in only 3 weeks!!! Your body is still in shock from the surgery and it takes a while for your body to realize it needs to start burning stored fat as fuel. Don't worry though you will lose weight. I know it may seem frustrated, but stressing about it won't help. In fact there are some studies that say stress can stall weightloss. Just stay positive and it will happen Hugs, Sara 356/275/175

Since I posted this thread, I've decided to go with the DS. I haven't heard anywhere where it was band. I've visited this site constantly for about 2 months now and I haven't come across it. And the DS and RNY side effects are greatly different. There's no dumping with the DS and the less chance for ulcers. DS post-ops can also eat 'normally' and drink with their meal. The only difference is that there are more BM than with the RNY because there is no dumping or throwing up. Also, there's a less chance of gaining a great amount of weight back witht he DS. And I've thought of the Lap Band for about 2 minutes...I just don't like having a foreign object (especially with silicone) in my body. With the chances of it being embedded and causing irritation, I decided against it. Also, I don't like the idea of going to have fills/unfills...someone even said it was about $300 per fill/unfill. Thanks for everyone's input...it's greatly appreciated!!

I so totally agree w/ you. I don't like things to be sugar coated either. I want to hear the facts. I too, am researching WLS. At 1st I had really, really wanted the rny, but it just seems to invasive, and not only that but, I just had a surgical procedure done last week and I had happend to be talking to the nurses that were attending me, which I may add they were all overweight too, and I do mean overweight. I had told them I am thinking about the rny and they all which were 3-4 of them all told me not to do it. It is to invasive, and it's very dangerous. They told me that people die from that surgery. Now I live in Boston. And I remeber when there was 2 deaths reported in Boston last year and like 1 or 2 in New England. They said like 13 people died alone from the surgery since the year(2005) has started, they just go unreported. They told me that alot of hospitals are starting to ban the surgery because it's too much of a liabilty. Ever since they told me that, I have went back and redoing more research on it and they were right, I noticed that there less at least 1/3 less hospitals doing the surgery now than before. They had incouraged me, if I were to consider wls to think about lapband because it does nothing to you anatomically, they don't remove, change or cut anything from your body. So after doing careful research I am now reading how much better the band could be. Of course ultimately it is your decision on what type of surgery you have. Go to each forum and check people's responses. Post your own set of questions, I have, That is how I ended up in this forum (vgb). I am doing so much research it isnt even funny. Research all of the types. Post questions on each forum and then make your determination. I think that I am almost ready on making my decision to which kind of surgical procedure I am going to get. Lez