Asking a WLS Graduate that has experience with Lap Band please

No, it is not as effective on average - the RNY has a better weight loss/weight maintenance average. The most effective WLS btw, is the DS, but if you are truly *terrified* about the complication & mortality rates of surgery, then you may not be ready for WLS at all. Initially, the Lap Band is the safest because they are not cutting into the digestive tract at all. However, there are post-op complications that can occur which as just as risky/dangerous as those that occur with other WLS - such as the band slipping or embedding itself into other internal organs. Lap Band works best for people whose obesity is a result of eating primarily healthy foods in too large of a quantity. If this is you, then the Lap Band may work well for you. If, however, you are a grazer or a sweet eater, then it is fairly easy to eat around the band. After all, ice cream & soda melt and will slip right through while meat, vegetables and fibers will fill it up. If you believe your obesity is partially genetic and/or related to a slow metabolism, then you want a surgery with a malabsorptive factor, such as the gastric bypass (RNY) or the duodenal switch. For more info on the band (and to find happy banders), try posting on the Lap Band board as well. --BT

Of course I'm an RNYer and at 18 months I'm only 1.6 lbs away from goal so I'm probably biased. It all depends on you and how willing you are to do what you need to do. There've been some lapbanders that have lost their weight but it seems to me that many don't lose that much and either regain the weight or switch to another type of surgery. I personally know someone that had the lapband and she lost 25 lbs before her surgery and maybe lost another 25....it's almost a year out for her. With the lapband, she can still eat everything she could before just less of it. But she can eat more often. I chose RNY because I needed something that would make me sick if I ate something that I shouldn't. That really helped me cut sugary stuff out of my diet and it taught me to eat slowly, chew well and choose healthy. The RNY has some malabsorption which works well for me, Lapbanders don't have any malaborption. That being said, I also personally know of someone that has had RNY many years ago and he didn't follow the program and has gained all his weight back and maybe more. He now has many major medical problems (hernias, etc.) because of it. Just make sure that whatever surgery you choose that you are willing to make the effort to make it work. Otherwise you might as well spend you money on something else.

Hi Darla, I'm not a WLS graduate but I AM a Lap Band graduate. I was banded in April 2005 and spent the next 16 months dealing with leaks in the tubing and port, port replacement surgery, slips, severe reflux and various other complications. Granted none of these were life threatening but my weight loss after 16 months was 11 pounds. I ended up totally unfilled, changed doctors and tried to get my band replaced because it was suspected that the original band may have been too large for my anatomy and was possibly the reason that my band had slipped so easily. Insurance WOULD NOT PAY to replace the band because I had lost enough.....11 POUNDS.... that I was no longer a BMI of 40. I was absolutely in shock that they paid all of that money for a piece of equipment that they would not pay to maintain if the equipment worked properly for a short period of time. 3 weeks later I had gained the 11 pounds back (best 3 weeks of my life! LOLOL!!) and went for the RNY because I did not want to risk going through all of those issues again. What if I had lost 100 pounds?? I would have had to gain the 100 pounds back to qualify to replace a faulty band. I had my RNY on September 22, 2006 and am soooo sorry that I did not do this surgery first. I have lost more in 7 weeks than I did in 16 months with the band and I don't have to go for fills and they can't deny fixing a problem if I have lost weight. I know several people that have had great success with the band and I applaud them. My story is the exception I would say and not the rule but is an example of what CAN happen. Besides the faster weight loss I can also tell you that I feel FULL with the RNY and I never felt satisfied with the band. I only felt pain if I had eaten too much or too fast. Feel free to email me any time or read my profile. Blessings, Crystal