ekane

id love to be able to pick my own doctor which is a real pain with insurance. my mother however has personal choice i think so she can go wherever. i live outside philadelphia and i was considering going to dr christine ren in ny (2 hours away) with my mother. it seems like she has a lot of experience in lap band vs a lot of the other doctors who focus more on the bypass. i think id feel safer with her, especially for my mom who has really high blood pressure and a lot more weight to lose. ill run it by her and maybe make an appointment. thanks eve

this is my first post here but i started looking at the lap band about 2 years ago. i know most of you are glad you did it, but i just wonder if its really worth it for me. i know it takes a lot of hard work to actually lose the weight even with the band but....i just cant help but thinking that if i have to put so much work into it, wouldnt i lose it on my own with that much work?????? i guess my real question is...how much is the band and how much is you??? and possibly, how much is mental??? for example, i know that atkins really works for me, but every year i manage to fall off it for a few months, gain half the weight back, and then i start over. its a vicious cycle but at least its cheap and painless!! i cant even imagine if i paid thousands of dollars, went through the surgery, the pain and risks associated with it, likely pain afterwards with the pbing and stuff, possible complications, etc and THEN screwed myself up b/c of lack of discipline!!! that would REALLY suck. god, if i feel like a failure now, i cant fathom the feeling i would have if i actually had WLS and failed!!!! anyway, i hope you can make sense of this post and offer any insight and opinions. thanks eve

thanks again for the advice. i am still nervous about this decision but what do you guys suggest i do next?? make an appt with a doctor or what? i am not too worried about insurance bc, if this will help me, i am willing to pay myself (of course insurance would be nice). i will tell you that the reason i started thinking about getting banded again was bc of my mother saying that she is probably going to get bypass surgery and our doctor supports it. i told her to look into the lap band and i wanted to get some solid information to support it. she thinks they are going to convince her to do the bypass. where can i point her to weigh her options??? (she has a lot of weight to lose and i am worried about the mortality rate with the bypass). thanks eve

well i just want to thank everyone for taking the time to reply. i know i am extra nervous about this because i have never had any type of surgery before. it scares the hell out of me. but id be willing to do it if it will work. thats where the struggle comes. i have really low self esteem so i feel like there is a good chance i will fail at this too. but hearing what some of you have said, that the band really DOES do a lot of the job, it sure helps. thanks again eve (i am going to go read that thread zoe suggested right now)

well thanks to all of you for your opinions on this. i need to lose a lot of weight. i started atkins a year and a half ago at 320 pounds, lost 30 pounds the first 3 months. after that i sort of yoyoed back and forth and eventually got to about 270. however NOW i am probably around 285-290 again. its such a vicious cycle...i gain some weight back, feel depressed, eat more, gain MORE weight, feel more depressed, eat even MORE....and so on.... i dont really have any other health problems, YET. at this weight, i know thats only a matter of time though. i really need to do something ASAP b/c i want to be able to live normally. i dont need to be skinny. i would be perfectly happy at 175. i want to be comfortable. i used to weigh 210 and of course i thought i was a huge porker at the time (i wore a size 12-14). i went from 210 to 300 in about a year and a half. its as if i woke up one morning and was HUGE. i literally would walk by store windows and do a double take like, "who the hell IS that??" i just want the embarrassment of being overweight to go away. i feel like i have to hide in society, i hate going out at all anymore. i am sure we all have our embarrassing stories but this one had me swallowing back tears at the time. my husband and i went to dinner with his brother and his wife, and another man that works with the guys. well, as they are serving the food, (my sister in law and i were the only 2 left without plates) the waiter hands his helper a dish and says, "this is for the pretty one." i just wanted to evaporate right there. my husband deserves to have a pretty wife too!!!! i know he sees me that way, but....well....you all know what i mean i am sure. anyway, thanks again to all of you for your responses (and thanks for letting me vent). i guess you can tell that i am pretty desperate to do something, but also pretty scared. eve