LoriOK2018

I had the band put in back in 2008. I spent a miserable five years. I was banded at 263, and didn't lose more than 15 pounds. I could eat a teeny piece of scrambled egg, have it get stuck, and spend the day sliming until it would finally get unstuck 12 or 14 hours later. I ended up developing a wicked sweet tooth. I couldn't eat healthy food, so I started eating slider foods- stuff that would go down easily. I sank into a deep depression, because seriously- I went to the extreme of having weight loss surgery and was STILL a failure!
I gained back the fifteen pounds that I lost, and i had it removed in 2012. I ended up maintaining my weight for a few years, then hit age 40 and ballooned up to 305. Last year I stumbled back onto WLS sites, and that's when I discovered that it wasn't ME who was a failure- it was the band. I couldn't believe how many other people had stories just like mine. I literally read hundreds of stories where people suffered just like me.
I was sleeved two weeks ago, and already I can see a huge difference. I could go on and on. My only regret is not doing this earlier. And I wish I had discovered earlier that I wasn't the only person having trouble with the band. The mental anguish was almost as bad as the physical discomfort.

I would do the sleeve I did and don't regret I hour or minute of the benefits

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I initially wanted the band because it's reversible and seems less scary than having part of my stomach removed. However, my surgeon talked me out of it. He said he barely does a handful a year and that he spends lots of time doing band revisions and removals. Apparently, a lot of people have had to change from the band to the sleeve. There are a lot of complications like band slippage. With the sleeve, you also don't have to get adjustments or worry about as many follow up appointments. Also, it can restrict your ability to eat healthy foods like raw vegetables and chicken, but then things like ice cream slide very easily down. For me, the main thing that freaked me out was having this foreign object in my body. I read on the internet about people who can see or feel their port through their skin and I didn't like the idea. I think you should talk to your surgeon and do as much research as possible. My surgeon did say that for someone with a lot of weight to lose, the sleeve is better. However, if you don't have much weight to lose then maybe the band could be for you (or you might consider the laparoscopic balloon or another alternative).

I had the band for two years and lost very little weight. Just as the first person posted, I would be in terrible pain if I ate raw vegetables or any chicken that wasn't drenched in gravy. It was horribly painful when food got stuck. I would get a copious amount of saliva filling my mouth and I would have to spit or throw up. Eventually, I gained 30 pounds on the band and decided I'd had enough and had it removed. I'm very happy I went with a different WLS. The band was a complete waste of time and money. I also originally thought it would be the best procedure for me because it was the least invasive, but I needed a different procedure that gave me more restriction and curbed the hunger, two things the band did not deliver on. I'm very happy with my duodenal switch.

I ruled out the lapband for a couple of reasons
high maintenance requiring routines fills, it take a bit to "dial in" the right amount i didn't like the idea of a foreign object, risk of slippage and deterioration. older procedure; I choose the sleeve because
provides restriction to promote weigh loss hormonal change with removal of stomach (I believe this will be key for long term success.) low maintenance - this will become my new normal and I won't have to constantly managing the tool As with all surgery, regain is possible if you don't follow the rules of the tool. People regain with band, sleeve, and bypass. All depends on making lifelong changes. I'm only a few months out so I can't speak from personal experience long term. For me, the sleeve was the best option.
Good luck on your research.

Although many people have had success with the band, it is falling out of favor in the context that many surgeons remove more of them than they insert these days.
The band is falling out of favor due to insufficient weight loss. It works due to restriction alone, but doesn't address the hormonal contributors to obesity (e.g. ghrelin, peptide yy, insulin, leptin).
Thus, many people with bands still have raging hunger. They learn to eat around the band. Therefore, keeping the weight off is an uphill battle (if they ever get to goal in the first place).
The sleeve addresses hunger via removal of the portion of the stomach (greater curvature) that produces ghrelin. Once you awaken from a sleeve gastrectomy, your sensations of hunger and thirst are diminished.
Really, if your insurance has an allowance for only one bariatric procedure in a lifetime, you should be deciding between the sleeve and the bypass. At 271 pounds, your chances of getting to your goal weight of 140 pounds with a lap band are virtually zero.
The sleeve addressed my insatiable hunger. I am 2.5 years out, lost 100+ pounds, reached my goal weight, and maintain it almost effortlessly. I know I still would've been hungry with a band.
Good luck to you.

I can only tell you my story and I have had both. The band for me was AWFUL. AWFUL! I can't believe I lived with it for 5 years. I had port pain for 5 years it never went away. Sure sometimes I couldn't feel it but many many times years later at night I could feel it and it was sore. The other nightmare about the band is that if you eat one bite of something that doesn't go thru you are in trouble. So for example an innocent piece of broccoli? You experience pain and being to slime and can only hope it will come back up. This happened to me at restaurants, people's houses, during birthday dinners with my family. I missed so much in the bathroom praying that little piece of whatever would come up. It's not if you overeat it's if it goes down wrong. Slider foods? Have fun with that bc you can drink a mcdonalds shake and eat crackers or Cookies and you can eat a lot of them. Lastly I never lost any weight. Maybe 20lbs in the beginning. But that's it! You can eat slider foods so much more easily with the band and you probably will if you have the experiences I did with the healthier foods not going down. If it was choice for me to eat crackers that were guaranteed to not give me a problem I would choose that over a salad with chicken because who needs that kind of work?

Fast forward 5 years and I finally revised to a sleeve in January. My only regret is that I didn't start here and wasted so much time suffering with the band. I'm down 100 lbs in a size 10 jeans and I feel amazing. I can eat small amounts of whatever I want however I have become a much healthier eater. For example we are tailgating tomorrow and I made a ton of food today and a huge veggie tray that I will munch on. With the band I would have planned on chips and salsa so I didn't end up in the bathroom for the entire game.

As far as keeping the weight off no tool will do that for you. This is a long and difficult journey. My weight loss is slowing down now dramatically and I have to start thinking about maintenance and it's scary. However the past 9 months have been preparing me and I feel optimistic that I will be able to continue eating healthy and since I am unable to binge on anything I really think I'm gonna make it.

I know there are some people that have been successful with the band and maybe they will tell you differently that it works and go for it but it absolutely did not work for me it worked against me. The sleeve is a dream and I'm so so so happy I did it! Good luck!


Band to sleeve revision surgery 1/16/17
HW: 283
CW: 183
GW: 160