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Yes, I had to go through another three months hoop jumping before they would do bypass, even though they approved to have the band out. But somewhat happy it was done this way, because of the complications from scar tissue caused by the band. I'm sorry you had to go through this, I was informed prior to having my band out, so started jumping through the hoops so ended up only waiting ten weeks. Haven't had a single problem, yet. It will be 2 months the 11th since surgery. By the way I'm not under the Federal Program, but close, Medicare.

i havent yet decided whether or not i want to have the lap band surgery done. i've talked with someone close to me who has had the surgery and she doesnt reccomend me getting it.so im unsure. she said she works with 10 people who have had the surgery done and they all havent had good luck with it. i dont know if its the hospital they went to to have it done or what. so i guess im lookin for opinions on what everyone thinks about their own surgery. successes and complications. :cursing:

thanks for the quick reply Pat. I am so happy to hear that soft foods won't damage band placement in week 2. I am going to lay off though for a few days and continue with soup. I was self pay and can't or should I say don't want any complications.

:thumbup:My team says I am doing great. Starting weight shortly before surgery was 293 and I am now at 277.... 16 lbs so far. My incisions have all healed, I have had no gas pains, nausea or any of the other uncomfortable complications I have read about here. Stayed on full liquids day 2-10 and still incorporate a lot of full liquids such as yogurt, cream of wheat and protein water into my daily diet. In fact you could say I am on full liquids all day, eating whatever else will go down comfortably for dinner, keeping an eye on my own personal nutritional goals. I was doing this for awhile before surgery anyways, and has now bwcome habit. I worry about progressing too fast with the diet. I asked my doctor if I ate something wrong, would it cause any problems with the band, such as slipping? He assured me that might have been true in the “old days” but that he now ties the lapband in securely by bringing up some of the lower stomach and stitching it around the band. The band will not slip by eating something wrong. He did say if I had a prolonged bout of throwing there was a slight chance of slippage, but unlikely. He also said that before the first banding the stomach pouch will not stretch as there is little restriction, any excess food just slips through to the lower stomach. His said I would be limited in what I eat by what felt comfortable “slipping through” and could gage how much swelling is remaining from the surgery by what size goes down OK. I would learn from trial and error what I could eat and what would be not be nice to me. So I have tried out various other foods to see how they feel, being sure to chew very well. This is very much feedback trial and error, as if I forget and do not chew well it does not feel good going down. I have the best luck on foods that are on the soft slippery type, like fish(scallops, red snapper), noodles, eggs and various oatmeals, even soggy morning cereal. All with no problems. No gas, bloating nausea or any other complications that I can feel. All went down just fine. Rice, flour tortillas and anything fibrous that can’t be chewed into pieces get “stuck” and I have to wait for it to clear before eating more. Not painful, just annoying. My nutritionist did say to avoid coffee as that has tannic acid which could cause ulcers on the band. I wonder if that applies to tomato products, such as spaghetti sauce, as tomatoes have tannic acid, as does wine, I think. I will need to verify that with her. I am thinking it may be the daily prolonged use of coffee that could cause an ulcer, but for now I just say no. The temptation is to keep pushing the limit, such as gobbling down a Burger King Steakburger ( I did not even though I probably could if chewed well), but I had better have enough self discipline to not do that or I have wasted my life, time and money on a procedure I do not respect. I log everything on FITDAY.com (have done this for years) and keep a careful eye on my calories, cards, proteins, etc. When I was on full liquids I was taking in about 800 calories and usually met the 60 protein goal. I am looking now at keeping my calories around 1200, so that I will continue to lose weight. My doctor has taken me off the high blood pressure med as I now test in the normal range. I have reduced my glyburide by 50%, and am slowly reducing my 24 hour insulin. I am experiencing fasting glucose of 120, which is about 100 points lower than pre lapband. So far I am very happy with my lapband.

My surgeon stays away from sleeves due to a higher amount of complications.. He has been providing WLS for 20 years .... I know many folks on these forums are very happy with their choices. I am only 5 weeks out from bypass and am feeling 100% and have lost 3 dress sizes and 39#.. And off my meds I had been on! Let your surgeon guide you through your questions and choices also.. Share your concerns with him. Best of health to you

There are many, many Dr.'s in Mexico---they do not sound like the same Dr. to me. Be sure to research thoroughly not just the Dr. but the facility they use. Get that particular Dr.'s stats for complications. Find out how many bands they have placed---speak to former patients. Find out info about them from places other than their own site! I am not anti Mexico Dr.'s---I used one myself---but I researched for months before reaching a decision! Your health --- even your life is what is at risk---do your homework!!! You may have already done all this, it just worried me that you thought it might be the same Dr. is all! Good Luck! Kat

I have fears of complications, regain ('ve lost 100 lbs and gained it back before), and dying in surgery. I'm not sure how I'd rank them; it depends on the day. I think regain is my biggest fear because it's the most likely, and it's not something that will go away after surgery. I think I will always fear that.

I had a few fears: 1. Dying, as many others mentioned 2. The recovery time/process. For whatever reason the pain and stages of food afterwards really freaked me out. 3. Changing my relationship with food and missing some of my old favorites. 4. Complications like staple line leaks. I am currently five days out from my surgery so I can’t offer any long term advice or insight, but I can tell you was ecstatic when I woke up and was actually alive. The pain isn’t as bad as I imagined it would be, but it’s there (incision pain and internal stomach pain when sipping)... and one thing that happened that I didn’t initially fear was that my surgeon found a mass on my liver while she was operating so now I have that to worry about once I heal from my sleeve surgery. I’ll have to have an MRI and biopsy in a few weeks. I’ll add that I’m only 35 years old so I’m hoping it turns out to be nothing.  But, I’m still glad I did this, my long term health is finally a priority for me and I needed this tool to get there.

Dying was number one. I don't want to leave my 9 year old son or husband. Fear number two was that it wouldn't work. What if I paid all this money (I was self pay since our insurance doesn't cover it) and still couldn't lose weight? What if I put myself through this major surgery and still couldn't lose weight? I'm 3 months post op and it's working. Fear number 3 was complications. Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

I had two major fears: 1. I would have some sort of serious complication. For some reason, people delight in telling you horror stories once they know you are having bariatric surgery and all that gave me anxiety. 2. I was afraid it wouldn't work. I don't know why, I just wasn't confident that the surgery would be effective for me. As it turned out, both fears were unnecessary. I had no major issues with surgery and I'm happy with my results so far. 🙂 And now I get to be a counter-example for all those horror stories, LOL.

Pretty much the same as what others have already said! Complications - The main reason I took so long to have the surgery (I first looked into it about 15 years ago) is that I've always been lucky enough to have good health, and I was afraid that I would have complications and end up being sick and in the hospital all the time. I actually didn't worry that much about dying, but I don't have any dependents. In the last few days before surgery, it occurred to me that I should put my affairs in order just in case. I intended to leave some notes on my work in case I died and someone had to pick up what I was doing, but I eventually decided, "If I'm dead, work can be someone else's problem." Surgery getting canceled/delayed - I had a fairly narrow window to get the surgery at a time that wouldn't conflict with any major commitments, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get in that window because of COVID, insurance delays, issues discovered during pre-op testing (I had this feeling that they would find a problem on the EKG the morning of surgery, or that I would get COVID right before surgery), and then I'd have to wait until next year to do it. The pre-op process seemed a little too easy and I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Not losing weight/regain - I live in fear of regain every single day. I've been on a lot of diets and lost a lot of weight, only to regain it and more every time. I've heard of people getting WLS and regaining all the weight, and wow, that would be devasting, to go through all of this and end up back where I started. I'm doing great now, but I have this nagging knowledge that I've been here before, succeeding at weight loss for a short period of time, but I've never been able to sustain it in the long run. I actually had very little concern about my appearance since I looked horrible at my heaviest and it could only improve. I wasn't bothered by the thought of having loose skin because I think loose skin is far better than the alternative (skin full of fat). I never thought I would consider plastic surgery, but now I'm jealous of the results of people here who have had it, so I'm not so sure anymore (I still have a long way to go before I get to that bridge, though).

I have been creeping around LBT since November of 2011 and have never posted because I didn't think I had anything to add. A little back story on me... I never struggled with my weight until my mid 20's. Even when I gained 50 pounds in college I was able to lose it with no problem. After having 3 kids in 3 years in my late 20's I gained 150 pounds and had tried everything to lose the weight with no success. After several years of trying to lose the weight I gave up and told myself that my weight gain was genetic and there was nothing I could do about it. Then in November of last year I lost a very close uncle at the age of 53 due to complications related to Type II diabetes. I made up my mind then that I would not leave my husband and kids at such an early age because of weight related issues. In November I weighed 325 lbs and I am 5'7". I rejoined Weight Watchers and was able to loose only 8 pounds before I finally considered WLS. I went to a surgery seminar with a friend of mine in December and saw the surgeon for my consultation in January. I was banded on March 16th and have not looked back. Today I weigh 273 lbs. I have lost 52lbs since November and I feel great. I am able to eat healthy and I can honestly say that I don't miss the high fat, high-sugar food that I used to eat. I also used to be a caffeine junkie drinking a pot of coffee and 3-20oz Diet Cokes a day. Now I drink 8-10 glasses of Water a day and I may have 1 tea. For those of you considering surgery or those that are worried about how you will do I am here to say that if you believe in your heart that this is the only way you can lose the weight and you are ready to give up your old habits, then you can do it. It will save your life. I know it has mine.

Hi I am new here too. You just never know what you will find on google. LOL I had my surgery in July of 2010. I had some complications in the begining, Due to gout and blood clots. the recovery from blood clots was 6 months, so that was the time I should have been working my new tool, but couldnt. I lost 89lbs and stopped. Then all of a sudden I started gaining weight again. So after talking to my surgeon we elelcted to revise my RNY. So on the 22 of June I had my revision. So far so good. But of course I am still on Clear liquids. I go for my two week follow up on the 5th. I wish you luck on what ever you choose to do .

I was trying to decide if I was going to tell my parents or keep it a secret from them. My sister had bypass done a few years ago and she met with opposition pre surgery and lots of complications after her surgery (I told you so's insued). Well, I told my parents at Thanksgiving and they were supportive after I provided a lot of information and the research on my surgeon. They said they thought it was the right decision for me and wished they were candidates for the surgery too. I was surprised at their reaction!!!!!! I think it is because this surgery makes sense to most people who know about it.

I was not required to do a pre-op diet. FYI, I had no pain, no gas, no complications post surgery.

Honestly, I never even thought about the "D" word (which I'm assuming is Death and not Diet). These procedures are so routine now that that isn't even a real risk. I think for VSG it's like 1 in 2500, and like 1 in 400 for any kind of serious complication. That said my general rule post surgery is get your ass out of the Hospital as soon as you can, you will feel much better and you eliminate the risk of hospital infection (which is a much bigger risk IMO) So where are you in the process so far?

Well I'm set for surgery Oct 3rd and I have not been scared up untill now I have been on my diet since the 19th and have done really well I've lost 7lbs . I have some people asking me do you really need this done have you thought about all the complications that you could have after and just ready all the stories on here about it not working for some people i mean I know the band is not going to make you loose weight , it is a tool to help , I just don't want to be sick all the time from this

I spent about 3 days immersed in reading info online, emailing coordinators and clinics for info, and reading about experiences on this website. At first, I was sure I was going to do the lapband, primarily because it was reversible. I think that would have been a huge mistake based on what I have read about complications and revisions. I happened to meet a gal thru work who had surgery in Mexico a year ago so was able to talk to her face to face. As you research, you will find that many clinics have several coordinators working for them. Think of it as a salesperson representing the service. As I found out while in Mexico for surgery, these coordinators are not all equal and I was very fortunate to have hired a good one. I don't think I am allowed to post her info but can send you a personal message. She is usually present for her clients' surgery and recovery. Others are not. I am usually very frugal but I told myself this wasn't the time to pick the cheapest option out there. I based my decision on the coordinator who communicated with me the quickest with the least amount of pressure. I also based my choice on airfare. It seemed a couple of clinics were receiving equally positive reviews and were similiarly priced, so I calculated airfare in as well. For me it was less expensive to fly to San Diego and go to Tijuana, and I have been to Tijuana so was familiar with the area. I was also able to book a Southwest flight which is a huge advantage. They are one of the few airlines who allow you to change or cancel your flights without penalty. The unused funds are available for another flight within one year or you can rebook immediately at the going rate but without a penalty. My concern was if I wanted or needed to extend my return flight home. I did change my flight, but flew home earlier in the day! I was very happy with my surgery experience in Tijuana and would go back for other procedures if necessary or elective.

He everyone! Just have a question and need some advice! With summer here, and pool party season in full swing, I need some advice. It seems like every weekend for the next month or so I have a party. Most are pot-luck style with a lot of grazing going on. I am 4 months post op, and am wondering how my fellow sleevers handle themselves in this situation. My problem is not over eating, but grazing. And with having to wait 45 minutes after eating to drink, it seems to be complicating things. Any advice would be great!! . Thanks

Hello everyone! I have been checking out this site for a few weeks and figured it was time I introduced myself. My name is Melissa (41, 252 lbs, 5'1") and I've been overweight/obese most of my life. You know, it's kind of weird - I remember my 5th grade class picture and I was little and cute. Everything from there on out through middle school I have vague memories of some crap happening then but now I just remember putting on the pounds. I graduated high school at 160 and well, just never really stopped. My mom passes away out of the blue one day of sudden cardiac death and when then happened it really shook me to my core. After that happened I, in no particular order, divorced my first husband (something that should have been done long before I did), quit my long time job of academic advising, moved to TN, married a new wonderful man who treats me like a queen, started culinary school, graduated, started my own personal chef business and will also be teaching culinary arts at a local culinary school this fall. This has all happened in the last four years! I've tried Weight Watchers more times that I can remember - was only really successful once and even then it was going from 229 to 187. I've done other diets, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, went to the gym, saw a nutritionist, tried hypnosis, yeah, I am a diet veteran for sure. But they never worked. And it wore on me because I'd always say to myself "What is your problem - you know what to do - just do it!" But I never could. Heard a lot of negative stuff about WLS - thought smugly to myself that I'd never take the "easy way out." Everyone knows people just gain the weight back - and don't even get me started about all the complications people have. And besides, I'm a chef - I can't do something where it's going to automatically cause dumping anytime I take a bite of anything. Another thing keeping me from pursuing surgery was the fact that for most of my life I had relatively few complications. In 2009 I started meds for high cholesterol. This May I started meds for high blood pressure, depression, and was told I was prediabetic. Hmmm....I guess when they say once you hit 40 everything starts going downhill was true But I still wasn't thinking surgery. But then I saw Graham Elliot had VSG - he's a fab chef from Chicago (you may have seen him on Masterchef). Hmm, here's a fellow chef getting this surgery done - surely he won't do it if it's going to cripple his livelihood. So I did some research. Heck, who am I kidding? I did a ton of research. And I realized it's not the easy way out. Any one who says that just doesn't know what all is involved. But I also realized it may very well be a very viable option for me. The bad news is my insurance has an exclusion and won't cover it and at first my husband was a bit reluctant to get on board. Every time I'd mention it he'd change the subject. Fortunately, we have a pretty awesome relationship and I finally said hey, what gives - why do you keep changing the subject when I bring this up? Turns out on of his ex's family members had WLS 15 years ago and had a boatload of complications. Once I explained to him that #1 I wasn't looking at having gastric bypass and #2 a whole lot has changed in the past 15 years in WLS he was onboard. Realizing my health is very much in a perilous spot, I've decided it's time to do something. My husband loves to be active, and well, right now, I don't. He never complains, but I want to do more things with him. And yeah, not going to lie, I would love to be able to shop in a regular size store for the first time in, ohhhh.....probably over 30 years. While there are a number of surgeons nearby who perform the surgery - the going self-pay rate is about 20K. However, with help from folks here I have found a doc in Texas who has a much more reasonable self pay rate. We will still need to finance some of it, but it seems much more reasonable now and financing under 10K sounds so much better than financing 20K. I look forward to learning more from all of you and hopefully contributing a lot too! Melissa This site has been a huge help to me so thank you all

What if any complications have you experienced? Thank you for answering..I have just joined this site. Thinking of having the surgery. ann

I too was banded in September 2008. I lost 16 pounds on my 3 week pre-op diet and have lost 55 pounds since my surgery. I've had to change the way I eat and the way I think about food, but I love my band!!! I've had no complications - just some adjusting to having real restriction. I feel sooooo good!! If you added up everyone's 2 cents that they give you about your decision, you might have enough to pay for the surgery. Seriously.... do your research - you know what is best for you. Good luck!!! Becky

Welcome to LBT! The band is not meant to be removed unless you have complications. Good Luck!

Hello all, I'm very happy to have found this great site and to have joined. I am a 44 yr old female from New England and my BMI is 42. I have gone through the entire Bariatric program, locally. I am now scheduled to meet with the surgeon next week and will be about 6 weeks scheduled out at that point. My problem is that I have not yet made a decision about which procedure I want to have done. Lap Band vs. Gastric bypass. I do not really want the GB b/c of all the potential complications that can arrise and the nutritional issues as well. And so for a long time I had chosen LB. Then I came across some YouTube "failed lap band" videos and started getting nervous that maybe I wouldnt be successful with that either. I read about and watched videos about people saying they lost very little weight, couldnt even keep Water down, had to carry bags with them for vomitting, and the biggest thing was that they couldnt eat "good" food. Only junk would stay down. Then there was the twisted ports and slippage too. Most of these people had their bands removed and opted for GB after all. I guess I just dont want to blow my one and only chance of getting help. I want to make the right decision while I have insurance and can get it covered. Does anyone have any info on those issues that they would share with me? And also advice on "how" to make the decision, understanding it is a totally personal choice. Sincerely, Poodles

Yes! I was SO excited about my belly button! And yes I bought my first 2 bikinis ever! Thank you! I feel pretty good. It's been a painful recovery, I'm not gonna lie. But at 4.5 weeks post op, my energy has pretty much returned to normal. I had a lot more muscle repair with the abdominoplasty that I needed to be done than normal, so I sstill have a fair amount of soreness in my abs, and I still wear my ab binder for support and to keep the swelling down, but that 's no biggie.How long before you could return to work? I'm a nurse so this is a big factor for me. I'm not ready at all to do this as I'm only 8 months out and 18 lbs from goal. I will have more questions in the future. I'm really hoping my insurance will cover this. Your results are amazing and I'm glad you are returning to normal!I returned after 3.5 weeks. I felt pretty good. Probably could have used one more week but I had some complications like reactions to the Percocet & I developed an infection. The type of work you do matters I would think. I'm not sure I felt up to bending, turning, lifting until at least 4 weeks I could probably take off 4 weeks but that's about it. Can I ask you what was your starting weight and how much you lost?My starting weight was 278.4My weight at the time of my TT was 133 My weight now is 125 Wow! That's interesting, I am 135 now and wasn't expecting to lose much in this process. Has your clothing size changed?