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I am so sorry to hear of your cousins' deaths! That is so horrible! I can imagine how your family just might have an issue with this surgery!! We can only point out the obvious...that this surgery is much less invasive than gastric bypass and is totally reversible. Have you ever done research into low-carb dieting to help with PCOS? There are very good results with it...amazing ones, actually.

It is very rare for a bandster to gain all their weight back but I do know of several people with bypass who have. I would take any of these comments with a grain of salt. Reading actual studies performed under controlled conditions will give you a better idea of how it works for most people then hearing about the lack of succes of my brother's - girlfriend's - sister's - best friend from grade school's - godmother's - aunt who had . . . and failed because . . . happened.

I had done a ton of research and was set on getting the sleeve. Both my doc and NUT recommended the bypass. Both because of my type 2 diabetes and because it's the "gold standard" of WLS. To be honest, i changed to bypass at the last minute. I wasnt entirely comfortable with my decision, but now feel confident i made the right choice. I only want to go thru this process once, so im glad i picked the surgery with the best track record. Btw, i dont dump and am happy i can enjoy a little goodie now and then. Good luck to you!

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

Welcome I went with the bypass because my doc said there was a proven success with it, and he felt it was my best chance to lose the weight and keep it off. I also felt that if I was going to do this I wanted to do it once and not have to worry about revisions. As for the food question. Everyone is different, and you will get different answers. I am able to eat anything at 18 months post op. You an your new pouch will go through a getting to know you period. It will let you know the items you can and can not have. Keep in mind that list changes all the time. Things that made me sick in the beginning I have no problem with now. Sometimes things I have had no problem with suddenly make me sick. I have no problem with popcorn or rice. However some doctors do not allow popcorn. You should always go with what your doctors instructions.

So, I am nearly 15 years (yes years) postop. I started at 315 and plummeted to 142 within 10 months of surgery. I was super happy but I was also sick. I didn't have energy, I looked sick...but I was SKINNY! For the first time in my adult life, I wore a SMALL! I loved and hated it at the same time. Then I was told to gain weight because due to all the excess skin, I was really underweight and it was NOT healthy for me. Well, long story short...I can eat pretty much anything and not dump. Then my portions started growing and my snacking came back. I gained, I lost, I gained, I lost...you all know how that goes. I got back up to 230 and was miserable again. I started doing VERY well earlier this year and lost nearly 25 pounds of regain, then COVID-19 struck and has me working from home. This led right back to horrible habits and not as much movement (I didn't even have to walk to my car!). The company I work for has wonderful programs to help get motion and nutrition back on track. Well, that is if you are able bodied (I have bad knees and am just trying to keep replacements at bay as long as I can) and can eat like a normal person. The PT and nutritionist had me doing things that just didn't work for me...not once but TWICE. I told them over and over I couldn't exercise on my knees nor could I eat the portions they were assigning to me. Frustrated, I started researching revisions. I found one I was seriously contemplating, regardless of insurance coverage (I was THAT desperate). I was on the verge of calling my GP for a referral when I thought, "What about going back to basics"? So, about two weeks ago, I found some sites (this is one of them!) with bariatric specific meal plans, food, vitamins, gadgets, etc. I took the plunge and ordered protein powders, protein snacks, meal replacements and changed my vitamin routine to the 1 A Day on here. I bought shaker bottles for my shakes, 15 minute increment water bottles to make me drink my water (if you knew me, you would know I HATE water), and I also cleared two shelves in my pantry for JUST ME. It's now been just over a week and I am down 4 pounds. I have so much more energy that my husband was like "who are you and where is my wife"! I have already noticed a difference in some of my clothes - no more dancing routine putting on my yoga pants! It's not easy, but I have to remember where I was and where I want to be once again! Sorry this was so long but I started typing and couldn't stop!

I had the banded plication surgery approximately 3 years ago. Apparently there was a bulge in the upper part of the stomach where they sewed up the stomach. The stiches weren't stitched and half of the plication was there. Would this explain why I have bad food choices and a difference in my diet? I am going to get it undone. Would anyone know what my options are as far as re-banding in the future or fixing this surgery?

Hi Rhon, Thanks for the reply. =). Today I completed day 2 of the 5 Day Pouch Test. I will say after two days of liquids, I'm ready to chew almost anything!! The scale this AM said lost 2 lbs. Probably just water. But after today, I'm remembering how much self control I actually do still have and am hopeful. You are extremely brave to go through the revision. I'm scared to death that the new dr's will recommend that for me. Although after briefly talking to one of the best surgeons in my area, (who by the way,refused to follow any work done by my GBP surgeon), I'm now afraid that the new dr's will say I won't be eligible for any revision. I was told that the way my GBP was done makes it impossible for any revision. What the heck did that guy do to me? I guess I will find out when the hospital gets my records over to new dr's. I wish you all the best in health Rhon. Keep us posted. I love it that you're not giving up on you. Keep smiling!!!

The revision that I went though for my RNY was called an overstitch (it is new). What they did was go thought 3 little lap incisions in my stomach and 3 tubes down my throat. Then went in and they over stitched the opening to my stoma. This is to reduced that size of the stoma (from 3cm to .8cm). The recovery is the same as the rny and you are put back on the same diet as you had when you first had your RNY.

Princessl how did ur pouch test go? Also@ Rhon how was ur experience with the revision? I am schedule for one on 8/20, i am also 8 yrs post op. thank u in advance for your replies!

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.

Ho my name is Evelyn and I had gastric bypass last year 2-12-13 my starting weight was 267 lbs and my current weight is 140 so I've lost a total of 127 lbs. Well let me tell you that it wasn't easy for me, I have been in and out of the hospital about a total of 15 times because of my diabetes went haywire, On Oct 8th 2013 my twin sister found me unconscious and so she tried to wake me and couldn't so she called 911 and then called my husband and sons. And I was taken to the nearest emergency room and the doctor had told me that I had to be revived cause my sugar went down to 10 but I didn't understand what he was telling me and again I lost consciousness well I was taken to the icu where they hooked me up to all the machines and the head of the icu until was telling me if I knew why I was there and I told him that I didn't and do he tried to explain as best as he could. But what he told me actually scared me to the point that I just started to cry, cause what he told me was that I had died twice and that if it weren't for my sister that went up to check up on me, I wouldn't be here today

Hello to all the readers out there @ lapbandtalk.com my name is Joe, and I am having lapband surgery on the 14th of July 2009. My Dr. is Dr. Nunn who is a surgeon at the Barix Clinics in Ypsilanti, Mi. I am 6'1" and currently tipping the scales at 354lbs. I have tried various diets and exercise routines. I currently have joint pain, bad asthma (inhaled steroids daily to control), Acid Reflux, and have had several severe bouts with depression. (taking daily meds for that also) My mother's family has always had weight issues, and my mother herself has successfully had a Gastric Bypass and lost over 70% of her excess body weight. She encouraged me to pursue weight loss surgery because of her constant observation at my unsuccessful attempts to loose weight. So.. here I am.. a bit nervous, bit scared, bit excited.. mostly.. just ready to have the surgery and start building a new, healthy, me. I will be updating my progress, thoughts, issues, etc.. on my twitter page.. feel free to follow me, or if anyone else is doing the same please pm or post your twitter account so i can follow you as well! www.twitter.com/jojocourt

About me and where I'm at in my journey to getting healthy... My Story… Born and grew up in NC. Now living in GA. I used to be a long haul truck driver seeing the USA through the windshield until a wreak that screwed up my left knee and back which put a stop to that job in 1992 making me walk with a cane today. After that, I had a life of not working and spending a lot of time on my rear end doing not much of anything but letting my body go to waste. But who sees that coming when one has not much of a purpose in life anymore. Mind and body pretty much went down hill. Then around 2007 I had neck surgery on my cervical spine where they fused 3 disc together. Shortly after that I started feeling run down all the time, just no energy to doing anything and feeling bad most every day along with stinging and feeling of pins sticking me in my fingers and toes. Went to get checked out and found out I am a diabetic, have an inactive thyroid, have neuropathy that effects the nerves in my fingers, legs and feet and I now take 5 pills a day so I can walk, ride bike or just simply keep my balance. Doctor said I have been a diabetic for at least 25-30 years. With visit to doctor, I learned that I weighed 383 pounds. I couldn’t believe I had gained that much weight. So I decided enough was enough and I joined a gym and have loved going. Changed the foods I’m eating and in 13 months, I lost 96 pounds. Shortly after losing 96 pounds, I learned I have cirrhosis of the liver, spleen and some other stuff going on. Doctor said it come from being a diabetic and being over weight for so many years. But it’s not all bad. Doctor says not to worry about it if I get weight down and keep diabetes under control, then good chance my liver can heal itself. The good news so far is I’ve lost enough weight that I haven’t needed any diabetic meds for over a year now. But with those problems coming up it is stopping me from losing weight, no matter what I do. I haven’t lost any weight in almost nine months. But I’m not putting on weight either. Maybe because I keep up with my working out and eating right. So now I’m working towards getting Gastric Bypass Surgery in hopes it can be the answer to saving my life. At least all my doctors seem to think surgery should help me. So that’s all, no problems here and I guess that’s all there is to say about me… :-) I protest!! This thing called getting back into shape is turning out to be a lot of work. Wasn’t near this hard getting out of shape!

Hello Chris. I am scheduled to be banded April 13th By Dr. Wade Barker in Dallas. He is also running a $9,500 special, which prompted me to finally take the plunge. I am so glad to find people on here that are going down the same path as me. I tried to talk to some people in the waiting room, but it seemed like I was the only one there for lapband, everyone else was getting gastric bypass. I even felt the Dr. was somewhat partial to the bypass over the lapband. Did you get that feeling?

Hi, I'm new to this forum. I was banded in April of 2008 & after 14 fills I lost 75 lbs. I got to where I was able to eat more & more & I started gaining weight back. It was like I didn't even have weight loss surgery cause I was following the same pattern I did before the band. Recently I started having stomach pains & gerd.When I finally went to my Dr. he had an endoscopy done & found I had prolasped & my esophigus was inflamed so he did a biopsy. My wife & I met with him on Monday & he said the biopsy came back OK but we needed to select one of the 4 options he had for me. 1. He could empty the band & allow the stomah to go back in place & bigin fills again, 2. Remove the band & return to original stomach, 3.replace the band, 4. remove the band & revise to a sleeve or gastric bypass. We all agreed that the gastric sleeve would be the best option. I need to get another phyc. eval. & apply for approval from my insc. again. I'm feeling good about this because after this surgery I don't have to keep going back for fills & worrying about prolapsing again. This is where I'm at right now.

Welcome! Your lap band might be just the thing, but if you end up revising to a VSG, I don't think you will be sorry. I'm almost three years out, and love mine!

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

Hi everyone new to this i was offered gastric bypass last year but was not ready now i am but friends keep trying to talk me out of it. Does anyone no if its true u can never eat chocolate or cake or fizzy drinks ever again?

same here... a lady in my church had bypass, and had a ton of problems after surgery. she lost a ton of blood, blood transfusions, she had to walk with a cane for 2 years, and now she is blind.

I think this message board is just what I needed. I had lap band surgery 4 weeks ago, and do not know anyone else who has had it. I do however know several ladies who have had gastric bypass. I really did my homework and easily decided banding was the best method for me. I am 5'7" and weighed 259 pounds on August 1, 2007. I began the pre-surgery Protein diet the next day and had to stick with it for 3 weeks due to scheduling of my surgery. As of Tuesay this past week I have lost 29 pounds since that August 1st weigh in. I do however need advice and support. Especially ideas of what to eat. I made a mistake last week and had Peanut Butter toast for Breakfast two days in a row and suffered tremendously before I figured out what caused the pain. Looking forward to advice. :eek:

I have been approved for my lapband. My surgery will be done on Dec 5th. My surgeon is Dr. Edward Cussatti. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. I attend a support group at Good Sam Hospital in West Islip NY. Most of the people there are gastric bypass people and they sometimes seem to be down on lapbanding?? So I guess I really need to hear some of your success stories. I think that will really help me. Were you all scared before surgery?? Barbara :omg::whoo:

[ATTACH]44315[/ATTACH] Hi I had gastric Bypass surgery on Sept.26 2013 I weigthed 334 pounds and today I weigth 230 im very happy. And loving The surgery and new me.