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My surgery was on May 9th and let me start by saying that all the pain that I went through and the discomfort I am going through right now, is well worth it! I have lost 21 pounds from my HW of 258 bs. Looking forward to many more! Bad news first: I have super tiny veins, very hard to find. Before surgery, the nurse could not find one so the Anesthesiologist came to try to start an IV. The stupid doctor inserted the IV inside of my left wrist. Within minutes, it had infiltrated and had started to swell up. Another Anesthesiologist came with an ultrasound machine and found one vein in my right arm where the IV went. During my stay, the blood draws were a nightmare since many techs poked me several times to find a vein. As a result, my whole arm is black and blue. I could live with that but since yesterday, there is bad tingling in my left hand and my range of motion is almost negligible. it feels like I am holding a live electric wire in my hand, Every time I extend my foreman, an electric shock runs through it. The more I researched this, I found out that this is caused by nerve injury and that the IV in wrist is a no-no. I went to my surgeon today who was shocked to hear that the other doctor tried to put an IV there. So, tomorrow I am going to an ortho hand surgeon for a consult. I am so upset at that stupid doctor and hoping that is just an inflammation that pinched a nerve. I don't want another surgery. Now to a couple of questions: How long before the incisions healed and the pain got better? I cannot sleep on either one of my sides. How long before you were able to eat more than 200 calories? I have found ways to sneek in Protein and had around 30 grams today. I know I need a lot more but that is a start. I am trying to stay hydrated too. Sipping Water all day, drinking some gatorade and even had a sugar free popsicles but calories were not enough to survive. Thank you for all your support during this process! This website rocks!

Ok. So here goes, i really can't believe some of us are criticizing the people who we once were! So on Whitney and her show why are some of you so in shock a fat person can be happy? Is she not a human and as humans are we not entitled to be happy sad grumpy etc regardless of our size. Fyi there's a lot of unhappy skinny plp too! That being said it's TV reality TV at that. Think about thus for a second. So i like to dance I'm kinda good at it especially for my size i post a video on YouTube and get a million plus views! That means I'm getting a paycheck from YouTube I'd be happy. Second because of that video I'm now a tv star! Making probably around 250 thousand dollars a year hey I'd be happy with that too regardless of my size. Sooo why must she be unhappy???? Second of all about the size 22 model, so when they only show size 0 models we complain when they show fake "plus size" models we complain now they show someone who looks more like some of us do or did at some point we still complain!! Really! And about the biggest looser comment that's marketing. shows like my 600Lb life has opened up the eyes of a lot of plp to weight loss surgery and it's benefits so less plp are singing up to all the other programs the biggest looser has which means they aee losing money. Eg. The biggest looser camp is 2000 a week go for a month that's 8000. So ya when more plp stop paying them money they are going to do and say whatever they need to to get more viewers and ratings etc. And finally as an obese female all my life really since the age of 6 i feel really bad when plp feel that because we are big we can't be happy. And guess what in my 30 years of life i have been happy sad and all emotions in between some emotions were about my weight some weren't I've experienced my life in all kinds of highs and lows and have lived a normal life and accomplished plenty. I feel and know that all of us humans regardless of sizes have ups and downs in life and good times and bad. I choose to have WLS because i want to be healthy as my weight was causing me a lot of complications and health issues and because of course I'm dying to meet the skinny girl inside of me. Buy I'm very clear that although being skinnier will make happy to some degree it won't mean everything in my life as life so much more than how much i weigh. Also lets keep in mind skinny plp have health issues too and some of us gained weight because a million different things. Just like some skinny plp can't gain weight for many reasons. Ok so long story short let's be less judgemental and stop assuming what others feel. Lets focus more on bettering ourselves and doing what makes us happy. Whatever happiness is to you. And reality tv is far from real. Wishing the best to everyone

I am 35 years old, and I had the sleeve done on March 5th. When I went in to the program (October 31, 2014), my weight was 529lbs. When I started the four week pre-op diet (Feb. 5, 2015), I was 517. On surgery day I was 480 and today, a week and a half later I am 467. An astonishing loss in a relatively short period of time, and is (according to my surgeon) not the norm. I am thrilled, though. I have had zero complications. No nausea, no vomiting, no cramping and most of all, no pain. I was completely off of the narcotic pain killers within 36 hours of surgery, and have been able to take in every last bit of liquids and Protein that my surgeon requests. I consider myself very fortunate that I have had no difficulty compared to others. I firmly believe that recovery is 20% physical and 80% mental, or at least it has been for me. If you get in to the mindset that VSG is a tool that you will be able to use to get healthy and to lead a much longer, fuller life, then you will not only be able to do it, but to succeed. VSG has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Good luck to you.

Hi all: My surgery is scheduled for 7-22. I'm starting to hear things from friends who's surgeons are recommending bypass instead of the band and that they have been hearing from European doctors that the band erodes and has bad complications about 5 years into it and they are changing their opinion of the band.....anyone have any advice or resources that can tell me an unbiased opinion about the device?

i had my band removed because of complications 5 years ago and i didnt opt to have another surgery at the time. it was just removed!

I want to say that I think that the lap band is a good tool for weight loss. I have seen some successful people with it and have personally known quite a few. I've realized, though, that the lap band really is a temporary device. I have never met anyone that has a lapband after 10 years. They either had slippage, erosion, or other complications from the lap band such as infections and hernia or whatever else and etc. My friend told me that when she signed the paperwork...it was listed as a temporary device. One of my friends had such bad damage and scar tissue from the band that she was unable to get a revision surgery. That got me concerned. Does the band cause damage to the stomach from having it for years that makes the person incapable of getting a revision surgery? Does the person then simply just hope and pray that they have learned new lifelong habits to maintain the weight loss? There are so many what ifs. So who still has it after 8-10-12 years? Does it still work or is it unfilled and simply just sitting there without being in use? Is it really a permanent solution to weight? I want to say I think it's a good temporary tool. But I do wonder what people do when the temporary is over...

The studies have been posted numerous times on obesityhelp.com Since RNY was not an option for me, because I knew of the complications from real life friends, I never saved any of the links. They also talk about only 30% of RNY patients dumping with sugars and carbs. The weight regain stats with RNY are downright scary, and you can search the Revision and RNY board over there to see just how many people are looking to get revisions called ERNY (extended rny) which is where they shorten the common channel even more to make the body start malabsorbing calories/fats again.

Banded on the 20th and yesterday it started to feel like my stomach was in a vice grip. It's been fine and I've had no complications. It hurts to take a deep breath. Any suggestions??

The only thing I was told not to eat again are things with certain types of seeds. Blackberries, Boysenberries that have larger seeds and seeds that are a strange shape like caraway seeds because they can get caught in your staple line. Everything else are just recommendations really. The sleeve diet was adapted from the RNY diet which is strict because they run such a high risk for complications. I will never drink soda or anything else with carbonation ever again because of a presentation I saw on how it affects your stomach. It literally bIew up like a balloon. I don't want to stretch it back out. I did have a little wine on Thanksgiving/Christmas but plan to only have that on special occasions. The truth is, with a sleeve you will eventually be able to eat anything. The bigger question is why would you want to? One of the great things that WLS does for us, is that it tames the hunger beast inside. You eat those old bad things and you run the risk of awakening it. That's why so many people put their weight back on. I personally went thru too much and worked too hard to lose the 104% of my excess weight to sabotage myself and out it back on! Good luck on your journey!

The diet should be treated as a prescription and not a suggestion. Plenty of people don't take medications as directed and are fine. Many others don't follow directions and end up with complications or illness. Your stomache has to be empty to perform the surgery. If you eat after your doctor tells you not to, you risk botching the procedure. The preop is typically used to treat enlarged livers. Your liver sits right on top of the stomache and needs to be clipped up out of the way in order to proceed with the sleeve. If you haven't followed the diet laid out by your doctor, you risk your liver obstructing the area required. Your doctor is not asking you follow the diet, but instructing you to. The surgeon wouldn't bother with a preop regime if it wasn't necessary, they are not just trying to make people miserable for entertainment.

Here's what I found as the symptoms from another site Symptoms of stomach leak include: rapid heart rate, dizziness, shortness of breath, fever, worsening abdominal pain, left chest or shoulder pain, abdominal distention, the appearance of illness and a general feeling that something is very wrong. Unfortunately, many of the symptoms may be absent or could be from something else (e.g. bleeding). Diagnosing a leak is further complicated by the fact that there is no single, reliable test to definitely diagnose a leak. Hope that helps, and hope you just asking out of curiosity and not because you might have one Sent from my iPhone using VST

Hang in there. I had surgery May 17, 2012, was in hospital 9 days and had to go back weekly. for about 2 months for IV fluids as I was dehydrated. Couldn't keep much down. I had 4 endoscopic stretches over the first 2 -3 months and finally started doing better. Just want you to know, I now have no regrets. I have lost a total of 161 pounds including 54 pounds lost pre op. Early on I had the same feelings of regret that you are having, but I want you to know that not only do I not regret the surgery, I think its the second best thing I've ever done. Going to therapy to prepare for this surgery was the first best thing as I know I would not have been successful had I skipped that step. I hope you will soon be done with the complications and miserable times and begin to enjoy the many benefits and pure joy and amazement that I feel as I watch my body change and my health improve each day. Sending prayers and.positive thoughts your way for strength to get through this awful time and fast healing and recovery.

I love Dr. Shillingford! He did an amazing job on my sleeve...no problems, no complications! He is very caring and reasonably priced for self pay.

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread. Since @Proud2BMe seems to be the only person over 1 year post op to post. He is the only person that offered a realistic answer. I'm 20 months post-op. I could eat all the mashed potatoes and gravy. They are a slider. Luckily I hate mashed potatoes. I could eat all the stuffing, another slider. I could probably eat all of the veggies too. Noticed I started with sliders and kept going with sliders. If I started with the turkey with no gravy, I would just be able to eat the turkey, nothing else. Since the turkey has gravy on it, I might be able to eat something else. It just depends. When you see people at 2 to 5 years post op and they have regained, do you think theyou regained on protein shakes and dense protein? No, they regained on sliders. I can eat basically infinite amounts of chips or cookies if I want. They offer no restriction. As time goes on and you learn your sleeve and what slides through you learn what you can eat. I can eat an entire bag of baby spinach in one sitting. Salad greens are a slider. A good slider but a slider. The idea that you are only going to be able to eat one cup of food for the rest of your life is completely ridiculous and totally false (unless you have some kind of complications like a stricture and even those people can eat a lot of sliders and usually do since sliders are easier for them than dense protein.).

I'm so sorry you're having to go through all this! Being in the hospital and feeling helpless is a test for anyone, let alone someone with a life changing plan coming up! I've always been a believer that right before you make an amazing, positive change in your life. . . .it gets harder. Darkest before dawn type thing. Maybe when you have surgery it will be cake and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Maybe this is actually a blessing in disguise. I worried too about any additional surgeries, complications, etc especially since I'm self pay and it was NOT cheap! I thought about how I would handle it but. . .then. . I also considered my alternative of staying at 307 lbs and what my future would look like with those problems. I took a leap of faith and thought I would rather deal with "possible" problems post op than a lifetime of definite problems. Anyway. . .sorry for rambling. I'm working nights and was philosophical. LOL! BTW, I'm 5 weeks post op and no complications, doing well. Big hugs to you in that hospital bed!

Hey there, I had 2 abdominal surgeries approximately 15 years ago. Scar tissue and the fear of having open surgery scared the crap out of me. Needless to say, I was sleeved on Monday 4/2/18 without complications. I’m 2 days post op and currently recovering in my hotel room

Dr. Patel performed my surgery. No major complications and James and the Tbs staff were/are great. I have no complaints. I have lost 60 lbs in less than 3 months. Only saw Dr. Patel once right before surgery but he did a great. So happy I had the surgery.

Hi! Im just a lil over 4 years post op & have been where ur @ (shamefully, several times) actually @ that point right now (the reason ive joined this forum) I can tell u this. The 1st 3yrs after my surgery was a dream. I did everything I was supposed to, followed all instructions to the letter. The past year has been a nightmare for me. Personal issues blind sided me & ive really messed up falling back into old habits, abusing this tool that was a god send to me that truly saved my life. I thought that id blown it & ruined it all. 3mos ago I was able to eat like I used to (lets say like 3 plates @ chinese buffet) needless to say this caused complications with my pouch & I wound up in the hosp. I thought 4 sure that id stretched out my pouch & there was no coming back from it. I ended up with a bleeding ulcer & a vessel had come unattached. I had to have the ulcer cauterized & the vessel blocked via a catherization procedure. I was on clear liquids for about a week and a half, full liquids for 3 days then diet as tolerated for 2 days b4 I was discharged. Well in that amount of time I went from being able to consume obscene amounts of food to being able to only tolerate 4 bites of anything. It was no joke like I had just been released from the hosp following my surgery years ago. Well ud think lesson learned, right? Nope... im back to overeating & losing control again. Im very well aware of it this time & thank god I havent done any damage and im now 32hrs into the 5day pouch test & I can already tell a difference with my pouch. Its not easy, in fact its hard as hell but worth it. So yeah, for me I can say I "shrank" my pouch back down. There is hope

​I am a bypass patient but I had a stricture that developed same time frame. It was awful. By the time we figured it out, it was because I hadn't held ANYTHING in for 4 days. When they did the first procedure, I had only a tiny pin hole left open so nothing was going down. As the day went on, food / Fluid built up in to my esophagus and it had to come back up. I had 2 balloon dilations about a week apart and I feel so much better now! Do you have any insurance at all? I was always told any "Complications" would be considered covered by insurance. I wonder if you go to a GI specialist, if the insurance would consider it differently than procedure from bariatric surgeon? As far as losing weight faster, clearly that person did not have a stricture. it is horrible and being malnourished is a real possibility and awful.

I don't see why your insurance wouldn't cover the stricture even though you self paid. That's like not covering a broken leg from a roller skating issue. You self paid for the roller skates, the break is a possible complication, it gets repaired. Or a more medical example, you take a new Vitamin and have a reaction. The vitamin wasn't prescribed or covered by the insurance company and the fall out is. Stricture is life threatening. GET. IT. CHECKED.

Hi there, good luck with your consultation. I had a lap band in 2011 and lost 90lbs, however after complications I managed to gain all but 5 lbs. back. I just had my band removed and revised to a gastric sleeve 8/25/17 and so far have lost 23 lbs. Weight loss is slower with a secondary procedure (I'm a bariatric program coordinator, too :)) and I really hope that I can get a good amount of weight off.

I have gained and lost weight for the past 25 years. I tried it all: Diet pills, HCG, weight watchers, Nutrisystem, you name it I tried it. Last year I decided I wanted to check into the lapband after a friend had success with it. Went to a seminar in June 2012 and made my decision 2 weeks later. My insurance did not cover the surgery so I went through True Results. They had me checked for a hiatal hernia which was covered by insurance and I paid just for the lapband. I started my preop diet for 2 weeks and lost 6 lbs. I was banded with plication on August 13, 2012 weighing 199 lbs. At my 2 week preop visit I had only lost 7 lbs. I had my my first fill in October and a second fill in November before Thanksgiving. Not really any restriction from those two fills. Around the first of January 2013 I started having really bad stomach pains. I would throw up every time I ate dense Protein. Anytime I hate the pain was horrible. I called my surgeons office and the response I got was "if it hurts that bad go to the ER." Well that really pissed me off. I finally got in to see the surgeon who checked me through fluoroscope X-ray. Everything in place. Mind you I didn't get to talk to him in an exam room. There was about 8 people on the other side of the door who heard everything we were saying. He said my body was most likely rejecting the band. He said we could remove it and do the sleeve. And it could be done in one surgery. Then he asked if I was using insurance. When I stated I was going to try since I was having complications, he then states we needed to do it in 2 surgeries. That raised a HUGE red flag with me. When I went to check out his insurance coordinator whispered to me to get a second opinion! That was really worrisome. And the fact that I had only lost a total of 22lbs bothered me greatly. So I went to see my PCP and she recommended a surgeon who she had worked with for a long time. I called their office and explained my problem. They told me there was $900 assumption fee the surgeon charges. I was willing to pay it. At that time we did not set up any appointments. Imagine my surprise when I got a call early the next morning from their office. The surgeon wanted to see me and he was waiving the fee! I went in the following week on February 19th and was so glad I did. I absolutely loved the staff, nurses and surgeon. I had a long talk with him and explained all my problems. He was very sympathetic and made me feel at ease. After my talk with him I met with his nurse/scheduler and we scheduled my nutrition&education class, pre-op visits, surgery and post op visit. The nutrition&education class was 5 hours long and was very informative. Never had that with my lapband surgery. We got a binder full of information and samples of Vitamins, Protein drinks. I did a one week preop diet and had my revision on March 7th. The hospital and nurses were wonderful. The rooms looked more like hotel rooms with a hospital bed. Everything went well. I was up walking the halls that evening. I had my barium swallow the next morning and had no leaks. Got down my 8 oz of Fluid and was out of the hospital by 12:15. So here I am 12 days post op and wish I would have gotten the sleeve to begin with and asked my PCP's advice on surgeons. I have my 2 week follow up tomorrow. If anyone has any reservations about the sleeve, don't. I can't tell you how great it feels not to have stomach pains, not to throw up not to mention having a wonderful surgeon who cares about his patients. If you have reservations about your current surgeon and don't feel you are getting the care you need, seek out another one. Had I went with the first surgeon again I think I would have been very unhappy. He is in it for the money and nothing else. Something else my current surgeon said was that he doesn't do lapbands anymore unless that was all the patients insurance would pay for. And that he has seen so many removals due to complications in the past year. So if I would have saw him first I would have never had the lapband, would have had only 1 sugery and I would be at goal now. I am a self pay for the revision to sleeve and believe me it was worth every dollar.

I have not been around as much lately and several LBT friends have asked why…… I was banded in February of 2012, lost 80 pounds in 10 months and have maintained that weight until I had a tummy tuck on Halloween… After the surgery I had 2 drains, they were removed after 2 weeks. Within 5 days, my tummy filled up with fluid and my doctor drained it (this is like drilling for oil with a really BIG needle….. not fun!). Within about 5 days my tummy was full again so my doctor put a drain back in. The next week the area above my belly button filled up with fluid and I had another drain put in just below my bra line. About a week later I had the upper drain removed & that issue was resolved, BUT…. I was still accumulating over 50cc of fluid a day from my lower drain. Doc said the magic number was less than 20cc a day for 2 days in a row, well that wasn’t happening. So on Monday doc flushed Ethanol thru the tubing of my drain into the pocket in my tummy (100cc total). This is supposed to irritate the area between my skin & abdomen wall and cause it to stick together. Today (Thursday) I am still getting 30cc of fluid a day from my drain…… I go back to the doctor Monday. My options are, do the flush again and if that doesn’t work…..another surgery. Ugh Complications happen, I know that. But, how has this affected me mentally? Well, I can’t exercise (every time I do the amount of fluid goes up), I can’t go in my hot tub with my husband (open incision), Have this glamorous drain to carry around in my pocket….. IT SUCKS! And I have gotten very depressed over it. I have disconnected from my life lines (Local support group, LBT wait I mean Bariatric Pal, and my family) Yes I looked to food for comfort. (We won’t even add the holidays on top of all this….) So you wonder….how is my weight? I am about 10 pound over my original goal weight (I weigh between 177-180, depends on the day). But even more important is how I am mentally? I will be honest, I am struggling. I am pissed, why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? WHY? Oh WHY? OH WHY????? Full on pitty me party here!!!! This is my confession, I am not the perfect role model. I struggle, I have pitty me parties, I ask why me…… and so I stayed away from my support. Too many people saw me as inspiration. How can I be inspiration when I am like this???? I am taking my complications day by day. I am not giving up (& yes the tummy tuck was worth it). I just don’t think I can motivate anyone right now.

Hi St®awberry! First, I think it's great that you are considering the lap-band. While I haven't had my surgery date, I have read many, many success stories on this forum. Yes, there are those who lose LARGE amounts of weight, some that loose very little, and some who have complications. Regardless, this is a "tool" (which is always stressed) and much of your success will depend on your hard work. I have close to two hundred pounds to loose and I'm confidant that the band will help me get there. For me, another reason why I chose the band over other procedures (besides the aforementioned reasons) was that many of the other options are considered "malabsorbtave" and for me, I don't feel like I can ever be healthy if my food is not absorbed. I tend to be one of those people who believes that your body is a vessel and I just can't make myself believe that I would be healthy. Allowing my body to function similarly to how is usually does is what I'm aiming for with the band and you're still able to absorb all of the nutrients as you normally would, just modified. Just remember that follow-up is key with this surgery. Best of luck to you, no matter what you choose!

There was a thread what to look for in a Mexican surgeon that has many of the basics. Same would apply to any surgeon. I agree, first how many lapbands have they done. Not how many weight loss surgeries, but specificially lap bands. When I went to a seminar they had stats on that they had never had a death, that they had taken steps to cut down on resulting gas and post surgery minor complications. How many incisions will you have. I saw on FOX news that they now have 150 surgeons in the US who will do surgeries thru your mouth, that overweight people recover much faster if they dont have incisions. In addition to lapband, they can do gastric bypass and even gall bladder remover completely through the mouth. One gal posted she had this, but they did one small incision for the camera. Which type of lapband do you want put in. I had my choice. The newer one I was afraid would be harder to get fills for so got the one that had been around longer. Hard to say which is the best choice. I cant remember all the criteria I looked at but these are some of them.