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I came back and re read your post, and honestly you sound kinda like many of the band bashers on Obesity Help that has actually destroyed that entire forum. The reason I say that is this, you never shared with us what REALLY HAPPENED. You just say it destroyed your life and caused horrible complications. I think what would be REALLY helpful to others is telling us EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED? Did your band slip, erode, did your body reject it? After hearing about thousands of lap banders over the years on various boards that suffered horrible complications, when you really investigate why, it was really not the lap band but with other medical problems that caused complications with their band. There are many contradictions with the band, heck having a hiatal hernia is a contradiction, which MANY obese patients have, but having the hernia repaired is a must in order for the band to work properly. Also if you got your band removed in only 6 months, it could be surgeons error also. There are warnings and precautions with the band, and knowing how to use it properly helps many from complications or failures or no weight loss. I think it's ok to tell your story but it would be more credible and beneficial if you told us exactly what happened, instead of saying the band was the worst thing you've ever done.

Hello: I would look on this forum in the section called Lapband complications, there might be information there. The FDA states the band is good for at least 10-years and could last longer without complications. As far as studies, here are some links: However, the best research papers are in medical journals. Do a Google search for information. gastric banding research - Google Scholar Gastric Banding Reverses Impact Of Type 2 Diabetes

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Fear triggers anxiety and I don't need that. I am not really afraid of regain because I won't let it happen. So it's more like it is an area of focus, but not a fear. I have some niggling doubts about my health. I feel like I can do anything but the truth is I have damaged joints and am vulnerable to injury. Complications from a recent surgery remind me of my fragility,of the uncertainties in life. I also have some unease about my next phase of life. It is a new experience for me to not be completely driven toward a goal and I continue to strive to find my next "passion" or become at peace with not having a passion.

Admitted @ 730am for 10 am surgery on Thurs, Discharged by 2pm Fri. RNYGB, no complications or vomiting, able to keep fluids down and void (urine/gas). I also walked a good bit post-op evening, as well as the next morning. HW 280 CW 267 SW 274 (8/24/17) GW 150

If your scared you need to research it more, I also will be going to mexico the end of June and I feel confident with my dr "Dr. Aceves" and if I was scared or didn't have the good vibes from him or going then I would keep looking. I am nervous about surgery because anyone either here in the states or Mexico could have complication. I choose to go to Mexico because I have a very high deductible $5,000 plus the $2,500 wellness dr aftercare and in Mexico for $8750 for hospital stay and all and my PCP had no problem doing check ups. I think with the prices dr's in the U.S. charge more and more people are shopping around not just for weight loss but everything. Sorry so long

In the initial group info session (early Jan 08) Dr. T adv they have had 2 patients die and neither were due to the weight loss surgery or complications related to the same ~ natural causes, etc. He moved to CT 7/05 and has been practicing since so that's a great rate! Has anyone had direct contact with Dr. T's new surgeon? I was at the info session the day he started and have my f/up in early April with him. Just wondering how he was.

Hi -- I'm guilty of going through phases of frequent or ocassional vomiting. It's usually for the reasons everyone mentions -- food too fast, too much, too big... I have also helped it along -- which I know is awful, but I'll be so darn uncomfortable and that's the only remedy. I never had any issues of purging or frequent vomiting before the band. I've worked with a nutrionist for years and she's aware of it. I document all my food every day and include a note on any vomiting episodes so we can figure out what's triggering it. This typically happens in the weeks immediately following a fill -- and then stops. The best negative re-inforcement for trying to avoid vomiting is the prospect of slippage or other complications. Be careful! Elizabeth 8-28-03 -45

I am also deciding between sleeve and bypass. (Don't want a mini since they aren't common in the US). I'm pretty set on the sleeve because it can be converted later if necessary. The bypass is one and done, but what if it is more than I need? The sleeve has a pretty good weight loss to complication ratio, and I am willing to entertain the notion of a revision later. The RYN bypass is definitely "one and done". I wouldn't entertain a revision later from that. Good luck!

I would go post this on obesityhelp.com and post specifically to Misseye and Jimbo. Misseye lost 200lbs in a little over a year, and Jimbo has dropped 300lbs in 18 months. So, the sleeve works. Malabsorption only lasts 2 years with RNY with carbs/fat/sugar, but with DS you get a permanent and metabolic switch. Problem for me, on both of those, is the insane Vitamin regimen and complications that come with both long term.

I had the the band in 2007, had tons of complications and had it removed and got Sleeved in Dec of 2010. I did great, lost all my excess weight (110 pounds) then got pregnant, did great in the pregnancy but since having the baby 18 months ago I have gained back 50 pounds. Can't seem to get it off no matter what. Can't seem to stick to my diet. It's like before I was sleeved..no restriction whatsoever, plus bad acid reflux. So I saw my surgeon today to ask about getting resleeved and he let me know that resleeving is high risk for leakage and he recommends gastric bypass I am freaked out by that. I have to have a swallow upper GI xray coming up to look at my sleeve. Am I reading these posts right? Am I seeing that you DON"T lose weight as well with RNY after sleeve as with the original sleeve? I had always thought RNY was the most drastic WLS and the one you lost the fastest with. I am scared to do RNY, scared to have my intestines jumbled around...lol....and scared of the after effects. I lost hair terribly with the sleeve and with all my pregnancies and I am just now getting a normal amount of hair back. I am worried I will go bald with RNY, for real! Scared of the malabsorbtion, which is why I wanted Sleeve to begin with.... Any advice? Not sure I want to do this again...but I am feeling its the only way.

I regret my choice in WLS only because it led to a complication I would not have developed had I not had surgery, or had I chosen a different WLS. That said, regret is pointless. I can't know for sure that I wouldn't have developed this (or another) complication had I not had surgery, or had I chosen a different surgery. Thirdly, if I hadn't had WLS, I'd probably be sitting here today saying "Oh I wish I had gone ahead with my decision to get a lapband, because now I'm the heaviest I've ever been!" I took off a chunk of weight thanks to my band. Only wished I could have been one of those who could say today "No regrets!" But you never ever know how these things are going to turn out...no one can predict who is going to get hit with the complications, and who is going to remain problem-free.

I would be most curious 5 years out how the other weight loss methods fared. Ship has sailed for me as I did revise to sleeve on 2011 and am happy with it. Like everyone I wish I could have done this without surgery but I couldn't. I don't mind. I developed a heart arrythmia (atrial fibrillation) around 18 months post op. The band surrounds the vagus nerve which controls, among other things, heart rhythm. I ended up in ER with my heart completely out of rhythm, beating at a rate that was close to having me have a stroke, and blood pressure also sky high. It took seven hours to bring everything around using medication, and now I'm on medication for life. I had my band's restriction loosened so as not to touch on the vagus nerve and just went back in last month to get a bit of fill as I'm gaining weight and hungry all the time. Immediately following the small fill, I went back into atrial fibrillation. That's pretty conclusive evidence that there is a correlation, at least with my particular anatomy. If you google gastric band, or lap band + atrial fibrillation, you will see a lot of people who have now experienced this. There are several on this forum right here. So yes, I regret what I did. Living with a-fib is no picnic, and the side effects of the three medicines I now have to take have greatly compromised my quality of life: extreme fatigue, memory loss, inability to do any sports that might raise my heartrate...wish I had chosen a different path. Would a sleeve revision correct the afib?Unfortunately, no. Once you have afib, you have afib. In fact, afib begets afib. In other words, once the electricity in your heart becomes chaotic (which is basically what afib is), it will constantly create new "bad" pathways in your heart. According to my cardiologist, it is unlikely that even removing the band will make the afib disappear, as the band has already done its damage. All I can do is keep it loose and off the vagus nerve, and continue with my meds (or, in the future, ablation or pacemaker if the afib worsens). I would not do another WLS in any case. I'm out of the game. For me, these are "Flowers for Algernon" situations. When I was doing my research, I was convinced WLS was the gold standard for permanent weight loss. Now my thoughts are different, especially concerning the lapband (since I had a bad experience with it) but also with other surgeries. There really is no tinkering with major body parts that is going to come out ok in the longterm, imho. We are seeing wonderful transformations in the short term, yes...but my sense is longterm we are going to see some health-complications from all WLS that have yet to reveal themselves. I would not even consider going under the knife again.

And some days I sing along IS THAT ALL THERE IS? but bye and bye it either gets better or you resign yourself and try to make the best of it all. Do I wish I could go back? Well occasionally, but then I remember I requested THIS be done, there is truly no going back, I will be internally un- normal, if I could request Dr Needleman rejoibg the 2 segments of my stomach, would I want that? 2. It is technically more difficult, might take a whole morning to micro- surgery me back, would he be willing to invest that much,of his working day just because my bravery no longer is working? 3. How Do I know the complications wouldn't outweigh any benefits? 4. I trusted in the Magic Of Diets to save me, at 365+ pounds, Magic was failing ME! And 5th and probably most important, what assurance at 73 that I would even survive the surgery? Yeah, it most certainly would have to be "Open", he would need to see exactly WHAT he was doing, can't trust robots and OR monitors to do it all. I had a first cousin die 3 years ago in May on the OR table at the Cleveland Clinic. Turned out she had previously undiagnosed Esophageal Cancer but we still miss her so much, have had difficulty understanding as a family why we had to give up our June- Ellen to the monster Cancer is. Granted many of my kinfolk folk I wouldn't go out of my way to see, but doit have enough self- centered b***s to do this to them? So I keep on keeping on, they do say I am making strides toward final healing, I want it NOW, like average Americans my patience is not strong but I have to hope for a brighter, more sunny day at the end! And I am healthier, thinner, perhaps less ugly to look at. Is Joy, Happiness and satisfaction Over-rated? I'm 73, I have more thinking and psychological reasoning time than most people , some days it seems like all I still have.👈😪👉😧

My stats were close to yours...i have a lil pooch but not much saggy skin. My weight loss was slow and i took care of myself. I also work out everyday. I didnt have many complications. Really not being hungry was a thing for quite a while...and having to force myself to eat. I also had a short bout with finding foods that worked for me. She still has her days where she is hard to figure out! But its much more predictable!

Catlady--I am so sorry to hear about your complications! I am a little late reading this. My heart goes out to you and I am sorry you have to go through this. I am very happy that you are okay and alive but sad that you are faced with such a challenging complication. Please, if you need anything or just want to talk, I'm here. I want you to be okay mentally as well as physically and I just want you to know you have a friend in me, and in most people here on VST. We are all in this together, and when one of our own is having a complication, you can bet we will be there for you.

Surgeon I spoke with this morning quoted a 0.7% chance of a portal vein thrombosis complication with any gastric surgery. Always seems small and unlikely....until it happens to you >.<

I had my surgery on 4/4/2012. So let me start by saying EVERYONE IS UNIQUE. Right after surgery I was out of it on morphine and slept most of the time. The next day was bad. I was in pain and nausea set in because of the morphine. I had to do the swallow test and that was pretty bad too. All those feelings were the next day after surgery. That evening I felt much better watched TV in my hospital room and the nausea went away. The next day I felt even better now that I was off the morphine the nausea was gone and I had some apple juice. I ended up staying 2 nights before going home. No complications. Now about the pain, feels like I did some serious stomach exercise. First week energy wise... I took 2 hour naps EVERYDAY I had a friend stay with me that first week and on day 9 we went out to SAMs club and walked around for an hour and a half! I was so tired on the way back home I swore I was going right to bed for a nap but when I got home I felt so full of energy it surprised me. My friend went home that weekend and I started feeling better. By day 14 I was out and Around, cooking And going up and down stairs. If your hubby will be with you for the first week you will be fine. Don't do anything for a week except for drink your protien and water and nap. In 2 weeks you will turn that corner and feel great. I am about 3 months out now. I feel normal like nothing happened. I am down a little over 50LBS this weekend I crosses over to regular misses sizes and I have so much energy! Good luck to you and I wish you a quick recovery.

Not a lot will change to be honest. You'll just need a 200-300 more calories, more carbs, if you still have weight to lose you might not gain a lot. You know all about the baby stuff so just good follow up care. If you've read any of my pregnancy updates over the last 9 months, you know that VSG has not complicated my pregnancy in the least. There's plenty of WLS patients who conceive before the "recommended" time frame, and even some surgeons are loosening the restriction on band and VSG patients because honestly, there's very little issues with pregnancy with the non-malabsorptive procedures. You'll be great, the baby will be fab. Just get your calorie/protein/carb goal from your doctor and adjust your intake accordingly. I can't remember, but I don't think you were a super low carber so you might not have to change much. The biggest challenge is the water/clear Fluid intake increase to over 100oz per day.

I had several complications from the beginning, had to have surgery twice after my bypass to fix my esophagus that was closing up and to remove my gallbladder. I still have dumping syndrome and there are many things I still can’t eat after 8 years, BUT I have NO regrets! I would do it all over again! The only thing I would change is to exercise more!

Because if they remove it they wouldn't get any business! I know for a fact that when I spoke to Dr Kelly after my surgery, that he was trying to get his info removed from their website and also get the ramoskelly.com website shut down. All those sites do is refer patients to other doctors. I am 3 weeks post op with Dr Kelly (surgery January 25th) and he was great. In another post someone stated that we all think Dr Kelly is a god, I don't think he's god....but he was good. I base that on the fact that I was comfortable with him, my surgery was successful not only because I survived, but I've had no complications and I'm losing weight. I was not swayed by all the negative bashing between coordinators. All this talk reminds me of my old high school days......it's so immature. Choose a doctor you feel comfortable with, and my choice was Dr Kelly.

I just got back from MX . I was sleeved by Dr. Kelly on Feb 4th. I have had no complications and am doing wonderful. I am up and about and feeling great. He was amazing. He was available and visited when I was at the hospital and then visited me at my hotel. He is a very caring and dedicated surgeon. The reason I chose him in the first place is that I noticed that is seemed to me from this board that his patients seem to recover very nicely, also he has a lot of experience. I do believe he is going through some changes and everyone is not going to like everybody all the time but I have to say, I felt geniune concern from him and he made sure I was comfortable. I also had a sleeve sister and he treated her with the same care. On an added note, without going into detail, the night before I left he went out of his way to make sure that I was leaving MX prepared. He did not have to do that. I am forever indebted! I recommend him highly. P.S. I refer to my sleeve as my kelly belly... I know i sound like an advertisement all the sudden but I am not . I am a real person with a great , real experience.

I felt the opposite. He said by-pass was outdated and had far more complications than the band and sleeve. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

LOL - Thanks... Happy to answer any questions I can. Yes, I work full time, at a desk, no physical job. I do Protein Shakes randomly, not as much as I used to. I've had 3 fills and I'm right around 5 cc's, I believe. Do I diet? No, I HATE the D word with a passion. Have I made changes? Absolutely, but they are lifestyle changes that have made my band all that much more successful. I've cut out breads, pastas, etc. Sometimes, if I'm really craving something, yeah, I will have it because I'm not DIETING. Dieting is the big ass mean elephant in the room for me. If I'm dieting, I'm doing without and if I'm doing without, well then, that is what I want most. So, do I ever cheat? I'm not "dieting" so there is nothing to cheat on. If I want a bite of ice cream, I take a bite of ice cream, BUT and this is a big big BUT, I do have the will power to LIMIT it. I don't need it, it's a want, I can live without the want, but I'm the type of person that if I don't let myself have something when I want it, I'm going to ruin myself when I finally do snap and eat it all. So, yeah, I have the will power to limit it. My guilty pleasure at the moment. LEMONHEADS!!! BUT, I count out 10 a day and after I eat those 10, that's it, no more. If I get a craving, then I move on to something else to get my mind off of it. If I absolutely cannot, then I have a little something. Freezer pops are good for this, lol. It's a balancing act but something literally flipped when I had surgery. I don't know where or how I got all this will power regarding food from but I do. I've taken to heart that this is a TOOL one that I am lucky lucky to have and I am not going to screw this up. I can't, this is my chance. Plus, I'm terrified of complications, so I probably baby my band a lot more than some. Lastly.... I exercise my ass off. When I hit 250, not even a month after surgery, I started running, and started with a mile. I now run 3-4 miles a day, 6 times a week. I try to run at least one 5k a month. I will tell you, I would not have been this successful without all the exercise. Good luck to everyone on your journeys. It is entirely worth it, everything that you change about your life is for the better! Typical day... Get up around 6am, read in bed for about an hour. During the school year, I'm getting the kids up and ready out the door by about 8:30am. I start work anytime between 8am and 9am. Depending on how busy I am during the day, if I have the time, I get in my run at lunch, if not then I work through lunch and usually eat at my desk. I'm off around 5pm. Getting dinner ready. If I didn't get my run in earlier, then as a family, we go out and run together in the evening. Food wise... Pretty much the same for most of the day, every day. Breakfast - I will either have EggBeaters or make 1 egg, scrambled. Lunch is usually 1/2 cup of 99% FF Chili or canned chicken with Laughing Cow cheese. Dinner is whatever I cook or my husband cooks. We live in a warm client, so we do a lot of grilling. If I feel hungry during the day, I'll eat a Chobani yogurt or something similar. Lots and lots of water/Crystal Light.

Love my band...and have had good success (started at 234 and got down to 167) HOWEVER...I have had some complications with a esophageal distention and needed to have all but 1cc of fluid left in. I've gained 25 lbs from my initial loss and am feeling very discouraged. Vicious cycle..loss=motivation...Complications=weight gain...Weight gain=depression and depression=eating....you get the picture. Anyone else had these sort of ups and downs?