Hello All... I am in my 4th month of preping for surgery. I went to my first support group meeting last night. I was so dissappointed. The faciliator of the meeting was the psychologist for the group I am working with ..who also is the one they require you to use for clearance. Well...this dr said...my job is to convince all you lap band people not to do the surgery and to have gastric bypass.... He went on for 30 mins..and people that were sitting there challenged him...and then some said..they had orginally set out to do lap band and changed there minds because of him. I think this is outrageous that this man is doing this....I am going to call the NP and request that I see another psychologist which she had given me some indication was possible...One group member said...in her psych session that he convinced her...is that what should be going on in that session??

Of course he did say...doesn't matter what you choose its the same price...for the dr. The NP whom I had my orginal consult with...was very open ..but totally supported me with the lap band...never trying to take away from my decision..just showing me the options...

I was really hoping to take away something from this meeting...and find some support..as I feel I am not really losing a lot of weight with my supervised weight loss program. Well in some respects...I guess I am now even more sure I want the lapband

Anyone one have any similar scenarios?? Thanks for reading :thumbup:

Also.....one more thing...nutrionist said no liquid diet 1500 cal or below two weeks before....but if you gained weight they will not do surgery...this was said at meeting not to me in a consult....ahhhhh

That is totally out of line. It is not his job to recommend ANY medical procedure over another.

That is totally out of line. It is not his job to recommend ANY medical procedure over another.

If you are NOT getting a recommendation from your bariatric team on which surgery to have,...then you have picked the WRONG team. That is part of what they DO......

There are some things in Sandy's story that I am not sure about, so it is difficult to determine what the scenario is here. It is possible that various factors led Sandy to be placed in a group where the Surgeon/Psych team felt that they would be better served by a Gastric bypass than a Lap Band. It does happen. Some people do far better with the GB than the Band.

When researching WLS seriously, you really should not go into it with any preconcieved notions about what you should be having. Just be aware of all the options that exist, and then let the professionals work with you to help you arrive at the best decision. If you have picked the right team, then that is exactly what they will do.

S.

He is a psychologist, not a medical doctor.

Your choice of procedure is between you and your medical doctors. They may have good reasons why they'd suggest one procedure over another.

There also does appear to be some preference for GB over the band by some surgeons. I don't know why.

But, I'd question anyone who made a statement such as that. Then again, he was honest about it. I'd suspect he was told to guide people toward GB by the surgeon, but wonder if he was told to admit it.

He is a psychologist, not a medical doctor.

Your choice of procedure is between you and your medical doctors. They may have good reasons why they'd suggest one procedure over another.

There also does appear to be some preference for GB over the band by some surgeons. I don't know why.

But, I'd question anyone who made a statement such as that. Then again, he was honest about it. I'd suspect he was told to guide people toward GB by the surgeon, but wonder if he was told to admit it.

I understand exactly what he is. And, I also stated that there some things about the story that were a little unclear, and that makes it a little difficult to speculate.

And, it would not be all that unusual for a Pyschologist who specializes in Bariatric issues to be part of a team, and as such could help to identify those surgical candidates who would, in fact, be better served by the GB. Part of the success/failure of ANY WLS is the psychological component, and the fact that there is a Psychologist on board is a pretty good indication that this surgical understands this. That is a GOOD thing.

As I said, it is unclear as to the dynamic of this particular support group, and why the Facilitator took this stance. Again...it might be because the people in this group were identifed as better prospects for GB than LB.

As far as why some Surgeons prefer the GB...well, it's no mystery....the GB WORKS better for many people. And some surgeons have simply had many years of positive experience with the GB and see no reason to change to a different procedure. The very best Surgeons will embrace ALL of the procedures, and utilize them when and where indicated.

S.

I understand exactly what he is. And, I also stated that there some things about the story that were a little unclear, and that makes it a little difficult to speculate.

And, it would not be all that unusual for a Pyschologist who specializes in Bariatric issues to be part of a team, and as such could help to identify those surgical candidates who would, in fact, be better served by the GB. Part of the success/failure of ANY WLS is the psychological component, and the fact that there is a Psychologist on board is a pretty good indication that this surgical understands this. That is a GOOD thing.

As I said, it is unclear as to the dynamic of this particular support group, and why the Facilitator took this stance. Again...it might be because the people in this group were identifed as better prospects for GB than LB.

As far as why some Surgeons prefer the GB...well, it's no mystery....the GB WORKS better for many people. And some surgeons have simply had many years of positive experience with the GB and see no reason to change to a different procedure. The very best Surgeons will embrace ALL of the procedures, and utilize them when and where indicated.

S.

Did I state that you did not understand what he is?

The OP said it was a group support, and the psych said his job was to convince the band people to go with GB. Does that mean that EVERY surgical candidate is best served by GB? Or does it mean that in this instance the doctor scheduled GB patients and potential band patients that he felt would be better served by GB in the same group, and then put band folk he is willing to band in another? I don't know. That was not stated here. I'd certainly hope if that were the case that it was stated at the group.

In my case, I'd prefer to discuss which procedure suited MY case in private with the team. Group support should be for support or information gathering. But that's my opinion.

Of course there could be more to the story than we know here, there always could be. We have to take posts at face value, generally, or ask for further clarification if we don't understand where a person is coming from.

Yes, GB has a fantastic rate of success for more years than banding. But band folk have good success, too.

As you said, the best surgeons will embrace ALL procedures. As should patients be open to what their surgeons have to say about which procedure is best and why--then make an informed decision.

No one is a support group should single out a few individuals and bully them, especially the psychologist. If the Dr feels particular patients would be better served by GB during a support group (a group you go to for support) would not be the appropriate place to make that assertion. It certainly isn't professional.

I went to Ellis(Schnectady, NY) - a bariatric "Center of Excellence" - I had no issues with the surgeon, but in retrospect, I felt very much like I was just a number and that the ancillary specialists(NUT/Plumonologist/Psych) were just going through the motions to line up the paperwork so they could push me through in the shortest amount of time.

In fact my fills are every two weeks - not every 4 -6wks which seems to be the standard.

At no time did anyone i.e., PA, Surgeon, Psych suggest a particular procedure - in fact it was entirely up to me. Looking back it does seem odd that not even the surgeon said anything to the effect of, " I've reviewed your history. Let's talk about your options. Given that you have ...I think that this procedure may give you the best outcome...".

It was more like, "Wadda ya want? Gastric band? Okay - sign here...".

Spartan, You have gastric by-pass, not lapband, correct?

Jaxnole,

Sounds like you got caught up in a ”Lap Band Mill”….one of those particularly noxious “in-and-out” centers.

Sorry you had a bad experience. Some of those places can sure make you feel like a piece of insurance meat.

You mentioned the fact that they are a “Bariatric Center of Excellence”. I know that a lot of people use that designation as criteria for selecting the Surgical Facility who will perform their surgery, but to be honest, it’s not worth very much. Here are some comments on the “Center of Excellence” designation:

They are, essentially, a “Trade Organization”. It serves to promote the interests of the bariatric surgery INDUSTRY, and that is not always a good thing for the consumer. The Surgical Review Corporation, the “parent” of the COE program, is offering the COE designation to Surgical facilities that meet certain criteria, and I’m not all that sure that the criteria is that rigid.

One of the requirements to be designated a COE is that you give them MONEY. LOTS of Money.

One other requirement is that the Surgical facility must perform a minimum of 125 bariatric Surgeries a year. Now, for one experienced surgeon, 125 surgeries a year is not very much at all. BUT, the problem is that their requirement states that only the FACILITY has to have that volume. If they have 5 surgeons in the practice, then to maintain their designation each one only has to perform 25 surgeries in a year. The designation is given per FACILITY, and not per SURGEON. It could, conceivably, be a training ground for “rookie” surgeons, and I would NOT feel comfortable with that.

The UP side is that they are requiring statistics to be submitted by all COE designates, so that a massive database can be compiled containing efficacy stats for all the various procedures and products, as a well as a mechanism for Adverse Event Reporting. There is presently NO accurate, single grouping of accurate Statistics for WLS Outcomes, and the COE might be the best hope for obtaining this info.

In addition to what was stated above, It is my understanding that a site inspection is not performed by COE officials. All that is required is that some forms are filled out, and a nice, big, fat check is sent to the COE offices, and if the forms look good and the check clears, you’ve got your designation.

So, for anyone who is considering surgery and is using the COE as criteria for provider selection, I would not put a lot of confidence in the COE designation. It is ALWAYS best to choose the Surgeon first…..a good surgeon will not work in a sub-standard facility.

S.

It is interesting how everyone has such different experiences with the WLS process. I had the opposite experience of the OP. My surgeon started out in bariatrics doing GBP, but stated that he stopped performing the surgeries when he realized that he would not recommend the procedure to his friends or family. In his opinion, it was much more high risk than LAP-BAND®®. Due to this, he only does LAP-BAND®® surgeries now.

I cannot say that I am in complete agreement with his statement, but Bariatric surgery definitely seems to be an issue that comes with many strong opinions. (You only need to witness the "my WLS is better than yours" arguments to verify this. :laugh:)

Although I am doing well with the band, I have yet to have a post-op appointment with either a Nutritionist or a Psychologist. In fact, this has never even been mentioned to me as an option. It makes me wonder if I would be even more succesful if I had that option. Overall, though, it is interesting to hear about everyone's experiences. The one thing I ALWAYS take away from this forum is that what may work for one person may not work for someone else.

Good luck to everyone on their journey. :thumbup:

Isn't it funny how some people only want to discredit other peoples WLS choices without ever offering up themselves for inspection?