I don't want to start a debate, I 'm just confused and want to know what YOUR reason was for the choice you made.

I was all gung-ho on the band because basically, the whole idea of gastric bypass scares the crap out of me. But the more I read about people dealing with erosion, port problems, leaking tubes, disconnected tubes, infections, and having to fill and unfill, the more it seems like there's a lot more risk of things going bad after the surgery with LB than with GB. Then when the UCLA med center people told me they'd discontinued banding because of the poor success rates and problems with follow-up care, I started to get a little uneasy.

The idea of someone cutting me open and moving my organs around creeps me out, but once it's done, it's done. It's starting to seem like with the band, the surgery itself is less problematic and less dangerous, but then afterward you have to be constantly vigilant about things going wrong.

So now I'm starting to have second thoughts and am wondering if I should pursue GB.

any thoughts?

I'm a diabetic on insulin. I have sleep apnea, hypertension, and high cholestrol. Why add to the risk of surgery with something that is more invasive, and might cause absorption problems. Gastric bypass is like overkill for the same problem, so I chose the band.

gk