Hi everyone. I hope every one is geared up and ready for the Christmas holiday. I'm just ready to be off work. I wanted to pose a question to all of you that are already banded. Based off your expierence to date, and how you feel, and what you know/read etc. Do you think you will stay banded the rest off your life? I mean I know you would want to be, but since this surgery is relatively in the "new" stage (meaning not more than 10 years) Do you think it's plausible. I am just curious to hear your responses.Thanks.....

Hi there

im from Australia and we have had it longer over here

Yes i think we all could stay banded

but i guess we just have to wait and see what happens after 10yrs or so

This is a really good question! I'm only 33, and the thought of using the band for the next 50 years doesn't thrill me. At the same time, I would like to think that it will be here as long as I need it. My hope is that they will eventually come up with some medical breakthrough (gene therapy or something) to replace my band.

As far as it stands right now, I plan to keep the band on for the rest of my life.

I'm settling in to the long run with my band, and the way I feel now I definitely plan to stay banded the rest of my life. It's a part of my body and a part of my life, and one I can easily live with forever.

However, I could imagine a scenario developing where it would have to be removed, and that prospect doesn't horrify me the way I thought it would. I've seen enough people come through removal with their minds, bodies, and senses of humor intact that it would just seem like another path on the journey.

Hmm, well we know they can last up to 10 years but nowhere in the world is there statistics to show they can last longer.

I wouldnt plan on having it removed unless something went wrong. I find it really hard to believe though that after five, six years if you lost your band you wouldnt have entirely changed your eating habits, lifestyle and outlook on food and exercise anyway. I find it really hard to imagine that you'd simply put all the weight back on. Who really knows though? They dont understand obesity all that well yet.

Hmmm, I hadn't heard that fact about 10 years, did your Dr. tell you that it can last up to 10 years, or is that what INamed says. I haven't found any stats on that. Thanks for the info...

I think what Jachut means is that they've only been in wide USE for 10 years, so that's all we know for sure is their life span. But the band is an implant and like all medical implants it's made from inert, nonreactive material that is designed to stay in place indefinitely. There's no "10-year life span" mentioned in any materials I've ever seen.

The material it's made of should last in our bodies. As to complications - another issue. I've read a lot of doctors doing complete unfills after 3 - 5 years pass and new behaviors are formed, but that has less to do with physical integrity of the band and more to do with it simply not being needed, and a way to bypass it w/o removal.

Yeah, I just mean they've been done in Australia for about 10 years and so far, so good for the majority of people. But only time will tell about the longer term.

Oh - yes that unfill idea is interesting. I would certainly consider that some years down the track if that was what they recommended. If you began to gain weight again you could nip it in the bud fairly quickly.

As far as I am concerned, if I can die with this band in me (a very long time from now) I will be very happy, indeed.

If it works and makes life better, why would we want to do anything else?

If they come up with gene therapy or some lesser surgery, or a pill, why change, as "new" technologies and approaches always have only a certain percentage of efficacy. If we have succeeded with this particular approach, why not leave it in and be happy, and turn our minds to something OTHER than food?

As to the idea of removing the band and hoping to maintain weight loss, I think I read a story on another board where a man lost his band, and had agreed (with himself) that should he hit X added weight, he would take some other action. As I recall, he regained 60% of his former weight in about a year. This may be on smartbandsters, a yahoo site.

In any event, my vote is to stay banded, and healthy, and I hope to be lucky enough to do that.

Cheers, Brad

Okay, I think I have to be the gloomy gus. Lately, I have felt like I am trying to make the most of my band and really kick my weight loss in the butt for fear of losing the band because of all the erosions lately. It scares me. I WANT to keep the band for the rest of my life but I don't think it is going to happen. I think that those of us who have been banded are the "silicone breasts" for what the future holds. I personally expect to see the band being replaced by a new better engineered hi tech band and we will all do revisions. I don't see having this foreign object in my body for longer than 10 years without something going wrong with it. Defeatist attitude? Maybe. But still my honest thoughts about it.

I had hoped to be banded for a lifetime. I was a good little bandster, followed all the rules, took care of my band, had great aftercare, but I eroded after 19 months. Thank God I had great succes with my band and was able to lose 104 lbs before it was removed.

La_madam~

Do you think you have made the lifestyle changes and mental adjustments so that you can continue as though you had the band and keep the weight off?

Emily

I would love to have this permanently, but I don't think it will happen. I'm guessing somewhere down the line I'll have a complication of some sort. So I'm doing what I can to make the best of it while I have it.

If I do lose this, then I'll decide what to do to maintain my loss -- depends on what's available at that time. Maybe they'll make some major breakthroughs in the next several years. After all, obesity is rapidly becoming an epidemic in the US at least -- not sure about Europe/Australia. There's a ton of money to be made on any effective treatment.