Ok, so I'm all ready to get the lap band... I'm just waiting for the approval from insurance and then all the pre-op testing to be done; however.... I have this friend who is putting doubt in my head about my surgery. She has had the Sleeve done and is sending me all these sites that bash Lap Band and sites where people have crossed over from the band to the sleeve due to complications!! I've already decided that the Lap Band is something that could really assist me in my weight loss journey but the more I'm reading these things the more I'm doubting my decision and considering the Sleeve...

Please HELP!!! Should I actually change my mind and request to have the Sleeve done or stick with the band and "hope" it works for me w/out all of the possible complications and risk not losing weight and risk having to do a cross-over surgery later????

I too have doubted myself. I know people who know people who have had the sleeve and they talk about all the complications of the lap band and all the good thing of the sleeve. I have also been on other web sites and have read all the negative complications that people are saying. I really was so unsure if I was doing the right thing but I looked at all the reasons why I originally choose the Lap-band. My surgery is in 5 days 1/27/11.

Was kind of easy to decide what type of surgery I want .

Reversible and adjustable - BAND is a clear winer .... for me.

To make a desision to do it - was much much harder.

I figured I would add my 2 cents onto this post. Which starts with, I have no understanding why people who have had other WLS's feel so eager to put down the band and tell all the negative aspects. With that being said, I do believe that the band takes a lot of dedication to lifestyle reform and learning heathier habits, ie no more breakfasts for me of 6 biscuits with gravy, 4 sausage patties, hashbrowns smothered, covered, diced, chopped, capped and whatever else I could add on. I hate to her that a friend is trying to tell you that you are making the wrong decision! Here are some of the life changing positive aspects I have found with the band. 1. No more C-PAP, 2. Lower Blood Pressure, 3. I use the stairs now, 4. I can walk from the back of the parking lot without loosing my breath, 5. Actually can walk into any store and find my size in clothes, 6. Trying to remember what a back ache feels like, 7., Strangers treat me nicer, 8. Haven't heard a fat cop doughnut joke in a while, 9. Sex life has improved, 10...... okay I can go on and on and on.

Use the pre-op diet/post op diet time as a way to learn healthier eating and a better lifestyle. The band can be a wonderful tool (there's that word again), however it's up to you and you alone. The best of luck in whatever decision you make!!!!!

john

Ok, so I'm all ready to get the lap band... I'm just waiting for the approval from insurance and then all the pre-op testing to be done; however.... I have this friend who is putting doubt in my head about my surgery. She has had the Sleeve done and is sending me all these sites that bash Lap Band and sites where people have crossed over from the band to the sleeve due to complications!! I've already decided that the Lap Band is something that could really assist me in my weight loss journey but the more I'm reading these things the more I'm doubting my decision and considering the Sleeve...

Please HELP!!! Should I actually change my mind and request to have the Sleeve done or stick with the band and "hope" it works for me w/out all of the possible complications and risk not losing weight and risk having to do a cross-over surgery later????

HI i am a 58 year old female, I am been banded on 10th Feb, anyway, ask yourself what do I want? this is your life, and your body. Dont let people put dought in your mind.

Have faith and you will see everything will be alright.

Take care and all the best.

Thank you all so much!!! For those of you who have gotten the band over the sleeve, how have you done? How much have you lost and what were your struggles?

Thank you all so much!!! For those of you who have gotten the band over the sleeve, how have you done? How much have you lost and what were your struggles?

I was banded on 11-1-10, and I really didn't have too many struggles. Sure I was sore after surgery, have a couple of stuck food incidents here and there, but otherwise there isn't one thing that has really been hard. The hardest struggle and I really don't think of it as a struggle is that everyone in my house is obese and all the junk foods are still around. That being said, I went into this journey realizing that I was going to have to change me and not anyone else. To change the way I ate and the way I "thought" about food. I have my own section of the fridge, where I keep my heathy food, and have learned not to dig around the fridge to find something to eat. Yes there are those days, that I feel like I am hungry when I know I am not. Today just happens to be one of those days. I still eat out.... just look at the appetizer menu or value menu depending on where I go.

My progress so far: 83 pounds lost in just under 120 days, have gone from a tight 3XL shirt to a XL or L and from a size 44 or46 jeans to a 36.

There are pros and cons for every WLS. I researched all of them and decided on the band for a number of reasons...and discovered a reason or two afterward that made me glad I chose the band.

1. The long-term outcome for bypass, sleeve and band are comparable. Yes bypass and sleeve lose more quickly in the beginning but at the end of 2 years, sleeve and band statistics are the same as far as weight loss.

2. The band is less invasive and reversable. Recovery time is much faster.

3. The band is adjustable. The sleeve is whatever it is.

3. The most important reason:

The band works by putting pressure on the vagus nerves, which in turn tells the stomach to quit producing ghrelin, the hunger hormone. When this hunger is suppressed, it becomes more doable to make good choices. Sleeve patients have that part of the stomach removed that produces ghrelin so they get an immediate hunger cessation...the reason for the rapid weight loss their first year. *HOWEVER*, the body in that year learns how to start making it again and after the first year, it is producing that hunger hormone again. According to a recent bariatric report provided by my surgeon, they are seeing a rising number of sleeve patients coming back for a band in order to control that hunger...and they speculate on how many more there are who can't afford that second surgery.

I've had my own difficulties adjusting to life with the band, but I am 14 months post op and have no regrets.

.

I know someone who added the band to her sleeve because the sleeve is not enough for her. She is so happy with her band.