My Dr.'s office has been trying to get me to do the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass instead of the band. They initially told me that the results wouldn't be as good with the band. My appointment last month the PA said that they were experiencing more problems with the band (i.e.; acid reflux, slippage, low weight loss). Today I talked to the Dr and after talking about my expectations, he said he'd be hesitant to to the Band on me. He doesn't think that I'll lose enough weight. But after talking about my problems with the Roux-en-Y he recommended the Sleeve if my insurance would cover it.

I'm worried about the sleeve because one of my earlier appointments we had a class in his office and some one asked about the sleeve. The PA said that they weren't really happy with the sleeve due to leakage problems.

What should I do? I'm trying to do research online but I've been set on doing the Lap-Band so long that I'm torn on what to do.

Find out if your surgeon does ALL of the procedures or just specializes in one. My surgeon did both bypass and lap-band. We spoke about the advantages and disadvantages of both.

I was leaning towards a band, but I was open to what he had to say. If he had sound medical reasons why I should go with another procedure, I would have carefully considered that.

He said that he does not do bands on diabetics due to the fact that bypass is such an effective treatment for diabetes immediately after surgery. But since I was not diabetic, and that I had a relatively low BMI that I would do well with a band.

And I have done very well with my band.

We should be able to work with our surgeons to make a decision. They are on our team, at least, they should be.

My Dr is the most used in my area. He does more by-passes than anything though (thousand + vs hundred +). He did my mothers by-pass.

His reasoning was that he didn't think I'd lose enough to get where I'd be happy with the decision to do weight loss surgery. I'm 6' 2" and I currently weigh 334lbs (started at 360+). I told him I'd like to get to 210 lbs but would be happy just to get to 250 lbs. I also said that if I could get to 270, I could start running again.

I have thought about another Dr. He did my wife's appendectomy and I think he's the only other one in town that does bariatric surgery.

I'd suspect that most surgeons have done more bypasses than bands unless they have chosen to specialize in bands only. I say that because bypass has been around much longer. You might speak with the other doctor, and see what he has to say about it. A 2nd opinion never hurts.

I may be wrong, but I think leaks mostly occur early on in the healing process. While they sound terrible, what scares me more about the sleeve is the fear of a stricture. But there have been many successes with a sleeve procedure. Just keep asking questions.

I was the same weight starting off so Im happy to hear it woked for you, that makes me feel so confident, I am 228 now too! yay! Thank you! I also had 2 peope tell me they knew others it did not work from, I dont wanna hear negative but positive! Thanks for the motivation!

I went from a BMI of 36, about 245lb to one of 19 at 132lb currently, no trouble at all. I've never had a problem with my band, I eat from all food groups - including bread. The main thing I do that some dont is I exercise a lot - I runfor up to an hour daily and do bootcamp a few times a week.

second opinion...definitely. You should go with a doc who's values are in line with yours.

I would say do your own research. I looked into all 3 types of surgery. In the end, I saw that there were a lot of successful lap banders. My thoughts were to give it a try - it's less invasive and resversible. If it didn't work, then I could revise to the others as appropriate. I had my surgery in April 2010. I have lost over 100lbs in 10 months. I am 5 lbs away from goal. I will say that I have really incorporated a lot of exercise and journaling what I eat. I think that you have to realize the band is a tool to help you but it won't prevent you from eating around it or making bad decisions.

Don't bury your head in the sand! There are a lot of problems with the band in long term " maybe a couple of years" So what ever you do,, Just like you gathered info on the By Pass surgery,, Do the same here. Then decide what you want.