So, I searched Lap Band on public posts on Facebook, and it came up with quite a few results with people saying pretty annoying things. One lady made fun of it, as in, "I just ate so much chicken... I need the lap band, y'all!". Another asked for opinions on it via her status and the replies were like, "No, I know 4 people that have died from it!" and "No don't do it, it doesn't work, I have 100 friends who had it and they gained the weight back really quick!". And another man that said, "Eat right and exercise, don't take the easy way out #lapband".

I am appalled. I could rant here, but I won't. Ugh.

You have every right to be angry and pissed off, these folks don't know their ass from their elbows on this one. Obesity is a complex disorder of the body that is a heck of a lot more then overeating. I just got banded and i'm waiting for my staples to come out after the holiday. I'd say Ignore the crap on face book, because a big part of this journey is a mental one. Their are going to be good and bad days with the lapband just like anyother diet, the difference here is the lap band has helped many to achieve a healthy body weight for the firstime in their lives, after a long struggle to loose the excess weight.

I encourage you to come onto the forums here and read the good, bad and the ugally to help you decide on weather this is the right thing for you.

I know for me personally it took a long battle of me not loosing the weight and then seeing a family member have the band done and failing misribly at it, then seeing a friend have a band done and she did wonderful with it and she reached her goals. I think it depends on how badly you want to have a healthy body and break free from the hold that food has over all of us to some degree. And the thing here is we can't escape food we need it for survival.

I hope that if you are banded that you are having a sucessful journey, and if you have slipped along the way you have the confidence to talk to your surgon or nutritionist about a plan to get you back on track.

Thank you. I definitely agree with you. Sometimes I let others sway my opinion or shake my confidence so when I see such negativity I get really discouraged, but you're right; it is very mental. All of it.

And I just got banded on the 15th. Best decision I've made in my life so far. Ten pounds down and 47 down since I started my journey and I've never been happier. Or healthier. I hope you have a good holiday and congratulations on the surgery! The staple removal was easy-peasy. Not painful and it was really fun because I got to see my stomach without the Patches on it for the first time, haha.

You should extend that to do not google lap band - I am sure you will find lots of negative stuff if you do that as well.

Nah, googling is fine. That's how I researched it at first, really.

Go ahead, Facebook search or Google. It's important to see all sides. I'm just past the considering it stage into the will probably get it stage and I'm looking for whatever information that I can find. I read the Pollyana manufacturer's and doctors' web sites that gloss over the difficulties and risks of banding. I haven't tried Facebook but from what the OP said, it sounds like the information there was a little sketchy. Two died and a hundred it didn't work for? Really? Throw away the outlying data there.

This board has been very helpful in seeing the successes, failures, risks, problems, tips and tricks. I'm glad theat's there's so many real-world banders willing to share. and help.

You can actually see the full surgery on Youtube if you want to...