Okay, I am new here. I am 25 years old and have a 20 month old son named Ethan, who is the love of my life I currently weigh 346 pounds (according to scales at Weight Watchers). I am taking Effexor XR for depression which has caused an increase of weight (about 20 pounds). For about 5 or 6 months now I have been thinking about having the lapband procedure done. The only thing, I am terribly afraid of death. I had a c-section with Ethan and had my gallbladder removed in 1997 but I am still afraid I would die during surgery or soon afterwards. When are you "out of the clear" as far as dying from a blood clot or something?? Also, do you have to be put to sleep to have the lap band done or can you do it with an epidural/spinal?? Just wondering. And one more thing, what should I be looking for in a Dr. as far as numbers they have done, etc.? Thanks in advance for any replies. I am VERY nervous and very excited.

hey amanda~

the epideral is a question for your dr. cause i dont know and i have never heard of it except with childbirth!

i dont really know about blood clots either BUT they give you those hose for circulation. i wore mine for DAYS!!! just to be safe and i did my breathing exercisis RELIGOUSLY!

i can understand the fear of death BUT if you dont have the surgery what realisticly do you think your life expectancy would be? at 325 and 26 i was having chest pains, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision etc. i also had a uncle who JUST had a heart attack at 30 so i KNEW i was in really bad shape. the way i looked at it i was signing the death certificate to not have surgery and taking a chance at life by having it!

this is a pretty mild surgery. i had mine outpatient! if there were serious risk of death i dont think they would offer it outpatient.

i would say a dr who has done 50 or more bands would be a safe bet.

Faith is not Believing that God Can...It is Knowing that He Will.

you should heed your own quote!

Outpatient...REALLY??? Tell me more. Btw, do you happen to know the success rates...like how much of your over body weight you can expect to lose? I know, my quote seems a bit contradictory...I am a scaredy cat

According to the research, the magic number is 50. When a surgeon has done more than 50 LapBands (not just more than 50 bariatric surgeries and not just more than 50 laporoscopic surgeries, but more than 50 LapBands), the patients have fewer complications.

50? Does that mean 50 with no major complications or just 50 total?

I was teasing about the quote!!!!

um they say I THINK 35%. who they are i dont know because most bandsters lose that in the first few months!!! here are some links to bandsters that have lost ALL their weight or are close to goal. i FULLY expect to get to my goal wich is anything under 200! which will mean a total loss of 150.

i think it totally depends on you! you do have to stay on top of adjustments. if you can eat to much get a fill. the band only works when properly restricted.

my surgery was outpatient. i went in at 6:00 am and left at 4:00 pm. i had surgery on a monday and went back to work on friday. i was sore but i made it!

http://www.geocities.com/robinh26/lapband.html this one is awsome! she has lost 145!

www.kimswlsjourney.com this girl kim has lost 97 pounds in 5 months! DEFINITALLY CHECK OUT HER SITE!!!! LOTS OF GREAT INFO!!

http://www.myagb.homestead.com/ another goodie...not sure how much she lost i think 100

http://www.fisherchristine.addr.com/band.html she has just lost 100 lbs as of this month!!!! in 10 months!!!

http://www.geocities.com/karlak68/ another good one who is now pregnant!

http://www.employees.org/~kirsten/ this girl has lost 85 but hasnt updated her page in a long time!!! i am sure she is down more now!

http://www.geocities.com/laylaburd/AGB/laylaslapband.html

This is a link to extraordinary bandsters

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ExtraordinaryBandsters/ these people have over 100 lbs to lose you will have to join the group to read post and look at photos (its free and fast)

http://supergramemr.homestead.com/Index.html

Just 50 bands. there appears to be a great improvement after 30, but they keep getting better until about 50...when they kind of max-out.

Here's one study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14625767

I'll gather more.

Here's one that says they needed to do 100 before they were really good...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12582760

Hi Amanda,

I also had my surgery outpatient; as Michele says I don't think they would do it that way if there were much risk. The biggest risk seems to be with the anaesthesia, which I too was very nervous about. I don't think there's any getting around that, though; this isn't like a c-section and somehow I don't think an epidural or spinal would work.

But once you've faced the fear of having ANY kind of surgery, this is pretty tame stuff. I thought about all the people I know who have had this or that surgery for broken bones, plastic surgery, gall bladders, etc., etc. So many people have surgery every single day that the risk for any one person is pretty infinitesimal. That said, of course you want to find a doctor and hospital setting that inspires confidence.

As for being "in the clear" with regard to post-surgical complications, I think three days on or so you will know what's up. You've recovered from surgery before, so you know that each day you feel better than the day before. If you're paying close attention to how your body feels any potential complication can be caught in plenty of time to correct it. And in any event, complications are rare!!

Thank you girls so much...I am starting to feel better about things. I am starting a list of questions to take when I go to my consultation. So far I am going to ask how many they have done, their history with patient complications, if anyone has died on them, how long their average surgery takes. Are there any other questions that I should be asking?? Again, thank you all so much for the support. Oh, one more thing, have any of you all had children after the lapband?

i plan on having children! that was a main reason for having the band.

http://www.geocities.com/karlak68/ another good one who is now pregnant!

thas is a link to bandster who had a child after banding.

good questions. fyi my surgery was a WHOPPING 45 minutes!

michelle

Well, I talked to the lady from the Bariatric center today. She thinks it will likely be June before I can get in for a consultation with this one Dr who is supposed to be one of the best around. Is it typical for it to take that long to see a Dr for your first visit??

Depending on how busy the practice is, sure, it can take that long to get in to see the doctor. But it doesn't have to be wasted time. See if you can find out now what sorts of bloodwork and other pre-op testing is required by this practice and start getting some of that stuff done. You can probably do your nutritional and psychological testing before then too.

Get it all out of the way and when you do see the doctor you'll be that much closer to surgery!

Good news!! I have called another Dr. and have my consultation on April 16th!!

Amanda,

Good luck at your consultation! It amazing how different the waiting time is for different surgeons. For the first surgeon I contacted, it was a 10-12 wait for the FIRST meeting with the surgeon. I kept looking and found a surgeon who did not have a waiting list and I made an appointment for 2 weeks later. I had my surgery (outpatient) with him about 2 weeks ago, and everything went great.

Good Luck!

Melissa