I have to admit, I do. I have only lost 35 lbs in 8 months. I wish I had had the gastric bypass instead. I don't care if it's not as healthy. Weighing 245 isn't healthy either. I hope that one day I become happy with my decision.

Am I alone here? It seems from these forums that nobody but me would have done it differently.

And then there are those like my DH, who started with a BMI of over 80...

No, according to GB'ers....they call productive burps ..."dumping"...your question was do GB'ers do productive burping...the answer was yes --they just call it something different.

For further clarification, PBing and "dumping syndrome" are two completely different things. Bypassers do PB, which is just the effect of eating too much or too quickly for our tiny pouches to handle. They might suffer them a bit less harshly than we do, but that's because there is nothing "hard" in their systems. They can indeed overtax their pouch capacity, but doesn't seem to be as severe as it can be with us. Perhaps this is because all of their component parts are soft, organic tissue and whatever is stuck may work itself through more gently.

"Dumping" is entirely different, and is ONLY experienced by bypass patients. That is a physiological reaction to eating too much of certain things like sugar and fat. I'm not clear on the biological processes involved, but basically when these hit the intestines it can cause shakes, sweating, all sorts of other negative reactions. This is an effect caused by the same aspects of the surgery that cause malabsorption--NOT something bandsters have to worry about.

PBing is a simple process of expelling something that didn't fit through the stoma. "Dumping" is something else entirely. And though many people see to be attracted to RNY precisely because they believe this will happen (like, "I need to know I'll get sick if I eat candy!"), the fact is that it only happens to 20-30% of bypass patients. I've heard from several bypass people who were disappointed to discover that they could eat sugar post-op with no ill effects.

To learn more about Dumping Syndrome, follow this link: http://health.yahoo.com/topic/digestive/overview/article/mayoclinic/606E816B-2A5D-9994-EFB0A3B7E59F69E8

For information about PBing, as well as other complications resulting from banding, please follwo this link:

http://www.obesitycontrolcenter.com/lapband_weight_loss.html

I think the above link is also good for people like me, considering banding, because it will alleviate your fears and prepare you with information that will help you NOT have complications....

Hope this helps.

:update:

Charlif761: The two links you posted are identical, linking to Dumping Syndrome. No link to PBing.

GB patients still "burp" up or "puke" up some foods just like bandsters do. It gets into the pouch and comes back up.

I'm an RN that does home care and I have taken care of more patients on feeding tubes, with seromas, or infections post gastric bypass than I can count. (I often joke that my job was trying to tell me something by sending the big girl out to see weight loss pts:) I've only had to teach 2 pts post lap bands how to give themselves lovenox injections to prevent blood clots. I'll be banded on 8/16/06 and I don't think I would ever have had gastric bypass. I can't imagine having major surgery and then gaining the weight back. I actually started this process by going to a GB seminar and after listening to the surgeon give the stats on both decided on the band. Give it time to lose, I'm AMAZED by some of the weight loss that I've seen on this board.

Charlif761: The two links you posted are identical, linking to Dumping Syndrome. No link to PBing.

My bad...copy paste is only as effective as the user. :spider: I fixed it.

I guess I am looking at this from a different point of view, I had a gastric bypass in 2001. My starting weight was 282 and I lost down to 155 in about a year. Two years later I experienced a staple line disruption and my insurance would not pay to fix it because there was now an exclusion on my policy. Over the next 2 years I gained back to 259 and had to deal with ulcers and the nightmare of being obese again. It takes working out 3-4 times a week and weight watchers to maintain my current weight. With faced with the decision to self-pay I had to look at what my options were. It was really hard to find a surgeon that would fix my staple line without insurance coverage. And they would have to transect the stomach (which is why it disrupted) which would be very invasive to me. That was when I started considering the lapband, either one of these is just a tool. When I had bypass, I had to deal with the emotional eating... binging....boredom hunger so I know I can do this.

I decided on the band because after all of the problems I experienced due to the bypass I want something that can be undone if I need to heal. Also if you see many of the grad sites for bypass (which I am a member) there are so many nutritional problems with absorption following the bypass that you have to deal with for years. Losing weight is not the only issue for me.... Also I believe over time that the amount of weight lost and kept off after 5 years is about the same for both surgerys... I am in this for the long haul.

I will be banded (over bypass) on August 10th so I will let you know more as I experience it. I will tell you that I have spoken to some revision banders and they are happy with their decision.

For what it is worth,

I will be banded (over bypass) on August 10th

Terry,

I wish you all the best on your surgery and hope you heal quickly.

Charlotte

WELCOME TO BAND LAND, Terry.

I bet this is just the tool to get you where you want to be, weight-wise.

We're rooting for ya!

I am happy with my band. I did not like the risks that came with bypass or the after care (vitamins and supplements for life). That is not to say I think bypass is bad.... I think we each make a choice of what we are willing to accept or not accept. I dont think one surgery is better than the other, I think they are just different. I also think this "worry about something that MAY happen some day mentality is just plain nuts. I dont have the time or energy to worry about all the things that could go wrong...maybe.... someday..... if that were the case how do you do a simple thing like waking up the morning ..... every single thing you do in life comes with risk, you just dont think about them anymore. I would rather get on living than worry about some thing may or may not happen to me some day.