Hi. I have been overweight significantly for about 15 years, but have always had too much weight since early childhood. I am considering the gastric sleeve as my surgery. Or the lap band. I am not sure which one yet. I have a seminar in two weeks to attend. I went to it once before but it was over a year ago. I am scared but I am more scared of the weight I keep gaining. I seek friends to discuss the pros and cons of the sleeve and or the band. I have a BMI of aboiut 38, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and also prediabetic. Do they always remove the gall bladder?

Just my opinion but I would stay far away from "the crap band...lol" Too many side effects such as constant vomitting, food getting stuck, band slippage, foods you can no longer eat, expensive fills and unfills, and most importantly the fact that the portion of the stomach that produces the hunger hormone ghrelin, is left in place so you want to eat more food but can't! I just can't imagine feeling like I'm starving and not being able to get anything else in....sounds awful to me but you are right to do your research. I think you'll decide on the sleeve once you way all the pros and cons.

oh thank you for the reply. tell me more about your experiences with bariatric surgery please. Did you have the sleeve yet?

I too was considering the band, I elected NOT to for these reasons. The band is temporary, it WILL have to be removed at some point, it may be years or decades but it does not last for your life unless you die with it in of course. It takes consistent upkeep which can be costly, the band will have to be filled or unfilled to raise / lower the restriction rate. This can be a couple of hundred bucks a shot.There is a significant chance of damaging your stomach / esophagus due to erosion, that is the band sliding up and down wearing a patch of tissue, perhaps even wearing a hole. Stats say that the success rate of the band is lower than the sleeve. I was just hesitant to have a plastic gizmo inserted into my body, it just didn't seem right or safe to me.

Down sides for the sleeve; it is PERMANENT once the pendulous of the stomach is cut there is NO going back. There is risk of adhesions or blockages is greater. The immediate danger to bleeding or leakage is greater because a major organ was cut. The restriction cannot be easily changed. If the sleeve proves to be too big there is no choice but to go in and do a revision - the likelihood of this is very small though. Malnutrition can occur if the restriction is too great, or the person develops psychological issues about eating - this is true with ANY WLS.

I'm sure others can chime in here as well.

And NO the gallbladder is NOT always removed, mine was not and I've had NO issues with it at 14+ months out.

Rootman-thank you for replying. I am hoping to make friends on here that don't mind a few questions now and then. May I ask you questions in private messages since you are post op and have had significant weight loss? Let me know if I can message you; thanks!

Hi Karen,

I had the band for 2 years, it slipped and would not function properly. I just revised to a sleeve two weeks ago today.

I lost lots of weight with the band, and I only had about 30 lbs to goal when I was sleeved (I actually had gotten to my goal with the band, but gained back some). The problem was that I was gaining and gaining when my band began to fail. I know my history, and I know I would have gained back the weight that I lost with the band, so I did the sleeve before I had to lose all the same weight a second time.

When my doc did the sleeve, once she got in there, she discovered a hiatal hernia. She said it was a good possiblity that the band either caused, or at the very least, exacerbated the hernia She cannot say for sure, as she did not do my band surgery, so she doesn't know if that hernia existed 2 years ago.

As I'm only two weeks out from the sleeve, I don't know if I can sing the praises of the sleeve quite yet. I'm confident that I'll be able to in a short while, but I'm just now starting mushies, so it's hard to tell how I'll be eating, or what kind of weight loss I'll be maintaining.

The only thing that I can say for sure is that the band did not work for me.

All I can add to what the others have said is that about half the people I met and still meet in the bariatric center are either having the band removed or revised to sleeve. I am almost 4 weeks post-op with no problems and no regrets, and no, my gall bladder was not removed.

I never considered the band but I can say when I went to my first seminar and heard about the sleeve I knew it was for me. That was back in summer 2010.

I have three close family members who have had gastric bypass. It was seeing their experience with GB that kept me from looking into WLS for so long. Two of them have had no issues with GB but one has had all kinds of problems, many of which may be in her head! When I went to that first seminar the Dr mentioned the sleeve but it was mostly to say that it wasn't as common and many insurances weren't covering it. I knew immediately that sleeve was for me. It was the restriction I needed and I didn't want any of the intestinal re-do that comes with GB. My PCP derailed me for a year but I got back on track in summer 2011 and had surgery on January 9, 2012.

I wouldn't change a thing. This is the best thing I could have done for myself. I did have what I consider a textbook perfect experience - a little nausea post-op is probably my biggest complaint. At three months the weight is coming off with little effort and I feel better than I've felt in years. I've had no fatigue and I just feel fantastic. The thing I miss most is being able to drink a big iced tea with my meals. Getting used to not drinking when I eat is the hardest part for me post-op.

Good luck with your decision!

Rootman-thank you for replying. I am hoping to make friends on here that don't mind a few questions now and then. May I ask you questions in private messages since you are post op and have had significant weight loss? Let me know if I can message you; thanks!

Sure thing, ask away.