So, a few years back I had a fleeting thought about getting the band. But it passed quickly. So did not research it the way I have the sleeve. However, I have a friend that is thinking about the band. I told her I wasn't quite sure about it and that I had read some negative things about it. I was wondering if you could give me the fast and dirty info re: lapband the pros and cons. My friend is still trying to decide if this something she wants to do.

Lucky you, MandyMO.. I have to finish getting over my fears and then some how convince my husband I won't come close to dying again. Plus, I owe so much in past care that $ is an issue now too

Thank you all for sharing you stories. They are so heartbreaking!

Yes, They are. Mine is the same. banded right at 3 yrs now and so confused and sort of angry. what hurt the most is the fact that I stopped losing weight shy of 50 lbs. The other sad part is that I lost that weight between 7-8 months. My Dr. kept filling and I was miserable b/c of acid re flux, a slight slip and everything else that goes along with it, and still no more weight loss. I can relate to everyone here.

Oh I hit my goal weight of 135lbs, but then continued to lose another 35lbs! Well, YEAH... I was dying! The more I read this forum the more I fear any gastric surgery

_{I am validated in my decision that the band was a bad choice. I thought I was the only one having trouble with it and trying to get my weight down. I lost about 50 as well but when I started putting the weight back on even though I was working out I knew something was wrong. I stopped getting fills and resulted to eating slider foods. I cant eat anything dry like white meat, no kind of fruit what so ever ( I love grapes and bananas) . I just didnt think I was going to be this restricted that I couldnt even eat healthy stuff with natural sugar, but I could eat bread here and there. Although I can eat bread I do pretty good avoiding it. However If anybody that reads this the band is a bad decision I thought that this will give me a chance to keep the weight off and lose it slowly but steadily and that was not the case. I lost but then came to a stand still. I get hiccups really easily even when Im eating slow, I have been on the verge of throwing up because Im so hungry I will eat a piece of meat only to experince the (SLIM FACTOR) which is embarassing when people around you are eating and you got this look like okay I have to get this down so you sit up straight take deep breaths and get really quite so you can get the food to pass. I hate the feeling like this and nobody would understand unless they been there. I've eaten eggs and soy chocolate milk because nothing else will go down. Im just ready to enjoy food in moderation and not feel like Im starving. I guess I want to be a normal person as they dont have these issues I guess? However, even with everything I've gone through I dont want to live the rest of my life with the possibility of having some of the complications a lot of you ladies have had. the only major thing for me is the pain I was having a few weeks ago with a sore and itchy port and my band it felt like it wasbeating up my stomache it was so painful. Its time for a change and to get this junk (out my belly) In my fat bastard voice...lol... I wish everybody who has the band and will continue to have it good luch but Im headed to greener pastures in sleevevill....New me Im coming in Nov!}

I am almost in tears as I read this thread. I am having my band out on Wednesday because of the same issues a lot of you list here. I decided not to revise to a sleeve because my surgeon gave me such a hard time about having the band out that I was just done with it for now. I am totally unfilled at the moment and he suggested just leaving it in. I am so done with it I can't wait to have it on Wednesday. I will go to a different surgeon in the future if I decide to have the sleeve done.

Thank you all for making me feel like I am not a failure and it is not all in my head. Can't wait to start eating healthy again and feeling well enough to exercise.

_{I am validated in my decision that the band was a bad choice. I thought I was the only one having trouble with it and trying to get my weight down. I lost about 50 as well but when I started putting the weight back on even though I was working out I knew something was wrong. I stopped getting fills and resulted to eating slider foods. I cant eat anything dry like white meat' date=' no kind of fruit what so ever ( I love grapes and bananas) . I just didnt think I was going to be this restricted that I couldnt even eat healthy stuff with natural sugar, but I could eat bread here and there. Although I can eat bread I do pretty good avoiding it. However If anybody that reads this the band is a bad decision I thought that this will give me a chance to keep the weight off and lose it slowly but steadily and that was not the case. I lost but then came to a stand still. I get hiccups really easily even when Im eating slow, I have been on the verge of throwing up because Im so hungry I will eat a piece of meat only to experince the (SLIM FACTOR) which is embarassing when people around you are eating and you got this look like okay I have to get this down so you sit up straight take deep breaths and get really quite so you can get the food to pass. I hate the feeling like this and nobody would understand unless they been there. I've eaten eggs and soy chocolate milk because nothing else will go down. Im just ready to enjoy food in moderation and not feel like Im starving. I guess I want to be a normal person as they dont have these issues I guess? However, even with everything I've gone through I dont want to live the rest of my life with the possibility of having some of the complications a lot of you ladies have had. the only major thing for me is the pain I was having a few weeks ago with a sore and itchy port and my band it felt like it wasbeating up my stomache it was so painful. Its time for a change and to get this junk (out my belly) In my fat bastard voice...lol... I wish everybody who has the band and will continue to have it good luch but Im headed to greener pastures in sleevevill....New me Im coming in Nov![/sub']}

_{I am complete agreement, no more Lap band; I got tired of being a slave to the Lap band!!! I have finished all of the requirements...3 month Nut visit, psych visit, and 2 month weight history. My surgery date is November 8th. After the doctor's office submitted my paperwork on last Wednesday I was approved and got my surgery date last Friday. Can't wait to start my New Journey!!!}

_{Sent from my iPad using VST}

I am complete agreement, no more Lap band; I got tired of being a slave to the Lap band!!! I have finished all of the requirements...3 month Nut visit, psych visit, and 2 month weight history. My surgery date is November 8th. After the doctor's office submitted my paperwork on last Wednesday I was approved and got my surgery date last Friday. Can't wait to start my New Journey!!!

Sent from my iPad using VST

CONGRATS SUGAR TEE I am with you being a slave to that band. I will also be getting revised in Nov everything all in one if I dont have any issues from this band if not I will get it taken out and then back for surgery in another two months. Keep me posted on how everything goes and your journey to a new you. All the best and blessings in your new journey!

CONGRATS SUGAR TEE I am with you being a slave to that band. I will also be getting revised in Nov everything all in one if I dont have any issues from this band if not I will get it taken out and then back for surgery in another two months. Keep me posted on how everything goes and your journey to a new you. All the best and blessings in your new journey!

I will keep you posted for sure!! Now I am on my liquid diet for 2 weeks, the first day was something else. I got through it and now on Day 3.

Better believe what you are reading on this forum...LAP BAND IS THAT BAD. I too was considered a success story with the band but after 3 years of hell with the band and just 4 months with the sleeve, I can tell you that lap band was a huge mistake.

I feel your pain - I took it very personally that I "failed" too. Plenty of surgeons are coming to realize that the band just doesn't work that well for many people.... I agree get rid of that dang thing first!

I don't want to scare you, but my band was unfilled and yet about 2-3 days after having it removed my appetite went even higher!!! I was in hell - constant drive to eat. Have a plan for that in case it happens to you.

I am almost in tears as I read this thread. I am having my band out on Wednesday because of the same issues a lot of you list here. I decided not to revise to a sleeve because my surgeon gave me such a hard time about having the band out that I was just done with it for now. I am totally unfilled at the moment and he suggested just leaving it in. I am so done with it I can't wait to have it on Wednesday. I will go to a different surgeon in the future if I decide to have the sleeve done.

Thank you all for making me feel like I am not a failure and it is not all in my head. Can't wait to start eating healthy again and feeling well enough to exercise.

I had my band out a month ago. Still having muscle pain where port was removed and have gained 40 lbs since my fluid was removed but am sooo happy to have the band out. I am thrilled to be eating fruits and vegetables again. Now I just need to regain control.

Thank you for your replies. I guess my ignorant assumption with the band was you have it for a few years, learn how to eat and then get it removed. I had no idea that you could keep it for up to 10 years. I guess why I ditched the idea was the thought of a foreign object in my body. My friends aunts have had bypass so I assume she doesn't want to do something so "drastic." If that makes sense. I think they are all last ditched efforts, but I just hope she does all her research. She didn't seem to know to much about it.

Thanks again.

I honestly believe that the band is intended for that - temporary use to lose weight, learn new habits, then get it removed. Like one person said, she had the stomach flu and then it was never the same. Think about it - anytime you get sick and vomit violently (like with a flu or food poisoning), you risk the band slipping and then you've got a basically useless tool. I don't like the idea of an implant in my body, either, because you are almost guaranteed that at SOME POINT IN YOUR LIFE, you will have to have surgery again to remove it. And if you have problems before you lost all the weight you wanted, then you have to choose another type of WLS and start the whole process over again.

I wouldn't necessarily push the sleeve to someone over a bypass, but I do think that if you are considering having surgery to lose weight, then you've probably had a weight problem for a long time, if not lifelong, and the best bet is a PERMANENT solution, not a temporary band. As is the case with me, I want something that's going to keep me in check for the rest of my life - something I can heal from surgery, adapt new eating habits, and move on with my life - not going for fills constantly and risking re-operation.

I have a similar issue with my mom, who says she wants to get the lapband. I've tried telling her that there are cons to the band and complications, but I don't think she's really listening to me. I know she hasn't really looked into it that much, she just likes the idea because it's outpatient with little downtime. She's not factoring in all the other inconveniences of it.

When the time comes, if they ever get motivated to have any surgery, they'll go to the informational seminar and learn about it for themselves! Once they are educated on the subject, then it will be worth discussing further.

I honestly believe that the band is intended for that - temporary use to lose weight, learn new habits, then get it removed. Like one person said, she had the stomach flu and then it was never the same. Think about it - anytime you get sick and vomit violently (like with a flu or food poisoning), you risk the band slipping and then you've got a basically useless tool. I don't like the idea of an implant in my body, either, because you are almost guaranteed that at SOME POINT IN YOUR LIFE, you will have to have surgery again to remove it. And if you have problems before you lost all the weight you wanted, then you have to choose another type of WLS and start the whole process over again.

I wouldn't necessarily push the sleeve to someone over a bypass, but I do think that if you are considering having surgery to lose weight, then you've probably had a weight problem for a long time, if not lifelong, and the best bet is a PERMANENT solution, not a temporary band. As is the case with me, I want something that's going to keep me in check for the rest of my life - something I can heal from surgery, adapt new eating habits, and move on with my life - not going for fills constantly and risking re-operation.

I have a similar issue with my mom, who says she wants to get the lapband. I've tried telling her that there are cons to the band and complications, but I don't think she's really listening to me. I know she hasn't really looked into it that much, she just likes the idea because it's outpatient with little downtime. She's not factoring in all the other inconveniences of it.

When the time comes, if they ever get motivated to have any surgery, they'll go to the informational seminar and learn about it for themselves! Once they are educated on the subject, then it will be worth discussing further.

Makemyownluck I hope you refer your mom here or other sites so she can inform herself about the surgery especially the risk. Im sure a lot of us would have never done this to ourselves had we really had the information at access. I thought I knew about the surgery and informed myself. I didnt really get any information about the bad things with the band until awhile ago. I knew my band wasnt working but didnt know why and when I finally went back to do some more research there was an overload of information from real people not doctors studies. I think you should encourage your mom some more and try to give her as much information as possible. There is a graphic photo on here of one lady who was revised to VSG and it showed how bad her stomache was from the sleeve. I couldnt believe it and didnt want to believe that its a possibility that something was happening like that to me. I wish you all the best on your journey and that your mom has a change of heart on being informed...

Makemyownluck I hope you refer your mom here or other sites so she can inform herself about the surgery especially the risk. Im sure a lot of us would have never done this to ourselves had we really had the information at access. I thought I knew about the surgery and informed myself. I didnt really get any information about the bad things with the band until awhile ago. I knew my band wasnt working but didnt know why and when I finally went back to do some more research there was an overload of information from real people not doctors studies. I think you should encourage your mom some more and try to give her as much information as possible. There is a graphic photo on here of one lady who was revised to VSG and it showed how bad her stomache was from the sleeve. I couldnt believe it and didnt want to believe that its a possibility that something was happening like that to me. I wish you all the best on your journey and that your mom has a change of heart on being informed...

Thank you so much for your concern! At this point, my mom is just talking about it. She has already said she wants to see how I do with everything before she even considers it. Right now, she's very pro-band because the only person she knows who has had any WLS had the band, and she's been really fortunate and had lots of success with it. But I know once my mom makes the decision to start this path, she'll inform herself as much as possible, and I've become like a freakin' encyclopedia of WLS because I've been studying it like crazy for months! I wouldn't let her have surgery without having a serious conversation about it with her first, that's for sure!

I didn't think about referring her to this site, though. Maybe I can find some good posts and send them to her, re: band revisions. I haven't heard any stories about people being unsuccessful with the sleeve - they may have complications or stalls, but they do lose the weight. I can't imagine going through all this and not losing weight!