I have a friend who is totally against me getting WLS, He is very big into the "Fat Positive" Community and thinks that surgery is a horrible idea. We got into a heated argument about it and he had a bunch of his friends who also have had WLS at some point and regretted it email me.

One girl wrote this: "I'll start this by saying, I'm not totally against it. I have seen it work for a few ppl. However, it is literally a lifestyle change. I thought I was ready to have the surgery when I was 19 (24 now). I weighed 427 pounds the day I went to surgery. I am currently down to 302 and have maintained this weight for most of the five years. I don't plan on losing anymore weight bc of the surgery. I am mentally still the person/eater I was before the surgery. Because of the surgery, I no longer can eat meat, carbs (breads, pastas, potatoes) or anything that is not basically a vegetable, fruit, liquid or junk food. I throw up daily because of this. I regurgitate food every time I eat. I get food blockages that can only be alleviated by purging. Basically, I'm a fat girl with an eating disorder. I have to explain to people why it takes me 1 1/2 hours to each lunch or why I have to constantly get up and go to the bathroom at restaurants. My whole life has been surrounded by this weight loss surgery. Because of my age at the time, I was only allowed to get the Lap-Band put in, instead of the actual gastric bypass. So I have a plastic tube around the opening of my stomach and a port in my stomach that gets injected every so often to make my band tighter. When it's tight, food doesn't pass through and then I get sick. After the surgery, I lost 75% of my hair, now deal with adult acne, and have lessened my chances of pregnancy (although it has happened, but I lost the baby). My suggestion would be, if you truly think this is something you want to do, please make sure that mentally you are ready. I thought I was and on day 2 I sat at my kitchen table crying while eating because my brain said I was hungry and my stomach said I wasn't. To this day, I still struggle with the fact that I have a fat person's appetite but the stomach of a 6 year old.

upon hearing this I questioned why she simply didn't have the thing removed...

Her response: "Because to have the surgery all over again just to have it removed is unheard of and doctors will only remove it if 1. You're getting a different weight loss procedure to replace it or 2. You have been completely successful with it for more than 10-12 years."

Is this True?...Can it only be removed if one is to choose another surgery to replace it, or have success with it for 10-12 years?..I'm not trusting one of his friends, This could possibly be a scare tactic to make me sway from getting WLS.

If she wants someone else to pay for it(insurance co), she has to be terribly sick. Otherwise, anyone can pay to have their band removed.

The simpler solution is to simply remove all the fluid/saline so the band is not longer squeezing her stomach. Then she can go back to gorging and bingeing.

@ I agree...

I asked her if she was so unhappy with the band why didn't she opt to have a revision and get the sleeve?

Her answer was she didn't have the time to do so, I would think if it was that much of an issue with in the 5 year's I would have found the time.

I agree that if she really wanted to , she could of " found the time" , instead shes had YEARS of daily problems. It sounds like she has problems faaaaar rrrr beyond WLS, just sayin'. Yes, its a life changing decision , with risks like ANY surgery, but the small risk of problems was nothing compared to the big risk of obesity. The lap band gave me a second chance for a healthy happy life , and im VERY happy I did it. Good luck !

wow all I can say is wow no not all of us have the issues she had I did have the problem of food coming back up but that was because I was eating too much or the wrong type of food. No I did not lose any of my hair. It seems like scare tactics. ITs your life live it the way you want. My usual comment for people who want to tell me how to live is...Tank you for your concern but I got this!