I'm getting sick of explaining to my family over and over again that my band failed and it needs to come out so I need something else to keep me from gaining all the weight back. I had it in the first place to help my sleep apnea, blood pressure, pcos, degenerative disk disease, etc. ????

I've never had anyone tell me that before

I am guilty of clumsily trying to be reassuring to people. With men it is a reflexive habit to be supportive to the ladies around us. We'll say anything and then regret it. I am sorry to hear that even medical professionals are guilty of this. The following is a little off topic, but it is meant to reinforce the premise that stupid things are frequently said.

Comedian Brian Regan, "I met this woman, I could've sworn she was pregnant, let me tell ya'. I believe the rule is, don't guess at that ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever. Something like that. I don't have enough evers memorized. I said, "Hey, when's that BABY due?" You ever feel a word comin' out but it's too late to stop it? "When's that BABY due? BABY!" "What baby?" "Uhhh..."

I went to my last class before surgery and actually heard this from the other PATIENTS! It made me question my decision which really ticked me off. I felt like I was being ganged up on by two of the girls. I was hoping to find a support buddy but that clearly didn't happen.

Same thing happened to me when I was jumping through hoops for my lap-band. The "ladies" at the support group meeting that I was required to attend decided to tell me that they didn't think I needed surgery, since I was "so small." Yeah, no. I had a BMI of 39-40 at the time.

I went to my last class before surgery and actually heard this from the other PATIENTS! It made me question my decision which really ticked me off. I felt like I was being ganged up on by two of the girls. I was hoping to find a support buddy but that clearly didn't happen.

Same thing happened to me when I was jumping through hoops for my lap-band. The "ladies" at the support group meeting that I was required to attend decided to tell me that they didn't think I needed surgery, since I was "so small." Yeah, no. I had a BMI of 39-40 at the time.

EXACTLY! My BMI was 40. My surgeon didn't argue the case so why would they?

I think people say that when they don't know what else to say. It's basically their nice way of saying 'why don't you just diet and exercise'. I heard this multiple times too, and I was not a low bmi patient, my high weight was over 300. Ugh. It seems we will always be fighting the battle to prove that surgery is not the 'easy way'