Hi Eveyone -

I am writing on this forum to share my own story, not to disparage the Lap Band because I know many people are successful supporters. At the weight of 263 I had a Lapband placed in 2008, paying out of pocket. At that time GERD was my bigggest CM but I have a sister who was approaching 400 pounds so I was worried. At that time my weight was such that Bypass wasn't really considered and the band was new enough that there weren't too many horror stories and I had high hopes that it would be my answer.

Since that time my lowest weight was 150 (as a result of a huge bleeding fybroid) but has hovered at about 200 pounds - not great, but not terrilbe. I have had spells of success with the band but most of my experience has been unplesant. Pain around the port and on the side of the port (I've been checked for Gallstones multiple times), unable to lose weight then unable to swallow meat, back pain, etc. The port is placed in an area that I can ALWAYS feel when I bend or wear any type of waistband - it's BAD. Recently I have had consistant chest pain which has been ruled out as being cardiac and is likley more GERD.

So, after much thought and discussion with my surgeon I am having it removed and a RNY revision done (one surgery, again self pay, ugh). If I had it to do over again I WOULD NOT have a band placed and I would've had RNY in the first place. There is something about the foreign object nature of the band and port that never felt quite right to me, even when it was working.

If you're considering a band and have doubt please ask folks questions before you do so, make sure you've thought about everything, I wish I had.

Best of luck to everyone in their journeys!

Kelly, I paid for my band too 30k was removed on Thursday thank god my insurance covered the removal and will pay for my bypass too!

Don't think about the money - feeling well is priceless. I'm glad your surgery is over (lucky) how are you feeling? How was your hospital stay?

Sorry to hear about your hard time. Good luck on the revision!

Actually I feel rotten, I thought Id feel better by now. Today i took 2 naps and actually feel like ive got a bit of a fever now but its probably because ive been running around a lot today. Im a stay at home mom and caregiver to my parents, my job rests for no one!