Considering a lap band - scared after reading this forum!

[Saddy 11]

On 09/03/2018 at 20:34, jonicorn said:

Lol - The above sounds like a very worse case scenario! Not all stories are such nightmares, many are successes. If you treat the band well, it returns the favour.

I have not once been sick with my band, nor had a head ache, nor heartburn, indigestion, blockages...nothing. You get out of it what you put in and if you balance it with exercise, it will be a success. All the band is doing, is REDUCING YOUR STOMACH CAPACITY AND RELIEVING FREQUENT HUNGER. It is not slapping the food from your fork as you put it in your mouth.

I’m really glad you found that funny because for me it was a nightmare not just for me, but for my family who saw me her up to go to a bathroom after eating mashed potatoes. It was embarrassing when our with friends, I made up excuses to run to the bathroom. It is not the worst case scenario, didn’t get heart burn, or indigestion. I could not even have Water sometimes without being ill.

When I took the band out, i was left with lots of scar tissue.

I don’t slap down food with a fork either as suggested and in fact, I am quite healthy and fit. My BMI wasn’t as big as most peoples when I got the band to begin with.

I’m glad you had success with yours and I wish I could have had the same, but thats your story not mine. So please don’t criticise me and perhaps stop for a moment and consider other people stories here who share the same as me.

[SweetTeach 17]

I have also had success with the band. I followed all the drs instructions and have no regrets because it changed my life for the better. I started out at 276 and I’m 178 now! The way I eat is completely different now. I work out and I diet like a normal person. I don’t try to beat the band or see what slides down. I have had zero complications and it has been years. My favorite food used to be chicken wings. I can’t eat them anymore, new fav food is sushi. My taste buds have changed. I used to love chocolate anything. I now eat a balanced diet and have incorporated yogurt, vegetables I can digest, salad is tough sometimes, Soups, ground turkey, and even tofu. I don’t crave meat because I can’t really eat it but I try to get my Protein where I can. All good things and hope to lose another 45 lbs. and I will continue to do my best everyday. Good luck!

[BeachBish 123]

18 hours ago, iluvbears42@yahoo.com said:

I had my lap band for 9 years. Up to the sixth year I was living life and got down to 160lbs. One morning I woke up and when I ate I just started vomiting. I thought well maybe after something warm it would be better. That was the beginning of my hell. I had moved from Fort Lauderdale to Jacksonville so my insurance was different. They would not pay for anything that had anything to do with the lap band. So I literally suffered. My gastro told me to unfill my band and once I could find a surgeon here to do it I had it unfilled. I still vomited. Between my gastro, primary doctor and my bariatric surgeon they went through hoops with the insurance company because this was a severe medical issue. They wouldn't budge. I just ate at that point what I could get down. Fast forward. I was sleeved 8/17/18. I had my lap band removed and there were so many adhesions it took the surgeon and hour and a half to remove it. It had adhered not only to my liver but other organs. After he sleeved me he had an endo done in the OR and realized I had a hiatal hernia. He went to repair it with even more scarring because my previous surgeon cauterized my hernia instead of repairing it. I am telling you now that lap bands are 80% failure rate at 10 years. Its not to scare you. Its to prevent you from what I just went through. It was horrible. The pain for the first week was horrendous. My surgery that should have only taken 1.5 hours took over 4 hours and a half was just removing scar tissue. Anyone that gets the band gets scar tissue and the longer its in there the more scar tissue you will get. My surgeon refuses to even do lap bands anymore. I don't blame him and if I knew then what I know now, I would never get a lap band again.

Nightmare #425,657,800 - Bless your heart! what a horrible experience.

Please tell us how the band is working for you?

[Dr-Patient 830]

It's up to you, but current medical data (plus patient satisfaction surveys and long-term outcome studies) indicate greater success, satisfaction, and fewer late complications with the sleeve or WLS procedures other than the l-band. Some patients do well; but the adjusting, etc, plus later chance of ulceration, need to remove it, etc...

Consider a good discussion with your surgeon to discuss all procedures, your own medical hx, then decide what you feel you want. Most wls surgeons don't even offer the band now, given success v complication rates. Good luck. Choose wisely and I hope all goes well.

[iluvbears42@yahoo.com 48]

I wish I could post the pictures from my surgery and all the adhesions that I had from my lapband. So glad that thing is out of me. Im not saying don't do it but you will just be unhappy in years to come.

[CTJohn 109]

http://www.townvibe.com/Ridgefield/September-October-2018/Worth-the-Weight/

[kiwiangel23 21]

I am getting the lap band out every time I eat I vomit and I am getting the sleeve done

[kiwiangel23 21]

I am getting revision surgery I can’t wait

[Matt Z 4,139]

45 minutes ago, kiwiangel23 said:

I am getting the lap band out every time I eat I vomit and I am getting the sleeve done

I would advise you discuss the increased risk of staple line failure that the revision from band to sleeve comes with due to scaring from the band. My surgeon will *NOT* do Band to Sleeve Revisions due to the increased failure /leak rate of Band to Sleeve revisions.
Band to RNY does not have these added complications.

If your surgeon didn't warn you about the increased complication rates, might want to ask them and yourself why. Just a heads up.

[elcee 3,340]

I could have been the poster child for lapband. I was extremely successful ( according to a couple of Dr's) for the first 5 or 6 years and then something changed. I started gaining - slowly at first but like a snowball it got quicker.

I am now 9 years out and not that far down from my initial preop weight. Fills make no difference to my hunger levels but they have caused issues with waking up in the night choking on acid.

I saw my surgeon last week and it seems that this is a far too common scenario. In Australia the band seems to have fallen out of favour.

I am now looking at my revision options and will probably go with the RNY.

[iluvbears42@yahoo.com 48]

On ‎9‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 10:34 AM, Matt Z said:

I would advise you discuss the increased risk of staple line failure that the revision from band to sleeve comes with due to scaring from the band. My surgeon will *NOT* do Band to Sleeve Revisions due to the increased failure /leak rate of Band to Sleeve revisions.
Band to RNY does not have these added complications.

If your surgeon didn't warn you about the increased complication rates, might want to ask them and yourself why. Just a heads up.

Staple line leak can happen in any of the bariatric surgeries but it is only 0.5% that is way less then 80% failure rate of the lap band at ten years. I will take the risk.

[Matt Z 4,139]

On 9/29/2018 at 5:26 PM, iluvbears42@yahoo.com said:

Staple line leak can happen in any of the bariatric surgeries but it is only 0.5% that is way less then 80% failure rate of the lap band at ten years. I will take the risk.

Staple line leak for 1st time WLS patients is low. Staple line leak for revisions from band to sleeve is much higher because the staple line goes through a previously scarred tissue and scar tissue doesn't heal like un-scarred tissue.

I trust my surgeon, she's been the one of the top surgeons in our state for almost 2 decades. She would have referred me to another surgeon if I really wanted the band to sleeve revision. But after her explanation as to why it's not a smart idea, I agreed with her and decided that revising to something that's riskier wasn't the best idea. So, I went with the RYN because that staple line does not transverse the scar tissue created by the band, thus, no increased leakage potential.


Clearly it's each patients choice. But knowing about the band to sleeve revision's potential issues is a good thing.

Edited October 1, 2018 by Matt Z

[Viviparker 6]

What is a RYN?

[Matt Z 4,139]

58 minutes ago, Viviparker said:

What is a RYN?

RNY... clearly a mis-type.

[Viviparker 6]

Well what do the initials RNY stand for? I don’t know this procedure. Thanks.