My mother in-law had agreed to do this surgury with me. I live in Ontario and she lives in Alberta. Then she spoke with her doctor who told her that there is no proof that anyone in Alberta has ever had any sucess with the lap-band.Then the other day her doc said going gastric by-pass would be better ,less complications and side affects. WHAT????? I lost my mind. All the research I've done tells me otherwise. By-pass is far more risky, isn't it. Tell me if I'm crazy or if her doctor is. She is also in her 50's.:drool:

My mother in-law had agreed to do this surgury with me. I live in Ontario and she lives in Alberta. Then she spoke with her doctor who told her that there is no proof that anyone in Alberta has ever had any sucess with the lap-band.Then the other day her doc said going gastric by-pass would be better ,less complications and side affects. WHAT????? I lost my mind. All the research I've done tells me otherwise. By-pass is far more risky, isn't it. Tell me if I'm crazy or if her doctor is. She is also in her 50's.:rolleyes2:

Her doctor is a fool, and obviously has not looked at the research to date indicating that patient who have the band have just as much success as those who have bypass.

I would like to meet this doctor. He is so wrong that your mother ahoudl consider getting a new doctor. If he is so out to luch on this what else is he missing.

Andrew

I agree, the doctor is a fool. It's amazing how little people (dr's) know about the lapband.... especially in the provinces that actually cover the procedure. I wouldn't be surprised if he was thinking she meant the VGB (vertical gastric band). If she doesn't want to find a new Dr., maybe she could contact the provincial weightloss program (sorry, cant remember what its called) and see if they could send her some info on the band, and/or stats on how the first patients banded there are doing so far, and she could present this to her Dr. (smugly, of course!)

A lot of doctors are still not onboard with banding (or surgery for that matter) as a solution to permanent weight loss. Also, many doctors are ego-maniacs who feel that weight loss should be natural ... eat less, excercise more (RIGHT!!!--like we didn't try that!). I think those of us who tried every weight loss technique out there, and have finally found success and long term solutions with the band are in a better position to judge whether or not this work. I'm here to say it does....

I agree, her doctor is not informed. When I first approached my doctor she knew nothing and was against it but I insisted on a referl, since then I have educated her and she is thrilled with my progress to date, 60lb loss since banding Sept 21st 2007. good luck Juney, you will not be sorry if you follow proper procedures set by your surgeon.

Thanks everyone. I knew I wasn't crazy!! I think her doc is an old timer, and I don't think he is educated at all on the lap-band. My own doctor who is quite young had heard about it but didn't know anything either, but the next time I went to see him he had some info for me( he had done some reasearch) isn't that what doctors are suppossed to do?? I'm going to make my mother in law read this thread. Keep em coming. Maybe she will change her mind and find a doctor who isn't afraid to learn something.

Hi All,

Haven't we all talked to the doc who insisted eat less and exercise more..... I'm scared when I tell my doc I'm scheduled for surgery that she'll give me the boot. It's next to impossible to find a doc in Calgary.

Hi All,

Haven't we all talked to the doc who insisted eat less and exercise more..... I'm scared when I tell my doc I'm scheduled for surgery that she'll give me the boot. It's next to impossible to find a doc in Calgary.

I know of some very supportive docs here in Calgary. If you doctor fires you as a patient let me know and I will get some numbers for you. I know the clinic that I go to has openings for new patinents as well as another one near me.

Andrew

Hi I'm not sure where in Alberta you mother-in-law was,but there is a Dr. Farries in Red deer who does by-pass and he told me that lap-band may be better for me. He was going back and forth to edmonton too .To practice Laproscopy bypass so I'm sure there's lots of doc's in edmonton that are educated in both surgeries too.J

Okay let me see I had a revision to Lapband from VBG two years next month. I am down from day of surgery 251 lbs. to 119 lbs. which is below goal by 6 lbs. Certainly feel I am a success story!

My mother in-law had agreed to do this surgury with me. I live in Ontario and she lives in Alberta. Then she spoke with her doctor who told her that there is no proof that anyone in Alberta has ever had any sucess with the lap-band.Then the other day her doc said going gastric by-pass would be better ,less complications and side affects. WHAT????? I lost my mind. All the research I've done tells me otherwise. By-pass is far more risky, isn't it. Tell me if I'm crazy or if her doctor is. She is also in her 50's.:shades_smile:

June, I have been banded over 6 years with about 150 lbs lost with relative ease and maintained... it varies you have to work at it. But you need to work with the bypass and any other WLS. The band works...

I know of some very supportive docs here in Calgary. If you doctor fires you as a patient let me know and I will get some numbers for you. I know the clinic that I go to has openings for new patinents as well as another one near me.

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Well I did it! I told my doc I was scheduled in for surgery and much to my surprise she was quite excited for me. She said she may even want to refer patients to Dr. Kirshenbaum if she is happy with my results.

She explained that she was unable to refer me in Alberta because I don't have over 100 lbs to lose. Where they fail to reason is the fact that I'm 5' 0" and weigh 230 which puts my bmi at 45. If I was 5' 9" and had a bmi of 45 I'd weight 297 and have over 100 lbs to lose. I think the relevancy of bmi should be the first factor combined with co-morbidities. Otherwise the shorties like me are getting the short end of the stick. Let’s face it losing 90 lbs is still a lot of weight especially when you’re short!!!

Thanks for the support!!

Pamela

Pami.

I sent you a priavate message . I hpoe you get to read it before tomorow. Talk to you later. Lizzieann

i am in Alberta and talked to many who have had sucess

My friends's Dr told her the same thing that the by pass is less dangerious then the band. :cool:

I gave her this site to go on.

I wonder if doctors making the recommendation for gastric bypass (the golden rule of weight loss surgery,so they say) would still recommend bypass if they saw the statistics for both the gastric bypass and the lapband. I think they would find not only is the band reversible, but the success rate is equal to or better with a lot less side effects. Time they updated their knowledge base