What should i expect? All I was told was I could go to the seminar before I see my PCM to get a referral and they gave me the date, time, and place. I am clueless as to what I will learn.

The seminars I attended (I went to two different surgical groups) were primarily information meetings presented by one of the staff surgeons and an office person. They talked about the rapidly increasing obesity rate in America, described both lap band and gastric bypass surgeries, and what to expect from each. Talked a little about their practice, and gave some very general insurance and self pay info. Also had a question and answer session. There was no charge for the seminar, and it was a requirement to attend in order to make an office appointment for an evaluation.

Ditto. Mine was much the same as above. NO stress, they just talk about all the options, a little bit about what lifestyle changes you would need to make, the surgeon talked about different procedures, risks and benefits, success rates, average weight loss, etc. They had several patients there who shared their success stories and anwered questions regarding their experiences, would let you feel their port, etc.

And the best part is, you don't feel 'fat' there - 'cuz everybody is! :-)

I'm back from the seminar. It was very informative, but I still have questions. The surgeon does both gastric bypass and lapband, so she talked about both. She is more for gastric bypass than lapband. She was saying that 20% of Lapband surgeries have to have a revision and sometimes end up with gastric bypass anyway. She said that gastric bypass patients loose weight alot faster than with the lapband. I asked about getting pregnant after having the surgery and she said you can with either surgery, but she would suggest lapband if you are planning on getting pregnancy cause there are less complications. I'm so confused. I wanna loose weight quickly, but I don't wanna be a size 1 or even a size 6. I just wanna be a healthy weight and feel good about myself. I definately need some insite from all of you here that have already had your surgery. Tell me why you chose Lapband over gastric bypass!!

OH and she said from the time you attend the seminar till surgery is about 3 months which makes me VERY happy!!!!

Well, I want to start out by saying that you will get lots of different opinions. I will share how I made my decision.

I considered both types of surgery - started out with a BMI of 54, so I could have been approved for either type procedure.

Things I heard was that sweet eaters and compulsive eaters may do better w/ gastric bypass, since you have the side effect of "dumping syndrome" if you overeat sweets. Dumping syndrome is unpleasant in that after over eating sweets you can get nausea, sweating, and so ill that some people actually end up in an ED. It's kind of like 'antabuse' for overeaters. I did like sweets, but I also overate other foods too.

In gastric bypass, your anatomy is actually changed around (there have been different types over the years). The stomach and intestine are cut, and this increases the risks of the procedure - infection, leaks. There's also this newer procedure, gastric sleeve, that sounded interesting too.

Gastric bypass patients can have problems with nutrient intake - they can eat more, but the body can't absorb enough nutrients. That also didn't seem healthy to me. They can also have problems with diarrhea - not fun. I plan to live another 20+ years, so I don't know that I want those kinds of issues when I'm old! I also didn't want to be dependent of Vitamin replacement forever.

And yes, they do loose more weight and faster, but when you look at the studies and statistics, it didn't really seem that that HUGE of a difference! The last statistics I saw was only a few percentage points of difference in excess weight loss.

On the other hand, the lap bad does have it complications too...but at least for my surgeon, it is REALLY low! It is by far safer than bypass type procedures. I need to be here for my family! And yes, I've already had a port revision due to a minor complication (kinked tube) but that was local/sedation and an few hour outpatient stay. Not a major surgery.

If I would be so unfortunate to be battling a chronic disease in the future such as cancer, my band can be unfilled to allow me to get in the nutrition I may need at that point. Bypass is permanent.

My doctor does both, has a long history in bariatric surgery.

For me, the risks of bypass were too high, and the risks of banding tolerable, and I went with the band.

I am VERY happy with my band (only 2 months) - have lost weight what I consider pretty fast. Yes, I do have to work at it. But it's much easier than without the band - I never would have gotten this far without it!

Read up on both procedures, and when you finally have your consult with the surgeon, discuss both options. Decide what's best for you.

I certainly would think that banding would be better if you desire to have a baby!

You can have a bypass after the lap band, but not the other way around (although many insurances will only pay for one procedure/ lifetime.

IN the end, low risk of dying and infection, knowing that I could control my sweet intake by doing a 3 month supervised diet, and seeing that the results are pretty similar, It was easy choice to go with the band!

Good luck!

Thanks for all the good info.. I am leaning more and more towards the Lapband, it just seems safer to me.