I had my consultation today, it was me and another lady who is also intrested in having surgery , So the doctor is giving us the option of lapband or gastric, he gave the pros and cons on both, He Highly suggested the gastric better bcz it has a higher success rate. I guess the gastric takes a year to go down to the weight you are supposed to and Lapband takes about 2 years.

Now I dont know what to do, how did you guys decide the lapband is for you and not gastric. They said I could pick anything and if i changed my mind I can do the other route but we would have to start from step one (approval from insurance)

Can I have some guide, I am completly lost now . What a hard choice!

i chose the lap band because i didnt want my insides cut and rerouted. the band is a device that is placed inside you and is adjustable and removable. i am very happy with everything about the band.

Doctors are salespeople....they will try to sell you a product, in this case the product is his/her service for a procedure.

Look at my stats.... 2 years, huh? I recommend doing research and then choose what's best for you. Then find a provider that will do it.

{but if you find a surgeon and then the 2nd opinion recommend against it...you'll have to have a plan B}

I think that it depends on the amount that you have to loose, when I went to the first consultation, I also was kind of dissapointed, because the Dr. said you loose 50 % of your overweight in the 2 yrs. period, but he also said that it depends how commited you are to the plan. I think that with gastric bypass you have no choice you have to have a very strict diet and as a consequence you'll loose more. Personally I think lapband is better because it does not change your digestive system. But the decission is yours, just do not give up.

when i went for my seminar they basically tried to sell the gastric bypass instead of the lapband. The surgeon makes more money doing gastric bypass than lap band because there is more involved in the procedure and the time spent in the hospital is longer in which they have to make visits. I chose to have lapband because it is safer in the long run and you are not losing nutrition as with gastric bypass. Plus the mortality rate is higher in gastric bypass

Hi Marisol,

Everyone is different, but I can honestly say that gastric bypass was never an option for me. Because:

1) It's a more dangerous surgery (more complications/risks possible)

2) It's permanent (unlike lapband)

3) Causes "dumping" and horrendous smells (by gas and/or "dumping")

4) Like any weight loss, if you don't maintain your lifestyle changes you WILL gain the weight back (but at least with lapband it's again not permanent, so your risks associated with weight gain are lower at least)

5) If you don't follow the proper diet (ESPECIALLY YOUR DAILY VITAMINS), you are really setting yourself up for serious problems (I have a personal story about a family member to back this one up - but I won't post it here to avoid upsetting anyone. If you want to know it, just let me know and I'll send you an email with the details)

Anyhow - those are just the primary reasons I felt lapband was a choice and gastric bypass was not. Hope that helps.....

No new plumbing.

I have two good friends who had the by-pass done. The first only lost 50 pounds, plus she had a life threatening complication within a week of the surgery. Her husband had the procedure six months later and has lost 175 pounds. He can barely eat anything, and throws up or dumps on average two times a day. Now for him it was probably the right choice, but for her it was almost a complete waste. Also He Has significant skin issues because of how fast the weight came off.

I choose the band because I was looking for a tool that would help (not force) me to change who I am and how I ate. I am confident that with the help of the band I can succeed. I can still cheat and eat ice cream or other things I should not, but I no longer want to. I never even considered the by-pass, and have never regretted my decision.

Recent studies show that the lapband is starting to retain long term weightloss over the GBP due to most stretch their pouch to 1/2 the original size the their stomach & regain most of their weight. We have a lot of GBP patients in our support group & they don't look as well as the band patients. Good luck on your journey

For me it was two things. First, The idea of rerouting my digestive tract just seemed scary and dangerous. Second, all my life I wanted to have a "normal" relationship with food. The lapband so far has created that relationship. I'm less concerned with how fast I lose and more that I lose steadily and avoid regain. IMO, the lap band creates that experience.

Also, it seems to me that while bypass creates quick and dramatic results, I'm not sure that after the initial loss that all the same struggles and issues don't come into play again. My doctor pointed out that at the 5 year mark, lap banders have statistically kept off more weight. Either way, do what's right for you and follow the rules and I know you'll be successful.

Marisol

I would be very wary of a surgeon who supports GBP over banding unless you are 100% sure you want the bypass. I have known more people who have done very well with GBP but when it came time for me to make a decision I chose the band. I did not want the riskier surgery and I did not want the malabsorbtion that is part of the GBP. I am not sorry about my decision and hope you feel the same after you have made yours!

Long story short, it was easier. It had fewer complications and I was told if it did not work for me then I could try gastric bypass. I was very young and knew that I was willing to take a slower weight loss.

US docs just Lurve their bypass, don't they?

I went to a seminar on Wed. and I was so frustrated and annoyed by the end. People who had done less research than I were convinced by the surgeon that "bypass is really the best, isn't it?" even though his own slides showed that the at 14 years out, the weight loss is almost exactly the same between bypass and band.

But his entire attitude and the way they presented the info just screamed "get bypass because it's the best". But it's not. It's the best in some circumstances, but everyone is different and in most of medicine they try to do the least invasive, least dangerous thing *first*. This is why in the rest of the world, bypass is the least popular surgery, not the most popular.

I noticed your age is 29 (the OP)---so the first question I would have is whether you have children or plan to. Pregnancy is something I would take into consideration. Proper nutrition for YOU is difficult at times without supplements with bypass, and with a pregnancy it would be even more important.

My personal reason for opting for banding as opposed to bypass was based on nutrition. I am a cancer survivor----and as such, I have increased odds of recurrance. Then again, as in pregnancy, increased nutrition would/could be needed. With the band, a simple unfill, and I can take in the added nutrition. The adjustability of it was highly appealling. As well as the fact it left ALL my options open. Nothing was cut, nothing removed, nothing bypassed, nothing left inside me but not "working".

They continue to discover and put into use new improved WLS's and discoveries about why we are fat etc. come about daily----I am as eligible as anyone who never had WLS to have any of these. Once they cut your stomach and bypass the intestines---it is done.....

For instance there is a newer WLS available, called a gastric sleeve. It has definite advantages over bypass in my opinion...and was it mentioned to you? If banding does not work for you either physically or mentally, a gastric sleeve is still an option to look into. If however you had bypass, and the dumping is a huge issue for you, or you react negatively to the lack of nutrition, the sleeve is not an option, your stomach has already been dissected away.

I without a doubt wanted permanent weight loss, but I wanted my options left open about how to approach that.

The band has also taught me invaluable lessons in how to eat, what to eat, and portion control. I am doing this with the help of the band. If I don't work with it, little happens. When I worked with it, amazing things happen!!! And now following my recent Tummy Tuck, I am totally unfilled and able to maintain that so far with the eating lessons I have learned.

I take no medications! My blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, etc are all normal. I do not have Vitamin or mineral deficiencies. I eat healthy foods, in healthy portions so I am healthy. My family has benefitted from what I have learned. When I cook healthy, we all eat healthy. Can you do this with bypass? Of course you can!! There is often just less incentive, and as we know most of us got obese in the first place being complacent in our eating---the bypass will allow you to continue that in lesser amounts....the band does not so much!

It is a very personal choice.....bypass is right for many people. It was not right for me at the time I made my choice. I am happy with the choice I made. I lost the vast majority of my weight in the first year----then tried to tone and tighten for months before my TT....and have gone from a size 22-24 to a size 8-10. It wasn't always easy----but it has always been worth it!

Kat

Here is a post I posted last week I think. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/every-time-i-go-class-surgeons-66764/ There's alot of good info in there as I am having the same issues as you (going back and forth). My MAIN reason for sticking with Lapband is my husband and I wanna have another child at some point and my surgeon said if that's the case, you should do the Lapband.

Everyone thank you so much for all your answers and wisdom You guys are so great! I have learned more from this board in a week then researching in a year

I called the doctor and informed him that I would like the lapband instead of gastric due to personal reasons and he was supportive. They are going to submit my paper work next week and hopefully everything goes ok