Hello everyone, Im a 22 year old female from vancouver, BC. Ive been researching the lap band procedure and lurking on this site for about three months now. I technically have a "low" bmi for this procedure, yet i feel that i am at the end of my rope. im 5"5' and 205 lbs.. a bmi of approx. 35. I would be self-pay, and just got a refferral to see my surgeon from my reluctant family doctor. Im not even sure if he's familliar with the lap band surgery, as he was spouting off awful complications that sound a lot like the complications associated with gastric bypass, rather than lapband. I'm looking for some stories here.. what made you decide to get banded? how was the process? anything you didnt expect? id like to hear the good and bad, so please dont hold back! i look forward to connecting with people like me! thanks so much, kristen.

Hi Kbott,

I had a lower BMI, too. The reason I chose to get it, instead of waiting for problems to arise, is more of a prevention measure. I didn't want to wait until I developed diabetes, heart disease, and joint pain before having it done.

The good- weightloss, healthier life, less hunger, happiness

The bad-this is not a cure to all of your weight problems. It takes A LOT of work. There are possible complications and financial burden. It's only a tool to aid you. You will still have to eat healthy and exercise.

As long as you go into it knowing that you will have to do some work on your part, I think everything will go well for you. Good luck on whatever you decide:).

I was banded when I was 19 and rebanded at 22 due to a bad slippage. I decided that the band seemed a lot safer. Yes, there are issues with infection and erosion, but if you visit your doctor regular and do not ignore your body you should do well. One of the hardest things about WLS is that it is a form of malnutrition, you must stay on top of Vitamin supplements and watch any wounds as they do not heal as easily as before.

Just as Jasmine stated, this is not the magic bullet. It is an aid that along with lifestlye changes will help you achieve your goals.

The only time you really get malnutrition is with the gastric bypass, with that you constantly have to take vitamins, if you get the required vitamins, nutrients in with your 3 meals a day you should have no problem what soever - it's just about making the smarter choices, are you going to go to mcdonalds and get a quarter pounder that has no salads on it and just cheese, meat and tomato sauce or are you going to have something like fish with a salad so that you get all the vitamins in? Of course your going to choose the fish and salad right? Well I hope you do lol. It is basically common sense when it comes to the band, but if you put the time and effort into it then your going to see the results

I decided to get the band more as a precautionary thing. I don't have any bad effects of my obesity right now, but I know some would come up later in life, so I needed to loose the weight.

And welcome!!

Hi! I was banded the 24th of this month. I had a relatively low BMI for the surgery too. It was like... 37.

The surgery was smooth, no problems. I recommend finding a surgeon who works within a program, not some dude thats just going to band you up and send you on your merry way.

Thanks

Gracie Lu

Kbott- any progress? Would love to hear from you!

hi bikinibeachy, and thanks to you and everyone for the replies. im not very good at posting regularly, but im awesome when it comes to lurking!

things are progressing slowly but surely. at first my family doctor referred me to a rny surgeon, who really pushed gastric by-pass on me even though i've got a relatively low bmi.. so anyway that put me back to the drawing board and i finally had a consultation with my surgeon of choice about a week and a half ago. since i'm self-pay, he cleared me for the surgery and now im waiting on an appointment with the anesthesiologist, and then i should have a date! im really pretty excited about it, but also a little wary. it seems like ive been gunning for this for sooo long that the thought of it actually happening seems a little too good to be true. thanks mostly to LBT i feel like im as prepared and as informed as i can be.. so i'll keep my fingers crossed.

thanks again for the inquiry beachy, ive been watching your progress and congrats on being FINALLY banded.

Looks like things are rolling right along for you! I can definitely relate to that too good to be true feeling. I was just sitting here thinking how two weeks ago at this very moment I didn't even know if I'd ever be banded, so crazy!