I know it may be wrong of me but this is the R&R board. I have been hearing more and more stories of people just barely over 200 or under 200 getting lapband...do you think this is normal or needed etc. Let me know YOUR opinion.

The results are private in the poll...feel free to be truthful.

Voicing your opinion is allowed too.

And I am talking people completely healthy and average height or more.

Edited June 29, 200818 yr by Froggi

I think the exclusionary factor would be if you do those things and are clearly not committed to changing them post-op.

Except who can judge that pre-op? I don't think the shrink visit can really determine that. (In fact, the way most shrinks do it, it's a complete waste of time.) But if you *could* judge, then we could save people a lot of grief by not giving them WLS when they are just going to sabatoge themselves afterwards.

Oh, nevermind. I think it's all too Big Brother-ish for me.

Edited December 11, 200817 yr by MacMadame

I take offense at "the natural way." Who's to say what the natural way is?

"NATURAL " means NO foreign object in your body.BTW I do beleive in banding for people with a high BMI.I beleive the risks of their obesityis greater than the risks of banding.I wieghed 220 at one time and I must say the extra 20 lbs made me feel horrible physically and emotinally .So I can attest to the fact that the higher your BMI the more reasoning you have to do the band.

Edited December 11, 200817 yr by marieg

No, not at all. What's wrong with never getting that way in the first place?

By the way, they dont do psychology visits a lot of the time in Australia precisely because its a complete waste of time. You cannot tell who is going to commit and who isnt, anyone can have a huge burst of enthusiasm with the prospect of surgery and then fail to follow through. Its not unusual not to really get with the program until after banding. Many obese people are quite understandably depressed. There's no real proper reasoning behind thinking you must cure every issue you have before you can lose weight, there's no law against working on both at the same time. Psychology visits prove nothing.

still subscribed & still have an opinion on this subject.

heather - re:

2) Those who did not do research and do not have a full understanding or the ability to commit to what banding entails.

i was the MOST ill informed WLS patient ever. was tired of being over weight & miserable - saw a commercial; got a dr; denied insurance; went self pay all w/in a month or so.

now what i did the minute i woke up from surgery is something all together different....but wow - i had NO clue; no idea and i found this website after the fact. i had a crash course in a matter of days of what do to...so it's possible the ill informed can make this work - or have the best intentions of doing just that.

marieg - having a higher BMI requires you to just have to lose that much more weight once banded. earlier in this thread i stated i wished i had the band placed BEFORE i gained weight in my 30's. if at a BMI of 30 you are considered obese, then why should WLS not be a consideration? why wait? why are the insurance companies wanting you to gain an additional 10 points to your BMI, go through a 6 month diet, expect comorbidities & so on? it's downright cruel.

as for a foreign object - my mom is held together with pins fighting arthritis, along with a hip replacement. foreign objects are part of the medical community in fighting disease - obesity is one of them.

off the soap box, while others chime in.

"NATURAL " means NO foreign object in your body.BTW I do beleive in banding for people with a high BMI.I beleive the risks of their obesityis greater than the risks of banding.I wieghed 220 at one time and I must say the extra 20 lbs made me feel horrible physically and emotinally .So I can attest to the fact that the higher your BMI the more reasoning you have to do the band.

Marieg,

As someone who was banded over a year and really didn't know how it would affect me physically and emotionally I can definitely understand the term you used "natural". I felt the same way after having mine removed. I lost weight on the preop diet, had done many crash diets before and thought it was worth the results I'd have of getting banded. I was wrong and found that being banded was a very unnatural way to live. Which is why I did what I had to do to keep from starving myself because regular "healthy foods" would not go down. Maybe I'm on in a million, well like to think so but doing something as unnatural as being banded did not go over too well with my body either. I gained back all that preop weight and then developed a bad case of acid reflux because of the way the band is placed.

I've gone one step further and find it better to not go up and down in weight anymore, I try to eat healthy now, much more than when banded and prior to banding and exercise to stay healthy. I don't need to be a stick to be healthy or happy and that was something I've learned during that unnatural process of banding. Anyway good luck to you, I think you sound like a pretty smart cookie, Nancy.:wink:

luluc, I agree with you, I really had no idea until after I had my surgery either. I did my research before hand of course, but I don't think we really understand the changes until we actually have to DO them.

I also agree with people having surgery with a BMI of 30. If their BMI is already at 30, it is highly unlikely that they are going to be able to lose the weight on their own without some type of help. And those that do lose it are more likely than not to gain it back. Didn't we all have a BMI of 30 at one time? I know I did, and it quickly became 41 before I had surgery. I was no more likely to lose the weight with a BMI of 30 than one of 41 without the band. We use all sorts if implants in the medical field to save lives, pacemakers, etc. The band shouldn't be looked at any differerently. I don't see it as unnatural. I see it as a life saver. Mine sure has been.

"NATURAL " means NO foreign object in your body.

I haven't got a foreign object in my body. So I guess I'm doing it the "natural" way. :wink2:

Personally I think dieting is very *unnatural* and that's part of why it doesn't work.

luluc, I agree with you, I really had no idea until after I had my surgery either. I did my research before hand of course, but I don't think we really understand the changes until we actually have to DO them.

Anyone who know me knows that research is my middle name. People told me over and over pre-op that with my research, I'd be a great WLS post-op. Then I had surgery. Good lord, what an ADJUSTMENT! I'm glad I did the research I did and I'm glad I start practicing the post-op life early, but even so it's been a big adjustment to actually have the surgery. It's just not something you can really understand until you do it.

Kind of like marriage and having kids, in fact.

Edited December 12, 200817 yr by MacMadame

I don't have a "foreign" object in my body either. LOL.

I got my band in Mexico so I guess I do have a "foreign object" in my body.

(sorry, couldn't resist)

In regards to the "natural way", this is why I chose to not tell anyone about this procedure. I don't need anyone's judgement or negativity in my road to a healthier, happier and dare i say, more attractive me.

In your quest to try to avoid the band and try to do it the "natural way" are you starving yourself?...taking diet meds?...depriving your body of necessary nutrients? I know with the band, I am no longer doing these unsuccessful things. I also don't feel like I am going to gain it back. I feel successful. I am much happier, especially knowing that I have avoided many medical issues in my future.

I think it all depends on how your feeling. For me at 254 I feel huge and swollen. At 205 I felt a world better and at 178 (my lowest weight since 13) I felt healthy for sure.

But that is still alot bigger than any of my peers and social stima has been HUGE. I have missed out on so much because of them.

I am just tired of missing and losing out because of my weight.

My family thinks 254 is not big enough but I know how I FEEL and I feel like I am gonna pop if I don't do something .My body can't handle this.

Do you know the rhyme "There was a little girl with lots of curls,When she was good she was VERY good;and when she was bad she was VERY bad.

That is my way of looking at the band.From all my research my OPINION is that :When the band goes good it is VERY good and when it goes bad it can be VERY bad.As long as it goes well you won't feel the affects of a FOREIGN object but if it goes bad it will feel VERY foreign.

But the poll isn't about the band alone. It's about WLS in general. There are other types, including the type I had, which has less complications than the band in the long-run and better ELW.

The choice isn't the band or nothing.

Do you know the rhyme "There was a little girl with lots of curls,When she was good she was VERY good;and when she was bad she was VERY bad.

That is my way of looking at the band.From all my research my OPINION is that :When the band goes good it is VERY good and when it goes bad it can be VERY bad.As long as it goes well you won't feel the affects of a FOREIGN object but if it goes bad it will feel VERY foreign.

I think you're wise to be objective about the band as it doesn't necessarily work out the way you expect it to as in my case. The one benefit it did give me was a respect for my body and to be careful what I do to it again and also a sense of what real fullness feels like. So for that I am appreciative. I think we've all done our share of crazy things in our past to feel accepted in a society that worships thinness and puts down fat people but we have to look closer within ourselves to see how we treat ourselves before we worry about what others think of us, Nancy:smile:.

I haven't read all the replies to this yet, but I am one that is looking to get lapband surgery w/a BMI just barely over 35. I'm 220 and 5'5" now, but a typical non-dieting weight for me is about 210-215. Every time I've gotten above 210ish, I get scared out of my mind and go on a diet. Every diet I go on, I generally commit really well and lose a good amount of weight (30-50 pounds). I just cannot keep it off and diet=hungry to me. People tell me I need to make it a 'lifestyle', but I have finally come to the conclusion that being hungry all the time is no kind of lifestyle. At the same time, I am so scared to gain more weight because I've seen all the pain and complication of morbid obesity by watching my mom deal w/it her whole entire life w/diabetes, high bp, high cholesterol, barely even being able to walk one block, etc. It sucks! (as I'm sure I don't have to tell a lot of you). And, I KNOW she tried as hard as she could.

Anyway, so she finally got lapband one year ago (she is in her 60s). I'm turning 40 next year and don't want to wait until I'm older or fatter to deal w/this so I'm looking to get it this year (if insurance will pay) or two years if I have to keep my BMI up that long to get insurance to pay. Honestly, I couldn't care less about fitting into smaller clothes or what people think about my weight. I've been fat enough for long enough that I've just accepted that part of it. BUT, I cannot accept losing my quality of life and health because of this fat. And, I cannot deal w/losing it just to regain it again. I'm so done w/that!

So, I hope that explains the perspective a bit of why someone who is barely over 200 would even want to get this surgery. And, I think anyone w/BMI 30+ should be able to get it by self-pay if necessary. I understand that insurance cannot afford to pay for anyone and everyone who might want this surgery, but I would hope that it would be made available to as many people who want it as possible. I just don't think there are a lot of people who want to do it as an 'easy way out' because if they are educated at all about it, then they would realize it is not an 'easy way out' anyway. Logic leads me to believe that most people would not go for this surgery unless they felt it was their last resort anyway.

P.S. - Forgot to add that I have chronic high bp that is not well controlled w/medication even though I am on my 3rd med for it. And, recently got diagnosed w/high cholesterol. I also have another problem related to obesity that I'd rather not mention. I feel like diabetes is right around the corner and would be the nail in my coffin. I know that seems very overdramatic of me, but I am horrified w/this all because I've already seen my mom go through it all.

Edited January 2, 200917 yr by adagray
needed to add P.S. info