Hi - My husband and I read this article on MSNBC today concerning bariatric surgery. I was really bothered by the very negative tone of the article. It discusses the downside of both bypass and lapband surgery. Which it is true that there are risks and complications, AND it is true that someone who does this without making the proper life changes will not have success, it seemed that the article was surprisingly one sided and negative. It did not mention one success story. I understand trying to show the truth (risks and big lifestyle changes) as opposed to painting the surgery as a miracle cure but this seemed excessive to me.

Given that this is a 3 page article on a major news website, I felt it was really misleading and inappropriate. Am I alone in this? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Given that I have just started this path, I don't feel that I can truly argue with the author - I am not YET a success story.

How many long term success stories do we have on this site? Not one of them was available for an interview to show the other side of the coin?

Anyway, given how many people are researching the lapband to decide if it is right for them, and given how big a news agency MSNBC is, I really thought I should post this article and let actual lapband patients respond to it. That way, if someone reads the article and comes here for research, they can get a more balanced outlook.

Here is the article, thanks for reading the rant....

The miracle weight loss that isn’t - Diet and nutrition- msnbc.com

That wasn't exactly balanced journalism. hmmmm too bad, just reinforcing some outdated ideas.

It's a reprint of some article that appeared in Self magazine. So it's not really from what I'd consider a credible journalistic source.

And it shows.

I read it. I also took most of it with a grain of salt, just like I do the ads on TV touting WLS as an easy fix. I've done my own research and that's enough for me.

I think the article is garbage.the media today is not much more than a scandal sheet~sensationalism~bent on selling their station or paper.!

Anyone researching the beriatric procedures is informed on the front end-that it is a tool and no miracle cure.if we do as instructed by our surgeons and support groups~i have faith that we will maintain the lifestyle and bodies we seek.

I am 10 months out and cautious about portions...i will not ever "stuff"myself again.....so i do not fear stretching my stomach.i fear alcohol and chocolate candy and all the forbiddens. I want to be"normal"too bad!

I'd be more concerned if MSNBC had more than 20 or so viewers @ any given time, heehee.

wow. i saw this on msn.com thismorning and i am glad i didn't read it then. i would've been irked the whole day. it made us all seem like a bunch of lunatics that walk around vomiting all day! i have to say that my favorite part was when they had the bit with the doctor talking about how wls can help so many people and cure diabetes and then the next paragraph totally tried to make him sound like a wacko.

“That should be the headline: Surgery Cures Type 2 Diabetes!” Dr. Hutcher exclaims. “This is about disease, and disease going away. To think we’re out there as pseudo-plastic surgeons, that’s totally bass-ackwards.”

Either way, more doctors are entering the field. Anyone can hang out a shingle, because there’s no official certification for bariatric surgeons and no mandatory training requirements; a surgeon who has $10,000 to spend can learn banding or bypass in a five-week “mini-fellowship.”

I just read the article at the request of a concerned friend. I was banded July 30, 2008 and have had no problems. But I'm very careful. My son had RNY July 30, 2007 and had a bowel obstruction the same day as my own surgery. It was very scary. He had 2 surgerys within 24 hours. While the article definitely was one sided, it was not without truth. My son has been a model patient and has lost 180 lbs in a year. I personally didn't want the extreme surgery and risk he took. You notice the article didn't really have much to say about banding!

I agree that people researching the band should do a lot more homework than just that article (and btw thank you for letting us know it was a Self magazine article - that makes a difference) but there is another thread that someone started about needing help with disapproving friends and family. That is a thing that bothers me - people getting the band should know better than just that article, but friends and family read that and get a terrible impression. From that article, I wouldn't blame my mom or dad or friends for being afraid and trying to convince me to find another way. Getting support for this surgery from family and friends can be hard enough, without articles like this!

I am sorry that your son had so many difficulties with his surgery. I totally agree that those complications and issues should get more attention, especially for people considering any of these surgeries. I just thought that it should give a more accurate picture - for every problem there are more successes. A fair article would have made an effort to show both. Good luck on your band and I hope your son is doing much better now!

Saw it and posted a response. It was mainly about GB but I figured that if someone who had just been/was about to be banded read it they would freak. I put the addy for LBT on there so that people who did freak can come here if they want and see the truth for themselves.

I hate sensationalism news.

I read the article yesterday and was totally bummed all day. I was banded on 18 Jul and have lost 20lbs since I began the journey. I did my research and granted probably should have done more. The eating pencil eraser size food for the rest of my life, leveling off after 18 months, never getting pass a BMI of obese was definitely a downer. I haven't had my first fill will do so in 2 weeks, but I don't have problems swallowing and havebeen able to take my diabetes medicine without crushing. Will this all stop after the first fill and I will be miserable? This article is really depressed me, one more time being told nothing will work!!!

idelay - don't let the article bum you out. That is actually the OPPOSITE of why I put the article there in the first place!!

If you look on these boards, you will see so many success stories. And you are hearing ALL the info - good, bad and disgusting! - right from their own mouth. Many of them are not only amazing successes, but long term "losers".

Look at it this way - for some people, Peanut Butter is deadly. If there was an article calling peanut butter the secret killer, in a sense, they'd be right. It CAN be a very deadly allergy for some people. Some people can eat the tiniest bit or even just inhale air on a plane where someone else is eating peanuts and die. I'm sure you could interview quite a few people with terrible horror stories of what they had to go through with the death/illness of a child or a loved one. And that is truly horrible for them - no doubt about it. And it is entirely possible that something like that could happen to you or someone you love if they have a severe peanut allergy and no one knew it. BUT there are lots of others who have peanut allergies that don't die the instant they smell peanuts. They have to be careful and all, but it isn't a horror story. And there are many more people who eat peanut butter all the time with no problems at all. So should the FDA ban peanut butter? Should the government make rules on buying peanut butter like there is on buying spray paint and Benedryl? Of course not. That is exactly what the article did - so please don't be discouraged!!!

Finally, look at some of the other points of the article. They mention no more than 5 specific cases of complications from surgery. Each case was the most extreme possibility. At least one involved questionable intelligence on both the doctor and patient's part (I mean, with the lady with the band - if your band were so tight that you couldn't get food down and were constantly throwing up, even if your doctor did ask you to stick with it and tough it out, how long before you think - screw this! I'm getting another doctor and a real opinion. She waited a YEAR!! And from her symptoms, it sounded like her band was just too tight. But after a year, she had ruined her teeth, esophagus, and was so malnourished she had Beriberi, a disease you normally see in third world countries! At what point does she bear some personal responsibility too? BTW, you can avoid Beriberi by eating Beans, nuts, bananas, whole grains, or a Multivitamin - not exactly difficult to avoid) After that the author mentions surgeons that don't need any special training and can set up a shingle anywhere and that no one knows until things go wrong. That can - and does - happen with people who aren't even doctors, nevermind surgeons, in the first place. And normally it doesn't come to light until things hit the fan. But a patient that did even minimal research shouldn't fear that at all! She also mentions people getting the surgery that only had to lose 40 lbs. Have you heard on the board of anyone like that??

So, please think of all of this and realize what a twit that author was and that she obviously had some negative agenda. Then browse the boards and look at the before and after pictures - that always gives me such a boost of positive determination. You see so many different and amazing success stories of women and men at different ages, different races, different starting weights, etc etc that have all made this work for them. Then browse the boards for threads of "do you regret being banded" and see the overwhelming response of NO and the people who love their band and who were able to use this tool, along with hard work, to make their lives so much better. And then think of things that will be different for you once you get further along in your journey. Not the dress size, but the reduction of meds, not huffing and puffing after short walks, not needing 15 minutes to just bend over and tie your shoes, etc etc etc. THAT is a better outlook and perspective that what that idiot wrote!! :thumbup:

garbage- again someone prints an article with very little reseach behind it- to bad really- really makes me mad.

There is a really good reason that MSNBC is the lowest rated News network out there.

LOL at 2tired. I think you just summed it up.

It is what it is..

Bottom line, I didn't decide to be banded or not be banded because of any ONE positive or negative article.

This is just one article that was researched to find flaws, they are out there but so are the positives :-)

Lets all migrate to the positive articles!!