I just got the approval from my insurance to do WLS, and already have started all of the paperwork for the clinic I will be going to.

I just have so many questions!

It seems like the lady that I talked to on the phone today really was pushing for the RNY instead of the band. It made me question things, which kind of upset me.

I really just want to know, how did you decide to go with the band? Can I really expect to have the same amount of weight loss with the band(vs Gastric Bypass)? How fast did the weight start to come off after your surgery? Is there an 'average' amount of weight lost over the first year or so?

To me, the band seems like a much easier thing to live with. I just want to make sure that I am making the right decision.

Thanks for any advice you have!

Respectfully, I don't know who "the lady" is you're referring to, but if she is your doc or someone important on the staff, may I suggest changing clinics? Your surgeon shouldn't push you. Mine offered a balanced review of various surgeries, pros, cons, success rates, etc. If you are being pressured to do one over another, I'd think you need a different surgeon.

It all depends on how much weight you need to loose. The band is mainly for patients who need to loose 50-100lbs. If you have alot more than that to loose i might suggest the other. With the band you loose 1-2 lbs a week on average depending on your body and how well you stick to what you are supposed to eat in the different phases. With gastric bypass you loose much faster. I would stick to the band unless you are way more than a hundred lbs over weight and have alot of medical conditions due to your weight. Good luck! :tt1:

It all depends on you, on which surgery you want, both are WLS that will get the same result in the end. You can be more than 100lbs over weight and the lap band will still work for you, it is just a slower pace than the other, RNY. With the gastric-bypass you can have more complications. My doctor told us in his seminar that between the two, Lap Band and RNY you would have lost about the same amount of weight in 3-5 years. They even out, yes you will lose weight very quickly with the RNY, it takes a little longer with lap band. It should be up to you on which surgery you want, your paying for it!!

Good Luck

I went to a seminar and they too pushed hard for other surgerys. They said things like "will you be happy only losng half the weight you want to lose". They turned everyone away from the idea of lapband and I cancelled my surgery, but after thinking about it, decided it would help me. I can lose with a diet, the lapband is training wheels to keep me from falling on my face and regaining what I lost.

Apparantly 50% is the average weight people lose the first year, some lose it all and some dont lose. We had a lady who gained with the lapband in my seminar (to further sway people), who said she was on the road with her job and didnt have time to go get fills, so she had done nothing after she got her lapband and eventually got diabetes on the lapband, so she was there to have it removed and have by pass instead.

I think you have to decide if you have the time and will go get fills and work with the tool or you just want by pass, and lose easier at first, but more side effects, if you eat wrong, and you will be in danger of gaining it all back if you stretch your pouch, nothing you can do to fix it, no fills. I know several with by pass who regained all they lost and more.

I have been doing the research also, and it seems to me you can eventually lose more with the band. What I read seems to say the RNY people lose fast for about a year and then level out. People with the band and the proper fills should lose at least half of their excess weight.

But those are averages. I have seen many band people who have really stayed on top of their band, and been faithful to exercise and not eat crackers, Cookies and Pasta, and they have lost all their weight and kept it off- sometimes over 300 lbs.

I have chosen the band because I want something reversible if my body doesn't agree with it down the road. But I hope to never have it removed.

I read the book "Before and After" by Susan Leach and she says that if a person with a band wants to lose like a person with RNY, they just have to eat like a RNY patient.

The nurse tried to get you to have RNY? No mention of the gastric sleeve? Maybe their clinic does mostly RNY and isn't as experienced with other surgeries. If that is true, get another doctor, one who is comfortable doing the lap-band.

mindwing:shades_smile:

For me, being 27 i chose the band because it is less perminant. ALSO...there is no worry if i choose to have a child in the future. I feel that the band is SO much less invasive, plus you don't have many of the dumping syndrom or stuff like that.... My boss had the RNY and she lost a ton of weight...but....she also became obsessed and went really really skinny. BUT...with the band i feel there is a slower rate, your skin has a better chance of returning back to normal with some to none excess.....i think slower is better...after all...THE WEIGHT DID NOT COME ON IN ONE DAY!!!

The nurse tried to get you to have RNY? No mention of the gastric sleeve? Maybe their clinic does mostly RNY and isn't as experienced with other surgeries. mindwing:shades_smile:

The seminar I went to mentioned all types of surgeries. They also said most insurance plans wouldnt pay for the sleeve, but they will pay for by pass. I heard several say out loud ..... "well that decides it for me".