Maybe this is taboo to say..... that the lapband is barbaric

Don't get me wrong I LOVE MY BAND....but I have often thought about it as being barbaric when you think about it. You get cut open and have a ring tight around your stomach so you can't eat.

The reason I bring this up is to ask if I'm the only one that thinks this way and just never said it????? I have a friend who is looking into getting the band and has asked me lots of questions just like I did in the start of it all....but not one person ever said it's barbaric. I'm wondering if I should tell her my true thoughts about it..........because if you don't have the mind set for it I could see it could bother you when you get it and get the first feeling of something stuck (I FREAKED OUT the first time...now it's not big deal cause I know the feeling and what happens) I just think of it as being barbaric.

Anybody else feel the same???? I would do it again in a heart beat.......but I think it's barbaric if that makes sense :thumbup:

I think bypass is punitive...allowing your guts to be cut up because you're fat just seems sad to me.

The band? No. Honestly, I don't think it barbaric, any more than, say, a pacemaker for the heart, or a stint.

Some day medicine will come up with something better, and 100 years from now people may think it very rustic and old fashioned, but for now, I think it's pretty cutting edge medicine and I'm glad as can be I have it!

Maybe this is taboo to say..... that the lapband is barbaric

Don't get me wrong I LOVE MY BAND....but I have often thought about it as being barbaric when you think about it. You get cut open and have a ring tight around your stomach so you can't eat.

The reason I bring this up is to ask if I'm the only one that thinks this way and just never said it????? I have a friend who is looking into getting the band and has asked me lots of questions just like I did in the start of it all....but not one person ever said it's barbaric. I'm wondering if I should tell her my true thoughts about it..........because if you don't have the mind set for it I could see it could bother you when you get it and get the first feeling of something stuck (I FREAKED OUT the first time...now it's not big deal cause I know the feeling and what happens) I just think of it as being barbaric.

Anybody else feel the same???? I would do it again in a heart beat.......but I think it's barbaric if that makes sense :thumbup:

Barbaric is extremely subjective, no? If you really look at it, circumcision could be considered pretty dang barbaric!

Not really, I was highly motivated by cosmetic factors to have lap band surgery, really, I wanted to lose weight to look better, feel better and make the most of ME. I think what I did, since it also has fantastic health benefits (says me who RAN a 4km hill course right up the side of a mountain including 1000 steps and back down again today) is WAY less barbaric than cutting open your chest and inserting possibly dangerous silicone filled bags just so you can have boobies that dont even look real!

that's an exaggeration by the way, have seen lots of very lovely boob jobs and would consider one myself! But you bet my point.

Making your face look like you got caught in a wind tunnel and filling your lips with substances made of the crap they wont even put in hotdogs is pretty barbaric too!

My DH woudl agree with you though, he has an Iron fist relationship with his band whereas my band and I are on much more congenial terms since I treat mine nicely. Poor old DH went 6 months without getting any restriction because he just put off going for fills. When he finally did it (OK, I made him, lol) he got restriction but without creeping up on it. He has not learned yet to eat slowly, to eat VERY cautiously with the first few bites and to not eat foods that upset him. What that results in - no pbing yet but some pretty bad pain - is rather barbaric for sure. It does make you think how in the hell did I let myself get here?

Edited January 8, 200917 yr by Jachut

As ugly as the word barbaric is i must say i can see where your coming from. I often think think to myself how pathetic am i that i let myself get so out of control with my eating that i had to undergo an operation to insert a foreign object into my body that was going to stop me from from eating myself into an early grave. With that said, boy am i glad i did it. I love my band it has given me a life again and everyday it just keeps getting better.

WOW!!!

You all bring up good points that help explain it in a way I never thought of!!!

Good one about the boobs :thumbup: at least we get health benefits with our silicone!

Glad I asked.....I really had not thought of it in all the other ways!!!

I still think it's barbaric :thumbs_up: but I won't give it back :glare:

Yeah, there are a lot of things people do to themselves to look/feel better. The list is endless. In addition to the silicone boobs, botox injections and pace makers, what about harsh chemicals on the hair to cover grey? Tattoos? Piercing the ears for earrings? Nose jobs? Braces? I think of my band in relative terms. It's no different than anything else. Barbaric? I don't think so. Not any more than anything else. Progressive? yeah.

I love my band, but sometimes have the same feelings. At times I think about the geese that have bands put on to fatten their liver ... a horrible analogy, I know. All said, it was the right decision for me and I would do it again.

No, I don't think it is barbaric either. I just think it is the most advanced medical technology we have at this time. I think of us as pioneers as we are part of bariatric studies at our respective bariatric centers.

One day, there will be something new and better that come along.

No, I don't think it is barbaric either. I just think it is the most advanced medical technology we have at this time. I think of us as pioneers as we are part of bariatric studies at our respective bariatric centers.

One day, there will be something new and better that come along.

I agree. Not barbaric, just a good option for the times in which we live. Banding seems like such a simple concept, but it is very effective and it has worked for me. :cool:

Banding is not barbaric. I had a circumcision 55 years ago without my permission. I had a 400% BM gain in weight. I have not had a decent nights sleep since.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: George

I understand the thoughts about "barbaric", but what I think is barbaric is to expect anyone to lose a lot of weight while being hungry constantly. 200 or so years ago, people performed surgery without anesthesia. Now few of us would think about suffering with a headache without taking something. I think, if we could live long enough, weight loss treatments won't be considered drastic. They'll be considered routine. Someone will consider it barbaric to have suffered with the excess weight and even more barbaric to lose weight without medical intervention.

By the way, I love this thread. I really like reading everyone's viewpoints on this topic, especially since we are all people with weight issues.