I go in for my preop next week and I am scheduled for surgery 3rd week of June. I have been planning on the lapband but I have heard some horror stories that now have me second guessing myself. Bad infections being one and "weight gain" being another. How the heck can weight gain be a problem? I'm also worried about health problems that may occur as a result of the banding and my new eating habits. Are there side effects? I've heard with a bypass, gallbladder removal usually comes after a year due to it failing from lack of protien. Anything like that with banding?

I will agree with everything you said.

I'm just not as worried about those things.

If my family history, was like you described, it would be a concern.

Of course, in the end, someone had to make sure they ate enough, I guess with the sleeve someone would have to do the same more often?

Of course if you lose your mental capabilities, you are left with your taste buds. Something tells me that you will like the 1000 calorie milk shake just fine.

I have said it before and I'll say it again. If insurance was paying for GB, I would still self pay for the sleeve. Of course not everyone can afford to do that, so If the decision is between the GB or the Lapband, then I would go Lapband. Then if something goes wrong, I would pay for the revision to sleeve.

At the risk of throwing fuel onto the fire....

I think it is a personal choice. In my research, I liked three main things. (1) I am not cutting out any part of my body (2) I can remove it if I need full absorbtion in the event of a serious illness/surgery (3) I know three people who have had GB and all have absorbtion problems.

Further, I decided I would try band and if I did not make it the whole way, I could then do GB/GS. I thought that if I lost some weight first it might lessen the chance of problems from surgery.

So, it is a personal choice. Either way, the surgery is just a tool and you have to make the mental commitment. I have heard of people who have had either and lived on fast-food milkshakes, and not lost weight. I know of someone who is planning to have GB because then she 'can eat anything she wants to'. That is so wrong.

Lastly. In reading these communications that our "Band of Brothers/Sisters" share, there are plenty pf people at or below target weight, so I do not know where the "you only loose 50% of your excess weight with LBT" comes from.

You are doing the right thing to help you change your life. Get informed and do what is right for YOU....

Regards

k

I don't think that is so much adding fuel to the fire.

I would agree with most of what you said.

Just so you know, the 50% weight loss is the average weight loss in studies of lapband people after the 5 year mark. It's just an average, so it doesn't mean that is what you are going to lose. You may lose more you may lose less, just depends on a lot of things, including what you are saying.

I like the sleeve because it gets rid of most if not all of the fundus, the part that makes you physically hungry. It won't stop head hunger, none of them will.

Thanks for the replys. My insurance covers the band or the bypass so I have to choose between the two. I have a choice between two brands of lapband but that's it. I was originally going to go with the band but then some people who had the bypass said they knew people with the band who have had problems with infections and or weight gain. They said they were happy with the bypass even though they both had gallbladder failure a year after the surgery. After reading comments on "this" forum, I'm now back to considering the lap band. It's not an easy decision.

What does your doctor say? My wife went bypass and I went band. We have both been very sucessful. I had less to lose.

For me i didnt want a bypass or anything else where body parts are cut out or not used.

Reference to the ports/infection etc i had the TAGB band fitted which does not have any ports or injections to be done. Its a telemetric signal that opens or closes the band. Thus i dont have any Fluid in the band and dont get any effect from pressure increases(bubbles in the fluid) ie flights/swimming in deep Water etc etc.

For me my issues were bad routines and not changing my lifestyle enough and the band helped that. I think having bypass which has a much higher mortality rate than banding is a no brainer either. My friend has a bypass and the lady in the next bed to her died the night before her OP so as you can imagine she was in a state about what to do.

Its all a personal choice but dont think the bypass is something to compare to the band. Its a massively different operation with different side effects and possible complications internally. 45min op with 5 almost invisible scars has done me good so far. Same goes for the gastric Sleeve, cutting things off a stomach is not the same as restricting what goes into a full stomach.

I'm a girl in the Men's Room but I wanted to tell you about what made the difference for me in my selection of which band since that is the way you seem to be heading. I choose the "Allergen" band as opposed to the "Realize" only because there are two choices of size of band. When the surgeon goes in they can decide between a smaller band and a larger band depending on your specific needs. Also, the "Allergan" has been around just a little bit longer and has a new band out. Either choice I believe will be a good choice for you. You know, for anything elective or even not elective, you can go on the net and scare yourself to death. There are always pros and cons to everything you do. The important thing is to be committed to it once you start. Only you know what is best for you and only you can make the committment required for this lifelong journey. Good Luck to you. Please write back and let us know what you decide and how you are doing.

Yeah, I know what you mean. My favorite food is pizza and if we go out for it, I'll eat 5 peaces without batting an eye and that's more than 1000 calories right off the bat for just that meal. After this, no more of that, maybe a "bite" or two, if I even want it at all.

Hi there! I wish you luck with your decision but I wanted to clear something up that you said and alot of people tend to believe before they are banded. You do not typically have this magical restriction right after being banded. Once the swelling from surgery goes down, you are pretty much in the same boat you were before surgery. You have to go through the process of fills, which can take a long time before you are satisfied off small portions. I'm almost 6 months out with 6.5cc in my band and I still don't have restriction.

For instance, you bring up pizza. It's my favorite food too:tt1:

I can still eat 2 pieces of hand tossed Pizza Hut and 2 bread sticks if I let myself. That's ALOT of calories. I've basically had to diet myself to a 50 pound loss. It's extrememly frustrating and even though they warn you it's slow, when you're not dropping the pounds you can't help but feel disappointed.

Of course, you're being male is going to work in your favor. The band is good as long as you realize you have to bust your butt for every pound. If you are prepared to do that, go for it :smile2:

The thing to remember is that you can gain weight with *any* existing WLS. If your problem is that you graze continuously throughout the day, no band, bypass, or sleeve will help you: you'll have a continuous stream of calories in without it building up in the pouch or remains of your stomach. If your problem is that you eat all your food at once, and you eat too much, then existing surgeries can be effective.

If you have diabetes, consider RNY -- it has better remission rates for diabetes. There are also other diabetes-specific gastric problems that the band isn't well-suited to cope with.

The gall stone problem is real, and as pointed out applies for any rapid weight loss. I'm presently taking ursodiol for six months to reduce the odds of stones from 30% to 3%.

I chose the band because I wanted the option to have it removed if something went terribly wrong (or if something much better were offered). I wanted, in the end, something of an undo feature: neither bypass nor sleeve offer this, though sleeve comes closest. The fact that the restriction can be readjusted to my body also makes me more confident that it can more readily adapt to imprecision on the part of the surgeon (no matter how skilled).