LapBand VS Sleeve??

[juliebynight 0]

You do what you need to do. This is for you and your the only one that needs to be happy. Your doing good.

[donali 57]

I loved my band, had a great experience. I was one of the lucky ones where my hunger was absolutely under control. bread, rice and Pasta were hard to eat, so those items were mostly eliminated from my diet. If I *really* wanted those things I could have them, but they were hard to eat and I had to go very slowly. Same thing with rubbery foods like shellfish - I could eat it, but it wasn't fun (or tasty).

If I hadn't eroded I imagine I would still be banded today, pretty much at goal, and loving life.

Unfortunately, in spite of being a model bandster, my band *did* erode, and I had to have it removed. I am now sleeved, and wish I had done this from the beginning (if I'd been sleeved to begin with, I would have saved $17,000+ dollars, avoided two major surgeries, and avoided 2 twilight procedures).

Make no mistake - I loved my band. It did everything I expected it to do, and I lost 103 pounds with it *effortlessly*. I was in heaven! Until it all went south on me.

So, hind sight is 20/20 they say. If I could do it all over, and if I could have known then what I know now, I would have been sleeved to begin with. But I didn't know. I chose the procedure that I thought was safest and least invasive with still a chance of a good outcome if I were willing to put in some effort to change my eating habits in response to better controlled hunger.

I wish my band had been a permanent procedure (in that it worked exactly as it was supposed to with no complications). It's good that it's reversable, though, since the chance of complications is much higher than advertised (IMHO). After my band was removed I had a lot of scar tissue where the band had been placed and eroded and repaired. I would still ocassionally get "stuck", but I did not have the added benefit of true restriction, or reduced hunger. So my 103 pounds came back, plus 30 of their previously unknown friends.

Thank goodness my Mom was able to lend me the $$ to be sleeved. I don't think I could have lived another year at 333lbs - every day I could feel myself literally dying a little more.

[jms462001 9]

I did a lot of research on the band before I had it and on VSG before I revised. Here are two peer reviewed studies:

Comparison of weight loss and body composition cha...[surg Obes Relat Dis. 2009] - PubMed Result

A 10-year experience with laparoscopic gastric ban...[Obes Surg. 2006] - PubMed Result

I DO believe the band is working for many but I also believe it's failing others who HAVE followed the rules. As they say, there's good and bad in everything.

Between 1997 and 1998, major changes were made in gastric banding to prevent problems probably based on these studies. I wouldn't worry too much. And as far as overall weight loss goes, it may be slower initially, but evens out over a 2-3 yr period compared to other weight loss surgeries.